28th Dec2021

42nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards Nominations (Film)

by timbaros

108_4184_d023_002611_gu46w2x6mz-1The UK’s leading film critics have unveiled the nominations for the 42nd annual London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, with three films from female filmmakers coming out on top. Leading the field is veteran director Jane Campion’s psychological western The Power of the Dog, which scored nine nominations. Next, with six and five nominations respectively, are first-time director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrante adaptation The Lost Daughter and British auteur Joanna Hogg’s cine-memoir The Souvenir Part II.

More than 180 critics across print, online and broadcast media voted for this year’s nominations, which were announced by British actors Joanna Vanderham and Gwilym Lee this afternoon at London’s May Fair Hotel. The May Fair will also host the Circle’s awards ceremony, where the winners will be announced on 6th February 2022. 

After winning the Circle’s Film of the Year award 28 years ago for The Piano, Campion is up for Film, Director and Screenwriter of the Year, while her film’s stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons are all nominated. Hogg is another returning winner, having taken the British/Irish Film of the Year prize for the first part of The Souvenir two years ago.

Joining them and The Lost Daughter in a wide-ranging Film of the Year field are Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s complex character study Drive My Car, Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical drama Belfast and Steven Spielberg’s musical reinterpretationWest Side Story, which scored four nominations apiece, as well as Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune, Paul Thomas Anderson’s coming-of-age tale Licorice Pizza, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s meditative Memoria and Julia Ducournau’s body-horror explosion Titane.

Actors with multiple nominations include Cumberbatch, Ruth Negga, Joanna Scanlan, Andrew Garfield and The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley — all cited in both the general and British/Irish acting races. Japanese writer-director Hamaguchi, meanwhile, is the year’s most-nominated individual, contending for Film, Director, Screenwriter and Foreign Language Film of the Year.

“Even though cinemas were closed for half of this year, our members were always watching films,” says Rich Cline, chair of the Critics’ Circle Film Section. “On the nominations ballots, voters named 204 feature films, with 51 of them making it onto the shortlists. Because our members see so many movies, our nominations tend to look a bit different from other groups, finding a diverse selection of worthy talent in studio blockbusters as well as low-budget indies.”

Last year’s virtual Critics’ Circle Film Awards ceremony was also dominated by female filmmakers, with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland and Rose Glass’ Saint Maudtaking three awards apiece, including Film of the Year and British/Irish Film of the Year respectively.

The full list of nominees for the 42nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards:

FILM OF THE YEAR
Belfast
Drive My Car
Dune
Licorice Pizza
The Lost Daughter
Memoria
The Power of the Dog
The Souvenir Part II
Titane
West Side Story

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Drive My Car
The Hand of God
Petite Maman
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Flee
Gunda
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World
Summer of Soul
The Velvet Underground

The Attenborough Award
BRITISH/IRISH FILM OF THE YEAR
After Love
Belfast
The Green Knight
Limbo
The Souvenir Part II

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Drive My Car
Joanna Hogg – The Souvenir Part II
Céline Sciamma – Petite Maman
Denis Villeneuve – Dune

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Wes Anderson – The French Dispatch
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe – Drive My Car

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
Joanna Scanlan – After Love
Kristen Stewart – Spencer

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Adam Driver – Annette
Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom!
Oscar Isaac – The Card Counter
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Rita Moreno – West Side Story
Ruth Negga – Passing

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Richard Ayoade – The Souvenir Part II
Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
Jeffrey Wright – The French Dispatch

BRITISH/IRISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR (for body of work)
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter/Mothering Sunday/Ron’s Gone Wrong/
          The Mitchells vs The Machines/The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Ruth Negga – Passing/Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Joanna Scanlan – After Love
Tilda Swinton – Memoria/The Souvenir Part II/The French Dispatch

BRITISH/IRISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR (for body of work)
Riz Ahmed – Encounter
Adeel Akhtar – Ali & Ava/The Nest/The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/
          Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog/
          The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/The Courier
Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom!/The Eyes of Tammy Faye/Mainstream
Stephen Graham – Boiling Point/Venom: Let There Be Carnage

The Philip French Award
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH/IRISH FILMMAKER
Prano Bailey–Bond – Censor
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Aleem Khan – After Love
Marley Morrison – Sweetheart
Ben Sharrock – Limbo

YOUNG BRITISH/IRISH PERFORMER
Max Harwood – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Jude Hill – Belfast
Emilia Jones – Coda
Daniel Lamont – Nowhere Special
Woody Norman – C’mon C’mon

BRITISH/IRISH SHORT FILM
Diseased and Disorderly – dir. Andrew Kotting
Expensive Shit – dir. Adura Onashile
Know the Grass – dir. Sophie Littman
Play It Safe – dir. Mitch Kalisa
Precious Hair & Beauty – dir. John Ogunmuyiwa

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Cruella – Jenny Beavan, costumes
Dune – Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer, visual effects
Flee – Kenneth Ladekjær, animation
The French Dispatch – Adam Stockhausen, production design
The Green Knight – Andrew Droz Palermo, cinematography
The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão – Hélène Louvart, cinematography
Martin Eden – Fabrizio Federico and Aline Hervé, film editing
No Time to Die – Olivier Schneider, stunts
The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood, music
West Side Story – Justin Peck, choreography

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28th Dec2021

The Life of Pi (Theatre)

by timbaros

LIFE OF PI BY Martel, Novelist-Yann Martel, Playwright-Lolita Chakrabarti, Director -Max Webster, Set and Costume Designer - Tim Hatley, Puppetry and Movement Director - Finn Caldwell, Puppet Designers - Nick Barnes & Finn Caldwell, Video Designer - Andrzej Goulding, Lighting Designer -Tim Lutkin, Sound Designer -Carolyn Downing, Composer - Andrew T. Mackay, Dramaturg-Jack Bradley, Wyndham’s Theatre,London, UK, Credit: Johan Persson/

I expected the new West End show ‘Life of Pi’ to be mesmerising but it was much, much more.

The ‘Life of Pi’ is a masterpiece of theatre. It’s stupendifying and brilliant on every level. From the amazing sets, to the fantastic story, to the great acting – it’s a show that will not only take your breathe away but will also enthrall and entertain you.

Based on the 2001 book ‘Life of Pi’ by Canadian Yann Martel (and turned into a 2012 movie directed by Ang Lee, winning 4 Academy Awards), the story revolves around 16 year old Pi (Piscine) – played by Hiran Abeysekera, an Indian boy who is the only survivor of a shipwreck and who survives on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal Tiger (named by Pi as Richard Parker).

But the brilliant narrative of the show flips back and forth from when Pi is in a Mexican hospital being overseen by two Canadian psychiatric investigators in 1979 and the telling of how he got there, to how Pi and his family had a zoo and acquired said Bengal tiger, and how they packed it all up to go to Canada on said ship. But things don’t go as expected. After the shipwreck that kills his whole entire family there are only five survivors; Pi, Richard Parker, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutang.  But are these actual animals or a figment of Pi’s imagination? What did he really experience, and see, while he was stranded on the lifeboat? And what caused the ship to sink? This is what the investigators want to find out.

‘Life of Pi’ is an epic adaptation of the book and movie. The sets change almost constantly, from the hospital room to the zoo, to a busy street market, and to the life raft that Pi is stuck on. And the animals are cleverly held and manipulated by human handlers – you almost don’t notice the humans because the animals seem so real. But it’s Abeysekera who spellbinds us with his performance. Literally leapfrogging from bed to the boat to the zoo and everywhere in between, Abeysekera gives an epic performance in a show, that while only runs for just over two hours, is one that will stick with you for a long time to come. 

‘The Life of Pi’ is one of the most amazing shows to hit the West End in years, it is simply fantastic and Abeysekera is superb.

Now playing at the Wyndham Theatre until February 27th, 2022.

https://www.lifeofpionstage.com

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28th Dec2021

The Choir of Man (Theatre)

by timbaros

ckvapxwrv006it5o3ezlq9h8b-choirofman-1150x720-artonly-new-safearea.5.0.1138.720.two-thirdsThe small show that wowed audiences over the summer at Wonderground in Barons Court is now a big show wowing audiences in London’s  West End! 

The Choir of Man is simply a show where the cast of men men sing. But it’s actually a lot more than that. It’s set in a pub, with an actual bar on stage that serves beer (get there early to get yours – on the house). It’s a show where we get to meet each and every cast member, thanks to the excellent narration by Ben Norris. They start the show with‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ and continue with songs by Adele, Sia and Paul Simon (’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’). And there’s more. Some lucky audience members get to be brought up on stage (with a mask of course) to be serenaded to.  But it’s also like a night out at the pub with your friends, not just the people you came with but with the cast as well. And by the end of the show (90 minutes) you’ll feel like you made a dozen new friends and had a great night down at the pub –  but it was in a theatre. You’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside as you leave the Arts Theatre. The Choir of Man is highly recommended (I’ve seen it twice) – and don’t forget – get there early for your free pint!
The cast is: Matt Beveridge, Tom Brandon, George Bray, Miles Anthony Daley, Daniel Hartnett, Alistair, Higgins, Freddie Huddleston, Richard Lock, Mark Loveday, and Tyler Orphe-Baker, among others on various nights.
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28th Dec2021

Six (Theatre)

by timbaros

SIX The Musical 1 Pamela Raith PhotographyThese queens have had a rough couple years (and centuries), but they are now back and better than ever to reign over the West End!

These queens are ‘Six’ – the six wives of Henry the VIII – and are back together again on stage at the Vaudeville theatre. ‘Six’ has had so many starts and stops, all of course due to the pandemic. Originally an Edinburgh fringe show, written by youngsters Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, it originally started at the Edinburgh festival and then eventually made its way to London’s Arts Theatre in 2019, then on to Broadway in March 2020 where it was shuttered a couple hours before it’s opening night! What bad luck!

But nothing stops these queens – not even a pandemic! And in this simply-written musical, the queens battle it out to see which one is the best! The queens all get to belt out a number, singing about their short term marriage to Henry, and their heartbreak. These Queens – Jarneia Richard-Nioel as Catherine of Aragon, Bryony Duncan as Anne Boyelyn, Natalie Paris as Jane Seymour, Cherelle Jay as Anna of Cleves, Zara McIntosh as Katherine Howard and Danielle Steers as Catherine Parr are all fabulous!  Duncan is especially funny , in a joke that doesn’t get old, about her beheading! Each queen has their own time to shine and sing – with Zara McIntosh hands down the best song snd singer – in a show that’s a bit like the X- Factor for dead ex-queens! It’s 80 minutes of great musical numbers and laugh out loud jokes. Kudos to Moss and Marlow for this show. Lets hope Henry doesn’t get to them! 

The Queens are alive again, long live the Queens!

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28th Dec2021

BFI London Film Festival – Highlights

by timbaros
tragedy-of-macbeth-01
The BFI London Film Festival proved once again that it’s one of the best by showing eclectic, important and interesting films during its ten day run. Live film screenings, events, talks and glamorous star-studded film premieres made it the talk of the town. Here are some of the film highlights:
The Tragedy of Macbeth:
There are no words to describe this film. Sure, this film stars multiple Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, is directed by Joel Cohen (MacDormand’s long term husband and brother of Ethan – who together made The Big Lewbowski, No Country for Old Men, Inside Llewyn Davis, and more), and is based on Shakespeare’s iconic and much adapted work of art. But The Tragedy of Macbeth is bigger than the sum of its parts. It’s indescribably stunning and powerful, and filmed in black & white which gives it an eerie tone, and was by far the best film of the festival, and is perhaps the best film of the year. All the performances stand out (including Kathryn Hunter’s witch), and The Tragedy of Macbeth will be remembered many many years from now.
 
Mothering Sunday:
A very quiet film that made a big impact when it was shown. The world of wealth and privilege interspersed with the less so has Josh O’Connor having an affair with a maid (played by Chelsea Young) in 1920’s England. Directed by Eva Hudson, every shot, every scene, every moment is captured slowly, succinctly and lovingly. It is a beautiful film on every level.
Red Rocket:
Sean Baker, the director who gave us the wonderful mobile phone film ’Tangerine’ (2015) returns with a quirky and funny film about a broke former porn star (Simon Rex – an actual former porn star), who goes to Texas to live with his ex-wife (Bree Elrod) and her mother in the shadow of a local power plant. He slowly starts falling for a young girl (a fantastic Suzanna Son) who works at the local donut shop. Funny and tender, with a slice of mischief (thanks to Rex’s charm and aloofness) made Red Rocket one of the favorites of the festival.
Munich – Edge of War:
This WWI film tells a bit of the story of the Munich Agreement with a young civil servant (George MacKay) who gets reconnected with an estranged college friend to overturn Hitler before it is too late. A great turn by Jeremy Irons as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain makes this film taut and nail-biting, and the period details are superb.
Last Night in Soho:
Matt Smith and Anya Taylor-Joy star in this film that is so unlike what you would expect it to be. Young woman Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) arrives in London to start college, fresh and innocent, and is taken in by an elderly women (the late Diana Rigg in her last screen role) who harbours very dark secrets. Horror, fantasy and mystery are blended in together for a scary and bumpy ride. Directed by Edgar Wright (Ant-Man, Hot Fuzz).
Benediction: 
A great Jack Lowden plays an WWI army deserter who is sent to a mental hospital to get treatment for an illness he doesn’t have. He’s gay, and falls into a series of affairs, some serious and some not. Actual scenes of WWI are interspersed throughout the film hitting home the hard facts that millions of soldiers died during the war. Based on the life of poet Siegfried Sassoon, directed by Terence Davies. Peter Capaldi plays the unhappy, bitter Sassoon late in his life who ended up marrying a woman and having a child together.
Belfast:
Kenneth Branagh’s ode to his own childhood living in Belfast in the 1960’s is stolen by the delicate performance of 5-year old Jude Hill who is in practically in every scene of the film. He is the son to Caitronia Balfe and Jamie Dornan where they struggle to survive in a city that is constantly in conflict between the catholics and the protestants. At only 98 minutes, this film is marred by Irish accents so thick subtitles are needed, and the riot scenes look staged. Balfe is terrific as the tormented wife, and Judi Dench delicately plays little Hill’s grandmother.
Benedetta:
If you plan to watch any nun lesbian film this year, this is the one to watch. Directed by the controversial Paul Verhoeven (Robocop and Basic Instinct), it is based on a true story about Sister Benedetta Carlini. It’s early1600’s Florence when sister Benedetta arrives at a convent, and then enters into a powerplay with the head sister (a great Charlotte Rampling), while an alluring sexy local woman (Daphne Patakia) is taken in who then seduces Benedetta, but with devastating results that turns the convent, and the city, into a tizzy. Funny and surreal.
Ali & Ava:
British made film that charts an unlikely romance between two people from different walks of like – a romance where society tells them that it is not ok. Claire Rushbrook is a middle-aged Irish teaching assistant and newcomer Adeel Akhtar is newly-single British Pakistani landlord who are both totally believable as the couple who meet and gradually fall in love in a romance that slowly blossoms over time. Clio Barnard delicately wrote and directed this film.
Quant:
Excellent documentary of the fashion designer Mary Quant directed by actress Sadie Frost who shows us the importance of Quant’s influence in fashion as a female business pioneer and her influence on the fashion scene back in the 1960’s when Chelsea was the place to be for fashion.  Quant is still alive today – a vibrant 92 year-old.
True Things:
Powerful performances make True Things on the must watch list. Ruth Wilson (as Kate) works in a job centre mechanically doing her job when one day she has a client who more than takes her fancy – an ex-prisoner – Blond (Tom Burke). They start dating, against the rules of her job, and it’s a volatile relationship. Her friends and family are very protective of her, yet Kate keeps falling deeper and deeper for Blond.
Two Friends:
Great performances by child actors (and brothers) Asik Shaikh and Arik Shaikh who play neighbors in a remote village in West Bengal. They are close friends, share a tutor, and can see into each others yards in between the bamboo fence that separates their homes. At close to two hours, the film never drags, thanks to the authentic performances and beautiful direction by Prasun Chatterjee. Two Friends is a simple moving tale of what it means to have a best friend when you are young. Highly recommended.
Flee:
This animated film/documentay tells about the struggles of Afghani Amin, who is about to marry a Danish man, while he struggles with the life he left behind back home – the struggles he endured growing up gay in a volatile and unaccepting society. The animation is amazing, and the story even more so. Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
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28th Dec2021

Night, Mother (Theatre)

by timbaros
2. Stockard Channing and Rebecca Night. Photography by Marc Brenner.A play about suicide is not the most uplifting experience, but when it is performed by two very strong actresses it is compelling and breathless.

Stockard Channing and Rebecca Night are both brilliant, and tormented, as mother (Thelma) and daughter (Jessie) in ’Night, Mother now playing at the Hampstead Theatre.

Jessie, you see, is ready to commit suicide. She’s depressed, unhappy, divorced, estranged from her son, and still hasn’t come to grips with the death of her father. She had moved in with her mother after her divorce to gather her thoughts, and to try to get her life back in some kind of order – but it didn’t. Thelma tries to talk Jessie out of committing suicide – that she has a lot to live for, and that if she kills herself she’s killing her too. This 80 minute conversation all takes place in a dated 1970’s house while Jessie continues to give her mom  exact instructions as to what to do after her suicide, but Thelma is just not accepting what’s about to happen – and neither are we.

This drama is all set in the confines of the cozy Hampstead theatre, where the audience appears to be eavesdropping on a very intimate, and unbelievable, conversation between mother and daughter. And both Channing and Night nail their roles. Legend Channing, who was last on a London stage in 2018 (in Apologia) is as strong as ever, in a performance that will win her awards. Stage actress Night is just as good. With subtle and gentle direction by Roxana Silbert, all working with a devastating script by Marsha Norman (‘Night, Mother was also a 1986 film starring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft), ‘Night, Mother will still shock you even though you know how it ends. 
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