Films you've seen lately

[Serial_Apologist]

If you Google ;'The Passion Gina McKee' you should avoid the other films with the same title.

I've long had a passion for Gina McKee, ever since her leading role in Our Friends in the North.

[LMcD]

I've long had a passion for Gina McKee, ever since her leading role in Our Friends in the North.

As have I and - I suspect - many others!

[Pulcinella]

Saw All of us strangers this afternoon, but need to ponder on it a little before passing judgement.

[smittims]

I don't know if the ITV Forsyte Saga is available in any form (I have it onVHS tapes!) . Gina McKee fans will appreciate her Irene, one of the best things in that somewhat uneven production (though Rupert Graves' Young Jolyon deserves a mention).

[richardfinegold]

I finally saw Shoot the Piano Player yesterday. I had been curious about it ever since the early seventies when Elton John released Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only The Piano Player. I think the only Truffaut film that I had previously seen was The Last Metro, and that was so long ago that I barely remember it. I fell in love with Marie Dubois-what a beauty. And a great flic with a determinedly non Hollywood vibe

[LMcD]

I don't know if the ITV Forsyte Saga is available in any form (I have it onVHS tapes!) . Gina McKee fans will appreciate her Irene, one of the best things in that somewhat uneven production (though Rupert Graves' Young Jolyon deserves a mention).

It's available free on itvX (6 episodes)

[pastoralguy]

I finally saw Shoot the Piano Player yesterday. I had been curious about it ever since the early seventies when Elton John released Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only The Piano Player. I think the only Truffaut film that I had previously seen was The Last Metro, and that was so long ago that I barely remember it. I fell in love with Marie Dubois-what a beauty. And a great flic with a determinedly non Hollywood vibe

‘Day for Night’ is a wonderful movie.

[alywin]

Even then, it starts to pall if you're forced to watch it too often, as we were at uni. I can still quote bits of it if prompted :(

[Belgrove]

All of Us Strangers is a skilfully made film that becomes an increasingly dreamlike fantasia as it progresses. Adam, played by Andrew Scott, is a lonely gay author with writers block and in a rut, who commences an affair with a younger man, played by Paul Mescal, who is the only other occupant of a huge tower block. Adam feels compelled to revisit his childhood home to inspire a script he’s trying to write, whereupon he discovers his parents still in situ despite their having been killed in a car accident when he was a boy. He is now the same age as his parents were when they died, and what follows is an exploration of what they all left unsaid - it’s very clever and touching. So it’s a ghost story, of sorts. To reveal anything more would spoil the plot. Indeed, it recalls a film, that were it even named, would itself be a spoiler. The performances are uniformly superb. It’s a film that is so carefully constructed that it demands a second watch to see how it fits together and to unearth the visual and aural signals and references. It invites several interpretations. Despite its ineffable sadness, the ending recalls that of Complicité’s theatre production of The Master and Margarita, which is of cosmic beauty.

[Pulcinella]

All of Us Strangers is a skilfully made film that becomes an increasingly dreamlike fantasia as it progresses. Adam, played by Andrew Scott, is a lonely gay author with writers block and in a rut, who commences an affair with a younger man, played by Paul Mescal, who is the only other occupant of a huge tower block. Adam feels compelled to revisit his childhood home to inspire a script he’s trying to write, whereupon he discovers his parents still in situ despite their having been killed in a car accident when he was a boy. He is now the same age as his parents were when they died, and what follows is an exploration of what they all left unsaid - it’s very clever and touching. So it’s a ghost story, of sorts. To reveal anything more would spoil the plot. Indeed, it recalls a film, that were it even named, would itself be a spoiler. The performances are uniformly superb. It’s a film that is so carefully constructed thatit demands a second watch to see how it fits together and to unearth the visual and aural signals and references. It invites several interpretations. Despite its ineffable sadness, the ending recalls that of Complicité’s theatre production of The Master and Margarita, which is of cosmic beauty.

It certainly does. It was only after reading one particular review that I twigged an interpretation other than the one I'd been basing my original thoughts on!

[richardfinegold]

I finally saw Ten Things I Hate About You, a now 25 year old film updating of Taming of The Shrew. It really is funny and also I had never encountered the vey young Heath Ledger

[HighlandDougie]

‘Day for Night’ is a wonderful movie.

Which I recently discovered was filmed in Nice - and, in the scenes featuring the car being driven in a gorge, the road between here and Nice which snakes through the Vallée de la Vésubie. There is a good quality copy - with English subtitles - on YouTube.

[pastoralguy]

Which I recently discovered was filmed in Nice - and, in the scenes featuring the car being driven in a gorge, the road between here and Nice which snakes through the Vallée de la Vésubie. There is a good quality copy - with English subtitles - on YouTube.

Thanks for that. I’ve just spent a happy half hour watching highlights. It reminded me of why I had a teenage crush on Natalie Baye!

[johncorrigan]

On Boxing Day we were staying at our daughter's and she suggested going to a mid-day preview of Alexander Payne's new movie The Holdovers at the Ritzy in Brixton, about which she had heard very good reports. A dozen other audience members were in attendance. We really enjoyed it. Fine script, rewarding narrative full of subtle detail and great performances from the three main characters. Working in schools I came come across many a schoolmaster similar to Paul Giamatti's Ancient History teacher at a New England prep school. Plenty to discuss over a pint in the Trinity Arms afterwards. In the evening we watched Maestro on Netflix. Well worth watching but we agreed that we had got more from Holdovers. I'm delighted to see that Giamatti has just won a Golden Globe.

At last we managed to get to see 'The Holdovers', and so glad we did. Terrific performances, funny, moving and beautifully filmed, giving a great feeling of the early seventies. Giamatti was fabulous, as was Joy Randolph. Excellent entertainment - the kind of film I might look out at Christmas next year.

[kindofblue]

Agree with the above comments about 'The Holdovers'. Spends time with the characters and allows them to develop, leading to some powerfully moving passages. Could easily have become cloying and cliche-ridden, but remained sharp and vivid.