British and Irish Films 2011

I don't know if anyone saw The Review Show talking about this a couple of weeks ago, but they were all pretty impressed with it. What they were most impressed with (as I remember) were the performances from the young, non-actors playing Heathcliff and Cathy. They said that, after they 'grew up' the film loses something. For them, the film was at its best when dealing with the younger versions of H&C.

Tinker Tailor was a great film, very steeped in the era. Loved it.
Saw We Have to Talk About Kevin - Tilda Swinton is just brilliant. I thought Lynne Ramsey made a great job of filming the book. It's very spare but as the mood gets more and more oppressive and even if you know what's coming it's still shocking. I thought it might've been hard to get over the ambiguous sense of nature/nurture but Ramsey nails it.

What did you think of We Have To Talk About Kevin, Christine? What kind of film did you watch? I only ask as, again, on The Review Show, while they all liked it to varying degrees, no one seemed to be able to agree one what it was. Black comedy? Domestic horror film? One said it was an issue film, another that it couldn't be an issue film because it didn't have an issue. There were other discussions, but I can't remember what they were now.

What did you think?

Seen The Inbetweeners Movie, TTSS & Wuthering Heights. Those three are terrific films.

Want to see Submarine and probably might watch it tonight.

Hun, Lionel Shriver wrote the book to great acclaim, she got into the head of a mother that has an ambivalent attitude towards her child, and throughout the book you sway between thinking she's the problem or is it her kid that has the problems or is it some of each. The film. while not able to deal in depth with characters internal musings like books can, still was able to portray the mother as she was in the book - self contained. I think Tilda Swinton was the reason the film works as well as the book as she has this ability to act resigned cool (as in cold) while still letting some panic seep out.

It is kind of an issue film, you wonder as a mother how you would cope, it gets you thinking about how that child developed the feelings he did. Is it even possible for 'bad seed' children to be born that way?

Anyway certainly makes you think, and is well made and well acted - the boys are brilliant.

My review of Parked, which was mentioned in the first post (with trailer). Quick version: Humorous and quirky and at the same time deeply sad. 4/5

For those of you interested in ghost movies, The Awakening is out now



1921 England is overwhelmed by the loss and grief of World War I. Hoax exposer Florence Cathcart visits a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost. Everything she thought she knew unravels as the 'missing' begin to show themselves.
(Summary from imdb, changed slightly by me to make grammatical sense.)

Stars Rebecca Hall and Dominic West.


Fast Girls

I almost feel I should make a new thread for this one, since it's being filmed at the moment and I believe it's intended to be released next year, to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics. It's written by Noel Clarke (who talks about it on twitter, for those of you who are on there), and he also acts in it, along with Lenora Critchlow (Being Human) and Bradley James (Merlin).

imdb summary: A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

So already I'm imagining Bend it Like Beckham meets Kidulthood. No trailer as yet.

From what I hear, The Awakening is really good until it stops just being a ghost story and tries to ramp things up. Had they continued as they started, it sounds as if they'd have had a really good film.

I do like a horror film that creates an atmosphere, though, so I might see it anyway. Probably not at the cinema, though.

Fast Girls trailer. (Don't watch the trailer if you're planning to see the film, because it's one of those trailers that seems to show you the entire film). Looks incredibly cheesy, but I'll probably still catch it at some point:



Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

imdb summary: A visionary sheik believes his passion for the peaceful pastime of salmon fishing can enrich the lives of his people, and he dreams of bringing the sport to the not so fish-friendly desert. Willing to spare no expense, he instructs his representative to turn the dream into reality, an extraordinary feat that will require the involvement of Britain's leading fisheries expert who happens to think the project both absurd and unachievable. That is, until the Prime Minister's overzealous press secretary latches on to it as a 'good will' story. Now, this unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible.

The mind boggles.



Quartet

Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon retire from Hogwarts to a home for retired opera singers with Billy Connolly.

Not exactly upcoming, as it's already on dvd but



Wreckers stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Claire Foy (who is in everything, and really good) as a married couple who move to his home village, only to have secrets uncovered when his younger brother shows up. It seems to have pretty mediocre reviews but might be worth watching just for Foy and Cumberbatch.

I know it's not 2011, but watch this...

You know, for years I thought I had seen that film, but then I read something about it that didn't match up with what I had seen.

I think what I watched was actually a tv film called either The Magdalen Laundry or Sinners about the same topic, released the same year and (and this is what really confused me) also starring Anne-Marie Duff.