Movies by Mills (November 2020)

CONTENTS PAGE 3 4-7

EDITORIAL ANOTHER ROUND Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a consistency of alcohol in their blood.

8-11

BAD TALES A few families living out on a limb in the suburbs of Rome. Tensions here can explode at any time, ultimately, it’s the children who bring about the collapse.

12-15

SIBERIA An exploration into the language Of dreams.

16-19

WILDFIRE Inspired by the hit song by Michael Murphey, “Wildfire” tells a story of redemption and forgiveness as a young girl releases a dark secret through the friendship she develops with a wild horse.

20-23

MARTIN EDEN Based on Jack London’s autobiographical novel, “Martin Eden” tells the story of a poor and unschooled sailor (Martin Eden)who unexpectedly meets Ruth Morin a magnetic young woman.

24-27

NOMADLAND Follows a woman in her sixties who after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day Nomad.

28-31

SHIRLEY A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.

32-35

TIME Fox Rich fights for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence in prison.

36-39

NOTTURNO Gianfranco Rosi’s new documentary is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle-East.

40-43

RONNIE’S The story of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

44-47

MOGUL MOWGLI A British Pakistani Rapper is on the cusp of his first world tour, but is struck down by an illness.

48-51

THE THREE KINGS A documentary on three legendary football managers: Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Matt Stein.

52-55

COMING SOON A look at some of the films coming to cinemas or viewed digitally from 2020-2021

56-57

FilmFest Follower.

Scheduled programme of The French Film Festival.

58 59 60

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DVDS OF THE MONTH: WILDLIFE DVDS OF THE MONTH: THE IRISHMAN POSTER: THE THREE KINGS

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EDITORIAL Hello Film Lovers! Here we are again at the beginning of a month to welcome you the latest issue of MbM Magazine. Our cover feature review is MbM’s choice as our favourite film of this year’s BFI London Film Festival: “Another Round” starring Mads Mikkelsen in a fun-loving crowd pleaser. And yes, we need something to cheer us up in times like these and “Another Round” does that a thousand-fold. Other reviews to entice you back to the cinema are “Ronnie’s”, a nostalgic look at a jazz club in 1959 which will have your feet tapping to the beat as you watch and listen to the greatest jazz stars of the era. There is also a review of the talked about and critically acclaimed “Nomadland” starring: Frances McDormand. There are further reviews of “Bad Tales”, “Siberia”, “Wildfire”, “Martin Eden”, “Shirley”, “Time”, “Notturno”, “Mogul Mowgli”, “The Three Kings”.

PLUS! Looking ahead with a feature article ‘Coming Soon’, films due to be released November 2020 to 2021. FilmFest browses the films at the French Film Festival…and for cinephiles our DVDs of the Month: “The Irishman” and “Wildlife”. Enjoy the read.

Brian Mills Magazine Editor

Paul Ridler Magazine Designer

PHOTO CREDITS:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Studio Canal: 1,4,6,7 Vision Distribution: 8,10,11 Out Now CH: 12,14,15 Link Media: 16,18,19 Searchlight Pictures: 24,26,27 01 Distribution: 36,38,39 Amazon Prime Video: 32,34,35 Curzon Artificial Eye: 28,30,31 Goldfinch: 40,42,43 BBC Films: 44,46,47 Media Silo: 48,50,51,60

We would like to thank the following for their help in providing material for this magazine: Jonathan Rutter, Jamie Rushden, Eugene O’Conner, Charlotte Moore (all at premier Comms.Com). Patrick Reed at Studio Canal.

Emma Deakins at Strike Media, Jill Reading at BFI

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ANOTHER ROUND Directed BY Thomas Vinterberg Staring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthing “I haven’t felt this good in ages. I think there’s more to this – maybe going a bit higher. Let’s change gears.”

- Martin Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.

This is a boozy feature that takes an analytical look at the consumption of alcohol and giving the habit a highly credited reason to encourage the habit.

There is an opening quote from Kierkegaard about youth, love and dreams, it’s about male friendship, midlife crisis and the cruelty of modern condition by which we spend our first couple of sentient decades figuring out who we want to be, and the rest of our lives not living up to that vision.

Martin is as history teacher, apathetically drifting away from his students, his wife Trine (Marie Bonnevie) and the charismatic, ambitious charmer he once was. One night out, his psych friend Nikolaj (Magnus Millang) suggests an experiment along with PE teacher Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) and music instructor Peter (Lars Ranthe), making up an ensemble that jointly won Best Actor at the San Sebastian Film Festival, they test out the theory, loosely based on an idea propounded by psychotherapist Finn Skarderud that humans are born with too low a blood-alcohol percentage. If they day-drink controlled amounts, will make them happier, better adjusted, more capable?

Martin reconnects with his class and with Trine, Tommy coaches his kids’ football team successfully. But soon darker notes sound as they up their ‘dosage’, and the secrets kept from spouses and school authorities alike take their toll. It is of course difficult to know when you’ve crossed the line from sociological study into selfjustifying alcoholism when you are drunk all the time.

Co-written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm, the film acquires more nuance as the foursome react to the experiment in divergent ways, mining gently heartbroken themes of male fragility and insecurity while also depicting the central friendships with a rueful warmth that is only applied to men, especially at this age. It builds to a finale in 4

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which Martin finally puts his early years of jazz ballet to unexpectedly joyous use, and suggests that drinking in later life is a bit like dancing at a funeral: an act of messy but lifeaffirming bravery in the face of beckoning nihilism.

The philosopher Homer Simpson stated, “Here’s to alcohol, the cause of – and solution to – all life’s problems,” I raise a glass to that and to this film.

Mads Mikkelsen: Mads great successes parallel those achieved by the Danish film industry since the mid-90s. He was born in Osterbro, Copenhagen.

His feature film debut was “Pusher” as Tonny. He reprised the role in the film’s sequel in 2004.

Two years later Mads got the role of villainous Le Chifre in “Casino Royale” opposite Daniel Craig as James Bond. Mikkelsen had arrived and made further impressions like his role in “Clash of the Titans” as Draco. Then came his greatest role to date in 2012 and “The Hunt”.

The film unfolds in a small provincial town in the days leading up to Christmas. Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a forty-year-old divorcee, is finally getting his life under control. He’s got himself a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of rebuilding his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things soon start to unravel. Nothing significant, a slight comment here, a random lie there. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust get out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

“The Hunt” is a disturbing depiction of how a lie can quickly become truth – a modern tale of a witch-hunt, injustice, guilt, and ultimately, forgiveness. A fable on how fragile a community can become when gossip and malice can flourish. It is a stirring portrait of a man struggling to exonerate himself, and a father and a son reaching out for one another as their world crumbles.

“Another Round” is a totally different film than “The Hunt” but it shows the adroitness of Mads Mikkelsen in capturing the character of Martin and believing in a man that accepts the idea that the habitual consumption of alcohol can improve their lives forever.

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Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and class in Another Round.

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) in Another Round.

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Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen) and children in Another Round

Martin(Mads Mikkelsen) and Anika (Maria Bonnevie) in Another Round.

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BAD TALES(Favolacce) Directed by Fabio & Damiano D’Innocenzo Starring: Elio Germano, Tommaso Di Cola, Guilietta Rebeggiani We wanted to put the viewers in a position of uneasiness - Fabio & Damiano D’Innocenzo Did she find a better diary or a better life? wonders Max in the narrative voiceover.

A few families living out on a limb in the suburbs of Rome. Tensions here can explode at any time, ultimately, it is the children who bring about the collapse.

A narrative centred on four emotionally suburban children on the cusp of puberty struggling to adapt to the banality of their parents’ world in an offbeat noir. Its roots are found in the bleak tales from Neapolitan hinterlands. It has a strong distinctive look and a strong personality.

The Italo-Swiss co-production is vividly acted and intentionally aims to frustrate an easy understanding of who its characters are and what they’re up to. Their futile lives are revealed by and by. There is nothing banal about the filmmakers’ vision or the power of the lensing, intriguing ambiance, elements that may help it win festival prizes.

For sophisticated viewers, they must be prepared with some very depressing young teenagers outside of Rome, where sad tales reveal them as under-motivated.

The complicated opening narrated by Max Tortora who claims to have found a little girl’s diary abruptly ends. We are left with a portrait of awkward kids from dysfunctional families.

Viola (Giulia Melillo) is a pretty girl who always keeps her eyes on the ground and spends a lot of time at the house of the Placido family, friends of her father (Max Malatesta). One day she does something wrong that enrages her elders and is sadistically shorn of her locks. She doesn’t openly react to this brutality but spends the rest of the film wearing a black wig.

The family includes her cousins Alessia (Giulietta Rebeggiani) and Dennis (Tommaso Di Cola), who are forced to read their report 8

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cards out loud at a family dinner. They both have got straight A’s.

Their mom (Barbara Chichiarelli) and dad (Elio Germano) seem distant and unloving. Dad’s passive aggressiveness explodes when, after installing a frame swimming pool in the backyard, he gets so annoyed by the neighbourhood kids using it that he maliciously knifes it and blames it on “the gypsies.”

The last weird family features the pale, sickly Geremia (Justin Korovkin) who never talks and his extroverted, cowboy-like dad (Gabriel Montesi). At least they have a relationship and some positive feelings about each other, even if no mother is in sight, and they are both pretty odd. But tensions mount across the board.

Bombs are built. Poisons are prepared. An unbalanced teacher instructs his young students how to end their anxieties and depression in one quick go. Threaded through the kid’s lives like a warning is the unsettling presence of Vilma (lleana D’Ambra), a trampish older girl seething with rage, whose pregnancy does not bode well for a happy ending.

Though Bruno (Elio Germano), the star, keeps the tale on edge to his final blowout, the whole cast does a good job breaking out of stereotypes, particularly the four distinctive young actors who suggest kids poised between the angst of their age and a total lack of reliable adult role models. Bruno is the sort of thrusting type, who gets his kids to read out their A grades over dinner to impress visitors, while espousing the virtues of shampoo, but who would berate his son Dennis (Tommaso di Cola) for choking than help him to stop.

There is a strong feeling of place created around the little rows of houses surrounded by manicured lawns, which veteran cinematographer Paolo Carnera and three production designers turn into a fantasy space that is, appropriately, never quite real.

Whether an audience will be able to be in the company of these characters for 98 minutes remains to be seen.

The film is a brave and challenging effort by its filmmakers but regrettably not a memorable one.

The film lives up to its title and will leave its audience feeling bad rather than good after seeing it.

The directors focus is magnifying the more animalistic traits of humanity through sound design that emphasises noises like eating, until the children’s stories suddenly emerge as far more connected and troubling than might first appeared.

If there is any saving grace for the film it is the children that provide it, bringing nuance to the emotions they’re called to express events feels bracingly true to their characters failings even if they may appear a challenging for the viewer.

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Dennis(Tommaso Di Cola) and Alesia (Giulietta Rebeggiani) in Bad Tales

A pregnant Vilma (Ileana D’Ambra) sunbathing in Bad Tales 10

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Bruno (Elio Germano) contemplating in Bad Tales.

Amelio(Gabriel Montesi) and Geremia(Justin Korovkin) in Bad Tales.

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SIBERIA Directed by Abel Ferrara Starring: Willem Dafoe, Dounia Sichov, Simon McBurney A LONER PLAYED BY WILLEM DAFOE LOOKS BACK OVER HIS LIFE AND STRUGGLES TO MAKE SENSE OF IT. Unfortunately, he won’t be the only one!

Willem Dafoe’s character Clint is trying to find meaning on an exploration of his life. The film is peppered with dreamlike/druglike encounters with pregnant women, naked dwarves, shamans, and magicians who appear out of nowhere, who are questioned and disappear a few minutes later. Where did they go? Who cares?

Apparently, the film was inspired by self-understanding techniques pioneered by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung in his private diary “The Red Book”, in which he reconsidered his personal and professional direction in the dark years following his break with Sigmund Freud. Jung would invoke a fantasy in his mind and enter it as if he were onstage. It was a period when he felt “menaced by a psychosis,” and while Ferrara’s film appears lucid and carefully constructed to suggest any madness on the auteur’s part, there is a valid argument to be made that the Dafoe character is going through too many hallucinations for his own mental health.

Ferrara’s fans who research the film’s origins, who are probably the same ones who funded the film on Kickstarter, will get the most out of the film. Unprepared audiences are likely to remain puzzled or angry at being excluded from Clint’s dreamlike world.

In a snowy Arctic wilderness, Clint offers a rambling voiceover about a little boy who first went to Canada with his dad and lived with him on a remote lake. When we finally see Clint, he’s a grown man living in a spacious wooden cabin, where he scrounges a living trading goods and selling liquor to his neighbours, like a local Inuit and a woodsman hooked on his slot machine.

Clint’s first fantasy begins with the arrival of two Russian women by dogsled. One is old and doddering, the other is young and beautiful.

While the elderly lady drinks rum, the young one opens her coat to reveal nothing underneath except her swollen breasts and a huge belly soon to give birth – and offers herself to her host with a smile.

The next scene shows Clint is alone in the cabin. He hears a noise in the cellar and while descending the stairs, he falls off a rocky cliff, where he meets his doppelganger and has a dialogue. This might be his inner, nastier self, who angrily criticises his life choices while Clint reasonably defends them. Their discussion is punctuated with flashes of extreme violence and horror- naked men shot in a death camp and incinerated. As though Clint’s personal visions were part of 12

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a much larger social malaise. Again, this interpretation depends on how Jung related to his own visionary experiences to World War I in the pic, these shock bites are more likely to mystify audiences.

Nothing in this film is easy to understand, and besides an exciting trip that Clint makes on his own dogsled lulled by five huskies. The blue-eyed dogs later appear to provide a grounding reality for several more fantasies. Later we see Clint holed up in his cave and a naked woman dwarf appears in a wheelchair, the animals’ wide-eyed stare closely mirrors the viewers and gets a laugh of recognition. They are only bested by a talking fish who appears later in the movie.

By this time, it is clear that the hero is riding the dogsled of memory, on an existential journey of self-discovery. In addition to grotesquery’s like a visit to a desert oasis with his huskies and several family members. His doctor-father appears out of his childhood and they have a surreal chat; later, his aged mother climbs on top of him on a table. His unforgiving wife accuses him of cruelty. Not long after that unpleasant encounter comes a sexual fantasy of making love to a string of young women.

We are fortunate that Joe Delia’s music, ranging from metaphysical to pop, provides an ironic counterpart and welcome relief to the visual fantasies.

A film to avoid unless you are a masochist.

WILLEM DAFOE: Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and dare to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large and small, Hollywood films as well as Independent cinema.

He has collaborated with directors who represent a virtual encyclopaedia of modern cinema: James Wan, Robert Eggers, Sean Baker, Kenneth Branagh, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Raimi, Alan Parker, Walter Hill, Mary Harran, Wim Wenders, Anton Corbijn, Zhang Yimou, Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, William Friedkin, Werner Herzog, Lars Von Trier, Abel Ferrara, Spike Lee, David Cronenberg, Paul Schrader, Anthony Minghella, Theo Angelopoulos, Robert Rodriguez, Phillip Noyce, Hector Babenco, John Milius, Paul Weitz…and many more.

Dafoe has been recognized with four Academy Award nominations. Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “Platoon”, Best Actor in a Supporting Role in “Shadow of the Vampire”, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actor’s Guild nominations , Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “The Florida Project”, for which he also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations, and most recently, Best Leading Actor for “At Eternity’s Gate”, for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination. Among his other nominations and awards, he has received two Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a National Board of Review Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup, as well as a Berlinale Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.

ABEL FERRARA: The obvious attraction to direct “Siberia” for Ferrara is that he is drawn to unsettling and uncompromising narratives set in New York. That is his passion. He began making Super-8 movies when he was a teenager, his coming-of-age film was “The Driller Killer” (1979).

Then followed his acclaimed “Ms. 45”(1981)and then directed a string of big budget movies. His real breakthrough came in 1990 in the ultraviolent “King of New York”. It is a modern-day story of a drug lord released from jail, out to regain his turf and hand over his profits to the city’s poor. The tale also came with a strong cast headlined by Christopher Walken. The success of the film enticed Harvey Keitel to star in “Bad Lieutenant (1992).

He can still capture star names, hence Willem Dafoe. It is just a shame that the film is such a downer.

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Clint (Willem Dafoe) in Siberia

Clint (Willem Dafoe) in Siberia 14

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Clint (Willem Dafoe) and Russian Girl (Cristina Chiriac) in Siberia

Clint (Willem Dafoe) in Siberia

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WILDFIRE Directed by Eric Parkinson Starring: Anne Heche, Robert Rusler, Mo Plenty

Inspired by the hit 1975 song

by Michael Murphey – WILDFIRE builds on the premise of a young girl and a mysterious horse by adding in the “Legend of the Cherokee Ghost Horse” – a magical creature that serves as a symbolic bridge to the afterlife.

WILDFIRE was shot primarily in and around Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in the heart of the 14-county Cherokee Nation of Eastern Oklahoma.

Many scenes were shot on Sparrowhawk Mountain and alongside the Illinois River at the same locations as were utilized for the family classic, “Where the Red Fern Grows.”

ANNE HECHE: Anne has built her career as an actress in parts in numerous TV series, which to led to film roles. She was cast as Maggie, supporting character to Al Pacino and Johnny Depp in “Donnie Brasco” (1997). It was about an FBI agent who infiltrates the Mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life at the expense of the regular one.

A further break came for Anne when she landed the starring role as Marion Crane in the remake of “Psycho” (1998). A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.

Another actress Shortly efforts

highlight in Anne’s career happened when she got the leading opposite Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro in “Wag the Dog”. before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join to fabricate a war to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.

Since then, “Wildfire” has become another milestone in her career.

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ERIC PARKINSON: Parkiinson is known within the industry primarily for his film marketing and distribution skills, especially to the U.S. Home Video Market. As a film distributor, he has handled the release of over 1,200 titles, including major hits such as “The Terminator”, “Little Nemo” and “Highlander 2”.

Schooled primarily in Film Production, Parkinson is also a skilled filmmaker, with extensive production credits and a directional debut in the works.

As a child, he was considered a musical prodigy with classical piano training awards and accolades. In 2002, he purchased Truman Press Incorporated, Hanover House and added DVD products to the publishing line. As of 2010 “Hanover House” was merged to become a publicity traded company. Parkinson has been the CEO OF Hanover House since 2002.

It has released over 400 titles to the DVD market during its first 15 years in the Home Media sector and recently began to re-focus efforts towards the release of theatrical feature films as the DVD business for independent titles grew increasingly competitive.

The company has aligned some aspects of Home Video, streaming and television product distribution through major studio partners, but maintaining its direct access to the major theatre circuits in North America.

Parkinson is active as a producer and executive producer of films, with current projects ranging from the $500,000 budget for “Wildfire” to the $10,000 budget for “Meltdown”.

As well as directing “Wildfire”, Eric Parkinson co-wrote the screenplay and also acts in the film as the Search Captain.

ROBERT RUSLER: Actor, athlete, writer, and natural performer was born on September 20, 1965, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He moved to Hawaii, where he lived on Wakiki Beach and started surfing and skateboarding on a semiprofessional level. At a young age his family moved to Los Angeles, where he began his martial arts career and entered many competitions.

Then he became an actor, and right out of high school, met his manager and began taking acting classes at the Loft Studio with Peggy Feury and William Traylor. Soon after he landed his first starring role opposite Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jnr. In John Hughes “Weird Science” (1985). He then starred opposite Marshall Bell and Robert Englund in “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” (1985).

Later projects included “Thrashin’ (1986) opposite Josh Brolin and “Vamp” (1986) opposite Grace Jones and Chris Makepeace, for which he received the award for Best Actor in a Science Fiction or Horror Film.

Robert then starred opposite Bridget Fonda and Phoebe in the cult classic feature film “Shag” (1989) which landed him numerous Teen Magazine interviews and features. Soon thereafter, he landed his first television series, Fox’s “The Outsiders” (1990) which was Executive Producer Francis Ford Coppola’s first television venture. His next project was starring opposite Tim Matheson and Brooke Adams in Stephen King’s Emmy award-winning movie of the week, “Sometimes They Come Back” (1991). He then became a series regular in “Babylon”, where he gained a huge international following and fan club. Robert’s most recent industry accomplishments were in Warner Bros. “Underworld” by Academy Award-winning writer Christopher-McQuarrie, followed by the controversial drama “Wasted in Babylon” (1999), where again he received critical acclaim for his innovative performance. He plays the part of Dennis Stevens in “Wildfire”.

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Diana(Anne Heche) and Major Dodge (Fred Jones) on set for Wildlife

Major Dodge and Udeli Soquili(Mo No Plenty) for Wildlife 18

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Chevel Shepherd and Dennis Qaid at party for Wildlife.

Poster of Wildlife

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MARTIN EDEN Directed by Pietro Marcello Starring: Luca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy, Vincenzo Nemolato, Marco Leonardi During these months I’ve reflected on my situation. And I felt a creative spirit burning inside, that urged me to turn myself into one of the eyes through which the world sees. I want to become a writer.

- Martin An adaptation of Jack London’s novel by Pietro Marcello with a 1970s Italian sensibility that is an intense political discourse and cinematic nostalgia. It is Marinelli’s engaging performance in the titular role that is the backbone of the film and commands our attention.

Martin has sprung up from Naples’ lower classes. He is gratefully welcomed by the sophisticated Orsini’s, matriarch Matilde (Elisabetta Valgol) who draws the line at her daughter’s inclinations. It takes some time before for Elena to become as besotted as her poor suitor. While she encourages him to return to primary school.

Martin, now determined to become a writer heads for a college admissions panel where he promptly strikes out. Stubbornly, Eden decides to learn by doing, but his continual stream of rejections and lack of income cause his fed up brother-law Bernardo to toss him out.

We see how his obsession shapes his character in ways that are troublesome. Out with Elena and others at an outdoor café, he fails to acknowledge and disparages their waitress, Margherita, even as Elena compliments her beauty. He denies his own class’s efforts to achieve rights through unions and a socialist platform, insisting instead that this will keep them in ‘slavery.’ This is leavened a little by his kindness to Maria Silvia, a widowed peasant travelling with her two young children who invites him to board with them on the outskirts of Naples.

It reminds one of Vincent Minelli’s “Lust for Life” with Van Gogh embedding with rural peasants to hone his craft surrounded while falling out with the local shopkeeper.

With a borrowed suit from Maria, Martin heads back into town for Elena’s birthday celebration and we can see his lowered stock. Elena pushing him to follow in the footsteps of her father’s accounting protégé’s Enrico Gargiulo (Sergio Longobardi), her mother outwardly hostile. He falls in with poet Russ Brissenden (Carlo Cecchi) on the 20

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road out, a man who has a strong influence on his future, but it is at this point that the film begins to waver.

Martin’s work is finally published, but his anti-Capitalist political outburst at the Orsinis’ dining table finds him rejected by Elena.

After a disorientating leap in time, the film’s final act features a debauched, angry and very successful Martin raging against everything, including his former bourgeois girlfriend whose mother even finds a change of heart along with his financial gains.

Marcello utilizes snippets of old silent films and random flashbacks to Martin as a child, one in which he dances with his young sister repeated throughout, a moment of pure happiness, ironically found in poverty. But the editors never achieve a smooth flow and Marcello’s narrative at times seems contradictory with Eden’s political viewpoints hard to pin down.

The film’s message could be misconstrued ‘as don’t reach above your station in life,’ instead of Jack London’s critique of individualistic ambition versus socialism.

What keeps our attention is Marinelli’s commitment, the film’s oldworld romance as conveyed by cinematographers Alessandro Abate, and Francesco Di Giacomo and the period trappings of an unspecified era as realized by a bygone era.

LUCA MARINELLI: Gained recognition in Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty” as Andrea For decades, journalist Jep Gambardelia has charmed and seduced his way through the glittering nightlife of Rome. Since the legendary success of his only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and elite social circles. But on his sixty-fifth birthday, Jep unexpectedly finds himself taking stock of his life, turning cutting wit on himself and his contempories, and looking past the lavish nightclubs, parties, and cafes to find Rome itself, in all its monumental glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

The film is a breath-taking Felliniesque tale of decadence and lost love. For Luca Marinelli it was great experience to be in a film of this calibre.

Prior to “Martin Eden”, Marinelli got the starring role in Valerio Mieli’s “Ricordi?”, which won The People’s Choice Award at Venice.

The film is a love story, seen through the memories of one young couple: recollections altered by moods, different perspectives, and time itself. A journey through the years of two individuals, united, divided, happy, unhappy, deeply in love or in love with others, told in a single stream of emotions and shades of feeling. Over the course of the film, he (Luca Marinelli) learns that love can last, while she (Linda Caridi) leans to live with nostalgia. Their memories change over time: fading or bursting in happiness, in a present that fast slips away.

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Martin (Luca Marinelli) in Martin Eden

Martin (Luca Marinelli) in Martin Eden 22

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Martin (Luca Marinelli)and Daisy (Denise Sardisco) in Martin Eden

(Luca Marinelli) in Martin Eden

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NOMADLAND Directed by Chloé Zhao Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie Hey Fern!

- Linda Hey Linda!

- Fern Come and join us.

- Linda No, I’ll be back soon - Fern

Following a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in The Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern -day nomad.

This is an inspired work of fiction work of survival on the open road that is filmed like a documentary. It is based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 nonfiction book, Nomadland.

Frances McDormand stars alongside a cast of real nomads.

In 2011, the fictitious widowed Fern (Frances McDormand), with no children is a 60ish Nevada widow who lost her house when the gypsum mine closed after 88 years and the town of Empire became a ghost town. The former residents scattered in all directions. Fern now travels and lives in her run-down white van, which needs costly repairs.

Fern picks up part time Christmas work at an Amazon fulfilment center in the desert haven of RTR (Rubber Tramp Rendezvous) in Quartzite, Arizona, she meets Bob Wells (self). There’s also fellow travellers Charlene Swankie self) and Linda May (real life nomad and mentor, and others like Derek (Derek Endres).

Becoming a reluctant adventurer, Fern is too poor to retire, as she veers from job to job. The former English teacher who bumps into one of her old students on the road (“Still doing that van thing?” the kid’s mother asks), Fern understands her struggle, and has no need to explain things when visiting her estranged comfortable-living sister (Melissa Smith).

Fern later meets the divorced dad Dave (David Strathairn) the only other actor in the movie), a former drifter, at the RTR, and is tempted by a romance, but parts before coming serious.

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We follow Fern as she continually looks for short-term work and meets eccentrics and nomads along the way, as she tries to get on with her adventurous life. But her situation never gets resolved, as she in the third act moving on to Wall, South Dakota (heading for the in the Badlands), for the next part of her heart-breaking life journey. Though gaining freedom from society by not conforming, there’s still pressure being an outsider. Life for her is continually learning how to deal with suffering and loneliness while barely surviving.

A restrained naturalist realistic performance by McDormand as a complex person to the angst over capitalism, is her best performance yet.

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The movie was filmed in seven states during four months, during which Frances McDormand actually performed several of the jobs done by people who do nomadic work and inspired the book, such as harvesting beets and packaging Amazon orders with Camperforce program.

McDormand nicknamed the van used in the film “Vanguard”, which was decorated with her own personal items and slept in during the shoot. Eventually, she stopped doing so because “It’s much better for me to pretend to be exhausted than to actually be exhausted”.

Frances McDormand blended in so well into the nomadic community, that one of the local Targets offered her an application for a job. Frances‘experience of living in a van took four to five months, covering seven states. She adopted a lifestyle of being constantly on the move to make the movie seem more authentic, rather than just acting the scenes.

AWARDS: GHENT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020: Nominee: Grand Prix. Best Film: Chloé Zhaeo SAN SEBASTIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020: Nominee: Audience Award. Best Film: Chloé Zhaeo

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020 Winner: People’s Choice Award Chloé Zhaeo VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2020 Winner: Fair Play Cinema Award Chloé Zhaeo Winner: Best Film Chloé Zhaeo Winner: SIGNIS Award Honorable Chloé Zhaeo

NOMADLAND WILL BE THEATRICALLY RELEASED IN THE UK ON JANUARY 1ST, 2021 www.moviesbymills.com

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Fern (Frances McDormand) in Nomadland

Fern (Frances McDormand) in Nomadland 26

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Fern (Frances McDormand) in Nomadland

Frances McDormand on set of Nomadland.

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SHIRLEY Directed by Josephine Decker Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman, You want to see what a writer does? Come here.

- Shirley

A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.

Shirley Jackson was a great writer of short stories and she authored six novels which included “The Haunting of Hill House,” “We Always Lived in the Castle,” “Hangsaman”, “The Birds Nest,” “The Sundial,” One of her short stories, “The Lottery” appeared in the New Yorker in 1948. Some of this is touched on in the film.

In 1950 newlyweds, the pregnant Rose (Odessa Young), a fictional character, and Fred (Logan Lerman)come to Bennington, Vermont, where Fred, with his recent Ph.D; is employed by the elite women’s college as a teaching assistant to literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg). He and his wife barely suffer each other. Though Edgar is very insecure, he is the one that has to tolerate Shirley particularly as she is agoraphobic and doesn’t leave the house for long periods of time. The Lerners, with Rose pregnant, take up residence in the couple’s house in North Bennington, near the campus, and Rose manages to retain a good relationship with Shirley by being the housekeeper, research assistant, confidante and possible lover.

Shirley keeps researching a new novel, one that’s published in 1951 as the “Hangsaman”. It is based on the real-life disappearance of Bennington student Paula Jean Welden. It contemplates the following happenings. Did she commit suicide? Was she murdered? Did she disappear on a mountain hike? It also questions whether her cheating husband could be implemented in the disappearance as there is evidence against him.

If you are into whodunnits and mystery thrillers, this falls well below the calibre of a must-see. Certainly, the acting is good, but that is not enough to warrant a viewing.

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ELISABETH MOSS: She is best known for the AMC series “Mad Men”, Hulu series: ”The Handmaid’s Tale”. One of her best films was “Light of My Life” in which she played Mom. Elisabeth is a twice Golden Globe winner. It was a delicate performance opposite the writer and director Casey Affleck.

The story was set in a decade after a plague wiped out nearly all the world’s female population, a father(Affleck) and daughter live on the outskirts of what’s left of civilization as we know it. Disguising his daughter as a boy, the father struggles to protect her from newfound threats as they are forced from their home into dangerous territory.

Prepared to defend his daughter at all costs, their bond and the character of humanity is tested.

Elisabeth graduated high school two years early and studied ballet with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Her mother, Linda is a musician, who plays blues and jazz professionally.

Her father, Ron Moss, manages jazz musicians. Her favourite character that she has played has been Robin Griffin in “Top of the Lake” (2013).

Quotes: “To go from “Girl Interrupted” (1999), to a TV show like “The West Wing” (1999), where I get to laugh and joke around every day, has been a welcome relief.”

“The great thing about Pete and Peggy’s storyline is that you barely have to do anything. There’s so much there, so much history, that you can have them exchange a look and it’s loaded. So, you honestly don’t have to do anything.”

“Obviously, my life and my job in 2010 is very different from Peggy’s experience in the 1960s. I exist in a world that enjoys more equality between men and women. But I don’t take any of that into my performance. I just want to play the character as who she is as an individual - scene to scene.”

MICHAEL STUHLBARG: Plays Stanley Hyman in “Shirley”. Born in Long Beach, California. He attended UCLA, and then The Juillard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Bachelor of FINE Arts. His other studies included time at the Vilnius Conservatory in Lithuania, the British American Drama Academy at Baliol and Keble Colleges at Oxford, and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain in London, and at Northwestern University’s National High School Institute ‘Cherub’ Program. While at UCLA, he was awarded a scholarship to study with Marcel Marceau.

During the 1990s and most of 2000s, Stuhlbarg was primarily a theatrical actor, working on Broadway in such productions as “Cabaret”, “Taking Sides”, “Saint Joan”, “The Government Inspector” and “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh, which earned him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, and his first nomination for a Tony Award. His numerous Off-Broadway credits include the title roles in “Hamlet” and “Richard II with the New York Shakespeare Festival, and David Mamet’s adaptation of the Voysey Inheritance which earned him an OBIE. Stuhlbarg’s first major film role was as Laurence Gopnik in Joel and Ethan Coen’s “A Serious Man”, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination. His first major television role came in HBC and Martin Scorsese’s period drama series, “Boardwalk Empire”, in which he was cast as the organized crime figure Arnold Rothstein. Most recently he appeared in the highly acclaimed FX series “Fargo”.

PERSONAL QUOTES: “Film for me, has been a process of learning on the job”.

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Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) and Odessa (Rose Nemserd) in Shirley

Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) in Shirley 30

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Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) in Shirley

Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) in Shirley

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TIME DOCUMENTARY Directed by Garret Bradley Featuring: Rob Rich II, Fox Rich, Freedom Rich “Listen, my story is the story of the story of over two million people in the United States of America that are falling prey to the incarceration of poor people and people of color.

- Fox Rich Fox Rich fights for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence in prison Posing the question of whether the principal objective of incarceration or undue is punishment, Garret Bradley’s “Time” is another addition to a growing canon of films to critique the US legal and prison systems unjust treatment of people of colour.

In Bradley’s documentary we spend with Sibil Fox Richardson and her sons covering a lifetime in the shadow of one fateful day in 1997. With a family of four boys, Sibil and husband Robert have a house and a budding clothing store of their own. Sibil lives the American Dream, instilled in her by her mother. And it seems to be paying off.

However, with business not bringing in enough money to provide for a growing family, Sibil is pregnant again with twins, the decision to hold up a bank in Shreveport, Louisiana would change everything….and it does.

“Desperate people do desperate things”, says Sibil, who given her pregnancy, took a plea deal of twelve years, serving three-and-a-half; Robert, refusing the plea, received sixty. Whilst there is no doubt as to culpability, it is the length of sentence which Sibil and Bradley’s film set in their sights. How and why can the state impose such a hefty penalty, and would the same punishment be given out to a white offender?

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This question is neither asked, nor answered explicitly, but the subtext is clear. Though there is certainly remorse in their actions, if not sympathy for the man behind bars, it is the effect of this void on his family where the heart and hurt of “Time” lies. The visual metaphors of empty frames, visions of clouds, woodland, and the changing of seasons bleached of their colour by monochrome photography resonates throughout.

Demonstrating both the lack of a full and fulfilled existence and the timelessness of the story, which will resonate with many families across the US, the black and white cinematography is seamlessly interwoven with years of camcorder footage taken

by Sibil, so that Robert could see his sons grow up, though not be there with them. Playgrounds and fairgrounds, birthdays and first days are recorded for posterity, but are tinged with bitter poignancy.

And the sadness in all of the boys’ eyes speaks to the elephant in the room, which is their father’s absence from it. The squared aspect of the home video, and close-ups in more recent footage, isolate the Richardsons in a state of immobility, while the world continues to turn and lives move on around them. At the other end of telephones, court clerks and secretaries, secure in a steady 9 to 5 existence are polite but unhelpful. An infuriating lack of pro-activity in chasing the necessary paperwork or judgements to appeal Robert’s sentence, to bring him home, demonstrate the lack of empathy, of basic humanity, which people, often women, in Sibil’s position have to fight from one day to the next, one year to the next.

It is in her unerring drive, determination, and courage that hope is found here. The ability to raise such eloquent, hard-working and successful young men, ostensibly alone, against the odds is remarkable, and provides a face to statistics so easily glossed over. Home footage plated in reverse at the film’s closing acknowledges that the past cannot be changed, but perhaps there is more reason to be positive, and even see the return of colour, for a brighter future.

“Time” is an extremely powerful documentary Digitally released on the 16th of October.

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Fox Rich and Rob Rich in Rich 34

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NOTTURNO Documentary Directed by Gianfranco Rosi Gianfranco Franco’s new documentary is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East.

There is nothing generic about Rosi’s “Notturno”, although it does fit in with the controversial director’s style of blending documentary filmmaking with what often feel like orchestrated situations. Any fan of films that push the boundaries of what a documentary “should be” but there are times in Rosi’s films when the blurring of the lines feels almost exploitive in ways that Rosi may not have intended. But you can appreciate his eye, his focus, and his willingness to challenge filmmaking forms. Like his “Fire at Sea” this film serves a similar function.

Rosi’s focus this time is on the regions, mostly the borders – destroyed by ISIS. He spent years there, filming different communities and people, often returning to the same ones in his film. He opens the film with his best shot, an amazing night-time march by what looks like a large military battalion. A group of men roars past the camera and fades into the distance only for another group to follow. And so on and so on. It is a beautiful shot that’s also emblematic of the cyclical nature of the region he’s cinematically interrogating.

Cycles play out throughout “Notturno”, and they are usually violent. A woman bemoans the loss of her child in a Turkish prison where he was held, a group of soldiers gets dressed in the morning in silence, and in the film’s most devasting sequence, a teacher talks to some children about the horrors they’ve seen in their young lives. The look on the children’s faces as they stare at torture and beheadings speaks a thousand words.

Rosi has an impressive eye and style, but sometimes his approach seems overly staged.

There are times when “Notturno” is more manipulative than enlightening, and that includes the children’s memories scene, which has undeniable power but pushes into exploitation of trauma.

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AWARDS: VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2020: WINNER: BEST ITALIAN FILM NOMINATED FOR GOLDEN LION: BEST FILM

GIANFRANCO ROSI: Director and Cinematographer. Mainly known for “Fire AT Sea” (2016).

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Head of the “Official Competition Jury at the 67th Locarno International Film Festival in 2914.

President of the Jury at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

“I do everything on my own. I don’t want to have an assistant nearby while I film. Once everything is set up I have to be alone. And the camera becomes like a microscope for me. I discover a world”.

“You frame the shot and then you wait for days for something to happen. But I know that sooner or later it will. Most of the time is waiting, and most is also missing things. But when I’m able to capture something good it becomes dense and fundamental”.

“The camera is there, so there is interaction. There is always a performance. I don’t believe in absolute reality. I want to use the language of film in order to transform that into something else. What I film is real; it’s there, it’s not written. They are not actors, but they are performing. Once you put yourself in front of the camera, no matter what, you change”.

ON “NOTTURNO” “During three years travelling in the Middle East, I met people who live in war zones. I wanted to tell the stories, show the characters, beyond conflict, I kept away from the front line, rather I went where people are trying to cobble their existences back together. In the places where I filmed the echo of war arrives, you can hear its oppressive presence, that burden that is so heavy it prevents any projection into the future. I have attempted to recount the everyday life of those living along the border that separate life from hell”.

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Gianfranco Rosi

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RONNIE’S Documentary Directed by Oliver Murray Featuring: Ronnie Scott, Mel Brooks, Quincy Jones, Kyle Eastwood, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Elle Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Michael Parkinson, Van Morrison, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, Cleo Laine, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Johnny Dankworth, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker It’s much easier to name the musicians who haven’t played here than the ones who had.

- Ronnie

The life of Ronnie Scott and his world-famous jazz club.

What a man! What a club! What music! What a film!

For me, it is a wonderful nostalgic journey recalling the artists and sounds and the rhythmic beat of the sixties.

Critic and Ronnie Scott biographer John Fordham respectfully pays tribute to the musician and MC who created a home for British and international jazz stars.

Archive footage and visual vignettes of the jazz scene and illuminating Ronnie Scott’s Jewish childhood in the East End where his Dad left when Ronnie was four years old, leaving him only knowing that his father was a saxophonist. The club was named after Ronnie and was located in a basement in Soho in 1959, dedicated to the music he loved. The brains behind the ambitious venture was Pete King.

One of the personal pleasures for me was seeing places like Ed’s Easy Diner which I would frequently visit, but unfortunately is no longer there. But the documentary mainly just keeps your toes-tapping, reprising memories of the jazz legends like Sarah Vaughan singing “Passing Strangers” and “Send in the Clowns”. Ella Fitzgerald “Hearted Hannah” and oh, that beat…watching and tapping your way through a Buddy Rich spot; one of the greatest jazz drummers of alltime. It’s all here…what a time to be living in! And “Ronnie’s” relives it for you…and to quote an appropriate title 40

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And jazz heralded in the big bands like Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and in Great Britain..Ted Heath.

For Ronnie Scott, his biggest problem was money and how to keep his club open. He brought in the biggest names from America and they filled the place from wall-to-wall. Word-of-mouth about ‘Ronnie’s’ was spreading, and it had become the place to be. Once there, you would return, again and again. Observing Ronnie playing was inspirational. He never missed a note. He was loving what he did, and his passion was contagious, and everyone wanted more, and such realistic ambiance reminded me of Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz”. You could imagine blood dancing in your veins.

The appeal of “Ronnie’s” is that it is a homage to a great man who made a dream come true and shared with it like-minded followers but then the storyline begins taking footsteps towards shadows and in that growing darkness was a man who was becoming depressed that things were not going to last and doors were closing on his dream and Ronnie took to drinking because he was facing financial ruin.

Michael Parkinson who had Ronnie on his Show, said of him: “He was not an easy person to know”. Now Scott was beset by spells of mental illness, drugs, gambling, alcoholism, and manic depression. It was only music that made him feel better. So, when botched dentistry left his mouth permanently damaged and rendered him unable to play the saxophone, it was a blow from which he was unable to recover.

The pungency of telling a story during a period when many musicians have been silenced is one the filmmakers cannot have dreamed of happening and not had anticipated that footage of such a venue as Ronnie’s have dreamed. Just the visceral enjoyment there to be had from the atmospheric footage of the venue, packed, low-lit, the clink of bottles and the hum of expectant chatter. Yes, Ronnie’s really does puts you right there.

Benny Green tells how “revolutionary” it was for a musician, not a crook, to open a club. Albert Dimes, a Soho gangster was Scott’s protector, and the famous bottle of champagne that grew dusty waiting to be opened whenever the venue’s debts were paid off.

Sally Greene purchased the club in 2005 and she explains in the film why she felt the club needed a brush-up. Stella King, Pete’s widow, describes Greene as a “life-saver”. Michael Watt, Greene’s co-owner, is blunt about what would have happened to the club without them.

“It was finished”.

It is excellent that this film will make new generations aware of Ronnie Scott’s life.

“Ronnie’s” opened on the 23rd October at the Everyman Belsize Park.

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Ella Fitzgerald in Ronnie’s

Buddy Rich in Ronnie’s 42

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Sarah Vaughan in Ronnie’s

Buddy Rich

Sonny Rollins in Ronnie’s

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MOGUL MOWGLI Directed by Bossam Tariq Starring: Riz Ahmed, Anjana Vasan, Alysha Hart The question seems simple but….

- Zed A British Pakistani rapper is on the cusp of his first world tour but is struck down by an illness that threatens to derail his big break.

The film opens in an aspect ratio which is in place throughout the entire running time. It is an attempt to show the physical and emotional pain that Zed is going through by creating a claustrophobic ambiance. In these troubled times, films can help one to escape and be entertained. With a protagonist like Zed that soon becomes hard to do and the only form of escape “Mogul Mowgli” offered was to leave the cinema!

Zed is unfamiliar with his upbringing and that overshadows his success and reaching new heights of stardom. But before his world tour commences, he returns home to London to reconnect with his family and his heritage. However, Zed struggles to reintegrate with his relatives as his parents still don’t embrace his career choice, and his friends and fans label him a sell-out and a “coconut” for betraying his race and culture, Zed’s life suddenly gets more complicated when after a scuffle, a serious illness becomes apparent, described as a degenerative autoimmune disease that threatens his plans.

If you are confused and find the storyline complicated, then once Zed’s illness manifests itself the film becomes even more muddled and completely lacks cohesion. While in hospital, Zed starts having visions and dreams that both attempt to heighten his past struggles and present pain. Some of these sequences do work such as a rap battle between Zed and a Black teenager. It displays the challenges Zed has had being a Pakistani rapper in a community that is predominately Black.

The director uses a fly-on-the-wall approach. Some of these work, but many don’t and you want to swat the fly.

Two points that are worth mentioning in the film’s favour: Riz Ahmed who gives a convincing performance as Zed and Alyy Khan as Bashir.

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RIZ AHMED: Known by his stage name Riz MC and birth name Rizwan Ahmed; is a British Pakistani actor, rapper, and activist. As an actor, he has won one Emmy Award out of two Emmy nominations, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe , Screen Guild Award, and three British Independent Film Awards.

Graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and later enrolled into London’s Central School of Speech and Drama.

Also known by his hip-hop alias Riz MC, he released his first hip-hop single in 2006 Post 9/11 Blues: a controversial satire that was temporarily banned from British airplay. It caught the attention of notorious satirist Christopher Morris, who cast him in his BAFTA winning movie “Four Lions”(2010).

Inspired equally by jungle and hip-hop, Ahmed first got involved with music directly in his mid-teens, cutting his teeth on pirate radio and in battle-rap competitions, of which he won many, He was selected as a BBC Introducing artist in 2007, playing the Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Electric Proms.

Since graduating from Oxford in 2004, he has worked consistently in theatre, film and television, starring in award-winning dramas: “The Road to Guantanamo (2006), “Shifty” (2008), and “Four Lions” (2010).

He was nominated for the 2012 Shooting Stars Award, which is held every year at the Berlin Film Festival. The award is given to Europe’s leading young stars. Previous winners include Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Kelly Macdonald, and Carey Mulligan.

Personal quotes: “The camera or the microphone in the booth is merciless. If you don’t believe what you’re saying, it hears it. If you don’t believe it, it sees it in your eyes. It hears it in your voice that there isn’t the conviction there”.

“Oxford University is socially unrepresentative of the real world. The first person I met, I asked to borrow a phone charger. She looked at me, laughed in my face and told me with no irony or malice that I looked just like Ali G”.

“Post 9/11 Blues is an observational satire about the surreal circus of fear at that time. It’s a generational thing”.

“I’m not in a ‘starry’ position to be able to pick an d choose, bit I’m interested in telling stories of substance with great directors – that’s my guiding principle!.

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Zed (Riz Ahmed) in Mogul Mowgli

Zed (Riz Ahmed) in Mogul Mowgli 46

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Zed (Riz Ahmed) in Mogul Mowgli

Bashir (Alyy Khan) and Zed (Riz Ahmed) in Mogul Mowgli

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THE THREE KINGS Documentary Directed by Jonny Owen Featuring: Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Matt Stein The public never realize what a manager suffers - Matt Busby This enthralling definite film portrait of three men who were born in the centre lowlands of Scotland within 30 miles of each other and went on to change the history of football.

MATT BUSBY started out as a youth team player at Alpine Villa where he won the under eighteen Scottish Cup before moving to Denny Hibernian. He had been watched by scouts from Rangers and Celtic, but when Busby went on trial to Rangers they found out he was a Catholic and Celtic weren’t impressed that he had been at Rangers. He moved south to Manchester City as an inside -forward in February 1928, but they moulded him into a classy half-back. Busby was relieved to make the grade.

“There were only two ways for boys to go in those days: down, working in the pits, or up if you happened to be good at football”. In seven years, Busby played 226 Football League games for City. His biggest disappointment was losing the FA Cup Final 3-0 to Everton in 1933 but the highlight was winning the cup a year later when Portsmouth were beaten 2-1. At 26 Matt Busby was an experienced professional when he was signed by Liverpool in March 1936 for £8,000. He almost immediately took over the right-half position from Robert Savage. Busby didn’t miss many matches over the next three seasons when Liverpool were a mediocre first division team. But like so many of his contempories, Busby’s league career was cut short by World War Two. Busby’s greatest strength on the field was his passing. The Liverpool Echo waxed lyrical about him in in September 1936. “Busby goes far up if so inclined and when he starts his upward trend one knows his command of the ball will be such he will not be dispossessed. He is the richest and most practised passer the game has ever known. Hence, he appears in a blinding light when compared with some other half-backs”.

Matt Busby was appointed as coach and assistant manager to George Kay at Anfield for £10 a week in May 1944 and was due to take the post when World War 2 was over. On 14th February 1945, Busby, who was at this time an instructor at the Royal Military College, asked to cancel his coaching contract at Liverpool as he’d had other offers. A few days later he accepted the manager’s position at Manchester United.

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continued to play for them until April 1945 and was ready for action as late as September (Liverpool politely declined) and he moved closer to taking over formally at Manchester United on 1st October. Busby took a bold step but his achievements at Old Trafford were nothing short of astonishing with the birth of the “Busby Babes”, five First Division Championships and two FA Cups. He survived the Munich air crash and then a decade later masterminded the European Cup-winning of 1968.

Sir Matt Busby is rightly considered one of the best managers of all time.

BILL SHANKLY “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that”.

Scottish football player and manager. He spent one season at Carlisle United before spending the rest of his career at Preston North End, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1938. His playing career was interrupted by his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a manager after he retired from playing in 1949, returning to Carlisle United. He later managed Grimsby Town, Workington and Huddersfield Town before moving to become Liverpool manager in December 1959.

Shankly took charge of Liverpool when they were in the Second Division and rebuilt the team into a major force in English and European football. He led Liverpool to the Second Division Championship to gain promotion to the First Division in 1962, before going on to win three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four Charity Shields and one UEFA Cup. It was during Shankly’s reign the club changed to an all-red home strip, and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” became the club’s anthem.

Shankly announced, his surprise retirement from football a few weeks after Liverpool had won the 1974 FA Cup Final, having managed the club for 15 years, and was succeeded by his long-time assistant Bob Paisley.

He led the Liverpool team out for the last time at Wembley for the 1974 FA Charity Shield.

MATT STEIN Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. He also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish League Championships between 1966 and 1974.

Stein worked as a coal miner while playing football part-time for Blantyre Victoria and the Albion Rovers. He became a full-time professional football player with Welsh club Llanelli Town but returned to Scotland with Celtic in 1951. He enjoyed some success with Celtic, winning the Coronation Cup in 1953 and a Scottish Cup double in 1954.

Ankle injuries forced Stein to retire from playing football in 1957.

Celtic appointed Stein to coach their reserve team after he retired as a player. Stein started his managerial career in 1960 with Dunfermline, where he won the Sottish Cup in 1961 and achieved some notable results in European football. After a brief but successful sell at Hibernian, Stein returned to Celtic as manager in March 1965. In thirteen years at Celtic, Stein won the European Cup, ten Scottish League Championships, eight Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups. After a brief stint with Leeds United, Stein managed Scotland from 1978 until his death in 1985. “The Three Kings” is an inspiring documentary about three legendary heroes.

“The Three Kings ” will be released on DVD on 16TH November 2020 www.moviesbymills.com

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Bobby Charlton, Matt Busby in The Three Kings

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Matt Stein

in The Three Kings

Matt Stein , Matt Busby

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COMING SOON Movies scheduled to be released theatrically or digitally in the coming months in the UK 2020 – 2021 December 4th 2020 Netflix

MANK Directed by David Fincher Starring: Lily Collins, Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Tuppence Middleton Follows screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz’s tumultuous development of Orson Welles’ iconic masterpiece “Citizen Kane” (1941) December 11th 2020 Cinema

FREE GUY Directed by Shawn Levy Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Tai Waititi, Joe Keery A bank teller discovers that he’s actually an NPC Inside a brutal, open world video game.

December 18th 2020 Cinema

DUNE Directed by Denis Villeneuve Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Jason Momoa Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction Novel about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the Galaxy.

January 1st 2021 Cinema

NEWS OF THE WORLD Directed by Paul Greengrass Starring:Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Marvel, Ray McKinnon, Marie Winningham A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle against her will.

They will travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place they can call home.

January 8th 2021

THE FATHER Directed by Florian Zeller Starring: Olivia Coleman, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Gatiss A man refuses assistance as he ages. He begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind, even the fabric of his reality, as he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances.

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January 15th 2021

MORTAL KOMBAT Directed by Simon McQuoid Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Jessica McNamee, Joe Taslim The feature film is based on the popular video game.

January 15th 2021

THE 355 Directed by Simon Kinberg Starring: Diane Kruger, Jessica Chastain, Lofita N Yong’o When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it, while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move.

January 22nd 2021

CHAOS WALKING Directed by Doug Liman Starring: Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Daisy Ridley A dystopian world where there are no women and all the living creatures can hear each other’s thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds, called Noise.

January 29th 2021

NOBODY Directed by Ilya Naishuller Starring: Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Bob Odenkirk A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes a target of a vengeful Drug Lord.

February 5th 2021

RUMBLE Animation Directed by Hamish Grieve Starring: Terry Crews, Will Arnzby, Ben Schwartz A world where monster wrestling is a global sport - where monsters are superstars.

February 19th 2021

ANTLERS Directed by Scott Cooper Starring: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher and her sheriff brother become embroiled with her enigmatic student, whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them.

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February 26th 2021

WITHOUT REMORSE Directed by Stefano Sallima Starring: Michael B Jordan, Jamie Bell, Cam Gicandet John Clark, a Nany SEAL, goes on the path to avenge his wife’s murder, only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.

March 19th 2021

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK Directed by Alan Taylor Starring: Vera Farmiga. Jon Bernthal, Ray Liotta A look at the formative years of New Jersey gangster Tony Soprano.

Granada Nights Directed by Abid Khan Starring: Antonio Askeel A self-discovery story set in Granada, Spain about an uncultured British tourist who struggles to mend his broken heart; with his foreign friends he crashes into the heart of the international student scene.

MORBIUS Directed by Daniel Espinosa Starring: Michael Keaton, Jared Leto, Adria Arjuna Biochemist, Morbius, tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease , but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT Directed by Tom Gormican Starring: Pedro Pascal, Nicolas Gage, Tiffany Haddish A cash-strapped Nicolas Cage agrees to make a paid appearance at a billionaire super fan’s Birthday Party, but he is really an informant for the CIA since the billionaire fan is a drug king pin and gets cast in a Tarantino movie.

April 16th 2021

REMINISCENCE Directed by Lisa Joy Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Hugh Jackman, Natalie Martinez A scientist discovers a way to relive your past and uses the technology to search for his long-lost love.

April 23th 2021

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO Directed by Edgar Wright Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith A young girl, passionate about fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences.

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April 30th 2021

FATHERHOOD Directed by Paul Weitz Starring: Paul Alexander Desire, Rodney Alexandre, Christine Lan A father brings up his baby after the unexpected death of his wife who died a day after their daughter’s birth.

May 21st 2021

INFINITE Directed by Antoine Fuqua Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Mark Wahberg, Rupert Friend A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.

June 18th 2021

LUCA Directed by Enrico Casarosa Starring: John Ratzenberger Animation On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human.

July 29th 2021

OLD Directed by M.N. Shyanman Starring: Abbey Lee, Elizabeth Davidtz, Thomasin McKenzie No plot given

THE DISCIPLE Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane Starring: Aditya Modak, Kiran Yadnyopevit,Dr. Arun Dravid Tamhan’s masterfully second feature examimes a lifetime journey devoted to the art of Indian classical music. It is considered an eternal quest and through through this music we are shown the path to the divine.

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FILMFEST FOLLOWER FRENCH

NOVEMBER 4-14, 2020 AT CINE LUMIERE, SOUTH KENSINGTON MAMA WEED Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Hippolyte Girardot, Farida Ouchani Based on the novel by Hannelore Cayre. The story centres around Patience Portefeux(Isabelle Huppert), an underpaid, overworked French-Arabic translator in charge of phone surveillance for a narcotics police unit. When she realizes she knows the mother of one of the drug dealers, Patience decides to cover for him and gets herself more and more deeply involved in the world of drug trafficking. Soon is using her insider knowledge and police resources to build her own crime network and earns the name ‘Mama Weed”.

THE SPECIALS Directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano Starring: Vincent Cassel, Rada Kateb, Hélène Vincent The story of two men, educators of children and adolescents with autism.

ARAB BLUES Directed by Manele Labidi Starring: Golshifteh Farahani, Majd Mastoura After years abroad in Paris, Selma returns to Tunis with the dream of opening up her own psychotherapy practice.

SPREAD YOUR WINGS Directed by Nicolas Vanier Starring: Jean-Paul Rouve, Mélanie Doutey, Louis Vazquez Based on the story of Christian, a specialist on wild Goose migrations, the adventure he and his son embarked.

HOME FRONT Directed by Lucas Belvaux Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Frot, Jean-Pierre Darroussin In a village where everyone knows everyone, four veterans of the Algerian war are haunted by their past.

SLALOM Directed by Charlène Favier Starring: Charlotte Favier, Noee Abita, Axiel Auriant, Muriel Combeau Under the guidance of a strict ex-champion, a promising 15-yearold girl trains as a professional skiing star. Will she be able to endure the physical and emotional pressures?

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DE GAULLE Directed by Gabriel Le Bomin Starring: Lambert Wilson, Isabelle Carré, Olivier Gourmet Paris, June 1940. The De Gaulle couple is confronted with the military and political collapse of France. Charles de Gaulle joins London while Yvonne, his wife finds herself with her three children on the road to exodus.

SMALL COUNTRY: AFRICAN CHILDHOOD Directed by Eric Barbier Starring: Jean-Paul Rouve, Isabelle Kabano, Djibril Vancoppenolle A touching childhood set during the conflict in Rwanda between ethnicities Hutu an Tutsi.

NOTRE DAME Directed by Valérie Donzelli Starring: Valérie Donzelli, Pierre Deladonchamps Maud wins the opportunity to refurbish the iconic Notre Dame.

Personal and professional issues stand in comical tension as she goes through and emotional storm.

BREATHLESS Directed by Jean-Luc Godard Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger A small-time thief steals a motorcycle policeman. Wanted with a hip American journalist her to run away

car and impulsively murders a by the authorities, he reunites student and attempts to persuade with him to Italy.

HOW TO BE A GOOD WIFE Directed by Martin Provost Starring: Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau, Noémie Lvovsky Paulette and her husband have been running a housekeeping school. After the sudden death of her husband, Pauletter discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities.

MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I Directed by Caroline Vignal Starring: Laurie Calamy, Benjamin Lavernne, Olivia Côte Antoinette, a school teacher, is looking forward to her summer holidays with her lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils.

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DVD OF THE MONTH THE IRISHMAN Directed by Martin Scorcese Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran is a man with a lot on his mind.

The former labor union high official and hitman, learned to kill serving in Italy during the Second World War. He now looks back on his life and the hits that defined his mob career, maintaining connections with the Bufalino crime family. In particular, the part he claims to have played in the disappearance of his life-long friend, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who mysteriously vanished in late July 1975 at the age of 62.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED TWO DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES    

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New 4K Digital Master

Approved by Director Martin Scorcese Newly edited roundtable conversation among Scorcese and actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, originally recorded in 2019.

New documentary about the making of the film featuring Scorcese and lead actors, producers Emma Tillenger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, and Irwin Winkler, director of photography Rodrigo Prieto and others from the cast and crew.

New video essay written and narrated by film critic Farran Smith Nehme about The Irishman’s synthesis of Scorcese;s singular format style.

The Evolution of Digital De-aging, a 2019 program on the the visual effects created for the film.

Archival interview excerpts with Frank ‘the Irishman’Sheeran and international Brotherhood of Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa Trailer and teaser Plus an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien www.moviesbymills.com

DVD OF THE MONTH WILDLIFE Directed by Paul Dano Starring: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould Fourteen-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry – a housewife and a golf pro – living a seemingly idyllic life in 1960s Montana. His family’s carefully constructed façade is about to come crashing spectacularly down however, when Jerry loses his job and his sense of purpose. In an attempt to restore his pride, Jerry takes off for the summer to help fight wildfires raging near the Canadian border, a lifethreatening job, for little pay. An angry and bereft Jeanette must quickly learn to fend for herself, and does so with gusty, challenging cultural expectations and taking and taking a quietly bewildered Joe along for the ride.

An elegant adaptation of the Richard Ford novel of the same name. Wildlife is an impressive directional debut from Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano, starring Carey Mulligan (Never Let Go, An Education, Shame, Suffrogette). Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko. Ed Oxenbould (The Visit, Paper Planes) and Bill Camp (The Night of Loving) and Midnight Special).

DIRECTOR-APPROVED DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES  

  

New 2K Digital Master New interviews with director Paul Dano, screenwriter Zoe Kazan, actors Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, cinematographer Diego Garcia, production designer Alan McKenzie, and costume designer Amanda Ford. *New conversation on the film’s postproduction with Dano, editor Matthew Hannam and composer David Lang. *Film at Lincoln Center, conversation from 2018 between Dano and novelist Richard Ford about the film’s source material. *Plus An essay by critic Mark Harris.

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