Editorial
Yet another boring article from Mike Williams to the start of this month's review. Do we really want to watch a documentary about Salman Rushdie? Mike tells us about the 1990 action movie International Gorillay that was "banned by the BBFC because of it showing the disturbing death of Rushdie". But this new documentary seems no better. Williams wants more of Rushdie's books filmed; the only one so far is Midnight's Children.
Opening Scenes
A preview of the BFI Film Festival. Every year, this magazine looks at all the films on show. But why, oh why, is there a full page on Ken Russell's The Devils (1971) and not new movies! There are mentions of eight foreign films, none of which will get a release into mainstream cinemas. Nor those under Editor's Choice.
Under the Influence
Blake Simons introduces the American director Gregg Araki, who talks about his influences. None I had heard of.
In Production
Luna Carmoon has a new film called To Make Ends Meet. There is a short film by Bong Joon Ho. Production starts on The Brutalist director Brady Corbet's new project called The Origin of the World. But will it be the projected four hours long? Filming started in June on Sarah Polley's adaptation of Sylvia Plath's 1963 novel The Bell Jar. It stars Billie Eilish and Carey Mulligan.
In Conversation
Director Georgia Oakley talks about her new film Sense and Sensibility and how she has related to Jane Austen's novel. A very good interview with Hope Rangaswani.
Interview
Alan Davidson talks about a Blu-Ray release for Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning. But probably not for me.
Mean Sheets
Hope Rangaswani is again showing us some unique hand-painted posters of mainstream films for distribution in Ghana.
Reader's Letters
As usual, nothing interesting.
The Long Take
Pamela Hutchinson is inspired by Samamtha Morton's brilliant depiction of Circe in The Odyssey (the bruising sincerity of Morton's performance) and looks at many other single-scene successes.
Flick Lit
Nicole Flattery talks about Lena Dunham and her new memoir, Fame-sick. Now that is quite interesting, but why then a major turn to Mike Leigh's 1997 film Career Girls, whose plot is revealed in detail?
TV Eye
Andrew Male on Elizabeth Merriweather's eight-part crime thriller, Furious. It's on Disney+. So did I need to read anymore? Well, I did and know it's not worth watching anyway.
Jane Schoenbrun and Camp Marisma
A twelve-page article plus the front cover of this month's magazine. Katie McCabe talks to the American writer/director, who says she is "committing to excess rather than restraint. We hear about her background, her earlier experiments in film culminating in the success of Were All Going to the World's Fair (2021). It was about the "internet subculture". Then came 2024's I Saw the TV Glow, about television shows of the 1990s.
Now comes Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Marisma, starring Gillian Anderson (Billy Presley) and Hannah Einbinder as Kris. "A satirical send-up of the 1980s slasher genre." It's how one of these original movies spawned many sequels that get ever more violent. But it's the first time that the two sit down to watch. One having appeared in the movie forty years ago and the other a hard core fan.
Katie and Jane talk about the 1980s slasher boom, but here on VHS, "If it gets too real, you can always turn it off." That message is posted over the door to the old cinema. Katie calls
Kris "tightly wound". We hear about the invention of the term "the final girl" by film critic Carol J Clover and then about the director's new book Public Access: Afterworld.
However, there is this long attack on "every major studio and distributor" who passed on her film. Jane goes on and on about the twelve men who decide about what gets made. " They don't feel great about the progress that queer storytellers have made over the past decade."
Jane Schoenbrun: Film by Film
All her feature films are described by the director.
Building Camp Miasma
For the snowy mountains we have "hand-painted mountain backdrops". The artist is Kyle Moore. We hear about Jane's influences, including Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Secretary (2002), where it's about "two freaks finding each other". Which could be a tag line for Camp Miasma.
Anatomy Lesson
An introduction by John Bleasdale of a conversation between Nicolas Winding Refn and Dario Argento, preceded by a rundown of their earlier movies. "We have arranged their conversation in an anatomical order." So here we go:
EYES
Nicolas is colour blind. Dario thinks his new film is quite complex.
EARS
They talk about the music.
NOSE
All about the film Suspira.
HEART
Nicolas says a year ago he was dead for twenty minutes and "brought back to life with electricity". (Have we heard of that somewhere?)
RIBCAGE
He didn't have to have heart surgery. There is an opening of a chest in his new movie.
GUT
All about the film Valhalla Rising.
HANDS
Apparently Nicolas has the softest hands.
BRAIN
The cinematic devices that Nicolas uses to penetrate the watcher's brain.
PHYSICAL REMAINS
About his film Suspira and physical decomposition.
Direct Action
Philip Concannon looks at twenty-five years in film of director David Ayer. His latest movie is The Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt. We hear about Ayer's earlier films from Training Day (2001) and through "twenty-five years of forging thrills". Many of those with Jason Statham. The new film "solely features Pitt and his canine companion". Alone in a wilderness after a plane crash.
Ayer talks about all the preparation he does for his action sequences. "It's physics, it's geometry, it's trigonometry, it's motion," and lots more. It's all very interesting, especially when they talk about the tank battles in Fury. Apparently Ayer operates the camera quite a bit.
At the movies with ..... Salman Rushdie
Nick James introduces his interview, which includes Rushdie's life, favourite films and his screenwriting and cameo roles. Not at all interesting.
Dancing at the Revolution
Sarah Moldoror has a season of her films at the BFI Southbank. None of any interest.
All About My Mother
The curator of this BFI Southbank season is ....... her mother.
Who Cares
Jonathan Romney discusses with the writer/director Lance Hammer his new film Queen at Sea that is set in London. It stars Tom Courtney, Anna Calder-Marshall and Juliette Binoche. So a top-notch cast. And guess what, it's about old age, infirmity and dementia, so not particularly uplifting. It's Hammer's first feature since 2008. Set in Tuffnel Park, north London. The whole film is about the repercussions of an intimate moment between the old couple. Why would the daughter involve the police? I cannot think that would ever happen, despite her mother's dementia. All the long discussions about "social and medical procedures". Does not sound like my cup of tea. More interesting is the background to the casting.
Reviews
They start with a double-page review by Kate Stables of Bad Apples. It stars Soirse Ronan as a teacher under stress. A kind of satire about modern schooling. A well-written review, but maybe not a film for me.
I will pass on the documentary Knife that looks at Salman Rushdie's recovery from that brutal assault. Also pass on the horror film Leviticus.
I have already seen The End of Oak Street. Not a great review by Kim Newman, as there is nothing to add to mine.
Emsan Khoshbakht reviews Everybody Digs Bill Evans, a dramatised documentary about the jazz pianist. But apparently "it's not about jazz, nor is it about Bill Evans, the pianist. It's more of a family story." The film takes place between June and October of 1961, between a recording and its release. Adapted from the novel Intermission (2013) by Owen Martell. "It's magic .... lay in tracing loss in the passing of time." The things and people he had lost. But will it get a cinema release?
Henry K. Miller this time looking at Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. A comedy drama from David Wain, his first film for eight and a half years. A pretty weird premise sees Zoey Deutch tracking down the real-life John Hamm as revenge for her husband's infidelity with Jennifer Anniston. A trail across Los Angeles where she gathers helpers along the way. An American comedy that might be OK, but not really for me.
The Weight is reviewed by Philip Concannon, and he is impressed with this thriller starring Ethan Hawke. "A stellar performance" as a miner helping to smuggle loot during the depression. But apart from director Padraic McKinley apparently bungling a set piece, "it's a solid and often impressive adventure".
Philip Kemp and a review of Tony. (See mine). Despite the fact that he congratulates Dominic Sessa and Leo Woodall for their performances, "the film is stolen (as it often is) by Antonio Banderas as Chef. It's a tale of a real-life chef in his earlier loutish non-cooking days. There is a "summery haze" over Provincetown. "The prevailing mood is relaxed and entertaining."
Extra Geography is only a small film from Molly Manners, based on a short story by Rose Tremain. Simran Hans tells us about two high-achieving girls at a boarding school becoming inspired over the summer by the plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream. They also decide to fall in love with the next person they see. Geography teacher Miss Delavigne. It stars Marnie Duggan and Galaxie (?) Clear. Might be interesting if it ever gets a mainstream release.
Giovanni Marchini Camia reviews Her Private Hell, written, produced and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (see previous article). Again, a really weird but interesting film from the director of Neon Demon and Dtive. (See my reviews). This time we are in a "dystopian metropolis", and Elle (Sophie Thatcher) is in a tower block where there is a serial killer on the loose. Before this movie, Refn had been away making two streaming series on Amazon and Netflix, neither of which were renewed. No surprise there.
I'm not sure about the alternative plot set in Japan, but the review says "it's more satisfying partly because the action keeps things lively". Also because the lead actor in this part Charles Melton, is "by far the most talented actor here". The review has lots about the music that "plays almost without pause". Finally we hear this is "Refn's version of a fairytale" and "with buckets of gore".
Rachel Pronger has a full-page review for Queen at Sea. Despite my reservations, she says, "This is an impressively subtle film." See the earlier article.
DVD and Blu-Ray
Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works. This is a collection of films from Jean-Luc Goddard. Henry K Miller warns us, "You have to accept you will not understand it."
Lost and Found
The only one I recognise is Billy Liar, relegated to a minor review by Kate Stables. She says it's "a glorious 4K transfer".
Wider Screen
I wish we had something more interesting than two unmade screenplays by Alex Cox.
Books
The Edges of Cinema: Essays on Twenty-first Century Film Culture by Erika Balsom and reviewed by Imogen Sara Smith. But this is definitely not about mainstream movies but "the effects of duration, stillness or movement, tactility, and sound" in films. It's more a collection of pieces, "many from the end of Covid and Black Lives Matter". Not for me.
Kinky Bio
Here is an article in Sight and Sound from twenty-four years ago. It's by Ryan Gilby about what was then a new film: 24 Hour Party People by director Michael Winterbottom. It's definitely of its time, set in 1976-1992, when Tony Wilson established Factory Records in 1980s Manchester. And the Hacienda nightclub. The film is being re-released in October. But the article is way too serious with much academic research, so it's really hard work.
This Month in ...... 1954
Jay Leyda talked about Kurosawa's Rashamon (1950) that won an Oscar. Also a review of On the Waterfront (see my recent post) and Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. It was called at the time graceless. How opinions have changed.
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