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tv   The Film Review  BBC News  July 24, 2020 8:45pm-9:00pm BST

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an exclusive interview with primus to borisjohnson. now it's time for the film review with mark kermode. —— prime minister borisjohnson. hello and welcome to the film review with me, mark kermode, rounding up the best movies available for viewing in the home and in cinemas. remember them? the big movie news this week was that the release of christopher nolan's tenet has been delayed yet again due to coronavirus. yet despite the shock waves caused by that announcement, uk cinemas are starting to welcome back patrons, with movies like the killer crocodile picture blackwater abyss now playing in theatres, and the russell crowe action unhinged still due to open wide on the 31st.
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this week, the us indie pick st francis takes a delayed bow in nearly 100 uk cinemas. i'm tired. you just started walking. will you carry me? let's go back and get the stroller. no! we're almost there, it won't take long if you carry me. the park is really close? come on. you're sweaty. # i wonder where friends... the brilliant debut from writer and star kelly o'sullivan, this is a vibrant and emotionally engaging tale that dresses a subversive self—determination manifesto in the clothes of a ditzy, bittersweet comedy about midlife disappointment. have you nannied before? i've babysitted...sat.
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do you know how to open this? o'sullivan plays bridget, a 30—something waitress who finds herself facing an unwanted pregnancy at around the same time that fate conspires to offer her new employment as a nanny. francis? will bridget‘s avowed child—phobia prevent her from caring for six—year—old francis, and what will her employers, one of whom is devoutly religious, think of her decision to have a termination? directed with loose—limbed intimacy by alex thompson, st francis is refreshingly frank on a number of subjects that mainstream cinema is often considered to be taboo. from menstruation and postnatal depression, to birth control and abortion. your sperm are probably super fast. that's a compliment. thank you, thank you so much. i appreciate that. it's also terrifically funny and heart—warming, with intimate hand—held cinematography giving us the impression that we're eavesdropping on genuine conversations and encounters. but what's most impressive is how much the incidental details of this
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frank and feisty film ring true. why was she angry? because she was born into a patriarchy and it effing sucked. what's a patriarchy? it's where men are in charge and women have to do what they say. like michaela coel‘s outstanding tv series i may destroy you, st francis expands the representation of women's lives on screen in a manner that's so casual, you hardly notice it's happening. i am proud of you. i'm so proud of you, frannie. whispering: i'm not frannie right now. oh, sorry. i loved st francis, and i have no hesitation in recommending it. it's well worth a trip to the cinema. # i once was lost, but now am found... all right, well, that was neither amazing nor graceful. also opening in a number of uk cinemas this week is stage mother, in which jacki weaver plays maybelline, the director
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of a conservative texas church choir, who inherits a san francisco gay bar when her estranged son dies. maybelline‘s husband is a straight—arrow stick in the mud who refused to accept his son's sexuality, causing the family to split apart. are you ricky's mum, from texas? but now, maybelline sees a chance to make peace with the past to become a surrogate mum to the boys in the band, and turn a rundown drag show into a crowd—pulling success. back in the 90s, films like priscilla, queen of the desert and to wong foo, thanks for everything julie newmar provided multiplex friendly portrayals of drag culture, along with mike nichols' the birdcage, a star—studded us remake of la cage aux folles. and whatever those films' flaws, they seemed at the time broadly ground—breaking. but in the age of rupaul‘s drag race, it's hard to see what ground, if any, is being broken by stage mother. there's literally nothing new or original about director tom fitzgerald's movie from a script by brad henning, which is content to simply tick every well—meaning stereotypical
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box. thanks heavens forjacki weaver, who was oscar—nominated for recent hits like animal kingdom and silver linings playbook, and brings a much—needed dose of oomph to a film that, although good—hearted, borders all too often on the bland. there's both a theatrical and virtual release for il traditore, the traitor, a sprawling drama about tommaso buscetta, a member of the sicilian mafia who turned informant, shedding light on the inner workings of the cosa nostra.
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in competition at last year's cannes film festival, marco bellocchio's ambitious, if not always enthralling drama depicts buscetta and his family from whom he was separated by geography and imprisonment, and some of whom he lost to a catalogue of internecine mob violence. the most intriguing scenes are those between buscetta and judge falconi, with these two men from opposite sides of the law finding unexpected kinship and respect. there's weird theatre too in the courtroom scenes, in which buscetta testifies while mafias who watch from behind barsjeering, gesturing and occasionally taking the stand. it's an epic story, which was the italian entry for the 92nd academy awards' international feature category, but which, for me, lacked
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the kinetic energy with which, for example, scorsese's goodfellas took a true life crime saga and turned it into something genuinely cinematic. you can dance and scream and be with your own kind and where everything is possible. how do i get there from here? transformation is at the heart of how to build a girl. adapted from the best—seller. what a beautiful day! i regret to say that despite my best intentions, today has been another miserable one. i've had plenty of those. a mid—90s school kid with dreams
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of becoming a writer who discovers that with unbridled enthusiasts. have a free t—shirt. she reinvents herself as a top hat wearing reviewer who wins awards for writing the kind of scathing reviews would make are feared and famous, but also leave her feeling empty and unfulfilled. like blinded by the light, how to build a girl has a rough energy that's hard to resist. with elements of ecstatic and musical fantasia. its a credit to her that her wolverhampton accent never comes between us and her character. instead, we simply get on board with her adventures. come on, we're going out. it is available on amazon prime.
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from wolverhampton to paris for alice, the prize winning debut from australian writer and actorjosephine majerus. emily is a woman with a child and apparently loving husband who suddenly disappears after squandering all their money on high—class prostitutes. facing foreclosure on her home, alice turns to the very escort agencies to which her husband was addicted, finding a new line of work which proves unexpectedly liberating. 0riginally written as an english—language film set in london, alice has a somewhat rose tinted view of sex work that sits
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comfortably, or uncomfortably, within a certain strand of chic cosmopolitan french cinema. what raises this above the level of meer movie cliche is the efficiency in which mike harris invokes the personal and financial catastrophe. we get the feeling of watching someone‘s life fall apart. plauds to martin, who's eerily convincing as the perfect partner and turns out to be a loathsome creep. alice is available on selected digital platforms. # troll just want to have fun. back at the beginning of lockdown, trolls world tour was one of the first films intended to for cnema release, but went straight to streaming. from monday, you can on it on dvd
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and blu—ray to watch over and over and over again. a prospect that will delight kids while terrifying their parents. i will leave you with news that parasite is back. and in the black—and—white addition unveiled at the rotherham film festival earlier this year. according to the director, all the characters look even more poignant and the distinctions between the different spaces where the families live with all the shades of grey are even more tragic. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe and i'll be back next week. i apologise.
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hello. much of the uk got away with a fine friday but it wouldn't be the weekend without low pressure close by the uk, so, just as we have seen today with the weekend, there will be a few sunny spells around, but there will also be a bit of rain because here is the low pressure, it is already turning wetter across western parts of the uk and that rain pushes eastwards overnight and then showers of the weekend. so, some heavier bursts of rain in places of the go through the night, particularly in parts of scotland and northern england in the night. we will keep a good deal of cloud even from those areas where we see the rain clear and temperatures not going down too fast, a rather warm and humid night to come. so, into tomorrow, a lot of cloud for the morning, still some heavier bursts of rain, parts of northern england and scotland, many of us will brighten up as the day goes on, but there will be further showers breaking out and some of these could be heavy and thundery
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and these are bound to the east and southeast of england, which may merge for longer spells of rain. and as for those temperatures most of us into the high teens, a fewjust into the low 20s. blustery day, particularly around some showers and there will be some wet weather with the test match day two at old trafford. not necessarily though raining the whole time. it will be a breezier day as well, but if you're venturing out on saturday evening, still some these downpours to the southeast and also a few more arriving on western parts as well and going into the morning, still a chance of a few showers on sunday begins but some early bursts of sunshine around as well and they will be a bit cooler for the start of part two of the weekend and we will still have low pressure close by scotland, rain to its northwest and quite windy, blustery as well as showers into the northwest, some will track a bit further east as you go to the day, but not many of them falling into the southeast of england. these average wind speeds, just a bit higher it's 30 and a0 mph in some spots and temperatures, if anything, some days looking bit
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cooler for many of us. i will leave you with this thought that a year ago tomorrow, temperatures reached the highest on record in the uk, near 39 celsius. no one's saying that is an aspiration, just pointing out it is so very different from what we are having at the moment and it does look quite cool as go into the new week. initially, some wet weather, but it will turn drier and warmer for a time later in the week.
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this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. huge crowds attend friday prayers at hagia sophia in istanbul — the first time the site has been used as a mosque in more than 80 years. but many outside turkey are critical. britain's prime minister boris johnson says that his government didn't understand coronavirus at the start of the pandemic and could have handled things differently. the single thing that we did not see at the beginning was the extent to which it was being transmitted asymptomatically from person to person. that wasn't clear. beijing orders the closure of the us consulate in chengdu —

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