Editorial
Mike Williams talks about the new Welsh language film from Marc Evans called Effi o Blaenau. It's based upon a Gary Owen play. For some reason Mike compares it with The Odyssey. Not sure why.
Opening Scenes
Tom Charity writes a long obituary of Tony Rayns, a film journalist. Apparently he was a promoter of Asian movies. Six Asian filmmakers pay tribute. They include Bong Joon Ho and John Woo.
Editor's Choice
Nothing of interest. Just that the Cinema Museum in Kennington needs funds.
In Production
Steven Sodderbergh's Ascenso is a Spanish/American war film. It has a finished script but as yet no funding.
News
In Brief. A planned £1 billion film studio in Kentish Town has received planning permission from Camden Council.
In Conversation
Thomas Flew talks to writer/director Matt Johnson about his new film, Tony, the "early mythology" of the soon-to-be-famous chef played by Dominic Sessa. It also stars Antonio Banderos and Leo Woodall and takes place over one summer in the 1970s. The location is Provincetown, Mass. (See post of the 8th June 2011). I have seen the trailer at the cinema, and it looks quite good.
Obituary
David Thomson writes about Sam Neil, who died on 13th July 2026. A run through of his films including so many as a supporting actor.
Festival
It's Bologna that hosts "Il Cinema Ritrovato". Rachel Pronger describes "this celebration of rediscovered and restored cinema" and its fortieth anniversary. Films I recognised included a late-night screening of Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter and an outdoor screening of Wild at Heart (1990). There are obviously lots of movies of which I had never heard.
Mean Sheets
Posters of movies by Pedro Almodovar.
Reader's Letters
The following example is why I never include the letters here. One includes a reprimand for all those contributors who mistakenly name Marilyn Monroe's character in Some Like It Hot as Sugar Kane when it should be Sugar Cane.
The Long Take
Pamela Hutchinson talks about Rudolf Valentino, who died at the young age of thirty-one a hundred years ago this month. I had not realised he was a gay icon.
Flick Lit
Nicole Flattery reviews Rachel Cusk's new book Life of M. Is this actually a biography of Natalie Portman or some kind of fictionalised account? Nicole describes a scene from the book as a mature actress watches a film (Brady Corbet's Vox Lux) where she appears as a girl. Cusk has, apparently, taken the celebrity biography and "renovated it, transforming it into something stranger, more obtuse, and far more memorable". Nicole recalls actresses in films and wonders what constant performance does to a woman. She picks her favourite of these: May December.
TV Eye
Andrew Male drones on about a Netflix adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. Why not something original?
Epic Proportions – The Christopher Nolan Interview
Christopher Frayling introduces this "epic" article of fourteen pages dedicated to the making of The Oddyssey. The nearly three hundred-year-old epic poem by Homer. Filmed in ninety-one days on budget in multiple locations. Then onto the interview.
Nolan says, "It's got one of the most radical non-linear structures." So we can blame Homer and not Nolan. There is a discussion about the first ten minutes: "flashback and flashback within flashback". Nolan says, "I do like films you want to see more than once" ... "things that on subsequent viewing would be revealed". Or is it to add to the box office? They talk about how the book contains all these stories: fantasy, horror, thriller, and love story. "I do like films that have layers of presentation and meaning. " And his certainly do.
Christopher discusses the director's influences, including Ran (see my posts of 18th October and 21st November 2023). Nolan says it's "an extraordinary piece of work, and when I look at our finished film, I see more of Ran's influence than I was expecting". (But Ran is King Lear. So it cannot be the plot? What else? Maybe the huge action sequences?)
They go on to discuss the music and instrumentation. All quite original. Nolan talks about the difference between visual effects and special effects. He takes the "feelings I get from the poem" and not the text itself. They talk about the Tojan Horse being, at first, on its side, and a reference point seems to be from Plant of the Apes and the Statue of Liberty. (I can see that).
When Nolan gets to the ending with Odysseus and Penelope, he has preserved what he thinks is an ambiguity in "one of the greatest scenes in literature". He refers to the 2024 movie The Return when this scene is a crucial part. They discuss why all the actors speak with an American accent so all the characters are consistent. (I thought it was a mistake, but maybe only because I'm British, like Nolan). The interview also contains a lot of technical stuff which is too much for this review.
A Mad Imax Saga
All about the challenges of shooting with the IMAX cameras. They were originally so noisy that they had to make a high-tech box to "flip the camera into". But they were quite clumsy. "A lot of experimentation, a lot of innovation." Is it really that an IMAX magazine only lasts three minutes? They had to use six different cameras.
I was very glad that I saw the film before I read this interview. But the next time I do, it will be interesting.
New York State of Mind
A really strange article by Becca Voelcker, all about the influence of the city of New York on two particular movies: Chantal Ackerman's News From Home (if I read another word about this director, it will be too soon) and Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver. Becca is an American, talking about New York and how it was back in the days when these movies were made. But there was too much boring stuff: "Ackerman parked the camera in geometrical framings of the city's grubby eateries, sidewalks and transit systems. "On and on she drones. Then later, "New York in 2026 stands on foundations shaken by funding cuts, a cost of living crisis and glaring inequality. "She is "unsure when or whether to come back." Who decided to publish the worst article I have read in any edition of Sight and Sound?
Then seven films from the 1970s with "New York in Freefall".
Effi's Odyssey
If the previous article was bad enough, here is Gary Owen telling us all about his new film, Effi a Blaenau. (See Editorial). Avoid at all costs. It began as a play, hosted by the National Theatre, among others. Owen congratulates himself on "captivating audiences". And now turning the play into a film. Is that from seventy minutes on stage to three hours on TV? All in the Welsh language!
Interview with a Vampire
Hurrah! Here is Pedro Almodovar. Maria Delgado (in translation) talking about the director's new film, Bitter Christmas, strangely released at the end of August. Maria then interviews Almodovar, and they discuss his earlier films and how he came to make his new one. Here, "the writer and director of this fictional movie is its villain. " Pedro says, "We writers can become dangerous for the people around us," and later, "I've clearly been inspired by things from my life, but I try not to hurt anyone." And so "I wanted to be hard on myself."
(I have to admit I rushed through those parts with too much detail about the plot in case I find somewhere to watch it. But as it's in Spanish, it might be difficult to find.) They go on to discuss the actress Barbara Lennie, who had a small part in Almodovar's brilliant The Skin I Live In. He's not sure if he will ever do another film in English after his The Room Next Door. even though his experience was "very positive".
Cult Heaven and Hell
Inspired by a conversation during the film Bitter Christmas, here are some cult films for consideration. They include Arrebato (1979), Eraserhead (1977), Suspiria (1995), and Wanda (1970). But the best might be Opening Night (1977) with Gena Rowlands.
A Womb of One's Own
The Chilean director Maite Alberdi talks about her new film, A Child of My Own. Thank goodness it's on Netflix, as it's not really for me.
REVIEWS
Late Fame. Kent Jones directs Willem Dafoe as an ex-poet (how does that work?) maybe being rediscovered by a bunch of wannabe literary guys from The Enthusiasm Society. The screenplay is by Samy Burch (May December (2023) only on Netflix) from the novel by Arthur Schnitzler.
& Sons. Co-written by Sarah Polley, who won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for Women Talking (2022). Apparently this new movie has a "big narrative twist", which we have to wait and see. However, reviewer Adam Nayman thinks that Bill Nighy (a recluse and brilliant novelist, who else?) might be acting on autopilot. But "the longer the film goes, the more of a drag it becomes".
Disclosure Day
See my review. Kate Stables talks about "the alternating taut, masterly action sequences with baggy sentimental excursions". And later, "There's two-thirds of a fine movie here." Dead right.
Bitter Christmas
Jessica Kiang reviews the latest film from Pedro Almodovar. It's all about Raul, a successful filmmaker (who else) played by Leonardo Sbaraglia. It's the story of the departure of Raul's long-time assistant that he uses for his next movie. But it's "not particularly bitter, nor very Christmassy". The pompous director takes his characters to Lanzarote, of all places. "An already tenuous movie starts to feel borderline abstract." It all sounds like the growing pains of a script for his new film.
There is a side column where three fictional screenwriters are writing autofiction. One of them is Art Museum by the Zoo, which might be interesting.
The Death of Robin Hood
Not the most obvious movie to be chosen by Sophia Satchell-Baeza to review, but this might be the finest writing I have come across for a very long time. Especially the last three sentences. The film is written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, "a stark retelling" with an ultra-violent beginning as elderly Robin (Hugh Jackman) goes haywire. When he ends up recuperating in priory, the film settles down where "he finds in nature a kind of healing". Sister Brigid, played by Jodie Comer (hurrah), and Little Margaret show him what he has been missing all his life. "Jackman brings a subtle poignancy (who would have thought) to his portrayal of a man desensitised by a brutal life of crime." The trailer looks OK.
There follows a Q & A with the director about his source material.
Pressure
Henry K. Miller reviews David Haig's play about weather forecasters for the invasion of 6th June 1944 that Haig has adapted for the big screen. But without a mention for the writer! It stars Andrew Scott as weatherman James Stagg, and the film is produced by Working Title (hurrah). However, Miller is less convinced by "Stagg's clashes with an American meteorologist, Irving Crick, played by Chris Messina, which is dismayingly crude in substance and execution". But then "buried under the historically dubious theatrics - too many to list - is a more interesting film about the philosophy of weather. "Thank goodness.
The Odyssey
Catherine Wheatley's long review of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is far superior to that by Tom Shone in The Sunday Times. Although she says at the end that "it's a shame that in order to save cinema, Nolan has sacrificed storytelling." Exactly how I felt first time round. Catherine mentions the "clunky anachronistic dialogue". (I thought that too). Also that "Nolan is more interested in his medium than his material. " (A little harsh). And then "squeezing twenty years into three hours was never going to be easy." She uses Circe as an example: "Odysseus spends a year with her and fathers two sons." (Maybe it helped that I didn't know all this). Catherine thinks we don't get enough time with Robert Pattinson's "campy Antinous". (I thought we got too much). She also thinks that Memento and Inception are a "fitting match to Homer's poem". But Catherine does finally admit it's a "tour de force" and one "that should be watched and appreciated in film theatres". (And like me, she has seen all Christopher Nolan films).
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Blake Simons reviews this film written and directed by Jane Shoenbrun (I saw the TV glow) about a film within a film. This time is based on the fictional "cult horror" franchise Camp Miasma. It is reawakened by a new filmmaker, Kris (an endearingly bashful Hannah Einbinder), who tracks down the original star, Billy Pressley, played by ....... Gillian Anderson no less. Sounds interesting.
DVD and Blu-Ray
The Outfit is a 1973 reissue starring Robert Duval. Reviewer Sam Wigley concludes, "There are so many moments that impress in their visual conviction and lived-in authenticity."
I'm avoiding Hairspray (1988), The Pornographers (Japan 1966) and Les Magiciennes (1974), as well as lots of others of which I had never heard.
Wider Screen
Another long article, this time all about William Greaves and a run down of his top ten films. All small unknown movies.
Books
The Machine that kills bad people: Notes on a Film Club. Various contributors. Philip Concannon talks about a group showing more obscure films at bi-monthly intervals at the ICA in London from 2018 to June this year.
There is also a new biography of director Richard Fleisher.
From the Archive
The Discreet Murderer of the Bourgoursie.
From Sight and Sound's Winter Edition 1970/71 is a six-page interview of the French New Wave director Claude Chabrol. Rui Nogueira and Nicoletta Zulaff ask the questions. Chabrol talks about his influences and his time as a projectionist. He also contributed to the English films in a book about Alfred Hitchcock. Then his film Les Biches was the turning point in his career. There is a great large photo of his second wife, Stephane Andrau, in La Femme Infidele. He is asked why all his heroines are called Helene. Because most countries would recognise the name. Films later in his career featured one of my favourite actresses, Isabelle Hupert. Will check these out. They include La Ceremonie and Madame Bovery.
This month in ..... 1971
On the cover is a "vibrant orange" picture from A Clockwork Orange. Reviews include those for Klute and Carnal Knowledge. There is also an interview with documentary makers Albert and David Maysles, their latest feature being the now iconic Gimme Shelter: the last weeks of the Rolling Stones tour of the USA in 1969 and that infamous Altamont free concert.
