Starter for Ten

We have been running our film club for ten years now and decided to use one screening to celebrate it: we provided prosecco and a special anniversary cake, but the challenge was to choose the right film.

we brainstormed all the titles we could think of with "ten" in them and discarded most of them as too obscure or just plain wrong. And then we thought of Starter for Ten, which was released the  year we started and in retrospect would have been a possible film to screen back then.

Never mind, I'm glad to have seen it at last and really enjoyed it.

Here are my notes:

Starter For Ten

UK 2006                      92 minutes

Director:                      Tom Vaughan

Starring:                        James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Tate, Benedict Cumberpatch and Mark Gatiss

Awards and Nominations

• One win at the Austin Film Festival
• Three nominations including Best British Film at the Empire Awards

“A modest and very British movie (though co-produced by Tom Hanks), Tom Vaughan's Starter For Ten is a rite-of-passage comedy about the working-class Essex boy Brian Jackson's first two terms studying English literature at Bristol University in 1985. James McAvoy is amusing and convincing as the gauche Brian who leaves his old chums (Dominic Cooper and James Corden from The History Boys) back home on the estuary and is torn between two fellow students, the self-consciously sophisticated, middle-class Alice (Alice Eve), and the wry, politically active Jewish Rebecca (Rebecca Hall). Much of the action turns on Brian joining Bristol's University Challenge team (Mark Gatiss does a hilarious Bamber Gascoigne). Among the various scenes of humiliation two stand out, one very funny in the style of Lucky Jim Dixon's weekend at Professor Welch's home, the other truly painful.”

Philip French

 
It is interesting to look back at a film ten years after its release to see how the careers of its cast and production team have developed. Screenplay writer David Nicholls read English and Drama at Bristol University and turned to writing after struggling to make a career as an actor: he wrote several episodes of the series Cold Feet before writing Starter for Ten as a novel after another series he had been writing was cancelled. His subsequent work includes adaptations of Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Great Expectations and Far From the Madding Crowd (starring Carey Mulligan) and among his novels is the award-winning One Day which he later adapted for the screen with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in the lead roles. Director Tom Vaughan also studied at Bristol University and made his name as a director on TV working on several series of Cold Feet. Starter for Ten was his first feature film and since then he has worked regularly for both TV and cinema. His most recent work has been for the TV series Victoria, for which he has directed three episodes.

 James McAvoy was already a rising star in 2006 with lead roles in The Last King of Scotland (2006), Becoming Jane (2007) and Atonement (2007) to follow on closely from this film, but Rebecca Hall, James Corden and Benedict Cumberpatch were all at the start of their TV and film acting careers after early work on stage. Additionally although Catherine Tate had written and starred in her own TV series she made this film before she appeared with David Tennant as a Tardis regular in Doctor Who, and the multi-talented Mark Gatiss, having made his name in The League of Gentlemen had yet to write for Doctor Who, co-create Sherlock or become a familiar character actor with roles in programmes as diverse as Game of Thrones, Wolf Hall, Sherlock (where his portrayal of Mycroft had strong echoes of Peter Mandelson)  and The Coalition (where he actually played Peter Mandelson and memorably made his first appearance out of a cloud of smoke.).

 

Here's the trailer:

 

 

Eye in the Sky

I saw the trailer for this film long before its release and got completely the wrong picture: I thought it was promoting an action thriller and wondered what stars of the calibre of Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman were doing in it. As a bizarre coincidence I think I saw the trailer the day that the news of Alan Rickman's death was released.

And then I read the reviews, was sorry that I'd missed it in its first run in the cinema and was delighted when we scheduled it to run earlier this month.

My anticipation of the film was entirely justified and even though i had a fairly good idea how the story would develop there were whole sections when i found myself on the edge of my seat and almost forgetting to breathe.

Here are my notes:

Eye in the Sky

UK 2015                      102 minutes

Director:                      Gavin Hood

Starring:                        Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman and Barkhad Abdi

Awards and Nominations

• One nomination for Best Narrative Feature at Palm Springs International Film Festival

“Here, the South African director Gavin Hood assembles an A-list ensemble cast (including Alan Rickman in his last on-screen role) for a provocatively tense thriller that negotiates the moral minefields of its thorny subject matter in crowd-pleasing fashion.”

Mark Kermode

Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is remotely commanding a drone operation to capture a group of dangerous terrorists in Nairobi. The mission suddenly escalates from a “capture” to a “kill” operation and the members of the military have to work with politicians and lawyers thousands of miles away from the action to gain their approval before they can strike.

The film has a complex production history, with Guy Hibbert’s screenplay being initially developed by BBC Films before Gavin Hood was appointed director and, subsequently, Colin Firth’s production company becoming involved to make the film. Firth himself planned to play the part of James Willett the UK Foreign Secretary, but the role was ultimately played by Iain Glen with Firth’s sole involvement being a credit as one of the film’s producers. Director Gavin Hood made the entire film in South Africa, but none of the four leading actors met up during the production: rather Hood filmed each of them alone to reflect their separate specific locations in the story. On its release the film received many positive reviews with critics commenting both on the cerebral spin it gave to the modern political thriller as well as the powerful acting of its cast.

Gavin Hood made his name with the South African drama Tsotsi (2005) which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film before moving to the US where his more commercial films have included X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and the science fiction epic Ender’s Game (2013).

 

Here's the trailer:

 

 

 

The Wars of the Roses

Over the past week I've finally managed to catch up with the brilliant BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III plays, ie The Wars of the Roses.

I've seen Richard III several times (with Anthony Sher, Ian McKellen and Kevin Spacey playing the king): each was brilliant in very different productions: traditional, a fascist 1930s, and mid-Atlantic. However these were standalone productions and it is only when you see how Richard develops over the three parts of Henry VI that you can fully understand all the historical background. Having also recently visited Laycock Abbey which was used as a location it was interesting to see how well it worked on screen.

It was no surprise to discover that Benedict Cumberpatch was brilliant in the lead role, but the production had casting in depth with Judi Dench and many other superb actors in supporting roles.

However having watched it at a time when news of the US presidential elections is flooding media as I watched the plays I began to see a strange and unexpected counterpoint to the drama. And then this morning I read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/sunday/shakespeare-explains-the-2016-election.html?_r=0

Years ago I read a book called Shakespeare Our Contemporary while studying A Level English. Now I know that Shakespeare will always be our contemporary.

Brooklyn

This is our next film. I'm really looking forward to it as we started watching it at home but it was late and managed to miss the second part. Fortunately we have now scheduled it for later this week.

Here are my notes:

Brooklyn

UK 2015                      112 minutes

Director:                      John Crowley

Starring:                        Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nick Hornby))
• Won BAFTA for Best British Film and five further BAFTA nominations including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Julie Walters), Best Adapted Screenplay
• A further 29 wins and 136 nominations

“What a moving, emotionally intelligent and refreshingly old-fashioned movie this is. The narrative may be perfectly situated in the early 50s, but the style of film-making harks back further still, to a time when “women’s pictures” were the backbone of popular cinema. Contemporary audiences raised on overblown spectacle and overwrought romance may have to recalibrate their reactions to appreciate the rich rewards of director John Crowley’s best film since 2003’s unexpectedly punchy Intermission. But for those enamoured of the 30s and 40s heyday of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck, Brooklyn feels like a breath of fresh air.”

Mark Kermode

 

A young Irish woman Ellis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) emigrates to New York City in search of a better life. Initially homesick, she begins to adjust to her new surroundings with the help of Italian-American Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) with whom she becomes romantically involved. A family crisis then compels Ellis to return to Ireland where she meets Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson), and as a result she has to choose between two countries and the different lives they offer her.

Producer Finola Dyer read Brooklyn, the award-winning novel by Colm Toibin, after completing her work on An Education (2009). She felt that its story spoke to her on a personal level as her mother had emigrated from Ireland in the 1950s, and having met Toibin through a mutual friend he immediately granted her the film rights. Nick Hornby had produced the Oscar nominated screenplay for An Education and Dyer commissioned him to adapt Brooklyn for the screen.

Director John Crowley had read the book on its publication and agreed to take on the project after reading just 40 pages of Nick Hornby’s script. Crowley had himself emigrated from Ireland to London in his 20s and this was one of his main reasons for deciding to make the film. In an interview on its release he said he:

“…had emotional understanding from experience that could maybe help make this film not a period piece frozen in aspic, but could give it a directness that would resonate with a younger audience anywhere.”

At its premier at the Sundance Film Festival the film received a standing ovation and great critical acclaim, subsequently confirmed by the success of the film in the awards season. Following a bidding war for its distribution rights the film was released globally and to date has taken USD 62.1 million against its budget of USD 11.0 million.

After beginning his career directing stage plays in Dublin John Crowley made his name in the UK as an associate director at the Donmar Warehouse in London where he directed a filmed version of a short stage play by Samuel Beckett. He has subsequently worked extensively in theatre both in the UK and on Broadway. He made his feature film debut with Intermission (2003), a comedy drama set in Dublin and in 2007 won a BAFTA for Best Director for his film Boy A (made for TV in the UK but given cinematic release in the US).

It has recently been announced that Crowley will direct the film version of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch.

Here's the trailer:

 

 

Florence Foster Jenkins

It's the beginning of our new season tomorrow. We always try to select a film that will be popular with our target audience so that they will come along and join for the year, and this time we have selected Florence Foster Jenkins.

Over the period that we have been running our club we've screened several earlier films by Stephen Frears including The Queen and Philomena. Our audiences enjoyed both of these very much and both screenings were well attended. Thus all being well we will have a large audience tomorrow.

I wrote my notes earlier today, and here they are:
 

Florence Foster Jenkins

UK 2016                      110 minutes

Director:                      Stephen Frears

Starring:                        Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg and Rebecca Ferguson

“As Les Dawson proved with such precision, any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes real skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle “Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, who takes centre stage in this very likable, frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears.”

 

Mark Kermode

Despite her generally poor singing ability Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) aspires to become an opera singer with the help of her husband St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and her pianist Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg).

 Florence Foster Jenkins became a prominent cult figure in New York City musical circles from the 1920s to the 1940s, with eminent musicians as varied as Cole Porter and Enrico Caruso as her fans. She had initially trained as a pianist, but after an injury to her arm put an end to this she decided to use a substantial inheritance to resume her musical career as a singer. Initially she performed small recitals with attendance only by personal invitation and with music critics specifically excluded, but in 1944 she gave a public recital at Carnegie Hall.  The reviews of the performance were scathing and sarcastic, and shortly afterwards she had a heart attack and died.

Given the strange events of Florence Foster Jenkins’ life it is not surprising to find that it has provided inspiration for a number of plays and films. The most widely produced play is Glorious! which initially ran in the West End starring Maureen Lipman and which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Comedy; it has since been performed in more than 40 countries worldwide. The award-winning 2015 French Film Marguerite was also loosely based on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins although the main character was called Marguerite Dumont, a tribute to Margaret Dumont who had initially trained as a singer before becoming a comic foil to the Marx Brothers in so many of their films.

Recent films from by Stephen Frears have included The Queen (2006) starring Helen Mirren and Philomena (2013) starring Judi Dench. Both films were artistically successful, especially The Queen with Helen Mirren winning an Oscar and BAFTA among numerous other awards in the title role. Florence Foster Jenkins has only just been released in the US but it is reasonable to assume that it will appear prominently in the nominations during the forthcoming awards season.

 

Here's the trailer:

 

And here is Margaret Dumont:

 

The Universe of the Coen Brothers

Having finally caught up with - and very much enjoyed - Hail, Caesar this article about the universe of the Coen Brothers was fascinating:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/22/coen-brothers-universe-john-turturro-big-lebowski-jesus-quintana

Hail, Caesar is definitely a film for our Film Club. And I still need to catch up with the TV version of Fargo.

Best Films of the 21st Century - so far...

This is brilliant: a survey of the best films since 2000:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/23/mulholland-drive-david-lynch-21st-century-top-films-bbc-poll?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=187164&subid=105500&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2_footer

I've yet to check how many I have seen, but it will be an excellent source of inspiration for our Film Society.