"With pleasure": a cultural day review including Film Review: The Artist

We had quite a cultural day yesterday - started off by going to Nottingham Contemporary to catch the Klaus Weber exhibition before it closes today; walking around St. Mary's Church in Hockley; going to the Broadway Cinema to see The Artist; and ending up by watching the first couple of episodes of Borgen, our new Scandi Saturday drama.

All in all a very lovely day and I will try and post some pictures here soon of our day out.

In the meantime, I want to focus on commenting about "The Artist" which is quite possibly one of the loveliest films you could possibly hope to see this year (if you have not already been lucky enough to see it).

You can imagine the pitch:

• it's in black and white (though interestingly it used colour stock and then was altered to black and white because the contrast was not quite what was wanted in proper black and white)
• it's largely silent with VERY limited diegetic sound and has intertitles
• it's in 4:3 aspect ration (how I squealed with delight at that little detail, instead of the screen widening as it started)

As Neil said of the executives, he could imagine them asking "but it's in 3-D, right?"

A rather sniffy review in Sight and Sound (the BFI's film magazine) dismissed it as a 'novelty', and it's true there is unlikely to be a resurgence of new films made in this way. I'm not expecting the new year to bring in dozens of 'silent' movies. However, the review did really irk me when I read it after coming home from the screening thoroughly uplifted.

Whilst it would be wrong to hold individual reviewers to be 'stand-ins' for the magazine (let alone the BFI as a whole), Sight and Sound does have an unfortunate tendency to sometimes grant the most gross-out populist film serious credence and credibility than it would ever deserve; to be so harshly dismissive of an undeniably populist film as 'The Artist' which has much higher ideals underpinning it seems at the very least hypocritical.

So a gross-out film aiming for the populist 15-24 year old is more 'honest' than a beautifully observed homage to the silent (and classic) eras of Hollywood appealing to an audience encompassing everything from children to grandparents?

I know which 'honesty' I think deserves more analysis.

[Link to "The Artist" trailer - sorry: could not embed]



I've come to a conclusion about films and their audience: if you get to the end and the audience starts applauding, I think you've got something special on your hands as a feel-good movie. Most times, people just filter out. They may be smiling and happy even, but I do think that applause in a cinema is now a rare enough commodity to mean something.

The storyline is simple: a heroic romantic, daring-do-action film star meets a wanna-be actress. She is on the way up; he is on the way down. This is because soon after they meet, talkies arrive. Our leading man - elegantly captured by the performance of Jean Dujardin as George Valentin - is not someone who talks: indeed his first intertitle 'line' is "I will not speak." Our leading lady, the suitably named Peppy Miller (played by Berenice Bejo) is, in contrast, positively entranced by talking. Will their attraction lead to happiness? Can there be success for them both?

During "The Artist", there were many sequences where, with no music either (despite a luscious near-continuous score by Ludovic Bource), there was just pure enraptured silence in the room. Nevertheless, we laughed at the utterly adorable Jack Russell (Uggie) who deserves an Oscar in his own right; we wept at the sight of an intertitle reading "BANG!"; we grinned with delight at the dance sequences - everything about this film is so perfectly pitched to carry the audience along with it.

The visual tropes deployed are not all from the silent era - there are a number of sequences owing much to Citizen Kane for example. Overall then "The Artist" plays with and looks affectionately upon those 'tricks' of both the silent era and some of the classic period Hollywood cliches. We read lips well, but not always well; we understand that when a dog runs up to a policeman he needs his attention for an emergency; when a producer/studio owner sees dollar-signs, he doesn't care if it's the old or the new as long as it works.

Nostalgic? Yes, this film is undeniably infused with a lifelong passion for film. Will it encourage audiences to look again beyond the latest 3-D widescreen fad to older films? One can only hope. And in the meantime, expect the sentimentality of the BAFTA and Academy Award committees to shower "The Artist" with awards. For once, one lives in hope they do...

Theatre Review: King Lear - Donmar Warehouse, Thursday 3 February 2011 (NT Live! Broadcast to Nottingham Broadway Cinema)

This was - I think - our third live theatre broadcast, but the first attempted from the Donmar Warehouse, that delightfully intimate London theatre space.

The current production of King Lear has been considerably acclaimed - then again, Lear very often is - and it was a real treat to be able to see this live broadcast as getting tickets to see this would have been nigh impossible.

Jacobi as the aged king is, probably unsurprising, utterly mesmerising. But there is scarcely a moment when you feel anyone is working at less than full quality. Paul Jesson as the Earl of Gloucester gave a wonderfully nuanced performance and both Alec Newman as the bastard Edmund and Gwilym Lee as the noble Edgar/Poor Tom were brilliant portrayals of the sons. You could tell Gina McKee was just loving playing the vile Goneril ("at last, a bitch!" she too often gets pegged in damaged but attempting to be saintly roles) and Justine Mitchell's Regan was truly horrific in her delighted violence towards Gloucester.

Michael Hadley is a fine and fiercely loyal Earl of Kent and Ron Cook is suitably revealing and entertaining as the Fool (a brief period of light in the darkness of this bleak play).

Any faults the production suffers are not its fault, but rather the plays own fault. Cordelia is so clearly a loving daughter - just not in the way her father unreasonably expects her to be - and is so saintly in her response to the situation that it is hard to feel more than pity for her plight. Pippa Bennett-Warner is a charming and responsive daughter but she is hampered by not being the core focus of Shakespeare's play. Moreover, it is always hard to read the extent to which Lear's madness is induced by the loss of his truest and much-loved daughter or is prefigured in the heartlessly cruel way he tests his daughters/subjects from the start.

I was wary of the almost blank canvas setting of the Donmar version - white-ish boards envelop the stage and the balconies. But with the sound effects it was remarkably effective and emotionally allowed space for the actors to act.

Only one aspect marred the evening: part way through the second half just as Lear emerges with his crown of grasses, the signal suddenly cut out to despairing cries from the Broadway cinema audience (and no doubt elsewhere too!). This initially led to sound but a jarred/pixilated image before suddenly we heard an announcement to the theatre audience (not us elsewhere) that "the satellite signal had gone down" so they would be restarting that Act/scene again. Cue groans from the theatre (and no doubt from the actors too!). It was a LONG 10 minutes or so, but once resumed all was well. Poor Michael Grandage must have been having kittens --- in the interview at the start with Emma Freud he'd said they were all nervous enough thanks.

All in all, a fabulous if exhausting night. It was a late finish and the play is gruelling enough without that. But I felt honoured to have been able to see such a magnificent production of this iconic play.

Did I say this was my first Lear?

Paddy Considine - Q&A event at Nottingham Broadway cinema Friday 11 July 2008

Cloud does have a tendency to come up with some diamond last minute events. Out of the blue he gets in touch Friday and offers up the prospect of an event at the local independent art house cinema: Nottingham Broadway.

A Q&A with Paddy Considine and a screening of Dead Man's Shoes (bloody fantastic British film directed by Shane Meadows first seen by us in the company of lovely George up in Aberdeen).

Brilliant!

We had a nice tea at the Broadway's own cafe and then piled upstairs to the Screen 1. Amazingly, it wasn't sold out (something which Paddy himself addressed when first welcoming us: "They told me it was sold out: fucking liars! There's loads of empty seats!")*

We had a screening of Dog Altogether Paddy's BAFTA award winning directorial short-film debut**: a very dark but rather compelling narrative starring the wonderful Peter Mullan and Olivia Coleman. We then had a clip-show of several of Paddy's best known films (which unfortunately had to be restarted after the first attempt was woefully out of sound synchronisation). Then it was the main event. James Mottram interviewing Paddy Considine about film making and his life so far.

Considine is wonderfully articulate and witty - swears profusely - and comes over as someone who couldn't lie convincingly if his life depended on it. He's not best known for doing a lot of interviews and I think the audience appreciated that we were getting a rare chance to hear him talk so candidly. He talked about Dog Altogether and its drawing on Considine's own violent father's experiences. He talked about doing mainstream films (specifically Cinderella Man - with Russell Crowe - and The Bourne Ultimatum) and didn't diss the entire experience. Indeed, he was really charming about Cinderella Man for its lovely entertainment value ("even though I'm only in it five minutes") not least for the thrill he got whilst doing boxing practice before takes and getting tips from Mohammad Ali's trainer... And Considine was also excitable talking about getting his (brief) role in the Bourne film ("it's Paul Greengrass! It's a Bourne film! You get a really explosive scene! We're going to pay you 20p!").

When the event was thrown open to the floor, one girl sat by the wall on the front row at the far side of the cinema was eagerly in with the first question: "Where did the title 'Dog Altogether' come from?" Turns out it was a phrase from his dad to describe when things are altogether fucked up (his uncle in a willful turn of phrase would himself say such things were 'cat'). There was another question from someone questioning and asking for advice from a creative perspective [there were a lot of these which got a tad self-absorbed really]. And then...

Well, you know me. I hate a silence. I put my hand up. Cue approaching guy with mike for me (stop laughing at the back - I know I could have managed without it but these were mostly people who didn't know me: they don't need to know I can't be heard in outer-space...***)

There was a bit of a fuddle waiting for the mike to get down the row to me, in which time Paddy 'complained' about them keeping 'a young lady waiting'. Neil later joked Considine may need glasses. Charming, dear boy. [And to think I'm taking him to see Catherine Tate on stage...]

Anyway, once the mike arrived I asked him about whether he had taken the chance to talk to Peter Mullan much about his experience of directorial debuts. Now this was my way of tapping into a bit of cross-referencing. Mullan's first feature film was Orphans: see, it all comes together... All good. There were more questions - pretty much all of them having some 'I'm a writer', 'I'm a photographer' (Considine studied photography), 'I'm a writer' variety - before they asked for a final question. Two hands went up almost simultaneously. And one of them was the girl who had had the first question. Mottram was keen to give another voice a chance but Paddy let her go and she dashed up to the stage and got him to sign her ticket for him ("What's yer name luv?" "Natalie") before running back to her mates clearly pleased as punch at the action. A final question after all that delight - and Considine was just brilliant in cheering her on - was always going to be an anti-climax, especially when it turned into another 'I'm a...' question.

Having said that, the heartfelt response that he offered on how to deal with using personal experience as the basis of writing ("if you're a writer, you write; you just have to put it out there and believe in it") was full of determination. The crowd were elated to vigorously applaud the end of the event.

At which point, as we all stood to stretch our legs - and then exit to allow them to take down the filming lights and mikes etc - I spotted a familiar face: a former PhD colleague who it turned out had heard and recognised my voice in the Q&A bit! It was lovely to see her however briefly.

When we headed back for the film screening, Paddy made a brief reappearance - again thanking us sincerely for for turning out and the reception we had given. He also have a tip about seeing him in Nottingham and Derby: "I don't mind you coming up and saying hi or anything, but can you not quote bits from this film at me when I'm with ma kids!" (He went on to quote a couple of choice moves and lines which would freak anyone out, let alone a couple of kids!)

The film of course was brilliant and it was awesome to see it on a big screen. Considine turns in a terrific performance. My favourite bit is when, confronted by hard man Sonny - played by Gary Stretch, Considine is asked "You're not afraid of me are you?" and Considine's laugh in response sums up his own character's position. He SO does not give a fuck. It is chilling and despairing. It's basically a revenge western but set in the East Midlands. Make of that what you will. But though not for the faint-hearted, it is an incredible performance in an amazing British film.

A great night!


* Though it wasn't sold out, given it was out of term time for the unis there weren't that many empty seats in the end...

** The event was co-hosted by BAFTA and EM Media (which runs out of the Broadway Media Centre and is also involved in Shane Meadows' films)

*** Doctor, no need for you to be lonely in the TARDIS sweetie, especially if you're off to meet David Morrissey. I will happily take on the task of keeping you company...