Movies by Mills (November 2017) by Brian Mills

CONTENTS Page 3 4-7 8-11 12-15 16-19 20-23 24-27 28-31 32-35 36-39 40-43 44-47 48-51 52-55 56-59 60-63 64-67 68-71 72-75 76-79

Editorial Faces Places My Generation Stronger Lean On Pete Foxtrot Racer And The Jailbird Filmworker Breathe Columbus On Chesil Beach Lucky Loving Vincent Wonderstruck Loveless The Killing Of A Sacred Deer The Florida Project Downsizing You Were Never Really Here Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

PHOTO CREDITS Cohen Media: 1,4,7a,80 Images.net: 6,7b,14,15a,14,15a,22,23, 26,27,30,31,38,39,46,47,50,54a,58,62,63a,67,68,72,76,78. Paramount Pictures: 10,11,70,71. John Phillips: 10,11,32,34,59 Getty images: 10b,11,15b,19,34,35,42,43,51,55,59,63b Tim P Whitby: 15b,40,42,43,71b,74,75,79 Chris J Ratcliffe: 19,54b,55 Merie W. Wallace: 72 Vittorio Zunino Celotti: 35,71a Jeff Spicer: 51 Ricky Vigil: 63b Just Jared: 68 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like to thank the following for their invaluable help: Julia Novicka at Organic Publicity. Ben Twigger at DDAPR. Hannah Proudlock at DDAPR. Elizabeth Benjamin at Four Communications. Laura Ainley at Four Communications. Lucy Powell at Studio Canal. Asa Martin at Studio Canal. Mia Farrell at BFI. Matt Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shea at DMSUKLTD. Amy Canavan at Lionsgate. Chris Hagen at Premier Comms.Com and Laura at Cohen Media.

EDITORIAL Unroll the red carpet, we are celebrating the 61 London Film Festival which opened last month on Wednesday October 4th and closed on Sunday October 15th. st

The festival was attended by a galaxy of stars; more than ever arrived to promote their films and share the passion of the greatest entertainment in the world with avid cinemagoers. To get a feel of the ambiance of those 12 days, come follow us through the pages of this Special London Film Festival issue which runs to 80 pages.

Films reviewed are: Breathe, Stronger, Filmworker, Lean On Pete, Wonderstruck, Columbus, Loveless, On Chesil Beach, My Generation, Lucky, Loving Vincent, Foxtrot, The Florida Project, You Were Never Really Here, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Downsizing, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Racer and the Jailbird, and MbMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cover feature review of Agnes Vardaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Faces Places. The stars attending were Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Andy Serkis, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Annette Bening, Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Sally Hawkins, Joaquin Phoenix, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Saoirse Ronan, Julianne Moore, Charlie Plummer, Paddy Considine, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Joan Collins and Cate Blanchett. For those of you who would like to see any of these films at your nearest arthouse cinema, make sure that you read Movies by Mills every month to see the films UK release dates. Each film reviewed is given an MbM rating from 5 to 10 to guide you in choosing the films which you would like to see. Meanwhile, please support us by telling your friends. Thank you. ENJOY THE READ.

Brian Mills

Magazine Editor

Paul Ridler

Magazine Designer

FACES PLACES

Directed by Anna Varda and JR Featuring Agnes Varda, JR We’ll have fun making a film.

- Agnes Varda

That’s a starting point. - JR Ah, Agnes Varda, the grandmother of Nouvelle Vague and JR, the exuberant street artist, take to the road together to explore the French countryside, she almost 90 years old, and he thirtysomething. Together this unlikely pair bring a contagious viva la vie to this enchanting documentary. They embark on an ambitious street art idea of touring local villages of rural France taking portraits of the residents and pasting enlarged visages on the buildings of these small towns, connecting the inhabitants to the land. Their first shoot is having villagers young and old to eat baguettes and as they bite down on the crusty bread, JR takes pictures of them and JR’s team pastes the images along a wall with the baguettes serving as connective tissue between the photographs. The villagers, like a community gathered around a celebratory feast, are united by bread. Varda and JR find a wide range of subjects for their cameras. An old fresco pays tribute to the ancestors of a village as an old family photo plasters a historic building and reminds the subject’s grandchildren of their roots.

For Agnes Varda, a documentary means a movement to liberate oneself from egoism. She has always been an independent and uncompromising artist and has readily adapted to technological change in the cinema. Her first feature La Pointe-courte (1956) was edited by Alain Resnais, and the resulting mix of documentary material with fictive characters and situations would become a hallmark of her subsequent work. Cleo de 5 a 7 (1961) demonstrated, in its audacious mixture of colour and black and white, a stylish adventurousness shared by her New Wave colleagues. In Le Bonheur (Happiness), her next film, was filmed in a pop art style of excessive colour and reminiscent of the style of her husband Jacques Demy. It tells the story of a young woman happily married with two children, until her husband takes a mistress. Confronted with her husband’s infidelity, she drowns herself. The mistress replaces the wife in her husband’s affections and the children accept her, and life goes on as before as though nothing had happened. Two of her films were dedicated to her late husband Jacques Demy. Jacquot, the scenes of Demy’s childhood were shot in the actual house 4

that he grew up in. He wanted to direct the film himself but was too ill to do so. She made it before he died. The other tribute that Agnes made to him was The World of Jacques Demy, which highlights his vision in clips and interviews with Anouk Aimee, Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Harrison Ford, Jeanne Moreau, Jacques Perrin and more. A film like Faces Places is a journey not only to French villages but encourages one to look at other films that Varda has made which are also inspiring. You leave with a smile rather than a frown. A seaside town yields a portrait of a young waitress with a parasol. It is a beautiful portrait but when it becomes a tourist attraction, the woman becomes uncomfortable by seeing herself as an object of novelty for the masses. A barn hosts larger than life likenesses of a poetic goat farmer and a goat to pay tribute to the countrymen and animals who provide France with all its good cheeses. Faces Places uses representation and composition to assert the lives of French men and women who would not conventionally get their due in the national imagination. For example, it brings Agnes and JR to a shipping dock, which Varda objects isn’t a proper village for their shoot. JR disagrees and the men say, since the rows and columns of shipping pods from a village of their own and the workplace is itself a surrogate village where people come and build lives and relationships with their colleagues. Varda has a flash of genius and decides to occupy the male space of the shipyard with gargantuan portraits of the wives who work the docks. Three women, a dispatcher, a hairstylist and a big rig driver, stand tall above their husbands in a refreshing transferral of power. Varda takes stock of the project and realizes that her final movie may be nearing its end. She revisits cherished old photographs and encourages JR to help her revisit the haunts of past pictures. The shoot brings to life old characters like Guy Bourdin in a seaside mural that lasts only as long as the tide does. The permanence of the landscape endures far more than the faces the artists plaster across the land, but the spirits of the people captured in the photographs endure until memory fails. The cruel ephemerality of love and friendship brings Varda and JR to another of the filmmaker’s old friends – Jean Luc Godard, but the filmmaker of Breathless and Pierrot le fou, acts disgracefully by not turning up for her last photograph and in so doing showed that his Nouvelle Vague mantra What I want…is to destroy the idea of culture. Culture is an alibi of imperialism, extended to behaviour as he obviously believed in destroying the idea of friendship. As Agnes Varda feels Godard’s rejection, she begins to cry, but is calmed by JR who for the first time in the film, takes off his dark glasses, which Agnes pleaded with him to do during their village visits – it is a charming and benevolent end to a truly wonderful film and one the very best of all the films at this year’s London Film Festival. Merci, Agnes. May you live to make another masterpiece.

Agnes Varda and JR in Faces Places

Agnes Varda and JR in Faces Places 6

One of JRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s picture posters plastered on a villageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house in Faces Places

Agnes Varda in Faces Places 7

MY GENERATION Directed by David Batty Featuring: Michael Caine, Marianne Faithful, Paul McCartney, Twiggy, David Bailey, Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon. Roger Daltry Come, take a journey with Michael Caine through the Sixties – a decade that swung with The Beatles and rocked with The Rolling Stones. Sweet nostalgia as you travel down the streets of Liverpool and London as Caine explores the impact that Britain’s working class had on creating a cultural revolution. ‘Pirate Radio’ started to broadcast on medium wave from offshore ships, the first being Radio Caroline, launched by Irish music entrepreneur Ronan O’Rahilly from a boat off the Essex coast in 1964. Three years later there were ten Pirate Radio Stations broadcasting to an estimated daily audience of 10 to 15 million. This is what you would have heard: ‘Caroline, the Sound of the Nation. Caroline, the Sound of the Land. CAROLINE! Good morning everyone. Tony Blackburn here with you. Feeling a little under the weather this morning. We’ve got about an force-8 gale out there. I’m strapped into my seat, hoping you’re going to enjoy all the music. This is number one in the countdown this week from The Spencer Davis Group, it’s called “Keep on Running”. Michael Caine is seen in clips from Alfie, The Ipcress Files, and Zulu, the latter as an officer with an educated accent, which at first the producers thought he couldn’t do, but as he told them I can do any accent you want. And he explains the class system as it was then – between the upper classes and the working class – them and us. We also learn how he got to get the name Caine. Born Michael Mikklewhite, he was wanted to work in the USA, but told he would have to change his surname. He suggested White, but that was no good as there was a Michael White in the films. By chance, he happened to look out of the window and saw a billboard displaying a poster of the film The Caine Mutiny. So, he chose Caine. Fashion changed with the help of Mary Quant who created the mini skirt. The idea did not sit well with the Establishment who thought that it was a bad idea and would have an immoral influence on young women. Alas, it became an immediate success and a fashion store in Kings Road, Chelsea, Biba, bought six hundred of them and they sold out in a day. The visuals are a smorgasbord of colour while the soundtrack of UK pop singles enhances the ambiance so much that you could almost hear the gramophone needle kissing the vinyl. 8

Paul McCartney recalls how he gave his Lennon and McCartney-penned number “I Wanna To Be Your Man” to Mick Jagger to record in 1963 as the Rolling Stones second single, becoming their first top 20 hit. The film’s structured is divided in to three chapters and showed how those revolutionary years offered change which was for some delving into the craze of drugs which came as LSD or the slogan Make Love Not War. But what My Generation did for me was to rewind the films in my head and heart that showed how many were released in the Sixties that impressed me, while at the same token, epitomised the decade of change. 1960: Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO. The audience had been sold this concept as an audience requirement before paying to see the film: NO ONE…WILL BE ADMITTED TO THIS THEATRE AFTER THE START OF EACH PERFORMANCE OF PSYCHO. IT MUST BE SEEN FROM THE BEGINNING. Signed Alfred Hitchcock. 1961: Allen Baron’s BLAST OF SIENCE. One of the truly great film noirs, with Baron being praised by the Evening Standard film critic Alexander Walker, as the new Orson Welles. The film opens with the rich deep voice of its narrator Lionel Stander: Remember out of the black silence, you were born in pain. 1962: DR NO. The name’s Bond. James Bond. The first screen introduction of Ian Flemings hero Special Agent 007. 1963: THE PINK PANTHER. Peter Sellers portrayal of Inspector Clouseau was so loved by the crew that it is his character that this film and the sequels focused on. 1964: THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. One of the most romantic films of all-time, told in song and paying homage to the Hollywood musical. A masterpiece of French New Wave cinema directed by Jacques Demy. 1965: THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The hills were alive with The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews. It is one of the most successful movie musicals. 1966: ALFIE. The role of an unrepentant ladies’ man who gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle was the film that really made Michael Caine get noticed in America. 1967: ELVIRA MADIGAN. A hymn to love and life. Based on a Swedish ballad, the film is a beautiful cinematic experience with Renoir inspired cinematography. Unforgettable. 1968. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. The ultimate spaghetti western by Sergio Leone, with a luscious score by Ennio Morricone. A mysterious stranger with a harmonica joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin. 1969. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. The teaming of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in this classic western made this a memorable viewing experience. Thanks to Michael Caine for making My Generation and telling us what the Sixties were all about. One of the best documentaries that you will see and not to be missed.

Michael Caine in My Generation

Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Guest, David Batty, Simon Fuller, Michael Caine, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais attend a screening “My Generation” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo by John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

Director David Batty and Michael Caine attend a screening “My Generation” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo by John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

Michael Caine and Joan Collins attend a screening “My Generation” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo by John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

STRONGER

Directed by David Gordon Green Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Masiany, Miranda Richardson. You just have to show up. - Erin Hurley I showed up for you! - Jeff Bauman David Gordon Green is a director who has a penchant for making movies which sympathise with the characters in the story and therefore the protagonist of this film, Jeff Bauman, a victim of the Boston Marathon who lost both his legs below the knee. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman in the movie. He has had an on/off relationship with his girlfriend Erin, promising time and time that he would be there for her but letting her down. So, when he sees her in a bar, he calls out for everyone’s attention to listen up and tells them that she is running in the Boston Marathon and asks for the bar customers to financially support her, which they do. He tells her that he will be there at the finishing line for her and promises to make a sign in support of her to display too. At home, Jeff has to contend with his drunken mother Patty (Miranda Richardson) who has an astonishing influence on everything he does, including his choice to chase after a woman whom his mother feels isn’t worthy of him. Tatiana Masiany is a name that most cinemagoers will not recognize, but after her tear jerking performance as Jeff’s girlfriend, that will all change. She gives an amazing performance, echoed by Jake Gyllenhaal who watched the daily rushes.

I think we knew all along that Tatiana was right for the role. We worked together and she did incredible work. She is also very funny. I was there on set every day even if I wasn’t in a scene and I was there for her in case she needed me. I saw a lot of her work, like the scene in the bar, talking to her sister. She’s on the phone, sees the photograph. When she is on the bench talking to Kevin. Those scenes were very tough. - Jake Gyllenhaal STRONGER had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. From there, the film went into wide release. 12

At the festival, director David Gordon Green spoke about the films which have inspired him and how he tackled his first true-life story and why it initially terrified him. As a kid, I loved popcorn movies, going to the Star Wars, the Dark Crystals, the Secret of NIMHs, the Gremlins, and the Ghostbusters – the hits. Things really changed when I was 12 because I saw Stand by Me and Harold and Maude out from the library. (It was the only movie there, I thought it was going to be funny.) Those movies were really turning points in my cinematic diet. They showed me a connection to film which was richer to the characters and story and probably started my unravelling of ‘Maybe I should do this for a living.’ Now, as a moviegoer, I love seeing all types of movies. I want to get my hands dirty and try different approaches, different techniques. For me, that’s the fun part: in exploring something uncertain, to try to maintain the vulnerability and the appetite of the love I have. The beauty of someone else’s script is that I’m less possessive of it. If I’ve written something, it’s in my head, and until (an actor reads a line) that way, I get confused. I try to give adjectives and directions to motivate them towards what’s been in my head for the last six months. I’ve found myself becoming a lot more playful with someone else’s material and discovered that’s really fun way for me to work. When there’s a good script and it feels like someone gave you the bones and the essence of the story (you want to tell) it can be really nice to be handed a structure to sabotage. I had never done a true story, and that was frightening. I always have to make a movie that feels personal to me, that I’m going to invest two years of my life in. I wanted (the film’s real-life subjects) Jeff Bauman and Erin Hurley to trust me with the material and know if I was going deep, dark, or gritty, it was not to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but to show the truth of these struggles. There’s this headline notion of the event, and this movie has almost nothing to do with that. Instead, it’s a story studying something in the shadows of the headline. I thought, if I was there, if that happened to me, how would I deal with it? I thought about my friends and family, the people I love in that situation and how those conflicts would be faced. This is a movie about a guy who is trying to hang on to a relationship. He’s trying to get his girlfriend back, so he goes to her race to hold up a sign and say ‘I love you,’ and that changes everything. Now she has a sense of obligation to be there for him and help him through this time, and he’s frustrated because he’s faced with these disabilities.

You get this intimate set-up of these two characters and their families surrounding them, then you put them in the spotlight of the media…and I was just really interested in the layers of this character study. But it was the fact that the writer, John Pollono, had infused so much wit and humour into it that allowed me to invest personally into the story. If it was just an oppressive melodrama, or an exploitation of the subject matter, I knew I would be the wrong guy to do that. But it could be a human story, showing the complexities and the rewards of healing, I knew I could be emotionally invested. Stronger terrified me, but I couldn’t resist. - David Gordon Green And you, the cinemagoers, will not be able to resist seeing this movie.

Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Stronger.

Erin (Tatiana Masiany) and Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Stronger. 14

Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Stronger.

Jake Gyllenhaal speaks during the “Stronger” Screen Talk at the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

LEAN ON PETE

Directed by Andrew Haigh Starring: Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny. That kid’s a natural and he ain’t afraid of hard work like some of these other kids. Just relax your arm! - Del This is Andrew Haigh’s fourth feature and is undoubtedly his best. The film is adapted from Willy Vlautin’s acclaimed novel about 15-year-old Charley Thompson (Charley Plummer) who has been, due to having been left by his mother when he was a child, a reluctant nomad, who lives with his father Ray (Travis Fimmel). His only other close relative is his lovable aunt Margy (Alison Elliott) who he hasn’t seen since childhood after she and Ray left the boy alone for several days to spend time with a woman. Ray loves his son but doesn’t understand the boy’s need for stability. Charlie takes a part-time job with a cantankerous small-time horse trainer named Del (Steve Buscemi) who expects him to work hard for his money. Charlie loves the job and soon forms a loving bond with a nearly knackered horse, Lean on Pete. He travels with him to seedy races on the state-fair circuit. Along the way, Charlie befriends Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny), a jockey who rides Del’s horses from time to time. She tells Charlie that the horses are not pets, and he shouldn’t get attached to Lean on Pete, but it is too late for that. When Lean on Pete races, he is literally running for his life, because when he comes to the end of his career he is likely to be sent to Mexico where horses can be legally slaughtered, or as Del tells the shocked Charley, he would shoot him himself. When Ray is severely beaten by the husband of one of his latest loves, Charlie has to elude Family Services while still earning money to keep up household. As Ray’s condition worsens, and Lean on Pete seems destined to be destroyed, Charlie steals Del’s truck in an attempt to save the horse and to find Margy in Wyoming. As Charlie’s journey gets more and more bleak, as he faces starvation, and eventual homelessness, he’s only sustenance is optimism. He is going to make it…but how? Plummer can display with just a glance or a subtle motion that is heart -breaking to see. This is naturalistic acting from the top rung of the ladder. At 15, you would think that the boy is new to acting, but he is already a pro. Though Lean on Pete has been critically acclaimed and in many cases, the original narrative being one, well deserved, there was for me, an empty feeling once the horse had bolted out of the movie, an emptiness that was never filled. 16

CHARLIE PLUMMER: Charlie played the titular role in “King Jack” which won the Audience Award at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, released theatrically in 2016. He was seen in “The Dinner” opposite Richard Gere, Laura Linnet, Steve Coogan, Chloe Sevigny and Rebecca Hall. A forthcoming feature is “Behold My Heart” with Marisa Tomei and Timothy Olyphant. He will soon be seen as John Paul Getty III alongside Kevin Spacey, Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg in Ridley Scott’s “All the Money in the World”. Following that “Gully”.

STEVE BUSCEMI: It’s weird; I was not really a really tough guy in high school, but I end up playing all of these psychopaths and criminals. I don’t really care who they are, as long as they are complicated and going through something that I can understand and put across. I remember my son once asked me, “Did you ever, like, kiss in high school. And I told him this long-drawn-out story of how shy I was, how I finally got a girlfriend but she broke up with me because I was too shy to try and kiss her, and then I had another girlfriend but still couldn’t figure out kissing. The technique was always a big obstacle in my head, like, How do you kiss? Where does your chin go? Forget about anything beyond kissing-first base was a total mystery to me….So, I’m telling my son this long story, and he listens patiently until he finally realizes where I’m going with it, and says, “Dad, no-did you like Kiss in high school? Kiss, the band!” And I was, “Oh yeah, Kiss…they were good.”

CHLOE SEVIGNY: Known in the late nineties as the “It Girl”, with over a dozen art house movies to her credit, she stood out as one of the most prominent queens of contemporary independent cinema. A good example of that was Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco. The subtitle to the film was: History is made at Night. It was a clever comic return to the night-time party scene in early eighties Manhattan from the director of Metropolitan. At the centre of the film’s revelry is the icy Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) and the demure Alice (Chloe Sevigny), by day toiling as publishing house assistants and by night looking for romance and entertainment at a premier, Studio 54-like club. The Last Days of Disco is an affectionate yet unsentimental look at the end of an era, brimming with Stillman’s trademark dry humour.

Charley Thompson (Charley Plummer) in Lean On Pete.

Charley Thompson (Charley Plummer) in Lean On Pete. 18

Andrew Haigh and Charlie Plummer attend the UK Premiere of “Lean On Pete” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty images for BFI.

Charlie Plummer attends the UK Premiere of “Lean On Pete” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty images for BFI.

FOXTROT Directed by Samuel Maoz Starring: Sarah Adler, Lior Ashkanazi. My first introduction to this film was the trailer which showed a soldier at a military checkpoint, bored out of his mind, and suddenly beginning to dance, holding his rifle as if it were his dance partner. What an introduction to a film that explores the tensions of war and the message that his parents receive at home that their son had been killed. Some message. Some film: the irony of war and the absurdities of conscripted military service.

We witness the lad’s parents, Michael and Daphne Feldman’s reaction to the news of their son Jonathan’s death. Michael goes instantly into a state of shock, not wanting to believe the horrifying news, while Daphne collapses at the sight of uniformed soldiers at the door: expecting and fearing the worst. She is given a sedative while Michael is given a phone number and told to drink water every hour and a soldier sets an alarm on his phone to ring so that he does not forget. Michael reacts masochistically by scolding his hand under a hot tap and nearly collapsing at the sight of his son’s face on his identity card. There is also a telling moment when he looks at some of his sketches which he did while on duty. One of these of a woman staring out at him. But to Michael it is just face, but we the audience recognize her to be the woman in the car before he tragically and erroneously opened fire, believing that the empty can that fell out of the car – to be a bomb. SAMUEL MAOZ His first film Lebanon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2009 and was based on his experiences as a gunner in a lone tank, as part of a platoon despatched to search a hostile town. A simple mission that turns into a nightmare. The four members of a tank crew find themselves in a violent situation that they cannot handle. Motivated by fear and the basic instinct of survival, they desperately try not to lose themselves in the most emblematic act of uncivilised problem solving – war. Here are his personal comments on Foxtrot. The film came out of a story that happened to me which was a long time ago when my eldest daughter went to school. She never woke up on time. In order not to be late, she asked to call for a taxi. This cost us quite a bit of money. It seemed like a bit of education. So, one 20

morning I got mad and told her to take the bus like everyone else, and if that is the way she be late, then she’ll be late. Maybe she needs to learn the hard way to wake up on time. Her bus was 95. Maybe a half an hour or twenty minutes after she left, I hear on the radio that a terrorist had blown himself up on 95 and dozens of people were killed. I tried to call her of course but the cellular operator collapsed because of the unexpected…. I experienced one hour that was worse than all of the Lebanon war. After one hour, she returned home. She missed the bus in a blink. She ran for it, saw it leave the station and took the next bus. In a way, Mikael the hero, maybe looked right logical thing to do, but… I have one blackness from this hour. I felt that I like Mikael somehow. Grief and how he works with his actors: I have my way to work with my actors. Also on Lebanon I did, and also here. We are talking about something that is beyond acting: to squeeze their souls. I don’t look at the camera between the takes. First position. I do another take. I am talking during the shot, to stress the actors. Describe him, what he is going through in character context. I turn the shot into a session. I believe that when you go through a difficulty, physical or mental. Extreme difficulty that will take you to a point, when you are just there or don’t care anymore. This moment, you can really achieve the truth. This is quite primitive but it produced fruits. The bureaucracy of death continues with the state as an intrusive presence, claiming the fallen soldier as their own. In reality, the government authorities criticised the film for showing coldness.

It shows in the second act how the soldiers lose themselves in dance, old music and film references, anything in fact to pass the time. Foxtrot is a film once seen will do more than just pass the time, it will find a place in your memory bank of rare movies that capture your heart.

Michael Feldman (Lior Ashkanazi) and Avignor (Yehuda Almagor) in Foxtrot.

Michael Feldman (Lior Ashkanazi) in Foxtrot.

Michael Feldman (Lior Ashkanazi) and Daphna Feldman (Sarah Adler) in Foxtrot.

Jonathan (Yonathan Shiroy, soldier raising hand) in Foxtrot.

RACER AND THE JAILBIRD Directed by Michael R Roskam Starring: Mathias Schoenaerts, Adele Exarchopoulos, Eric Staercke. With the storyline about a female racing car driver and an aspiring gangster who falls in love with her and lies through his pearly teeth all the way to the finishing line, sounded like it would accelerate the adrenaline but unfortunately makes too many pitstops before it sights the chequered flag. There is no doubting that Mathias Schoenaerts and Adele Exarchopoulos are perfectly matched but it is not enough to make the film a winner. The story is told in three acts: Part One, “Gigi” introduces us to the Jailbird of the title, a suave crook, bank robber and high-end gangster. He meets Bibi, a racing driver who is attracted to the forceful Gigi. Soon they are beneath the sheets and she is over her head in a relationship that is doomed to crash. The lies begin when Gigi tells Bibi that he is the import/export business, when he is really robbing banks with his friends. The audience is asked to love this two-faced liar. He knows that he loves Bibi and that is true he does, but he cannot stop being a gun toting thief and a habitual liar. This film has the potential to be a success at the popcorn multiplexes were it not for the fact that it subtitled. It is not strong enough to do well at arthouses, so, it is likely to be left in limbo city. Belgium’s Racer and the Jailbird (Le Fidele) has been selected to represent Belgium in the foreign-language in the Oscar race. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and also played at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Wild Bunch sold the film internationally with Neon releasing it in the U.S. It is produced by Bart Pierre-Ange Le Program Pathe (FR), Wild Bunch Kaap Holland Film (NL)

Van Langendonck for Savage Film (BE) and of Stone Angels (FR), in co-production with (FR), Eyeworks (BE), Frakas Productions (BE), and Submarine (NL).

The film received support from Belgium’s Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Centre du Cinema et de ‘l’Audiovisual (CAA), Screen Flanders, Screen Brussels and Wallimage, as well as Eurimages, Creative Europe and Netherlands Film Fund.

MICHAEL R ROSKAM (Director) Bullhead (first feature) A young Limburg cattle farmer, Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mathias Schoenaerts) is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West Flemish beef trader, but the assassination of a federal police man, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past, set in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences. Bullhead is an exciting tragedy about fate. lost innocence and friendship, about crime and punishment, but also about conflicting desires and the irreversibility of a man’s destiny. The Drop. Follows lonely bartender Bob Saginovski (Tom Hardy) through a covert scheme of funnelling cash to local gangsters ‘money drops’ in the underworld of Brooklyn bars. Under the heavy hand of his employer and cousin Marv, Bob finds himself at the centre of a robbery gone wrong and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighbourhood’s past where friends, families, and foes, all work together to make a living – no matter the cost.

MATHIAS SCHOENAERTS (Actor) Black Book as Joop. Bullhead as Jacky Vanmarsenille. Rust and Bone as Alain van Heesch. The Drop as Eric Deeds. A Little Chaos as Andre Le Notre. Sweet Francaise as Lieutenant Bruno von Falk. Far From The Madding Crowd as Gabriel Oak. * Disorder as Vincent. The Danish Girl as Hans Axgil. A Bigger Splash as Paul De Smedt. Our Souls At Night as Gene. Radegund as Herder. Red Sparrow as Vanya Egorov. Kursk as Mikhael Kalekov.

* This film was reviewed in MbM and received a 10/10 rating. It tells of a Special Services soldier Vincent (Mathias Schoenaerts) who takes a job in security for a wealthy businessman and his family. During a lavish party at their luxurious villa in the French Riviera, Vincent senses that something is amiss. When his employer is then urgently called away on business Vincent is left to ensure the safety of his wife Jessie (Diane Kruger) and their child. Suffering from posttraumatic stress, Vincent battles his own paranoia whilst clinging to the certainty that Jessie and her family are in immediate danger, unleashing a hell-bent determination to protect then at all costs.

Bibi (Adele Exarchopoulos) and Gigi (Mathias Schoenaerts) in Racer and The Jailbird.

Gigi (Mathias Schoenaerts) in Racer and The Jailbird. 26

Bibi (Adele Exarchopoulos) in Racer and The Jailbird.

Bibi (Adele Exarchopoulos) and Gigi (Mathias Schoenaerts) in Racer and The Jailbird.

FILMWORKER Directed by Tony Zierra Starring: Leon Vitali, Stanley Kubrick, Ryan O’Neal, Matthew Modine, R.Lee Ermey, Stellan Skarsgard. This documentary is about Leon Vitali, an extraordinary human being who gave up his career as an actor, and a very good one at that, to devote his life to be the right-hand man or the ultimate ‘go for’ to the master filmmaker – Stanley Kubrick. All cinemagoers will have heard of Kubrick, but hardly anyone would have heard of Leon Vitali, but after this film, that will change. As a young actor, Vitali had appeared in Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon as Lord Bullington – an excellent performance. But when Kubrick asked him to work for him, Vitali did not hesitate, as he would be working with a cinematic genius. So, for two decades, Leon Vitali played a crucial role in helping the ‘great man’ to maintain his legendary body of work to make sure that he was always on call to act upon the sometimes, fanatic requests from Kubrick, no matter what, and sometimes working thirty-six hours without sleep. Stanley Kubrick was born in the Bronx, New York in 1928, to Jack and Gertrude Kubrick. Jack was a professional physician and amateur photographer. At the age of thirteen Stanley was given a Graflex camera by his father, and Stanley soon became a photographer for his school newspaper. His passion for photography was shared with Martin Traub, who lived next door and had a dark room in his bedroom and together they developed their pictures. In High School, he often played truant, going to matinees at Loews Paradise Movie Theatre, and it was there that he decided he was going to be a film director, but the first step on the rung of the ladder was when he sold his first photograph to Look magazine. It showed a dejected newspaper vendor surrounded by headlines announcing the death of President Roosevelt on April 12, 1945. The picture was sold to Look Magazine for $25, but his next one: a group of motorists lining up for gasoline, which was rationed due to the war, netted him $100. In 1948, Look magazine, who Kubrick was now working for, published not only his nine-page photo feature on Columbia University but also carried an article profiling the young photographer himself. On January 18, 1949, Look magazine featured Kubrick’s picture story on middleweight boxer Walter Cartier entitled “Prize-fighter”. In 1950 Kubrick made his first film, a sixteen minute Short, “Day of the Fight”, documenting the boxing match between Walter Cartier and Bobby Jones. Once Stanley Kubrick started making feature films, he was on a roll that would not stop until the final credits of his life, and that meant Leon Vitali never stopped too. He remembers the professionalism to detail which would have driven many mad, but Vitali learnt to live with it and admits in this documentary that he loved his life. 28

Fear and Desire. Two years after “Day of the Fight” and Kubrick was

not satisfied with his first feature. The ideas we wanted to put across were good, but we didn’t have the experience to embody them dramatically. It was little more than a 35mm version of what a class of film students would do in 16mm. Killers Kiss. While Fear and Desire had been a serious effort, ineptly done, Killer’s Kiss proved, I think, to be a frivolous effort done with conceivably more expertise though still down in the student level of filmmaking. The Killing. The Killing was my first truly professional work. The subject was a fairly bad one, but I tried to make up for it in the direction. Nevertheless, it was shot in only twenty days. The editing – I edit all my films myself -took much longer. Paths of Glory. I remember a book by Humphrey Cobb that I read when I was fifteen and which had made an impression on me, not because of its literary qualities but because of the troubling and tragic situation of three of its characters – three innocent soldiers accused of cowardice and mutiny who executed to set an example. Spartacus. Spartacus is the only film over which I did not have absolute control. When Kirk offered me the job of directing Spartacus, I thought that I might be able to make something of it if the script could be changed. But my experience proved that if it is not explicitly stipulated in the contract that your decisions will be respected, there’s a very good that they won’t be.

Lolita. If I have my way…the audience will start by being repelled by this ‘creep’ who seduces a not-so-innocent child, but gradually, as they realize he really loves the girl, they’ll find things aren’t quite as simple as they seemed, and they won’t be so ready to pass immediate moral judgment. I consider that a moral theme.

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. In the context of imminent world destruction, hypocrisy,

misunderstanding. lechery, paranoia, ambition, euphemism, patriotism, heroism, and even reasonableness can evoke a grisly laugh. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Every child that sees the film and I’ve spoken to twenty or thirty kids, knows that Doctor Floyd goes to the moon. You say, “Well, how do you know?” and they say, “Well, we see the moon,” Whereas a number of people, including critics, thought he went to the planet Clavius. Why they think there’s a planet Clavius I’ll never know. A Clockwork Orange. The central idea of the film has to do with the question of freewill. Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived of the choice between good and evil? Barry Lyndon. If my earlier films seem more verbal than the later ones, it is because I was obliged to conform to literary conventions. Then, after some success, I was given greater freedom to explore the medium as I preferred. There’ll be no screenplay of Barry Lyndon published, because there is nothing of literary interest to read. The Shining. I think we tend to be a bit hypocritical about ourselves. We are capable of the greatest good and the greatest evil, and the problem is that often we can’t distinguish between them when it suits our purpose. Full Metal Jacket. I suppose the single improvement one might hope for the world, which would have the greatest effect for good, would be an appreciation and acceptance of this Jungian view of man by those who see themselves as good and externalise all evil. Eyes Wide Shut. Traumnovelle is a difficult book to describe – what good book isn’t? It explores the sexual ambivalence of a happy marriage, and it tries to equate the importance of sexual dreams and might-have-beens with reality. All of Schnitzler’s work is psychologically brilliant, and he was greatly admired by Freud. 29

During post production in Filmworker.

Ryan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill and Leon Vitali in Filmworker.

Leon Vitali and Stanley Kubrick in Filmworker

Stellan Skarsgaard in Filmworker. 31

BREATHE Directed by Andy Serkis Starring: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander. You really must leave me to rot now. You can’t have this. - Robin Apparently, I can. - Diana

Robin is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he is confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana’s twin brothers (Tom Holland) and the ground breaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville). Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek a full and passionate life together – raising their young son, travelling and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients. Jonathan Cavendish, Robin and Diana’s son, is the producer of the film. As a producer you spend a lot your time looking for stories, so it dawned on me, slightly slowly, I was sitting on a story that I knew awfully a lot about, but I was trepidacious to bring it to the screen because there would be nothing worse than making a family biopic that you didn’t like yourself. So, I went about it very slowly. The first ingredient was the writer. I saw a play called “Shadowlands” some years ago, written by Bill Nicholson which I adored and cried all the way through and it had the right tone for the story. Andy Serkis recalls: One night I read this script and it was the most powerful, extraordinary story and brilliantly written by Bill and I met Jonathan for lunch and said I would like to direct your parent’s story, and Jonathan said yes. And what was Andrew Garfield’s take on the story. Bill’s script is so moving and it’s rarely that you read a film script that kills you. We tried to do justice to Jonathan’s parents. To me, it was like a template on how to live and what Robin and Diana did, somehow, they managed to touch the joyous, inspired, fully-lived, rich life experience out of terrible loss. We all go through loss and I think that is why it is such a universal story and inspiring story for 32

every person, no matter where they come from and how such similar imprisonment loss is. I want to live how they, Robin, Diana and Jonathan, lived and hope that of it will rub off on me. It didn’t, but I tried. And there is a point in that comment that is reflected in the film, because though the subject may sound sombre, it is laced with humour. Breathe is not the only film to tackle immobility through illness or accident. In Stronger, reviewed in this issue, Jake Gyllenhaal plays the real-life character who loses his legs in the Boston Marathon Bombing, and despite his life-changing accident manages to find the strength to live a full life. Part of his strength is the help, like Robin has from Diana in Breathe, is the loving support he gets from his girlfriend.

What did Claire Foy get from playing Diana? I’ve never read a script where I didn’t have to think about it, judging it by how’s it going to be made, am I going to do it? I couldn’t read the end of it, and I never read it again. I never read anything that affected me like that. To have two people making it who it was their life. And the other person just a kind wonderful person, and I’d be mad not to do it. So, I’m very pleased.

About working with Claire Foy: She is the most incredibly sensitive presence, fierce, loving. She can go anywhere and spontaneously. It has been one of the highlights of my short acting career so far. The intimacy that these two-people had, that Robing and Diana had. It goes beyond any intimacy that I’ve ever known. The dependence upon each other; her being my lifeline. Her being my heart, not only in an emotionally symbolic way. She is my body, she is access to food. She is the universe. Andrew Garfield. When it came to casting the role of Diana, she was always in the forefront of my mind. She this incredible emotionally eloquent and a sort of razor-sharp instinct. She hit the character right in the middle every time. Andy Serkis.

Producer Jonathan, Director Andy Serkis, Diana Caven dish, actors Claire Foy, Andrew Garfield attend the European Premiere of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Breatheâ&#x20AC;? on the opening night gala of the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 4, 2017. Photo by John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

Director Andy Serkis, his wife Lorraine Ashbourne, and family attend the European Premiere Night Gala of the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 4, 2017. Photo John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy attend the European Premiere of “Breathe” on the opening Night Gala of the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 4, 2017. Photo Vittorio Zunino Celotti/Getty images for BFI.

Andrew Garfield attends the European Premiere of “Breathe” on the opening Night Gala of the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 4, 2017. Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotti/Getty images for BFI.

COLUMBUS Directed by Kogonada Starring: John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey. There’s this belief that if you are not there when a family member dies, your spirit will roam aimlessly and become a ghost. – Jin I saw you in the hospital. - Casey Are you from here? - Jin Yeah. - Casey You like it here? - Jin. I’m really interested in architecture - Casey. There is a wonderful serenity about this film and quite unlike any other film you may have seen. It is the first feature of Koganada and it is his freshness of ideas that permeates the film. He has had two video essays on Richard Linklater and the great Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu and that cinematic influence though evident in Columbus, the film is definitely shines forth as a distinct individuality of Kogonada. We see at the beginning of the film and prior to any screen credits, the father of Jin (John Cho) fall to the ground in Columbus, Indiana, where he was due to give a talk about the city’s remarkable modernist architecture. Now in a coma, his estranged son comes from Seoul to be by his side, but with no signs of improvement. This is so not a multiplex movie and even screen it, but that would only be because its 100 minutes running time. However, if something quite different from your usual will be rewarded.

some arthouses may decline to of its slow pace throughout you are prepared to watch menu of movies, then it you

Jon is distracted to explore the city and walks through these resplendent buildings in search of inner tranquillity. It is these elegant and historic locales that fascinate Casey who is currently avoiding taking the next steps of her education in life because she would feel guilty if she left her mom, who is a recovering meth addict. 36

These two parallel stories are told and eventually converge in a beautiful sequence as the film plays out its patient rhythm. The characters are resistant to wearing their emotions on their sleeves, leading to making their interactions all the more genuine as we first acquaint ourselves with the location and history of Columbus. Haley Lu Richardson is outstanding as Casey and makes an indelible impression, just as she did in The Edge of Seventeen, and she is so into character that she is unrecognisable in her role in Columbus, which speaks volumes about her ability as an actress and carving out a career of potential brilliance for future films. The other thing that Casey is aware of is the attention she is getting from Gabriel, a fellow librarian, who obviously wants her to stay but understands that should follow what she wants to do and should definitely cut the ties to her mother which is holding her back. Each shot has a staggering beauty which can be credited to Elisha Christian. Every set-up comprises of a layered depth separating nature, architecture, and the people. It also reminds us to take time out to admire the elegant beauty around us. How often do we allow the therapeutic magnificence of nature embrace us? As Casey says in one of the best scenes in the movie which is a tender night-time conversation with Jin in which they reveal part of their past, she lives in a town of modernism and meth.

This dichotomy of opposing characteristics can be found in any city and Kogonadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut is an affecting call to look at the optimistic side. Between the allure of the location, the director also touches on subtle touches of pain for the characters. Jin struggles with being indebted to his father even with his lack of commitment to their relationship while Casey is conflicted over pursuing both romance and a veritable career. The film jump-cuts towards the end a little too quickly without tying up all the loose ends, but really is a minor criticism as the rest of the film unfolds so cleanly. The film will resonate in your head long after you have seen it, and you will not be in a hurry to evict it. Columbus is a blissful experience. It was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Haley Lu Richardson will next be seen in The Chaperone in which plays former Ziegfeld Follies girl Louise Brooks who was hailed at the time as the greatest actress of her generation.

Gabriel (Rory Culkin) and Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) in Columbus.

Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) in Columbus. 38

Jin (John Cho) and Eleanor (Parker Posey) in Columbus.

Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) and Jin (John Cho) in Columbus. 39

ON CHESIL BEACH Directed by Dominic Cooks. Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emily Watson, Anne-Marie Duff, Samuel West. I think working on another Ian McEwan was really exciting. Dominic Cooks and I seem to be very much on the same page when it came to how we were going to approach the story. Because it is one that is awkward and it has to be done in a quite delicate and sensitive way. It’s the kind of subject that hasn’t been approached before or told before in such a way and I was quite excited. I think everyone involved made me quite excited to do it, and also Florence is someone who is incredibly reserved but has this animal aid inside her to have sex and the battle within herself at times to make that a reality is something that everyone faces and I thought that would be quite an interesting thing to play. Saoirse Ronan.

The story of a newly married couple on their honeymoon who although in love are struggling to come to terms with the physical wedding night nerves of consummating their marriage. It is set in the early 60s in a seaside hotel on Chesil Beach in Dorset, a wild and beautiful stretch of beach which has delicate rocks and stones of all shapes and sizes. The couple, Florence Ponting (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward Mayhew (Billy Howie) are from different backgrounds: Florence is from a wealthy family and is talented and has aspirations of being a classical pianist, while Edward is from a humble upbringing and hopes to be accepted as an intellectual and trying to get rid of his reputation as a brawler. They both have first-class degrees and proud of that, but sexually they are totally inexperienced and are virgins, but that was quite normal in those days with premarital sex being practically taboo. They originally met at a CND meeting in Oxford, Edward was celebrating his exam results and it was love at first sight when he saw Florence, who was a young violinist. They both experienced difficulties with their families. Florence’s mother Violet (Emily Watson) is an arrogant Oxford don who enjoys have telephone conversations with Iris Murdoch. Geoffrey Ponting (Samuel West) Florence’s father, is a wealthy engineer with an unsettling tendency to allow his temper to erupt. Edward’s dad Lionel (Adrian Scarborough) is a gentle soul, while his mother Marjorie (Anne-Marie 40

Duff), is a talented artist who is mentally disturbed due to being hit by an opening train door on a railway station platform. It is the most shocking scene in the film. All is told in flashback from the central scene in the newlyweds’ bedroom, where Edward and Florence endure their excruciating ordeal. Every flashback, whether joyous or sad, reveals the same poignant thing: they were a thousand times more happier and relaxed in the past than now, at this longed-for moment of supposed abandon. In one flashback, Florence remembers submissively acting as a page-turner for a famous pianist at London’s Wigmore Hall, and at that moment remembering helping her grumpy dad as a teenager on his yacht. Where the film really succeeds is in the writing to ensure we learn only what we need at the moment. It is a manipulative process, but one that works. Cooke’s directing never tries to be flashy or crafty than the script demands. The way Cooke handles Ronan and Howie is beautifully done. He lets them drive the plot through their silence which has never been so ear-shattering. Emotion is the key to all films and here it felt by repressing Florence and Edward’s feelings and in so doing hearing the anger, frustration, embarrassment and pain – in their silence. The ending of the film at the concert performance by Elizabeth is heart -breaking as the camera moves to the audience where Edward is seated watching a love lost and a life which could have been. He watches and weeps. The film does justice to the emotional impact of McEwan’s original novel, and it is McEwan’s impeccable screen adaptation which captures the material with grace and delicacy. Saoirse Ronan is once again superb in the role of Florence, while Billy Howie as Edward is perfectly cast and is a name to watch. While many emotions remain unspoken, and countless feelings are left unsaid, this melancholic love story speaks profoundly about the fragility of human relationships and the destructive nature of silence.

SAOIRSE RONAN: She can be seen next in Lady Bird as Christine McPherson. Lady Bird. was The London Film Festival’s Surprise Film. Future films: The Seagull as Nina. Mary Queen of Scots as Mary Stuart. Sweetness in the Belly as Lily.

BILLY HOWIE: Future Films: The Seagull as Konstantin. Outlaw King as Prince of Wales. 41

Adrian Scarborough, Stephen Wooley, Saoirse Rona, Ian McEwan, Dominic Cooke, Billy Howle, Elizabeth Karlson, and Samuel West attend the Love Gala and European Premiere of “On Chesil Beach” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo: Tim P Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Ian McEwan attends the Love Gala and European Premiere of “On Chesil Beach” during the 61st BFI London film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo: Tim P Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Saoirse Ronan attends the Love Gala and European Premiere of “On Chesil Beach” during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2017. Photo: Tim P Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

LUCKY Directed by John Carroll Lynch Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt, Beth Grant. Realism is the practice or accepting a situation as it is. - Lucky. What you’re saying is, is what you see is what you get. - Vincent. But what you see is not what I get. - Lucky. Lucky is a spiritual journey of a ninety-year-old atheist, who is played by the late Harry Dean Stanton, in his penultimate movie. There were very few actors like Harry Dean Stanton: the ultimate character actor. The film opens with Lucky going through his daily routine of smoking, yoga, watching TV game shows. Lucky is a made-tomeasure role for Stanton, saying it as it is and in so doing appearing to charm his way around people. He had been acting for over sixty years in film and television. He was almost never in a leading role, but always made an impression. A U.S. Navy veteran, Harry got into acting in the late 1950s in television and films. There were three types of shows at the forefront: crime dramas: The Fugitive and westerns: Tomahawk Trail. Have Gun, Will Travel. Most of Harry’s fell under these three genres. Then come 1966, Harry played the role of Blind Dick in Ride in the Whirlwind, written and starring Harry’s friend, Jack Nicholson, who gave him this acting advice: I don’t want you to just do anything but for you to play yourself totally. And that is exactly what made Harry different – he played himself. Some other big projects followed: The Godfather 2, Cool Hand Luke, and his role as Bratt in Alien gave audiences an iconic death scene. But 1984 was probably the biggest year for him. There was the role of Bud in the cult hit Repo Man, which has the piece of dialogue which ironically could be Harry’s mantra, if he believed in such a thing: You see an ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations. Repo Man spends his life getting into tense situations. 44

In the same year, Harry got his first starring role in Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas. He played Travis, a man, who for reasons unknown at first, is wandering the desert alone. The rest of the film addresses who he is, and what he might be running from. He continued to turn in memorable performances in Pretty in Pink, The Last Temptation of Christ, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Green Mile. Harry has also been a frequent collaborator with filmmaker David Lynch who acts alongside him in Lucky. But actually, the most intriguing thing about Harry Dean Stanton is trying to figure out who he was. In the fantastic documentary about him called Harry Dean Stanton – Partly Fiction, an intimate portrait of the actor with clips from his films plus his own heart-breaking renditions of American folk songs and includes scenes with David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry. If you watch this before you watch the trailer for Lucky, you will notice some striking similarities between who he was in real life and his character. Perhaps the biggest similarity is that Harry’s character in the picture is a realist who chooses to see life for what it is and nothing more. This was pretty much Harry’s philosophy off-screen and seems the role of Lucky was tailor-fit for him, weaving in elements of his own life to make the character more authentic. That was Harry Dean Stanton’s biggest strength. The film reunites Harry Dean Stanton with Tom Skerritt after 38 years since they appeared in Alien. The film was shot in 18 days. Lucky was Harry Dean Stanton’s penultimate film. His last film which is in post-production is Frank ad Ava, which is about Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. Harry plays the role of Sherriff Lloyd. No release date for UK as of yet. David Lynch has directed and starred with Harry Dean Stanton in his own previous projects. Notably Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks; Fire Walk With Me, Hotel Room and Inland Empire. Lucky is John Carroll Lynch’s Directional Debut. John Carroll Lynch and Beth Grant previously acted together in Jackie. Lucky mentions growing up in Kentucky. Harry Dean Stanton was indeed born and raised in West Irvine, Kentucky. This marks the third time David Lynch has worked with a cast member from Alien. He previously worked with John Hurt on The Elephant Man. The diner scenes were shot at the same location as Train’s “Marry Me” video.

Howard (David Lynch) and Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) in Lucky.

Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) in Lucky. 46

Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) in Lucky.

Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) in Lucky. 47

LOVING VINCENT Directed by Dorota Kobeila and Hugh Welchman Featuring: Douglas Booth, Chris O’Dowd, John Sessions, Jerome Flynn, Saoirse Ronan. Vincent Van Gogh killed himself? - Armand Roulin How does a man go from calm to suicidal in six weeks? - Postman Joseph Roulin Loving Vincent is one of the most strikingly beautiful films ever made. It is the world’s first oil painted feature film bringing the art of Vincent van Gogh to life. There were 125 painting animators needed to create 65,000 oil-painted frames that incorporated 120 of Van Gogh’s better-known works, a process that took ten years to complete; ponder on this when you see the film and understand what it took to bring this work of art by one of the world’s most famous artists to the screen. Each oil painting is mesmerising on its own, but combined they form a transfixing animation that is completely unique and never tires. The film takes the form of a murder mystery that integrates Van Gogh’s portraits and landscapes with hand-painted live-action footage of actors. The derivative detective story investigates Van Gogh committed suicide or was shot by someone else. Assuming the role of investigator and narrator is Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), a bitter young man in a bright yellow jacket who has a weakness for alcohol and barroom fights. A year after the artist’s death, he is reluctantly given the task by his postmaster father (Chris O’Dowd) to deliver Vincent’s final letter addressed to his beloved younger brother, Theo (Cezary Lukaszewicz). Armand leaves for Paris, where he learns from noted paint supplier Pere Tanguy (John Sessions) that Theo met his own demise months after his brother died. Tanguy tells him the history of Vincent’s transformation from an unemployable failure to a prolific producer of art. With a newfound respect and curiosity about Van Gogh, Armand goes to the picturesque Auvers-sur-Oise and begins to question those who knew Vincent during his last six weeks. That includes an innkeeper’s spirited daughter, Adeline Ravoux (Eleanor Tomlinson0 who has mostly kind things to say about Vincent’s time as a guest, and the lessgenerous Louise Chevalier (Helen McCrory) housekeeper to Dr. Gachet (Jerome Flynn) the physician who treated him. A religious woman, she demonises Vincent, declaring “He was evil.” Then there is Gachet’s 48

daughter, Marguerite (Saoirse Ronan), who may or may not have been romantically connected to Van Gogh. Each witness adds widely divergent opinions of the artist before he died. Not helping matters is that the gun involved was never found. Ultimately, one is expected to form their own conclusions about what happened. You want to know so much about his death, but what do you know about his life? - Marguerite I want to show by my work what this nobody has in his heart. - Van Gogh The film is filled with magical moments which are capitalised by its visual splendour. One scene has a smiling little girl at the inn sitting on his lap as he sketches a chicken with skinny legs, just like hers, he teases. In that brief moment, he is at peace with the world, and smiling. Van Gogh also appears in a black and white photographic flashback from his point of view and is played by Polish theatre actor Robert Gulaczyk who is the spitting image of the great artist. Music perfectly sets the mood for the film with a fine melancholic score by Clint Mansell. An ode to the artist: Don McLean’s “Starry Starry Night” concludes the film. On 27th July 1890, a gaunt figure stumbled down a sleepy high street at twilight. The man was carrying nothing, his hands clasped to a fresh bullet wound leaking blood from his belly. This was Vincent van Gogh, the little known artist, now the most famous artist in the world. His tragic death has long been known, what has remained a mystery is how and why he came to be shot. Loving Vincent tells that story.

AWARDS: Annecy International Animated Film Festival. 2017 Audience Award – Won. Golden Trailer Awards. 2017 Best Foreign Animation/Family Trailer – Won. Best Foreign Graphics in a Trailer – Won. Shanghai International Film Festival. 2017 Best Animation Film. Golden Globe. Won. Jameson Cinefest - Miskolc International Film Festival 2017 Nominated Best Film. Melbourne International Film Festival 2017 Nominated Best Narrative Feature. Polish Film Festival 2017 Nominated Best Film.

Street scene in Loving Vincent.

Marguerite Gachet (Saoirse Ronan) in Loving Vincent. 50

Painter Sarah Wimperis (L) and guests attend the UK Premiere of “Loving Vincent” during the 61st London Film Festival on October 9, 2017. Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty images for BFI.

Actors Douglas Booth, Helen McCrory and director Hugh Welchman attend the UK Premiere of “Loving Vincent” during the 61st London Film Festival on October 9, 2017. Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty images for BFI.

WONDERSTRUCK Directed by Todd Haynes Starring: Julianne Moore, Oakes Fegley, Millicent Simmonds, Jaden Michael, Cory Michael Smith. Was my dad an astronomer? - Ben Another time, okay? - Elaine Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never the right time. - Ben The latest Haynes movie opened at Cannes this year and travelled to Melbourne, Locarno, Telluride, Athens, San Sebastian, Adelaide before landing in London this October. The film is basically a dedication to collectors and the preservation of collectibles across time which are housed across the world in museums. Haynes is a very imaginative director, which is evident in all the storylines of his movies and is there yet again in Wonderstruck. The condition of deafness is the key to both portions of the film, and here Haynes uses silent film because in that the silent image and gestures are everything. The parallel concepts of the theme of the story that the museum is a cabinet of wonders where secrets are revealed, results in occasional wonderful moments, but also allows for the parallels to be observed and understood through coincidence.

1977. Northern Minnesota. Ben (Oakes Fegley) is a 12-year-old son of a single mother, Elaine (Michelle Williams). He is hearing-impaired and desperately unhappy having just lost his mother. He is alone. Suddenly he finds a note in an antique book in his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bedroom, and runs away to search for his unknown father in New York City. 1927. Rose (Millicent Simmonds), a 12-year-old girl born deaf to a wealthy but punitive father, runs away to New York in search of her mother, Rose (Julianne Moore) a famous silent screen actress. This part of the story in black and white, an exaggerated acting style which was commonly associated with silent cinema. Once in New York, both youngsters are drawn to the American Museum of Natural History where their seemingly disparate paths mysteriously intertwine.

TODD HAYNES: Director. Todd Haynes does not take a traditionally story-telling path but the two stories coalesce in a satisfying way while the sense of two periods and style is exquisite. The film is a worthy follow-up to Haynes’s Carol – a poignant story. What was Todd’s feelings about Wonderstruck when he first read the script? This is Brian’s first screen adaptation for any of his books and clearly shows his love of cinema and understanding and passion for films permeated the concept of the script. So, it was an intensely cinematic idea on page. It was very much about the inter-cutting between two stylistic time-frames and storylines and it paid acute attention on the page to sound and the experience of music versus auditory sound in the colour story. So, for a filmmaker, it was irresistible piece of material to think about and it was also something I had never done before; focusing on the imagination of kids, the story of kids and constructed like a true mystery, where clues are leading you forward on the journey between these two stories. In fact, a formal conceit is at the core of the mystery. Why are these two stories sharing one movies, and what are the answers; you know you know if you are going to get them in the film and so pull you through the story.

JULIANNE MOORE: Actress. Julianne Moore, what were her memories on making the film? One thing I noticed and love about my job is working with professionals and an actor is an actor regardless of their age or experience. When you meet an actor on a set for the first time, you are right away meeting a peer, and it happens if they are seven or twelve, or if they’re seventy-five. Right away, you have to play ball. And that’s what I love because everything resolves. The way we characterise others by age, and gender and culture, all of these things completely disappear. You meet a person on a personal level. That’s was my experience working with Millie and Jaden and working with Oakes – having the experience of being with extraordinary actors.

Rose (Millicent Simmonds) in Wonderstruck.

Director Todd Haynes with Festival Director Claire Stewart at the Journey Gala of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wonderstruckâ&#x20AC;? during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty images for BFI.

Oakes Fegley (L) and Jayden Michael attend the Journey Gala and UK Premiere of “Wonderstruck” during the 61st London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty images for BFI.

Writer Brian Selznick attends the Journey Gala and UK Premiere of “Wonderstruck” during the 61st London Film Festival on October 5, 2017. Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty images for BFI.

LOVELESS

Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Starring: Maryana Spivak, Alexy Rozjin, Matvey Novikov. I’ve never loved anyone. Only my mom, when I was little. She behaved so badly with me. Evil, lonely bitch. - Zhenya Boris and Zenya appear to be repeating the same mistakes that they made in their first marriage. The middle-class couple are going through a bitter divorce, have found new lovers and they are selling their apartment. Their habitually acrimonious arguments seem to get louder like a thunderous storm that fails to clear the air but just darkens the sky, and one such row is overheard by their son who is the subject of their vicious debate on which one of them will reluctantly have to take care of the child, twelve-year-old Alyosha (Matvey Novikov). Neither parent wants him; sending Alyosha to an orphanage appears to be the agreed solution once they are divorced and so remove the kid so they can live out their selfish aspirations. We watch heartbreakingly, as the boy weeps and then runs down the stairs to escape the drab ambiance of what was once his home. Ironically, Boris and Zhenya are forced to act to show solidarity when they finally realize that Alyosha has run away. A rescue party is organised to find the boy, but not by the Russian authorities, but by a voluntary group who search for missing children. Zhenya thinks that he may have gone to her mother’s but the meeting does not go well. The bitterness between her and her mother reflect their loveless relationship and helps to understand her emotionless attitude to her son. Mum, Ayosha has gone. - Zhenya What’s this nonsense? You said you were getting a divorce. What, you want to palm your little brat on to me? - Zhenya’s mother. Flyers are printed and posted, neighbours A glimmer of hope is found when the young boy’s best friend is located and questioned about where he thinks his friend might have gone. They tell him that they understand that they may have made a pact of silence to not tell anyone their secrets, but they make him understand the seriousness of the situation, that is friend’s life could be threatened.

Eventually the boy tells them about a place that they go to which is a deserted building. 56

The building is derelict and symbolises hopelessness. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s earliest ambition was to be an actor but Moscow did not welcome young actors. I was hungry, in need of work. I auditioned for everything. I even did not have money to buy a bus ticket. He appeared as an extra in a few TV series and feature films, when a friend offered him a job as director at RFN TV, an independent production company that makes cop shows and day-time soaps. He directed several episodes for a popular YV series and impressed producers with his skills. He then got the chance to direct his first feature film in 2013, The Return, which became a major success and won critical acclaim: winning the Golden Lion at Venice. It was the first Russian film since Close to Eden to win this honour. Since then he has continued to write and direct award-winning feature films: The Banishment, Elena, and Leviathan, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015. Among his favourite films are L’Avventura, L’Eclisse, La Notte, Last Tango in Paris, A Man Escaped, Diary of a Country Priest, Wild Strawberries, Autumn Sonata, Andrei Rublev, The Mirror, Ordet, L’Enfant, Husbands, The Lovers, Woman in the Dunes, Trial on the Road, Falling Leaves, Seven Samurai, My Night at Maud’s, Breaking the Waves, The White Ribbon, Koyaanisqatsi, Alice in the Cities, and Bicycle Thieves. As an art-house director I am supposed to hate mainstream films but I saw Peter Jackson’s King Kong and liked it. I even cried when I was watching it, although in my opinion this film had no artistic value at all. There is nothing more magnificent than to make art. My experience tells me so. Nothing. It’s the most magnificent thing in the world. He said that seeing Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura gave him a ‘new life’ and he wanted to become a filmmaker. It is what inspired to make films and that itself is inspiring. In The Return, Andrey’s debut feature, there is a wonderful memorable scene that shows the creative genius of the director: The shot is of a boy looking like Mantegna’s ‘Dead Christ’, as boys peep into the bedroom where he lies sleeping. The shot exemplifies the film’s austere beauty. Loveless is full of surprises and you never know what or where the narrative will lead you, even right up to the ending which is perfect and I defy anyone to predict.

Alyosha (Matvey Novikov) in Loveless.

Zenya (Maryana Spivak) in Loveless. 58

Andrey Zvyagintsev (2nd left) and Alexander Rodnyansky (2nd right) pose in the winner’s room with their Official Competition Best Film Award for “Loveless” with Andrea Arnold (left) and Andrea Riseborough (right) at the 61st BFI London Film Festival Awards on October 14, 2017. Photo: John Phillips/ Getty images for BFI.

Andrey Zvyagintsev poses in the winner’s room with his Official Competition Best Film Award for “Loveless” at the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 14. 2017. Photo: John Phillips/ Getty images for BFI.

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan What a charming boy. How long have you known him? - Anna Quite some time. His father was a patient of mine. - Stephen Colin Farrell described The Killing of a Sacred Deer as a feel-bad film and he is so right because there is nothing to raise your spirits here. It is baddie bag of obnoxiousness with torturous toys, mildew munchies, abhorrent aromas, smelly socks and vile-tasting crisps. The film is tragically Greek, being Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film and fails to offer a good reason for its sadistic and mournful narrative, other than it is a story of revenge. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a charismatic surgeon who is forced to make un unthinkable sacrifice, after his life starts to fall apart when behaviour of a teenage boy turns sinister. One expects from the opening of the film a potentially sound narrative. We see that Steven Murphy lives a harmonious life with his ophthalmologist wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two children Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bo (Sunny Sulic). Steven has formed a friendship with teenager Martin (Barry Keoghan) to whom he brings gifts and offers financial support. Steven decides, unwisely, to introduce Martin to his family, who welcome him, but gradually they become aware of the young man’s frightening intentions. The clinical calm of Steven and Anna’s professions contrast with the mounting realization of the horror awaiting them. Here the sense of intensifying foreboding is gripping and well-handled but then it begins to falter badly with the presence of Martin as it is not clear who the youngster is or why Steven kept his existence secret from Anna and at one point lies to a colleague about him, saying he’s a friend of Kim’s at school. Revelations come to our notice regarding grievous malpractice in Steven’s past and Martin, who was directly affected, has come to claim revenge, giving Steven a gruesome and preposterous ultimatum.

The boy’s torture of Steven’s family and its consequences are contrived and inordinately vicious. There is no reason for the vileness on show, other than pure and simple sadism. Martin keeps showing up with increased insistence, ignoring Steven’s attempts at distancing himself, and it becomes clear that he’ll be the one to instigate Steven’s demise. It is that moment that the film has nowhere to go but down. The Killing of a Sacred Deer, though lauded by many critics, becomes a hopeless mess and fails to justify its awards and did not deserve the hype it received. The ending of the film is incredulous: after killing his own, Steven is seen with Anna and Kim having a meal in a diner while Martin comes in to have a drink…all of them acting as though nothing has changed because Steven has paid his debt to Martin and saved the rest of the family from dying. In 2015 Lanthimos had his film Lobster at the London Film Festival, which again starred Colin Farrell. I wrote that the narrative gets lost in its own cleverness. At times you want to escape via the nearest exit. The same could be said of this film. There is nothing here that makes me think things are going to change with Lanthimos’s next film. If he intended it to be a Greek Tragedy, then the tragedy is the Greek.

Colin Farrell (Highlights from his filmography) MINORITY REPORT as Danny Winter PHONE BOOTH as Stu Shepard ALEXANDER as Alexander THE NEW WORLD as Captain Smith MIAMI VICE as Sonny Crockett IN BRUGES as Ray ONDINE as Syracuse THE WAY BACK as Valca LONDON BOULEVARD as Mitchell TOTAL RECALL as Douglas Quaid/Hauser SAVING MR BANKS as Travers THE BEGUILED as Corporal McBurney WIDOWS (post production) as Jack Mulligan Widows is set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities, take fate into their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.

Martin (Barry Keoghan) in The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Anna (Nicole Kidman) and Steven (Colin Farrell) in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. 62

Anna (Nicole Kidman) in The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Actors Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman attend the Headline Gala Screening and UK Premiere of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Killing of a Sacred Deerâ&#x20AC;? during the 61st BFI London Film Festival on October 12, 2017. Photo: Ricky Vigil/Getty images for BFI.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT Directed by Sean Baker Starring: Willem Dafoe, Brooklyn Kimberley Prince, Bria Vinaite Halley, we’ve got a situation here, open up. The second week of the summer and there’s already been a dead fish in the pool. - Bobby We’re trying to get it back alive. - Moonee

A film about childhood innocence that has been charming audiences at Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian, Zurich, New York, Edmonton, Adelaide, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver, Hamburg, Mumbai, before descending upon the Picturehouse Central for this year’s London Film Festival. Moonee is six years old and lives with her mom Halley (Bria Vinaite) at the Magic Castle Motel in Kissimmee, Florida, just down the road from Disneyland. The Florida Project was an early development name for Disney World. It’s the height of Summer and Moonee with her friend Scooty (Christopher Rivera) spend their days hanging out together, constantly getting into trouble and tormenting the hotel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe). Halley doesn’t have a job and pays the weekly motel bill by illegally selling perfumes to tourists out of a bag. Everyone at the motel is barely making a living and evictions for prostitution or non-payment of rent are a regular occurrence. Moonee and her friends have to make their own entertainment, whether its spitting on a neighbour’s car or exploring the abandoned condo development, all the time narrating their own adventures and playing at being grown-ups. Will you marry me? - Moonee. Not right now. I’d rather not. - Scooty. In the first part of the story, Moonee, Scooty and their other friends Dicky (Aiden Malik) and Jancey (Valiera Cotto) race or skip, never walk, to a fresh discovery. They take turns to pilfer money from passers-by for ice cream which they share. If I had a pet alligator, I would name her Anne. - Moonee. 64

Moonee gets her lively spirit from her mum. Halley could be a Disney Princess from the wrong side of the tracks with unkempt blue-dyed hair, top-to-toe skin ink and unrestrained anger, an attitude that led her to lose her job at a strip joint because she refused to offer ‘additional services’. Willem Dafoe comfortably settles into his role as Bobby, his best performance to date. He ladles out benevolence alongside tough love. Dafoe spent a week living in the filming area before production in order to immerse himself in the life of the characters and master the nuances of the regional dialect. Director Sean Baker has elicited authentic performances from his cast, but in particular from Brooklyn Prince as hilariously cheeky and smart-mouthed Moonee who has a talent for getting her friends and herself into trouble. This is the room we’re not supposed to go in, so we’re going in. While the majority of the film was shot on 35mm film, Baker admitted to returning to his ‘guerrilla filmmaking techniques’ to capture the final scene, which was instead shot on an iPhone and contains footage from inside Disney World, filmed without the parks knowledge or consent. The film doesn’t patronise its characters, showing that they are just as capable of the best of actions and the worst as anybody else, but making sure we understand the additional pressures they face. It also emphasises how Halley’s joy of shopping for trashy jewellery or gulping down waffles and syrup rivals Moonee’s, showing how this ‘bad’ mum still has love for her daughter, even though her criminal behaviour is endangering everything. Bobby is continually under pressure and constantly having to ask Halley to pay her rent while also looking out for Moonee. At one point, he must act as the father figure, protecting the children from a potential paedophile. It’s inevitable that Halley is going to be evicted and lose her home which would lead to young Moonee being taken into care or adopted. The theme of the film is summed up earlier in the film by Moonee who tells her friend: That’s my favourite tree, because it’s fallen but it still keeps growing. When the ending comes it is heart breaking for Moonee and her mum as they are separated as Moonee painfully watches her mum being taken away by the police. Where does she go? Moonee finds her best friend and together they run and run and run away to a future unknown. The Florida Project is one of the best films about childhood for a very long time.

Moonee (Brooklyn Kimberley Prince) and Halley (Bria Vinaite) in The Florida Project.

Scooty (Christopher Rivera), Moonee (Brooklyn Kimberley Prince) and Jancey (Valeria Cotto) in The Florida Project

Halley (Bria Vinaite) and Moonee (Brooklyn Kimberley Prince) in The Florida Project.

Bobby (Willem Dafoe) and Moonee (Brooklyn Kimberley Prince) in The Florida Project. 67

DOWNSIZING Directed by Alexander Payne Starring: Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig. The cause of all the catastrophes we’re seeing today is overpopulation. We’re proud to unveil the only practical remedy to humanity’s greatest problem. Are you ready doctor? - Dr. Andreas Jacobsen. Norwegian scientists discover a method for shrinking people to pocket-size as part of a grand design to limit humanity’s footprint and save the world. Imagine how far your money would could go when 1,000 square foot house looks much bigger. Everyone could have a mansion, and produce a negligible amount of planetdamaging waste. For Paul (Matt Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig), the temptation to buy into this life-changing idea, which once taken cannot be reversed, seems too attractive to resist, and means that have not examined the possibility of what happens if it all goes wrong? The obvious problem that I could see happening is that after Paul goes through the process of having his head shaved and all his body hair removed, and teeth extracted, is that Audrey would suddenly decide not to go through with it… and surprise surprise, that is exactly what happens. Praise her for having the good sense to reconsider what she would be signing up for. Now, you begin to question the entire theme of the movie and hope that it all begins to make sense, which it would if Alexander Payne did, but instead he only superficially looks at how we can simplify our lives and what should we value? The only character who offers any humour is Christoph Waltz, though he must be blamed for advising Alexander to change the original script so that he would be in the film. Alec Baldwin was to be in the original film but had the good sense to opt out. The one focused character is played by Hong Chau. She describes how she came to get the part: I heard Alexander Payne was going to do his next film and read it was a sci-fi satire and I just wanted to read the script out of curiosity. So, I was super-surprised when I read it that there was a huge role for a Asian female in there, which is not super-common; not only that, is that she was a character that we don’t often see with much complexity 68

and depth in a Hollywood Studio movie with special effects, starring Matt Damon, you don’t often see that. After seeing the film, I have a few surprises which I must address of my own. It surprises me that the film was chosen to open the prestigious Venice Film Festival. It surprises me that the film ever got made. It surprises me why Matt Damon wanted to appear in the film as it will do nothing for his filmography. It surprises me that in such a hodgepodge movie that newcomer Hong Chau saw the one part that offered any form of focused characterisation. It surprises me that for a satire it was totally unfunny.

ALEXANDER PAYNE (Director) Main Features: ABOUT SCHMIDT (2002) SIDEWAYS (2004) PARIS, JE T’AIME (segment 14th arrondisemet) THE DESCENDANTS (2011) NEBRASKA (2013) DOWNSIZING (2017)

MATT DAMON (Actor) Main Features: FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) as baseball fan at Fenway Park (uncredited) CHASING AMY (1997) as Shawn Oran Executive #2 THE RAINMAKER (1997) as Rudy Baylor GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997) as Will SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) as Private Ryan THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) as Tom Ripley THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE (2000) as Rannulph Junuh FINDING FORRESTER (2000) as Steven Sanderson ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000) as John Grady Cole OCEANS ELEVEN (2001) as Linus Caldwell THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) as Bourne CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (2002) as Matt, Bachelor #2 THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004) as Jason Bourne THE DEPARTED (2006) as Colin Sullivan THE GOOD SHEPHERD (2006) as Edward Wilson THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007) as Jason Bourne INVICTUS (2009) as Francois Pienaar HEREAFTER (2010) as George Lonegan TRUE GRIT (2010) as LaBoeuf) THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011) as David Norris CONTAGION (2011) as Mitch Emhoff MARGARET (2011) as Mr.Aaron WE BOUGHT A ZOO (2011) as Benjamin Mee THE MONUMENTS MEN (2014) as James Granger INTERSTELLAR (2014) as Mann THE MARTIAN (2015) as Mark Watney JASON BOURNE (2016) as Jason Bourne THE GREAT WALL (2016) as William DOWNSIZING (2017) as Paul Safranek SUBURBICAN (2017) as Gardner

Matt Damon and Director Alexander Payne on the set of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Downsizingâ&#x20AC;? from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Merie W. Wallace.

Producer Mark Johnson, Director Alexander Payne and actors Hong Chau and Christopher Waltz 70

attend the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 13, 2017. Photo: John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

Hong Chau attends the BFI Patron’s Gala and UK Premiere of “Downsizing” during the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 13, 2017. Photo: Vittorio Zunini Celotto/Getty images for BFI.

Christopher Waltz and director Alexander Payne attend the BFI Patron’s Gala and UK Premiere of “Downsizing” during the 61st London Film Festival on October 13, 2017. Photo: John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE Directed by Lynne Ramsay Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alessandro Nivola State Senator Albert Volto wants to see you. He doesn’t want the cops involved - John McCleary Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a hired gun, or on this job, a hired hammer as his preferential weapon. He specialises in rescuing underage girls from sex slavery. His CV, criminal violence, was bred into him by the trauma of growing up in an abusive household and later compounded by two scarring incidents during his time in the Marines and the FBI; experiences which are seen in fragmentary flashbacks throughout the film that haunt Joe every day, leaving him a shattered shell of a man with a death wish which is shown when he tries to suffocate himself by putting a plastic bag over his head. Phoenix portrays his character’s devastated interiority through sheer physicality; a hulking presence and ravaged countenance bearing the weight of his nightmarish past. It is an exceptional performance by Phoenix which justifiably won him the Palme d’Or for Best Actor at Cannes. He renders Joe a virtuous man whose inability to prevent the victimization of women, at home and then in his different professions, has brought him to the edge of madness. When his latest job goes wrong, it pushes him past his breaking point, and we follow his fevered mission to retrieve the 13-yesr-old girl he failed to rescue and get his revenge on the men who deceived him. Ramsay and her editor Joe Bial insert in the film’s chronology a use of jump and abrupt cuts, charging Joe’s rush across the city with a manic energy that reflects his frenzied state of mind, exacerbated by a copious intake of painkillers. Jonny Greenwood, the film’s composer, creates a terrific soundtrack which is perfectly in sync with the rhythm of the montage, injecting the narrative with further urgency as well augmenting each scene’s emotional nuance and intensity. So, what inspired Lynne Ramsay to want to tell the story? Really the characters from the novella. It was very much a page-turner. I read it in two hours. I love genre. I think there is a way in genre you can speak about other things. I had Joaquin picture up even before I wrote the script and it was going to be him. It was a character who was a fallible man. He wasn’t a six-pack guy who was a hero. He is kind of anti-hero in a way: unpredictable, you know. 72

Scarred, suicidal, lives with his mum, funny, terrifying, all those sorts of things.

How did she develop the character with Joaquin, how did they work together? We just got in there really early. As soon as I arrived in New York, he was with me. Part of my crew. Two minutes before, I think, maybe even less time than that. I mean we lived round the corner from each other in Brooklyn. I was like…Oh my God, I’ve got so much to do. I tried to make every minute work with him and I would run round there. Computer, bang off ideas on each other. He’s got this kind of bullshit detector. So, anything that felt cliché, he would remind me. Always trying to push this character into something we hadn’t seen before. I don’t think I slept basically. We made the film in nine months. It was crazy, but now I can relax.

In Lynne Ramsay’s previous films, Marven Callar, Samantha Morton and about her mourning the suicide of her husband and hitting the road with her friend but finds she can’t run away from forever, is a film which showed Ramsay’s dexterity as a director. In You Were Never Really Here she opts for a radical structure and is not afraid to linger on the coincidental that will no doubt grate on those who would prefer waging a war on Joe’s demons. But this is a story about a disturbed man that even by using a hammer says a lot about his psyche that he is leaving his mark on his victims, his specific indentation. And about the girl, Joaquin says: The girl is the one who saves herself, so it’s not about the man coming and saving the girl.

Ultimately, this brilliant film tells its story in a totally unusual way. A man who gets around via the back streets and emergency exits, who is attacked and reacts to his attacker with violence. He sees no one other than his elderly mother, we see her watching Hitchcock’s Psycho on television, which Joe finds amusing. All traces of who he once was has been erased, hiding his real address as well as his face, masked by a grey beard, hounded by painful flashbacks. He must discreetly track down the girl, Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov) because this isn’t the first time the 13-year-old has disappeared, and an anonymous phone call has placed her in a house of very ill-repute. After a little preparation, a few enquiries and a good deal of patience, Joe enters the building, takes out two security guards and a naked, masked visitor with the aid of his hammer and rescues the girl who is not inclined to say much. This violent rescue mission is witnessed through the images of the security cameras, and triggers a chaotic spiral of events: Nina’s father kills himself that same night, a pair of thick, bloody arms scoop up the girl once again and danger closes in on those near to Joe, who has stumbled upon the very root of evil in a city where innocence is sacrificed to close a deal. There is brilliant cinematography by Thomas Townsend exploring the darker sides of New York’s churning entrails. The film ends with a character saying Beautiful Day, which was the original title of the film.

Producer Jim Wilson, actor Joaquin Phoenix, director Lynne Ramsay, writer Jonathan Ames, producer Rosa Atab and London Film Festival Director Claire Stewart attend the Headline Gala Screening and UK Premiere of “You Were Never Really There”. At the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 14th, 2017. Image net. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Actor Joaquin Phoenix and Director Lynne Ramsay attends the Headline Gala Screening and UK Premiere of “You Were Never Really There”. At the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 14th, 2017. image.net. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Director Lynne Ramsay attends the Headline Gala Screening and UK Premiere of “You Were Never Really There” At the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 14th, 2017. Image net. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Joaquin Phoenix attends the Headline Gala Screening and UK Premiere of “You Were Never Really There” At the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 14th, 2017. Image net. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Directed by Martin McDonagh Starring: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell. You ain’t trying to make me believe in reincarnation are yer? Cause you’re pretty, but you ain’t her. She got killed. - Mildred Hayes Foul-mouthed vigilante mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) takes matters into her own hands as she searches for her daughter’s murderer and provokes the local police department with a series of messages plastered on three disused billboards outside her home town of Ebbing, Missouri. Enraged, and begins a rapidly escalating and very public feud between her and community leader and family man, Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). It doesn’t help when his blundering side-kick, Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) comes onboard, acting without thinking of the consequences, which are too often unjustifiably violent, and only goes to support Mildred’s claim that the police are incompetent. It seems to me that the police department is too busy torturing black folks to solve actual crime, she says. McDormand gives a great performance but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri belongs to Woody Harrelson who is superb as Mildred’s foil and as the moral counterweight to her unchecked quest for revenge. There is a searing scene when a disagreement between Mildred and Willoughby is brought to a halt by a cancerous cough that leaves Mildred’s face speckled with blood. Just one visual moment that says more than a whole page of dialogue. There is no fault with the acting in this story, but gaping holes in the screenplay, which are never filled. For some unexplained reason, the narrative side-tracks to throw us a red herring in a sequence which has Dixon overhearing a conversation in a bar of a mysterious stranger who claims to have raped a girl, and Dixon reporting this back to Hayes. He thinks he has found her daughter’s killer, but the evidence is short-lived as the investigation shows that the man was not even in the country at the date and time of her murder. Another implausible and unintentionally ludicrous character flaw involves Dixon again. Though we know he is not the brightest of individuals, he somehow accepts Mildred’s bragging of burning down the police station which resulted in him receiving horrendous facial burns, scarring him for life. Yet, he still tries to find her daughter’s killer and is helpful and friendly to the one person who caused his disfigurement? 76

Let’s eavesdrop on the press conference of the film at the Toronto Film Festival.

I wrote it for Frances. I guess with Frances’s voice in my head. We send it to her a couple of years ago, maybe a little bit later than that, but if she hadn’t said yes, we would have been screwed and I don’t know what we’d have done. But luckily after she thought about after a little bit, she said yes. - Martin McDonagh Martin knew my work not only from film but also from the theatre which is a very important part of my life and his, so that was a plus. But when I first read it, I loved it and thought Mildred was amazing and was flattered and then I said no, I’m sorry, I’m too old, because at the time he gave it to me, I was fifty-eight, I’m sixty now. So a couple of years ago. I am really interested in playing my age and I kind of have a political thing about it and I’m working class background and I was concerned that women from this social economic structure would not wait until thirty-eight to have their first child and so we went back and forth and we debated that for quite a while and then finally my husband said: “Just shut up and do it!” - Frances McDormand I definitely have some idiot moments in my real life, so I can draw from that. He’s an amazing character. I’m very lucky to have been a part of it. Martin wrote an amazing role, it has a kind of arc to it.

- Sam Rockwell ABOUT WOODY HARRELSON There is a relaxation that he has that is unique. For me, my relationship in the movie with him, which is very different in Seven Psychopaths which was an antagonistic relationship, but I have to bond with him and it is so easy, because he is silly, because we are just laughing the whole time. He is just so charming, a very charming guy. - Sam Rockwell

The magic of Woody speaks for itself. It was interesting for me because I’ve known Woody for a long time. We’ve worked together before. But one of the questions I have for Martin is why doesn’t Willoughby and Mildred know each other. They’re close in age, it’s a small town. Didn’t they go to high school together and we determined that they didn’t know each other, so there was a relationship that could build, but because of Woody and I’s personal relationship, when we got to the moment where he coughs up the blood and it lands on Mildred’s face, there was an automatic reaction to that and it was an epithetic one. It was not an antagonistic one. So, I think that served us. - Frances McDormand

Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) and Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”.

Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”.

Actors Woody Harrelson, Frances Dormand and Sam Rockwell attend the Closing Night Gala of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” At the 61st London Film Festival at the Odeon Leicester Square on October 15th, 2017. Image net. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty images for BFI.

Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell attend the Closing Night Gala of the 61st London Film Festival of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” on October 15, 2017. Photo: John Phillips/Getty images for BFI.

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