Tag: england

H IS FOR HAWK – Review

I would say that it’s unusual for a somber set-in-the-UK drama based on a memoir (yes, it’s all true) to be released three weeks into the new year, well past awards noms deadline, but further research has revealed that this did get a one-week run in a US theater last month to be considered for the accolades. And so far, bupkis (we’ll see early Thursday morning). Of course, that’s no reflection on this film’s quality or merits. Still, its title suggests a whimsical “nature-bonding” story ala THE PENGUIN LESSONS or countless canine sagas. Now, that species connection factors in, but the heart of the story is a woman’s emotional journey in H IS FOR HAWK.


The woman at this story’s center is a research (mostly science history) fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge named Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy). On a blustery day in 2007, she’s birdwatching in the nearby countryside. As she heads home, she phones her photojournalist father Alisdair (Brendan Gleeson) with news that she spotted a pair of goshawks (a rare sighting). Dad cuts the call short as he must head to a London assignment. That evening, at her on-campus housing home, Helen meets another academic, Christina (Denise Gough) for dinner. On the way out, Helen gets a phone call that changes everything: her adored papa succumbed to a fatal heart attack in the city. Helen’s life goes into a tailspin, indecisive about pursuing a three-year position in Germany, which squelches her new romance. She then has an epiphany and knocks on the door of an old friend named Stu (Sam Spruell). Years before, both had been ardent members of a falconry society. He’s still involved (his bird is perched in his kitchen), so Helen asks him for intel on getting back in. But she doesn’t want a falcon. Instead, Helen wants to train the more difficult, spirited goshawk. Stu hooks her up with a seller, and soon the bird she names Mabel is taking up her every spare moment. Quickly the bond between the two becomes so intense that Helen is neglecting her classes and ignoring calls and visits from friends. And then the school administrators tell her that this type of “pet” isn’t allowed in college quarters. Can Helen continue to train and hunt with Mabel? And could this be a way for Helen to escape her grief rather than facing it and moving forward with her life?

This exploration into the art and skill of falconry becomes a compelling showcase for the gifted Foy. We’ve seen her excellent supporting work in films like FIRST MAN and WOMEN TALKING, but we’ve really not seen her carry the emotional weight of a film’s lead performance (though I’m told she was excellent as Queen Elizabeth II in the streaming series, “The Crown”). Foy shows us the vibrant, engaged Helen in the early scenes of her birdwatching and lecturing her class, but with her loss we see the light in her eyes suddenly dim. Not even a romantic online fling brings that spark back, until Mabel literally swoops in. Then Foy shows us another side of Helen, with an overriding obsession that almost seals her off from the world. It’s a tricky balancing act as Helen elicits our sympathy while often frustrating us, and Foy is more than up to the complex challenges. Happily we’re treated to several flashbacks of her opposite the always engaging Gleeson as her lovably gruff, but warm and encouraging papa, perhaps a near perfect “girl dad”. It’s quite a contrast to Helen’s maternal connections with her mum, played with subtle restraint and grace by Lindsay Duncan. We see that the loss of her soulmate has drained her, though she also yearns to share the grief with her increasingly distant daughter. Spruell is strong as Helen’s her birding buddy Stu as he tries to help train Mabel while attempting to calm the always anxious Helen. Speaking of pals, Gough (so wonderful on another streaming show, “Andor”) is also very effective as co-worker confidant Christina, who wants to be a “lifeline” to her floundering chum as she tries to understand her increasing withdrawl into mania.

The impressive ensemble is guided by director Phillipa Lowthrope, working from Emma Donoghue’s screenplay adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s acclaimed memoir. Lowthrope keeps us engaged, as the backdrops suddenly switch from ancient academia to the glories of the countryside. And those scenes of Helen working (she insists that they’re partners in the hunts) with the gorgeous, intense (her glare) Mabel truly soar. A sequence in the deep woods of Mabel swooping in on a very unlucky rabbit is haunting (there’s a drone crew in the credits that were really “on their toes”). While these scenes are worthy of any lauded nature docuseries, it’s the very human drama at the center of the story that’s truly compelling. This is such a well-crafted exploration of the impact of mourning on someone grieving, though it offers no easy fixes. In less works, the introduction of an “animal partner” would be the needed “remedy”, but here we see how the distracting fixation can cut a person out of the human (rat) race. Some viewers may be a bit put off by the rather open-ended finale, but life can’t always be “wrapped up in a bow” to facilitate a desired “happy ending”. That idea and the winning performance of Foy really enables H IS FOR HAWK to spread its wings and take flight.

3 Out of 4

H IS FOR HAWK opens in select theatres on Friday, January 23, 2026

JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE – Review

CAMILLE RUTHERFORD as Agathe, PABLO PAULY as Felix in ‘Jane Austen Wrecked
My Life.’ Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

A French film about English author Jane Austen? No, a delightful contemporary French comedy, partly in English, about a young French would-be author who admires Jane Austen but who can’t seem to finish any of the novels she herself starts writing. However, an invitation to a writers’ retreat at the Austen family home in England raises hopes that her writer’s block situation could change, as well as the possibility of bigger changes in her quiet life.

With far more emphasis on the comedy side, writer/director Laura Piani has concocted a clever, contemporary, bi-lingual comedy romance centered on Agathe Robinson (a wonderful Camille Rutherford), a young half-French, half-English woman who works in Parisian bookstore that specializes in English literature, where her ease in both French and English a plus. Agathe loves her job at the bookstore but she is stuck in a rut, as an author and in life. The aspiring writer, who adores Jane Austen and wants to emulate her, long ago gave up on love, seeing herself as being like the lead character in “Persuasion,” a “faded flower” and “old maid.”

There is no need to love Jane Austen, or even know much about her, to enjoy this treat, although it is a bit more fun if you do. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is a comedy rather than a romantic comedy, because it is actually funny, and smartly, cleverly so, unlike the typical formulaic rom com, more in the vein of great classic comedies like “THE AWFUL TRUTH and PHILADELPHIA STORY, from an era when the best comedies were romantic comedies instead of the reverse.

Agathe lives with her beloved sister Cheryl (Annabelle Lengronne) and six-year-old nephew. Her sister is supportive and encouraging, if teasingly so, to Agathe, who is still traumatized after surviving the car accident that killed their parents. Generally, Agathe has a happy, if limited life, with her sister and nephew, although she is frustrated that she can’t seem to finish any of those novels she starts.

Her best friend, and co-worker the bookstore, is Felix (Pablo Pauly), a playful kidder who frequently hangs out at Agathe’s house with her sister and nephew. Felix has no girlfriend but has a string of romances where he strings women along – “bread-crumbing” them with texts – while seems unable to commit to just one. After sneaking a peek at her latest unfinished novel, Felix secretly signs up best friend Agathe for a writer’s retreat at the family home of Jane Austen in England.

When that surprise invitation arrives, Agathe is reluctant to go but is persuaded by her sister. She begins to hope the two-week retreat will help her break her writer’s block with her latest book. Felix drives her to the boat, even though Agathe is nervous to even be in a car again after the accident, having avoided them ever since. Felix playfully teases her on the way, then impulsively kisses her before sending her off to the ferry.

Arriving on the other side, Agathe is greeted by her driver, Oliver (Charlie Anson), who turns out to be the great-great-great-great-great grandnephew of Jane Austen, and the son of the couple who run the writers’ retreat. Oliver is an unfriendly, unpleasant, brooding Darcy type who, unfortunately for Agathe, drives a sports car. He is a teacher of contemporary literature and actually doesn’t care for the novels of his famous relative. Arriving, after some car trouble, at the Austen mansion, Agathe is charmed by her hostess Beth, who speaks French as well as English too, and her quirky host Todd () who might be in the early stages of dementia, and meets the other resident authors. She is told that the retreat will end with a ball in period costume, and a reading of each author’s writing during the retreat, a daunting prospect for Agathe.

Camille Rutherford is completely charming as Agathe. The cast is marvelous in fact, but Rutherford is particularly excellent, exuding both an appealing charm and an underlying depth and sadness linked to the traumatic deaths of her parents and her frustrations in life. Her Agathe is afraid of change yet on one level, she knows she must change, in order to become the writer she hopes to be. Pablo Pauly is silly, funny, sometimes goofy as Felix, who teases Agathe relentlessly while still projecting how much he cares about her. As Oliver, Charlie Anson is prickly and difficult at first, with an air of arrogance, but he softens as we learn more about his situation with his parents and his own romantic history. The rest of the cast are all very good, and director Laura Piani has no problem putting them into comically dignity-dinging situations.

The smart script, the wonderful performances, and Piani’s smooth direction are all supported by the beautiful sets and locations, dreamy photography, and a score that skillfully mixes modern tunes and classical selections for the perfect musical accompaniment.

Smart, clever, literary and sometimes a bit bawdy, JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is just fun for readers of all stripes. The Jane Austen parallels are plentiful, like the author who lives with a beloved sister and has little interest in romance for herself, but subtle, as are the references to Austen novels. Those references keep us guessing as to which Austen novel this contemporary author might be in, while director Laura Piani keeps us laughing and charmed with the whole idea. While the romantic comedy genre has a dismal reputation for being dull and formulaic, JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE’s delightful burst of fresh air and literary fun is the entertaining exception.

With 2025 being the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, films and other productions referencing Austen seems to be increasingly everywhere in recent years. Some of them are swooningly romantic or tiresome in their humorless adoration of the author, in a kind of idol worship that appeals only to the most devoted fans, ironically the opposite of Austen’s own brilliantly funny, even biting social commentary. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is far different, one that discusses literary concepts and reflects on the life of writers generally, and built around a contemporary author, captures much more of the real feel of Austen’s writing. Any book lover is sure to enjoy this clever, playful comedy.

JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE opens in theaters on Friday, May 30, 2025.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL – Review

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024

Happy New Year 2025 indeed, since it’s off to a “crackin’ good start’! And you’re no doubt wondering why? Well, premiering just 72 hours after the “ball drop” is the feature film return of one of the most beloved comedy teams on the planet. Now, it’s not another biopic set in Hollywood’s Golden Age ala STAN & OLLIE nor a Farrelly Brothers follow-up to THE THREE STOOGES. Mind you this duo has been entertaining audiences for over 35 years, starting with a couple of acclaimed shorts before making their first feature in 2017. Oh, did I not mention that they’re animated characters, rendered in clay? From “across the pond” it’s their full-length adventure from the artists of Aardman Animations Limited, WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL. Put the kettle on and bring out the cheese…

This story begins with a flashback from over thirty years ago, near the end of the classic short subject, “Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers”. Gromit the dog watches silently as his best pal Wallace (voice of Ben Whitehead) phones the police after tying up the mastermind behind the Blue Diamond heist, the penguin known as Feathers McGraw. He’s swiftly brought to justice, locked up in a musty jail cell that opens into the Arctic animal habitat at the local zoo. But Feathers keeps in shape while waiting patiently for the perfect time to escape. Spring ahead to the present day as Gromit worries over the deluge of overdue bills in the “morning post”. Wallace doesn’t fret as he completes his newest creation that will rescue Gromit from toiling in the garden (which he actually enjoys). It’s a robotic groundskeeper resembling a garden gnome that he dubs “Norbot” (Reece Shearsmith). Several neighbors observe it making the backyard “neat and tidy” and inquire about renting its services. Aha! Financial problems are solved, though Gromit remains a bit leery of the grinning tech sprite. Soon the local media cover the story of Wallace’s gizmo, and Feathers catches a morning TV news crew segment. The “stars have aligned” as the local museum is about to bring out that Blue Diamond from the vault where it has been since the attempted theft, which is now the main interest of the soon-retiring original officer Chief Inspector Mackintosh (Peter Kay) and eager new PC Mukherjee (Lauren Patel). What happens when McGraw’s plan for revenge utilizes the Norbot and casts doubt on the honesty of its creator Wallace? Can even his dedicated and resourceful buddy Gromit hope to thwart this dastardly scheme?

Well. well, who should get the first bit of praise for this excellent entertainment? We may as well begin with the superb vocal ensemble led by an actor with a most daunting task. Namely, he had to take over the role of Wallace since his original much-beloved voice, Peter Sallis passed away in 2017. I’m happy to report that Mr. Whitehead is also quite charming as the eccentric inventor evoking just the right mix of childhood enthusiasm and endearing daffiness. He’s the ultimate “child-man” who delights in his toys but is often hurt when the world shuns him. Shearsmith is also gloriously goofy as Norbot with his awkward upbeat delivery even when he’s hiding a threat. As the defenders of the peace, Kay is a delightful fumbling “old school’ copper while Patel has a bubbly youthful zeal as she reminds her mentor of the “proper procedures” in a nice parody of the cop/buddy pairing of grizzled vets and “by the book” newbies’.

Now we need to laud the incredible team of craftspeople and artisans for creating the world of Yorkshire especially 62 West Wallaby Street (where Wallace works his wizardry). I was particularly “wowed” by the dazzling colors of the gardens and the intricate details of every dwelling, inside and out”. This touches on the props with everything from the furnishings to the transports (we get vans, motorcycles and racing boats). Happily, the characters move flawlessly with a touch of graceful physical movement much like classic clowns and gestures (of course Gromit’s deadpan evokes Buster Keaton, with a touch of Bob Newhart’s exasperated “takes”). Of course this would all be very impressive “eye candy” without the clever, witty script by Mark Burton and W&G’s creator Nick Park which deftly juggles vibrant visual gags, silly slapstick (love Wallace’s morning “bath flume”), smart satire (Feathers does a great “Max Cady” CAPE FEAR homage), tense action (a midnight hunt leads to an aquatic showdown), and a heart-tugging celebration of the unbreakable bond between the leads. It all works as an action comedy due to another team, the directing duo of Park and first-timer Merlin Crossingham (apropos moniker). They prove that an all-ages film can keep the whole family enthralled and engaged. These cartoon cutups have been around since 1989 and they still feel fresh, exciting, and hilarious. With this creative team in place, “firing on all cylinders”, let’s hope this will be the first of many new “inventor adventures”, though it’ll be tough to equal, let alone top, the wild, warm, and wacky WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL.

4 Out of 4 stars

WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL streams exclusively on Netflix beginning on Friday, January 3, 2025

BLITZ (2024) – Review

With a big holiday mere days away. this week’s new film reflects on families that can’t be together, certainly not for the “big feast”. And not by choice as it focuses on a dark time when the whole world was indeed at war. World War II is the setting for this drama. inspired by so many true events of the time. At the heart of this tale is a decision so difficult it may be tough for a modern audience to comprehend. But it was done. But there’s also the fervent desire to reunite, to return to the family unit, no matter how fractured or how dangerous. That’s because death was literally in the air and all around during the time of the BLITZ.

As the film begins we watch as bombs drop from a German bomber flying over London in 1940 (a year or so before the US joined the fight). Rita (Saoirse Ronan) is a single mother living with her widowed dad Gerald (Paul Weller) and trying to raise her mixed-race son George (Elliott Heffernan). As they return from an air raid shelter, she must prepare for a heartbreaking journey. For George, alone. In order to escape the near-nightly bombing of the city, the government sent children via train to live with families in the countryside until the city was back to normal (nobody knew when). George is furious and refuses to say goodbye to his Mum as he boards the train. The other kids in his train car mock him over his darker skin and thick curly hair. But George has a plan. While his seatmate sleeps he grabs his seatcase. opens the door to the outside connecter, and leaps off the speeding locomotive. He’s bruised but still determined and begins walking the rail to hop onto a train heading in the opposite direction AKA home. Meanwhile, Rita sadly goes back to work with her girlfriends at the munitions plant. At least she’ll get to sing on the radio when the BBC drops in. George does have some luck in jumping into an open boxcar of a passing train where he’s befriended by a group of other young “returnees”. The danger really begins as they try to elude the “bulls” in the London train yard. George makes it back to London, but it’s still a long long way from Mum. During his journey, he is helped by a friendly African immigrant air raid warden named Ife (Benjamin Clemente) and is later “recruited” into a gang of looters led by the unhinged Albert (Stephen Graham). Back at the factory, Rita learns from the relocation agents that George didn’t make it to the country. She then leaves the plant to look for him and enlists the help of a young fireman who is smitten with her, named Jack (Harris Dickinson). But even with their combined efforts, can they find George before he becomes another casualty in the war-ravaged heart of Britain?

Making his screen (big or small) debut is Heffernan, who is really the focus of this historical fable, despite the film vet that gets top billing in the marketing. He’s completely captivating as George, who can be sweet, soulful, fearful, and frustrating (verging on bratty) often within the same scene. He projects a real vulnerability as he’s taunted by the local kids, and transfers a bit of that cruelty as his mother makes a terrible decision that is for the best, though it doesn’t ease her heartache. We root for George when he triumphs and hold our breath as he tries to survive. Also running the gamut of emotions is vet Ronan as Rita, a working-class woman trying to shield her child from the horrors of war, while dealing with the heartache of losing her partner to the prejudices of the time (George’s papa is sent back to his faraway island birthplace). After Rita sends her son to safety, she’s near-catatonic until her chance at radio fame revives her a bit. When she gets the news of George’s train jumps, she goes into “mama grizzly” mode as we see the determination in Ronan’s eyes. Kudos to the strong supporting players, especially Clemente as the caring and gentle Ife who connects with George and to Graham as Albert who only wishes to exploit and deceive the lad (think of him as a psychotic Fagin).

This WW II family odyssey comes from writer/director Steve McQueen who expertly recreates the period’s look and emotions of fear and dread as sunset doesn’t bring rest and relief, but the threat of sudden decimation. We can almost smell the wounded and dying as the camera takes us through piles of rubble that were home just moments ago. It’s a story that has been recalled in films set in that era (HOPE AND GLORY) and other lands (LION), with great parallels to another wartime family reunion, EMPIRE OF THE SUN with a touch of the NARNIA series. Still, McQueen provides a fresh take thanks to the strong cast and several haunting set pieces. The sudden slaughter at the train yard is real nightmare fuel. that’s especially true as we go inside a swanky nightclub that operates as though all is normal outside its door. And then we hear the sirens and the whizzing sounds (cutting to the great shots of the bombs coming at us through the clouds). After a flash cut, we’re next to Albert and his crew of ghouls as they pry away jewelry as the rescue teams look away. As the story concludes, we’re running through those crumbling streets as this story of family love proves to be stronger than any damage inflicted by the BLITZ.

3 Out of 4

Blitz is playing in select theatres and streams exclusively on Apple TV+ beginning on Friday, November 22, 2024

SPEAK NO EVIL – Review

L to R: (from left) Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) in Speak No Evil, directed by James Watkins. Courtesy of Universal

In the chilling thriller/horror drama SPEAK NO EVIL, James McAvoy delivers another striking performance as character who shifts between charming and aggressive. No one does this like McAvoy, who has played roles from sweet heroes to madmen, a range that means audiences are never sure which McAvoy they will encounter, creating an edgy tension from the start.

In this story, two couple meet on vacation and hit it off. One couple is American, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) who have an 11-year-old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), and live in London. The other couple are British, Patrick (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their shy, mostly mute son Ant (Dan Hough), who live in scenic, rural west England. The Brits are fun, lively, and adventurous, particularly Patrick, who goes by Paddy, a breath of fresh air for the Americans. The two families have a great time in Paris, and the kids seem to hit it off too, despite the age difference and the fact that the boy has difficulty speaking, due a problem with his tongue. “Congenital aglossia,” says the British dad, who tells the Americans that he’s a doctor. When the British couple later send the London-based Americans a postcard with a photo from that trip, and invite them for a weekend visit at their home in the west England countryside, it doesn’t take much to persuade Ben and Louise.

SPEAK NO EVIL is an English-language remake of the Danish horror drama of the same name. In the Danish original, the couples are Danish and Dutch, and meet in Italy instead of France, but the Dutch couple lives in the country and invites the Danes one the visit. Like many such remakes, it varies from the origin – for example, in the original the children are about the same age – but in this case several scenes early on follow the original closely, even down the the dialog, although the last portion diverges.

One thing that is different – very different – from the start, and that is James McAvoy’s character. Rather than a harmless-seeming fellow, very like the other couple, McAvoy’s Paddy is alternately charming and a bit unsettling from the start, put us much more on edge from the start. No one does this kind of character like the talented Mr. McAvoy.

McAvoy is a big reason to see this film, which once it diverges from the original morphs into something that plays on a lot of horror tropes. But McAvoy always keeps us off-balance, being unhinged at times, while even touching at others, charmingly persuasive and rational, but always exuding power and a sense he’s in control – even when he’s not. It is thrilling just to see this actor work.

The tension develops slowly, apart from McAvoy’s character’s occasional flashes of scary. In the original, the couples feel more alike, which is a bit part of the appeal for the Danes. In the remake, it is the differences, the hints of excitement and adventure in the British couple, that is part of what draws in the Americans. Chalk it up to cultural differences.

This remake diverges significantly from the original, so they end up as very different films, although starting from a common premise. In both, the first half of this film feels more like psychological horror but finishes up in more taut thriller territory. For one thing, there are more weapons in this one, although not more gore. The original Danish film is more philosophical, more nihilistic, but this remake adds more rationale motives for what happens. It also adds more complicated relationships for the couples, and how those dynamics interact heightens interest, even when the newer film makes a turn into more conventional horror film territory, with a siege reminiscent of the classic STRAW DOGS. The last half is more rational, and the resolution is different, with the characters in American couple undergoing changes that are the opposite of what happens in the Danish film.

What lifts the film in this turn towards more typical horror is the cast. James McAvoy is splendid but the rest of the cast bring it too. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy as the American couple struggling in their marriage deliver fine performances as their relationship dynamics shift under the challenges they face. Likewise, the kids are both very good, particularly newcomer Dan Hough who plays a larger role in this version despite his near-muteness. Aisling Franciosi is also good as Paddy’s seemingly harmless wife, and she and McAvoy bring a complexity to their relationship too, none of which appears in the first one.

Ultimately, SPEAK NO EVIL is less groundbreaking and unconventional than the Danish original but it is still a well-made, nail-biting, satisfying thriller, that is mostly elevated by its psychological thriller set-up and the strong performances of the cast, who are good on all levels.

SPEAK NO EVIL opens Friday, Sept. 13, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

THE DIG (2021) – Review

Word of this week’s new movie release, all about archeology, may have quickened the pulses of many action film fans. Perhaps visions of a daring, rugged adventurer escaping insidious death traps, battling vicious rivals and their burly henchmen, rescuing damsels in dire distress, and snatching up mystical riches swirled in their fevered brains. Or perhaps of heroes facing peril from an ancient evil, released from the tomb to cause havoc and horror may come to mind for many. Well, maybe the word that this is based on an actual event puts the brakes on those expectations of Indiana Jones and monstrous mummies. Turns out it’s tedious and filthy work with dirt in your boots and embedded under fingernails. Ah, but despite that, along with power politics, there’s still the thrill of discovery. That may be the biggest “find” in the new “docudrama THE DIG.

The story doesn’t begin in a humid jungle or in an arid desert. It all starts on an overcast, chilly day in 1939 near Woodbridge in Suffolk, England. After a brief ride in a local’s boat, Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) pedals his bicycle through the countryside to an opulent mansion. He has an appointment with the lady of the house, Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a widow with an energetic nine-year-old son Robert (Archie Barnes). She takes Basil to the land behind her home to a field dotted with several mounds of soil. Edith wants to engage his services as an archeologist to dig up whatever is beneath them. Basil is a bit hesitant as the local Ipswich Museum is keen on exploring a discovered Roman villa, but after a bit of negotiating, and despite a visit of the Ipswich director Reid Moir (James Ready), Basil accepts the job and will live at the estate in the servant’s quarters. He quickly becomes a mentor to Robert who is keen on all the sciences (he even wears a foil hat after his hero, Buck Rogers). This is a relief to Edith, whose weakened condition stems from a childhood heart ailment. As aircraft swoop in from the skies overhead in preparation for a possible war, Basil discovers two ancient rivets, possibly from a ship. In need of more aides than his two locals, Edith brings in a distant cousin, the nomadic photographer Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn). And after meeting with Moir, he then contacts Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) of the British Museum who brings in several scientists to reveal the seventh-century burial ship deep below the mound. Included in the crew are the husband and wife team of Stuart (Ben Chaplin) and Peggy Piggott (Lily James). But can they explore the site and discover its secrets before the country enters this armed conflict engulfing nearly all of Europe?

A big switch from his usual suave, “upper crust” roles, Fiennes slips into the skin of determined “digger” Basil as though the part were a pair of old dependable work boots (the kind he’s wear on the mounds). Fiennes captures the tired stoop of a man who’s spent most of his life outdoors toiling from sun up to sundown. But he also gives him dignity and a feeling of pride in his skills. And though he’s considered “working class”, Fiennes conveys that Basil’s zeal for learning and natural curiosity has not dimmed at all since his youth. Yes, he’s often gruff and stubborn, but he shows a real tenderness as he nurtures young Robert’s interests and as he deals with his employer. Mulligan’s quite believable as the aristocratic Edith, who never puts on “airs” around anyone, especially Basil. She shows us Edith’s adventurous spirit as she visits the mounds, but it’s tinged with sadness as her heart continues to fail her. Edith doesn’t quite give in to despair, as Mulligan slows her stride and lets us see her delight of motherhood while knowing her boy will soon be on his own. She perhaps sees Basil as a mentoring uncle who challenges her intellect and honesty. All while being an “older sister” in spirit to the adventurous Rory who is given the full rebel “good bad-boy” vibe (he‘s going into the services, camps outdoors, and rides a motorbike) by the dashing Flynn. It’s no wonder that he catches the eye of Peggy who James plays as a neglected wallflower finally bathed in sunlight and ready to blossom. Also of note are the twin pompous “supervisors” played with prickly charm by Stott and Ready, along with the warm-hearted spouse of Basil played with subtlety by Monica Dolan.

Director Simon Stone captures the quiet country life of 30s England, while always letting us know of the chaos to come, with newspapers and the radio bracing the land for the upcoming conflict (those planes are always zipping above). He keeps the story moving at a leisurely assured pace which adds impact to an early scene showing the real dangers of exploration (a real scare for the claustrophobic). The relationship and emerging friendship between Edith and Basil is quite compelling and progresses naturally. Unfortunately the script by Moira Buffini, adapting the novel by John Preston, veers into romantic clichés in the second half with the Piggott/Lomax love triangle that veers into the swooning predictable soap territory as she’s rebuffed by her hubby prompting her to free herself (why, without those spectacles she’s …) with the headed to war Rory. Despite this sappy subplot, the locations and period settings are lovely and the whole finding of the boat and the ancient money is quite involving. Those elements, combined with the teaming of Mulligan and Fiennes, make THE DIG well worth exploring.

3 Out of 4

THE DIG opens in select theatres and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at the Hi-Pointe Theatre along with Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

GREED (2020) – Review

So the title of this new comedy refers to one of the “seven deadly sins” as labeled in most Christian teachings. In these times the word’s a bit more complicated. After all, fictional real estate mogul Gordon Geeko, in an Oscar-winning performance by Michael Douglas, proclaimed that it is “good” in one of the most quoted scenes from Oliver Stone’s 1987 classic WALL STREET. Another take on that word now comes from two-thirds of the trio responsible for a delightful series of comedic travelogues that began ten years ago with THE TRIP. But they’re not going after Stone’s street, rather they’re taking aim at Great Britain’s avenue of haughty fashion retail shops, High Street. And as you might have guessed, this isn’t a remake of the Erich von Stroheim silent 1924 epic. The sin’s much the same, but this is a completely different take on GREED.

In the opening moments, we see a TV news report touting the success of the big fashion line from High Street staple Sir Richard McCreadie (Steve Coogan). Video of the big company shareholders’ party shows him handing out over-sized checks to supervisors and board members including his wife Samantha (Isla Fisher). Watching the report from his tiny apartment is writer Nick (David Mitchell), who is in the middle of his latest book deal, authoring a biography of said tycoon. The film then flashes back to Nick interviewing Richard’s past business associates and a few family members, and includes scenes of a young Richard (Jamie Blackley) conning classmates at his posh prep school before being expelled, with his mum Margaret (Shirley Henderson) deriding the headmaster. As Nick boards a plane to Greece, where a lavish 60th birthday celebration for Richard will be held on the island of Mykonos, we learn more of the mogul’s business past, lowballing clothing companies, pushing out competitors, low bidding “sweatshop” factories in Sri Lanka, bankrupting several shops and fashion lines, and getting a “rap on the knuckles” from the British courts. On the island , the McCreadie staff is in a panic trying to push the local laborers and craftsmen to finish a recreation of a Roman collesium in the next two days. It’s a party inspired by their boss’s favorite film GLADIATOR, complete with an old lethargic lion. Soon the McCreadie family begin arriving on different yachts. First, it’s Richard with his mistress, supermodel Naomi (Shanina Shaik). Then it’s estranged wife Samantha with her new French beau (yes, she and Richard are only married in the legal sense as he’s using her as a tax shield). Surly son Finn (Asa Butterfield) drops in as does the huge entourage (including the film crew of her “reality” TV show) of his sister Lily (Sophie Cookson). The planners are put through more agita as they try to deal with the refugees that are legally allowed to set up camp on the public beaches. But surely all will be ready for the world to witness the adoration of the famous and powerful for the “birthday boy”. But will this finally erase his nickname of “Greedy McCreadie”? It just might, unless something goes wrong…

Once again Coogan proves himself to be the comedy king of self-absorbed pompous jerks (talking of his roles, of course). With McCreadie, he ventures into cartoonish grotesquery with his over-sprayed tan and ludicrous blinding-white choppers (makes Sandler’s dental deceit in UNCUT GEMS look restrained). Perhaps this is to heighten the character’s disconnection with humanity and exaggerate his buffoonish braying and boasting. Sure he’s just as clueless as Coogan’s other comic turns, but unlike Alan Patridge and His caricatured persona in the TRIP flicks, there’s few redeemable qualities in McCreadie, all that’s there is an avarice ego-driven monster who lives to cheat anyone of the few possessions they need. The faults of his family and various sycophants pale next to this modern ogre. Henderson as his devoted, enabling mother proves that the apple doesn’t fall that far at all. She emits a true toxic energy casting a pall over any scene she waddles into. Fisher ‘s a delightfully daffy social climber whose heart (buried deep in her latest surgical …um…enhancements) still somehow longs for eventual ex. Meanwhile Butterfield, as their son, seethes with contempt, miserable as he must endure his Daddy’s taunts and tirades. Cookson scores lots of laughs as the typical “spoiled lil’ rich girl” who just can’t emote for his reality show’s “storyline”. Mitchell makes an awkward investigator who, with his clumsy, often witty musing, is a true fish out of water. The plot’s dramatic subplot is expertly carried by Dinita Gohil as Amanda, ex-retail store manager who’s now part of an army of personal assistants. She knows the true consequences of McCreadie’s dealings and may find a way to hasten his much-delayed comeuppance.

Director Michael Winterbottom, who wrote the script with an assist from Sean Gray, appears to be juggling the styles of several other iconic comedy filmmakers. Nick’s inquiries and interviews are much in the vein of Christopher Guest’s “mockumentaries” with the cuts from the “talking heads” to the scenes of McCreadie’s corruption. As the prep for the party amps up, Winterbottom adds to the chaos via the overlapping dialogue techniques of Howard Hawks and especially Robert Altman (with some of the thick accents I had a tough time grasping some gags). Still the film falters a bit when it explores several real-life tragedies, especially with the families stranded on the beach, although their exploitation by the reality show is a needed jab at publicity-starved celebs using those really starving. That’s when story is set aside for the film’s real agenda. It’s hammered (or pummeled) home during an interminable “fact-montage” preceding the end credits pointing out (over and over) the massive gap between those who make the clothes and those that sell and model them. The producers must assume that we didn’t come away with that from the film’s previous 95 minutes. Perhaps part of that sequence could have been whittled down in order to spend the time and budget on that inept CGI lion (I may owe the cartoon Buck the dog in CALL OF THE WILD an apology). Yes, this is a satire on society, but the true ugliness of the subjects (and their real-life inspirations) works against the comic tone of the tale. What should be a banana peel pratfall of a stuffy rich guy turns into a gruesome evisceration. Coogan’s always a watchable performer, but the heavy-handed GREED is just not (here’s Gecko again) “good”.

2 out of 4

GREED opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS – Review

 

Saoirse Ronan stars as Mary Stuart in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Liam Daniel / Focus Features

Of the two historical films opening this week, this is the one with grand, epic drama. Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie play dueling queens in director Josie Rourke’s searing MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, a grim, mud-and-blood retelling of the great power struggle between cousins Queen Elizabeth I of England and Queen Mary of Scotland. It is a tale of two strong women set against a backdrop of the disdainful male attitudes of the era towards women, even queens. As alliances shift, powerful, ambitious men hatch plots that favor their side but not always their queen. The film’s dramatic exploration of the differing fates of these two queens in this treacherous milieu makes for an intriguing, fresh look at the history.

The film is custom-made as a powerhouse showcase for the considerable acting talents of Ronan and Robbie, both of whom fill the screen with fire. But audiences expecting a pretty costume drama may be surprised at the gritty, mud-and-blood realism of MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. The drama, particularly in Scotland, often takes place in dark, smokey halls, where one can almost feel the damp, or in rough fields where mud flecks opulent cloaks. Even in more-polished England, things can look raw, and the film does not shy away from the ugly side of life in the era.

That jolt of realism may be unexpected but this historical drama bucks expectations in other ways. Historians sometimes portray Mary as little more than a pawn, no match for Elizabeth, but director Josie Rourke takes a different tack. Instead, this film focuses on the difference in the courts surrounding the two queens. In this version, Saoirse Ronan’s Mary is fierce, arriving in Scotland glowing with promise and ambition. She is a young queen seeming to have everything in her favor, both to rule Scotland and to succeed her childless cousin to the throne of England. Rourke offers a fascinating, even feminist take on the differing fate of two queens in an era when men resented and resisted having women in power.

When young Mary Stuart (Ronan), newly widowed, arrives in Scotland to assert her claim to the throne of Scotland over her brother James (Andrew Rothney), she is a force of nature, an iron-willed woman set on power. While Queen Elizabeth (Robbie) is already on the throne of England, her younger cousin Mary has a claim to the English throne equally as strong or maybe stronger, which worries both Elizabeth and her advisers. Further, unlike the unmarried Elizabeth, Mary announces her plans to marry and produce an heir to the throne. Mary presses Elizabeth to name her heir but Elizabeth’s advisers are wary of rebellious Scots in the royal court too eager to hurry along that succession.

With a script written by Beau Willimon, the creative force behind “House of Cards,” big personalities, ambition, religion, power and nationalism all play a role in this struggle. The rest of the cast is as strong as the two leads, including Jack Lowden as Lord Darnley, Joe Alwyn as Robert Dudley, David Tennant as John Knox, Guy Pearce as Sir William Cecil and Brendan Coyle as the Earl of Lennox. The use of color-blind casting, more common on stage than in film, ensures the strongest possible actor in each role and a diverse cast that connects the past depicted on screen with our present.

The whole political intrigue of the era is ripe for drama, with its Shakespearean plotting and shifting alliances, but the fact that the story has two queens at the center makes it especially rich material for historic drama now. Some histories have Mary as a weak figure but Ronan plays her with boldness and verve. At the story’s start, Mary is a powerhouse bursting with both youth and intelligence as she sets out to secure her position. By contrast, Margot Robbie’s Elizabeth is seized with fear, intimidated by her potential rival’s beauty and youth. Although Mary repeated reassures Elizabeth of her loyalty, her insistence on being named heir sparks worries in the English court.

While the two queens jockey for the upper hand in this deadly game, competing interests divide the two courts, while the men in those two camps not always acting in the best interests of their own sovereign. Director Rourke explores the ways prejudice against a woman ruler influenced the flow of history and the fates to the two queens. The history is well known but this film offers a fresh look at events, and the two monarchs, through a different, thought-provoking lens.

With the standout performances of Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS is a must-see for fans of good dramatic acting as well as history. It opens Friday, December 14, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

THE BOOKSHOP – Review

Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) unpacks books in her shop, in THE BOOKSHOP. Photo courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment ©

At first glance, THE BOOKSTORE might look to some audiences like CHOCOLAT with books instead of chocolates, but this film about a woman who moves to a small town and opens a shop is nothing like that romantic comedy. Other audiences might expect an inspiring tale of a plucky woman, a newcomer facing steep odds but finally winning over skeptical locals. There is indeed a plucky woman and a show of courage and defiance, but the story does work out in the standard stereotypical fashion. The story is inspiring in a different, darker way.

Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel, the story is set in a small English seaside village. But this very English tale is directed by a Spanish – actually Catalan – woman, director Isabel Coixet, who also directed the excellent LEARNING TO DRIVE. Her outsider lens adds a distinct dark twist.

In 1950s Britain, a widow moves to a small English village, buys a old house in town that had stood empty for years, with the intention to open a bookshop. Sounds harmless enough, maybe even something the village would welcome. But Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) does not find it so. It isn’t so much the bookshop that is the problem, although one seemly friendly villager offers her the not-to-encouraging advice that people around there don’t read. Well, the villager admits, there is one reader, the reclusive Mr. Brundish (Bill Nighy) but he never leaves his decaying mansion. No, the real problem,as it turns out, is not lack of readers, but that Florence happened to pick as the spot for her bookshop the very old house that a powerful local aristocrat Violet Gamat (Patricia Clarkson) had her eye on, planning to turn the building that everyone in town calls “the old house” into an “arts center.”

It sets in motion a contest of wills between the plucky widow and the ruthless aristocrat, that sounds very British and indeed the film is based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s semi-autobiographical novel. But the direction and screen adaptation by Catalan director Isabel Coixet brings another element into this story, taking it down some darker and unexpected paths. Class differences and the insular nature of small towns are topics that are woven into this literary tale.

The acting is excellent with Emily Mortimer getting a chance to really shine as the widow determined to stay and make her bookshop succeed. Despite the lack of encouragement, the bookshop does well, bring novels like “Fahrenheit 451” and “Lolita” to the village. Bill Nighy, as always, turns in a fine performance as the book-loving Mr. Brundish, who becomes Florence’s friend, her best ally and customer. The other villagers, while friendly on the surface, are harder to read, particularly a local BBC producer Milo North, a flippant, flirtatious fellow but in an oily way, who proves a slippery factor. A local family sends their young daughter to help in the shop, and the girl and the shop owner bond over tea and books, even though she says she prefers math to reading.

Everything is low-key and emotionally restrained but the director crafts a brilliant and powerful film, one that interjects an element of Kafka and some bone-chilling twists. The result is a film far more complex and interesting than the premise suggests.

THE BOOKSHOP opens Friday, August 31, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

THE LITTLE STRANGER – Review

Domhnall Gleeson stars as “Dr. Faraday” in director Lenny Abrahamson’s THE LITTLE
STRANGER, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Nicola Dove / Focus Features ©

The title of the historical drama THE LITTLE STRANGER is the same as an old-fashioned way to reference a baby, as in “awaiting the arrival of a little stranger.” But there are no babies or ones on the way in this dark moody film, although there are some spooky goings-on about children in the dim, misty past, particularly the childhood remembrances of a visitor now returned as a doctor to care for the members of the aristocratic Ayers family in their dark crumbling mansion.

Abrahamson’s previous film was ROOM, an acclaimed drama that was a scary, taut thriller and a deep psychological drive into the experience of a woman and child held captive for years by an abuser. That drama was so riveting, it is no surprise expectations were high for this one.

However, anyone expecting either another ROOM, or even THE OTHERS or JANE EYRE, will be disappointed with director Lenny Abrahamson’s THE LITTLE STRANGER. A moody, brooding historic drama set in 1930s England, the film is filled with foreboding but leaves the viewer in suspense.

Doctor Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson) is called to Hundreds Hall, the once-grand mansion of the aristocratic Ayres family mansion in rural England to tend to an illness. When the doctor arrives at the home of the old aristocratic family, he is shocked by the state of the house. He is greeted at the door by Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson), who scoffs at the doctor’s surprise that it is not one of the servants opening the door. The only servant the once-wealthy family now employs is a young girl, who works as maid and cook, and who, it turns out, is the patient. Having dealt kindly with the servant girl, who was suffering from nervousness and home-sick more than anything, the doctor offers to treat the family heir, Roderick Ayres (Will Poulter), a World War I veteran badly burned and disfigured, and still battling a painful leg injury. The family is reluctant at first to accept Dr. Faraday’s offer but finally agrees when the doctor tells them there would be no charge as it would help with some research he is doing on a particular treatment.

How the mighty have fallen and the shifting fate of the British upper class between the wars is a theme in this drama but not the only one. That change in social structure has been touched on in GOSFORD PARK and the BBS series “Downton Abbey” but this is a much darker version. But a major focus is not on the fall of the house of Ayres, a proud family still regarded warmly by the locals, but on the psychological goings-on with the doctor. His mother had been a servant in the grand house in its heyday, and a childhood visit to the house for a grand garden party instilled in him a fascination with the Ayres and a longing for the house. As Dr. Faraday becomes a part of the Ayres family’s lives, strange tensions arrives and strange occurrences begin to unfold.

THE LITTLE STRANGER certainly has the goods as far as cast, with Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling, and Will Poulter in the lead roles. There are disturbing things and creepy occurrences. If only the film had a more focused script and director Abrahamson had a better sense of what he wanted his film to be. As it is, it wavers between ghost story, Gothic thriller, moody historic commentary on the fall of the British class system. Because it keeps hinting it is one or the others of these genres, it fails to gel around anything and leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied and somehow cheated of a promised emotional payoff. It is tense, moody, edgy throughout until it ends with no real resolution or even a big scare.

 

What’s more, the gripping trailer suggests an eerie ghost story or tale of buried secrets in a family of British aristocrats sinking into decay and financial ruin in the 1930s. The arrival of a local doctor into this closed, musty world hinted at scary, disturbing things. The film is based on the novel by Sarah Waters, adapted for the screen by Lucinda Coxon, who wrote THE DANISH GIRL. Why all this talent didn’t produce a more successful suspense film is the real mystery.

Cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland also delivers the goods, as does the excellent cast. Domhnall Gleeson is chilling and intriguing as the restrained yet charming doctor. Charlotte Rampling gives a fine performance as the chilly aristocrat, still vividly aware of the class difference between her family and the doctor, but unfailingly polite as she drops comments to remind him of his “place,” no matter how kind he has been to them. Ruth Wilson’s Caroline, on the other hand, comprehends how the world and their circumstances have changed, in a way neither her mother nor her brother do. Will Poulter is all pent-up frustration as her brother Roderick, the lord of the manor by inheritance, struggling to live up to family obligations while battling physical and mental pain from his war injuries, PTSD, and a growing madness.

The film has all the authentic period detail and perfect locations one could wish. Events unfold in a decaying manor house that was clearly once grand, grandeur we see in periodic flashbacks as Dr. Faraday returns time and again to memories of his childhood visit to the mansion where his mother worked as a servant, a visit none of the family recalls.

Through atmospheric photography, fine acting and taut pacing, THE LITTLE STRANGER successfully builds suspense to a fever pitch yet never pulls the trigger on all that build-up. It raises questions throughout yet never answers them, leaving at most hints about possible answers. The film feels like it wants to be Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” but can’t figure out how to get there, leaving the audience lost as well.

So many things are right about this eerie film, including the outstanding cast, that it is doubly frustrating when the film appears to just end without real resolution. As a fan of both historical dramas and Gothic ghost stories, I should be the right audience for this film. Yet, the film felt disappointing by its end. After building up a nail-biting suspense and hinting a hidden horrors, psychological or supernatural, it fails to commit to either of those paths, wavering between them until it merely rolls to an unsatisfying conclusion. There is death but no catharsis. Secrets remain hidden and no questions are answered.

THE LITTLE STRANGER opens Friday, August 31 at the Tivoli Theater.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars