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This film was brilliant, but did it live up to the hype? I went into black panther expecting little, this is comparable to films such as Ant Man and Dr. Strange, both of which I was pleasantly surprised by, I feel this is because they were unknow, almost like underdog heroes when it comes to the MCU. For me black panther started off a little slow, granted it was necessary for the story development and did show off some of the power and gadgets they have to offer. The moment Michael B. Jordan made his appearance was where things started to get exciting. Seeing him playing the role of antagonist was amazing, the way that killmonger was played, in my eyes, was perfect, the way he looks, his story of vengeance, his attitude towards Wakanda and how he feels it develop the world. A great rival to the black panther and the Wakandan throne. Now, having praised the primary villain, I need to comment on Ulysses Klaude. The most useless character in this film... not at all needed. I understand he provided a bit of comic relief, and I’m not going to deny he was slightly entertaining but personally I would have liked to have seen more development of killmonger than Ulysses, thankfully he doesn’t last too long. Having said this, I do think that the casting featuring some of the better young talents featured in black mirror, Danial Kaluuya and Letitia Wright, was outstanding, when they were on the screen they stole the show. Shuri, played by Letitia, provided huge amounts of humour, but also showed how strong she and all the females of Wakanda were, very empowering. Martian Freeman, I’m not going to say a lot about him, however I think what they've done here is take a character who for the most part was disliked in Civil War, and made him much more likeable, just developing him a bit more. Even if I still can't get past the terrible accent. The special effects featured in this, in one word, outstanding. I think that they did a brilliant job of making this visually stimulating city, hidden under a mountain, showing Africa as we know it but having huge developments, sky scrapers and huge technological advancements. Despite there being these huge structures and it almost being like a first world country, they did a remarkable job of portraying the culture over there, from the costume design to the amazing sound track Having praised the actors and SOME of the characters, I still feel that this film was missing a lot, considering the film was over 2 hours long, not a lot really happened. and the first half was pointless because it was about Ulysses, a side villain, who end up dying anyway. After that pointless side quest the main story starts and just feels far too rushed. Everything happened over the space of about half an hour. I came out satisfied with this film, you don’t go into a MCU film expecting an Oscar nominated film, despite this film being nominated. It was fun, like all Marvel films and fitted into the Cannon quite well. I like Black Panther as a hero and look forward to seeing him in Infinity War. like a lot of films, it sometimes takes time to appreciate aspects you don't see at the time of watching, engrossed in the story. Like the amazing colours, music and effects it brings, not to forget how amazing the characters were. Sure, it lacked a bit of substance, but I can get over that by knowing how as far as visuals are concerned it was a masterpiece. If anything, id argue that this is underhyped, some people just can't reflect and see this for the artwork that is it. At the end of the day id give Black Panther 8/10.

Dreams give us hope. And if we don't have hope, then what's the point in living? After reading the synopsis of this movie, your reaction will probably be the same as mine at that time. "Jesus, not again another post-apocalyptic film in which the world's population has been decimated to a handful of survivors, while the earth's surface is plagued by bloodthirsty zombies or warlike aliens who are fed up eating salt-less potatoes already for years and start to plunder our natural salt mines here on earth". Well, in essence, it sort of comes down to that, but the apocalyptic part isn't really noticeable. You won't see any zombie or alien. Then again, the epidemic that caused the extinction of the world's population, has broken out 25 years ago. Perhaps that's why the emphasis here is on the survivors instead of the Apocalypse itself. The world was flooded with zombies. Or not? Anna (Lulu Antariksa) is such a survivor. She's 19 years old and therefore hasn't really experienced the happening. She lives secluded in a fairly protected domain (although a wooden fence is not really something that could stop a zombie stampede) along with her deathly ill mother and her brother David (Roshon Fegan). But after a while, she stays behind all alone when her mother dies a natural death and her brother falls into the hands of a stranger who whistles like a cowboy. At first, it's not clear in whose hands he has fallen. Afterward, you'll come to know that there are wandering groups that are called "berserkers" and that hunt other people for supplies. What people should really be afraid of in this dilapidated society, remains a mystery throughout this movie. The world is ruined. Let's get religious. So, don't expect something similar to "How it ends". It's more like "Holy ghost people". The day Peter (Colin O'Donoghue) apparently accidentally turns up at Anna's house, it seems as if he has a way out to a more worry-free life for Ann. He's the co-founder of a religious commune that offers protection and friendly companionship. Something Anna needs, now that she's alone and lonely. The calmness and kindness that Peter exudes (as befits a true spiritual leader) convinces her. She didn't know there were some flies in the ointment. Eventually, it seems like she was invited for very different reasons. And before she realizes it, she finds herself in a similar situation. Kind of imprisoned. Only at a different location. It's the end of the world as we know it. "What still remains" isn't an exciting film with nerve-racking confrontations and fierce life-and-death battles. It's rather a socio-drama and a "coming of age" in a world that tries to get back on its feet. It's a story about trust and mistrust. And, of course, the revival of isolated communes where individuals position themselves above others in a certain way, in order for them to sail a safer course. That there's a religious aspect, is quite logical. In the face of adversity, there's always that moment when people start focusing on a higher power. The fact there are clever people who then misuse this in their favor and come up with their own form of religion, is also not earth-shattering. The most positive aspect of this film is the interplay between Lulu Antariksa and Colin O'Donoghue. For the rest, it brings nothing new and you get an I-have-seen-this-already feeling. Only I caught myself humming "It's the end of the world as we know it". Only the phrase "And I feel fine", felt out of place. My rating 5/10 Links: IMDB

(Release Info London schedule; November 14th, 2019, Genesis Cinéma, 93-95 Mile End Rd, Bethnal Green, London E1 4UJ, United Kingdom, 18:10) "The Nightingale" "The Nightingale" is a meditation on the consequences of violence and the price of seeking vengeance. Set during the colonization of Australia in 1825, the film follows Clare Carroll (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict. Having served her 7- year sentence, she's desperate to be free of her abusive master, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin) who refuses to release her from his charge. Clare’s husband Aidan (Michael Sheasby) retaliates and she becomes the victim of a harrowing crime at the hands of 'The Lieutenant' and his cronies. When British authorities fail to deliver justice, Clare decides to pursue Hawkins, who leaves his post suddenly to secure a captaincy up north. Unable to find compatriots for her journey, she's forced to enlist the help of a young Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) who grudgingly takes her through the rugged wilderness to track down Hawkins. The terrain and the prevailing hostilities are frightening, as fighting between the original inhabitants of the land and it's colonisers plays out in what's now known as 'The Black War'. Clare and Billy are hostile towards each other from the outset, both suffering their own traumas and mutual distrust, but as their journey leads them deeper into the wilderness, they must learn to find empathy for one another, while weighing the true cost of revenge. At the heart of the story is Clare, 21, an Irish female convict. Convicts generally came from terribly poor backgrounds, stealing for survival. A theft of a loaf of  bread, or a coat, could see a person being transported for 7 years as an  indentured slave to a free settler or soldier, their poverty ensuring permanent exile. She has served her time, and is now trying to secure her freedom and start a new life as a free settler with her husband Aidan and baby Brigid in this new world. But Hawkins is unnecessarily withholding her release, preventing her from fleeing the violence and despair of the situation She's an indentured servant for Lieutenant Hawkins, who took her from prison to serve out her remaining sentence at his barracks, and Hawkins  uses and abuses Clare sexually, a fact she keeps hidden from her husband  out of shame and fear. Clare has a beautiful voice, a thread of purity in this bleak place, and is sometimes called on to sing for the men. To them she's their little nightingale. Female convicts, were often treated badly by their masters, as is the case with Hawkins, the officer in charge of Clare’s fate. It's this abuse and loss of everything she holds dear, that serves as the trigger for Clare’s revenge, seeing her take a life-threatening journey, from the south of the island to the north. This is during a period known as The Black War’, and the land is not safe to travel, nor easy to navigate, with huge tracks of rugged wilderness. The character of Clare has to possess a fierce tenacity and a steely strength, character traits that came from close research into the era. In the convict prison in Richmond, Tasmania, a plaque on the wall explains that women inmates were put in solitary confinement  for three weeks straight, no light, freezing cold, on a sandstone floor with a hessian sack. They're put in for talking back to  their masters,  or  getting drunk, or other  very  minor  crimes. They would be released after 21 days to go back to that same master, and they would deliberately commit another crime so that they could be put back into solitary  confinement. To be poor in 'The Georgian' era is not seen as an economic problem but a moral weakness. So convicts are viewed with next to no compassion. And female convicts are seen as worse than male convicts, because  women are meant to be a symbol of purity. And 'The Irish' are seen by 'The English' as 'The Scum Of The Earth'. Why would a  woman  do that? What's so bad about that  situation that they would prefer total deprivation? The answer is rape, beatings, physical and psychological abuse. Clare shows how resilient so many women are and how resilient women can be has her flaws, she’s  not always likeable, but she’s  incredibly resilient and powerful;  a fully-formed human being as a lead female character. Lieutenant Hawkins is a lower middle class lieutenant, who, perhaps because of his class, perhaps due to  who he's,  has not risen to his much desired rank  of  captain. He's intelligent, handsome, but driven by blind ambition, and profoundly damaged by his past. He expects to shortly be promoted by his superior in Launceston, and when this is compromised by his own behaviour,  he lashes out violently at those  around him, then sets off to take  control of his own future. Hawkins demonstrates physical and psychological cruelty to his men, as well as to civilians. He's amongst other things a rapist, who commit acts of sexual violence. It's about power and, in Hawkins’ case, rage. To build up a character like Hawkins, you've to understand the first-hand accounts of Tasmania in the period, as well as contemporary psychological texts, which led him to identify Hawkins as suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. Hawkins has a profound lack of empathy, and genuinely thinks that it’s his right to have more, to be  recognized and raised  up, and he  uses people  around him to  get what  he  thinks he needs, but he’ll never be happy or satisfied. He’s a man who has a very difficult upbringing. When all his power is taken away, his rage is directed out onto the feminine, at Clare; or whoever's around. In his complex relationship with Clare, signs of fragility and possibility can perhaps be briefly glimpsed. Hawkins spent his life  thinking that women weren’t as good as men. At the time, men were generally thought to be the stronger and the better sex, and that’s something that's so deeply embedded in his being. He struggles to see the world as it really is, and as it should be. The character of Hawkin is damaged. To exact her revenge, Clare must head towards Launceston, in the north east of Tasmania,  but will have no chance  of surviving in the rugged terrain  unless she pairs with the character of Billy, a young 'Aboriginal' man who acts as her tracker, or guide. Billy, also 21, a 'Letteremairrener' man, who as a child watched his uncles, brothers and father killed in front of him by 'The British'. Billy has experienced forced assimilation and slavery, so he speaks English, When Clare offers him a shilling now and a shilling once he tracks down her quarry, Billy is drawn not just by the money, but by traveling north, a trip that will see him returning to his country, and potentially finding his mother and aunts, who disappeared when the men of the family were killed. He has suffered greatly too, a result of the terrible treatment of his people by the invaders, and although the pair are  initially distrustful and openly hostile  towards each other, through the physical and psychological challenges of their journey, they come some of the way to understand and support each  other. 'Mangana The Black Bird', is  Billy’s totem, an animal  that's his  medicin, his way  towards healing, and the animal that gives him most strength. Clare and Billy  begin by  treating each other badly, and any  steps that move in the opposite direction towards understanding and care are earned as the story unfolds. We cannot imagine what it would've been like for Billy to see his family murdered, then to be brought up by the people who had done the deed, but that was common for 'Aboriginal' people across Australia. It's unfathomable, but the film explores more than that; Billy’s tenacity, his will to survive. Ultimately, it's a story of him coming home to  himself.  Sergeant Ruse (Damon Herriman) is Lieutenant Hawkins right hand man and attack dog. He has the qualities of a traditional drill sergeant; we see him speaking to the soldiers underneath him in an aggressive and belittling way. He’s not a pleasant human being. Around his men and civilians, Ruse  projects a domineering alpha male  persona, but that all changes when he’s around Hawkins. Hawkins is not only his superior, Ruse genuinely respects him. Ruse likes the hard, cruel line that Hawkins takes, so they’re very similar characters, but around Hawkins there’s a sycophantic version of Ruse that emerges. He wishes he could be Hawkins, but second-best to that's being able to perform whatever Hawkins demands. Jago  (Harry Greenwood) is a young ensign, new to  the army. Unlike Ruse, he has come  from the  middle classes; and despite his entry level position, he's an ensign, which is an officer’s rank not a soldier’s. He's in effect Ruse’s superior because of this, but struggles to gain any sort of authority in this environment, a fish out of  water. He’s  on his first tour, and doesn’t really know anything about how  the army works or  how soldiers operate, so he’s flying by the seat of his pants. He’s thrust into possibly the worst penal colony in the world, Tasmania, and not even the larger 'Hobart Colony' but a small outpost, under the command of Hawkins, who’s a hard boss at the best of times. Jago initially looks up to Hawkins, but as the film unfolds the relationship changes as he’s exposed to the disturbing things that both Hawkins and Ruse do. Aidan (Michael Sheasby), Clare’s husband, represents both the hope of love, and the perils of revenge and violence. He has a fierce love for Clare and for his baby, Brigid, but he’s a very instinctual, gut-driven person. He can tell that something’s not right with Clare, and decides to confront it, with terrible consequences. In this world  that’s so dark and violent, they've an  unadulterated love for each other. The energy and care between them provides important moments of light. Tasmania is a place of extraordinary natural splendour, sitting alone at the bottom of the world, but for some there's a haunting quality to the island, which lent itself perfectly to the mood of "The Nightingale". 'The Landscape' emerges as another powerful character in the film, with it's own areas of light and darkness. As you learn more about the history of the  place, that only heightens your awareness  of the terrible things that  happened there. There's a deep, longstanding culture in Tasmania, but for the arriving 'British', there's nothing there that they're used to, so it became frightening and alienating. 'The British' characters are continuously in a state of fight orflight; they never know  what’s around the  corner. Suddenly the demons of history started to emerge. It’s definitely something the film is aware of from Aidan’s perspective; a sense of pure  fear. In line with  eschewing standard iconic views of the island, the film avoids using equipment such as drones for capturing the landscapes in a glorified way. What also sets Tasmania apart is that the majority of it's forests has been preserved, and a large amount is 'World Heritage' or 'National Parks', so the film enters those areas, make it feel real, and showcase the beauty. But it’s a scene about Clare and her relentless drive, and the emotion of wanting to cross a dangerous river because her revenge is driving her, and so we take the lead from the character’s  motivations. Through the characters of Clare and Billy, the film asks; how can human beings retain their compassion,  humanity and courage in a brutal environnt In looking at the futility of violence and revenge, the film carries a striking message of anti- violence and  forgiveness. Clare and Billy have endured extreme suffering and loss. They’re broken when they meet, and therefore have a very hard time trusting and respecting each other at a basic human level. When they go on their physical journey together, they’re put through a series of tests; nature beats them down, and finally they open up to each other. They make the idea of living a bit more bearable for each other. Billy for Clare provides a sense of hope for life. In this environment where  things are brutal and violent and there are so many obstacles they've to overcome to get what they desire, the fact that there’s a correlation, a mutual understanding, is something that takes them a long time to realise, but when they do it’s the most beautifully poetic relationship, so authentic and human. Feeling for 'The Aboriginal People' wasn’t part of their psyche. So, we’re  judging these characters, in that  sense, but the audience have to see how the characters are motivated and we've to show the brutality to put the audience in Clare’s shoes. What Clare  learns, and what the audience sees, it that the shining light from the beginning to the end is hope. All the characters are yearning for lightness, for something more, in this brutal reality. Through Clare and Billy’s  journey, despite  the horrific things they’re exposed to, there are moments of lightness and humanity. Despite the situations we’re faced with in life you can communicate with and understand someone. That’s at the core of the film; despite the terrible things that people do and experience, they do go on, they continue to live. "The Nightingale" is set in  'Van  Diemen’s Land' (now Tasmania), 'The Australian  Island State' off the far south east coast of the mainland. A fledgling 'British' penal colony was established in Tasmania in 1803, following on from the Sydney penal colony established on the mainland 15 years  earlier. Setting the film in 1825 Tasmania isn't an intellectual choice to make a period film, but something to remove the story from the present day, and in doing so allowing it's universal themes to take precedence. Tasmania was the most brutal of the Australian  colonies, known as hell on earth  through the western world at the time. Repeat offenders sent there; the rapists, murderers, hardened criminals. And severe punishments are devised for them to strike fear in the hearts of those back in Britain, to deter them  from crime. Women on the other hand who’d often  committed minor crimes are sent to Tasmania to even the gender balance. They're outnumbered 8 to 1. You can imagine what kind of an environment that would set up for women. It's not a good place or time for them. And in terms of 'The Aboriginal Invasion', what happened in Tasmania is often considered the worst attempted annihilation by the British of 'The Aboriginal' people and everything they hold dear. Many Australians know what happened in certain parts of the country during that time, and other people don't. A lot  of people outside Australia know  nothing or very little about it. We can not go into this part of our history and water it down. Like many other countries that have been colonized, the indigenous people of Australia were  subject to horrendous treatment by  the colonizers. 'The Aboriginal People' lived through two 'Ice  Ages Evidence' uncovered in one of the latest Tasmanian archaeological digs dates back 42,000 years. Besides the massacres and taking land away that happened, similar to anywhere else in Australia where 'Aboriginal' people were invaded and colonized, kids were taken away from families and put in Tasmanian orphanages. When they're old enough, they’d be used as cheap  labour on farms. It wasn’t uncommon  for 'Aboriginal'  people to be working  in all sorts of jobs, and a lot of 'Aboriginal' people in Tasmania today are here because they survived by mingling in with white fellas, right across the state. Violence against women is as relevant now as it has ever been. This is a story about  violence. In  particular the fallout of violence from a  feminine perspective. The colonization of Australia was a time of inherent violence; towards 'Aboriginal' people, towards women, and towards the  land itself, which was  wrenched from  it's first inhabitants. Colonization by nature is a brutal act. For this reason, this a current story despite being set in the past. And the arrogance that drives it lives on in the modern world. The film features graphic and potentially triggering acts of sexual violence towards women and violence motivated by racism. "The Nightingale" presents complex issues, and the film doesn’t attempt to offer neat solutions to systemic issues of race, misogyny, sexual violence, or classism. Nothing depicted in this film is fictional. The story itself is fictional, but the events are based in historical fact. The film deals with a story of colonization and  violence that some people say didn't happen, so it's really important that  things are accurate. The story of "The Nightingale" is important because  it’s a  history that was never told, about what 'Aboriginal' people went through in this time. It's a dark story and there will be tears, but it will touch  people. The film presents the opportunity to open up an honest dialogue about cycles of violence, the repercussions of colonialism, and in experiencing our own discomfort to reflect on humanity and the importance of empathy for our survival. All the concerns about violence, towards women, towards indigenous people, towards nature, the repercussions of colonization, they're very much in our mentality and in the way we live now, but by placing something in the past, you can give people a distance from it, so they can see it without feeling like they're being attacked. Everything is relevant now. This is a story set nearly 200 years ago and we’re still dealing with the same crimes against women. It’s a mythical film, in the true sense of the word. It’s visually astounding. Not as in something that never existed, but a story that deals with very universal themes, things that happen everywhere in the world, to all of us. "The Nightingale" questions the state of the world. What are the alternatives to violence and revenge? How do we retain our humanity in dark times? We do not have all the answers to the question of violence. But they lie in our humanity, in the empathy we hold for ourselves and others.

(U.K. Premiere, May 20th, 2019, 19:00 PM) (Everyman Music Film Festival 9th - 26th May 2019, Everyman Kings Cross, 14-18 Handyside Street, London N1C 4DN) "Teen Spirit" Violet (Elle Fanning) is a shy teenager who dreams of escaping her small town and pursuing her passion to sing. With the help of Vlad (Zlatko Buric) ,an unlikely mentor, she enters a local singing competition that will test her integrity, talent and ambition. Driven by a pop-fueled soundtrack, "Teen Spirit" is a visceral and stylish spin on 'The Cinderella Story'. The film creates a modern fairytale, scored to a lush, pop soundtrack, about a quiet 17-year-old girl who finds the support and self-confidence she needs to step into her own power. Violet lives with her Polish-immigrant mother Maria (Agnieszka Grochowska) on the brink of poverty in a small village on 'The Isle Of Wight'. Her days are spent doing chores, waiting tables, and attending secondary school, where she keeps to herself. But in her free time, spent alone in her room, in the fields with her beloved horse, or at an under-attended open-mic night, Violet surrenders to song. She's a naturally gifted singer for whom pop stardom might not be mere fantasy. With her father Roger (Andrew Ellis) no longer in the picture, Violet helps out around the house, sings in the choir and works waitress shifts after school, passing her tips to her mother. Whenever she can, she sneaks off to perform at a dingy pub to a thin audience of deadbeats. It’s there that she catches the attention of Vlad, a down-on-his-luck, boozed-up former opera star who now lacks purpose in life. When Vlad hears Violet, he knows she's something special and declares himself her manager and trainer, accompanying her as she tries out for a popular televised musical talent program called 'Teen Spirit'. When a national singing competition comes to town to hold auditions, Vlad becomes Violet’s unlikely mentor and manager, accompanying her on a journey that takes the young singer all the way to the glamorous 'Teen Spirit' finals in London. Along the way, Violet learns about singing, about loyalty and about the kind of resilience it takes to find success. Vlad has his own demons, but if he and Violet can stick together as her star rises, they might just make each other better people. In the beginning, Violet is untrained. She's a good singer and you see she has potential, but she doesn’t have a lot of stage presence in her voice. Violet works for months to strike that delicate balance and to invest the singing with the requisite emotion to profoundly move the audience. The feelings start to bubble up in Violet in an early scene, when she's seen dancing alone in her bedroom to the infectious strains of 'No Doubt'. The character of Violet dovetails much of ab experiences as an artist who's still learning and evolving. Everybody imagines themselves being the best at whatever they do, reaching the tip-top just like Violet. When Violet sings, we go into her head and see the performance she imagines she's giving with outstanding lighting, while cutting to supporting singers or dancers and revealing narrative information related to the song or her. They're all stunning, and feature interesting lighting and costumes. At it's essence, "Teen Spirit" is essentially an underdog story, and it hits most of the beats one would expect to encounter. Violet isn’t encouraged to pursue her dream by anyone around her. The only person who even seems remotely interested in her talent is Vlad, and when we first see him applauding, it’s hard to tell if it's sincere. You’ll love them and root for her through the competition, but you won’t really know why. This may be by design, as one character, even questions Violet’s motives for competing in the talent show, and she doesn’t seem prepared to answer. Whether or not it’s by design that Violet’s drive is unclear, the film suffers as our main character’s agency feels empty. Violet feels underdeveloped, and so does Vlad. Much of their backstory feels rather generic, and just thrown at us as though that makes them deep. Still, by comparison to the underdeveloped story of the relationship with her mother, and, even worse, the relationship with her peers, Violet feels extremely complex. Violet runs into Luke (Archie Madekwe) at a party, then again at another one and we learn he’s in a band, and then we see her perform with the band. There isn’t any real depth, and the love interest that is hinted at feels flat and perfunctory. There are several more issues in this realm, and as the film goes farther, we’d expect to get to know Luke and the other two members of the band a bit more, but they're always kept at an extreme distance. The film imbues Violet’s dreary world with drama, capturing the lyricism of a field at magic hour or extending long beams of light against the night sky. By the end of the film, when she’s performing her climactic numbers, he sees evidence of the experience she’s accrued, a new strength and range. She’s inhabited by something quite different and it’s great to witness that curve of the performance emerge. It's an unabashed adventure in pop music. The first draft of the script from 2009 was set in Poland, with 90 percent of the dialogue in Polish. It's extremely challenging to find someone who can sing, dance, speak two languages and act. The film is an immigrant story, which serves to make the film more personal and underlined themes that were already in the screenplay. Elle Fanning performs all the singing live. Audiences will experience a sense of discovery about Fanning in this role. Most of the songs in "Teen Spirit" are detailed in the initial drafts of the script and the sequences are shot very specifically to the film’s soundtrack, which features music by 'Ariana Grande', 'Robyn, Grimes', 'Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. There's also an original song performed by Fanning and written by 'Carly Rae Jepsen' & 'Jack Antonoff'. Music is the heart of "Teen Spirit". Music creates a visceral cinematic effect. Coupled with a highly stylized approach, the result is a film that balances the ecstatic rush of pop with a more soulful undertone. Driven by a pop-fueled soundtrack, "Teen Spirit" is a visceral and stylish spin on 'The Cinderella Story'. It's unusual that a film of this scale would have such extensive lighting. It's very sculpted, visceral and visual, not in a handheld, quick-set-up way. The camera movement, framing and lighting are all very considered. Minghella has delivered a sweet, soulful and visually rich debut that will deliver the kind of audio-visual experience that you can only get in cinema. "Teen Spirit" is a big-screen pop-odyssey, a cinematic event that should leave you dancing out of the theater. Each song gets a music video-type treatment which also offers an opportunity to give us backstory and a little character developmen, although this could have been utilized a little more. The musical performances are so creative and entertaining that it makes the weak moments with the characters stand out further. You’re making two or three music-driven films at once; juggling the film itself, the entire music apparatus, and in this case, a dance component, three distinct layers that require their own preparation and execution. It’s a bigger swing, but it’s also much more fun. The film confesses to a fondness for female-driven European synth pop and the vision for bringing it to life is truly unique. It's a very specific balance of naturalism and formalism. People underestimate the power of pop, but the film has an innate understanding of what makes for a timeless, evocative pop anthem.

(Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London, W6 9BN, FRIDAY 17 - THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2022) https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/good-luck-to-you-leo-grande-33853/ "Good Luck To You Leo Grande" Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) is a retired teacher. Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) is a sex worker As Nancy embarks on a post-marital sexual awakening and Leo draws on his skills and charm, together they find a surprising human connection. A woman of around 60 is waiting in a hotel room for a young man that she has booked to have sex with. This woman is waiting, and the guy coming up and you're just hearing this soft knock on the door and she opens the door. Nancy is a 60-ish retired religious education teacher who’s been widowed for 2 years and who makes this sort of fabulously bold and unusual decision to hire a younger sex worker. She's brave but also deeply flawed. So many of her beliefs are the opposite of woke which we love because that’s sort of 90% of the population. It’s not uncommon, her attitudes, her prejudices, her biases. She's just a normal person who initiates this very strangely not-romantic relationship. Nancy obeyed the rules her whole life; she's what you would describe as a pillar of society. She's conducted herself incredibly well, she's had a long, successful 31-year-old marriage. She's got two children. She had a long career in religious education. She's unflinchingly honest about her own discomfort around sex and determined to explore what it could be. She can be abrasive and seem uncaring, but over the film she grows to understand that she may have perpetuated values she didn’t believe in. She may have accepted and reinforced a status quo that's unhelpful to those around her and also to herself. This is as much of an awakening as her physical one. Leo Grande is a modern young man who makes a living as a sex worker and meets Nancy after she books him for a session. He's someone who navigates his own identity and pleasure so openly, it’s his superpower. He’s had his own experiences with sexual shame, and in response to that he empowered himself. He uses his expressiveness and his own sexual desires to help others discover theirs. Nancy is a woman who has been pretty much starved of healthy and beautiful sexual experience and Leo has found a vocation in helping to introduce that to his clients and help them see their own power through sexuality. Different generations don’t necessarily have the same understanding around sex and pleasure, which is also something we explore. It’s a topic that has affected Leo personally and he’s able to take those experiences and use it as momentum for himself to find his own identity. It also helps him with Nancy, and working with her to understand these parts of herself for the first time. Leo has a full life and a past that he doesn’t share with his clients and that shape who he's, but he also creates lines for himself within his work like you should in any professional setting. His boundaries are clear, but he's also having a human connection which sometimes doesn’t follow the rules. He's able to decide how to respond to a boundary crossed. What do you want, really? How do you experience pleasure? Do you allow yourself to experience pleasure, and if you don’t then why not? Where do you carry your shame and why are you ashamed? Why are pain and pleasure and shame so inextricably linked? "Leo Grande" creates a hotel room that's modern-ish, which means something that isn't’t luxurious, and didn’t have heaps of colour. The hotel room doesn’t have any revelation of character like you’d have in somebody’s home for instance. The room feels cheap looking, all while maintaining a visually entertaining space. Given that "Leo Grande" largely takes place in one room, the film feels claustrophobic. There's lots of really tactile fabrics in there. At the beginning there's a kind of very symmetrical style and then by the end that gets a little bit messier. And there's certain very particular scenes where we've the camera handheld instead of being on the dolly, which is what we're seeing most of the time. It's a script that approaches sex in a sometimes comedic way. The film is simple, two actors in one room exploring intimacy, connection, sex, frustration, and shifting power dynamics, but in our currently divided world, these intimate stories about connection feel even more vital. Our bodies, our shame, our mis-communications, our sexual connections, and sexual frustrations are often tragic, and we believe we are longing for stories that reflect us and challenge us and allow us to consider how we treat each other. There's much to be said between two characters who meet to have good sex, and much that cannot be expressed in words. We love to work with desire, our wants and needs, the way our wants compete with each other and the way we try to reject them or embrace them. To get past that's a lot of freedom. How can the film makes sure that we’re consulting sex workers, that’s not harmful, that’s perhaps empowering in some way. Sex and the body are fundamental to the film and having been soaked in a culture that teaches us to be ashamed and want to control and change our bodies. A lot of our societal constructions make it impossible for us to be present and we think that’s also what the film starts to address. If you weren’t following the rules, what would you want? How would you express it and how would you find it? It could be a reminder that someone unlikely might free you from your own limitations in a small but significant way. Written by Gregory Mann

(Minyan • 2020 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 58m • Showtimes London • Tue 18 Jan, Genesis Cinema, 5,6 km·Whitechapel, 93-95 Mile End Road, LONDON E1 4UJ, United Kingdom, 21:00) https://genesiscinema.co.uk/GenesisCinema.dll/WhatsOn?Film=25625632 "Minyan" David (Samuel H. Levine), a young 'Russian Jewish' immigrant in Brighton Beach at the height of the 1980s, caught up in the tight constraints of his community. While helping his grandfather Josef (Ron Rifkin) settle into a retirement facility in the tight-knit 'Russian Jewish' enclave he calls home, he develops a close friendship with his new neighbors, Itzik (Mark Mogalis) and Herschel (Christopher McCann), two elderly closeted gay men, who open his imagination to the possibilities of love and the realities of loss; and explores 'The East Village' where he finds solace in like-minded souls. A world teeming with the energy of youth, desire and risk. He finds and quietly blossoms. When Itzik dies and the neighbors want to throw Herschel out, David must stand up to defend his discoveries about himself and where he belongs. The film is based on David Bezmozgis book. The short story is about a young man whose grandfather is struggling to find a place to live, and the only reason he gets an apartment in this building is because he's a pious 'Jew' and will show up to make a minyan for prayers. The protagonist of the short story is not gay, but there are pieces of 'DNA' from Bezmozgis's writing that feels foundational to who David is; the immigrant who doesn't fit into his community, and who doesn't have access to language. The elements pertaining to the yeshiva school David attends in the movie appear as a set of observations in parts of other stories from the same collection. The notion of wanting to be able to live a physical life, and to experience sex, David in the movie wants that, because lust and desire are things were supposed to feel as young people. Coincidentally, his neighbors are two closeted gay men, and one of them dies. A question emerges of will they throw the surviving partner out or not, because his name isn't on the lease. The movie contains a scene of unprotected sex that adds a layer gravitas to the story, considering it's time period. It would be naive and false to claim that the only sex gay men have after the discovery of the virus is safe sex. Gays and straights continue to have unprotected sex because passion and sexuality often overrule our better judgments. How we deal with uncertainty is an energy that all the characters in this movie feel in different ways. They all feel threatened. David has little or no idea at first what's going on in the world just a few subway stops away. But once he knows, he can never really shake that fear off. The movie is in some way about those moments, trying to be who you're in the most authentic and vulnerable way, even if it ends up being a threat to your survival. In the '80s 'Brighton Beach' is also more heavily religious than it's now, something David would have wanted to get away from. It feels like 'Old Country Jews'. It's a story about the tests of freedom, or the tests of empathy, in the free world. NYC in the 1980s as 'AIDS' took such a terrifying and decimating hold on the community, "Minyan" is a powerful story of rebellion and self-discovery, sexual and spiritual awakening, and survival. A story of strength in numbers, as one young man wakes up to the realities of a new life, where youth, desire and risk collide with the indelible specters of the past. There's a particular way that strangers move through strange lands. 'Immigrants', 'Jews', 'Homosexuals', in order to survive, they've learned to be keen observers, listeners more than talkers, always on the lookout for danger and openings. They carry history under the skin, and make do with less to fulfill a promise in the future. This is the 'DNA' and the ethos for "Minyan"; and very much the way we've moved through our own life. Trying to figure out who's required navigating grief and sexual exploration. What's shadow and what's light. We're comforted by and fascinated with the stories our grandparents told, their secretive crying and mysterious 'Yiddish' whispers. There's a strong connection in "Minyan" to this idea of 'The Jews' being the people of the book, reading the Torah, saying the prayers, the story of 'King David', which is an incredible story itself. On one hand, a minyan refers to the simple rules of prayer, you need ten men to make a quorum to say certain prayers. As a pious Jew you say prayers alone from the moment you wake up and wash your hands, but those are private prayers. These big signpost prayers like the Kaddish have to be told in a group, and with 10 people it takes on a different dimension. We believe that with the group, prayer is changed into belief. We're attracted to the edges of things, moments held in mesmerizing balance, the surface tension, here between fear and freedom, between seen and closeted, between newness and inexperience of youth and the gravity of old age. Go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it, travel your road again and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself. It's about what people feels on the inside versus how they come across on the outside, and that in many ways all of us share a certain set of feelings; loss, despair, impossibility. The main one is the looming sense of existential dread, the idea that just living your life authentically, being who you're might be the cause of your own death is a staggering heaviness to deal with, not knowing who's going to live or die, this is part and parcel of being a 'Jew', an immigrant, or a homosexual. We don’t like to equate the 'Holocaust' with anything, it’s sui genesis in terms of the brutal, cruelty and terror and mass killing, there are parallels to what 'AIDS' did to the gay community, the wiping out of almost an entire population; and we feel like survivors share an emotional landscape with other survivors.

(SCI-FI-LONDON: THE INNOCENTS, 117 mins, Director: Eskil Vogt Release Date: 20 May 2022/THURSDAY 19 MAY, 2022/ Stratford LONDON, Stratford Picturehouse, Salway Rd, London E15 1BX, United Kingdom, 20:40 Subtitled) https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00011751/sci-fi-london-the-innocents?comingsoon=true "The Innocents" "The Innocents" follows Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum), Anna (Alia Brysma Ramstad), Ben (Sam Ashraf) and Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bemseth Asheim), four children, who become friends during the summer holidays. Out of sight of the adults, they discover they've hidden powers. While exploring their newfound abilities in the nearby forests and playgrounds, their innocent play takes a dark turn and strange things begin to happen. During the bright Nordic summer, the group of children reveal their dark and mysterious powers when the adults aren’t looking. The kids in "The Innocents" are ages 7 to 11, it's a special period of childhood? When you get to 12, you’re already like a tween and have one foot in the teenage years and discovering your sexuality. The film wants to look at childhood as a place before you become an adult, when it’s more fluid, more magical. When you've kids of your own, you being witness to their fumbling attempts to make sense of the world. That triggers some childhood memories in ourself. Not important memories, just random memories, and we realize how radically different you were as a kid, how strongly you felt, and how open you were and even how you experience time in a different way. The film tries to get into that space. It's also the fascination you've when you observe your kids, especially when they don't know you're there. Like you're going to school to pick them up, and you see them before they see you, and they're not like they're with you, they've a secret life. It’s hard for adults to really have that child-like approach. We try to tap into that personally. We learn from our kids. And we try to remember what it was like in the places we grew up. We remember a feeling of walking down those corridors or being in a forest. It's easy to remember childhood in a very nostalgic way, as though it was always a happy time, but it's also a very scary time because there are so many unknowns. There's so much you don't know and you've such an amazing fantasy imagination. Those things feel real, so we've never been as scared as an adult as we were as a child. And what that revealed of their imaginations and their inner worlds enriched the film in many ways. Kids are beyond good and evil or rather before good and evil. But we don't think children are little angels, that people are born pure. We think children are born without any sense of empathy or morals, we've to teach them that. That's why we think it's interesting to see a child doing something that we would call evil in an adult. The moral aspect is more complex since they aren’t fully formed yet. It’s not necessarily a danger sign, kids are experimenting when they're young and empathy evolves in different rhythms. Morality begins with your parents saying what's wrong and right, but a real sense of morality should be grounded inside you, it’s what you feel is wrong. And to discover that inner moral compass you've to experiment, you've to transgress what your parents tell you is acceptable behavior. It's those details, a hand picking at a scab, touching a grain of sand with your finger, that might trigger your own memories from childhood. The film enjoys the juxtaposition of the close ups and wide shots. Usually in scary movies you try to keep the tones down, almost black and white, and you've the shadows of darkness and white skin tones. Because it’s set in a summer, the film avoids some of the scared-of-the-dark horror cliches. It's inspired by Katsuhiro Otomo. Horror movies need to be visual and it's liberating to go in that direction because you need to have visual storytelling, you need to have iconic images, you need all that to work. Written by Gregory Mann

Whatever you do, do NOT sleep! Having problems falling asleep at night? Are you tossing and turning in bed all night? Or are frightening nightmares disturbing your well-deserved sleep? Well, in that case, I advise you not to watch “Mara“, because it could possibly get worse. Now, I myself have absolutely no problems with that and always enjoy a carefree night’s sleep. To be honest this film won’t be the cause of me lying awake in bed while staring frightened at the ceiling. In itself it wasn’t a bad movie, but I didn’t think it was too original. And certainly not scary. “Mara” is a kind of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” with a similar creature as in “Mama” who surprises certain people with a nightly visit. The reason why some enjoy this privilege is a little bland. I am certain that half of the world’s population would be eligible for this. Something unexplainable kind of explained. Yet silent about it. Kate (Olga “Oblivion” Kurylenko) is a psychologist who is called upon in a murder case. A murder case in which a wife killed her husband in his sleep. Kate has to use all her psychological knowledge to judge the suspect’s mental state. At first, it seems like Kate is a wise person who uses her analytical, down-to-earth reasoning to come to a final conclusion. But as she gets entangled in the mystery of the demon who visits poor souls during their sleep (in different stages), this intellectual attitude seems to disappear like snow in the sun. Believe me. Would I experience a few frightening confrontations with this illustrious creature, I would really believe in what those others were saying. Moreover, if I had visible evidence on video, I certainly would go to the detective who’s investigating the case to let him know what I discovered. Oh, but not our Kate. Oh no. She’s dead silent about it. No need to be scared. The fact that the succubus Mara eerily resembles the phenomenon of “Mama“, isn’t coincidental. That’s because the person who played both creeps is one and the same. Namely the Spanish actor Javier Botet. Again such a creepy, skeletal creature that walks in a staggering way. In addition to that, she also produces eerie noises. It sounds like the horrible cracking of bones. But unfortunately, she appears in the distance. In the dark, you can hardly see her. And apart from a few (very predictable) jump scares, there’s actually nothing to be scared about. I’m certain the sleep deprivation is the cause of their hallucinations. But that’s just my sober, realistic side speaking. Biggest threat? Falling asleep. No, you really can’t say this film is fascinating. There were even a few moments that it felt as if I had symptoms of sleep paralysis myself. But that’s because of the film itself. The funny thing about such films is that they always come up with a second scientist who is skeptical about the event. And even when it’s obvious that inexplicable things are happening, he approaches the phenomenon scientifically and tries to give a rational explanation for it. Apart from the phenomenal (on the physical level) acting of Javier Botet and the acceptable acting of Olga Kurylenko, it was especially Craig Conway who impressed and convinced as the war veteran Dougie, who’s fighting against falling asleep. Unfortunately, the lack of tension and the sleepwalking pace make it look rather monotonous. Are you a newbie in the field of horror, then “Mara” could make an impression. For the seasoned horror fanatics, it’s pretty sleep-inducing. My rating 4/10 Links: IMDB More reviews here

(Release Info London schedule; October 5th, 2018, Cineworld, Leicester Square) "Blindspotting" Collin (Daveed Diggs) must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles (Rafael Casal), work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in. Collin and Miles are guys we know from the community, guys people probably know from their communities. We knew their voices because it’s a part of Oakland. The film sets out to forge a world that feels viscerally real, but where the most private thoughts and intense feelings can suddenly spill over into lyrical poetic meter. Following in the slam poetry tradition, the film is unflinching when it becomes confrontational. Yet that shift is also part of the point. Collin and Miles are laughing and ribbing with each other right up until the moment they hit a nerve of unspoken truth that has to be reckoned with. It's about putting our preconceived notions about other people, friends as much as foes, up for interrogation. The movie isn’t about the wide divide between black and white, it’s about the incredibly narrow divide between two people who grew up in the same circumstances with the same hostilities, attitudes and ideologies surrounding them, but one is black and one is white and they've to walk through the world differently. It’s not a canyon between them, it’s a hair splinter between them. But what’s a minor distance for Miles is cavernous for Collin. On the surface they’ve had a lot of the same experiences growing up in Oakland but inside they’ve learned very, very different things about the world. Collin, the parolee aiming at starting again as a free man if he can just hold it together for 3 more days, and mischief-making Miles, a wild card whose unpredictability threatens to blow up Collin’s chances. That Collin is black and Miles is working-class white allows them to dig deeper into the oft-unseen reality of everyday racial tensions. These tensions, which often go unremarked upon in daily life, become the underpinning of a story that also tackles more visible divides between police and African-American communities, between wealthy and blue-collar, between the way things were and the way things could potentially be. Underlining the differing stakes for the two friends, the story kicks off with Collin witnessing a police shooting just when he’s doing all he can to avoid the police, an even that not only imperils his parole but also haunts him. Collin drives away, but he can’t let it go. The guilt, confusion and anger at the disproportionate impact on the black community set off a slow-burning fuse inside Collin that will ultimately lead to a reckoning both with Miles and with his own bottled fury. There’s been ongoing police brutality in Oakland since before the 60s. Before Collin even sees a man get killed, he’s so used to the idea of police violence it feels normal to him. The fact of it doesn’t surprise him, it’s the personal way it hits him that surprises him. But he knows the history. And while Miles, as a white kid who grew up in a black and brown neighborhood is just as in tune with those hostilities, at the end of the day it just doesn’t affect him in the same way. Collin has grown up in a community of color so the idea of lots of white people moving into his neighborhood feels colonizing to him in a way it wouldn’t for Miles. Miles feels like his identity is being stripped from him, but Collin feels like his whole world is being undone. Miles is a poor white person and the system is not particularly sympathetic towards him either. But Collin has to fear a bigger monster and has always had to keep himself in line in a different way. The 9-minute climactic confrontation scene with two cameras is a single take all the way through, capturing the explosive back-and-forth between Collin and Miles in real time. Collin’s dream sequence looks like a modern music video, replete with flashing colors, choreography, and dollying cameras, while employing theater tech to time everything perfectly. The trick is to make it feel like it’s organically coming out of the drama. The pair carefully let the mechanism of inserting rhymes evolve in the film, so that the audience would go with the flow. The first time we hear Collin rap, it’s very literal. But as it goes on, it gets more subtle and you’re not entirely sure how much of it's in his head and how much is real, which is purposeful. Meanwhile when Miles gets his hustle on by selling junk left behind in for-sale houses, he displays his own talent for bombastic rhymes. Miles speaks in a slang-driven speech pattern that has dominated street culture in Oakland since the ‘70s, derived from pimp culture. This same braggadocious demeanor makes it's way into music and trickled down into the basic vernacular of the region. Val (Janina Gavankar) is Collin’s skeptical ex-girlfriend and co-worker, who wants Collin to demonstrate that he’s really changed since he returned home from prison. Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones) is Miles sharp girlfriend, who pushes him to be a better role model for their son. Molina (Ethan Embry) is the police officer Collin witnesses shoot an unarmed man. Rin (Utkarsh Ambudkar) is a local who has a riveting story to tell about Collin’s past, and young Sean (Ziggy Baitanger) is Miles and Ashley’s son, who absorbs so much of his environment. This is a story about a man trying to stay out of trouble for just three days in a rapidly changing, and charged, Oakland, "Blindspotting" walks a tightrope. From it's hilarious but hellaciously tense opening moments, the film pulses to the vibrant beat and energy of Oakland, yet bristles with urban fury and fears that can explode at any moment. From that incendiary mix of opposites comes something unexpected. The film is an excavation of race, class and manhood, and a rap-fueled story that at times busts out into its own rhymes. But more than all of that, "Blindspotting" is a reminder of what we miss when we look at one another without seeing the full picture. It's a timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. Bursting with energy, style, and humor, and infused with the spirit of rap, hip hop, and spoken word, "Blindspotting" is a provocative hometown love letter that glistens with humanity. When you talk about race in a movie it’s best to recognize that you’re not an authority on the subject. Set on the sunny, Eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, Oakland is a city that's right now experiencing seismic shifts. In the ‘40s and ‘50s it was renowned as 'The Harlem Of The West', a hotspot of booming African-American businesses and culture. But historical patterns of segregation and cycles of poverty took their toll. Amid the turbulence and civil rights movement of the ‘60s, Oakland became the epicenter of 'The Black Power' movement and 'Black Panther Party', and forged a progressive community spirit that would set the city on it's own course, unique in 'The United States'. Today it is one of the most diverse places in America, with a mosaic of white, black, Hispanic and Asian residents. Yet the new Oakland, the increasingly gentrified, high-rent Oakland, with it's hipster hangouts, vegan food trucks and high-toned art galleries, has not come without controversy or a high cost on long-established neighborhoods, traditions and social life. So is Oakland losing it's beautiful soul or finding new ways of bringing people together? That’s one of several core questions the film raises for audiences to debate. "Blindspotting" sees two Oaklands, one city steeped in a long, complicated history of oppression and defiance and another city of young newcomers forming atop the old one. For those who've long called it home, the fear is that if the town’s history is buried or ignored by the changes, it could cut off a community from it's most sustaining roots. An essential branch of those roots is the story of 'The Black Panther Party' (BPP), a group that emerged out of Oakland in 1966 to become a flashpoint in the national fight for civil rights. Though renown for their black leather jackets, dark berets and 'Black Power' ideology, the group’s impact went much further. They also helped to forge and nurture a sense of unbreakable community in Oakland that impacts every native for several generations. Everybody coming of age now in Oakland was raised on a well-balanced diet of historical context and that includes what 'The Black Panthers' did for the community and what happened to 'The Black Panthers', which led to a lot of distrust of the government but also an inclination towards progressivism, protest and community action. It might have been half a century ago, but the circumstances of the 'BPP’s' founding remain hauntingly familiar. Two young students at 'Oakland’s Merritt College', Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, formed the group for one reason; to help protect the black community from the police brutality and unequal treatment they saw devastating Oakland families. They chose the name 'Black Panther' because it's an animal that doesn’t strike first but will aggressively protect itself from attack. 'The BPP' embraced the incendiary idea of armed self-defense, which would soon bring them into violent conflict with the law. But that was just part of what they did. They also campaigned for full black employment, fair housing and access to healthcare and education. The 'BPP' became famed for their free breakfast program, which provided meals for impoverished Oakland youth. They ran free health education and sickle cell anemia testing programs, provided transportation for the elderly, conducted voter drives, sponsored candidates for office and monitored police stops long before the advent of video, let alone smart phones. Spreading across the nation, The 'BPP' was visible everywhere in the early 70s. But targeted by 'The FBI' and riven by shootouts with the police, controversial criminal charges as well as internal power struggles The 'BPP' began to collapse. More than 50 years after it's inception, debate still rages over 'The Black Panther Party' as a force in American history. But in Oakland, it's impact on the culture is undeniable. Oakland is a place of equal parts defiant grit and revelatory grace. The town changes so fast it makes our heads spin. Hipsters have invaded the boulevards, healthy foods and prices have hit the bodegas, and business is booming, but what's being erased in the process? "Blindspotting" becomes a tale of the two Oaklands, the old Oakland and the new Oakland, the white, working-class Oakland and the black Oakland, the slangy, arty, spirited Oakland and the violent, angry, rebellious Oakland, by exposing the hidden divides between two thick-as-thieves friends. The Oakland that the film depicts feels exhilaratingly specific and local. But also, it's a microcosm of what many American cities face in 2018; marked by youthful vitality, innovation and style to spare, but also reeling from the effects of inequity, unaffordable housing, gangs, crime, racial profiling, underemployment, police violence, structural injustice, and parents of color having to have the talk with their kids. "Blindspotting", traverses both sides of the morphing city, as some thrive and others scramble to stay afloat. The urban flows and word-play that are so woven into the fabric of Oakland culture had to be infused into the core of the script. After all, Oakland’s many paradoxes, as a city that can be sometimes playful, sometimes tragic, where ecstatic late-night dance parties and bloodshed are both part of the rolling cultural landscape, are a huge chunk of what make Collin and Miles who they're. A visceral sense of the city still hangs onto the legacies of it's historic past, while on the precipice of being remade, emanates from every frame of the film. The central hub of Oakland has just gone into this massive overhaul with an influx of people. With new people comes new perspectives, and with that, new commerce. But that turnover has felt violent, both economically and physically, to people who’ve lived there their whole lives, because they're suddenly treated very differently. Knowing where you’re from is so foundational for who you're as a human, and if that disappears, it might mean that you've no context anymore. Artists who are from Oakland are hell-bent on preserving our context, making sure there's an origin story. While N.Y.C. usually takes center stage in rap history, Oakland has long been a rap capital in it's own right, befitting the city’s history of urban artistry and social engagement. In fact a separate rap culture to the one on 'The East Coast' developed simultaneously in the city, drawing on a rich brew from Oakland’s soul and funk scenes of the past. Today, Oakland is home to a fittingly vast variety of styles, from alternative backpack rap to conscious rap, but much of it pays homage one way or another to the city’s long history of boldness and activism. In Oakland, music has always been a primary means for citizens, from all walks of life, to share their stories and express their realities. The film’s very title refers back to a scene in the film involving a common illusion; a picture that, at first, looks like a vase, but on second glance can instead look like two faces, if you shift your eyes in just the right way. "Blindspotting" is a potent metaphor not just for race relations but for all human communication. For all it's timely themes, and lens on how we perceive and sometimes blindly miss one another, "Blindspotting" is at it's heart a hometown adventure told through the friendship of two inseparable underdogs.

(Release Info London schedule; December 1st, 2018, Curzon Victoria, 11:00) "The Old Man & The Gun" "The Old Man And The Gun" is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who becomes captivated with Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and Jewel (Sissy Spacek), a woman who loves him in spite of his chosen profession. Forrest Tucker only ever has one occupation, but it's one he's unusually gifted at and pursued with unabashed joy. It just happened to be bank robbing. In the early 1980s, at a septuagenarian age, Tucker embarked on a final legend-making spree of heists with 'The Over-The-Hill Gang', a posse of elderly bandits who employed smooth charm over aggression to make off with millions. Tucker never stopped defying age, expectations, or rules; he makes his twilight the pinnacle of his life of crime. If the sole art form he knew is robbery, he's darned if he isn't going to try to perfect it, no matter how elusive the dream. He’s someone who does what he loves and gets away with it. The film imbues the story with the rollicking mythos of a modern Western. The feeling is that of a campfire tale about a simpler time; i.e. the 1980s, that last decade just before mobile devices and the internet changed everything. It's a time with less hurry and more room to hide, which makes the chase that erupted between Tucker and the lawman who pursued him a thing of slow-burning beauty both men relished. And as Forrest is chased, he too is chasing something; a last chance at love and at a legacy, even if it must be an outlaw one. But what makes this story unique is that it’s an allegory for an uncompromising artist’s soul. Robbing banks maybe isn’t the greatest choice of art form but it’s what Forrest did, so he put his heart into it. And like all uncompromising people, Forrest sacrificed a lot, in terms of relationships, in terms of what he missed and what he risked. Forrest believes that wanton violence is the sign of an amateur holdup man. The best holdup men, in his view, are like stage actors, able to hold a room by the sheer force of their personality. He's a gentleman, even if he's gentlemanly bank robber. It harkens back to almost a James Cagney type of movie, where there’s an innocence to it. Forrest is a wonderful, complicated character, so full of life and risk and enjoying danger. On the one hand, Forrest is a dreamer but on the other, he’s capable of taking great risks and he’s someone who you can trust has the capacity to go through with a plan, and trust is key in this world, We root for Forrest because we understand him as a man who wants to keep doing what does best, a man looking for love and success who isn’t ready to quit. It's Tucker’s desire to keep upping his game that draws the law to him one last time. The film touches on these deeper themes in a playful way. It's important for the film to have levity, to feel like a fun legend people tell their kids at night.   Even amid the eccentric annals of famed outlaws, Forrest Tucker is an original, a career bank robber who escaped prison 18 times and pulled off bank heists well into his seventies. The real Forrest Silva Tucker grew up in Depression-era Florida, brought up by his grandmother and raised on dime-store novels about stickup men who broke out from the social margins. He began his own life of crime in his early teens with a stolen bicycle and from then on, spent his entire adulthood in and out of prison; often breaking out of prisons, including his most notorious escape from San Quentin. Molding himself into his own version of the crime legends he’d read about, he would become as renowned for his calm, personable heist style as for amassing a total of 18 successful escapes from incarceration. Forrest Tucker passed away in 2004 at the age of 83, after serving just 4 years of his 13-year sentence for armed robbery in Texas when sent to prison in 2000. Two qualities seemed to bind Forrest; dedication to his chosen craft and an ability to tap into a boyish passion no matter their age. The end of the road is something Tucker always sought to avoid, one of the reasons perhaps he became one of the world’s greatest escape artists.   The real Forrest Tucker was married three times, but it was his last wife who saw him for who he was. The script riffs in a semi-fictional way on the character of Jewel, exploring why a fiercely independent widow might choose to share her life with a bank robber still dreaming of the biggest and best heist he might pull off. Jewel is content on her own. Her children are grown up and gone. Her husband has gone on to the other side and she lived on a ranch with all of her animals. She's very rooted and she's the opposite of who Forrest is. Forrest went whichever way the wind blew, he always has. But Jewel is just grounded and everything for her is about her relationships with both people and animals. In that context, deciding to let Forrest woo here's most of all a welcome leap into one of life’s unknowns for Jewel. Jewel is at a point in her life where she thinks, maybe it’s time for me to do whatever I want. In saying yes to this man, she's really saying yes to life. And she could do that, because she's already so independent and didn’t really need anybody to take care of her. Forrest Tucker knows he's lucky to discover in Jewel a woman who accepted his enormous flaw of being a wanted man, while falling for everything else about him. She knows who Forrest is and she knows this terrible thing about him but still, she supported him. She didn’t particularly like what he did, but she loved him for the kind of human being he's. She knows Forrest couldn’t stop, even if a part of him would have liked to. She knows, Forrest doesn’t rob banks for any darker purpose other than for the thrill of knowing he can figure it out. She gives him a place to go, a place to stop and rest his weary bones, if just for a moment, and she gives him a good friend. The film excavate the improbable nature of Forrest and Jewel’s connection; exploring why two people who seem so thoroughly unlikely as a couple on the surface match at a deeper level as two people each still looking to extract something more out of life. Sweet as things are, they both know it’s just a matter of time before the law caught up with Forrest again. Teddy Waller (Danny Glover) is a more prototypical criminal than Forrest, someone who didn’t quite have it all together. He has had a screw loose. He was in prison for 10 years, he had made a lot of mistakes and, you know, his socks didn’t  match. Forrest is much more together. He's composed and that’s why he's the gang leader. The thrill of the heist for Forrest Tucker is matched by the meaningfulness of the pursuit for the cop who decided he's going to nab him; John Hunt. Forrest is an undeniable force, able to get the bank tellers to swoon and cooperate. So John Hunt looks at him and wonders; is the way this guy lives his life an example I should be applying to myself? That’s a hard thing for a police officer to ask about a criminal. And it creates a really interesting interplay both inside Hunt and with Tucker. Hunt is kind of a lone wolf. He's discontented with the police department, so he went off and decided he’d figure this case out all on his own. But there's also something about the romance of a non-violent, life-long bank robber that appealled to Hunt. He has a kind of admiration for Forrest. Even as Forrest grows closer to Jewel, the Texas policeman John Hunt is closing in on him. But Hunt too is more a source of pride than distress for Forrest, who enjoyed being worthy of a grand chase and having an opponent to outsmart. For Forrest, that respect comes with realizing that Hunt is going to be the animal that chased him and he's going to be the animal that escaped. Hunt confesses that he did indeed have a qualified respect for Tucker, even as he sought to bring him to justice. It's a time when a cop could take his time chasing a robber, when the contest of the chase itself could overtake the finality of the capture, which is what happens between Forrest and John Hunt. In real life, Hunt never actually met Tucker face-to-face. But in the film, they've two intriguing encounters. In their first, Hunt is humiliated by Tucker when he finds himself standing in a bank line waiting to make a deposit when a stickup occurs right under his nose. From that moment, Hunt makes it his life’s mission to catch this guy, and that’s the start of a deeper connection between the two of them where they each are playing the other and pushing the other. This film is based on a story, journalist and author David Grann has written about Forrest for 'The New Yorker' in 2003, three years after the bank robbing legend been sent back to prison at age 80 for yet another cunning heist to cap off a literal lifetime of them. The internal joyousness of the character is his guide into telling the story as an almost anti-procedural, making both the crimes and the pursuit of the criminals secondary to the spirit of the storytelling. The film turns the story into two gleeful cat-and-mouse games; one the unfolding love story between Tucker and perhaps the only woman who would ever put up with his outrageous career choice; the other the story of the world-weary law 9 who decided to chase him. A few decades ago, both crime and law enforcement had a different feel. With no internet or smart phones and few computers, if police wanted to share information across state lines it was done by telephone or U.S. mail. Most cops still carried revolvers, not automatic weapons. The chase is where all the energy was. It’s always a little bit of a letdown in movies when the chase has to end, isn’t it? "The Old Man & The Gun" takes place on the cusp of the 80s, which allows the film to pay a homage to 70s filmmaking. At the same time, the film’s settings are an outgrowth of the film’s characters. The film is being more of a throwback emotionally rather than in it's style. The emphasis is on the people and it’s almost not important when and where this all takes place. It’s just that you suddenly might realize that hey, nobody has a cell phone or the internet and you’re in this world that’s a little different from the one we live in now. Super 16 has such a special aesthetic quality that immediately harkens back to 70s filmmaking. And it looks really old-fashioned. The film wants the image to feel old but also wants to avoid nostalgia. People use their imagination more. The film stuck to the physical side of everything being pre-1981. It's a colder, more sterile look, using greys, whites and primary colors, rather than everything being warm browns, woods and oranges. It’s about aspiring to the classic American dream. Western showdowns, comic capers and gritty tales of complicated cops and robbers, but all in service to a fresh take on living outside the lines. It’s a subtle, human take on a crime story, but it also has a very jazzy kind of feel. Less is always more and the film leaves audiences with mysteries and questions. "The Old Man & The Gun" pushes against all natural instincts and see how far outside our comfort zone we could get ourself.

(London Film Festival, October 11th, 2018, LFF Cinema, Leicester Square, 19:30) "Colette" After marrying Henri Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West), a successful Parisian, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendor of Paris. Soon after, Henri convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel, about a brazen country girl named 'Claudine', that becomes a bestseller and a cultural sensation. Colette and Henri become the talk of Paris, and their adventures go on to inspire additional 'Claudine' novels. Colette's subsequent fight over the creative ownership of these books defies gender roles and drives her to overcome societal constraints, revolutionizing literature, fashion and sexual expression. Colette is a pioneering writer who goes on to become a cultural icon in France and inspire generations of artist. The film illuminates the passions and ambitions that drove Colette to blaze trails as one of the most celebrated authors of her time. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is a young woman from the provinces whose life changes after she becomes engaged to a wealthy man of letters from Paris, Henri Gauthier-Villars. After their wedding, Colette is thrust into the metropolitan life of Paris in all it's finde siècle glory. She tries to adapt to her new bourgeois life but her confidence in the marriage is shattered when she learns that Henri is a philanderer. She confronts him and returns to the country in disgust, but Henri woos her back with promises that in the future their marriage will be more of a partnership. Soon after their return to Paris, Henri presses Colette to write a novel about her country schoolgirl days. She pens a novel entitled 'Claudine At School', about a feisty, savvy young woman, 'Claudine', who's essentially the first literary incarnation of the modern teenager. Initially unimpressed with her writing, Henri declares the book too feminine and stashes it away. It's only after they fall on hard times that he rediscovers the manuscripts and manages to get them published under his own name. 'Claudine' is an immediate sensation and soon becomes the most popular book in all of France. Henri uses the success to create a line of ancillary merchandise; 'Claudine Cigarettes', 'Claudine Perfume', 'Claudine Soap', and 'Claudine Dresses'. He creates a brand. In turn, Colette and Henri effectively become the first modern celebrity couple; the toast of 'The Belle Époque'. But at the core of their relationship, the dark secret of the book's true authorship smolders. Upon meeting Georgie Raoul-Duval (Eleanor Tomlinson), a wayward Southern belle full of flirtatious charm, Colette explores her attraction to women and embarks on a passionate affair with Georgie. Henri's own interest complicates matters when he begins to see Georgie behind Colette's back. Justice is served when Colette writes the next 'Claudine' novel, penning a thinly-disguised account of the entire event, including Henri's betrayal, for the world to see, and to gossip about. At the premiere of the theatrical version of 'Claudine', Colette meets Mathilde de Morny, 'The Marquise De Belbeuf' (Denise Gough), a non-conforming aristocrat who wears men's clothes and embraces a masculine identity. They form a relationship and, emboldened by 'De Belbeuf's' example, Colette challenges Henri, fighting for ownership of her creative voice and ultimately her freedom.   Here's a woman well ahead of her time, well-remembered for her beloved novels 'Chéri' (1920) and 'Gigi' (1944). Colette is of a time and mindset where rules were being broken and she's part of challenging convention and opening up the world. Colette questioned social mores, sexuality, gender. She's a game-changer. There's also a lot of wit and warmth present in the story of how Colette loved Henri but became her own woman. She makes life decisions that were astonishingly radical, Going onstage is a way of claiming her voice. She exposed a breast in the play flesh at a time when women were still debating whether to show some ankle. Colette is fearless. Colette is coolness. She can steal people's hearts if they discover her. Henri has a sort of rambunctiousness, confidence, and famous charm. He's not a great guy, but he also has to convey a lovability and an intellect. There's one grooming component which Henri never lost sight of. Mathilde de Morny, 'Marquise De Belbeuf' is brave and self-actualizing, not really craving the spotlight. She becomes a quiet but powerful presence in Colette's life who showed her love. Mathilde s brilliant and is at the forefront. Colette's mother, Sido, (Fiona Shaw) has consistently challenged gender conventions in her work. The audience needs to understand that she realized she'd produced a daughter who's so different and has such great potential. The celebrated couple of Colette and Henri occupy a thriving and vibrant fin de siècle world of salons and music halls. He's a showman like Malcolm McLaren, figuring that the more outrageous they're, the more the public would lap it up. For a long while, he's quite successful betting on that. Colette and Henri lived on the brink of modernity. He senses that and has a very strong impulse to capitalize on it. The cost to that's, a woman's being exploited. Henri is a leech and a chauvinistic manipulator. He's very tyrannical. You've to not hate Henri in order to comprehend why Colette stays with him as long as she does. They can behave horrifically and yet there's a charm and humor which means they can get away with it; at least for a while. Colette addresses a marriage that becomes, at it's core, exploitative, while also acknowledging the complexities of the relationship. The film concentrates on the truth of these two, on what drew them to each other and what their fuel was together. As with many relationships, things exploded and there's debris. Each derived a lot from the other's company. There's a great creative urgency to Colette and Henri's relationship. Colette enters into the union of a teenager with an older man; what's so dramatic is, how and when she will emerge from it; fighting for agency and independence. Their marriage ran the gamut; love, hate, tenderness, perversity, mentoring, and rampant exploitation. Much of it played out in the public eye, so in many ways Colette and Henri functioned as modern celebrity couples do. To that end, while Henri may have lacked the creative writing talent of Colette, he's a highly innovative marketeer. He sees great commercial potential in 'The Claudine Stories', and turned them into a brand, with a wide range of merchandise. The film assesses Henri as an impresario. He plays his part in the theatre which is Paris at the turn of the 20th century, when it's culturally the center of the world. He knows their personal life is fair game; he embraces scandal, and understood how to manipulate publicity.  Colette changes seismically but not melodramatically. Henri changes, too, to slightly broken; but things are happening to him, whereas with Colette she's active. Henri is of his time, and Colette gained the confidence to retaliate against his misogyny and laziness. He gets left behind by changes in the world and society. But the action taken against Henri comes not so much from society as from the woman who could not be put down and stopped; it's not only Henri but also the structures of the patriarchy that could no longer contain her. Henri and Colette's relationship is not just them being at home in their apartment. These are two people who are affecting the world, and it's affecting them. Colette's break-up with Henri and develops a relationship with Mathilde De Morny, 'Marquise De Belbeuf', a lesbian who adopted male dress and attitudes. That,works narratively and conceptually, for Henri and Mathilde to impact one another more directly; two different variations of masculinity coming face to face.  Here's a thrilling story, and one that's still so relevant. Colette is a very well-known artist, yet the real story of what she went through is something not well-known. The film regards her marriage to Henri, who's quite a character himself. Their relationship came at a pivotal time, the beginning of the modern age when there was a tectonic shift happening in gender roles; women were demanding more power in all areas of life, and men were resisting with all their might. All of this crystallized for Colette personally and professionally in that marriage. It's a female-driven narrative, about a woman who's incredibly important in terms of the history of women's literature and politics. The film recreates Paris during the rich and remarkably eventful era of 'The Belle Époque'. So when Colette first goes to the salon in Paris she's taking it in and seeing everything, and the staging and camera moves are very much inspired by Ophüls. When you're in the front of the theatre, it's Paris. When you're in the backstage area and on the stage looking one way, that's Marseilles. Finally, when you're walking through the foyer, it's Brussels. It's like a 'Rubik's Cube'! Through it all, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette has been a beacon. She just kept going; she broke barriers and stayed true to her artistic voice. Her life is a story in itself, and that stories can change the world. The film reintroduces audiences to someone who was very much on par with today's 'Time's Up Movement'. This was a woman who overcame oppression and claimed her voice; the parallels are powerful. People will see the strengths of now reflected in someone who spoke up for herself and for being free. That women still are battling; the statistics in film are depressing, and a sexism is very much there. Feminism is back on, but there's a long way to go. We're going to now look at history slightly differently. The story in "Colette" happened before 'The Two World Wars', yet it gets forgotten as it gets pushed further back into history and time moves forward. These are big themes, the struggle of the under-represented, and the disempowered being heard. Women have started to seize some power; the story of who holds the power and how that power causes a story to be written in a certain way is what's happening right now. Women are too often starved of seeing themselves in all their brilliance and all their flaws onscreen. "Colette" is an example of exactly that, but from 100 years ago, and still able to resonate strongly.