this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy and these are the headlines: clashes have broken out in paris after three people have been shot dead at a kurdish community centre in paris. police have arrested a 69—year—old man with a history of acts of racist violence. the us faces its coldest christmas in four decades as a storm sweeps across the country, with temperatures dropping to minus 45 degrees celsius in some places. in the uk, the head of the union representing striking border force staff says walkouts could go on for six months, unless the government enters talks about pay. police in pakistan say at least two people, including a police officer, have been killed in a suicide blast in the capital islamabad.

you are watching bbc news. with all the very latest on the film world, here is talking movies: review of 2022. hello from new york. i'm tom brook and welcome to our talking movies review of 2022, special edition. in today's programme we look back at highlights of the year in cinema. we review many of the major movie events of 2022. we look at the films that nobody thought would become big global hits as well as the breakout arthouse offerings. plus my top ten films of the year.

without doubt, one of the biggest movie events of 2022 was the arrival ofjames cameron's sci—fi epic avatar: the way of water. it is of course the sequel to his 2009 avatar movie which became the biggest grossing film of all time. i went with some trepidation to see the new picture the other day here in manhattan. i say trepidation because it's more than three hours long. well, i did survive and i was very impressed by the cinema technology. it really is beautiful to watch. but in terms of storytelling, it's a bit thin. avatar had its world premiere in london and it's from there that al malone has more. the world of pandora is back on cinema screens. 13 years afterjames cameron conquered the box office with his sci—fi blockbuster, the director is reuniting his

original cast for the first of four proposed avatar sequels. the first film followed marine jake sully as he takes on an alien or avatar body in order to better integrate with the local na'vi population. through the movie he forms a personal attachment to the group and comes to lead them against the evil human corporation out to mine the moon for profit. the film was notable for its advances in performance capture technology, computer—generated visuals and the fact that it was supposed to usher in a new era in 3d film—making. you knew this was happen? the 3d revelation might not have lasted but it did make a huge amount of money — almost $3 billion. the way of water picks up over a decade later with jake and his family now facing a new threat and being driven

to pandora's water areas in search of sanctuary. cameron has spent the last 13 years mapping out future instalments of the franchise as well as perfecting performance capture technology that can now be used by the actors while they're filming underwater. but will the public be interested in a sequel to a film that was released over a decade ago and has seen its influence wane amid the rise of the superhero movie? that was a very legitimate concern. i didn't feel that instinctively but it was always a possibility. then we dropped our first teaser trailer in may and it had it 148 million views in 2a hours. i'm not worried about it any more. what does worry me is that the market has contracted due to the double punch of streaming and the pandemic. it's coming back, slowly coming back, we're at maybe 80% of what we were in 2019.

and, you know, back when we released the first movie. so can we be profitable in a changed market or are we just the last dinosaur, you know, dying after the comet hit? i couldn't tell you that right now. we'll know in a few weeks, i guess. why do you come to us? ijust want to keep my family safe. i filming for avatar 3 has already been completed and some work has even been done on a fourth film. with a reported budget of $350 million for the way of water, there is big pressure for it to be a success. early reviews for the way of water have praised the visuals but found some of the story and dialogue lacking. cameron is hoping the movie and its theme of family will resonate with cinema audiences. regardless, it's a relief.

we've been sitting on this egg for a long time and getting it out in front of people, you know, the response has been overwhelmingly good so far. i mean, i haven't seen any reviews yet so i'm sure all the nit—picking will start at that point, but emotionally people seem to be pretty emotionally charged by the film and that's enough of an answer for me. the way of water is projected to do well at the box office but it will have to do tremendous business just to break even. james cameron is hoping that big money will mean he gets to release his planned avatar sequels as well as demonstrate that following a difficult few years, large audiences are ready to return and prove that cinema going is alive and well in a post covid world. let's get it done.

a year ago, steven spielberg was busy promoting west side story, a film set in this new york neighbourhood in the 1950s. this year he has made his mark with a very different picture called the fabelmans which i really love. you get the impression after watching this movie that you really know stephen spielberg. movies are dreams... train horn sounds. ..that you never forget. the fabelmans is much more intimate than steven spielberg's best known movies like indiana jones orjurassic park or even last year's west side story. it is the story of his family life as he grew up and the role that movies played in his formative years. he made the film with the encouragement of screenwriter tony kushner with whom he's collaborated before. i have always found ways of putting my personal life in everything i've done.

there are pieces of me in everything i have really directed, but this was a very focused intentional story of coming—of—age. i've never made a coming—of—age story before and i've never told one so close to my own experiences and so close to my own heart. only the names were changed to protect the innocent! you can'tjust love something, you also have to take care of it. it's more important than your hobby. i can you stop calling it a hobby? the fabelmans is really helped by its strong performances. michelle williams�* brilliant playing a version of spielberg's mother who had affections for a man other than her husband. and canadian—american actor gabriel labelle is also strong playing spielberg in his teenage years. it's a portrait of a family where there is a lot of love but where relationships are farfrom simple. it feels like an honest depiction of what went on in spielberg's family where not everyone comes out looking great.

do you always have to be the centre of attention? stop shouting at her! there has been nothingl but disrespect from you. i'm your mother! families are complicated. i don't know any family that is not complicated and our complications are probably not as unusual as someone else�*s so i think this is a big universal reflection i think of everybody everywhere with siblings, with parents, with problems at school, with a passion, a hobby, something that becomes a career, so i think there's a lot of universal truths in the story we're telling. the fabelmans is very moving. it will probably feature prominently in the oscar nominations but sadly like many other very good prestige pictures this year it has been struggling to find an audience in cinemas. movie—goers will come out the big event movies not so much for smaller arthouse pictures. what was your favourite part? and cut!

beautiful. that was good. among the actors who made quite an impact in end of the year films was britain's emma corrin who is perhaps best known for playing princes diana in the crown. and now in lady chatterley�*s lover. in 2022, more and more award shows became gender neutral. this development is supported by emma corrin who identifies as non—binary. and as you might imagine the actor is also a big fan of the dh lawrence novel in which the lady chatterley�*s lover film is based. emma jones tells us more. it's nothing like that! yes it is. lady chatterley�*s lover has always provoked discussion. the book was banned and classed as obscene as late as the 1960s because of its sexual content. in 2022, the crown's emma corrin plays connie, an aristocratic unhappy wife who finds fulfilment with her husband's gamekeeper, 0liver mellors played byjack

0'connell. times may have changed since the book's publication but corrin finds much in the narrative that is relevant now. it speaks very much to the times we live in today. 0bviously things have progressed but i also think the society we live in is very fragile and the rights of women's bodies are very fragile and i think it's a celebration of autonomy. not like any man i've ever met before. you're not like any other woman. - corrin�*s performance has been highly rated by critics. the actor has said they are non—binary, meaning they have a gender identity that doesn't fit into the male— female binary and they use they/them pronouns. they also said they would support categories in award ceremonies becoming gender neutral. this love is all consuming.

theirs is a powerful new voice, in 2022 they have become a sought—after actor, starring with another much talked about young celebrity harry styles in british drama my policeman. styles stars as a young officer in 1950s england forced to hide his sexuality. lady chatterley. sorry, i don't mean to intrude. do you want to come in? the england of the lady chatterley era, just after the first world war, is equally as repressive and lady chatterley finds freedom and it was the attraction for corrin taking the part. the first time we met, they shared with me that they felt a very strong connection with the material — especially the scene them dancing naked under the rain — and they said, "this is one of the most iconic moment "of freedom that i have ever read and i want to do it — "i want to explore that feeling of liberating freedom". is that right?

yeah, yeah — that's completely right. and why was that? i thinkjustjumped out of me because it terrified me and enticed me in equal measure. i don't think i had ever seen anything like it on screen and was excited to make that happen. it's amazing, isn't it? how someone can get so into your blood. physical intimacy is an essential part of this narrative, but actors have become more outspoken about whether they felt comfortable filming sex scenes or not. you will only be the second man i have ever had sex with. oh, god. emma thompson in her recent film good luck to you, leo grande, about the sexual awakening of a woman, praised the idea of using intimacy co—ordinators on film sets. this production also worked with one. joely richardson, who played lady chatterley in a 1993 bbc miniseries, and in this production played clifford chatterley�*s nurse, thinks film sets have changed for the better. we are more aware of what needs to be put in place with love scenes, that everyone has to be protected.

they tend to be more choreographed. in the old days, it was like "0k, get on with it". but life is what we make of it. this version does also focus on the men in lady chatterley�*s life — the ptsd 0liver mellors is suffering after the first world war that causes him to isolate himself, the class bitterness between gamekeeper and landowner, and sir clifford chatterley�*s own mental health problems after a wartime injury that leads him to rebuff his wife. but this is emma corrin�*s film as constance chatterley and as such, their comments on acting categories becoming gender neutral could have a lot of currency, given that award season is already under way. for me, one of the more pleasant surprises at the movies in 2022 was the indian film rrr. it's a story of the relationship between two heroes

in i920s india, when the british were in charge. it's sheer movie escapism and it has been put together extremely well. rrr is a big movie, an epic action drama — the most expensive indian movie ever made. not from bollywood, but tollywood. it's a telugu language film. it's gaining accolades by the minute. essentially, it is a story of friendship — friendship between two giant heroes, you know? but what we did was, like, we kept the emotions as grounded, as very human. their strengths might be superhuman. but there is a beautiful friendship that is developing between them. rrr has become a global phenomenon. it's become a hit across india, injapan, the us, as well as elsewhere.

it's incredibly unusual for a telugu language film to break through in the us — it's never really happened before. most people don't really know what the language is, unfortunately, in this country, so unless they have some relationship to the culture and as a result of that — as with parasite and some other international quote unquote foreign language film crossovers — people aren't thinking about the language it is in, they are thinking about the experience of the movie itself and they don't even remember that there were subtitles when they come out of it and that's really what the ultimate goal should be. there's something about rrr that's appealing to people that goes beyond the parameters of south asian cinema and allows it to just feel like universal escapism and also, i think a lot of audiences are starved of good escapism because we have so many marvel movies, we have so many star wars movies, and that sort of storytelling has started to feel kind of redundant. financially, the movie

has been a big winner. it's brought in more than $175 million worldwide, setting several box office records for an indian film. during the covid lockdowns, covid pandemics, when everything was shut down, i think people started looking at stories from other cultures. they were exposed to more cultures, more different ways of storytelling. now, for a period of 1—1.5 years, when the cinemas were shut down, people got exposed to the other cultures, story, story narratives and everything. i think that also helped a lot. by the time that cinemas opened again and people started coming to the theatres, their horizons broadened much wider than before. i think that also is a reason why people are appreciating rrr 110w.

rrr even stands a chance of getting 0scar nominations, especially after winning a best director award from a top american film critics group. it's all potentially very good news for indian cinema, which is often overlooked by the academy awards. every december, i get deliveries here in my new york apartment of many, many boxes — like these — which come from the big hollywood studios and some smaller production companies, full of what i would call promotionaljunk, designed to influence me as a member of a critics group to vote for a particular movie orfavour a particular movie. but this year, i got more boxes than ever and i want to show you what is in some of them. oh, this is for argentina 1985. it's got a nice bottle of wine but, ooh, wow —

there's some food in there. it is quite good because you get a dvd — i mean, not a lot of people have dvd players any more... you get a screenplay. the other thing about all this is it's very wasteful packaging. sometimes, there is nice chocolate. ok, this is puss in boots — why would i want anything to do with puss in boots? these books, i mean, they're beautifully produced. it must cost a fortune to put them together but basically, it is all soft promotional material and i find that kind of a wee bit off—putting. well, i am, of course, a totally incorruptible human being — anybody who knows me will tell you that — so getting all these things like this is not, or did not, have any impact at all on me making up my list of the top ten films of the year. at number10, rrr, the indian action epic for the joy it brings to all who watch it.

the musical moments were the best, so vibrant and alive compared to standard escapist moviemaking. at number nine, good luck to you, leo grande, in which emma thompson plays an older woman seeking sexual adventure with a younger man. if nothing else, it proves that emma thompson really is a brilliant actor. so, what does her heartbeat sound like? in eighth place, avatar: the way of water. why? because it is such an impressive feat by james cameron in harnessing technology to create a magical world. at number seven, the fabelmans, steven spielberg's semi—autobiographical story about how he developed a passion for moviemaking and the complexities of his family life. his most grown—up film to date and possibly one of his best. we're from the new york times. i believe you used to work for harvey weinstein? just ahead of the fabelmans, the movie she said, the story of two new york times journalists who wrote a report on the sexual abuse allegations against harvey weinstein that helped spawn the #metoo movement. a great film paying tribute

to the journalistic process. at numberfive, empire of light — a film from sam mendes that dealt with racism and love of movies but, to me, it was a compassionate portrait of an unpredictable woman, played brilliantly by 0livia colman, struggling with mental illness. in fourth place, the belgian film close from film—maker lukas dhont — a disconcerting story of the close friendship between two teenage boys tragically torn apart. photography is like a flash of euphoria. at number three all the beauty and the bloodshed, from laura poitras, focusing on activist photographer nan goldin and her efforts to hold a wealthy family responsible for the opioid crisis. very creatively brought together by poitras. in the number two position, aftersun — an experimentalfilm.

at times it captures the beautiful relationship between a father and daughter on holiday in turkey with a great from actor paul mescal from new york—based scottish based film—maker charlotte wells. and the talking movies number one film of 2022 is tar, a character study of a fascinating but troubled female conductor with a lust for power, played very convincingly by cate blanchett. time is the essential piece of interpretation. an intelligent film, written and directed by todd field. he brings us a story for our times — one that deals with corporate power relations and cancel culture. well, that brings our special talking movies review of 2022 to a close. we hope you enjoyed the programme. please remember, you can always reach us online at bbc.com/talkingmovies,

and you can find us on twitter. so, from me, tom brook and the rest of the talking movies team here in new york and london, it's goodbye as we leave you with a song from one of my favourite films of the year, rrr.

hello there. today we are following a band of cloud and rain that is moving its way northwards into the uk. following that, we have seen some clearer skies already arriving in the south—west as that thick cloud moves northwards, bringing some quite steady and heavy rain still this evening across much of northern england, northern ireland and heading into southern scotland. south of it, the air is milder, quite breezy in the south—west. to the north, things are a little bit colder. and as that wet weather moves into the colder air in scotland, not only will we see rain, but we will also see some sleet and some snow falling over the hills to the north of the central belt. several centimetres i think by christmas eve morning. things are a little bit colder in scotland. not desperately cold. further south, it will be milder even with those clear skies. still some blustery winds on the way in the south—west. but the promise of some sunshine. first of all we have that wintry mix of rain, sleet and hill snow in northern scotland. that should tend to push away. we will see bands of showers sweeping across northern ireland, pushing into scotland and affecting the western part of england. the midlands, eastern england, you may get away with a dry day with some sunshine. here, temperatures

in double figures. but that milder air is following that band of wet weather across the whole of scotland with temperatures here 8c or 9c. southerly winds freshening will bring in milder air, push it northwards. heading into christmas day though that colder air is moving down from the north—west a little bit quicker. there are some changes in the forecast for christmas day. for a start, in england and wales we are likely to find much more cloud, some rain developing across western areas and then across the south as well. further north, some sunshine and a north—westerly wind will introduce colder air more quickly so we have a greater chance of seeing some sleet and snow showers in the north—west of scotland. to the south, it's still mild, just for a while. that colder air and that west to north—westerly wind that is coming to scotland and northern ireland will sweep down across the whole of the country in time for boxing day. that will mean more widespread wintry showers across scotland, northern ireland, coming into north—west england and perhaps north wales. most of the snow over the hills and there could be some travel disruption over the high routes in the north—west of scotland.

further south across the uk, fewer showers, more rain and it's going to feel colder in that wind on monday. then the wind direction changes. the cold air doesn't last too long. from monday into tuesday we change to a west to south—westerly winds, lifting the temperatures again but bringing more rain.

this is bbc news, welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm luxmy gopal. our top stories. street clashes have broken out in paris after three people were shot dead at a kurdish community centre — riot police have fired tear gas at crowds of protesters. earlier, french police arrested a 69—year—old man — whom the paris prosecutor says had previously been charged with acts of racist violence. the french interior minister also visited the scene. we do not know the exact motivation of the attacker who has been arrested. i want to thank the police were reacting so promptly because it was less than 15 minutes between the

first call and the man being detained.