Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Daisy Edgar-Jones, Where the Crawdads Sing, Notre Dame on Fire, She Will, Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

Simon talks to actress Daisy Edgar-Jones, of ‘Normal People’ fame, who stars in ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ - the new film adaptation of Number One best-selling book by Delia Owens. Plus Mark reviews ‘Notre Dame on Fire’, based on the real-life disaster that took place in August 2019, documentary ‘Kurt Vonnegut Unstuck in Time’ - about the life of the beloved American writer, and ‘She Will’ - a psychological horror, by debut director Charlotte Colbert. Mark and Simon read out email from Tim Clayton about the single-screen cinema called Kino Astra in Oborniki Slaskie, Poland – if you’d like to find out more you can visit: https://kinoastra.pl/o-nas/ You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or find us on our social channels. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts Exclusive! Grab the NordVPN deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-daycare  money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Metrolinx and cross-links are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Cross-town LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware and stay safe. I think we should probably just get straight on with the movies because if we don't, I have a terrible fear that you're going to sing. Here we go. Okay.

No, no, we're going to. Let me, so context for this, as we were sharing the car to the studio this morning because I stopped at your house again last night, which is now, now I have become a real, I have become Maggie Smith. We started talking about narrative songs. Did this begin because of what was the first, was it Babushka? Yes, yes. So you see, which is based on an old English folks

on called Sove about a woman who dresses up as a high woman then holds up her lover and says, give me that ring that she has given him when it's never when it's not dresses a high women. And she makes it very clear that if he does give up the ring, she has given him when it's never dressed as a hybrid one. And she makes it very clear that if he does give up the ring, she's going to shoot him. But actually he says, no, no, no, no. My true love gave that to me.

And so therefore they all have happily ever after. So that's what was based on. And that's what Babushka is based on. And I said, I never quite understood what happened at the end of Babushka. But you said he shouts out. I'm all yours, Babushka. Babushka. So I think he smashes the out. I'm all yours, per Bushka Bushka.

So I think who smashes the plates? I think that's just a, they just had a plate smashing sample. Anyway, so we went from that to the Pina Collada song. Terrible. Rupert Holmes, who was the author of Where the Truth Lies, which is a film directed by Atom Egoyan starring Colin Firth. All right, okay. But that's also a narrative song with a similar kind of relationship,

I think, his busts. That's a test trick on you. Although what would actually happen is they both walk into the bar called Omalis, realize that they had both attempted to cheat on each other and get a divorce rather than go and hold them and have a pinnacle audit. That somehow then got us onto, I've never quite understood in the middle of Copa Cabana. Who shot who? It's never explained.

It doesn't matter. Barry raises the question. He says, you know, but the thing from a but who shot who? Yes. And then there's an instrumental section, and all the but. Copa, Copa, Cabana. And then the next time it comes back,

she's sitting at a table and the, you know, everything's, the life's gone away and now she's miserable and sad. But it's never explained Barry. Barry never explains us a matter. She's totally. This then led us on to, have you ever heard the soundtrack of Thombalina?

Well, it led you there. Yeah, yeah. Which is one of my favorite and most underrated, it's a dumb-lood animation, which I love, love, love, love, love. And Barry Manlow did the music for it. And on the Scarlo radio, film music, each other, I do. I was trying to find the soundtrack album. I've got a copy of it on CD somewhere,

but it's up in the attic and I can't find it. I thought everything was online. Cannot find the soundtrack. I know. What I did find, however, is the karaoke soundtrack. I know. Including I did find, however, is the karaoke soundtrack. I know. Including Mary the Mole, which apparently, I didn't know this until I looked it up,

the song Mary the Mole sung by Carol Channing was the recipient of a Razi Award, making Thumbelina the first animated film to win a Razi Award. The CD was a limited release and has been out of print since. Which, so I've got a CD, firstly, Razzie's, yeah, on your bike, you bunch of losers. You wouldn't know a bad film if it, yeah. Anyway, so just to enjoy for a moment, no, we don't need this. If we do, you so need this in your life, we go.

Ro-me-oh, and Juliet. Oh, dear. We're very much in love when they were wed. They on the devry vow. But where are they now? They're dead. Dead. Very, very dead. I'm sorry, I think that's just genius.

It's absolute genius. That's very mannaly. Well, Barry Manolio music, I think lyrics by other people, but yeah, just all of which is an unusual introduction. And do not cut that out of the podcast and don't come around claiming copyright, okay? Because it's very hard to find that. That will definitely be cut out.

Be replaced by... Well, if it's definitely cut out, then next week the film critic on this show is gonna be James King. James Boy King, who is definitely, he's getting younger. Yes, he's looking more boyish by the moment. Anyway. Do you think there's a midnight mass thing

going on with James Boy King? More of which later. What else are we going to do apart from that? Oh, we're going to be reviewing a load of things. She will, which is a really interesting psychological chiller, Notre Dame on Fire, which is a drama about Notre Dame on Fire, Kurt Vonnegut Unstuck in Time, which is a documentary about Kurt Vonnegut and we'll be reviewing where the Crawl Dad's Sing, which is a documentary about Kurt Vonnegut. And we'll be reviewing Where the Crawl Dad's Sing, which brings us to our special guest. She starred alongside Paul Musgal in Normal People, and now she's playing the lead in Deep

South Mystery Thriller Where the Crawl Dad's Sing, the film adaptation of the best-selling book, her name is Daisy Edgar Jones, and you can hear my chat with her a little later on. And as if that wasn't enough. On Monday for the Vanguard Faithful, there'll be another extra take in which we'll be expanding your viewing in our feature one frame back,

inspired by where the crowd had seen. We've been asking you for your deep south movies on our social channels. All we quite a lot to choose from, I imagine. A very, very wide Schmorgasbord. And as always, I have not seen the list of suggestions. Schmorgasbord not being a word from the deep south, necessarily, but certainly works.

It's very good. Is it the same as a poperee? Oh, I never know what a poperee is. Poperee is the thing which you accidentally start eating because you think it's bar snacks. Yeah, a poperee is what I was used to say, you know, if you've got what's on the show? Well, it's a popery of yes, that's right. It's just like a smorgasbord. It's a smorgasbord is cheese,

right? Or is it cheese and meat? Cold cuts. All right, okay, fun. A variety of things. Anyway, in take it all over you decide our word of mouth on a podcast feature mark will be continuing his critique of Netflix Midnight Mass on Netflix, which is obvious because it's called Netflix is midnight mass. He watched episodes one to three last week and this week he's watched it to the end. So by now the thing with the the woman and the thing and the thing and then when that thing happened and then the jaw dropping bit when goes there and you realize that the thing and then when that thing happened and then the jaw dropping bit when goes there and you realize that the thing and actually basically lame the devil. Essentially.

Yes. And I should warn you in advance that when we talk about that we will probably do some spoiler stuff. Because you cannot review four, five and six without saying a little bit about what's in four, five and six. Although you kind of weirdly enough, you sort of slightly preemptive the spoiling thing with your midchbites thing. Yeah, well I didn't think that's fine. I think you'll find, I think you'll

cope. Anyway, everything that you want to send us, you go to Correspondence at COVIDaMAID.com. We would like to hear about your great streaming stuff and anything you want to tell us, correspondents at Konaa.com, please do sign up to our premium value, extra takes to dig into all that stuff. You can access all the extra stuff through Apple podcasts, or if one prefers a different platform, then one should head to extra takes.com. And if you're already a Vanguardista, as always, thank you very much for your subscription.

Forward to the Revolution Comrade. Hey. Vanguard Easter. Oh yes, we invented the word, I think. Well, I mean, the RCP were using Vanguardists, you know, many, many, many years ago. There was a whole point, it was like the revolution can only happen if led by an intellectual Vanguard of people who turned up for their annual conference, which was called, and I'm not making this up, preparing for power. The revolutionary communist party spent 10 years preparing for power.

How did that go? They decided that it wasn't happening. Yeah, I don't remember the being. No, they were. It was a really, really brief period. Eric, the male man Herbert, or possibly hebert, actually, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I suppose so therefore it could be Eric Eber. Anyway, it's Eric. Male man as in M-A-I-L. Yes, as in someone who delivers the male.

Yes, because obviously there is the Elvis Presley song, US Male, which is the pun on the as well, called myself the US Mail, you see. Uh, dear Simon and Mark and Mark and Simon, COVID rect everything, it turned our lives upside down as a result my podcast listening changed. Today I realized I hadn't heard your lovely voices in ages. The last time I listened was pre-pandemic. Wow. I mean, it didn't, yes, it didn't change things that much. You can still just download a podcast. Digital world didn't stop. I searched for you and said, thank God when I saw the podcast, wow, independent now.

Imagine how salty this could get. Extras for money. These guys are full of themselves. Anyway, I listened to the first show and nearly stopped my deliveries. I'm a mailman for Canada Post. As I weld up a little bit, these are my deliveries. I'm a male man of Canada post. As I weld up a little bit, these are my friends I thought to myself. Congratulations on your

new format. And for giving me part of my pre pandemic world pack, you bring joy into my life and I'm grateful for it. This is a very metal song. It is. PS halfway through the May the 5th episode, I happily subscribe to the Take 2 podcast. Mark and Simon Spall, everything is brilliant idea and terrific to... At this point, I'm going to go, okay, this is basically written by the team. Simon pool. It is. You know, because it just sounds...

It just likes everything. And he's saying, I thought I'm not going to pay. Oh, I'm going to pay. And I was... Was he amazed by how easy it was to work the technology? He doesn't say that, but that was... but that's probably in the next epistle from Derek. Does he, does he, the epistle from the apostle?

Does he particularly enjoy the ads? He actually has, he said that. We have, I mean, I know that there's a way of not having the ads, but we have, if you're a subscriber, if you pay money, you don't get the ads. Although, I know some subscribers who are already missing them. Yeah, I know so because we get to sell stuff. We get to say things like the economist or the visible pantiline or vegetables, subscribe and get some vegetables, things like that, which is great.

I was at your house last night and the good lady ceramicist, her indoors said, Mark, do you know what you do very well? I said, no, she said, you laugh. Oh, okay, well that's, there you go. And there's proof of it putting. Inhaling the nitrous oxide, as you do. That's my talent, I laugh. Email from Dan here,

dear left tier gland and right tier gland. Heritage listener, first time emailer. In answer to this correspondent on this week's take to I2 Cry, an unreasonable amount at the cinema and have cinema lacrimosti syndrome, CLS, he's calling it, like him, the tears start at the trailers and then come back during the movie at Key Seens,

much to the confusion of partners and my children. How many partners have you gone? You've got partners. Yes, actually, that's right. I mean, is that supposed to be partner and you just added an S or have you got others? Anyway, maybe he just means cinema partners. He goes to the cinema with different friends.

Okay, as opposed to being polyamorous. Mm-hmm. Very good. Thank you. I've thought about this quite a lot and decided that trailer tears arise mainly due to the swelling dramatic music they're used to accompany them. Rather than the scenes shown, editors bring out the film's scores big guns to grab your attention and engage.

That's true. For the movie, I've done it ever well, dup, at a trailer. Anyway, for the movie itself, I welcome the tears when well-earned by the film. Life is complicated and emotions more so. Films are relatively simple and offer us, and at first reading, I thought this said, a chance of a clean cathedral. But actually, it says, chance of a clean catharsis.

Anyway, cathedral, meaning church of a bishop, from cathedral, meaning an easy chair principally used by ladies. Do you think that's fantastic? G-N-U English, also a professor's chair. Oh, really? All the meaning from Cathedral, yes, but an easy chair used by ladies as opposed to a catharsis of bodily purging, which we could all do with.

Anyway, up with tears and downward scoundrels says,, Dan, have you ever bloomed at a trailer? I think I have weirdly enough, the trailer that did reduce me to tears, and I'm not making this up, there is a trailer for the Hughes Brothers film Menace to Society, the Hughes Brothers, who went on to make dead presidents, which we did as a film of the month.

Menace number two. Menace two, you know, two society. And the trailer for Menace Two Society was cut to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, which I don't even know whether it's in the film, because quite often trailers use music that's not in the film. They often use temp tracks in trailers because the score isn't finished. And that trailer for Menace Two Society, which uses what's going on, which is a piece of music, which always gets me in the fields,

reduce me to tears. And that was a film which was briefly outlawed on video for showing people how to break into cars. Yes, I can see that. And when you say got you in the fields, is that that old speak, isn't it? I think it's what the kids say, you know. Well, I mean, I know my kids would say that.

Next time you get back to your house, and the good lady, Professor Herendolz, sits down, that is her cathedra. Her cathedra, I just remember that. That's fantastic. Streamers we were talking about last week, the Gray Man, was the big one, I think. So that is now, so obviously it had a period in cinemas and now available to stream on

Netflix. Adam Sankto, Adam says, crazy to think the Russo brothers are the second most successful film directors of all time when they are pretty much glorified sitcom directors. By what measure can the Russo brothers be? Without because Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame. But that doesn't make them the most successful film directors of all time. No, but I mean, I imagine that what they do, that's some kind of calculation based on the dollars. It'll be to do with working at how much money

movies that they have been involved with have made. And of course, when you're talking about those huge franchise movies, the sums are astrophysics. It doesn't mean anything. No. It doesn't mean anything. No, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a, you know, it's just a thing. Because one of the things that should be said is that most franchise blockbusters are not director led. It's not like, in the end,

it's the franchise blockbuster is the franchise. But if you were talking, if I were to say, name the top five directors, the Rooza brothers aren't gonna be there. Because you're gonna be going through Spielberg and Christopher Nolan. I mean, I think James Cameron technically is in that fit.

I mean, also because James Cameron is now done, Avatar 234 and 5 are all on the way. So that means by the time he's finished all of those, he will have made a Quinty bazillion pounds. Anyway, Adam says so. They're glorified sitcom directors. They're totally uninteresting. You don't have to have a style to make great films. Richard Donner, a Martin Campbell have done it before, but the Russo brothers are so bland. James Bond, but not that one. Imagine that, going through life. This James Bond mission impossible is keeping action films alive at this point.

NPE says those Danish fight sequences prove that they're that's the way to go without excessive CG and those scenes revive the movie for me. Yeah, I mean, those scenes are interesting because they're proper, crunchy, physical fight sequences, whereas everything else has got a really CG feel to it. This looks good online, but when you're reading them out on a podcast, when people identify themselves as MI6UK, you kind of think, who are you? That's what you think. If you like the Faust and Furious pace of Bill Faircluff's epic fact-based, spy novel beyond encryption in the Burlington file series, then

you will love Anthony Rousseau's The Grey Man and Vice-Versor. They both make parts of Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourn series look like slow horses. Okay. Well, you know, the film, as I said, the film is definitely one of those leave your brains either at the door of the cinema or on the couch beside you because it is like having your head kicked around. Oh, sorry. But like you just did with that.

That's exactly what you just did to the microphone is what the film basically wants to do to your head. There are some nice things in it. I think Andrew D. R. M.S. is terrific in that post-bond thing. There is the bond joke because he's called six and he says 007 was taken. You see, that's very good. But the one thing I said when reviewing it is there is an argument for seeing it in the cinema because it is a big stupidy-loudy, runny-jumpy

chasey, bangy-bangy film. And I know people have very good systems at home, but I saw it in the Dolby Preview Theatre in Soho Square. And it was run Chasey Bangibay turned up to 11 and Brighty Brighty, you know, super. And I thought that's the best way you're ever going to see that film. Okay, correspondents at Kevinamoe.com. We would like to hear from you for next week. Here comes a movie. Tell us the English title and the French title. Okay, well the French title for the film is Notre Dame Broulai, which does sound like a pudding.

Yeah, it does sound like something you would order. Well, obviously that's, you know, that joke for British, or English people can call this as only so, Notre Dame on fire, which is a based on real events drama for Miss Joja Kanau, who made Quest for Fire. I should have only just noticed that, you make Quest for Fire. The lover named the Rose, seven years in Tibet. This is based on the true story of the fire that broke out April 15th, 2019 at Notre Dame de Paris. Here, I know I had originally thought of making it as a doc apparently, and does indeed use some actual footage,

you know, particularly of the stuff going on around of the traffic jams where I think sort of got, you know, got logged up. So it's basically a disaster movie. Do you remember that they referred to die hard as Cowboys and Indians in the Tarring Inferno? I seem to remember you mentioning that. Well, this is basically the Tarring Inferno in a cathedral. So it opens with a quote from Antoine Riffa-Roli, who I'm author, I was not aware of. Everything is true as implausible as it seems. So we get this swift kind of tourist.

That's a rubbish quote. No, there we go. And I'm sorry. No, it's not. No, it's not. But I think it means of what you're about to say. It's a way of saying what you're about to see. I see.

Basically, based on actual events, based on true events, as opposed to based on true events. So swift touristy introduction to one of the most visited monuments in Europe containing holy relics and priceless artworks, including crown of thorns, brought from the holy land by Louis I X. I can never remember how the Roman numerals work.

So the opening sequence we see people working on scaffolding outside the building, number of possible causes of the fire, dropped cigarette, but chemicals being left around electrical faults, animals in the building, a number of possible causes of the fire. Dropped cigarette, but chemicals being left around, electrical faults, animals in the building chewing on wires. There are time settings on screen, which you know, all do this kind of dramatic stuff. So 6, 17, the first alarm goes off,

but it's declared a false alarm because they go to the wrong place. They go, oh, there's a fire here. No, they go, no, there isn't anything. So they leave it on. Services continue whilst the cameras rush around dustiatic's finding fire in a way that Irwin Allen who did all those kind of the master of disaster would have loved. By 1845, 645, there are photos on social media of smoke pouring out

at the top of the cathedral. And it's a question, is this a joke? Because nobody believes anything is in social media, or any way? Somebody says, it can't be Notre Dame, Notre Dame, can't burn. But as it does, film shifts into full crisis mode. There's everything you expect. There's the manager who's miles away and has to get there with some keys. There are the crowds who get in the way of the emergency

services. There are the politicians who have to be kept at bay and kept out of the way. There's the structural architects who arrives and says, look, the stone will absorb water. So you need to stop putting water onto the stone, at which point he's told by one of the fires, you've got a choice.

You want water or fire, because that is the choice. Then there are all these little melodramatic flourishes, a little kid who is taken out when the alarm goes off, who rushes back into lighter candle in the cathedral, which is already on fire. Thanks, kid. Yeah, something that the movie milks mercilessly. There are some very effective claustrophobic scenes of the firefighters in those tiny little stairwells and gargoyles spewing molten lead, which melts off the roof and spews down onto the floor. And then, as everybody knows, I mean, this is obviously this is a matter of fairly recent history.

The fire did not claim lives. So once it's clear that the people are safe and all disaster movies, they have to be the peril has to be people's lives, it becomes about the artifacts. The cathedral can be rebuilt, not the relics, save the crown of thorns. So that's what we get. We get first the attempt to save the artworks, then the attemptics save the crown of thorns. So that's what we get. We get first the

attempt to save the artworks, then the attempt to save the crown of thorns, then at one point there's a suicide mission to save the bell tower. But saving things isn't as easy as it seems because it turns out not all the relics are exactly what they look like. Here is a clip for the benefit of our French-speaking listeners. Ah, on pair. Padre, on monier. Look, we found it. It's not the right one. It's an hour, a faximilée. We're going to the vocator's meeting.

Not the coronne des pinnes, but the real crown of f... That's not the right one. What do you mean? I'm a knight of the Holy Sepulchre. I felt the crown in my hands. It's safe in the chapel. We need a key and a code. Who has the key? No one has. Scenes of fire.

And scenes of doors slamming in an almost demonic way as the fire Scenes of Fire Scenes of doors slamming in an almost demonic way as the fire does that. So, I know it throws everything and the kitchen sink to up the ante. There are special effects, there are split screens, there's, he said at one point, I immediately felt the extraordinary cinematographic merits. A beyond the disaster in the Greek, there is precisely the emotion and the spectacle of the fire and you get a lot of that. You also get Sunfring and score, which really, really does a lot of heavy lifting. It goes, this bit is holy, this bit is really, this is very tender,

da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, but you get an awful lot of that. The story is real. The film is absolutely pure melodrama. Heroic, you know, heroic things going on. I mean, it is extraordinary. I mean, I wouldn't want to be somebody

who was fighting that fire. One weird note, there is a brief scene of Donald Trump tweeting, so horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out, must act quickly. Thanks for your help.

Incidentally, fire officials in Paris immediately said that helicopters were being used, but the dumping large quantities of water on the building would destroy the Gothic cathedral. So, yeah, well done. Joghuntrum. Joghuntrum. And I think that scene is specifically there just to make that point.

Other than that, it is a disaster movie in which lives are not imperiled but holy relics are and it cranks that for all its worth and the little girl running back into the church to light the candle you know she's coming back absolutely Notre Dame on fire Notre Dame Brouley Brouley on for say would you like ice cream with that sir? Still to come. Oh. Oh.

Oh. I'll be reviewing the psychological horror she will, Robert B. Whitey's Kurt Vonnegut Unstucking Time, and where the call dad's thing. And you can hear from the start of the film Daisy Egger-Generne's. Time for the ads, unless you're in the Vanguard, in which case, we'll be back before you can say extra takes. MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲惡劲 November to accompany the sixth and final season of the Netflix epic Royal Drama series. Very exciting, especially because SuperSub and Friend of the Show Edith Bowman hosts this one. Indeed, Edith will take you behind the scenes, dive into conversation with the talented

cast and crew from writer and creator Peter Morgan to the crowns Queen Elizabeth in Melda Staunton. Other guests on the new series include the Crowns research team, the directors, executive producers Suzanne Mackie and specialists such as Voice Coach William Connaker and props master Owen Harrison. Cast members including Jonathan Price, Selene Daw, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West and Elizabeth Tabicki. You can also catch up with the story so far by searching the Crown, the official podcast,

wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the Crown, the official podcast first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the crown, the official podcast first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe. Plus, when you shop online you'll have to give websites your card details and other sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems, but to be on the safe side, you can use a VPN to ensure that all data coming to and from your device is encrypted. Even if you're using an unsafe Wi-Fi, you'll still be able to shop securely with a VPN.

And you can access Christmas films only available overseas by using streaming services not available in the UK. To take our huge discount of your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. This episode is brought to you by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From myConnect directors to emerging otters,

there's always something new to discover, for example. Well, for example, the new Aki Karri's Mackey film Fallen Leaves, which won the jury prize at CAN, that's in cinemas at the moment. And if you see that and think I want to know more about Aki Karri's Mackey, you can go to Mooby the streaming service and there is a retrospective of his films called How to Be a Human. They are also going to be theatrically releasing In January Priscilla, which is a new Sophia Coppola film,

which I am really looking forward to since I have an Elvis obsession. You could try Mooby free for 30 days at Mooby.com. Slash, Kermed and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I.com. Slash, Kermed and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I.com. Slash, Cermard and Mayo. For a whole month of great cinema, for free. My County's overdrawn. My car slid down the hill. I'm giving up. I've got no more to give. My beagle bit the vet. My daughter's on the pill. My fiscas plant has lost its will to live.

I am asked to carve my life. I've got adolescent skin, my doctor says I can't use any salt, my waist is getting thick, but my hair is getting thin and my house is on the San Andreas fault. I need your help, Barry Manor. I'm miserable and I don't know what to do. Sing me a song, sing it sad and low, no one knows how to suffer, quite like you. Exit.

Raced. Raced, raised, raised, raised, raised. Raced, raised, raised. Raced, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised, raised A victim of a worryingly specific variant of film induced lacrimosity. Okay. Many years ago I sat up late watching a film about a missing child. Possibly, I was tired and emotional. Right. For, I guess, for younger listeners and for listeners overseas, that's private, I speak,

for being drunk. Absolutely. Ever since I've been, ever since, I've been prone to sudden tears whenever I hear a police or emergency services siren This is because when the kid was found in the film the police drove him home and every time they crossed to state line The police escort from the previous state came along for the ride until they finally arrived at his home Where his mother burst into tears? He must have been kidnapped in New York and found in LA judging by the number of cars in the eventual convoy.

The resultant mental miswiring is now triggered by sirens and made even worse as I remember the original trigger, not the sight of the mother and child reunion, but the immortal lines, thank you Connecticut, we'll take them on. You're welcome, New York, if you don't mind, we'll come along for the ride. I mean, not brilliant lines, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I imagine if you read those two lines

of dialogue, you'll provoke cathartic crying across the planet. I don't think so, Emma. The film is without a trace. I just found the ending on YouTube to check my recollection of the lines, and it seems I'm not for loan. Do you remember that movie? I don't. Does it say what it's called? Yeah, without a trace. Oh, it is without a trace. Without a trace. So, it's okay. Anyways, I thought you meant the film has disappeared without a trace and then I watched the ending on YouTube. That's going to be an interesting life.

If every time you hear a police or fire engine or ambulance siren, you burst into tears. Anyway, Ema, good luck. Box of his top 10 at 18, McEnroe. Which we both thought was actually a really interesting film. It tells a story that's nominally about tennis, but of course isn't about tennis. And I think you do get some insight into Mac and Ro's personality.

Although I still feel that he's, you know, that it's a very complex character. But I liked it. I thought it was very dramatic, and I don't have a problem with it. And when it's, it'll turn up on a streaming service, and I spent a lot of people will be waiting for that, because if they're gonna go to the movies, maybe they want something big.

Anyway, number 16, the Good Boss, which I liked up to a point. I think that Javier Bardem is really terrific as the Good Boss, ironic title, because the Bardem is really terrific as the good boss, ironic title because the whole point is he says he treats his staff like family, but then he treats his family fairly badly. I'm not sure that the film, which was Spain's entry for the 94th Best International Feature Award, is quite as good as his central performance, but his central performance is great. He's got that really good way of smiling that says, on the one hand, yes, you know, I'm paternal and I'm looking after everybody,

and on the other hand, it's just like I'm about to eat your children. Was it the 94th Best Comedy Award? That's where they were competing for. They wanted to be the 94th. Of all the movies that were funny, they wanted to be 94th. Yeah, no, the 94th Academy Awards. All right. Best International Feature Award. Number 10 is Kadoova, which I haven't seen. If you have, please send us an email and tell us what you think of it.

Number nine, here, not in the US chart, London Nahi Junga. And again, not screened for the critics as far as I understand. This is still not good, is it? How many years have we been saying, can you please screen these movies? And whenever they are screened,

we will go and review them, yeah. Number eight, here, seven in America, the Black Phone. Which I liked, I thought Scott Derrickson did a very good job of dramatizing a kind of complex, often internal story in a way which was visually interesting. And it's quite creepy, it's got some good jump moments. Seven here, 10 in America, light year. I remain massively unimpressed, and I have to say,

that's week five, and it's down at number seven. That's not down 30% in the UK. That's not good for a Pixar release. UK number six, America, nowhere. The railway children return. What do you think the Americans would make of it? Quaint, English, kind of English movie they like, I think. I mean, I thought it was a surprising appearance of a whole bunch of Americans.

Really? Keith says, high doctors keep here, heritage listener, level two cycling proficiency badge 1973, second time correspondent, but the first one didn't get read out, so ignore that. I have a very small complaint to make. You're not gonna like this, I don't think. About last week's show specifically, the several references to Lionel Jeffers' 1970 version of the Railway Children being the original.

No, I know that I did say that there was a BBC version before the genie actor was in. This was understandable on the part of Sheridan Smith, perhaps, but Mark, despite his long-held form of TV version and to a lesser extent, Simon, should both know better. Don't think you were listening. Thank.

Loosely, Keith. Anyway, there's an interesting point. Keith says there were at least three BBC television editions of E-Nesbitt's novel. One in 1951, another in 1957, starring Annika Willes, and really famous and very successful one from 1968 featuring Jenny Aguiser's pop-ass-specifically referenced. Indeed, it's probably fair to say that Lionel's film adaptation

is a remake of that and largely happened directly because of the success of the TV version, etc. I'm sorry, I refer you to my previous comment, your witness. I haven't seen the 51 or the 57 version, I didn't know about those, but I haven't read the book either. But the Agatha version was significant, because as I said, when Jenny Agatha returns and there's Jenny Agatha who had played that part in the BBC version before. Have you seen the 1951?

I have 1951. And the 1957? No. Have you seen anything with Anika Will's in it? Not knowing, will you? No, okay, anyway. But no, I mean, I'm sorry if this wasn't absolutely clear. But yes, but it is the first big screen version of it.

But as I said, Jenny Aguita had already played that role. Caleb L's self-appointed, whole green Birmingham Swingball Champion. Thank you for the sterling work you both do to support the film fanatic community. Listening to your discussion on the date, like a terrorist group does, doesn't it? The date of the phrase touching cloth, which, which is used in casual conversation in the railways, and returns, return, not only return.

I do that as well because you think the railway children returns, but no, the railway children return. They all return. It's not the railway children returns, but no, the railway children return. They all return. It's not the railway children returns. No. The railway children return. More railway children. Yeah.

Anyway, touching cloth. Unlikely, let's be honest, to be a blockbuster origin film anytime soon. I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to consult the legendary OED. Yes. Access to this fantastic resource is one of the wonders of being an English undergraduate. The Oxford English Stationary for it is it. Defines the term, as far as I never thought of looking up in the OED. Or...

Chiefly British slang, touching cloth, also touching cotton. Oh, this is getting horrible. Yes. Having an urgent need to defecate. Brackets see, 1997, close brackets, frequently with the implication of nervousness or fear. The first citation is 1989's Ripley Bogel by McCleam Wilson.

There we go. Me, my bone marrow and my fibrous tissue, we're all touching cloth, so that's the quote. Okay, there we go. But that sounds even worse. While the OED's first citation is not necessarily the first appearance of the term, it likely reflects the rough period of origin. Yeah. Therefore, whilst this particular scatter logical term doesn't derive from the period in which the railway children is set, it is not an S-44. A fantastic term. Thank you both and I'd be ever so grateful if you could give a shout out to the

neurosurgery and neuro oncology teams at Clinique International, Marrakesh, Birmingham Children's Hospital, and the Christie. They've all saved my life despite my pesky brain tumour and brain hemorrhage at 14. And have allowed me to pursue the university education I love from K-Lebans. Well, it does say on the OED and whether it's accurate enough. I think this is still in the OED credits me as, hang on, don't say credit you as introducing the term pants to the English language.

Yeah, that's a load of pants. Thank you. And it is 100% not true. I mean, I might have been an early adopter, but I heard it from other people. So I suppose it's like any citation like when you date a song to 1900, chances are from like a hundred years. But what it is is because I've done some dictionary research stuff and it's and I mean, on film terms, And it's the earliest one you can find. And if someone finds one earlier, then you update it.

So maybe it's 1989, but it's unlikely that in 44, it was in common parlance amongst young children. Imagine me, my bone marrow and my fibrous tissue, we're all touching cloth. I mean, me, my bone marrow and my fibrous tissue does sound like an album. By Emerson Laker. Exactly. Number five in the UK, number eight in the state's mirror my fiber tissue does sound like an album. By Emerson Lake Park.

Number five in the UK, number eight in the state's Jurassic World dominion. Think we've had that with that. UK number four, same as America, Top Gun, Maverick. I'll do Elvis is at number three. Good sirs. This is Elizabeth heritage listener, subscriber, first time emailer, from Para Para Umu in New Zealand. Thank you, Elizabeth.

You know where that is? It's in New Zealand. Thank you. I was three and a half when Elvis died, says Elizabeth. We were on a family holiday, and I clearly remember hearing the news on the radio. My older brother being very upset. However, Elvis wasn't really part of my childhood

and existed more in popular culture than holding any personal meaning to me. All that change when I went to see Basil Ehrman's Elvis, if I could have gone straight back in to watch it again, I would have, and obviously, childhood, who did precisely that. Yeah, exactly. Instead, I dragged my family to see it the next day.

Elvis has been on hard rotation ever since, and I worry that I'm driving my family quietly mad. I would like to learn more about the King and have absolutely no idea where to start. Well, if only we had an expert. There are a million publications, articles and books all pertaining to be essential reading, but I don't want to waste my time waiting through the dross. Therefore, could Mark please suggest a recommended reading and viewing list or just a couple of things

that would increase my knowledge of Elvis instead of one frame back, one page back maybe, if anyone can help me, it's Mark or maybe Sanjeeve. So a book or a film. Okay, so the easiest starting point is to do the Peter Garalnic. Is the what? Peter Garalnic. So that's G-U-R-A-L-N-I-C-K.

So Kelle Slough, last thread to Memphis. And those incidentally were the books that Tom Hanks was reading when I interviewed him about Mr. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Mr. Robbins. Yeah, because you couldn't, for some reason, you couldn't do that. Yeah, I was inconveniently on air at the time. You were inconveniently on air at the time, exactly. And I said, you're aware of the Guralniks and he said, I literally have them in my back. So the Peter Guralniks are brilliant. That's okay.

So it's really, really great. And start there. And if you then work your way as I have through the back catalog of everything else that's been published about Elvis, don't miss out. I'm hungry tonight, the Elvis cookbook, which is an absolute banger. Okay.

Couple of good suggestions for you, Elizabeth. I'm sure there'll be more in coming. Number two, minions, the rise of grew, Ashley in boiling Bristol 37 degrees, cooler now I would imagine. Dear Brian and Charles, I'm a recent listener, first time emailer, apologies if this needs some context, I'm late sending this, but it would give Mark another opportunity to talk about minions. In your recent episode in which you reviewed minions the rise of grew, Mark seemed unsure how to refer to said film, as it is, by the way, this email contains the worst word I've ever come across.

Okay. Okay. To refer to the film as it is the sequel to a prequel to a sequel, the original. Can I suggest that you take inspiration from the world of video games, which the unstoppable tide of endless sequels, remakes, reboots, re-releases, and reboot makes is somehow even further advanced than in cinema. The Borderlands video game series, which is deliberately quite self-aware, released a game set between its first and second installments called Borderlands, the pre-sequel.

While this rather blunt way of putting it wouldn't work for a film title, you could perhaps refer to these films, Star Wars Episode 2, Minions 2, and so on, in future as one of the Borderlands developers did, as, and here is the word, an in-betweak call. Oh! An in-betweak call. In-betweak call. That's just...

That is... I'm going to use that. But it's an awful word. In-betweak call. An in-betweak call. In-betweak call. It's actually quite hard to say. It is. Therefore, it won't survive, because it's an awful word. In between quill. And in between quill. It's actually quite hard to say. It is. Therefore, it won't survive because it's not easy to say.

Incidentally, that cookbook was called, are you hungry tonight? Because I blew the Elvis gag. Not I'm hungry. So are you hungry tonight? Moving on. Isn't it the funniest? It's the funniest. Anyway, love the show. I used to listen to just a review clips on YouTube. But since moving to your new format, I've devoured every episode. Anyway, so it's minions at number two, and Thor, Love and Thunder, is at number one. Oscar says, in Mark's review of Thor 4, where he gave Thor 4, or rather Paul score, he highlighted the terrible quality of the visual effects. This is a very interesting fact, visual effects in the movie. I believe it's worth emphasizing that this is almost certainly not the fault of the VFXR. No, it's not. I didn't believe it was an X-axis. But rather to do with the

abysmal way that the industry in general and Marvel in particular treat these professions. Yes. Unlike most creative workers in the movie industry, certain costume designers, writers, makeup artists, and so on, the VFX industry is largely non-unionized. This means that VFX artists do not in general have the same amount of labour protection or workers' rights. Or indeed any other creative workers. This has led to poor working conditions as well as unreasonable deadlines and expectations of output. Marvel seemed particularly egregious in this regard and in recent weeks there have been many VFX workers speaking out anonymously online about how miserable it is to work on Marvel movies and TV shows, head to Collider or Reddit to read their experience. I'm not a VFX artist myself,

but I have known many of them. And to a person, they are some of the most brilliant and creative people I've ever had the privilege of meeting. Given appropriate time and working conditions, they can truly make magic happen on the screen and they deserve better than the treatment Hollywood has been giving them. If this situation doesn't change the industry risks losing these incredible talents and ultimately, as evidenced by Thor 4, it will be cinema that suffers the most. Thank you for your time and highlighting this issue. So for the record, we talked about this some years ago when there was the day or the period of protest in support of green screen artists in which people turn their Twitter icons green. So this is what cinema would look like

if these VFX artists weren't working. And it is absolutely true that because of the way stuff is farmed out and it is unregulated, they are considered to be disposable, they are treated appallingly, they have more to do, I mean, this all happened, you know, back in, you know, with Oscar-winning movies, the people who doing the VFX for Oscar-winning movies, suddenly finding their studios closing down. Absolutely. VFX artists

are treated appallantly badly. They need to be treated better because they make so much of the cinema that we see, and yet they are treated as if they are, it's the joke about it used to be, you know, being a writer was the lowest possible wrong, but no, VFX artists are treated very, very badly and they do brilliant work when allowed to do so. Correspondents at Covenantmayo.com. I guess today shot the fame after playing the female lead in the hit series Normal People. She's since proven her incredible range starring in the comedy thriller Film Fresh, Crime Mini series Under the Banner of Heaven, and she now plays Kaya. In Where the Craw Dad Sing, the film based on the number one bestselling book by Delia Owens.

You can hear my conversation with Desi Edgar Jones after this clip from the movie. This might help you. For the jury to be able to hear from you, for them to be able to see you as the kind person you truly are. I'm never going to see me like that. Listen, I know you have a world of reasons to hate these people. No, I never hated them.

They hated me. I mean, they laughed at me. They left me. They harassed me. They attacked me. You want me to pick for my life? I don't have it in me. I won't.

I will not offer myself up. They can make their decision, but they're not deciding anything about me. And that's a clip from Where the Crawl Dead saying I'm delighted to say that it's star. Daisy Edgar Jones is with us. Hello Daisy, how are you? Hello, very well, thanks. How are you? I'm good, thank you. When you were filming this, were you in Covid, was it pre-Covid, was it post-Covid? So what time were you filming this? Yeah, well, we wrapped around June last year, so about this time last year, and so it was during, yeah, it was during Covid. So with the restrictions on the filming and all

like you got around that by then? Well, there were still restrictions on set, so you know, everyone, all the crew was masked, which is very strange kind of working with people for about five months and having no idea what their smile looks, looks like, you know, it's funny doing press now and getting to see people again and be like, oh yeah, that's alright. Oh, okay, that's what you're looking like, so, but we were filming in New Orleans, so yeah, so we were kind of, we were all in a bubble together. So the socialising, everything, that was fine. It was grand, yeah, it was grand, and you know, neurons were still, it's kind of like, there is such, I don't know if you've ever been.

I have, yes. It's an amazing place and there's a real sort of vibrancy and a music to that city that I, which was, you know, so lovely to experience and was still sort of happening, you know, even though it was too encoded. Did you come away with a love of grits or southern food of some kind? I did. I ate actually too much shrimp and grits that now I don't think I could eat any for a wee while and biscuits and gravy too. Really? Yeah, they're good but I had actually too much rimp and grits that no, I don't think I could use any for a wee while and biscuits and gravy too. Really? Yeah, they're good, but I had them pretty much every day on set, so yeah. But I did, the food was incredible, and I love of blues music as well and jazz.

Fantastic. Well, when I left the film, which I enjoyed enormously, I was in awe at your performance, not just the acting, but the accent to my English is, you're absolutely nailed. But having heard Reese Witherspoon saying, you absolutely nailed it and she's Southern American. Then nailing that accent, how difficult was it? I tend to do a lot of accents or have done, it would seem, in the last few years. And I actually, I found the North Carolina

of all the Americans the easiest to do. I think because, you know, at home here, we have such different sort of accents from in a very short sort of geographical space. So you can walk 20 minutes up the road and have a very different dialect, whereas in America, they do have very distinct sounds, but they also have a general sound,

which we don't really have here. So I found a general sound harder to access because I couldn't hear the like curves of it, or I couldn't sort of, you know, hear the exact vowel sounds, whereas North Carolina, it's, you can definitely hear it. So I actually didn't find it too hard to get into. And is that because just listening to your voice now, there's all kinds of different influences that I can hear. And at home, I think you had English accent, Scottish accent, Irish accents, Northern Irish accents. You, somewhere you must have picked up on a lilt or an emphasis or just a way of speaking.

Totally. And I think, you know, my parents and my, we would always speak to each other in accents. And what accents would you use? You knew that my mom would put on us like a strong version of her in accents and I would too. And we would like, we would do accents with each other. So, you know, I always had sort of an awareness of a real shift in vowel sounds. And I think, but what I find

really interesting is how much an accent really informs a physicality and a character. And, you know, for Kaya, she's a very complicated person. She's very strong and resilient and tough, but she's also incredibly gentle and curious. And there's a sort of gentleness to that sound, to that kind of lilt that I found was really sort of helpful to get, you know, and it really informed a lot about her characterization. Tell us who Kaya is and where she sits in this story. So Kaya is a young woman who grows up alone

in the marshes of North Carolina, and she's on trial for murder of a young boy who lives in the town. And she sort of become this kind of mythical creature to the town. Town people, they call her the marsh girl and they're very fearful of her and they don't really understand her and really she's just a nice, latered young woman who's just trying to survive. You say you're not only speaking in a particular way, but your manner and the way you walk and the way

you are around other people will be influenced by the fact that you have grown up on your own. Totally, yes. And, you know, Kaya, she learns a lot from the environment she lives amongst. So, she, you know, lives in this incredibly dangerous sort of all-encompassing, like, marshland with these, you know, beautiful birds flying around and alligators along the Marshbanks. And she has a lot to contend with and she has to survive through it. And so it was really interesting to sort of play her then when she interacts with the people that she comes across.

And also to really show the kind of ripple effect of kindness on a person's life, she comes across jumping a mabel and they really help her and tate and they have such a profound effect on who she becomes and I think that was a really wonderful thing to sort of explore. On the one hand, isolation and loneliness and physically the fact that you're walking everywhere with bare feet must affect the physicality of the way you play a character like that. Totally, totally, yeah. The BFE aspect I really enjoyed, and she digs muscles, and she sort of rides a boat out. You know, I loved like learning the skills that Kaya needed to survive, so you know, I did a little bit of boat training, and I really enjoyed that.

And in the first five minutes, we see you diving straight to the water, which I'm imagining is full of alligators and nasty creatures that you're not used to having back here. That looked as though you were immersed immediately, physically. Yes, literally, as well, the most. Yes, the water. Yeah, no, that was really fun. I mean, the water was full of alligators. We had people on set who were like snake wranglers and experts who sort of made sure we were safe but uh just watching. Well there was one funny day where

my friend Taylor who played tape in the film, he's a brilliant actor and he had a scene where he was sort of just collecting samples in the water and this humongous alligator smog pass and he was like oh there's there's a huge alligator and the guy was like, how big is it? So I got to know it's underwater and I'm sure it's fine and action. And Taylor was just like, okay, I'm sure it's fine. But you know, we did feel very safe, but yeah, I've never seen insects that large either,

like cockroaches and big mosquitoes. And are you cool with that? I wouldn't say I'm cool with it. I'm not great with creepy crawlies to be honest, but I don't mind alligators or snakes, you know, from a distance. Crawdead sold about 12 million copies. Had you read it before you heard that they wanted to make the movie? Well, I read it actually when I was auditioning for the part,

so I read it really with the view of playing Kaya. But my mum had read it the year before, and so when I told her I got it through as an audition she was like I read that book and I did thank you, you did, you could be a good Kaya and I was like what did you say? So she'd read it and yeah and it was very similar to my experience of the other sort of book adaptation I did, normal people, I read that book as well auditioning to play that part and actually my friend bio self-tapped both for Connell and normal people. This is when you were filming War of the Worlds.

Yes, and same with when I audition for... He must have got fed up with doing your auditions. I know, I grew up Bio after... He's my lucky charm really, it would seem, because he played Tate and Chase as well in my... in my Croadhads audition. So, yeah, I owe him a lot, actually. So, do you have the accent then?

So, you're filming War of the Worlds, which is kind of an Anglo-French production. And you did the Chirodition tape in an North Carolina accent? Yes, or a attempt at one. So it was definitely not sort of honed in on anything. Like, it wasn't perfect, but I gave it a go. There's a lot of pressure when you are in a movie

where people love the book. My guess is that people who love the book will love this film because of the attention to detail. For example, specifically, can you talk about the house where Kaya lives? Because it is full of feathers and drawings and the intricate designs which Kaya has spent all her time drawing. Can you just take us into that house? Because I think that will loom very large in a lot of people's

minds. It was a very magical thing to step on set, you know, and see, because they built that, you know, they found the lagoon that was sort of perfect for it as a location. And then they built that from scratch. And it was exactly how I imagined it in the book as well, which was really magic, because it sort of takes so many people's imaginations to sort of unite together to try and create a story. And I just was so overwhelmed by it.

And yeah, like you said, Kaya's such curiosity with her environment. And she wants to learn everything she can about it. And she collects these feathers, and she draws them. And she is how she ends up surviving and thriving really ultimately, as she's able to sort of capture her love of the marsh and write about it. Yes.

And ultimately sort of... Which is drawing all those shells. She has a light, you have a light. People, I'm quoting you now, back to you. People forget about creatures who live in shells. Yeah. Which is obviously profound for the kind of person she is, but also describes what she's doing with the art.

Yes, exactly. You know, people overlook, I think, and underestimate you. I think that's something I love about Kaya's that she's incredibly underestimated, and despite that, she tried. Can I ask you specifically about David Strathane? Yes. Because I've always, he's just such a fantastic actor. I don't think I've seen him in anything that is bad. And you have quite a lot of scenes with David Stratham. Can you just explain a little bit about where he fits in the story and what it was like to have those scenes with him?

I'm very glad you asked, because I absolutely adored Working With David. They were actually some of my favourite scenes. He plays Kai's lawyer, Tom Milton, and he is just an incredible actor. And I actually, for me, a lot of those scenes were dialogue free so I just got to sit and watch him play and, you know, he obviously works a lot in film and TV but also does a lot of theatre and so a lot of those scenes

were big, big bits of sort of courtroom dialogue and he just broke them apart and was so commanding and just like the light and shade that he imbued every line was so magical to watch. But also he's like, we just, he's very silly and I'm very silly and we just had a real gig of all as well, which was nice because you know, the story is there's a smurred mystery aspect and there's a lot of darkness in it, so it's nice when you can find a bit of light with the... I don't imagine him being silly, I have to say. Well, he's really, he's like got a great sense of humour, like we were talking about,

because we both had to quarantine for a job. And so I said, what did you do for your two weeks? And he was like, well, I would just, I'd build a little obstacle course for myself. And I'd go around the room. And I was like, and he would come on set on the days off. And like, I'd see David with a, he would be like, it's a side and down bamboo,

and like, helping out the snake ran, and I'd be like, it's David. Yeah, it's David. Wow. He's just a great person. I'll look at him in an entirely different light. A race with a spoon produced, and a living human is the director.

So that must have given a very strong imprint into the film. It's a very, it's crude by women to be... So yes, all of our heads of department on this story were women. And, you know, so everyone in a real lead role was a woman. And that was very, very exciting. And I, you know, I hope soon that that won't be something that is necessarily like remarkable. It will just be normal to have representation behind the camera in every way. But this really is a story about female empowerment, I think.

And so it was really exciting just to see these women really just be in their power and just absolutely sort of smashing it. So yeah. I interviewed Reese with, it's been a number of years ago, just when she was starting looking for projects and starting to get involved in production. My guess is she's a very hands-on producer. She really is, and she's so, so intelligent, and so like you said, you know, she really wants to find these stories that put women at the forefront and complicated women at the forefront. And also because she knows how it feels to be in front of the camera.

She has such a kind of gentle kindness behind it. She knows how it feels to be sort of up there doing the acting, which can be quite scary. So yeah, she's amazing. I just want to mention Taylor Swift's song, Carolina, which comes up. It comes, it's not sort of in the film, but it's right at the end. But it's another reason for staying through the credits, because it's a fantastic song.

At what stage were you aware that that was even happening? Well, I remember Livy when we wrapped saying, we've got someone really quite cool to do that. That's the director. The director, yeah. Saying, we've got someone really quite cool to do the credit song. I was like, oh, I wonder who that could be. But I didn't find out until I saw the trailer. So it was kind of, I fell off my seat really and I couldn't believe it. And the song is so

perfect for the story. It's so haunting. And she used very old instruments to really create this authentic sound and it really just is perfect. So, yeah, it was just magical. A gift really when someone loves the book so much and they happen to be telly swifts. I know, honestly, bonkers, so I kind of still can't really get over it. And next, I'm imagining that what you're not going to be doing is a much loved book. Yeah, well, well, I love reading.

And it's so amazing when you're on set and you have your character sort of entire inner life for it now for you. So I wouldn't say no to doing it again. Although, like you said, there is also an added pressure when you know that character. So what do you see you in next? Well, I have a few things lined up

to the end of this year and next, but nothing that's sort of been announced. Desi Agugioans, a pleasure to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Desi Agugioans, who is the main star of whether cruel, dead, saying, as you can tell from that conversation, the moment she really lit up was talking about Davis for a third, which is what she really wanted to talk about. Anyway, he is fabulous. there's no getting around it. He is fabulous. I haven't seen him in a bad movie.

No, I mean, there are some movies. He has, but he's never, but he's never. Okay, so very interesting interview. So much potential and so much to like. Direct by Livy Newman from a script by Lucy Alibar, who wrote the play Juicy and Delicious, which was then adapted into the film of Beasts of the Southern Wild, which, Carrot and Produce, as you said, by Reese Witherspoon under the

Hall of Sunshine banner, company that puts women at the centre of every story we create. And based on a novel which sold how many million copies? 12 million. I mean, you know, a publishing sensation. Also, some other great performers in the Harris-Teketson, who I've always liked, and again, somebody who is incredibly adept with accents. So on paper, very, very good. I have to say, on screen for me, rather tepid. Here's the problem.

The novel clearly struck a chord with readers. And I haven't read the book. Have you read the book? No, okay. So I can't compare this to the novel, although there were many times watching the film, that you get this kind of ghostly image of a book struggling to be adapted.

Like you see the film and there are these kind of very quotable bomb moment mean, you quoted the thing about the creatures that live in shells get ignored. Marshes not swamp, marshes like. The only constant in nature is changed. I don't think there's a dark side to nature, just inventive ways to endure. Now, I don't know whether these are quotes lifted from the book, but they felt like they were, like they were. The problem is, it's a very low temperature, well, on one level, a murder mystery, which I never found that mysterious.

Secondly, although the performances are solid and some of them are remarkably good, it did feel occasionally to me like a slightly upmarket Nick Sparks adaptation. Now I'm a fan of Nick's box. I don't know what that means. Okay, so Nick's box is the writer whose books have been translated into films which often consist of a man sanding down a boat whilst a sort of slightly mature love story plays out around it, but all done, I mean, I rather like Nick's box things, so I'm a bit of a sucker for that.

And often female-centered stories. But Nick's box is looked down on very sniffly by critics, as somehow being kind of, you know, pulpy in the sort of mills and boom tradition. But this does feel, I mean, there's that classic love triangle at the center of it that there is a central character. There are two male suitors, one of whom she clearly loves, but then goes off to college, the other of whom has got bad news written all over him and who is at the center of the

murder investigation that he's playing out. And, you know, you mentioned the house and the attention that's gone into building that, you know, that piece of production design. But it all feels very picturesque. It all feels like it never gets its hands dirty. It all feels like it never quite gets its fingers into the marshes in which it's set. I thought there is a couple of subplots which are kind of weird. There's a subplot about who owns the land that the house is built on and think about developers in the background and oh they're going to move in because if they just pay the 800 build, 800 dollars tax bill, they can get the land and you kind of think maybe that's tighter and then that just goes away. There's a weird thing about, where it doesn't go away because she gets the money from her book and so she can pay it off herself. But the developers never make a move on paying

the £800 and get either guys literally says, whoever pays the $800, pardon me, gets the property and that, they'd never appear to do so. There's also the stuff about, she does all the drawings and the writing and she sends the thing off. And the next thing, a finished book arrives. Now, I know, I know this is kind of small hills to die on. But when I'm worrying about those details, it tells me something about me not being emotionally involved. And all the time I felt I'm not emotionally engaging this. What I'm looking at is a very well-behaved the engagement is what I'm looking at is a very well-behaved adaptation of a story which feels like it's got so much more flesh and so much more sort of muddy stuff going on. And yet it all felt, even in the moments in which it approaches some properly dark subject

matter, it never felt like it got its fingers dirty. And I just thought I found it, I thought it was its fingers dirty. And I just thought I found it, I thought it was polite, I thought it was inert, I thought it needed much, many more rough edges. And this, it felt somewhat, and I know this phrase doesn't mean anything anymore, what used to be referred to as televisual. I thought it was bland, and I'm really sorry because I really wanted to like it more. Now, I know you feel very differently. Yeah, I really liked it and I thought it was a very pleasing old-fashioned, in a good way, story and that line about people forget about creatures

who live in shells is the heart of it. And Desiakhajans sort of embodied that fantastically. I thought so. I thought so I thought it was terrific. Well, you know, I think pleasing is a word that is that I go, yeah, well, it's interesting that that was the word you went for because pleasing is another way of saying, it means provides pleasure. I know. I'm enjoyable. No, I understand entirely. And I also think I'm, here's an interesting thing, I will be very interested to hear from people who have read the book, what they think of it, because you said in that interview, your feeling was that people who have read, who love the book

will love the film. No, no, no, no, no, it's always a dangerous thing to say. No, some, but my, my suspicion, and I may be wrong, because neither of us have read the book, is that people who love the book will find the film disappointing but I don't know, I really don't know please do write in and let us know. If you've read the book and seen the film, did it do it justice? Correspondents at Curbinamere.com, it's the ads in a minute Mark, but first it's going to be again to step into our laughter lift. Oh no. Hey! Third floor, children's toys, silverware and volavos, sports cars, carpeting bath rails and

bananas. Going up. Hey Mark, what happens if you don't pay your exorcist bills? I don't know. What? You get repossessed. Oh okay, I'm pretty good. Now I picked up one of the good lady's ceramicists that were indoors, remaining lifestyle and decor magazines last week.

Did you know that cord drawy pillows are back in? No, I didn't know. And really making headlines. Oh I see, like, I know I had to think about it. Me too. Do you know what cord drawy means? Yes, it's cloth of Pors. Do you know what cord joy means? Yes, it's cloth of the king.

Well done. There you go. Called du ha. But why remaining lifestyle magazines are here you ask? Well, you know my limbo stick got Nick last week. Well, turns out they stole most of her magazine collection too. Whoever did that has really got some issues. And they also try to...

Just pour this with it. It is. And I mean, properly pour. And they also try to steal my giant vintage clock mark. Okay, go on. Ending up smashing it on the way out. They really messed up big time. Anyway, what's the... Yeah, yeah.

And irredeemable, I think. You know, you remember when the good lady, Sir Amesis Herendol said, you know what, the one thing you're good at is laughing. You fail. Apparently not in in all ways. But what is still to come? Oh, is there, uh, well, I know what's to come.

I'll be reviewing the Kurt Vonnegut documentary Kurt Vonnegut Unstuck in Time, and she will a psychological chiller. Back off to this, unless you're a Vanguard Easter, which case your service will not be interrupted. interrupted. And we're back. Don't forget we're going to do what's on in just a little moment. So if you have a little club or society or screening that you want to advertise to do

with movies and stuff, then you send us a voice note. Details coming up in just a moment. Here comes something else that's brand new. She will, which is a very atmospheric psychological chiller from Charlotte Colbert, who is French British. This arrives with the endorsement of Dario Agento, as we know the Italian Maestro of Horror, who Dario Agento presents, and he gets

the exact producer credit. And there's been an endorsement from Alfonso Quiron who said it sits in the great tradition of psychological horror films. So that is, you know, that's quite the endorsement. The film stars Alice Kroger who is an actress, Veronica Gent who is now a kind of fading star in the way of like normal Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. An opening into cuts, scenes of surgery, of mastectomy surgery with scenes of her putting on her makeup and saying, you know, every mask has a purpose. She is going to a retreat in Scotland

where she wants to recuperate. When she gets to the retreat, it turns out that she will not be recuperating alone as she thought she's told, yes, well, the solo retreats only run in the summer. They alternate with the silent yoga. Instead, there are a group of people there led by Rupert Everett as an art teacher who is wrangling everybody and tells them that the charcoal, which they will be drawing

outside, is particularly great because it comes from this very land. This very land which is fertile and magical because so many women were burned as witches on this land that their ashes then went into land and apparently gave it healing properties. So we know that there is this kind of history of the persecution of witches. Meanwhile, in Veronica's own past is the specter of a film that she made when she was 13 directed by Malcolm Adele's character Eric Half-Bone who is about to be made a sir and it's about to be revisiting that film and to whom she has flashbacks of a clearly deeply deeply

unpleasant and traumatizing relationship, which is hinted at, he, meanwhile, is being celebrated, but also interrogated on television. Here's a clip. Do you ever feel that you went too far? Oh, no. Of course I don't. I know. I don't think I went too far.

I think there are no limits to the exploration of the human soul. Of course I don't. I know, I don't think I went too far. I think there are no limits to the exploration of the human soul. Let me rephrase that. In the course of your career, were you ever brought to do things that were unlawful? Absolutely not. No, by the way, I know what you're doing here. Move on.

All done. Veronica Gent was 13. What she made another her frontier with you. Yes. That's right. Absolutely. She was just... I don't know.

I'm right. I made her into something. I think I made my opinion and from Alchemist down. Alchemist down is, you know, he's not on the screen for a lot of them, but he's there, he's really, really, it's terrific. So there are two sort of stories. There is a historical abuse of women's story, and there is this kind of me-to-era story,

which is just gradually emerging from the edges and at the center of it, is the central character of somebody who is recuperating from the mastectomy or operation, and finding herself in a position which she describes, oh my god, this is a nightmare. But what actually happens is that she starts to become empowered by the land around her. She starts to have dreams that appear to have a kind of vengeful quality to them. And there is this kind of ambivalence

about what's happening, whether it's happening in the real world, whether it's happening in her mind. Charlotte Colbert said of the story, and I think this is very good. She said, it's a psychological horror about a woman's expunging of her trauma through dreams. It's about revenge, the power of nature, the unconscious, and the way we carry with us, the muscle memory of all those who came before and all those who will come after. Now that is obviously a very, very broad brief.

What I think is impressive about the film is that it manages to wrestle that very broad brief into something which is peculiarly personal and is an awful lot to do with singular details. So you watch a character in whom you invest enormously because it's a great central form, it's a really intense central performance. And you get to understand that their past and present are co-existing and you get to that they're past and present are coexisting. And you get to somehow intuit that something about the landscape into which she has gone is feeding into her past and possibly her future. Now, there are obvious echoes of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House,

which is a story about somebody who goes to a house which is haunted, and the haunting turns out to be them. That's not a plot spoiler, that's kind of the root of the shining, and I mean Stephen King himself basically said haunting of Hill House is kind of the uber text of all of those. There's also a really deeply scrungy, you heard it there, soundscape. The film feels like the ground beneath it is creeping up on you. And in fact, there are some very cron and burky

in moments in which the ground is quite literally doing that. There is a brilliant school by Clint Mansell, whose work I love for ages, but who manages to kind of mix the elements of sort of history and vocal chanting with something which is much more sort of scrungy and crackly and blends very very well with the sound design. And the whole film has a really, it's kind of like a fairy tale air to it. It's like a fable or a fairy tale. It's a story that

works on an allegorical level, you know, to some extent, but it works because you're drawn into the world of this central character. And I thought it was really, really, okay, there are some things about it that don't quite work every now and then the narrative ties itself up slightly too much. And there are there are little comedic elements in it that I'm not entirely sure work. I mean, the Ripper Everett character is very kind of campy in a very comedic way. And I'm not entirely sure that that works for the film, but these are really minor things. I really thought that Alfonso Quaram was right.

He's in that tradition of psychological children, which is all to do with atmosphere, it's all to do with the way in which he was drawn into it viscerally. And I thought it was really terrific and I would advise people to see it and see it in a cinema, see it on a big screen with a big sound system. Okay. That's she will. Quick bit of what's on now. This is where you email us a voice note about your festival or special screening from wherever you are in the world. He mail yours Correspondents at Curbinomeo.com this week we start with Rob. Hi, I'm Rob from the Recovery Street Film Festival. This annual competition gives people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and their families the opportunity to share their story through the use of film and challenge the taboo that so often goes hand in hand with addiction.

Find out more about how you can enter the competition and watch some of the winning entries from previous years at rsff.co.uk. Hi Simon and Mark Lloyd Bradley here Curator of From Jamaica to the World, a new season of films celebrating reggae music on at the BFI Southbank and on BFI player throughout August. The season puts Jamaican music in its Jamaican context by covering all aspects of reggae culture and the life that surrounds it. These music documentaries and iconic films include a 50th anniversary re-release of the Harder They Come, which will be in cinemas across the UK from the 5th of August. So Rob from Recovery Street Film Festival, followed by Lloyd Bradley, curator of From

Jamaica to the world. Thanks for those who send your 22nd audio trailer, please about your event anywhere in the world to correspondents at kermudomeo.com, a couple of weeks up front if you can and will give you a shout out. Or, to be precise, you'll give yourself a shout out. What else is out? Kurt Vonnegut on Stuck in Time, a documentary by Robert Wiley about the American author Kurt Vonnegut, who rose to prominence when Slotter House 5 was published at the end of the 60th. Are you a Vonnegut fan?

I don't know enough. I know that I should be, but I haven't read any. So Slotter House 5 was based on Vonnegut's experience of being a prison of war in the fire bombing of Dresden. You and I were actually talking about last night. The events had proved too terrible to write about and he had tried to do it before until he introduced an element of science fiction, Billy Pilgrim, a character who is unstuck in time,

who is taken to Traufamadour, where he learns that all time can actually be looked at in a linear way. This was clearly incidentally the basis of the short story on which the film, which you love rival, was based. The Ted Chang's short story, the story of you, I think it's called. And Vonnegut's whole thing about the approach to time, that's where the title comes from, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time, Kurt Vonnegut's unstuck in time. Also, he discovers that the only way of approaching genuinely horrifying subject matter is with humour, his Eclipse.

When I was a child, and there were many serious things going on such as the Great Depression and all that, it was Laurel and Hardy who gave me permission not to take life seriously yet, and it turned out that it was okay to laugh your head up. LAUGHTER Life was a very serious business. And it inspired me to try and write funny books that this was a good thing to do with a life as to be funny. And I think that that's key to it is the humour

and the way in which science fiction opened up a way of talking about the real world through fantasy. There is a huge archive of Vonnegut family material that Direct has access to. This project started decades ago, and in fact one of the things the film is about is about making the film because the director had gone to Vonnegut many, many years ago.

So I'd like to do this, and he filmed him over a really long period of time, up to and including his death. And, but the documentary just refused to be finished, and now it is finished. I'm a huge Vonnegut fan. I met him when I was at Manchester University, he came to do a talk. I was such a fanboy and I got him to sign my book for me. We see in this documentary how fame affected his life, how he became, came to mean so much to so many. I mean, I was one of those fans.

And then what happened to the family when that happened? We learned of the loss of loved ones, the trials, the tribulations. We also, it's interesting, Vonnegut's books have often resisted filming. I mean, Slotahaus V was made into a fairly successful movie, but things like Breakfast of Champions completely defeated filmmakers weirdly enough. The best Vonnegut adaptation on screen, by a mile, is Mother Knight, by Robert Rady, who of course directed this documentary, which goes some way to explaining why it is that this doc for me gets under the skin of Onigot. I'm a total Onigot bore. I have always been a huge fan of his. Like so many people, I discovered

him because somebody at school said, you need to read this and they gave me a copy of God bless you Mr. Rosewater and it changed my life. And I think this doc is really lovely. If you're a Onigot fan, you'll love it. If you're not, it's a great introduction to a brilliant author. And we'd love your thoughts for next week, particularly if you're a Kurt Vonnegut fan like Mark, correspondence at kerbinomeo.com. That is the end of take one, production management and general all-round stuff and cameras. Lily Hamlin. She baits Lily, kind of runs the whole thing. Yes, she does. She's very good. Videos on our tip top YouTube channel are by Ryan Amira.

Johnny Socials was Jonathan Imiere, his studio engineer, Josh Gibbs. Flynn Rodham is the assistant producer. Flynn does pretty much everything. Really. Our guest research was Sophie Ivan, the producer Hannah Tolbert. She kind of does almost everything. Horse racing. Yeah. And that. And the bloke who sits at the top of the tree,

lauding it over everyone is Simon Paul. What is your film with the week mark? She will. Before we go, quick reminder, we'd love your feedback on all this stuff. Just head to www.comadamo.com. to answer a few questions and thank you for listening. Extra Takes Available on Monday. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ dot com avenged 7 fold