entertainment
Films
Movie of the Month
by tom b r ow n e
© eone Fi lm s / Pi cturehouse Entertai nment / Walt Di sn ey
■■drama: I, Daniel Blake This allegedly
final film from veteran director Ken Loach sets its sights squarely on the stifling and dehumanising nature of Britain’s benefits system. Set in Newcastle, it follows the title character (played brilliantly by comedian Dave Johns), a widowed carpenter forced out of work by a heart condition, and his Dave Johns as friendship with Katie (Hayley Squires), a the title character single mother from London struggling to in I, Daniel Blake provide for her two children. At their worst, Loach’s films can be preachy and simplistic. I, Daniel Blake doesn’t totally avoid this charge, but it also plays to Loach’s strength—namely, a wonderful feel for the lives of ordinary people. Paul Laverty’s screenplay nails those moments that bring characters to life, and the movie as a whole packs an enormous emotional punch. ■■adventure: swiss army man
This decidedly odd two-hander stars Paul Dano as a man stranded in the wilderness who discovers a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) and uses it as a multipurpose tool to aid his survival, all the while carrying on (real or imagined) conversations that force him to reassess his life. This divided audiences at the Sundance Film Festival and, despite the fine performances, my patience also ran out long before the end.
■■biopic: queen of katwe Chess
has always been a niche subject in cinema, largely because pushing little bits of wood around a board is difficult to dramatise (although 2000’s The Luzhin Defence is worth checking out). This film, however, efficiently charts the rise of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), moving from the slums of Katwe to becoming a Woman Candidate Master in a remarkably short time. David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o also star. 10•2016
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e n t e r ta i n m e n t
Music
■■thriller: The Girl on the Train
■■documentary: My Scientology Movie Louis Theroux’s quizzical look
at “the world’s fastest growing religion”, and its chairman David Miscavige, is in keeping with Theroux’s Weird Weekends TV series. As a viewing experience, it’s often as eccentric as its subject matter— at one point Louis hires actors to re-enact key moments in the Scientology story— but it can’t top Alex Gibney’s wonderful Going Clear on the same subject.
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Album of the Month
Requiem by GOAT
Celebrity reigns and image is paramount in this current era, so it’s intriguing to find a band that doesn’t play ball. Enter the masked musicians of GOAT. Drawing on elements of psyche folk, funk and an overall tribal vibe, this is contemporary world music that’s hard to locate. But in their invocation of distant lands, it’s surprising to discover that the band hails from a remote Swedish village seeped in tradition and mystery. With such hippified lyrics as “Brother, I am your sister, you are my brother, we have each other”, this is an album that makes you feel connected in a totally non-digital way. It’s perfect escapism—at least for an hour.
DVD of the month ■■The Commune*
Key tracks: “I Sing in Silence”, “Psychedelic Lover”, “Goatfuzz” Like this? You may also like: Paul Simon, Can, Mbongwana Star
Relationships and individual desires clash in Thomas Vinterberg’s drama.
The London Film Festival: October 5–16 The 60th BFI London Film Festival kicks off this month with Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom (below), the true story of Seretse Khama, king of Bechuanaland (David Oyelowo), and his scandalous marriage to British office worker Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) in 1948. The closing night, meanwhile, is just as tantalising, with the European premiere
by ma n di goodi er
of Free Fire, a tense action thriller from director Ben Wheatley and starring Brie Larson (pictured above). We’ll be providing plenty of coverage of the festival on our website—just go to readersdigest.co.uk/entertainment to check out the latest reviews. And be sure to tune into the October podcast at readersdigest.co.uk/podcast for further festival chat!
* TO BUY DVDS FEATURED HERE, GO TO SHOP.READERSDIGEST.CO.UK
© Altitude Film Distribution / Un iversal P i ctures
Louis Theroux squares up to Scientology
Paula Hawkins’ debut novel was the publishing sensation of last summer, and here comes the inevitable bigscreen adaptation, with Emily Blunt in the title role and the action transferred from London to New York (it’s a good deal slicker than the original’s commuter-belt drudgery had suggested). Haley Bennett and Rebecca Ferguson co-star.
Reader’s Digest
Overlooked Record from the Past Fantasma by Cornelius
Pokémon, Nintendo, Haruki Murakami—the 1990s saw an explosion of Japanese culture in the UK. Slightly under the radar loomed a genre of music called Shibuya-kei, taking its melodic cue from 1960s pop and a whole spectrum of sonic samples since. Fantasma was (ahem) big in Japan, but did little overseas. Much like his native Tokyo, Cornelius’s music is an amalgam of western cultural references (you’ll find musical nods to both Disney and The Beatles), all given that crazy but pleasing Japanese spin. It’s a little bit Avalanches and a little bit Beck, but most definitely Japan. listen to these albums at READERSDIGEST.CO.UK/LISTEN
On Our Radar Newport Food Festival, Oct 1.
Sample local produce at over 70 stalls. Oktoberfest Truro, Cornwall, Oct 7–8.
Combining German and Cornish Culture. St Andrews Voices, Fife, Oct 20–23.
Scotland’s festival of vocal and choral music of all styles.
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