THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE: Enchanting or just lost in the woods?

This episode is brought to you by Mubi, the global film company that champions great cinema. From iconic directors to emerging auteurs, there's always something new to discover. With Mubi. Each and every film is hand selected so you can explore the best of cinema.

0:00

Yes. And new to Mubi in the UK this March is the brilliant no Other Choice from Park Chan Wook. If you're a regular listener of the show, you will have heard me reviewing the film and raving about it. Actually kind of struggling to describe it because it's a black comedy, it's a thriller, it's a social satire, it's about a man whose life starts to fall apart and he takes unreasonable measures to correct things. I was absolutely fascinated by it. I thought it was a terrific film. And as I said, it's coming to MUBI in the UK from March 13th.

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You can try MUBI free for 30 days@mubi.com kermod and mayo. That's m u b I.com kermod and mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free.

0:43

There really is no other choice. Hey, Simon, how was your trip to Copenhagen with the family?

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Well, it was very nice, thank you very much.

1:01

Great. How come you never call when you're away?

1:04

I'm not wasting good holiday money calling you.

1:06

Charming. Why don't you get an eSIM? It'll provide an Internet connection wherever you travel and save you money on roaming fees.

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Well, it sounds ideal, but did you have one in mind, perchance?

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Well, it's funny you should ask. Yes, I do. It's called Saily and it's an ESIM service app brought to you by the creators of NordVPN.

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Oh, yeah, we like them, don't we?

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Well, that all sounds great. I don't suppose you've got an offer code to share whilst you're feeling generous?

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1:55

Still not calling you. Before we begin, a quick reminder that you can become a Vanguardista and get

2:07

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2:13

and non film questions answered as best we can in questions.

2:22

You can get all that extra stuff via Apple Podcasts or head to extratakes.com for non fruit related devices.

2:25

There's never been a better time to become a Vanguardista. Free offer now available wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're already a Vanguardista, we salute you. These. Hello. Hello. These home broadcasts are all very well. Are you in your place and yeah, me and mine. Your small corner and me and my small corner. But what I want is a cartwheel.

2:32

Okay, you're gonna have to explain to everybody listening what a cartwheel is, because not only is it a radio specific term, it's a radio specific term from a bygone age. Simon, what's a cartwheel?

3:14

Cartwheel is a wall of car carts.

3:25

What's a cart?

3:29

So cartridges were, it was a bit like, you know, the eight track.

3:30

Yeah.

3:34

When, when that was a thing. But it hung around in radio for a lot longer and you had all kinds of jingles on big bits of plastic which had tape in the middle and you just bashed it into a machine, hit the play button and it would do, and it would do your thing and you'd have a big wall of about 100, 200 carts and you'd reach for a car and you'd slam it in the machine and then you'd press play and it would. And you'd be off. And it had a kind of radio magic to it. And what I, I would just love to be able to, to have. It's the physicality of it. I, I don't, I, I don't want a digital equivalent. I want racks after racks of blue plastic with little, little bits of tape inside and then bit of rubbish labeling, handwritten, you know, opener or hey, hilarious. 35 seconds, that kind of thing.

3:35

I had, I had one when I was, when I was at Radio 5 before it was 5 live and it was just Radio 5 and I was doing the afternoon show with Karen Keating and I had one which was a bit from the soundtrack of Dougal and the Blue Cat, which was Dougal going, right, who's for a cup of tea? And just to take huge pleasure in reaching, as you say, you grabbed the thing because it was exactly like it, like the kind of eight track which, you know, in the. Wish I had a great Cortina, you know, eight track, blazing Brucey Springsteen, bomber jacket, dressed to Kill. You'd Hoik it over and as you said rightly, you would literally slam it into the machine. It was very physical. Big clunk and then it would do a thing and then you'd love. And Steve Wright, we were just discussing. Steve Wright was the king. Yeah, he was the king. He had a wall. A wall of cartridges.

4:25

Yes. I feel all kind of wistful nowadays.

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It's just like a little. It's a little knob and it's a digital thing, so you just twiddle a little knob and all the funny stuff comes up and it's. There's nothing. There's nothing Grey Cortina about it at all anymore, which is a shame.

5:15

Were you allowed, from a copyright point of view, to play that extract from Doom?

5:27

Nobody asked. Nobody asked.

5:31

Do you think that means. No?

5:33

I do remember that a DJ acquaintance of yours and mine for years and years had an intro to their show on Radio 1, which featured a bit from Star Trek. And at some point. Is it Paramount, whichever studio it was, got wind of this and they were not best pleased. So, yeah, I mean, I think. But I don't think anyone was chasing the rights to Dougal and the Blue Cat at that point. I'm not sure that anybody was actually owning up to owning it.

5:35

When I was. I remember in local radio, when I was at Radio Nottingham, I used a clip of Tony Hancock on a. On a promo for a Sunday show

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that I was doing.

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It's the bit where Tony Hancock says, I ate Sundays.

6:19

And it was great.

6:23

It was a very good trail.

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It's just that apparently if I'd logged

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it, it would have cost an absolute fortune because it was very much not available to use, as you just fancied, particularly later in this show.

6:27

Oh, right, we're doing actual business now.

6:37

Are you going to be talking about some films?

6:40

Yes, we go. We're going to be talking about Splitsville, which is an unromantic romantic comedy, they Will Kill, which does exactly what it says on the tin. And the Magic Faraway Tree, which I'm sure that you've seen posters and some of you may have read the. Read the Enid Blyton novel books.

6:42

Also, France's greatest living filmmaker, Francois Ozan, will be on to talk about his new movie, the Stranger, or l' Etranger Reviews in take two, Marc Orwell, Two

6:58

plus two equals five. And Romeo was Romeo and Juliet. But it's the Baz Luhrmann. Romeo plus Juliet is 20 years old and is back in St miles for its 20th anniversary.

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Also in take two, you'll get even more of the good stuff, including Five Question Film Club.

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Three questions, you, Majesty.

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Last week, Mark supplied viewing notes for Michael Mann's Heat, available for you on Patreon. Our intros to the Silence of the Lambs, Heathers and the Elephant Man. So head on over to Patreon if you'd like to join the club. Plus all the other top quality content. Ad free. Now let's just see if we can get in the mood. There's a take that delivers with flair. Ad free treats for the faithful who care. Two shows in full view plus take ultra times two with polls, secrets and fun stuff to spare. Yes, the release of the Faraway Tree is happening. So we asked you for your suggestions of Enid Blyton film and TV adaptations in one frame back. The features that gives you extended viewing for a weekly cinematic release. And questions.

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What?

8:05

But that. That wasn't an Enid Blyton. That was a limerick. Enid Blyton didn't do limericks.

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Anyway, questions, Mark and I answer this question, amongst others. Are there any films that we have watched and loved but have been unable to return to for a second viewing due to the emotional impact they had on us as children?

8:11

Yeah. Yes. Okay.

8:23

Well, you can get out more details in questions. Julian Evitts in Chester Dear AI and Slop. The discussion around AI in recent shows has been fascinating. I wanted to add to the discussion by sharing. The world is going too fast, AI tidbit that happened to me recently.

8:26

Okay.

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Last weekend I found myself at a small craft fair. On one stall, a woman was selling photographs that she'd taken. She had a sign up reading, no AI. The sign went on to explain that she'd taken all photographs personally and that no AI was involved. According to the sign, any alterations or enhancements were done the traditional way, using Photoshop. Suddenly, suddenly felt very old indeed. Speaking of AI, Mark.

8:46

Yes.

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We got sent a press release this week.

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Did we?

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Yeah. For the second edition of the World AI Film Festival in Cannes. It says, quote, an international event dedicated to the intersection of audio, visual creation and artificial intelligence. At a time when artificial intelligence raises as many hopes as it does questions, we are making a clear choice to turn it into a tool that serves creation. No technology will ever replace the sensitivity and perspective of artists. It can, however, open new horizons and enrich new forms of expression. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Despite this, one of the partners, Gennario, is a French AI startup specializing in generative storytelling tools, screenwriting, automation and AI driven audiovisual production.

9:21

Okay, when is that happening?

10:06

It's happening April 21st to the 22nd.

10:08

Yeah, I'm busy. In Cannes.

10:12

Yes.

10:14

Okay, fine.

10:15

Well, that's.

10:15

That's gonna be easy to swerve then, isn't.

10:16

Feels like the devil has got his claws in the whole process.

10:19

Yeah, but he's gone to Cannes, so that's fine.

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Do you think the devil would enjoy can more than you imagine?

10:26

Absolutely. Slightly more than you.

10:31

Yeah.

10:33

Correspondence kerber.com petite. If you go to that festival, we would love to know about it. Whether there was anything that was engaging or made you feel positive about the world.

10:34

Tell us about a film that's out Splitsville, which is a, as we describe it, a raggedy, polyamorous anarcho rom com on the posters.

10:43

Okay, hang on, hang on. Say that again.

10:53

Okay. Raggedy.

10:54

Yeah.

10:56

You know what raggedy means? Polyamorous. You know what polyamorous means? Well, it's the thing that neither you or I ever did or ever will do. And it's. And it's a sort of anarchic rom com. On the poster, it's described as an unromantic comedy. And it is from director and co writer and indeed star Michelangelo Covino. The other star and the other writer and co star is Kyle Marvin. They co wrote and co starred together in his directorial debut, the Climb, which I reviewed and actually quite liked back in 2020. Do you remember 2020?

10:56

Not really, no.

11:36

No. Okay. All right. Well, like the Climb, this is a tale of friendship and infidelity. So the two main guys, Camino and Marvin, they're best friends, Paul and Kerry. We meet Kerry in the car with his fairly new wife, Ashley. They're on route to visit Paul and his wife Julie, played by Dakota Johnson, who is also a producer along with Kavino and Marvin. So all seems well until there's a car crash, which gives Ashley a near death experience. So she suddenly announces, okay, I've had a near death experience. I want a divorce. Which is a total shock to her partner. Meanwhile, when they get to Paul and Julie's house, they reveal that the secret of their marriage and the reason they're not getting divorced is that they have an open relationship, meaning that Paul can put it about. And Julie seems perfectly fine with this. However, when Paul is away, Carrie, now suddenly shockingly single, and Julie hook up. And when Paul comes back and finds out, he is outraged, gets into a fist fight with his friend and angrily confronts Julie. Here's a clip.

11:37

When were you gonna tell me?

12:46

Tell you what?

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Are you sleeping with my best friend?

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Yes, I am.

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Are you doing it to hurt me? No.

12:57

Why does it hurt? Good.

13:01

Why then?

13:10

I don't know. Paul, because he's kind and trustworthy and he has a bigger than you,

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which is pretty much the tone of the whole film.

13:22

So the rest of the movie was the missing word, duck.

13:24

Yeah, he was.

13:27

We all collect ducks, but his duck

13:28

is bigger than your duck. Is that right? Okay, yes, that was exactly. They needn't have bleeped it out. Actually, it made it worse. So the rest of the thing is, how, if at all, are they going to manage these new developments? So first off, Carrie says he's going to stay at home and he's going to stay living with his partner, who then brings loads of lovers home. And then to annoy his partner, he befriends her lovers. Meanwhile, Julie kicks Paul out, causing him to suddenly, now that he's not with her, suddenly become the devoted and loving husband that he never was before. And then to complicate things further, there are other hookups that, you know that make things even more complicated, even though. So that's the sort of central. So it sounds intolerable and the people sound intolerable, and the whole thing is a kind of fairly bleak satire on the mores of modern romance and the myth of open relationships. You know, the ludicrousness of only wanting things that you can't have and not realizing what you've got until it's gone. And then the pathos of realizing that very little is fair in love and war. And honestly, hearing myself describe it, it sounds very grating. In fact, it's actually much more entertaining and funny than I had expected it to be. And then it was only when I was halfway through watching it, I remembered that I actually liked the Climb a lot more than I thought I'd. There is a very, very funny scene in which the guy reveals to his best friend, he said, you know, I've slept with your wife, but you're absolutely fine with that. And not only is he not fine with that, they then get into this fist fight. And the fist fight then goes on and on and on. It's like this huge slapstick scene that just keeps getting more and more absurd. And actually, in a way, that's kind of the key to why the film is.

13:30

Is.

15:17

Is fun, because there is this very, very anarchically slapstick element. There's quite a lot of it with blokes having fights whilst women stand by and roll their eyes. And just. There's also a very kind of cracked subplot. About Paul and Julie's son, who's grown up amidst these parents with this ludicrous open relationship. And it's clearly had some kind of effect on him. And at one point he says, you don't know what a boat is worth until you've sunk it, which I thought was very funny. And so the two main guys have got very good best friend energies. Main women have got very good rolling their eyes and, you know, aren't men ridiculous? There's also a great performance by Nicholas Braun, who is. You saw succession, right? He's Greg in succession, okay? And here he plays, I think they call it a mentalist who has to play a kid's party. And he's.

15:17

He's.

16:09

He's very funny and very dry and very deadpan. And as with so many scenes in the film, it starts and then it just goes on into extended chaos. And actually, one of the things I like about it is that the whole thing has this kind of chaotic sense of unraveling, that scenes start and then they just keep going and they keep going and they keep going and they keep going in this kind of slapstick way with sort of kinetic, panic inducing, spiraling results. So, look, it's an odd film. It's not for everyone, but if you like your rom com served up with a hefty dose of cynicism and quite a lot of people hitting each other over the head with bits of chair, it's a welcome relief from kind of mainstream schmaltz.

16:10

They do. They still do sound insufferable, though.

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Yes, they are insufferable. But that. It's like the discussion that we've had many times is just because a film has insufferable people in it, does that make the film is insufferable? And the answer is no.

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After the break, Mark, we'll talk about the magic faraway tree. They will kill you. And we have, I mean, it's written here very disrespectfully as Frankie Ozone. Somehow it feels inappropriate. Francois Ozone, most respected, yes, legend of the French box office. Which brings us to the box office top 10 and the laughter Lift. Or apparently, as it's becoming known, the Giga later elevator.

17:05

Right, I'm gonna leave you to do that.

17:31

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17:40

Well, hey, it's the box office top 10. That's what's happening here at 10 in the UK. The good boy, which was our big conversation with Stephen Graham last week.

18:43

It was really funny because obviously because of the way that the timing worked out, I did the review first and then you interviewed Steven Graham. But then when people listen to the show, you hear Steven Graham first, before the review, reacting to your review. Reacting to my review, which I hadn't done. But when you said, Mark said it was a nicely nasty comedy with a nicely nasty black comedy with touches of Clockwork Orange. And he went, get in. Watching the video of it, he was literally turning around to the people behind him going, can we get that on the poster?

18:53

He said, it's like waiting for your A level results. That's what he said. We were the first interview in, I think, which is why when it gets to the description of the. Of the film at the beginning, it's a little bit kind of.

19:25

Okay, where is this going?

19:38

This doesn't feel like the film I've just watched. But one of the weird things is right at the very beginning, I say to Stephen, in America, this is called Heal.

19:39

Yes.

19:50

And he said, yes, that's right. Nothing to do with me. So got an email here from Dominic, says, does anyone else think it was splendid that when the Americans felt the need to rename the Good Boy so as not to be confused with a film about a dog, they decided to call it Heel. I mean, what titles did they reject? Stay, Sit, Roll Over, Basket. All of which would work very well with exclamation marks. I mean, it is. It's a very strange rename, don't you think?

19:51

Yeah, it is. It is, yeah. It's very weird. And of course, the chances of anyone confusing it with a film about a dog, fairly small. It's like, you know when you have. When every time I have to say. You remember when Crash won the Oscar for Best Picture? No, not that one, the other one. Because. Oh, yeah, because the, the possibility of somebody going to see Crash, the Oscar winning film, you know, the drama thing, and then accidentally ending up in David Cronenberg's unbelievably out there adaptation of the Ballard novel is pretty small. I don't think people are that stupid.

20:20

Yeah. But I think Dominic's onto something. If you're trying to disassociate yourself with a film about a dog with the same title, why would you call it something that you might shout at a dog?

20:58

I know it. Yeah. Doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense.

21:09

Still worth going to see though, I think. And some very fine performances in that. Number nine is Scream 7. It's number six in America.

21:13

Well, it's his fourth week in the charts and it'll be gone by next week. And good riddance.

21:21

Which brings us to number eight, which is Mother's Pride, which I have to say is hanging around a lot longer than might have expected.

21:25

It's only its third week. It's the third week at number eight. That's doing fine. And it's. I know that it's been doing pretty well at like independent cinemas. I know, for example, the act one has done okay with it. I mean, it is exactly what you think it is. Fishermen's Friends with pubs.

21:30

Number seven here, number 31 in America, how to Make a Killing.

21:49

So as I asked last week, if you haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, well, firstly, why haven't you seen Kind Hearts and Coronets? And secondly, if you see this, having not seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, you think, oh, it's all right. But it is. It raises exactly the question that was then invoked with the emailer who said that when they did the remake of Whiskey Galore. My question was why? To which Yamatan's response was unrepeatable.

21:55

Actually, number six is ardu3.

22:25

Okay, so this wasn't press screened. This is an Indian Malayam language fantasy comedy. It is the sequel to Ardu 2, you'll be shocked to know. And it is the third installment of the Ardu franchise and the first of a. And get this. Because this is gonna. This is a thing now. The first of a sub duology.

22:28

Oh no, this sounds like one of your phrases.

22:49

A what? This is a thing now. Okay, so RDU3 one last ride, part one. So it is a trilogy of which part three is a duology. So this is the third installment of the trilogy and the first installment of the sub duology.

22:51

Why is it sub?

23:12

Because it's a duology within a trilogy.

23:14

A duo within a trilogy?

23:18

Yeah. It's like taking. It's like breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2. You know, they split the last episode or, you know, what was the last. Harry Potter. Was Deathly Hallows the last one? Yeah, I think, yeah. So how many Harry Potter movies were there? Was it a septology or an octology or whatever it was. But this has now become. The thing is that you divide the last episode into two and that is now being referred to on Wiki as a sub duology. The third part of a trilogy.

23:20

Heaven spare us. Number five here. Number four over there.

23:44

Ready or not two, which I enjoy. Yeah, it was good fun and it was funny because I had to go back and remind myself of Ready or Not because it was a while ago, but I enjoyed this. It was good, splattery, fun.

23:48

Eddin Romsey. I had an absolute blast in Ready or Not two. Yes, there are questionable plot decisions, superhuman levels of walking off injuries and a minimal level of jeopardy or threat. But in the same way is the language computer in Project Hail Mary. That's not the point. The film is a thrill ride roller coaster that brings our heroines from one set piece to the next and has a great time doing so. A simultaneous action sequence in the film illustrates Mark's regular point of fun violence versus nasty violence, as the two sisters face off against dual antagonists. One scene is played almost for laughs, while the other has a much darker tone. The nastiest scene is done in a way which reveals character and advances the plot and most importantly, does not outstay its welcome. An entire film with that sort of violence would be quite different and most unpleasant.

24:00

Yes, absolutely right. That's very. Yeah, you should have my job.

24:51

Thank you, Ed. Number four here. Number five there. Reminders of him proving that Colleen Hoover

24:55

has now become the Nick Sparks du Noss jour. I quite enjoyed this. I mean, it is exactly what it is. Although, as I said, there is no jeopardy in terms of the plot. Just take a look at the poster. Yeah, that's what happens.

25:01

Hoppers is at number three and number two in Canada, which I enjoyed.

25:13

I don't think it's absolute classic Pixar, but I think that even not classic Pixar is still usually head and shoulders above most other stuff. So it's good. It's not great, but it's good.

25:17

Number Two here. Number three in America, Durandur the Revenge again is a new entry.

25:33

Yeah. Not press screened and I'm not sure whether it'll be around next week because it's gone in straight into number two. This is Hindi language spy action thriller. It is obviously sequel to Durandal. So this is during the Revenge. If anyone has seen it, please let me know because it wasn't press screen.

25:38

Well, Sharon has. Oh great. And writes four hours of intense violence, gore, torture and jaw dropping patriotism that would make even Michael Bay reach for the bath bag. Like its predecessor, Durandur 2 is a box office hit across North India due to its right wing friendly message of let's blame everything on Pakistan and Islam. Unlike its predecessor, it suffers from uneven pacing and uninspired writing. I was bored, bored, bored. I checked my watch five times during the first half and I gave up counting during the second half. In the end, the only saving grace was that the story is complete and there's no part three. I bet there is. If anyone plans on watching in the theater, don't forget the paracetamol.

25:54

Wow. I'm just looking at the BBFC advice, which is always fun. Characters, heads and bodies are pulverized. Pulverized? I haven't heard them use that before. In a prolonged scene of sadistic violence, a man is torn apart when a hook embedded in his skin is removed and used repeatedly to slash him. Other scenes include bludgeoning, shootings, explosions, impactful blows, decapitations, dismemberment and gang beatings. 18 for strong bloody violence. Yes.

26:41

Okay. And give it. Given the. The politics of it, the way Sharon describes makes it sound like a rather unpleasant watch.

27:09

Yeah, I'm impressed. You're impressed that you stayed for the full four hours.

27:16

Yeah. And number one here, number one there is Project Hail Mary.

27:20

So here's some.

27:23

Charlotte Daniel in Hackney. If I'm not mistaken, Mark is almost as much a fan of Spoonerisms as I am. I thought he would enjoy the fact that Project Hail Mary becomes Project Male Harry. This is particularly good because Ryan Gosling, at points in the film, an extremely hairy male. Perhaps it should be referred to this from now on. Stuart Witts. Having also skipped out of the cinema after watching Project Hail Mary, I can see why Mark compared it to the classic 70s sci fi Silent Running. It's a joyous buddy movie and gave me the feels numerous times. One particular scene that almost literally took my breath away, especially in imax, was when Grace, who's the Ryan Gosling character, was outside the ship preparing to collect samples and the whole screen suddenly flipp to a mesmerizing red. It truly was, as Grace points out, a moment mentioned should go to Daniel Pemberton's beautiful coral LED score. I still remember the first time I watched Silent Running as a child. It was one of those touchstone moments where I found myself crying uncontrollably as Dewey watered the plants and Joan Baez started singing. Oh, Hal says, the film really rocketed along, pun intended. In a number of instances, it explained fairly important aspects with just a single line of dialogue, sometimes delivered in haste. In contrast, the book took more time to explain the what's and the whys, for example how the spinner engine worked or how hard it was to develop a nitrogen resistant strain of the bacteria. The film shows the impacts of these events, and the audience have to either figure it out or just go with the new circumstances. Because the movie is not slowing down for you. Yes, but and this is why it's a great movie. The film knows precisely what it's doing, and that is to make, deepen and celebrate the emotional power of the core relationship. In other words, despite Andy Weir's writing being laced with science, this is all about the vibes and not the facts. And with such a wonderful duo carrying it, it does a fantastic job. Really enjoyed it. So that is typical of most of the correspondence. However, Harriet Morris Vanguardista My favorite film is Arrival. It is the deeply human dilemmas that sci fi explores that make cinema such a perfect medium for its stories. Imagine, therefore, my excitement at the prospect of Project Hail Mary. What I got instead was a black hole of disappointment. Sure, there's plenty to like. Here is a standout performance. The main two hand of fun for about 20 minutes, and there's a brave attempt to tackle some thorny questions of sacrifice and loneliness. The problem is the main character. This is a film that asks us to believe in someone who, on the one hand, has no friends or family. At the same time, he is no so he is so likable and engaging excuse me that he can charm a mobile pile of rocks into friendship and the icy shell of Hullah's military official. Possibly the harder task. It makes no sense. A character, a characterization to break even the Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the end, I felt like I was watching a film for 10 year olds with the stupidest ending I've seen in a long time. Anyway, so I don't think that's your opinion.

27:24

No, I mean I. I loved it. This. This the question about the sort of seriousness. I mean, it was. It was weird because I think the subject of Arrival did come up before, because in the sub. In Arrival, pretty much the whole movie is taken up trying to figure out a way of communicating.

30:35

Yes.

30:51

And, you know, and they. It's all to do with drawing the shapes. And actually when. When they learn the alien language, it completely changes the way in which our central character understands the world and time. And that ties it into things like Kurt Vonnegut's slaughterhouse 5. And Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. And the idea of time not as a linear thing, but as something which can be seen in more cyclical terms. And in Project Hail Mary, they just go, okay, here's a laptop, is a voice, Boom, let's get on with it. And I think the thing is, they are. They're diff. They're just different tenets of movies. I mean, you mentioned that thing about. You read the email person saying that they were very struck by silent running. And the thing about, you know, the drone with the. With the. The watering can, watering the plants. Well, look right here. This is it for. This is for video watches. That is my drone with the watering can. There it is. Because that sits on my desk because it's one of my favorite films. It makes absolutely no scientific sense at all. Doesn't matter. That's not what it's about. And I think one of the things with Project Hail Mary is that you have to get on board with the. It's not about the science. Whatever is true of the novel. The film is much more an odd couple thing that just happens to be in space.

30:51

I mean, I have to say the not being a scientist, but the book is all about the science. It's certainly all about the fields, but absolutely everything.

32:15

It's.

32:25

It's all first person narrative. Everything is explained why this works and how that works and what we have to do, but that won't make sense. So when we need to have to do that. So if you want it to make scientific sense, read the book.

32:26

Yeah, you.

32:37

You just could not even begin to explain it in a movie. So it makes perfect sense that they've made the decision to go with the feels in the film. But if you want to know that it does make scientific sense, then read the book, because it absolutely does.

32:38

And you've said that in the book they spend a lot longer establishing the means of communication.

32:52

Oh, yeah, yeah. Everything is explained and why this would work. And it just. In painstaking detail. I mean, sometimes it Leaves me a little cold and I drift off because I don't really need to understand how this bit works. But all the science is explained in painstaking detail.

32:58

And when it comes to the film, it's like, okay, it's not about that. We have to get them talking now, because what it's actually about is, as I said, you know, one of the directors said it raises the question of, can men have friends? And the answer is yes, but only if the future of all humanity is at stake.

33:18

Good, good, good, good, good.

33:34

What Rocky would say, okay, amaze, amaze, amaze.

33:36

Sad, sad, sad.

33:41

You'll have to see the film or

33:43

read the book or listen to the audio audiobook for that to make any sense.

33:44

Do go see the film though. It's such. Have you seen it yet?

33:47

No, seeing it at the weekend.

33:50

Oh, you're gonna love. Who are you going with?

33:51

The good lady professor Ceramicist.

33:53

You're not going with my wife?

33:56

Well, I refer you to the previous review. Yes, I'm going with the good lady ceramicist. If I can get her out of her new studio.

33:58

Did you just recast Splitsville with us? Did you?

34:06

That's the one. In a moment, we will be talking to France's most acclaimed director, Francois Ozan, who returns to this podcast after this.

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34:55

Okay, special guest time. We're going to speak to Francois Ozon, one of modern French cinema's most prolific and varied directors. He has released almost a film a year for 25 years.

35:31

Wow.

35:43

Including eight women swimming pool. Time to Leave Young and Beautiful summer of 85 the crime is Mine. Last time he was on the show, it was Convien l' Autompe When Autumn Falls. His new movie is Les Tranger. And we'll hear from Francois after this clip, which is in French. And that is a clip from Le Tranger, the Stranger, if you will. Its director is Francois Ozon, who joins us. Francois. Hello, sir. How are you?

35:44

Hello. I'm fine. I'm in Paris in good form.

36:35

Excellent.

36:40

That's.

36:40

That's very good. That's the perfect time to speak to you then. This is based obviously on the Albert camus book from 1942. Just introduce us, please, to how you came to make your movie based on this legendary book.

36:41

Actually, I wanted to make another film, a film about the young men of today, very disenchanted about life, who committed a suicide. And I tried to finance this script. I didn't find the money, it was very hard, and nobody wanted to produce my film. So I gave up. And some friends told me, you should read the Stranger. And actually, I had read the Stranger when I was at school, like all the French student, and. And reading again. The book was quite amazing because I realized how this book was still powerful and mysterious. So it was a real challenge for me to try to adapt it. So I spoke to Benjamin Voisin about the idea to adapt the book and to play the part of Meursault, and he was very excited about it. And that's how it started.

36:57

Were you surprised that the rights were still available? I mean, this is such a famous book, so much a part of, as you've already mentioned, French education and just literature, world literature. How amazing that the rights were still there for you.

37:57

Actually, only one director made an adaptation. It was visconti in the 60s. But the family of Camus was not happy with the adaptation, and they refused to many directors to adapt the book. And actually, when Camus was alive, he didn't want to have an adaptation. The only adaptation he wanted to make was with the actor Gerard Philippe and with Jean Renoir. But sadly, Jean Renoir traveled to America, so it didn't happen. And so I had to convince Catherine Camus daughter about my adaptation. So I met her and I tried to seduce her in a certain way with my new ideas about the book, because my goal was to make a film about today in a certain way, with the eyes of 2026, not a film with the eyes of 1942. So I explained my choices about the adaptation, the contextualization, social and political, which was very important for. For me and I think for the audience of today to understand the book and what was the views Of Camus.

38:11

Francois, is it possible to say something about how those changes have made it into a different story? Because obviously, in the case of the book, it is all about the central character being disaffected, being removed from everything. And one of the things that your film has tried to do is to. Is to contextualize the crime that we know happens. Because at the beginning, we meet him, he is in prison, he's asked why, and he said, I killed an Arab. And what you have tried to do is to expand upon that. How have you changed that?

39:34

Well, what shocked me when I read the book today was the invisibilizations of the Arab.

40:09

Yes.

40:17

And I needed. I needed to understand why. And so to understand that, you have to contextualize, because I know many people, some politicians or some theoreticians can attack the book of Camus, saying it's a colonialism book, which is absolutely not. You have to understand why he decided to invisibilize the Arabs. You have to explain that Algeria was France. It was two French departments, and there was a kind of apartheid. There was the propaganda of the French government who said everything was okay, but actually it was not. The Arabs were considered as second zone citizens. They were in addition. Do you say andyjel?

40:17

Yes.

41:06

Yes. So it was important to explain, and I needed to explain to understand that too. So that's why I met many historians and because it's a kind of taboo still in France, the story between Algeria and France, you know, it's always a wound for the French and for the Algerian to the story we have together. And so I wanted to keep my point of view of today, knowing that we had a war between France and Algeria. All these elements were important, I think, to understand. Understand why Camus invisibilize the Arabs in the book, it was of course, not racism. It was just the period of his time.

41:06

And you said that obviously you had read L' Etranger before. I remember really clearly. I'm 63. I read L' Etranger when I was at school. And I read it because the Cure had a record called Killer which specifically relates to that. And back then, if you heard a pop song about a story, then you'd read the story. And I remember it being a book that everyone talked about. It was one of those things like Catcher in the Rye. It seemed to touch an angsty chord. Is that how you first encountered it?

41:56

I think when I read it as a young man, it was part of the job, you know, it was an obligation of school to read it. So I didn't really enjoy the book when I was young. I think when I was young, I prefer to read Emile Zola or Emily Bronte, you know, these kind of authors, which were more romantic for me. And I think I didn't get the book. I think the book is philosophical, it's not so easy to understand. And the book is very mysterious. But when I read it again, I realized how the book can touch young people, especially teenagers, because when you're a teenager, you discover real life. You have a kind of disillusion in front of your family, in front of the society, in front of your parents. And one of your possibility of being is to have a kind of detachment with society. And I remember when I met some Q and A in France, in all France, to discuss with students about my adaptation, many young men and women said, I'm very close to Meursault. I feel still I'm a kind of Meursault. So that's why this book and this story is so in temporal and still a classic, and that's still touching your young people in your film.

42:33

Francois Meursault, when he's on trial, is described by the judge as taciturn and withdrawn. The priest, when he sees him in prison, says he's in despair. And certainly he appears to us to be. I was going to say hollowed out every day. Is that the right word? How would you describe Meursault the way Benjamin Voisin plays him?

43:55

I think Meursault is a spectator of his life and he becomes a real actor of his life in front of the priest. At this moment, he's able to assume his emotions, his feelings, and at this moment he becomes Camus in a certain way, because all the speech of Meursault in front of the priest is really the philosophy of Camus about life, you know. So it was a real challenge for the actor, for Benjamin Voisin, to play someone who doesn't act, because actually he's an actor, and people and actors lacks and joys to play and to act. So I asked him to watch the film of Robert Bress and to become a kind of model, you know, and it was disturbing. He was quite depressed at the end of the shooting, but I think it was good to be this character, and this character is a kind of abstraction, you know, you can direct him and describe him with psychology. He's more an ID than someone.

44:21

Francois, what about the decision to present this in black and white? I mean, you can read that as he sees the world in black and white, but why black and white? It's not just to do with the time period, is it?

45:35

No, it's different elements. It's artistic, of course, but it's economic too. When you don't have enough money to make a period movie, it's easier to shoot in black and white. But actually, the idea with the DP was to work on the light and the sun, which is so important in the story. So we had the feeling with the white we could more work on the idea of the glare of the sun and to feel the heat. It's quite paradoxical with the book, because the book is full of colors. But for me, the idea of the black and white was obvious because it's a philosophical book and it's more pure. You are more focused on the. You are less disturbed by the colors. I had the feeling that colors will disturb us. And it's funny because we shot actually in color and we put everything in black and white. And two weeks ago I saw all the film in colors and it was quite a surprise because the film is totally different. It's totally different movement. Maybe I will release it one day, but my real choice was the black and white.

45:47

I need to mention Meursault's girlfriend, played by Rebecca Malday, who's fantastic. It seems that the women in this film balance the toxicity of the men. Would that be fair?

47:02

Yes, I think so. All these men in this story are very toxic. You know, one is beating his wife, the other one is beating his dog. And Meursault kiss Anara because of the son. So. So it's difficult to identify to this male character. So my idea was to develop the female parts, which don't really exist. They are in the book, they are not developed. And I wanted to give them a kind of awareness of the situation politically and socially. So Marie is conscious, Meursault is different, and she is conscious of the tensions between the two communities, Arabs and French. And. And I wanted to give a name to the Arab and to the. To the Arab sister, Jamila, who is very important too.

47:12

You make films faster than Ridley Scott. 25 films in 28 years.

48:06

I don't have the same budget.

48:10

Not the same budgets, no. But that must mean that you. You have about six films on the go right now. Francois. One.

48:13

No, no. I need to finish totally a theme to be sure. What will be the next one? I don't have a plan of. Of many films, but.

48:20

Okay.

48:29

Actually, I'm working on a new film.

48:29

All right, Francois, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for talking to us. Today.

48:31

Thank you to you. Merci.

48:36

So our thanks to Francois Ouzon for speaking to us again. The movie comes out in a couple of weeks. Yes, it comes out in the, the.

48:40

Something like that. Yeah. 10th, I think. 10th.

48:48

Okay. All right. And Mark will review it then correspondence at kevin and mayo.com what else is out and we can talk about this

48:50

week out this week. They will kill you. This is action comedy, horror. It's co written by Alex Litvak and directed by Russian director Kirill Sokolov. Now that is a name that will ring a bell to you because he made the 2018 film why don't you just die? Which I reviewed, I think was. It I reviewed in 2019, which was. It was a film that played out in a cramped Moscow apartment which basically turned into this kind of blood soaked wild west corral. And it was like Genet and Caro design with Evil Dead slapstick violence. I think the way it was described by one critic was Meet the parents meets the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was exactly right. So that film owed quite a lot to Tarantino. Stylistically, so does this. At times. This plays like Kill Bill on speed. It stars Zazie Beets, Mihala, Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette. Now Patricia Arquette, of course starred in the Tarantino scripted True Romance. Here she plays the matriarch of a New York building at which Zazie beats his newly released ex con. Arrives in the rain, knocks at the door. She's in search of her missing sister, but she says she's there to be a maid. Now, as I said, features Patricia Arquette. Listen to this clip and tell me what accent you think Patricia Arquette is doing.

48:57

Okay.

50:22

The Virgil was built in 1923. Today it's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan.

50:25

Hi.

50:33

The new maid. With such wealth comes the expectation of the highest quality of service. It's a lot of locks.

50:35

This building is a temple to Satan. Each month we must pay with a human sacrifice.

50:51

Tonight you are the offering. I've stayed in those student flats. I think they're describing tussle flats at Warwick University. They're definite, definitely dedicated to the devil.

51:01

Okay, now just what accent do you think? Could you just, just play us the beginning part of that kind of English,

51:11

kind of Dick Van Dyke, I think.

51:19

Okay.

51:21

The Virgo was built in 19. 1923. Today that's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan.

51:24

Okay, stop, stop.

51:31

Yeah.

51:32

What do you think that was?

51:33

Well, it sounds, it sounds southern English to me. Estuary. Estuary English.

51:35

Meant to be Irish.

51:40

No, it's Definitely not. It's definitely not Irish.

51:41

It's meant to be. I thought it was Scottish. I literally spent quite a lot of the film thinking, where's she from?

51:43

Right, okay. In which case, let's hear it for the third time. So this is an Irish accent. Here we go.

51:50

Go.

51:55

The Virgil was built in 1923. Today that's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan.

51:57

No, that buzzer there is someone going, no, failed the audition.

52:05

On we go.

52:11

Let's get an Irish actor.

52:11

But I honestly, I was, I was watching the. I don't know what accent she's. And she's only doing it sometimes and I don't know what it is. Anyway, okay, that aside, so Zazie Beats is there to find her sister. Instead she finds a bunch of oddly domesticated Satan worshippers. So it's like kind of, you know, in Rosemary's Baby when they're all Satanist, but they just, they're like people or this is like Rosemary's Baby meets Ready or not via Kill Bill. And they need regular sacrifices to ensure their immortality and she is to be the sacrifice. Cue a ramped up cocktail of what the BBFC calls strong bloody violence and gore, including stabbings, shooting, slashings with bladed weapons, decapitations, and people being impaled, set on fire and struck with axes and other weapons. Now the fact that it has all that, but it's only a 15 tells you that, like, ready or not to, you know, here I come. The violence is all, it's all painless, it's all knock about fun. I mean, there isn't any sort of, of any cruelty involved in it. I mean, there is, there is a wince inducing moment involving an interface between a hand, a knife and a finger. But you know, essentially it's all three Stooges with blood and guts for custard pies. So the film is from Nocturna, which is the company set up by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, who made the it movies. And in a way, sort of their involvement is kind of like a badge of merit because I like, I like them actually. You know, Guillermo del Toro was very, very fond of one of the first films they made. I mean, this is a hot mess. It is, it nicks elements from John Wick. Do you remember that Jodie Foster film, Hotel Artemis? I think you might have interviewed Jodie Foster for that. It was.

52:13

No, it wasn't for that one.

53:59

But there's a film which she's in, in which it's like, there's like a big Building where people are able to go after because they're crims. And then they.

54:02

The one we did did was for the one where Jack o' Connell was the bad guy and. Oh, that's right, the financial journalist.

54:09

Is that. Okay, fine. Okay, well, it's not like that. So this is a bit like. It's a bit like John Wick. It's a bit. It's still stuff from Hotel Artemis. There's a film by the Rizza called oh, Simon Paul is saying Money Monster. Yeah, that was the thing. But that's not relevant to this. This. This review. Yeah, yeah, back off. There's a film by the Rizzical, man with the Iron Fist. Weirdly. Weirdly. Weirdly. There's also a bit of Lord of the Flies in it because, remember, we were talking last week about the whole thing about Lord of the Flies. Pig's head on a Stick, Beelzebub. So there is in this, a pig's head on a stick, which is, to all intents and purposes, Beelzebub. The special effects are nicely squishy. The splatter is very splattery. Zazie beach shows off her action chops. I mean, this is a real physical workout performance. This is the kind of thing you'd have to get into training to do. She does it really well. And. And the director captures that sort of same aesthetic kinetic violence of why don't you just die? The one thing I would say is that 15 minutes after seeing it, I could remember virtually nothing about it other than that I had enjoyed it while it was on and then it was gone. So it is perfect Friday night popcorn fair. You'll have a laugh. It's a bit of a riot, you know. And then it stops. But that's perfectly fine.

54:18

So it's a bit like a bag of jelly babies, really. Very nice while you're having it and then you've forgotten, apart from that strange taste in your mouth.

55:38

I love jelly babies. I love jelly babies. I love jelly babies more than. I love this.

55:44

Okay. I do also. But the black, green and yellow ones are superior.

55:50

Yes. Yeah, they are. Which ones don't you like? The ones I don't like the pink ones. The pink ones, which just don't taste of anything.

55:56

Is that the same as the red ones? I don't know.

56:06

Yeah, this sort of pink and dab.

56:09

So if you could do some jelly babies, but just the black, green and yellow ones. Thanks very much.

56:11

That would be very.

56:17

Thank you. Well, that's very good. So do we take a break? No, we're just going to press on with the laughter lift, which is great. However, before we get to this, which is apparently also now becoming known as the gigulator elevator, but only in Simon Paul's world, there are three jokes, okay? One is a reasonable joke.

56:18

Okay.

56:39

The other works on the page. And the third one is going to make me cough. Okay? So with a sense of, well, even greater trepidation than normal.

56:39

Here we go.

56:50

Press the. Press the button.

56:50

Okay.

56:52

Hey, Mark, even though I've just told you I haven't seen Project Hail Method, I saw Project Hail Mary this week. It really got me thinking about the future. In 3024 years, life will either be really good or really bad. Okay? It's 50.

56:55

50. Very good. Okay, That's. All right. That joke works quite well.

57:11

Correct. And now we move on to the written joke. Hey, Mark, two lovely new eateries have opened up on the high street in showbiz North London. An Indian and a Vietnamese. Do you know what the difference is between the two?

57:17

No.

57:32

The Vietnamese restaurant is for profit, the Indian is non profit. Okay, so naan as in na.

57:33

No, no, I know, I know, I got it.

57:40

And four as in pho.

57:42

I got it, I got it.

57:43

So works on the page.

57:45

Okay. Yeah.

57:46

Simon, Faux profit. Yes, but it's pronounced for profit. Faw.

57:47

That's profit. So can I, can I give you a related joke?

57:50

Go on.

57:55

What's the difference between Vietnam and Iran?

57:56

I don't know.

58:00

Donald Trump had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

58:02

So I like the fact. See, Simon Paul has tried to correct my pronunciation because it's written still not funny. But you pronounce it for.

58:07

So it's needed to be more faux.

58:14

No, he says because it's. If you check pronunciation, it's faw. So I'm right and you're just the redactor.

58:17

Moving on.

58:24

And here's the joke that's going to make me cough.

58:25

Okay.

58:27

Hey, Mark, so I've seen the original of this which is told on YouTube by a 7 year old boy on the farm.

58:27

Okay.

58:33

Surrounded by appropriate animals. Are you ready?

58:34

Okay. Yes.

58:36

Hey, Mark, why are chickens so funny?

58:38

I don't know, Simon, why chicken so funny?

58:40

Because. What's still to come.

58:42

Is that it?

58:49

Yeah, that's it. And that's how the boy says it.

58:50

Okay.

58:53

And then his magic crafts.

58:54

The magic far away tree is still to come. But I think you're going to need to lie down after that.

58:55

Yeah. Vocal zone time.

58:59

New year, new me.

59:06

Cute.

59:08

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59:36

So an email from Holly Tarquini listening to you both talk about the remarkable women working in film today. This is a couple of weeks ago we did a special filled me with a mix of grief and rage. Much of the grief comes from all the stories that we have never heard. Film is a machine for empathy. Yet for most of its history, audiences have been asked to see the world through the eyes of white cis, straight, able men, often American ones. A report I read when my daughters were small said that by the age of two, girls have already been encouraged to see the world through boys and men's eyes. While boys are actively discouraged from seeing through the eyes of girls and women women. The rage comes from these structural barriers. The reason so many films by women feel remarkable is not because women are exceptional curiosities. It's because it takes so much more for them to make a film at all. Women struggle more to get funding to attract top crews and cast, and their films receive far less marketing support. Many brilliant films therefore vanish. Many brilliant directors never get to make another. Then there is the grief of erasure. Alice Guy Blacher, one of cinema's earliest narrative filmmakers and head of production at from 1896 to 1906, was written out of history. How many more Alices are still missing? This is a systemic cultural problem, but film matters uniquely. If we fixed representation here, we would all learn to see through many lenses. Our empathy would expand and that would change everything from Hollywood.

1:00:12

I Agree completely with that. And may I say on a related front that the good lady professor, her indoors is currently involved in a, a, a very big research project to make women's film archives visible in order to, to, to address the problem of women being written out of film history. Because not only is there a shocking statistic which is that women filmmakers make their first feature and then statistically don't get to make a second feature, but also of the small number of features that do get to be made, several of them are simply, as you've just correctly pointed out, written out of history. And so this archive project is specifically to address that. I agree with everything that you just said in that email and you are right, you are right. It is an issue which has to be addressed and it has to be addressed on an industry wide level.

1:01:45

Ollie, thanks for the email. Correspondenceoanima.com the Magic Faraway Tree is the Magic Faraway Tree. Yes.

1:02:37

Now, now, are you familiar with the Enid Blyton source of this?

1:02:45

I mean, I don't think so. We bought a whole lot of Enid Blytons for the kids when they were younger because they were like easy adventures to digest. But I don't think the Magic Faraway Tree was ever one of them.

1:02:50

Yeah, well, I don't think it was either. Firstly, I have a confession, which is I thought for a long time that Enid Blyton's name was Gne because the way that she would write, you know. But that's what it looks like. It looks like it was Gnid Blyton.

1:03:04

I'm a gnu. And another gnu.

1:03:19

Another gnu, Yes. I wish I could gnash my teeth at you. So I haven't read the Magic Faraway Tree books. Wiki tells me that the titles in the series are the enchanted wood 39, magic faraway tree 43, the folk of the faraway tree 46 and up the faraway tree 51. So, you know, a series of novels took place in Enchanted Wood, gigantic magical tree so tall that its branches reach into the clouds, big enough to contain houses and multitudes within it. And the tree is discovered by, by children who have moved into a house nearby. So I didn't know any of that, I just knew the poster. So about 10 years ago it was announced that Neal street, which is Sam Mendes production company, were doing a live action adaptation. We have that adaptation. Ben Greger is the director and it's written by Simon Farnaby who most significantly. Yeah, exactly. Most significantly achieved huge success as co writer of Paddington 2. So in this film version, as I said, I hadn't read the source stuff. Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield are Polly and Tim. They are the parents of three in inverted commas. Adorable children. The adorable children are addicted to smartphones and computer games. One of them has pretty much stopped talking and they, they live modern alienated world. When Polly loses her job, she's designed a fridge and then it turns out that the fridge is spying on customers and she says I'm not having that. So she loses a job. Tim suggests that they fulfill an old dream that they used to have to live in the country because he thinks this will be great because it will get the kids off the devices, get them into the country. And he has a plan to make tomato pasta sauce, of course. So they up sticks and move into a barn. And it is literally a barn which they have got a certain amount of time in, after which they have to pay the 20,000 for it. He said, well, how is it so cheap? Well, it's cause it's a barn. It's got no electricity, it's got no amenities, it's got no wifi. And the kids are spectacularly unimpressed. Particularly the eldest daughter who secretly writes to her super rich grandmother, played by Jennifer Saunders, who the mother is terrified of disappointing and. But nevertheless the daughter writes to her. Here is a clip.

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Dear Grandma, we've moved to the countryside.

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Dad's crazy plan is infecting the whole family. I feel like their childhood is slipping away.

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Polly, the kids need this.

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Just remember, don't go in that wood up top. Some folks say it's enchanted. Strange creatures,

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floaty lions, give the usual things.

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I was saying that was very usual. Whoa, Mummy.

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What is this place?

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The magic faraway Tree.

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It's amazing.

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So what is amazing is this kind of fairy tale world that they find within the titular tree, which is like a portal to a range of fantastical adventures, none of which require USBs or plugs or electricity supplies. So within this sort of Narnia esque world in which there are a series of other worlds that they enter on a daily basis for adventures, there is a star studded cast which includes Nicola Coughlan's silky Because I have silky Hair, Jessica Gunning's Dame Washalot, Lonzo Anozi as Moonface, Rebecca Ferguson as the deranged Dame Snap, and a many headed explosion of beards known as the Great Know it all, played by Lenny Henry, Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beale. And exactly. Simon Farnaby is also in it as a Sort of more down to earth role as the farmer who lets them use the barn. Now I confess that when I saw the poster for this, my heart sank a little bit cause I thought the poster looked a bit cringy and I there are plenty of cringe inducing moments. There's a family bonding song which we get to hear more than once and there's lots of sort of, you know, life lessons being learned. But the thing is it didn't matter because I found it surprisingly charming and entertaining and kind of uplifting. I mean, the thing is, Farnaby is he's very funny, right? He co wrote that thing Mindhorn, which is, which is still underrated. Which as I keep pointing out was the first film to be shot and set in the Isle of Man since no Limits back in, you know, whenever it was 1930. And his script does a really good job of updating what I imagine the Enid Blyton source is like because I have read Enid Blight novels, just haven't read any of these, but giving it kind of a little bit of a contemporary edge. So yes, there's the stuff about the gadgets and the devices, but there's also a very nice interaction between the elder grumpy daughter played by Delilah Bennett Cardy and Silky the fairy who's, you know, I am called this because I have such silky hair and she's clearly haven't heard of feminism and that stuff works well. The other thing is, despite the poster, it is a very good looking film. The production design is Alexander Walker and the thing about it is it owes more aesthetically to that kind of very physical look of Spielberg's Hook. I mean, I know I don't like Hook as a film, but it did, it did have a world that you believed in. And I think that in the age of the sort of Tim Burton kids fantasies which are just so artificial and you find it very hard to get involved. So honestly, I went in with a cynical old grumpy head on and I was won over and charmed and I laughed and I was moved in all the right places. I mean it helps that I love. Obviously we love Claire Foy, right? Obviously we love Claire Foy. Hello to Claire Foy's dad, David. Yep, David. Hello, David. And, and, and so it helps that they've got a cast of this caliber. As I said, I mean the, the many headed beard explosion in which you've got Lenny Henry and Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beale all sharing the same beard is a particularly splendid moment. But I thought it was. I mean, I suppose it's Easter holes time, isn't it? So. But it's, it is the, the rare treat for all the family that anybody can go and see. The BBFC rating is U for very mild threat, rude humor and slapstick and language. But honestly, if you take in young kids to see it, they'll enjoy it and I think the adult grown up will enjoy it too.

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The adult grownup.

1:09:59

Yes. You know, with me.

1:10:01

Okay, that sounds intriguing. And also I kind of feel warm and warm. Encouraged.

1:10:02

Yes, yes.

1:10:10

By your review correspondenceurbenmayer.com, which is also where you send your video and audio bits and pieces if you have a Watts on. For example, this one from Glasgow.

1:10:11

James here from the Grosvenor Picture Theatre in Glasgow's West End where we have kicked off our midnight movie season with primer and a sold out Eraserhead screening. Next on the list is one of Mark's faves, Silent Running. This is on April 3rd into the 4th. What is a more effective and immersive experience than to finish Silent Running at half one in the morning in a cinema near to Glasgow Botanic Garden? Tickets are on sale on our website grosvenorpicturetheatre.co.uk, where you will find more midnight movie screenings including the Most Dangerous Game and Eyes Without Face.

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James, thank you very much. You have to walk home at half past one in the morning. Okay. Anyway, grosvenorpicturetheatre.co.uk is where you'll find the details. 3rd and 4th April for silent running. Thank you to everybody. Please do send in your video clips and audio. If you can't do that, that's fine. That's it for this week. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. This week's team, Jen, Eric, Josh, Heather and Dom. The redactor was Simon Paul. And if you're not following the pod already, please do so. Wherever you get your podcasts, come and join us on Patreon for all the good stuff. Mark, what is your film of the week?

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Well, my film of the week is a double header, one of which I haven't spoken about yet because it's going to be in take two. But films of the week are Orwell. Two plus two equals five. Please do listen to take two for that and the Magic Faraway Tree.

1:11:24

Okay, that's good. Gully was our engineer, by the way. I should have mentioned that back next week with Hugh Bonneville talking about reprising his role as ian Fletcher in 2026, where he's become Director of Integrity for the World Cup Oversight Team. I am going to bestow a year's Ultra membership to Correspondent of the Week. I'll give it to Holly Tarquini, who was writing about women in cinema, so I think she deserves that. Correspondence@kermanandmeo.com Take 2 has landed at exactly the same time as this podcast.

1:11:38

Podcast.

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Go have a listen.

1:12:12

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