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tv   The Film Review  BBC News  February 4, 2017 11:45pm-12:00am GMT

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fact that we are finding ourselves in this new unknown age. what's america going to do? what's happening with iran and russia? so making sure that we are up to our capabilities and we can sort of send off a ny capabilities and we can sort of send off any aggressive force that comes towards us and that's quite important. at this isn't new. we've seen this kind of thing happened before with aircraft carriers being ordered to carry aircraft and the trident missile heading towards america rather than the middle east. it quickly, the sunday times. —— very quickly. cuts of 2096. this is because they don't want to be named and shamed because of the amount of sugarin and shamed because of the amount of sugar in chocolate bars, so instead of reducing the amount of sugar they have to meet government targets for reducing sugar, they will make them smaller. —— and having to meet. they say the american food giant behind
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cadbury will take a bite out of it. that's not necessarily a bad thing. my children are addicted to chocolate and the idea of me trying to give them a carrot as a treat probably wouldn't go down so well. so if someone has taken a choice out of my hands... do you not think you would just buy two? well we won't be able to buy carrots any more anyway! the vegie shortage! anyway, thank you very much. that's it for the papers this hour. coming up next, it's the film review. hello, and a warm welcome to the film review on bbc news, and taking us through this week's
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cinema releases is mark kermode. mark, what delights do you have for us this week? well, we are, as you know, in awards season, so we have loving, an oscar—nominated drama. we have gold, the new film starring matthew mcconaughey. and toni erdmann, oscar—nominated two—and—three—quarter—hour german comedy. i look forward to hearing what you have to say about that. loving first of all — a true story about a couple who helped to change the law in america. it is a true story, absolutely. ruth negga is up for a best actress oscard for her portrayal of mildred, the pregnant bride of richard loving. this is in the 1960s in virginia. the couple get married in washington, dc, because there is less paperwork. they come back to start building their home only to be arrested, imprisoned, and forced to leave the state, which does not agree with their marriage. they are not allowed to be married. so they have to move away.
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they write a letter to bobby kennedy and it gets passed onto the aclu. despite the fact they are very private people, and the film is a keen to point out how much they wanted to keep themselves to themselves, the next thing they know they find themselves in the middle of a battle which is going from court to court, and apparently all the way to the supreme court. here is a clip. you go to the virginia state court next, right? yes. are you nervous? i suppose. the lawyers told us not to expect much. you think you'll lose? well, yes. but i think it's all right. we may lose the small battles but win the big war. michael shannon there is the photojournalist grey villet, and ruth negga, brilliant as mildred loving. what i really like about this film is it is basically a love story
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between these two people, who are ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances, and they didn't really want to be part of something that became a huge nationwide case. whatjeff nichols does — and in the past he has directed take shelter and mud — is he resists any form of grandstanding. as the story goes on, it becomes apparent this is a really important case which will have really significant effects. but he keeps us focused on them and their relationship. it is hard to remember the last time a film... i mean, the opportunities for grandstanding — in the courtroom, banging tables — are so many. and yet he doesn't do that — he keeps his focus on them as the central couple. and joel edgerton is actually terrific as richard loving. and he keeps it small scale, which means as the larger machinations happen when you stay focused on the central couple and their relationship. you believe in them, you care about them and invest in them. it becomes that most brilliant of things, a very personal story that tells a much wider message,
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but does not feel the need to wave... it is very apparent what is going on through the detail, through a scene in which they hold hands, in the car, through a scene in which he talks about his dream for building their home. i thought it was very well played and very well made, and admirably understated. that is a rarity nowadays. let's move on now to gold. not understated. it has been compared to wolf of wall street. matthew mcconaughey, great actor. put on a load of weight, i think, for this, didn't he? and, in a way, you have basicallyjust done the review there. laughter. so that's it. i think the wolf of wall street or, you know, a sheep in wolf of wall street's clothing is the better way of explaining it. so matthew mcconaughey plays a central character who runs a mining company, on hard times. he decides to invest all his money in a dig in indonesia. they strike gold. the next thing you know champagne corks are popping, the stocks are going up, and this can only end one way. and there are moments in it which seem particularly to refer
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to wolf of wall street, but it doesn't have anything like the dazzle of that film. what you do see, yes, matthew mcconaughey, as you say, he seems to have put on a lot of weight and lost a lot of hair, and he looks genuinely bedraggled in certain scenes. but that is not enough for the film. for the film you need to be involved in the character, in the story, and notjust thinking, "i have seen this done before and better elsewhere." i did spend an awful lot of it thinking, you know, this is a kind of showcase for that performance. and that is not enough to build a film on. you keep expecting it to kick in and engage your sympathies, and it never does. it has all the potential but, in the end, it isjust a bit... and, i confess, a little bit boring. yeah, because he was in dallas buyers club and so brilliant. no, he is a really really good performer. but itjust doesn't work in this movie? the film itself... you know, anyone is only as good as the script. originally the script was apparently pitched as treasure of the sierra madre. to which i can only say, yeah — in its dreams. laughter.
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all right, so that's gold — not 2a carat, i think, is what you're saying. absolutely not. let's move on to toni erdmann, a german comedy, which might not appeal to a lot of our viewers, but convince us. ok, so sandra huller is the star and she's absolutely brilliant. a career woman with a rather soul crushing job working for a consultancy firm, working for an oil company, and she's on business in bucharest. she is very distant from her father winfried, played by peter simonischek. he suddenly turns up on her doorstep, apparently to give her a present. she humours him, sympathises with him about the death of the dog, then says, "now it's time to leave." but he doesn't leave. he puts on a wig and false teeth and reappears as toni erdmann, turning up at her business meetings, amongst herfriends, insisting to her colleagues that he is a life coach, a businessman, an ambassador. whatever he is, he is an embarrassment to her. here's a clip. you can see from that it is a very painful form of comedy. if you think about a vintage episode of the office or abigail's party,
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that kind of humour that is excruciating. on the one level, it is a satire about europe. on another it is a warning about globalisation, and also to some extent about a battle between 60s hippy idealism and optimism, and 21st—century cynicism. but at the centre it is a tragi—comedy about an estrangement between a father and a daughter, in which a father is deperately reaching out to contact her, but doing so in a way that is completely inappropriate and really awkward. and at times you laugh, at times you want to cry. at times you wants to bury your face in your jumper because it is so embarrassing. one scene involves a rendition of the song, the greatest love of all. i cannot remember having glowed with embarrassment so much. but the best thing about it is tt was written and directed by maren ade, who does a brilliant job of getting exactly the right moment. as i said, she is superbly aided by these great performances. sandra huller in particular never puts a single foot wrong.
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you sit there marvelling at the changes of tone, the way in which it is melancholic and poignant, it is awkward and painful, but also funny and cruel and yet tender and loving. and it's nothing that you would expect from when you hear the description of it, that it is a nearly three—hour comedy about a bloke with a wig and false teeth annoying his daughter. it is a really fine piece of work. i know it will not be for everybody, but i just loved it. toni erdmann. sold. thank you very much. let's go to best out, mark, which is t2 trainspotting. yes. danny boyle said it was the scottish star wars. he was talk about how trainspotting had become sort of an institution and how they had a lot to live up to with this sequel. i think they have done it rather brilliantly. it catches up with the characters 20 years later. it has a melancholy middle—aged malaise to it. it is very well directed.
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i think he is a very fine director. a very good script byjohn hodge. the lovely thing about the film is it seems to be designed for people who grew up with trainspotting. my only question would be i don't know what it would be like if you weren't of an age when you saw trainspotting the first time around. is it one for the kids? teenagers? hey, what do i know about teenagers? lam 78. i think if you hadn't seen the first one it wouldn't make any sense, but then why would you not want to have not seen the first one? it is one of the greatest british movies of the last 50 years. all right. best dvd? de palma. a documentary about brian de palma, who made carrie, dressed to kill, body double, that kind of thing. in it, he accounts for himself and his films. what is interesting is he is pretty much the sole interview. he is accused of being a misogynist, of ripping off hitchcock, and he is a terrific speaker. he is very irascible. he says, you know, "people say i rip of hitchcock — i do, but i am the only director who properly rips off hitchcock. i am the only properly hitchcockian director around."
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it is a really interesting piece of work, made with great affection, and great authority. because no one knows brian de palma's work better than brian de palma. whatever you think about his films, it is a really interesting time in the company with someone who, for better or worse, is very singular and has cut their own path regardless of what anyone else has said. he is not a household name to many people. it depends. if you are a genre fan, which i am, then he is absolutely a household name. but i think he is not a name that is recognisable — people like spielberg and kubrick. but he has an extraordinary career. he has made massive hit movies, and movies that have gone straight to dvd. mark, thank you very much indeed, as ever. a quick reminder before we go that you'll find more film news and reviews from across the bbc online at bbc.co.uk/film. and you can catch up with our previous programmes on bbc iplayer. that's it for this week, though. thank you very much for watching.
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goodbye. hello there. some sunshine for a while and it should brighten up today after a dull start. a few showers for coastal areas. we have showers for coastal areas. we have showers across midland areas, for the midlands and across wales. maybe snow in the hills. some fog through the midlands towards the south—east and across northern ireland and scotla nd and across northern ireland and scotland where it is turning much drier. later in eastern scotland, a bit of rain clipping the south—east of england. the fog lifting and brightening up in the afternoon.
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another chilly day. very quickly across eastern parts of the uk, temperatures will all away. cloud increasing. frosty start across central and eastern parts. increasing cloud out to the west. stronger winds blowing in thicker cloud and our rates of rain. —— outbreaks. welcome to bbc news. the top stories: the us state department rei nstates stories: the us state department reinstates these is for thousands of foreigners after a federaljudge puts a block on president trump's travel ban. mr trump has warned that bad and dangerous people may now be pouring into the us. he says the ruling will be overturned. after days of mass protest, romania's government withdraws a
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draft decree which would have reduced some penalties for corruption. the race to be fronts's resident moves up a gear, the race to be fronts's resident moves up a gear, with one of the front—runners promising to unite a divided france.
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