This short documentary from the New York-based filmmaker Paul Szynol finds the late US Poet Laureate Donald Hall (1928-2018) in the autumn of his accomplished life, when his days oscillated between calm solitude and painful loneliness. From his rural New Hampshire home, Hall discusses his career in poetry and the enduring loss of his second wife, the US poet Jane Kenyon, to cancer more than two decades earlier. ‘My companion was her absence,’ says Hall, reflecting on a mourning period that never ended, only evolved. Around him, if only half-acknowledged by Hall, a host of women provide the care that allows him a certain ease in his ageing. Like Hall, Szynol mines poignance from quiet moments and an economy of form, crafting a sparse, atmospheric tribute very much worthy of its subject.
Director: Paul Szynol
Website: Itchy Dog Films
video
Music
‘Dun dun dun duuun!’ Why Beethoven’s Fifth sticks in the head and stirs the heart
5 minutes
video
Art
The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world
11 minutes
video
Ageing and death
Demystifying death – a palliative care specialist’s practical guide to life’s end
4 minutes
video
Future of technology
Is this the future of space travel? Take a luxury ‘cruise’ across the solar system
6 minutes
video
Stories and literature
A French Creole folktale nearly lost to time is given new, gorgeously animated life
6 minutes
video
Food and drink
Is a ‘gastronomic society’ dinner the height of decadence, or an act of artistry?
11 minutes
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
Struggling to learn how to do a backflip, Nikita takes on an unusual training regimen
12 minutes
video
Personality
Why cleaning up crime scenes requires a rare mix of grit and empathy
9 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
From helicopter flybys to trail cameras, there’s no one way to count a wolf
8 minutes