Editorial
Tilly Norwood: unexpected item in Hollywood
Mike Williams is not impressed with this A I creation of Tilly Norwood, so his article is one long (deserved) rant against A I in movies. He calls it "a trojan horse for corporate control" and "I cannot believe that anyone who cares about film, arts, creativity, rights and human connection would ever think Tilly Norwood is a good idea". He ends his article with "this is a warning ...... we must reject this machine that drains our humanity for profit etc etc".
Opening Scenes
Once Upon a Time in Tillywood
Dominic Lees this time goes on about whether it is " a violation of copyright". But later on we find Tilly only appears for ten seconds in a two minute "comedy sketch". He goes on to spell out the problems involved in casting an A I performer. "The total artificiality of A I actors means they will lack the human-to-human connection with the audience".
Editor's Choice
Nothing of interest.
In Production, News and Preview
Interesting but not noteworthy.
In Conversation
Catherine Bray talks to Lynne Ramsay about her new film Die, My Love. Jennifer Laurence plays a new mother "who's on the edge and unravelling". Robert Pattinson plays her husband. This is a really good interview about this film and Jennifer's other movies.
Festival
The Dinard Festival of British and Irish Film is actually (and strangely) based in the French seaside resort of Dinard. Winner of the Hitchcock d'Or (just because he was rumoured to have stayed there) was the British film Dragonfly. It stars Brenda Blethwyn, Andrea Risborough and Jason Watkins. One to look out for.
Obituary - Diane Keaton
Hannah McGill reminds us that Diane won the best actress Oscar for her role in Annie Hall (1977). As well as all those Nancy Meyers films, she was superb as Kay Corleone in The Godfather where she actually represented the audience. I didn't know that later she was a producer and director.
Mean Sheets
All about Drew Struzan and his "poster work for a series of classic films". More than 150 posters for many of the major franchises. We see four that include Blade Runner: The Final Cut and Back to the Future.
Reader's Letters
Interesting but nothing to report.
The Long Take
Taking the release of the movie The Mastermind as it's theme, Pamela Hutchinson talks about other heist films. These include Jules Dassin's Rafifi (see my review), Ocean's 11 and more. The new movie does sound as if the heist, an art theft, was a "shambolic effort". Pamela adds that "this is a film about state sponsored violence" that might be more awful than the crimes on display. Josh O'Connor stars and a role for Alana Haim (who keeps cropping up).
Flick Lit
The inspiration for Nicole Flattery's article is Ari Aster's film Eddington where she describes "the pervasiveness of screens in every day life" and "how we are at the mercy of systems we don't understand". A small town in New Mexico is the setting where everyone knows everyone and they are all on their phones. It all ends nastily. But it's a quote from English writer JG Ballard that sets this off: "like living in a theme park that never ends". Nicole refers to his novel Super-Cannes (2000) "where the deluge of information of corporate language" is all out in the open. I remembered, like Nicole, two films adapted from Ballard's books: Crush and the even more disturbing High Rise. His Super-Cannes sounds even worse.
TV Eye
Andrew Male is in praise of Cheers (1982 93). Well, for the first five seasons anyway. "Try watching the subsequent six seasons without cringing". Andrew loves how Shelley Long as Diane "becomes the show's vital moral centre" and how her relationship with owner Ted Danson's Sam is a "love-hate romance". She is the "erudite graduate student" dumped by her fiancé. I can only vaguely remember an episode or two, Alison was a big fan. Must find something to watch.
Shoot to Thrill
Kathryn Bigelow and her new movie A House of Dynamite. But only on Netflix!!! Here we have eight pages where Henry K Miller interviews the great director. This is her first film for eight years since Detroit (2017). The new film is a political thriller "moving forward with the relentlessness of a rocket". There is a lot here about her previous films (seen them all) and her career. Shame I will have to wait for a long time to see new one.
Enemy of the State
Jonathon Romney talks to Jafar Panahi about his Palme d'Or winning film It Was Just An Accident. It was based on his experiences in prison in Iran. More than once. All about his battles with the regime. We hear about all the films he has made. Now his latest comes across as "Panahi's most direct attack on the Iranian regime".
Pinch Me
Jane Giles tells us all about Harry Lighton's first feature film Pillion. A romantic comedy drama, but hold on. It stars Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling. A world premier in Cannes, no less. But when Jane makes reference to films such as The Servant (Joseph Losey 1963) and My Beautiful Launderette (the Stephen Frears classic from 1985) they all have something in common. Pillion is adapted from the novel Box Hill. We hear much about Lighton's history, and when asked about his influences, he includes Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World (see my post 14th April 2022). There are lots of references to songs, lots about motorbikes. See review later.
Once upon a Crime
The documentaries Zodiac Killer Project (directed by Charlie Shackleton) and Predators (directed by David Osit) are discussed with Nick Bradshaw about true crime films. But the article is just a mess and I had never heard of any of the other movies in what is described as a "true crime frenzy".
Critical Thinking
I had never heard of Laura Mulvey, the "film theorist, essayist and academic" who is being awarded the BFI Fellowship. Here are eight pages about her. Apparently her most famous work is "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema" (1975). I found it on the internet but was lost from the very first sentence. It starts "this paper intends to use psychoanalysis ..... etc". There is an interview with Isabel Stevens about her life and her time at Oxford. They talk about lots of films I had never heard of, many of which are old black and white movies.
Reviews - Films
The first three reviewed are for strange (but worthy?) films: Left Handed Girl (Taiwan), The Ice Tower (France) on at The Rex in mid December, and The Thing with Feathers (UK, France and Sweden) with Benedict Cumberbatch as a sad, mad, dad. Then Palestine 36 and Park Avenue are reviewed before we get to a mainstream release The Choral. See my review. Philip Concannon was not impressed, although Ralph Fiennes was "as watchable as ever". Agreed.
I would love to see Paul Greengrass's The Lost Bus but it's only on Apple TV+. Although the script is not great. Train Dreams is yet another Netflix film starring Joel Egerton, set in early 20th century Idaho. Then, at last Nicolas Rapolo reviews the Richard Linklater film Blue Moon. Ethan Hawke plays lyricist Lorenzo Hart with "unflagging energy". A "sparkling script" by Robert Kaplow (Me and Orson Welles see my review) and reunited with the same director. "Rest in peace Rogers and Hart, and long live Linklater and Hawke". On at Cineworld next week!
Jay Kelly is more Netflix with Noah Baumbatch directing George Clooney and an all star cast. Pillion is reviewed by John Bleasdale (see previous article). Lesley Sharp appears in a sub-plot in a "spirited performance". Anemone with "the long absent Daniel Day Lewis with his son directing his first film. They jointly wrote the script about a former British soldier in self imposed exile in a cabin in the woods. Springsteen - Deliver Me From Nowhere (see my review) is discussed by Vikram Murthi. This is an artist struggling with his own demons, taking himself off to that isolated mansion to record "these short story songs". However, our reviewer Says that the "real life anecdotes .... are depicted in such hackneyed terms that they feel invented". So not a good review.
I have seen the trailer for I Swear a number of times but decided it was not for me. All about a youth finding he has Tourette's Syndrome. All very worthy and maybe after all the early upsets it may have an uplifting ending. Nick Hasted tells us that the real life John Davidson has been the subject of three BBC documentaries with John awarded an MBE in 2019. Here the film "leans into laughs" and is a "confidently crafted, feel good film". It Was Just An Accident is described in the section Enemy of the State. Being awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes seems more of a "well done" to the director where it required filming in secret with a hand held camera. A tale of revenge on a man stranded in a small town who may or not be their old foe of state torture.
Die My Love stars Jennifer Laurence as that young mum who goes off the rails when the child is born. Jessica Kiang calls it "harrowing, beautiful and very possibly cursed". As Grace unravels, director Lynne Ramsay "asks a lot of the viewer and then, pointedly, somehow admirably, ignores the answer". The director just wants us to feel Grace's pain.
Reviews in Brief
Only a very short paragraph for Nuremberg (too long) and Relay.
DVD and Blu-Ray
A volume of three Japanese ghost stories. That's all.
Lost and Found
Evdokia (1971) is, apparently "one of the greatest Greek films".
Archive TV
Object Z (1965) is a six part sci fi series seen on ITV. "A curio rather than a restored classic". Then Kaizo Hayashi's Maiku Hama Trilogy - three detective movies from 1994-6. Then Ken Russell's Altered States, at least I have heard of this one. "A philosophical monster movie" from 1980 says Nick Hasted.
Wider Screen - The The Chronicles of Tilda
There is an exhibition in Amsterdam about the life and work of Tilda Swinton. As well as a cinema, there are exhibits such as "sculpture, installations, photos and costumes".
Books
Film Criticism and British Film Culture.: New Shots in the Dark. A book of essays from various film critics. Another book called The Carbon Arc is a collection of essays on cinema by "a rich pool of contributors" resulting in a "intriguing, bewildering pick and mix".
From the Archive - a Time to Love
From Sight and Sound Magazine of march 2003, Richard Falcon looked at Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven (2002) starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid that is set in Hartford, Connecticut in 1957. She catches her husband with another man. However it's not long before her association with Dennis Haysbert's gardener takes a different turn. The fact that he is black ups the stakes. "Looks as beautiful as falling leaves" . (See my review of Todd's film Carol). Richard tells us Todd's film is a "unique homage to the films of Douglas Sirk" especially in relation to this directors' All That Heaven Allows" (1955). The 2002 film is a "ravishing experience" and a top melodrama. With a great Elmer Bernstein score. The colour and retro style looks wonderful. We see two stills from each movie. But the article gets caught up in harping back to Sirk's movie and comparing the two. And then we have another whole page from that 2003 edition about the same two movies.
This Month in ....... 1965
The cover and centrepiece of this issue was all about Buster Keaton. Surprisingly for that year, nothing else was of interest.
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