Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Andrew Haigh, All Of Us Strangers, Baghead & The Color Purple

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

This week, Simon sits down for a thoughtful and moving chat with director Andrew Haigh about his new Bafta-nominated drama ‘All of Us Strangers’, which sees Andrew Scott play a lonely screenwriter drawn back to his childhood home, where his parents appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died 30 years ago. Mark also gives his take on the film, as well reviewing ‘Baghead’, a horror in which a young woman discovers the pub she’s inherited is home to a 400-year-old she-devil; and ‘The Color Purple’, the second adaptation of Alice Walker’s classic novel, which tells the story of Celie, an African American woman living in the American South during the early 1900s. Plus, it’s awards season! The duo give their thoughts on who was – and wasn’t, ahem - nominated at this year’s Oscars. Time Codes (relevant only for the Vanguard - who are also ad-free!): 10:55 Baghead review 23:24 Box Office Top 10 35:44 Andrew Haigh interview 50:54 All of Us Strangers review 57:10 Laughter Lift 59:18 The Color Purple review 01:06:16 What’s On You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Regular listeners of How to Fail will know how obsessed I am with reality television, and that's why I'm so excited that I get to talk to you about the return of one of my favourite shows. Van der Pomp Rules is back for a brand new season on Hey You, and, well, there's a lot to unpack. I'm frothing with excitement because the Pomp Rules gang is back on our screens with new episodes dropping the same day as the US on Hey You. So great, because with a show this hot, nobody wants spoilers. To sign up to Hey You today,

just visit HeyYou.com. That's H-A-Y-U.com, and you can thank me later. Okay, so three things to mention. One, standard of pastries on the show, very good. You can probably still hear that Mark is working his way through his... Though in comparison, I have to say, the Juneau Baker in Copenhagen probably does the best pastries you've ever tasted in your life. How was Copenhagen? Well, Copenhagen was great. Child one got married.

Everything was fantastic. Excellent. 15-minute ceremony in Danish. That was it. Wow. Yeah, so it was quite quick and then back home for sandwiches. Anyway, to be recommended. How does a 15-minute Danish wedding ceremony go?

Does it go like, are you here? Yes. And do here? Yes. And do you? Yes. Fine, thank you. Sign here. And then the woman who was in charge said, you can all cheer now.

So we did. And the whole ceremony was conducted in Danish. Yes. And did child one, does child one speak fluent Danish? No, he's not fluent, but he's, you know, he's better. Okay. And, but to be honest, when you're told, you know,

when she stopped and looked at him, he went, yeah, you know, it was one of those. But it was, you know, it was a very, it was a very, very lovely thing. Okay, great. Well, congratulations. But the pastries. Yeah. So if you have a chance, the Juneau bakery in Copenhagen, absolutely tip top. It's one of those words, you know what, I'll have three. Thank you very much. So that's the first thing. Second thing about the Oscar nom's, we should... What? No, it's just the... All awards are nonsense, but you know, but we haven't got that out of the way. Anyway, so that's the second thing. Third thing then, Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. Yes.

First Native American to be nominated in that category. Apparently so, the best actress, yes. You know, so that's a good thing. Yes. I mean, look, there are... How can Greta Goig not be nominated for Best Director? Because she made Barbie what it was. No one else would have made Barbie like that. I know. And it is weird that...

Well, I mean, it's weird. I mean, all award ceremonies are essentially weird. In the Best Director category, hooray for Justin Trept for Anatomy of a Fall. Brilliant. I mean, that's a great call. Markzka says he's a flower moon. Everyone kind of thought so. Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan, the general feeling is it's his year, and he may well win. Paul thinks Jogos Lanthimos. And then Jonathan Glazer for Zone of Interest. Now, I'm not saying Zone of Interest isn't a good film. I mean, Jonathan Glazer isn Zone of Interest. Now, I'm not saying Zone of Interest isn't a good film.

I mean, Jonathan Glazer isn't a fine director, he is. But that seems like an odd, that rather than Greta Gerwig, who literally helmed one of the biggest films of the year, that was a kind of runaway success. And it did a thing that none of us thought it was possible to do, which was to make a really, really interesting, funny, smart film out of Barbie.

Yes. And she has been nominated in the Adapted Screenplay category, although again, that's also the kind of adapted from what? Adapted from a doll. Yeah, very, very strange. Anyway, it's just one of those things in future. I mean, I agree with you about awards ceremonies and the whole point of these lists is, you know, people go, really? Exactly. Or I agree with that and I don't agree with that. But I think in future

years they'll go, you know that Barbie film, you know that Chrissy Goh wasn't even nominated for, like, a really? I know. I know. And of course, you know, Christopher Nolan being nominated for Oppenheimer, as I said, everybody thinks, you know, his year. But Barbenheimer was such a big deal. It does seem like a weird thing. Hurray for Celine Song getting nominated for screenplay. Yes. Again, I mean, I would have actually had her in the best director category because I think she's terrific. All of us strangers, which we're going to talk about later on, you know, just not there.

The interview with Andrew Hague, which you're going to hear on this program. When I did the interview, the Oscar nominations hadn't come out. Right. The BAFTA nominations have done. Yeah. And the movie is down for three. So we do briefly talk about that. Yeah, let me just stop.

That your computer's still on. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, no, it's all right. You want to stop making that noise? Yeah, anyway, but it did get it, but it, but absolutely nothing. Yeah, I'm sorry, I know it's on, but you want to stop making that noise. Yeah, anyway, but it did get it, but absolutely nothing. Yeah, it's bizarre. Other good things in best original school, Josephine Fenvericks has been nominated for Paul Things, which I think is terrific.

Although again, in that category, there is only one woman being nominated in the original school category, so I don't know the world. I mean, for everything that they get right, like you said, hooray, Lily Gladstone. I actually think Lily Gladstone's got a very good chance of winning Best Actress. All these award ceremonies do still feel like they're dragging themselves into the 21st century and, you know, and rather sluggishly so. When your cursor hovers over Killers of the Flower Moon on the streaming service, When your cursor hovers over killers of the flower moon on the streaming service, it plays the clip where Leo says, I like your skin color. What color is that?

And she says, my color. Yeah, okay, that's good life. So was there anything that jumped out at you about the nominations or And it's just particularly, I mean, other than what we've, what we've, just those two things, I just think in future years, they'll remember it for, you know, it is the year of Barbra Hymons. So yeah, it's a weird one, isn't it?

It is a weird one. Best actress has got Sandra Huller for Anatomy of a Fortune. I'm thrilled about that. But yeah, I mean, I do think that the older you get, the more the rump fee, not even a rump fee, it's just the less I care about awards, because the thing is that awards are important in terms of the effect that they have on films and the way in which they can change a film's profile and they can certainly change an actor's profile. Just getting nominated is a great thing. But of course, they are all essentially foolish. You have to understand

that there is no sense of actual right or wrong. Brilliant to see Devin Joy Randolph nominated for Sporting Actress for the Holdovers. Because that's great. I love that film. Anyway, we'll probably return to this during the course of the program. So also, how can you compare Ryan Gosling in Barbie and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things? I mean, they're just so completely different that we rather tricky. And what's that phrase? It's like, it's not like comparing apples and oranges. It's like comparing apples and tractors. That'll work. What are you going to be reviewing later, by the way?

Well, I am going to be reviewing a number of fabulous movies. Right. Yes. The way this is written on the script, the color, sick purple, because obviously it's the American color purple, C-O-L-O-R. And this is going to be one of those things like terminated to Judgment Day. So this is the film of the stage musical of the Alice Walker novel because obviously before there was a Stevens-Bildberg drama Baghead which is a new horror film and the aforementioned all of us strangers with our very special guest

Yes, Andrew Hague will be talking to us fairly shortly in the extra takes Take two Section which is landed already more of this rubbish, I'm not gonna do that now. We can watch this, then we can not listen. Also bonus reviews are, Jack Dorr, Samsara, and the new TV series, prequel, Sexy Beast. Plot Smash, we have to guess what three films

I've smashed together, which three films or what three films would you rather? Which three films? Okay. One frame back is best nightclub scenes in a film. I mean, there are quite a lot to choose from, inspired by all of us strangers. You can access everything via Apple Podcast

or head to extratakes.com for non-fruit related devices. And if you are already a vanguard, Easter, as always, we salute you. You're going a little bit sarcastic with me. Oh, okay. Oh, there'll be complaints. David in Dallas, Texas, originally from Northern Ireland. Well, LTL Vanguard East, a third time email. Dear beekeeper and apiarist, on the subject of movie lines that sound good until you think about them. One of Woody Harrelson's lines from War of the Planet of the Apes sounded so good they based some of the film's marketing around it.

All of human history has led to this moment, which is full of portent until you realize that can be said of literally any time about any contemporaneous thing and it will still be true. Brushing your teeth in the morning, all of human history has led to this moment. Chicking your phone during a boring meeting, all of human history has led to this moment. Chicking your phone during a boring meeting, all of human history has led to this moment. Reading out the list as email on your podcast, this moment too has been preceded by all of human history. But it does sound good and repeating it before an otherwise tedious task makes said task feel much more consequential. So as you're about to clean the loo, all of human history has led to this moment.

Because it is true. Thank you, David, for pointing that out. Claire in Amsterdam, who signs off, keep up the work, Claire from Amsterdam. Now Claire, is there a word missing from that sentence? But maybe there isn't, and she's just saying, just keep on working. Keep up the good work, keep up the average, keep up the disappointing work. Exceptional. What's the word, Claire? Come on, right again. Claire, thank you for your email. But, yeah.

No, but actually that sounds, anyway. What does Claire say about her own work? Claire also says, I listened to the latest podcast straight after viewing What's Up Doc with Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neill. Oh, right. And my ears pricked up when you were talking about movie lines that you realized are fatuous. What a good word that is.

You mentioned Ryan O'Neill's line in Love Story, Love Means Never Having to Say Your Sorry, which is it Ryan? Does Ryan O'Neill say it or does Ali McGraw say it? Oh, well, she said it. I mean, she's just watched it. OK, fine. Claire in Amsterdam. No, she's just watched What's Up Doc.

Oh, yeah, Keep Up the Work. That doesn't mean anything. No, but she hasn't just watched Love Story. She's just watched What's Up Doc. Oh yeah, keep up the work. That doesn't mean anything. No, but she hasn't just watched Love Story. She's just watched What's Up Doc, hasn't she? Keep up the listening, Claire. Anyway, love means never having to say your sorry, which I agree is a terrible adage, having spent the majority of my 25-year marriage apologizing.

Ha ha ha. Having literally just finished watching What's Up Doc, here's the very latest exchange of the film between Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neill. Did you happen to know that I love you? Yeah. You did?

Do? Listen kiddo, you can't fight a tile wave. About those things I said, I mean the way I acted back there, I'm sorry. Let me tell you something, love means never having to say you're sorry. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. So that's like a reply. So in the original, so in Love Story, Allie McGraw says it to Ryan O'Neill.

So here's Ryan O'Neill to Barbara Streisand. Yeah, so Barbara Streisand says it, and then he says that's the dumbest thing I ever heard. There you go. So Claire from Amsterdam, keep up the work and thanks very much. Keep up the work, yes. Tell us something that's out and we might be able to watch. So, Baghead, which is a supernatural horror chiller, says, From the Producers of It and Barbarian, directed by Alberto Corridor, who made

and directed by Alberta Corridor, who made the 2017 short Baghead, which was written by Lorcan Riley. This feature version is written by Christina Pamys and Bryce McGuire, stars Freya Allen, Jeremy Irving, Peter Molyne, Safran Borrows, I mean, good cast. So Allen is Iris, who is a young woman who inherits a rundown pub and she inherits it from her estranged widowed father. And she discovers that the pub comes with a legacy. It comes with a secret hiding in the basement, something to which she is led by a videotape left behind by her father, played by Peter Mullen. Here we go. You can't escape this place now. You're the one thing that stands between her and the outside world. And that, now, is your sole task. You cannot let her out of the basement.

You don't know yet how dangerous she is. But she is, and you will. With tonight, her curse ends with me. If you're watching this, then I feel. He's failed then. He has failed exactly. I don't think the estate agent mentioned any of that. Also, there's a weird Berlin.

Anyway, so essentially what Baghead Gridge, which is, you which is a thing, person, entity in the basement. So bag head is in the basement. In the basement, yes. And bag head can allow you to speak to a dead person, but only for a couple of minutes. And then, and obviously this is a saleable asset, you know, if somebody's really, you can sell things, but of course, like anything else, doing this sort of thing is incredibly dangerous. Now, there are consequences. There are consequences.

In fact, the tagline is talk to the dead, pay the price. So the original short film was a big festival hit and this is an expansion of it. As I said, impressive cast, creepy score, some good-looking production design, and a nice central idea, which is very reminiscent of the central idea in Talk to Me, which I thought was a much better, more so, you know, the thing in Talk to Me, in which it's the hand, it's the kind of, the strange hand, which you hold onto it and you become possessed by a spirit that we can only do it for a certain amount of time. And if you do it for longer than that, everything

goes badly wrong. But it's almost like a kind of like a party game. The problem with this is, well, two things. Firstly, it's a horror film that isn't scary and that's always going to be an issue. It's got way too much exposition, way too much kind of explanation and very, very few genuine scares. I mean, even at 94 minutes, it feels like long and overwrought. And I kept thinking whilst I was watching it, because it's, you know, it's well made with a good cast. I kept thinking, why isn't this scary? And the answer I came to as I was watching it was, okay, the thing about it is,

yes, it's got some jump scares,, yes, it's got some jump scares, and yes, it's got some moments that ought to work. But the reason it's not scary is because it has nothing of the uncanny about it. And if you think that, you know- How are you defining uncanny? So, well uncanny is that kind of, to use that terrible word,

that sort of liminal state when something is somewhere between real and unreal, which is all great horror has that sense to it that, you know, the hair stand up on the back of your neck, that something is happening that you can't, you're not quite sure of it. And actually, I mean, even in Talk To Me, which is a fair, which in many ways is really a film about, you know, kids and social media and addiction and all those things. It has some very, very uncanny moments in it in which there are things that really make you shiver. There's nothing here that does that. The back story, there's a lot of stuff about guilt and grief and loss and death and that absolutely archetypal idea about if you

could speak to the dead, would you know if you could do no fine okay so in that case you wouldn't go down into the basement and pay £2,000 wherever it is to spend a couple of minutes with it's interesting that some of this stuff comes up in the Andrew Hay conversation which we're gonna hear weirdly enough I will refer to that when we refer to all of us strangers. In the end, the thing with Backhead, it's like somebody telling you a story rather than you being involved in a story. You go, okay, yeah, I can see that.

And actually, I do think that when you compare this, I mean, I know it sounds like a weird comparison, but there is a comparison with all of us strangers, which is a ghost story in some ways. Which is where the word uncanny kind of works for both. Precisely. But that is a film which is a ghost story in some ways. Which is where the word uncanny kind of works for both. Precisely. But that is a film which is absolutely, it's also, I mean, you could have,

in the case of all of the strangers, the tagline could have been, you know, talk to the dead, pay the price, because it is about that there is a cost involved in doing that. In the case of this, it is just, it's all plot, it's all stuff, it's all style. It feels like a short film that was a good idea

that when you stretch it out to a 94 minute film, falls apart and crucially, not scary and not chilling and not unsettling just, yeah, okay, then that and then that and then that and then that and then that other thing. And I'm kind of at the point when if a horror film doesn't in any way get under my skin and make me feel chilled,

I think it's like the thing about a comedy film having to have the four laugh rule or the five laugh rule. This doesn't work as a horror film. And I'm sorry, I wish it did. Because I'm not looking, it's not rubbish. It's solidly put together with some good elements, but just doesn't work. Remember that strap line to the movie, Would You Sleep With This Man For A Million Dollars? Yes, that was Robert Redford and they were asking to me more.

To which the answer would be, yeah, okay. Where's, you know, talk to the dead, pay the price, well, I won't talk to the dead then. It's very, very easy. What was it? Was it indecent proposal? Was it? Could have been. Yeah, I think that's what it was. Anyway, Still To Come, Mark's going to be having a go at these movies. Well, we will be looking at The Color Purple, which is the film of the musical,

the stage musical of The Color Purple, and All Of Us Strangers, which we just mentioned with our special guest, Andrew Haick. So, standby for that. But first, Wise, Wise, Wurtin, which Mark and I in alternating weeks have to guess the artist's in terrible song during the break. And you'll be delighted to... We'll be back before you can say... Hang on.

Before you can say, So I picked up an old newspaper to read and I noticed something very strange indeed. Godly and cream. Oh, I hate you. I can't believe I said I hate you again. I hate saying that. Sorry about that. We didn't even get to the break. Oh yeah, I hate you. I can't believe I said I hate you again. I hate saying that. Sorry about that.

We didn't even get to the break. Oh, yeah, I should have been after the break. Okay, more in a moment. Mark, doesn't it seem like everyone is either starting a side hustle or becoming their own boss? Well, now that you've mentioned it, yes, it does seem like that, Simon. And you know what they're hearing a lot? Why, it's the sound of a cash register doing that kaching noise.

In other words, it's the sound of another sale on Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to start, run and grow your business. Shopify is the commerce platform revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide. Whether you're selling herringbone jackets or rare copies of the Exorcist on DVD, Shopify simplifies selling online and in person so you can successfully grow your business. Covering all your sales channels from a shopfront-ready POS system to its all-in-one e-commerce platform, Shopify even gets you selling across social media marketplaces like Facebook, Instagram and that their TikTok. Full of the industry leading tools ready to ignite your growth, Shopify gives you complete

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Kermode Really? Yes Mark, who would you say is our biggest fan? Well, we do always have the LTLs, you know, the long-term listeners who email, they tweet, they Instagram us, but I don't know, hard to pick one. If I gave you a clue, you might get it. If you think of a sound that a cow makes. Moo. Oh, I see. MooBee. Very funny. Haha. Anyway, guess what? They are supporting us right in, not just now. Not just now.

But right into 2024. So while we're here, do you want to update the fans with the very latest on MooBee? Yes. So they have Priscilla, which is a new film by Sophia Coppola, which is in cinemas from the first of January. This is telling the story of Priscilla Presley, very interesting, particularly in the wake of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. This is a complete different take on the story. And how to have sex is streaming on MUBI in the UK from 29th of December. We reviewed that and when it came out, I thought it was really powerful, one of the best films of the year. You can try MUBI free for 30 days at MUBI.com slash Kermode and Mayo. That's MUBI.com slash Kermode Well, the answer to this week's wise, wise words has already happened.

So there you go, godly and cream under your thumb. If you choose a big hit single, which I've bought. It wasn't a big hit single. It was. It wasn't a big hit. Well, it was a hit and I bought it. So there you go. Don't you think it's a terrible line?

It is. I picked up a newspaper to read and I noticed something very strange. Indeed. The problem with that is that those words are spoken. I know what I've spoken, yeah. But then, so therefore the internet, therefore it's easier.

Anyway, so okay, I feel crushed now. I also feel annoyed with myself for saying that thing, which I never ever say, but I only say when you jump in and solve the thing. But that was, that's a Q&A, that's you did the Q and I did the A. I know, but you did it, there wasn't, I tell you, here's the thing was because there's meant to be a gap. It's meant to be like, you could say I know that, but you literally just said Godly and Cream. So if I, if I, if you just paused, then I would have, it would have been okay.

I don't think so. If you just paused, then it would have been okay. I don't think so. Mark and Simon says, Leslie, this is Leslie from Santa Barbara, London born and bred long-term listener. Can I just read you the next two lines, which is what I was going to get to. I had a whole routine worked out about this, which has now gone to the wall.

After the thing says, so I looked a little closer and it chilled me to the bone. Woman throws herself from speeding train. I didn't see her. I know. I got that. Still not good. It's just terrible.

Yeah. And also it fades in. Oh, okay. Dislike almost every record. Fades in. What is the point of fading in? Okay. No point at all.

Do better, Godling Cream. This is Leslie from Santa Barbara. In the USA, you do not... This is about chocolates. Okay. And we did the thing about life's like a box of chocolates and so on. In the USA, you do not get a guide about the flavors of the chocolates in the box. It's just Europe that does that. Okay, fine. So that line, life's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get, makes sense in America. Yeah. So in Europe, we have socialist confectionery. The state tells you it's nanny state chocolate.

Nanny state chocolate. That's what it is. As opposed to libertarian, free market, Ayn Rand chocolates, which they have in America. I'll stick with my socialist confectionery, where it actually says, you know that one in the top left? That's a lemon cream. Thank you very much. Callum says,

dear beekeeper and megalodon. I love Mark's admiration of the state. He seems to be one of the few critics out there that doesn't dismiss his talents simply because he mostly stars in B movies and genre pictures. In this case literally a B movie with a BEE. Yes, very good. There's a wholesomeness to Mark's love of the states' balletic movement and humour.

It's for that reason that I am pleading with the Good Production team to please, please, please set up a state-cour mode meet and greet. I don't care frankly if he has a movie to promote or not just get these two in the same room as each other darn it. To which the redactor has added this, we have checked our records and we have made at least 14 attempts over the years to get Jason Statham on the podcast. We all keep trying. In fact you can only conclude that he doesn't want to come on. I'm sure he doesn't. OK, that's it. I'm sure he doesn't. Because if you've asked genuinely 14 times, the answer is that he's just like,

if you ask someone out, imagine even the second time or third time, it's time to stop. Well, 14 times. I asked the good lady professor out about 14 times. Oh, really? Yeah. I always think the period of many years. The fact is we've already mentioned Mark Ruffalo. When he was on Graham Norton many years ago, promoting something else, Hulk could have been. In the course of that interview, and I'm fairly certain I've

remembered this correctly, they say, Graham says to Mark Ruffalo, how many times did you turn up for an audition before you got a role? The answer was in the 700s. Yes, that would be, I'm sure that's true. Imagine that that's your chosen career. You get to a hundred, you've been turned down a hundred times. Never mind 500 times, you know, 600 times. You would think someone is telling me something and there is his Oscar nominated. That is incredible. Well, what's the statistic is,

Jason will write in and correct this, but it's something like if you are a professional actor, then statistically 90% of the time you're out of work because 90% of actors are out of work on any one day. I can believe that. I would think overwhelmingly if you've been rejected, let's just say 500 times, you're probably in the wrong job.

Yeah. I mean, I'd be the person who would be rejected once and I'd go, okay, that's how I'm going to become an accountant. You didn't even like it. I guess the right answer to the godly... No, exactly. That's... And then I used a phrase, which I completely detest. Box office top 10. Yes.

Oh, hang on. Let me just get down. Number 42, Werner Herzog, Radical Dreamer. Which it was interesting. I walked into a screening just the other day to watch, actually, I think to see Baghead and one of my fellow critics said, I enjoyed your cameo in Werner Herzog Herzog radical dreamer, which is of course, it's not my cameo. It's that they use the piece of footage of Verna getting shot up by Lookout Mountain in Los Angeles.

And that's at the very, very beginning of it. I love Herzog. I think this is a very interesting documentary. The only problem is you could do nine hours about the mythology of Herzog and still wouldn't even have scratched the surface because he is like a self-generating myth machine. But there's a lovely moment in which Vin Wenders comments that you can't help but be impressed by Wernher Herzog because he even invented his own accent. Which is...

Is that right? Well, it's true that, you know, I mean, vendors as a German says that accent is, you know, it's like it's the Werner Herzog accent. There is something unique about Werner Herzog's accent that is not explained by his... Him saying, well, I'm Bavarian. Yeah, but there are... You know, your brother doesn't speak like that. Number 13, The End We Start From. Which I think is a very well-made film.

It is a difficult sell at the moment to, you know, to sell a film about London flooding and people being displaced and, you know, a difficult subject matter, because obviously there's a lot of difficulty in trouble in the world. But I think it's, what's interesting is it is about contemporary issues.

As I said, the director said to me that she definitely didn't want it to look like it was in the future. She wanted it to look contemporary because all those things about displacement and migration and climate change are happening right now. And a great central performance by Jodie Kramer. As always. Number 10 is Priscilla. I liked very much, I think Sophia Kobler

managed to tell a very complicated story very well. It does have a kind of fairy tale, well, you know, dark fairy tale, Rebecca quality to it. And if you know the Elvis and Priscilla story anyway, I think it tells it in a way that is non-judgmental, but, you know, in watching it, you are invited to make your own judgment. And there's no question about just how creepy and strange it is.

Number nine is The Boy in the Heron. Which I thought was terrific. I know that not all Miyazaki fans are completely sold on it, but I thought the animation was astonishing and I thought it was a moving story. Wish is at number eight. Not astonishing animation and not a moving story. Just a reminder that Disney's Back Catalog is filled with films that we love

and this isn't one of them. The Beekeepers at seven. I'm a beekeeper. I gotta keep the bees and every now and then the worker bee is gonna rise up and I'm just gonna smash some people in the head with this chair. It's the state.

14 times. It's the state doing what he does and I'm sorry, I'm here for it. Number six is The Holdovers. So this is from Phil Sinnet in Crosby. There's no need to write, produce, edit, film or release any more films this year. I've just watched The Holdovers and nothing will compare. A brilliant film which had so many echoes of great 70s movies, one

to watch again and again in upset. Rachel in Leicester. It's a very warm and comforting film to view and genuinely feels like you're watching something made in the 70s. It is just the right touch of sentimentality without overdoing it. One of my pet hates with films such as this is when the score tells you what you should be feeling. The holdovers didn't do this. Instead, it relied on the understated but powerfully... Sorry, I did ask you to stop doing that. Go on. Understated but powerfully naturalistic performances.

I think it's such a shame that this wasn't released in the UK at the same time as the USA because I'm not sure how many people... Precisely! ...will want to see a Christmassy film when the last of the three needles have been vacuumed away and the decorations are all boxed and back in the loft. Exactly. This really is a festive gem of a film. And I will certainly be adding it to my list of regular Christmas viewing.

Tickety-tongued and down with their logical release dates. I mean, certainly, you think what? I mean, it's, it actually is. Yes. Yeah. It, the thing is, it's such a good is. You've seen it, right? Yes. Yeah. The thing is, it's such a good film, you can watch it at any time.

Yes. Because it's not actually about Christmas. But releasing it just after Christmas, it would make more sense to release it in the summer, you know. So in terms of Oscars, so it's up for best picture, best actor for Paul Giamatti, best supporting actress for Vinalaine Len,

Davey and Joy Randolph, I pronounced her name before I said Davey and Joy, but it's Davey and Joy Randolph, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. I think it's a lovely film. I think it's really charming, really funny, really touching and tender in that old 70s way. Incidentally, we had an email last week from somebody who said that they loved the fact

that it had that 1970s celluloid thing. Somebody who'd written on the YouTube channel, well, it's funny that they didn't pick up that it's digital. Actually, I thought we did mention that, actually, because the director Alexander Payne, when he did Nebraska, shot Nebraska, obviously, on digital and then processed it to make it look like a black and white 16 million. In the case of this, it's a similar kind of, but those processes have got very, very good now. It's really, it's more to do with the style, with the lighting, with the way in which the direction works that makes it feel like it. But I just, I thought it was lovely. It was absolutely lovely and I'm,

I just don't understand why they didn't release it before Christmas. Agreed. But watch it anytime because it's great. Number five is One Life, which is very moving. And as I said, we've had, remember when the King's Speech happened and people talked about at the end of the movie, people stood up and applauded? Do you remember we did a lot of correspondence? We've had several people writing that say at the end of one life, people just sat and let the, you know, it felt like disrespectful to move.

And I think that is a very interesting fact. Number four, anyone but you. Which I haven't seen, but I want to because it's Will Glark. Poor Things is at number three. Which is completely fabulous. And do we have further? Yes, yes, yes. Okay, fine.

So I think this is Natalie. Yes, okay. Inspired to write after going to see Poor Things on Friday. I know Mark often says your experience of a film is impacted by what you bring to it. Though in this case, it's what I brought to it that affected my reflections afterwards. Okay, right. what you bring to it, though in this case is what I brought to it that affected my reflections afterwards. December 2022, my family was shaken by the unexpected death of my cousin at only 25 years of age. Neve was a shining light of a person and the closest thing I had to a sister. Every day I think of things I wish I could share with her as we had many of the same interests

and hobbies, but quite different social and political views, which always led to interesting though good natured debates. After a wonderful but exhausting December celebrating Christmas, but also mourning the one-year anniversary of Neve's death, I found myself utterly burnt out and needing a few days off. So I booked some leave and on Friday afternoon took myself along to see poor things. I've been a fan of Yorgos Lanthimos's work for a long time and frankly the weirder the better as far as I'm concerned. Therefore I've been excited to see it for a long time. I wasn't disappointed thoroughly relishing the more bonkers elements of the story and the gorgeous Victorian steampunk aesthetic. However, since coming out of it I've been longing to discuss it with Neve who I'm sure would have had much to say about the film's feminist credentials, its celebration of an exploration without leering of female sexuality and its

exploration of women's autonomy and power in a world built and run by men. I also think that she, as someone on the autistic spectrum, would have had an engaging debate about my interpretation of the character of Bella as neurodivergent, and how refreshing I found it to see a female character confident and frank about her thoughts and desires, who is both vulnerable and strong, though society does its best to disempower her and force her to conform. While I understand the film's source material is a novel, which I haven't read, but shall, I loved McNamara and Lanthimos's vision, The screenwriters brought so wonderfully to life by Emma Stone, "...I was almost surprised to see such a multifaceted portrayal of womanhood created, written and directed by men. It just goes to show that it

can be done and done fabulously if and when male writers and directors view female characters as whole beings and not merely girlfriends, wives, mothers and sex objects. As George R. R. Martin said when asked how he wrote such authentic female characters, I've always considered women to be people too. As I no longer have my wonderful cousin and friend to share such thoughts with, and as it's not the sort of film I would recommend, every one of my acquaintances go and see, especially after their response to the lobster, I'm grateful to have your show and a chance to share my thoughts in a film that has grown more profound and meaningful for me since seeing it a few days ago. Well, what a lovely email.

It is definitely true that what that does demonstrate, because if you remember last week there was at least one, I think maybe two emails that were very, had a very, very skeptical take on the portrayal of Bella. And we talked about that. And I think, you know, there are different interpretations. Really lovely to hear somebody finding their own take on it that was so positive and, you know, and absolutely empowering. That kind of tends to be the area in which I see the film. And also lovely that you made that connection

about wanting to have that discussion, which I understand, and we've said this so many times on this program, the great miracle of films is that they're really about people and your relationships with people. Natalie signs off, by the way, Balmerslo, Karate Club student of the year 2003. And I've been dying to reselebrate that achievement for years.

That's in County Galway. Very good, very good. And Tim Bradshaw, before we leave this subject, everything, everything, everything was wrong with poor things. Wait for the ending. Everything was wrong with poor things. Films Wait for the ending. Okay. Everything was wrong with poor things. Films made in a mix of black and white and color

are almost always a director saying, look at me, I'm so clever. When really, they're not all that. I'm talking about Christopher Nolan, of course. His work consists entirely of, look at how clever I am. Oh, and there's the strange fisheye lens stuff. And of course, it was made on film. I should have hated this

movie. It was brilliant. So good. I'm going to see it again tomorrow. Well done. Although, you know, we got their butt. Tim, you know, that assessment of Chris Nolan, I think is entirely incorrect. Yes, entirely incorrect. Number two is Wonka. What an incredible hit that is. What an incredible hit that is. And it is the fact that it's still number two. And how many weeks has it been in the charts? A thousand.

A thousand weeks of the charts. And the UK's number one is Mean Girls. Steven Theaker says, to bland, where was Tina Fey's usual sharpness? Back home, my daughter played me the cast recording of the stage musical. And there it was before the songs were sanitized for the film.

And it should have been a period film. That's not how teens would destroy Regina these days. Yeah, you see that it is interesting that the up there isn't really, it doesn't it doesn't hit the same nerve that mean girls did when it first came out because the world has changed so much. Okay, there's a certain amount of updating in the film, but it's yeah, exactly. I think it doesn't have the bite that it did have. But you know, hey, it's gone to number one.

It's the number one movie. Okay, you're going to hear my conversation with Andrew Haig. In a moment, we're going to be talking about all of us strangers after this. Simon and Mark here with another message from our good friends at NordVPN. They are a great bunch of those NordVPN folks. They are indeed and they're back with another handy tip for making your hectic life that bit easier. Yes, because if you're thinking of booking a holiday this January then NordVPN can help

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episode description box, so head there right away. Season four of my podcast, Mobituaries. I've got a whole new bunch of stories to share with you about the most fascinating people and things who are no longer with us. From famous figures who died on the very same day to the things I wish would die, like buffets, all that and much more. Listen to Mobituaries with Mo Raca wherever you get your podcasts.

It says here, welcome back Chattiebit. Do you want it? But Mark can't do Chattiebit because his mouth is full of Danish. Oh, for heaven's sake. Well, that sounds wrong. We just stopped the two. Pastry. Last time we should have stopped.

You didn't. You just said Godly and Cream. Yeah, but we're just the right answer. Yeah, but we should have the right answer. Yeah, but there should have been a break. Was it Godly and Cream? It was Godly and Cream, and in the break, you should give me at least just enough time to just hang on one second.

I'll guess this week is writer and director Andrew Hague. His new film is All of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott, Paul Maskell, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell. You'll hear my conversation with Andrew after this clip. I thought you'd be hairier, not your dad. OK, sorry. Like a hairy chest myself.

Christ, you know who you remind me of? Who? You look just like my dad. Christ, you know who you remind me of? Uh, who? You look just like my dad. Did he? Hmm. I remember him anyway when I was a little girl. God, isn't that mad? It's like seeing you both exactly the same time.

And that's a clip from All of Us Strangers. It's director and writer is Andrew Hague. Hello Andrew, how are you? I'm very good. It's good to be here. Are you feeling chipper? I am feeling chipper. A little bit tired but chipper, but there's two good things to feel at the same time.

And congratulations on the BAFTA nominations. Thank you very much. For you as director, best British film, best adapted screenplay. Do you secretly think about those things or do you just, I know you're going to say, no, no, no, no, it's just one day at a time. I mean, of course you secretly think about those things or do you just, I know you're going to say, no, no, no, no, it's just one day at a time. I mean, of course, you secretly think about those things. You tell yourself it doesn't matter. And then when the nominations are coming out, you're like, oh, God, is this going to happen,

please? So look, it's very nice. None, I don't think, I mean, you can't make films for this purpose, obviously, to get things, but it helps the film get out into the world and it helps people see the film and hear about the film. And so, yeah, I'm really happy about it. Now, in asking you to tell us about the film get out into the world and it helps people see the film and hear about the film. And so, yeah, I'm really happy about it. Now, in asking you to tell us about the film, I'm aware that when one of your previous films

was discussed on the program, 45 years, Tom Courtney was on the show, and he basically, when asked the same question, which is obviously a good starting place, told us the entire story, including the ending. And I was thinking, I'm not going to interrupt because he's Tom Courtney, you know? So I know that you're not going to do that.

That's hilarious. So tell us about your movie and how you came to be right in making this story. So it's based on a novel, loosely based on a Japanese ghost story. And what I loved about that novel, which is what I've taken into my story, is about a guy mid 40s alone in his apartment, lonely in his life. And he goes back to his

childhood home where he meets his parents again, who died 30 years ago. And now they look the same age as he does now. And that starts a relationship, a reunion with his past, I suppose. And at the same time, he starts to fall in love with someone in his building. So plot-wise, that's all I'll say. But it is this idea about all of the things that have affected us in the past. Grief, trauma, both small and large, and how that lives within us. And here is a character who sort of needs or longs to sort of go backwards in order to try and move forwards, I suppose. Your central character is played by the fantastic Andrew Scott. Once you read the book and thought, how can I make this story? I know I'm going to personalize it.

And Andrew is the one that I want. Was that, what's the order in which things happen? I think the order is, I don't think about any actors until I finish the script. I try really, really hard not to imagine anybody precise. How can you do that? I really do try. It's A, because they might say no, B, they might not be available. And in some weird narcissistic way, I am all of those characters. And so when I'm writing and it's in my own head, I'm sort of living the experience of those characters. That's how I like to write things so I can sort of living the experience of those characters. That's how I like to write things, so I can sort of get into their heads. And so if I put an actor's face on that, and then watching them,

rather than being within the story. So it's just sort of how the process works for me. And then when I finished it, and we were going out and trying to get the film financed, that's when I was like, I think Andrew's got the person to do it. And it was the first name that came up with me and the casting director. It's a weird thing. You just sort of trust your gut.

So does it then follow that it's Paul Maskell is the next person that you go to? Was it Claire Foy or Jamie Bell who plays parents? Did that all arrive together? Because what you've done is you've... It seems like perfect casting. I know this doesn't happen by accident, but you know, you seem to have stumbled into an incredible piece with four incredible actors. Yeah, I mean, they are so amazing in it. I'm still sort of shocked that it managed to be

such a good combination of people because this film does not work without that combination. Every single character has to work perfectly within that story for it to work. And I think Claire was the one we went to next. So I felt like I needed to get that mother character right because I needed to make sense of that mother made sense for Andrew. And we had a lot of conversations and then we landed on Claire and I was like, that is the person they even look quite similar.

And then it was going to the dad and it's working out, okay, you need to believe that that can be Andrew's dad, but you also need to believe that Jamie makes sense as Claire's husband. So you're trying to work out these connections. And then Paul came last. And then it was like, okay, how does this work? I sort of want some strange similarity between Jamie and Paul.

I wanted there to be a sort of connection there that somehow the past of it as he grew up sort of led to what he even liked romantically. And then that has to all make sense. So it was a very complicated sort of scenarios that you're trying to work out together. And sometimes you can put all that work in and it doesn't work. But I saw an interview with with Andrew Scott and he said, sometimes the magic just happens. And it's almost like there's an indefinable something. Does that belittle anyone else's role? But is there something that you, you know, a sprinkle of fairy dust in there?

There is. I think there is. And I think sometimes it just doesn't quite come together within casting and sometimes it really does. And I do think it is a little sprinkle of magic. I also think for this case, they were all so excited to be working with each other. And I think it's like going on a date. If you really want that date to work,

you're gonna do everything you can to try and make that date work. And I feel like that is what was happening. They were so pleased to be in a room together and acting. They respected each other, they loved each other. And I really do think there was a little bit of sort of magic came out of that. I did wonder a number of times,

whether I was watching something that hadn't been done before. The scenes where Andrew Scott is talking to his parents who are the same age as him. I'm sure there are other movies and people will write in and tell me what they are, but it did feel like it was a special thing that you had created. Yeah, it was a weird one. As I was doing it, I was like, there must have been lots of films like this, because it's such an obvious idea, really, when you think about it.

Who doesn't want to go back in time and speak to people that have meant something to us? Of course, but I couldn't find any connections. There was a petit maman recently, the French film, which is a young girl meeting a version of her mother when they're very young, but not as adults meeting. And of course, someone also might write in and say, you've not seen this film. Say, right. But it felt like something, it did feel like something different, but also something that all of us longed for. And that felt like a really exciting combination. Halfway through the film, you reminded me of a dream that I had. And my father died

more than 20 years ago. And I've only dreamt about him once and we went in I was going into a big house and he's standing there in the middle of the room and he looks up when I walk in and he says I know I'm surprised too and I woke up laughing because it was first of all it's a great line who wrote that line for him but it's like the con those those conversations are extraordinary but what you've done is you've made them live in a completely different context. It's really so true because I feel like you hear that a lot and on this press tour and

everything, I've spoken to so many people who often talk about meeting people in their dreams. And not all the time, but they meet their father or their mother and that somehow through that dream something is understood dream, something is understood. The relationship is understood. Now, that person can be long gone, but it just shows how deeply connected we still are with that person. Because I know it was a dream, I happened to be asleep at the time,

and yet it somehow has another quality. And it's as important somehow as if it wasn't a dream, it becomes part of you. And I think that is what I wanted the film to feel like. We were going back into a lucid dream somehow, as if it wasn't a dream. It becomes part of you. And I think that is what I wanted the film to feel like. We were going back into a lucid dream somehow, and someone was in control of that dream and being able to have those conversations that will help him move forward. Can I ask you about something that happens

right at the very beginning of the film? In fact, before, as people are settling down and before they've taken any notes of what's happening, we see Andrew in his flats, very nice flats, looking over London and there is like a glint, a sunshine off a pane of glass or something. People might think that's an insignificant moment. However, I'm thinking that it actually is a significant thing that people should pay attention to as soon as your film starts. For me, it was always about that something is out there calling him or something that either calling him or

he is longing for something. Like I think in the script it was even there's a shard of light on a building, it's either a guide or warning. And I feel like there's something in that moment that is about I need to change, I need to speak to something that is out there, whether it's out there or whether it's in there within me, there's something that I need to understand. And that to me is somehow what that light reflects. It's something magical and that can exist for a moment and you just have to sort of focus and take that in. And I know that lots of people might not get it or see it. And there is, as you say, connections between that and there was other connections through that light as you go forward and even to the very, very, very, very end of the film. And it is about something even that is hard to articulate, but there was something there.

You could even call it spiritually if you want, but I'm not necessarily a spiritual person, but there was something else out there that we need to connect with. Andrew Scott plays the role of a script writer. In fact, he says to his mom, I'm not a proper writer. I write scripts for film. That's definitely something you said in the past, isn't it? Definitely. I mean, people keep telling me, like, oh, you're a writer, I'm like, really?

I was, that's it. Scripts, is that the same? So, but he's writing a screenplay and he's struggling with it. And then he meets Paul Mezcal's character. And then it starts to flow. Would he have been able to write that story without Paul Mescal's character coming up in the lift and introducing himself?

No, I don't think so. I think he is actually the beginning of everything that happens in the film. It's an opportunity. It's a possibility. Paul arriving, how he arriving is reminding Adam that he is absolutely stuck, that he cannot let this person in at that point.

He can't move forward. He can't open himself up to intimacy, to love, to anything in that moment. So I think it's almost like out of that comes a longing and a desire to change for something to be different. I always think that to me, whether you see this as the ghost story or whether you all see it in his head or whatever, however you might want to read it, for me it's almost about a collective longing. All of these characters, even the mum and the dad, and how he are longing for something to happen, something to change, longing to be known and understood and have one last moment with each other, whatever that might be. And that is the thing for me that brings the story into the ether. Can I ask you about the music? Because it's

obviously integral to what you've created. Frankie goes to Hollywood's Power of Love. He's there a number of times. Fun Young Cannibals, Pet Shop Boys, The Ink Spots, fantastically towards the end. And actually, you've managed to redeem a song. So you were always on my mind. Always Struck Me is the most selfish song of all time.

I've ignored you for my entire life. But guess what? You were always on my mind. But the context in which you've put it, it feels like it means something else. Yeah, and it's so funny because I love the idea. I mean, pop music says so much to us, and it says so much to teenagers and kids. It allows us to explore ideas of adulthood, of love, of loss, of all of those things when we're not quite used to being able to understand those concepts. And that song, for example, The Perture Boys, I love that it's essentially, as you say, quite a selfish romantic song, right?

But when you change the context of it, it's suddenly quite beautiful. It's a song about someone saying, please forgive me for being bad or not saying the right things. I love you. And for me, it's all, it was really important because romantic love and familial love are often separated, but they're not separate. They're so entwined. It's the same understanding of what someone needs. You know, you need compassion and caring and understanding.

And I'm trying to bring those two different forms of love together to show how interconnected they are. Right. The house that Claire Foy and Jamie Bell's character live in is your old house. That was Mel House. Yeah. Yeah. And you said that this is the most personal film that you've ever made. Once people have seen it, I think they'll get that. Does that mean that it's more difficult to make? I think it is more difficult to make.

In many ways, it's sort of easier to make because you really understand the emotions at stake and you sort of feel it in your gut. So that kind of really helps because for me, cinema is about feeling and I'm trying to get a feeling across. It's a little bit more nerve wracking when you put the film out into the world when it feels very personal. Because obviously because it's personal, the reaction to the film is a little bit heightened and I'm a bit more raw about it. So I'm very happy that the film is resonating with people. And I never want to, it's not an autobiography. It never was that. You know, it's not about me as such but it's about I'm using my

Experience trying to share elements of my experience in the hope that the audience will come and share their experience when they see the film As indeed I did by telling you about the dream if funny people will engage with it on a number of different levels However, I wonder if there's one area that you find you might suffer in and that is the people of dorking. It's a town I know very well and there's a line where Andrew Scott's character says something like, what am I going to do in dorking? What is someone like me going to do in a town like dorking? Why did you pick on dorking? Do you know what? I feel so bad about dorking. I've never been to dorking. There were some other towns that I mentioned in there,

which I'm not gonna mention now because I don't want those people to hate me too. But to be honest, it's such a funny name for a town. I can see everyone in Dawking going to see this movie. This is great. This is great. Oh, what? Thanks a lot.

Yeah. And I'm sure Dawking is a lovely place to live, but let's face it, it has a ridiculous name. And for that reason it was in there for comedy value. And what are you going to be working on next, Andrew? Do you know? I've got a couple of things that I'm sort of trying to work out what can go next and what should go next. But I do think it's interesting when you've made a film, the sort of bursts out of the bubble, let's say, whatever you make next becomes a conversation with that

film. So I'm sort of trying to work out what is the next best thing for me, for what I speak to me the most. So I'm just sort of trying to work out what comes next. For all the best for the BAFTAs. Thank you very much. I think you'll do very well. Andries, thank you so much. Pleasure. Thank you. Andrew Hague speaking to me yesterday. And as I mentioned at the start of the program, we knew about the BAFTAs obviously because we mentioned the nominations. We didn't mention, I suppose I wouldn't have, it's a couple of hours before the Oscar nominations came out. And the fact that he wasn't nominated, I might not have mentioned.

No, because they might have thought, because some American critics have said it's the best thing that they've seen this year. So maybe he had a secret hope there. Loads of people have loved it. And I understand why, because it's terrific. So to pick up on a number of things that came up, that's terrific interview. A number of things that came up. One of them was that you were talking about, I can't think of another film in which there is this similarity. Well, the most obvious thing is that there is a previous film of this same novel. So the novel is a 1987 novel, Strangers by Teaching Yamada, which apparently the year it came out won the Yamamoto Shiguru Prize for Best Human Interest Novel.

Very shortly afterwards, there was a Japanese film called The Discarnate, which is, it's sold much more as a kind of ghostly chiller. It's sometimes, I think, incorrectly referred to as a horror film. It's in that Japanese Kaidenegger ghost story tradition. There is a very different What is that tradition? Okay, so I once wrote a long piece about this for sight and sound. Ghosts in the Japanese tradition serve a very different function than they do in the Western traditions. They're much more every day. I mean, like, you know, bodies of water have ghosts, there'll be spirits in the clock, spirits in the table, you know,

the idea of spirits in things is much more common. And so there's, there is a whole kind of Japanese ghost story tradition, which quite often ranges from, you know, on the one hand, horror and chillers, to on the other hand, kind of much more everyday interactions. And in the Discarnates, there is the same thing about he meets these people who appear to be his parents at that age. And so, you know, so there is that I was also thinking in popular culture, you can think of things like back to the future in which, you know, he goes back and he's then the same age as his mother and there's that whole kind of weird, edible thing going on. But I think the thing that works so well about this is that it has actually, in my opinion,

a very Japanese view of the ghosts, that they are very everyday, they are very commonplace. There's something strangely ordinary about them. So just in case anyone hasn't seen the film. So the story is Andrew Scott is Adam, he's a lonely Londoner. He returns to his flat. He's approached by his neighbour, Paul, Harry, played by Paul Mescal, who's drunk, comes onto him. He's initially rebuffed. Sometime after, he goes back, our central character, goes back to the place where he grew up and he appears to meet his mum and dad played by Jamie Bell and Claire Thoy and it's very natural but they are his age. They are the age they were when he lost them and then they talk and they engage and they sort of talk about the strangers of the situation but

that's not the primary source of their conversation. What they're really talking about is reconciliation and things that aren't you know, that are still haunting them in the past. And while that's happening, his relationship with this person who turned up at his front door is starting to blossom. So it's about grief and longing and memory, which in theory are all the things that were in the horror film. We talked about earlier on, Baghead, but aren't. They're just there is like words.

But here it really is about that. And it's about the way that desire can make something real, can make something tangible. It's also, and I think this is crucial, it's about the need to move on. It's about how the past can haunt you, can enchant you, but can also trap you. That in the end, we all know that the past is to be lived with and not in. So Andrew Hake was so articulate in that interview, you know, made Weekend, which this, you know, there may be a companion piece element this 45 years, which as you said, it wasn't that Tom Conti talked, Tom Conti.

Courtney. Courtney. It wasn't that Tom Courtney talked, you know, about the ending in a, he talked only about the ending. He talked almost exclusively about the ending. It was an entire interview about the end of the film. And then Lean on Pete, which I think is a lovely, lovely underrated movie.

Anyway, what Andrew Hay gets so brilliantly is human longing, human desire, human interaction, the way in which all those things are expressed physically as well as verbally. The performances in this film are exquisite. I mean, I think when he was talking about the casting and the way that you have to make sure that that relationship works with that person, and then that relationship has to fit with it, the way everything tessellates. You think, I don't know how you'd ever get the movie cast. You're thinking in such a, and yet it's absolutely right. The scenes between Claire Foy and Andrew Scott, the thing when she, you know, when she, when she looks

at him, he's a grown man and she says, you were just a boy. It's, it's, it's heartbreaking. I mean, it's absolutely heartbreaking because and she's the one just picking up on the always on my mind. She's the one when it's playing on the radio, she sings along to it. And she's obviously singing that to her son. And that's why it requires a whole different meaning. Also interestingly, so you mentioned the music and you mentioned the use of pop songs. What you didn't mention is that there is a fantastic original score by Emily Levieles Farouche, who is a wonderful composer who I first came across when she did Only You. She then did the music for Sensor,

the Prana Belly Bond film. And living most recently, you know, living the... Actually, of course, interesting, even Bill Nye in a film that has... You loved living, right? Yes. Yeah, okay. So again, that's a Japanese original that's then remade as an English language, a film so strange connection there. I think that... I can't imagine anybody watching all of us strangers and not being touched. The fact that you told that story. The fact that you told that story.

It just seemed to be a relevant thing to say that sometimes these things happen and you can't really explain what's going on. And his response was, so many people have told me similar stories. So many people have come up to him and talked about it because, and this is the key to it, it is a film that touches an essential truth in all of us, that we all understand longing, loss, grief and the fact that the past can haunt you. And as I said, you live with the past, but you can't live in it. I loved it. Go see it and let us know what you think, correspondents at cobanemaio.com. It's the ads in a minute, but Mark, first it's time to step with confidence and with excitement. Godly and cream.

Into our laughter lift. Well, hey Mark. Hey Simon. Had a bit of a moral quandary this week. Oh dear. I was walking home and I saw a 50 pound note on the pavement. Right. I picked it up and I thought to myself, what would Jesus do?

So I turned it into wine. Lovely bottle of 2022 Chateau Nerf de Pap for only 47 pounds. So I came out of this upmarket wine warehouse and I saw a dear old lady crying. What's the matter? I said, go and blame me. Love a duck, she says.

I just lost a 50 pound note. Right here, I'm so glum. So I gave her my three quid in change from the one I'd found. Once you'd always share one's blessings. Very good. Very good. I felt awful the next day when I realized what had happened. And I said to myself,

today I quit drinking wine for good. Now I only drink wine for evil. Hey! Back after this, of course, unless you're a Van Gogh Easter, in which case we have just one question. What grows by 15 centimeters every summer? Bamboo. Hello, I'm Louis Theroux and I'm delighted to tell you that my podcast is available everywhere.

Each Tuesday I'll be in conversation with an array of fascinating guests such as podcaster and comedian Adam Buxton actor Paul Meskel, movie director Baz Lerman and pop sensation Pink Pantheress. The Louis Theroux podcast is a Spotify podcast available everywhere. Hear that? That's the sound of waves crashing on a beach. And that, that's the sound of ice clinking in your favorite drink. The secret to making your retirement dreams come true

is simple, lower your investment fees. If your retirement savings are in high fee mutual funds, you could be losing a lot of your money to those fees. With Quest wealth portfolios, your investments are managed for you at a fraction of the cost, so you can earn more and make your retirement dreams come true. Get started today at Questrade.com. What grows? This is our question, unless you're a vanguard Easter in which case it's obviously flowing through What grows by 15 centimeters every summer the answer is of course godly and creepy no the answer The I will tower which gets taller by because it expands in the heat thermal expansion But that makes about 15 centimeters is a lot. It's a lot says made of raw tion. Does that mean that?

of wrought iron. Does that mean that all buildings made of wrought iron expand by 15 centimeters? Are these worrying, isn't it? A year? Yeah, but then it comes back down again. It's not a year on year. No, I know. It makes it even worse. Yes, it was just that in the summer it's 15 centimeters. Blackpool Tower, does that increase by presumably? Presumably, yeah. Anyway, if you're an architect, let us know, or an engineer. An engineer. I think you want a structural engineer to answer that question. Correspondentsoncominema.com. What else is out? The Color Purple, C-O-L-O-R, film adaptation of the stage musical of the novel by Alice Walker previously adapted as a dramatic film by Steven Spielberg in the 1980s.

This is directed by Blitz Bazoule, aka Blitz the ambassador, Ghanaian filmmaker, rapper, visual artist and record producer, whose CV also includes Berial of Kojo and Beyonce's Black is King, produced by Opera Winfrey, who played Sophia in the in Spielberg's film version, Got Supporting Actress nod, along with Spielberg, Scott Saunders and Quincy Jones, who was the co-producer and composer on the Spielberg version. And Winfrey, Saunders and Jones produced Jones, who was the co-producer and composer on the Spielberg version, and Winfrey, Saunders and Jones produced the stage play, which was a huge hit. So all of these things coming back together again. New version also features a cameo by Whoopi Goldberg,

who played Sealy in the original, I mean, you're my age, you all remember the original one coming out, and earned one of the film's 11 Oscar nods for Best Actress. This time, Sealy is played by Fantasia Barino, with Danielle Brooks playing Sophia, and getting the films this year, the film's sole Oscar nomination, as I said, again, back to the Oscar nomination. So, the Alice Walker novel, which many people listening will have read, won the Pulitzer Prize in 83, set in rural Georgia early 1900s, follows the story of Sealy who, as a child and a victim of incest rape, has two children by her father, both of whom are taken away from her immediately

after they're born. She is then married off to Mr, played in this version by Colin Domingo, separated from her sister, who was the only person in the world who appears to love her, beaten by her husband, who cares only for nightclub singer, Shug Avery, played here by Trajpy Henson, who then takes a shine to Sealy. When Mr. Son Harpo, Corey Hawkins, falls for Sophia, it looks like both he and his dad have met their match his a clip. I won't send the do-shelter my girl.

This here Sophia. Hmm. Why the woman? Who's Kenny you guy? You seem like trouble. Oh no sir, I'm one of August's buttless daughters. No trouble at all. Just big.

Ha ha ha. Who'da, daddy? Apple. I ain't gonna let you marry my son because you and the family are way better. A pretty guy like you can take his mind, but you can't have his money. He ain't got no money.

See, my sister and her husband say I can live with them as long as I please. Now, I come here out of respect. But if there ain't none to get, that show ain't none to get. Don't keep me waiting. So she is not to be messed with. However, Sealy, who knows only violence and battery, advises Harper when Harper says,

I can't, you know, she just does what she wants. She says, well, you need to beat her with disastrous consequences. So look, this is a tough story, OK? You know, incest, rape, racism, violence. And questions were asked when the Spielberg version came out about whether or not the Spielberg version had soft pedaled the novel. I mean, you remember all this, it was quite... I don't remember that dispute. But it was quite a big deal, the fact that Spielberg was taking on this incredibly acclaimed thing, you know, was he the right person to do it? And actually, there's a lot of literature written

about the way in which the color purple was received by different audiences and the things that, even though there are things that are problematic about it, how much some people took it to heart anyway. If there is any question of softening in that version, that question is absolutely amplified in this. I mean, there is something strange, I suppose, about the idea of a story with all those elements in it being done as a musical, although the stage play was a huge hit and got loads of Tony nominations. So by the time of the finale of this version of the Color Purple, all the kind of... I mean, it's almost like all the wrongs have been

righted in a way that feels very much like, I suppose, in the musical tradition. And last week we had the film of the musical of Mean Girls, and I said it was better than the film of the musical of the producers are not as good as the film of the musical of hairspray. This is better than Mean Girls, which incidentally just went in at number one. Not least, I think, because the music is really terrific and infectious, and the performances are very, very engaging. I mean, great cast, you know, every single character, you know,

very well cast. Tragic B. Henson is dynamite as a chug Avery. When she performs that song, Sealy's Blue Sister, which of course is in the original film, I mean, it's a showstopper. She also does this song called Push the Button, which is absolutely complete bar and apparently on stage was always a really big thing and that works really well. Fantasia Brino makes a very, very impressive screen debut. Cast also includes Lugosi Jr., Jean-Baptiste, Angelina Ellis Taylor, more excellent production design, earworm songs, eye-catching choreography. It's still strange. There is still something strange about seeing this story done as a musical. And it certainly throws a very different perspective

onto... I mean, weirdly enough, I watched the Spielberg version not so long ago because there was some research that was being done in our household. And I hadn't watched the Spielberg since it came out. And there are things about the Spielberg that really do strike a strange and uncomfortable note. But there is a bit, the very beginning of the Spielberg, when you're first introduced to the two girls walking through the fields, and then you realize that one of them is pregnant, one of these children is pregnant and it's shocking. I mean, it's absolutely shocking and of course that is there right at the very beginning of this story but this does feel much more like, I mean I think you've seen the posters

but it's smiles, it's definitely selling itself much more as a kind of absolutely positive uplifting experience, despite the fact that all those things are still there, the domestic violence, the rape, all that stuff is there. And yet somehow it's a musical with great somehow it's a musical with great upbeat, well-choreographed, vibrant numbers. So I won't deny that it's strange, but I can't, you know, the cast all give it great welly and some very good casting, some very good production design. Strange in a good way. I think so. I mean, I enjoyed it. I mean, I did enjoy it. It is odd. It's definitely odd, but I did enjoy it. Thank you for the correspondence that I read out.

And also, thank you for the correspondence that you send via a voice note, for example, in our Watson section. It goes like this. Hi, Simon and Mark. This is Jeremy from the website, thesession.org, dedicated to Irish traditional music. I wanted to tell you about a new documentary called Brendan Dleson's Farewell to Huses. Follow the actor and fiddle player Brendan Dleson as he explores the history of Huses Pub, a meeting place for Dublin's traditional Irish music scene. The film will have its

premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival on March 1st. Tickets are available online at DIFF.ie. Hello Mark and Simon, my name is Ivo Graham and even though I haven't seen nearly as many films as your more devout churchgoers, I have seen every film ever made starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is all thanks to a very dear and wonderfully eccentric friend of mine called Tom, who loved Philip Seymour Hoffman and proposed after he died in 2014 that we pay him the ultimate tribute of working our way through his entire career in chronological order. From magnolia to the master, mission impossible three to moneyball, and loads of others that don't begin with M,

we watched 55 films, one mini-series, and one Polish drama that was an absolute faff to track down. In a brutal twist, a year and a half ago I found myself very unexpectedly saying goodbye to my friend Tom as well. And since then, revisiting the Hoffman project with his family and friends has been one of the main ways we've kept him with us. Next Friday, the 2nd of February, all mark 10 years since Phil passed away. And I'm in charge of something Tom and I always talked about doing. Hosting a film screening and inviting not just our friends but anyone else who would like to

mark the anniversary with us. We'll be at the Prince Charles in London and showing Capote, the film that won Philly's Oscar, enjoying what is quite simply a masterclass, a barnstorming performance as Mark wrote in 2006. If anyone listening is one of those people, it would be lovely to have you there. And if anyone listening has ever thought of watching an actor's entire catalogue, I can thoroughly recommend it. Do it with someone you love and it'll be exhausting and frustrating at points and it'll take ages, but it will be one of the great quests of your life and you'll be so glad of those memories.

Wow. Ivo Graham telling us about a special screening of Capote at the Prince Charles in London. And also Ivo Graham ignoring our advice about a 22nd audio trailer, which you can send us by just keeping on. And he was, yes, absolutely. We were interested in what he had to tell us. And before that, Jeremy was talking about a new documentary looking at Brendan Gleason's relationship with the iconic Irish pub Hughes, which will be premiering in March. You can either follow Jeremy's guide and keep it succinct, or you can follow Ivo's guide

and just keep on going. Both very well recorded though, so I like that. Correspondents at Kerbinomo.com. That's it for take one. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. This week's team, Lily, Gully, Vicki, Zaki, Matty and Bethy, producer was Michael and the redacted assignment, Mark, what is your film of the week? All of us strangers. Of course it is. Don't forget, Take Two has already landed alongside this podcast and Take Three with your questions and your shmestions will be with you on Wednesday.