tv The Film Review BBC News October 8, 2022 11:45pm-12:01am BST
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the bones are under a car park in leicester. so the film reunites the team behind philomena, so director stephen frears, writerjeff pope and writer and costar steve coogan, who plays philippa's exjohn. in real life philippa langley felt she was guided to the burial spot and got goosebumps while standing on it by something not quite normal, i suppose. take a look. dramatic music plays music swells
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are you lost? sorry? um, excuse me, could you... could you tell me what that letter represents? just means reserved. it's a social services car park. that bay is reserved for one of the managers. of course, reserved. of course it's reserved — except she has the feeling that it's something else and, as history proves, turns out she was right. now, the film has caused some controversy, because its depiction of academics who are almost pantomime villains in terms of firstly mocking her and not taking her seriously because she is working both on research and a certain degree of feelings and emotion, and later on attempting to take credit for her great discovery. the film i think does portray them in a pretty harsh light. philippa langley has said she did feel sidelined
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and marginalised — they have said it's an unfair portrait. the thing you have to do is look at it as a dramatic construction. in the drama, this is a story about somebody who isn't taken seriously, fighting to be taken seriously, fighting to find their place. and that feeling that she is being "guided" is dramatised by visions of richard, a theatrical version of richard, who she sees leading her around the world and around leicester and indeed around the locations. i think the stuff that works is, i like sally hawkins, i think she's got a very good way of doing that tremulous on the one hand but with steely resolve underneath. and i think as the story of a characterfinding her voice, it works well. i'm less convinced that it works as a piece of modern history — i mean it's serio—comic, as i say it's from the team that gave us philomena, which had a serious subject but also did have a kind of quite quirky turn to it as well. this is very quirky.
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yes. you've seen it too. quirky is the word. and ifind it quite hard to analyse just as a film because this is really recent history. we remember all the news items of the body being found and dug up. because it's an extraordinary story. and the story is remarkable. i thought it was good to be really irritated by the idea of her seeing richard played by harry lloyd and i thought, oh, this is going to annoy me — and actually, in the end that element didn't annoy me nearly as much as i thought it would. but it's a very slow burn, takes a very long time to get anywhere, and i suppose they would say that's because she had to fight for a very long time for philippa be taken seriously. i suppose i struggle because i know what's around all the current narrative of academics at the university who aren't happy. that's difficult i suppose sometimes to disassociate them from the actual film. the key thing is, it isn't a documentary, it is a piece of drama. but i think the criticism is it feels like a piece of drama, there's a very constructed narrative
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that she is on the one hand this lone voice and the establishment... a lot of men not taken the woman seriously. she wasn't a historian or an archaeologist... and there's a wider truth, i'm sure that's absolutely true. i just think the devil is in the detail sometimes. 0k, vengeance — again which you've also seen, odd black comedy written and directed by bj novak who stars as a metropolitan journalist who has to go to texas when somebody he has hooked up with quite casually dies. and theirfamily think that he is the boyfriend, so he goes to the funeral. he has these dreams of making a podcast — everybody wants to make a podcast — and when he gets there he discovers that the family actually think that the daughter was murdered. he thinks well, this is a podcast, this is a podcast about strange people in a strange part of the land land that i don't really know, and they're all talking about vengeance and loss and conspiracy, and this is a podcast. now, the stuff i liked about this is, the satire about everybody
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thinking they've got a great podcast in them, which i think is topical. this is a podcast. the stuff that works less well for me is i think it finds it less hard to get the balance between the comedic elements, it is comedy, and the underlying story that he is going to the funeral of the daughter of a family who are grieving one minute and the next minute appear not to be in grief at all, but sort of being quirky and a bit strange. so because of that, you never take any of it very seriously. and since you don't take any of it very seriously, it fails to engage in the way it should have. there's an interesting point where ashton kutcher, as this sort of voice of the, the authorial voice of the piece, he is running these recording studios and everything is about recording, and there are so many voices now, and with so many voices, how can... ok, that's an interesting message. but it kind of gets lost in this thing that can't quite decide how seriously to take itself. i think i couldn't work out whether it was try to be serious or a comedy, although you do laugh quite a few times,
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and it's nicely performed. i loved all the nods to podcasts, that was quite funny. maybe there's just too much going on? there's a lot in there about america's opioid crisis... yes. that's interesting and contemporary, but there were so many themes, i thought maybe there's a few too many. let me tell you, if you think there's too much going on in vengeance, let me introduce you to amsterdam. laughs. the new film by david 0 russell, who made silver linings playbook and american hustle, which began "some of this actually happened." this film begins, "a lot of this really happened." it's inspired by the real—life business plot of 1933 about which i knew nothing, feel free to research it. christian bale, margot robbie, john david washington are a doctor, a nurse and a lawyer who are trying to get robert de niro's general to speak at their veterans�* ball. they met many years ago, he needs reassurance that they are who they say they are. here's a clip. how can i know this is really you in the picture? yes sir — so, i'm the doctor, she's the nurse, he's the attorney. we all met in belgium,
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which if you recall is where we met for the first time. as well as washington - last summer at the vef march. i'll tell you one thing that i can remember quite clearly — you did something... you sang a song, i believe. which one, sir? that's for you to remember. i've met thousands of people, you've just met me twice. you should remember the song. i'd like you to sing it now, and then i'll know it's you. # did you ever see a dream, walking lightly...# _ all sing. no, no, that's not it. you can see from that the kind of serio—comic thing. on the one hand it is very straight and the other very arch and satirical. there is also a covert group of businessmen who are trying to get robert de niro's character to front their endeavours,
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which are very, very sinister. cast includes rami malek, anya taylor—joy, chris rock, andrea riseborough, zoe saldana, michael shannon and mike myers. everyone is in it. there are enough people in this film to star in five different movies, which is good because it feels like five different movies happening at the same time. there is at the centre of it a really interesting story inspired by a real life story which i knew nothing about at all, which kind of emerges about two thirds of the way of the film. but amidst all the zany capering and the wide angles and the close—ups and the bug—eyed performances and everything being slightly mad, a lot of it gets lost. it's interesting that christian bale said in an interview that david 0 russell had about 12 versions of the script at one point, and you go, yeah — and he had about 12 versions of the script when he finally got the thing. it would be impossible to watch this and not find stuff in it to be impressed by, there's so much in it. was it not very coherent? yes, not very coherent is a polite way of saying it. it's not to say it isn't entertaining.
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it is, but it's kind of frustrating. it needs to be half an hour shorter, it needs to have at least three of the plots removed — at least as far as i'm concerned. somewhere in the middle of it all there is a film that is really interesting. there's so much stuff going on around it you kind of get lost. at least the lost king has got a clear path. it's a very clear narrative. you know exactly where it's going. 100%. best out? i know what you think is best out. flux gourmet, jane, is a really brilliant peter strickland film. here's the thing, if you don't like peter strickland, and i know you're not a big fan, you're not gonna go for this, because it's the most peter strickland film. however if you like peter strickland, he made bavarian sound studio and in fabric, i think it's his funniest film. you said last week some of it you found funny but you didn't realise it was meant to be funny. it is meant to be funny, but it's super arch. if you like peter strickland films this will work for you. but i concede that it is not for everyone.
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it's very creative. and i mean that seriously, in a good way. but it's an acquired taste. i've never heard the word "creative"... laughs it's almost weaponised, that word. very quickly, one we can agree on. all finally, catherine called birdy which has been in cinemas for two weeks, now on amazon prime. it is just lovely. it is. it's a medieval story, but incredibly modern with a heroine everyone can get behind. i think it's terrific. i've seen a couple of times now, ijust love it. it's not often you can say it's a film set in 1290 but with a whip—smart script. 21st century sensibility, really good music. delightful performances. so much to like about it. i think we can end on a note of agreement, catherine called birdy is great. hurrah! still loved flux gourmet. thank you very much. see what you come up with next week. enjoy your cinema going, whatever you choose to go and see. we will see you next time. bye—bye.
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good evening. it's been a much quieter weather day today. we've had plenty of sunshine. this was the view in teignmouth in devon late in the afternoon. it wasn't the only place enjoying that sunshine. many areas had a lot of sunshine today because we've had a ridge of high pressure which is holding these weather fronts back, but you can see that high pressure slipping eastwards, so these weather fronts will make progress into scotland and northern ireland in particular later tonight and tomorrow. for this evening we've actually got a few light showers through the central lowlands. they will die back to the west coast later. the winds do start to strengthen, though. the cloud starts to thicken, so it won't be as chilly here overnight compared with england and wales which, once again, with temperatures in rural areas getting down to within two degrees of freezing. you could have some ground frost around, some grass frost, by morning. a little bit of mist and fog, as well, with the light wind regime, but the winds generally will be picking up through sunday,
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a windier day on the whole. gales or severe gales right from the word go across the western isles of scotland, along with this heavy rain, 30 to a0 millimetres likely to fall over the higher ground in parts of northern ireland and eventually cumbria. these are the steady wind speeds, but the gusts will be more likely 60 or 70 in northern and western areas and a steady 30 or a0 in more exposed parts of the west coast of england and wales. but where we keep that sunshine the winds won't be quite a feature, 17 or 18 further south and east, still feeling pleasant in the relatively strong 0ctober sunshine. through the evening and overnight, you can see that weather front does bring some rain across england and wales, albeit a weakening feature. we're not likely to see that much rain on that weather front, and it won't be as chilly either, although it turns a little cooler for scotland and northern ireland behind this weather front. it will be windy for a time, as well, sunday night into monday, as that low—pressure crosses close by to the north and west. then high pressure builds for the start of the week. the weather fronts tending to erode that and bring some more rain
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into the north and west late on tuesday. for monday, we may well start a little bit damp in the south—east for the rush hour. still that brisk wind across north—eastern parts of scotland, but otherwise it is looking like a dry and fine day. then, as the winds fall light to start our tuesday morning, it is likely to be a bit frosty first thing with patchy mist and fog around, but otherwise some fine weather around. more rain, though, midweek.
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welcome to bbc news. our top stories. president putin ordered an investigation into the explosion that severely damaged russia's only bridge to the occupied crimea and peninsula the bridge open to great fanfare to the russian president in 2018, it's been used to move military equipment into ukraine. watchdog calls for in urge for protection of the zapper reset nuclear power plant after cuts to its external power. more protesters take to the streets of iran as demonstrations against the countries hardline islamic rulers entered their fourth week funerals are ahead with my health of the funerals of a knife attack in northern thailand. police say ten people
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