Sight and Sound Magazine - November 2024

 

EDITORIAL

When Mike Williams starts to talk about Any Human Heart (a great book by William Boyd) I thought this might be good. But no, its all about a documentary called Eternal You "the creation of an AI afterlife". Give that a miss.

I skipped past OPENING SCENES about life on the West Bank, and there was nothing interesting in EDITOR'S CHOICE at the BFI London Film Festival. 

IN PRODUCTION 

Only that a new Baz Lurmann project "Jehanne d'Arc" after he abandoned his last film.

IN CONVERSATION

Two critics talk about the new film The Apprentice about Donald Trump in the 1970's and 80's. On at my local Odeon next week. 

THE PICTURES

This is a superb piece about "LIFE.Hollywood", two volumes that chart Life Magazine's photographs of behind the scenes of film sets 1936-1972. If the four published here are anything to go by, they should be amazing.

I passed on the INTERVIEW with the director of the animated feature The Wild Robot, and MEAN SHEETS with posters of Godzilla posters of the 1950's.

THE LONG TAKE 

My four favourite articles starts with Pamela Hutchinson talking about a new stage version of Dr. Strangelove, one of my all time favourite movies. With Steve Coogan ("dream casting") taking on the how many different roles? "It is the first time that the director's estate has allowed any of the director's films to be adapted for the stage". Just opened at the Noel Coward Theatre in London with a script by Armando Iannucci and directed by Sean Foley. Some early five star reviews. Maybe, for me, the film is just far too familiar.

THE MAGNIFICENT '74

Jessica Kiang this month selects Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. She calls it "subversive in a subtler way .... than it's notoriety might suggest". She gives us a run down of the plot before concluding that it may be "a manifesto for vegetarianism".

TV EYE 

It's all about Slow Horses, although Andrew Male never tells us that it's an Apple TV show. Maybe hoping for a gratuity following his grovelling support. But what made me really angry was when he says "Mick Heron's excellent series of comic spy novels". Has he ever read one? There maybe a certain droll satirical element in the seven I have read, but comic, no! If the TV series is actually comic, then I'm glad that I don't get to watch it. Male talks about the "chaos and incompetence" of Slough House. Nobody gets into MI5 if they are incompetent. These people have made a mistake that results in their banishment, but crucially, they normally save the day.

FLICK LIT

Iris Murdoch's novel The Severed Head was made into a film in 1974. I have tried to read her books, but gave up. Nicole Flattery tells us that "the book might be "odd" but the film adaptation by Dick Clement is "sheer weirdness". Ian Holm stars which gives Nicole the opportunity to say that four years after his death, his reappearance in Alien: Romulus  "was extremely distasteful". Holm appears alongside an all star cast and Nicole analyses the book and it's adaptation in some detail. A film to be "puzzled over". Or maybe not.

STEVE MCQUEEN

The big feature this month (ten pages) is about the director's new film Blitz, based on the bombing of London in 1940/41. The hero is a young black boy. Typical. I skipped through all the pages. Will I watch the film when it comes out? It will only be shown in "select UK cinemas" before "streaming globally on Apple TV". So probably not.

FAIRY TALE OF NEW YORK

A study by Beatrice Loayza of Sean Baker's new film Anora that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. All about a lap dancer "who stumbles into marrying an Oligarch's son". How does that work? This is the director's eighth move of which I enjoyed his The Florida Project. His new film is "pleasurably chaotic" with some nice shots of Brighton Beach.  I remember Mikey Madison from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I thought it would get only a limited cinema release, but I think I saw the trailer at my local Odeon.

LIVE AND LET DIE

Any new film from Pedro Almodóvar (now 75) would be of interest to me, but this one is his very first in English. The Room Next Door stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. Maria Delgado tells us that it is "an unsentimental melodrama" where most of the film is given over to these two marvellous actors talking about life. So "rooted in dialogue". She talks to the director and there are a couple of lovely stills from the movie. If it is on limited release, I might just have to break my rule and go some distance to see it.

THE VENICE FILM BULLETIN

Only notable for Almodóvar winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival courtesy of Isabelle Huppert's jury. The only other notable film for me was an adaptation of Jim Crace's book  Harvest that our book club read and I reviewed on this blog on 24th April 2014. Kieron Corless watched all the films at the festival and he says that the standout "by a distance" was I'm Still Here about the real life disappearance of an engineer.

REVIEWS: FILMS

A rambling review of Megalopolis (maybe intentionally like the film?) This was the only one of the first nine new films reviewed that I had even heard of. Then Small Things Like These, adapted from the Claire Keegan book reviewed here on 14th July 2023. The trailer for the film seems a difficult watch. Then comes Anora and The Room Next Door (both see above). Another five follows that again I had never heard of and then The Apprentice. See In Conversation above. "A profoundly forgettable saga about the rise of Donald Trump. However it seems "remarkably inoffensive" and just a "villain origin story". A French/ Belgium film The Crime is Mine looks good, based on the 1934 play. A thriller/courtroom drama. Lastly Joker: Folie a Deux. Enough said. Nothing interesting on DVD AND BLU-RAY. 

BOOKS

A new book called Box Office Poison sounds funny, all those flops. Also One Shot Hitchcock where "fifteen  scholars" each explore a single frame from a Hitchcock movie. From 1927's The Lodger to Frenzy from 1972. That might be good.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

From the Summer Edition of 1968 comes an interview with French director Jean-Pierre Melville, and in particular his film Le Samurai. I would never have been interested except this is the very same film that I was going to see at The Rex Cinema last week except it failed to screen past the opening credits. But here are six pages with some lovely stills from the film. The movie describes "several parallel worlds which never overlap but merely brush against each other from time to time". Lead actor Alain Delon "is a mystery, a complete enigma". I hope the Rex shows it again once the wrinkles have been sorted. Or find a DVD.

ENDINGS

The Miracle Worker is from 1962, little known today and I'm not surprised.

The swans are back

Early this week on a walk around the village, I found that the swans had returned to Weston Turville reservoir. I have no idea where they went to all summer. The two cygnets have now grown up. The other swan was dawdling somewhere. I was glad I had my phone with me.

The Garden in October

 

There are a few flowers that are hanging on in the middle of October. The dahlias didn't seem to mind the frost we had this week.

The odd rose is still trying to flower.

The astrantia are on their second blooming.

The campanula are sheltered around the conservatory. Again flowering for a second time after being cut back.

The asters are a late flowering plant. Just a shame mine are a boring colour.

Perhaps the most amazing flower is the hydrangea. In it's first year in the garden it has flowered again.

Last of all, the dianthus in the pots on the side patio and against the wall at the back of the house have been the most successful of the annuals.  I have made a note for next year.

Daffodils Poeticus Pheasants Eye/Recurvus

 

Yesterday I cleared all the plants from the end of the far round border. The achillea were far too tall and despite being supported, they were falling over. Next to them was what I came to believe was a rogue weed that was again too tall. I left the white anthemis nearest the camera, but these will also be moved elsewhere.

The border was soft enough to dig over with all the recent rain. I was amazed to find that the soil was really deep. I had bought two very cheap bags of compost that apparently were just right for a new border, and these were added and raked over. 

I then planted the ten daffodil bulbs around the edge. I had cleared lots of the roots from the old plants but I need to see if any still come up in the spring. Especially that weed. The daffodils will be easy to compare with any old roots or weeds. In the spring my thoughts at the moment are for a perennial fuscia in the centre and some fuscia bedding around the edge. There is a lot of shade from the hedge but these should do fine. And I can again look out for anything that shouldn't be there.

Art of Film on Sky Arts - Series 2 Episode 3 - The Corda Story

 

This episode was about three Hungarian brothers who helped to shape the British film industry. Alexander (in the centre) was the eldest and most famous. He was a producer, Zoltan was the director and Vincent  the artist. Three very contrasting personalities. Neil Norman said they loved Britain and brought a certain European glamour to their work. Kim Newman added that they wanted to make films equal to those in America so needed decent budgets. 

We hear about their Jewish background, and their miserable time in Hollywood at Fox Studios from 1926. They hated the studio system there and left for the UK in 1931.  Kim tells us they were able to make five low budget films followed by the one that made their mark all over the world. In 1933 came The Private Life of Henry V111 that was a huge success. It was series of love stories that appealed to America and Europe. Charles Laughton won the Oscar for best actor and the movie was nominated for best foreign film. Both unprecedented.

Although Alexander had lost all their money in Hollywood, he found some backing from Prudential Life Insurance to set up London Films. This culminated in 1935 with the founding of  a brand new studio complex near Denham, 165 acres, a huge operation and the largest studios in the UK at the time.

In 1939 came The Four Feathers, A big colour production directed by Zoltan Korda that was shot in Sudan. We hear that Zoltan was abroad so much seeking and immersing himself in the locations all over the world. Ian Nathan said "Zoltan has a flair for the spectacular". We hear how he came to be such a great director.

Next came The Thief of Bagdad in 1940. The youngest of the three brothers, Vincent Korda, won the Oscar for art direction. Vincent was a hugely talented artist and could have succeeded in any form of artistic venture. He "inspired so many designers in British film". He was nominated for an Oscar on three other occasions. In 1936 he was the art director for the science fiction film Things to Come adapted from the HG Wells novel that was produced by his brother Alexander. We are shown clips that demonstrate Vincent's imagination. All three presenters were really impressed that Vincent's contribution was so important to these movies.

In 1949 came perhaps Alexander's most famous film The Third Man with Orson Welles. Then in 1954 came Hobson's Choice and finally we hear about 1957's Cry, The Beloved Country. This was Zoltan's anti-apartheid film and his most personal venture. Stephen Armstrong said that he spent so much time out of the country and Neil Norman added it was "an amazing film". As was the whole episode.

Johnnie Walker retires from radio

 

After 58 years on the radio, Johnnie Walker is about to retire. He is ,after, all 79 years old and is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. I remember all those drive time shows he presented on Radio 2 from 1998. I actually looked forward to the drive home with Johnnie on the radio. My most vivid memories are those classic rock songs that he insisted on playing in full. From Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody to Telegraph Road by Dire Straits, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Peter Frampton's Show Me The Way. Happy retirement Johnnie.

The Goldman Case at the Rex Cinema Berkhamsted

 

I went to the Rex hoping to see La Samourai, a classic French film from 1967 starring Alain Delon as a hit man in trouble. But despite three attempts, we never got past the opening credits. Instead we were shown this other French movie The Goldman Case that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. This is the real life trial of Pierre Goldman adapted for dramatic licence. It was in fact a re-trial in April 1976 for this strident left wing Jewish revolutionary. He had already admitted to a number of robberies but had constantly denied the one where two people were shot and killed. 

The drama virtually all takes place in the courtroom, a set apparently created on a tennis court with a cover to give the best natural light. So a lot about race and about untrustworthy police. The witnesses we see being examined were only first found days after the offence. I was amazed that there was not any physical evidence, no firearm. The portrait of the different lawyers was excellent, his long suffering legal team have to put up with the defendant's outbursts. Goldman is volatile and angry and will not even name someone who might just clear him. Some of the witnesses are amazing. Have the police set them up? Are they trustworthy or even racist? The key detective sounds convincing until he finally lets himself down. 

But the best of all is Goldman's father. A true gentleman. Intelligent and strong.  In the end the friend who could have given him an alibi explains why he didn't. His time in custody made him frightened he would be arrested. The police had put too much pressure on him. This time he clears Goldman. The presiding judge is marvellously impartial. And he has to deal with the uproar from the defendant's supporters, cheering loudly in unison.  

The film gets a full page in this month's Sight and Sound. The review by Ginette Vincendeau gives us a lot of background to the case but less on the actual movie. "No flashbacks.....a downbeat presentation.....controversial in France".