It's years since I saw a film twice, but I am hooked on the music in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. And, for me, this is all down to Anne Dudley. This is someone I had never heard of, but if I had been watching the credits on Poldark, I would have known she wrote the music. Obviously this time the songs are so familiar, but her score is absolutely outstanding.
Lets start with the instrumentals, or what would be sometimes called incidental music as a background to the action. I spent most of the second time trying to spot the song that has been translated into the score and not sung in the movie. According to the website: www.abbaomnibus.net/mammamia/2/songs.htm there are nine of these, but I only remembered "Let The Music Speak", "Chiquita" (twice), "The Day Before You Came", "Does Your Mother Know", "Take a Chance on Me", "Our Last Summer" and "Slipping Through My Fingers". I didn't hear "Honey, Honey" or "Money, Money, Money". But some only last a few moments. So I will just have to go again to find out.
I was surprised that the instrumental title track from "Arrival" was not there. I will listen for it next time. Then there are those instrumentals in the end credits medley for which it is worth staying in your seat. And not just for Omid Djalili at the very end.
Then there are little instrumental gems some time before the main song: "Knowing Me Knowing You", "The Name Of The Game", "Take A Chance On Me", "Thank You For The Music", "Angel Eyes" and "Dancing Queen". But of all the reworked orchestrations, the one that dazzled me the first time and devastated me the second was the introduction to "One Of Us". It is the most heartbreaking few moments I have experienced in a film for a long time. This time there is no vocal over the instrumental opening and those wonderful chords sweep you into what you know is coming next. I have listened to it a few times on YouTube, but it does not match the impact in the cinema.
So thank you Anne Dudley for the score. It is amazing how a new interpretation can sometimes blow you away. What about the rest of the movie? Well, far, far superior to the original. The back story with Lily James and a young cast is well constructed, and their ensemble numbers are brilliant. For me, the film does slightly lag as the fathers arrive and the hotel opening draws near. But the only one hammy moment was when Cher spots an old flame. Otherwise a complete joy.
Mission Impossible - Fallout is all action. Tom Cruise heads his usual crew into some marvellous action scenes in a beautifully filmed Paris. Some of the stunts are ridiculous, but hey, this is Mission IMPOSSIBLE. Well over two hours but the time went so fast. How Tom manages to do so much physical stuff at his age I will never know. Great entertainment.
The Bookshop is a small British movie that I saw in a one off showing for a packed Senior Screen (£3.45!). I loved the book by Penelope Fitzgerald and the best parts of the film were those that adopted her text, particularly the narration. It was such a strange idea to film a book of only 150 pages which is pretty sombre, if not sad. Director Isabel Coixet has changed a few things, thank goodness, but she is reliant on a terrific performance from Emily Mortimer . I still preferred the book.
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