Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Hugh Jackman, Cocaine Bear, What’s Love Got To Do With It, The Independent, Broker

Episode Date: February 24, 2023

Simon speaks to Hugh Jackman about how filming ‘The Son’ changed him as a parent, plus he talks about reprising his role as Wolverine! Mark reviews ‘Cocaine Bear’, a film about a 500-pound black bear who goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine. ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ starring Lily James and Shazad Latif, centering around an arranged marriage; ‘The Independent’ starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Brian Cox which tells the story of a reporter who uncovers a presidential election conspiracy; and ‘Broker’, a Korean drama film written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Time Codes (relevant only when you are part of the Vanguard): 11:08 The Independent review 17:54 Box Office Top 10 33:41 Hugh Jackman Interview 50:43 Broker Review 01:02:22 What’s On 01:04:28 What’s Love Got To Do With It? Review 01:09:10 Cocaine Bear Review EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trying to escape the holiday playlist. Well, it's not gonna happen here. Jesus' season for a vacation Fa la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la With sunwing seasons of savings on now, why not ditch the cold and dive straight into sun? Visit your local travel agent or... Sunwing.ca Something that's... So how was Germany then? The Berlin Film Festival.

Well, yeah, Germany and Berlin. The Berlin Film Festival. Well, I was only in Berlin, so that was how was Berlin. It was, I mean, have you been to Berlin? I have been to Berlin. I'd like to go back to Berlin. I think it's an amazing city. It was described to me by somebody.

They said it's almost like a psychoanalyzing itself in real time because it's got that whole thing but its history is so much on display. That it's like as you walk through it, Berlin is constantly telling you, this is where this happened, this is where this is really, and it's really, really aware of its history.

And I find it fascinating because that thing about you know, whoever does not know history is destined to repeat it. And I think there is something brilliantly progressive and forward looking about Berlin. And it's the Berlin Arley, which is the Berlin Film Festival. I was just there accompanying, because the good lady professor, her indoors, was taking a bunch of students from Exeter to the Film Festival to show them what a Film Festival looks like. So a couple of screenings did some industry stuff about the way the marketplace works.

But my main role was sheep dog. I was the person running around the back of the group as they get onto the... Sarah got dad. Well, sheep dog is closer to the truth. I think it's probably a sitcom to be had in a couple of professors taking a bunch of students to a foreign country, losing them, finding them again, giving them paracetamol when they wake up with hangout, all that kind of stuff, that could be quite good.

I'm gonna make note of this. The most interesting thing for me is that we went to see two films I probably wouldn't have seen under other circumstances because they were chosen because they're part of the generation strand. And the last time we were there doing this, I saw two films neither of which ended up getting released in the UK, one of which was fantastic,

really brilliant Japanese movie. This year saw three films all three directed by women as it turned out. First one was a kind of interesting horror movie called Purper Trader, and then these two other things. But I knew nothing about any of the films before I went in and it was a really interesting experience to do that.

But I love Berlin. I think it's a, I think it's a, the first time I ever went there was with you in our previous incarnation, because you were doing a sports broadcast from Berlin. No, no, yes, but I did from Berlin. There was, it'll have been the World Cup. Fine, okay.

And I had like literally two hours and I arrived and our previous producer said, well, you're not needed for two hours. What do you want to do? I said, Brandon Burgay and he went, fine, that way. And you went, I had a look. And then I did a quick thing, then this, you know, and then came back. Back in the day, I was just checking my emails by the way. You know how you get spam every now and again. Yeah. Most of it is picked up and it goes to junk. But the one that didn't get picked up was headlined advanced wrinkle reduction and prevention without Botox. Hi, Sam and Mayo. Are you ready to stop wrinkles now? It's almost like, so what I object to is that my phone,

obviously thought this might be spam, but I'm going to I think he needs it. I'm not sure. I've seen his face ID. Yeah. I think he needs this. So I might send, I might, if your phone is telling you to get wrinkle cream, then maybe that's good. I keep getting the thing which is, how soon can you retire,

which I think is my phone trying to tell me something. And also, how soon can you retire, comes with a picture of a bloke sanding down a boat. And I'm sure that my phone has listened to me doing Nick's box reviews and gone, that's clearly what he wants. Sure, Shank Redemption, here we come.

So we're not doing sure, Shank Redemption on the show, but we are doing these films. It's an exciting week. We have Cocaine Bear, a film which the title tells you absolutely everything you need to know. There's Cocaine, it's a bear, It's an exciting week. We have Cocaine Bear, a film which the title tells you absolutely everything you need to know. There's Cocaine, it's a bear, it's Cocaine Bear. What's love got to do with it, but not that one? Okay. The Independent, which is new film with Brian Cox, Broker, which I have lots of interesting stuff to talk to you about. I mean, yeah, it's a whole

array of stuff. Plus, Hugh Jackman is back on the show. He hasn't been on since the greatest showman, which famously we judged absolutely to perfection. That's what I said. And the main problem with it is, is there's not a memorable tune in it. I decided not to revisit that particular. Did that album go triple platinum in like the first week or something?

Oh, my goodness. Before we go any further, there has been some confusion around Kerberna Mayors' take and how it intertwines with the Ben Bailey Smith Sasha baits podcast, shrink the box. They were both on the show couple of weeks ago. So here's the thing. There is a whole channel, there's a new channel which is called the take. Okay. All right. Within the take channel, you find both this, Cormorant Males take and shrink the box. They're both there.

Okay. Okay. Shrink the boxes also its own podcasts that you can follow in all usual ways if you're not in the vanguard, something which I find increasingly at a position hard to justify. If you want to get both this program, Cormorant Males take and shrink the box in one glorious subscription for the same price as getting one of them. to get both this program, Kerminomeres Take Anttrike the Box in one glorious subscription for the same price as getting one of them. You can, if you're listening on Apple Podcast, search for the take in the app's search bar,

then you scroll down to find the take, and on the take's channel page, you can start your free trial for ad-free listening to both Kerminomeres Take Anttrike the Box, plus all the bonus, fun and games that we drop. Is that the 90 minutes of drivel that we do? 90 minutes of drivel. If you want to subscribe on a non-apple listing platform, say Spotify, please visit extra

takescot.com and follow the instructions from there. And then the 90 minutes of drivel, which are by the way, the shrink the box episode is the flea bag episode, So that's a good one. So we also offer you 90 minutes of more drivel reviews extra drivel, double the nonsense drivel, pretentious, more currently, the people 11 mark 7.5. Today's I think is very, very difficult. Is it very, very difficult? Okay.

Oh great. Well, as opposed to all the other ones, which were so easy. That's right. And you decide our word of mouth on a podcast feature in which you get to hear about what's good on the streaming services and we're talking about Navalny, which one about it this week. You can spot us via Apple podcasts,

as you know, and I have already mentioned, but if you are already a Vanguardista, then as always, we salute you. I just say on the subject of technology, when you said on the the fruit based thingy, in the last week I have been reconfronted for the first time in 30 years, maybe more than that, with my PhD thesis, as part of my ongoing therapy.

And I haven't seen this thesis in 30 years. Anyway, I have, it has a long introduction, thanking a lot of people. And then a very long thing, explaining that it was written on an Amstrad PCW8256, which I then complained about for an entire paragraph. And the, the thing ends with this, my advice to anyone contemplating, writing a thesis on an Amstrad PCW is simple. Buy an Apple Mac and save yourself months of grief. That was back in 1990. A wise and astute techno filia. That's what I have to say. Very good.

Christine emails correspondentsacurbino.com, Dick Itton will L-T-L-F-D-M, Vanguard Easter Fourth Time E-mailer. I have just finished watching the first ever cinema screening at the Shakespeare North Playhouse Theatre. It's probably the most meta-experience ever. Okay. Sitting on the backless seat in the cockpit theatre, watching Shakespeare in love, being performed in a cockpit theatre would be enough for most people. However, watching the

play of Romeo and Juliet within the film, within the theatre, added an extra level. The final twist was discovering from one of the volunteer guides that the reception desk for the Shakespeare North Theatre came from material taken from the Shakespeare and have set and purchased by Dave Judy Dench, then stored on Lord Derby's estate until it could be used as part of their creation. This wonderful theatre exhibition space last studio in Prescott Merseyside. You could argue that the lack of reclining leather seats Dolby's surround sound of 4K HD projection equipment would lessen the experience, the reality, far from it. The theatre, cinema goa were as engaged as if watching the works of the Bard himself with laughter, sizing

gasps, all coming at the appropriate moments, truly a machine for delivering empathy. I understand it is proposed that there will be more theatre adjacent cinema-style screenings in the future, and I don't know how they'll be able to top this particular performance. That sounds astonishing. Christine, thank you very much. Who's this from? Mark Parsons has been emailing.

You know Mark Parsons. Mark Parsons? No, I don't know. Oh, okay, sorry, Mark Parsons. Mark Parsons? I've done him. Okay, so Mark Parsons. Mark Parsons. Dear him and him, MTL, if a decade is still M, I think you've moved into L territory. Don't you think you've gone from medium to large as you think? Yeah. And two two two two E, second term email and soon to be solo hiking, the Shakespeare way another reference to Shakespeare 128 miles and Hadrian's wall 84 miles in 10 days,

whilst my daughter swims the equivalent of the English channel, some 1400 lengths for Michael Sobel hospice. All donations welcome, just giving slash Parsons 37. I just wanted to give a shout out for the sound designer on the new Winnie the Pooh Slash movie. Oh yes, that's right, yes Alan Jones was talking about this just the other day. Who happens to be my daughter's partner, Ryan Hatton? Why you might say, well on a personal note much of the creative work was actually undertaken in a small room in Marlow in Buckinghamshire. Yes my house now has a tenuous link to Hollywood. For Ryan, whilst this is not his first film that he's worked on, the others were straight to streaming, and often around finishing or specific sequences. This is the first, he had full creative sound

design responsibilities. And all this work over the past year, in his own time, working into the night and at weekends whilst working for a TV production company. So regardless of how well or otherwise this low-budget slasher movie is critically received, brackets, and so far, if you take it seriously, you dislike it. But if you see it for what it is, you like it. This seems to be the split. We are proud of all the hard work that he's done

to deliver his component to the film successfully. What is the gentleman called? The gentleman is Ryan Hat. Ryan Hat, and here he is. He would be chuffed as chuffed to get a name check on your show. Here he is and I just wanted to get this right. Ryan Hat and Liz indeed supervising sound designer on the brilliantly entitled Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey.

That's a pretty good title. It's a good title. That is what it is. It's like cocaine bear. It's like, it's all in the title. Right, well, all the sound design is his work. Anyway, thank you. Correspondence at Curbinamay.com. Thank you Mark Parsons. You well, all the sound design is his work. Anyway, thank you. Correspondence at Curbinamay.com.

Thank you, Mark Parsons. You know, Mark Parsons. Mark Parsons. Yes, Mark Parsons. He's been pretty good. And he's quite chuffed about his daughters and raising money. Really the poo. Blood and honey.

He's a titleist. That's right. Tell us something that's out and interesting. The Independent, which is on SkyCentermar and Streaming Services from today, political thriller, from director Amy Rice, from a script by Evan Pater. Jody Turner-Smith, who was fantastic in Queen and Slim, and then more recently was in After Yang, which was seen by two few people, but featured my favorite score of last year by Asuka Matsumia, who brilliantly just sent me from Los Angeles a vinyl copy of the score. I got back from Berlin and there was a vinyl copy

of the after Yang score. Anyway, so she's a Lysha, Ellie, a journalist working at the Washington Chronicle, for which read? Washington Post, exactly. Okay. The US is approaching an election in which Pat Turnbull and Adel is possibly set to become the first female president,

although with policies that will set progress back decades. America needs a woman president, we're told, but not this woman. When the journalist boss demands new ideas, she says, oh, look, I have very good information that this independent Nate Sterling played by John Cena, former wrestling star, which will come up later on in the show, is about to announce. And she knows this because her boyfriend is working on his campaign. His pitch,

John Cena's pitch, is that America needs its right and its left legs to stand up straight. And he is an unaffiliated centrist, therefore he can its country before party. The paper takes a story, but they don't give it to our heroine. Until columnist Nick Booker played by Brian Cox, that Brian Cox, not the other Brian Cox, takes her under his wing to help him, right, his column, because he wants to pass on the banner to someone new, his Eclipse.

What is that? I'm sorry, I just have read every single one of your columns him, right, his column because he wants to pass on the banner to someone new his I'm turning in my quill and moving to the country. What? No, you can't retire yet. Who are you, my accountant? Well, what good are you going to do out in a retirement? Very myself in Bourbon, I can read a fiction for a change. You know, I might even watch golf on Sundays. Institutions are crumbling. Okay, reality is under attack. You want to be the only voice that can speak truth about her?

Tweets with cat's box in yarn get more eyeballs than a column these days. I've had a good run, but would journalism's become? I'm done with it. Now, firstly, I'd like to say is, love both of those performers. Nobody speaks like that in the real world. So she figures out that money is being diverted from the lottery that should be going to schools

and good causes to a super PAC. And it's one of the big political parties are doing this. And he's skeptical, but after she comes up with some evidence, which she comes into roundabout way, he starts to think she's onto something, and they start to investigate this political corruption. Now, it's impossible not to compare anything in this genre with all the presidents's men. And when we were reviewing

the post, did you interview Merrill Street for the post? It was Spielberg. It was Spielberg. It was fun. We're saying it's interesting how what the post tries to do is to mimic the style of all the President's men, why are you looking confused? I'm just trying to remember whether it's... I'm just trying to remember what it was. But so there's a kind of thing that you can almost watch the post and then it's segue straight into the opening of all the presidents' members because it actually ends with the Watergate building being broken into. And this is sort of the high point.

I've also, you know, I always cite broadcast news in terms of broadcast journalism as being something I think is a really interesting film. What it's also not possible to avoid comparison with is succession, because obviously Brian Cox in succession, succession is about newspaper, media, politics, greed, averis, corruption, all that sort of stuff. And I have to say that in both those cases of all the residents, men on the one hand, and succession on the other, this doesn't come out of it favorably. It is not a comparison which does this any favors at all.

Now, arguably because both of those things are great works of art, arguably because this is kind of all over the place. It's very melodramatic, it's very clunky, it's very contrived. It might have worked better if John Cena's character was running for governor, rather than for the presidency. Because you think, no, I don't believe in any of this. I don't believe that this situation is as it is. I don't believe the way in which the information is revealed. I don't believe in the way in which the information comes out.

I kind of enjoyed it on a sort of, you know, straightforward pot boiler level for about about half an hour, but after a while it did become a little bit ridiculous. There is also a thing at the end. If you're going to watch this film, jump forward now two minutes in the podcast because the film ends with Jodie Thomas-Muth and Brian Cox having been completely disillusioned with politics and the newspaper industry, deciding that they are going to set themselves up with a new thing. And she says, we're going to start a new thing together. And it's going to be driven by the truth. It's not going to be driven by money and politics.

It's going to be driven by the truth and Brian Koch. But, Brian, both of these actors are from the UK. And he says, okay, and what are we going to call it? And she says, the independent. And you can hear the whole of going, no, you can think we've done that. We've done that and it's the eye. It's just on the line. It's just, you would have thought somebody in the script writing about would have gone and then they say the enemy, is that going to be a problem anywhere? Anywhere, is that going

to be also both the people in the scene would have gone, how are we going to get through this scene without laughing? The only time ever interviewed Woody Allen, which was, I think, in Radio One day. So it's a long time ago. Yeah, well. In the movie, he says his girlfriend is called Margaret Beckett. And everyone in the screening laugh,

because at the time she was the deputy leader of the Labour Party, and he didn't know that. So I said, a name chosen completely at random, got you one of the biggest laughs in the film. Anyway, he wasn't particularly pleased and I don't know why I mentioned it. Okay, so the independent, well, that sounds disappointing. Okay, so what else are you gonna review? What's the love got to do with it?

Not that one, cocaine bear, that one, and Broca, the one you want to hear about. Time for the ads unless you're in the Vanguard, in which case we'll be back before you can say Dutch angles. Hi, esteem podcast listeners, Simon Mayo. I'm Mark Kermot here. I'm excited to let you know that the new season of the Crown and the Crown, the official podcast, returns on 16th of 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, Selim Dor, Khaled Abdallah, Dominic West and Elizabeth DeBickey.

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 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 Nord VPN 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 my connect 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 theatrical 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 can try Mooby Free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash Kermit and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I dot com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. Okay, box office top 10, assuming your headphones are all right now. They are all right.

Thank you for asking. What was the problem? That you were louder than me. Well, you could just make an adjustment. No, because the volume thing turns us both down and then you would still be louder than me, but just we both be quieter. You could bring this up with your therapist, I think. Well, you think there's not a whole list of things that need to go ahead of that?

Like me still being cross about my M-strad PC W from 1989. That's true, yeah, yeah, you should maybe bring that up first. Anyway, Box Office Top 10, Act 29, nostalgia. Which I think is an interesting film. I'm not quite as wild by it as everybody else, but I think what it does do is a very interesting job of showing the way that past and present are completely intertwined and co-exist simultaneously.

And number 21, the Sun, but it's no, it's no in America. Let's say we'll defer that. Yes, because we've got an interview with Hugh Jackman coming up later and Mark reviewed it last week, but and we'll revisit that this week, but plenty and not huge act when, as you will have seen on the television, is always a great guest. There's a photograph that you posted on social media of you and him. Wow, he looks fantastic.

Yes, he does. And also I'm standing next to him. I'm standing next to him. I'm standing next to him. And we're both wearing the same black outfits. You're cosplaying as each other. So the sun's at 21. Number 12, Marcel the Shell with Shuzon. This from Chris...

Oh great, this is an email call. Chris Rundell. About a year ago, I saw the first trailer for Marcel the shell with shoes on and immediately fell in love. And after finally getting to see it this weekend, I was not let down. Marcel is just wonderful. The film made me laugh, moved me and has become an all-time favourite of mine. But I'd like to shine a light on the film's animation, which I think has been severely

overlooked. Although the film's animation is stop- motion, it presents itself as a handheld documentary where the camera movement is unpredictable and ever changing. This is not as simple as the film makes it look as the whole reason stop motion is possible, is because the camera has to stay still as the movements are made.

Although the film occasionally makes use of a fake camera shake effect added in post, there are many shots where someone is holding a real camera that is moving in and out of focus with a changing perspective and yet Marcel continued to move. The way the film is able to blend these seemingly contradictory formats is astonishing. After watching all the behind-the-scenes footage I could find, I still couldn't really tell you how they did it, but one thing is clear, the team put an enormous amount of effort into making the animation feel as natural and incidental as

it does, and as a result I watched Marcel and completely believed that he was real. Somehow the little shell had come to life, and the magic the film had created allowed its emotional beats to sing even louder. Tegetie Tonke down with all the bad stuff, and that was some good. Thank you, Chris. Well, in honor of that email, the director of photography for the film is Bianca Klein, but the stop motion director of photography is Eric Adkins. I think the film's terrific. I think that one of the most important things about it for me was

that whilst watching it, I just completely didn't think about, I mean, obviously we talked about the stop motion, but I didn't think about the format. What I thought was I completely believe in this character. And I actually believe that what the film is doing is talking about things that are very important, such as the nature of life and death and separation and families, but just doing it in this really generous, cute, funny way. And Isabella Rossellini's voice as Marcel's grandmother is just wonderful.

No, I really, really liked it. And I hope people go and see it. Number 10 in the UK, not charted in America is the whale. That's not charted because it's been and gone already. Okay, so I charted. No, no, but just because it was successful as we were saying before. Obviously at the BAFTA's, Brendan Fraser didn't win best actor.

That went to... Oh, it went to your man. Who was great. It was sad. I was very pleased. Yeah. But I was saying right up until the last moment, I thought it was either going to be Brendan Fraser or Colin Farrell.

So the fact that it actually went to Austin Butler who I think is brilliant. Fantastic. It was really a great performance. And I do think when you compare both films, Elvis and Banshee's, both fantastic. He's working harder. I agree. He's working harder. I agree. But I was just kind of delighted that he won. And I'm anybody who I didn't see the ceremony because I was in Berlin,

I just saw a couple of highlights. Austin Butler now does talk like Elvis full time. Plane is at number nine, which, you know, Gerar Butler, Plane, Ireland, terrorists, that's it. Rani Rani, jumpy-shooty, it's good fun. Women talking is at number eight. Mark and Simon, this is Jane Higgins, long time listener, colonial commoner, New Zealand.

I want to thank Mark for recommending women talking. Great. I found it profoundly moving. There's been some review talk of it being too stagy, but I'd like to offer a different take. The night I went to see it, a dear friend of mine had passed away. My friend was a Dominican nun of many years, a woman of deep faith and prayer. The older women in women talking, especially Judith Ivory playing Agatha, reminded me very much of my friend in their way of talking cadence, tone and language.

I'd like to suggest that Miriam Toes, I think that is the novelist. It's actually pronounced Taves. Is it okay to take? Yeah, weirdly, yeah. Miriam Taves, the novelist and Sarah Polly, the screenwriter, have got it right. That women who have spent their lives in prayer and devotion to a faith and spirituality may indeed speak with the careful deliberation and wisdom we hear in this wonderful film. Many thanks for your brilliant

podcast presence over the years. Down with the Nazis, that with bluehead feminists, Jane Higgins. That's fascinating. I've read a number of emails and posts by women who themselves have a melanite background who said that one of the things that Miriam Toes gets right, obviously from her own personal experiences, is the the tenor of the conversation that that is actually very very accurate. I also think that it's a mistake to read something as stagey because dialogue doesn't feel natural to your ear. It's to do with whether it's natural to the circumstance. And as I was trying to say in my review, I'm so glad that you saw and loved the film, it feels like it could be stage-y because it's basically, you know, a kind of a trial that plays

out in a hay loft. It could be, and yet it isn't, it is profoundly cinematic to do with the way in which she drains and fills in the coloured, the way in which she uses close-up, the way in which she drains and fills in the color, the way in which she uses close up, the way in which she frames the faces of the characters during the debate. I mean, I've seen it three times now and I love it. And I love, love, love, he'll the good and the dot us score, and it's so should have been nominated. A Titanic, is it number seven?

We've done that. How amazing. It's still there. Knock at the cabin is at six number five in America. I think it's one of Shimerland's weaker films. Robbie thinks it's one of Shimerland's best, as always with this director, you know, divisive responses, but it's still managing to find a popular audience.

And number five here, Epic Tales. Robbish. Number two in America, but number four in the UK, Avatar the Way of Water. I think we've already established. See it in one-hour chunks with John Wick in between. Can I just say in a response to that, see it in the cinema if you're going to see it, in which case you can't do it in one of the chunks with John Wick in between. An imaginative cinema complex somewhere could have John Wick. An imaginative cinema complex somewhere could have John Wick. John Wick won two and three running in thing and then Avatar.

Pause. Go next door. Come out. I think it is recommended. I have to say, I have been in multiplexes in which they played films that are essentially what you're talking about, like a mash up of a whole bunch of other films that are playing on the same screen. Three here, three in the States is Magic Mike's last dance. A crushing disappointment. Alison Indurham, long-term listener, Van Guadis to some time emailer,

though never yet read out, here we go. Okay. I like Mark really enjoyed the first two Magic Mike films, and I have to agree that the latest installment, Magic Mike's last dance is a disappointment. The plot makes no sense. The voiceover is truly terrible. Orful.

And I don't believe in the romantic subplot. No, the worst thing I can say for it is that Channing Tatum still knows how to dance. I mean, we don't have a scene that says. The film is essentially one long advert for Magic Mike Live. The last third is a condensed version of the stage show with dances and scenes copied, almost moved for movie. Ultimately, it may help film Mr. Tatum's coffers some more, but it doesn't add anything to the movie experience. I think Mr. Tatum's coffers some more, but it doesn't add anything to the movie experience.

I think Mr. Tatum's coffers are fairly full anyway. Yes. Of Quack, Honk. Yeah. How... coffers? That's an interesting... No, I was just thinking exactly the same thing. To fill your coffers. The other one I don't get is philia boots.

Speaking of which, at number two, Pussin boots, the last one. Wow! You queued up the boots. And I ran with them. Oh, so you eat their e-bails, yeah? Yeah, a little bit. We're done.

Writing this the day after sin, Pussin boots, the last wish last night for Valentine's Day. We have somehow made it almost a tradition to go see very unvalentine Z films every year. And I wanted to write in to say, I absolutely loved it. OK. The film is a collection of roller-king, adventurous and funny set pieces that simultaneously

make the most of the fairy tale setting whilst also not feeling bound to it. The animation had a wonderful blend of styles that made what would otherwise be perfunctory boss fights action sequences into something genuinely exciting and enjoyable. What stuck with me most, however, is just how much fun it was to spend time with these Braggadocios. Is that right? Braggadocios? That's how how much fun it was to spend time with these Bragadosios. Is that right? Bragadosios? That's how I would say it.

Charming and heroic protagonist. Something that has been sorely lacking in cinema of late is a swashbuckling hero, someone who is unambiguously here for the adventure and happy to be on it. Pussing boots is obviously a parody of the likes of Zoro, but given that we haven't seen Zoro since 1998, I'll happily take this cat's joyous presence, someone who I enjoy watching just being heroic. The only part of the film that had me grimacing was the threat that Puss might bump into Shrek again. Dreamworks do not make this mistake. With this film, you've made Puss into a far more appealing franchise and I would happily watch his antics for many

films to come. That's from Lewis Dunn. Okay, I mean, I'm just slightly surprised because one of the main plot points is that he loses his black adduce here or whatever that word is. I think Trump used that in a speech once that word. And too many syllables. Too many syllables, you majesty.

And becomes uncertain because faced with the prospect that he only has one life left, he kind of loses his heroism and then has to learn to get, if he's going, he goes, I want a quest to get his lives away. Look, we've had many emails now from people who have absolutely loved this film. I didn't and clearly I'm out of step with our listeners,

but you know, there we are. I'm surprised by how much it's resonated with people. I really am because I didn't get much. Maybe it's one of those that I think I mentioned before, you might watch it again at some stage. Sure. Okay. Number one, and as we say occasionally, very number one, I think looking at the weekend,

the amount of money it states, taking more than everything else put together, Ant-Man in the Wasp, Quantum Mania proof, it's number everything else put together and man in the wasp Quantum, mania proof it's number one here and number one in the states proof that critics have absolutely no power Yeah, the one thing that will be interesting about this. I mean, I thought it was absolute garbage and The the the general response seems to have been that people have not liked it Despite the fact that it's gone in at number one partly because it's part of a franchise that has that kind of power, the really interesting thing will be how fast it drops, okay? I would think that this is

going to drop like a stone in the next couple of weeks because I think it's an absolute car crash of a film. But do we have emails? Mark from the sunny Hertfordshire. There were two or three moments during Quantum Mania. When I wondered how on earth the soft power of winning strictly come dancing had propelled Natasha Koplinsky to becoming president of the BBFC, but it was only one or two. It is a very CGI heavy film with lots of creatures and people into whom presumably a lot of thought was put. Or wasted, since pretty much zero explanation was given as to who or what they were. In many ways the film was like an extended bar fight in the Star Wars bar, which I think

you should have said. They might have been the good guys, they might not not sure I really cared, and neither did the main protagonist since having been told that stopping the bad guy would mean many more even worse bad guys doing even worse bad things, he went about stopping the bad guy anyway. It seems, and here I think we're getting to the heart of the matter, it seems that being an avenger means you can do what feels okay at the time, especially if it helps you bond with your daughter without really thinking about the consequences for the universe. There is no jeopardy as a result.

The central problem with this phase of the MCU is that the multiverse, in the multiverse, nothing matters. Because there's always another verse in which everything is okay. The sacrifices of earlier characters have forgotten and we're left with a whole bunch of people that we don't really care about because they don't really care about us. Other than that, it was quite a good movie. Anyway, but it is absolutely the true and as Jonathan Majors as Kang the Destroyer takes over,

all the other movies go well what about them and they don't matter. Do you agree with me that that what's going to be significant is how fast it drops now? I suppose it will, whatever it was always going to go in at number one. It was always going to go in at number one. It was always going to go in at number one that yes, absolutely. And I think it's, I think that's it. And I think I would be really, really surprised. And I, you know, I stand to be corrected on this. If it doesn't fall really significantly in the next two or three weeks,

if you've seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, Quantamania, and maybe you liked it a bit more than Mark in sunny Hertfordshire and Mark in sunny studios in the Netherlands. And let's be honest, Simon in obviously as well, you thought it was rubbish. I thought it was, I laughed out loud more often than you did. Fine, that's so damn you. Okay, that's that baby. Correspondenceacurmanomeo.com. Now, speaking of this kind of marvel-ness,

which does tack into the end of this particular conversation, we're going to talk to Hugh Jackman. So, last week we had a legend of Hollywood, who, as many listeners noticed, when he was explaining the latest Marvel universe was... I think this is phase... Fiiiive. Have you seen all 31 movies, Michael? No. No. No. No. No. No.

Anyway, here comes another one. It was on a par with asking Ray Fines what happened to the elder one. That is true. It, very, very true. But he was trying. asking Ray finds what happened to the elder one. That is true. Very, very true. But he was trying. He was trying. So as we know, this huge appman can do pretty much everything. Chris Nolan's The Prestige, Darren Aronoski's The Fountain.

Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, Penguin in Happy Feet. May I just say Chris Nolan's best film, The Roosteries? The Roosteries. Wolverine in the X-Men series, of course, more of that in a moment. The greatest showman, which you'll notice in this interview does not come out. No. Anyway, now he's teamed up with Florian Celler for The Sun, which Mark reviewed last week

will come back and revisit some of those territories in just a moment. You'll hear my conversation with Hugh Jackman after this clip from the Sun. Sorry, Kate's just here to talk to me about Nicholas. We just found out he hasn't gone to school for almost a month. It's not only that Peter. He's not well. You need to speak, Dan.

I don't know what to do anymore. You just, he needs you, Peter. You can't just abandon him. I'm not abandoning him. Why do you keep saying these things? Oh, okay. Look the other day, I, I asked him to, I don't even remember what, take his plate out or something.

And he just looked at me with so much hatred. As a clip from The Sun. I'm delighted to say I've been joined by one of its stars Hugh Jackman. Hello Hugh, how are you? Don't good, how are you, man? Very nice to see you. Good to see you again.

You haven't been on since Great Assalam. Yeah. Which is quite a while. It's been a while. So I'm sorry you haven't been back on the show. Yeah. What have you been up to? Well, I've been up to, say, say, say, say,

what have you been up to? Anyway, that's a little. A lot's gone on in the last five years. Yeah. No, I've been up to, same, same, same, same. And then there's, why, what have you been up to? Anyway, that's a little, a lot's gone on in the last five years. Yeah. No, that's, that's very true. In fact, coming in to do the interview today, so we're speaking in London, I came in on the underground and there's a massive poster for Oklahoma, which is back in the West End. Oh, is it? The Windham Theatre. Really? And I thought, okay, that's, because that's kind of like where you start, not where you really started, but this is 1998.

And you're in the West End in London and you become a star. It was a huge turning point for me, I think. In many ways, working with Trevin Arn, which I've done in Melbourne and then he asked me to come and do this. But that was a huge change for me. I think the, he Trevor gave me that belief that I could probably have a huge change for me. I think the, he, Trevor gave me that belief that I could probably have a go outside of Australia and that show itself was so special

and it was a huge dream for me because I had photo of me like this on behind my bed. Hands together. Hands together at the Cotteslow Theatre, which I think I had stand-in room tickets for Angels in America. Anyway, I was standing in print,

and I used to look at it every night when I was at drama school. So when I would walk across the Waterloo Bridge every day to the National Theatre, I remember thinking, oh, this is, I'm 28, 29, and this is my dream, right here. I hadn't thought of anything beyond that. So you feel kind of home in the West End, really?

Yeah, I mean, I've been here quite a lot. My mum lived here from when I was little, so I was coming back and forth a little bit, but a lot about London, you know, I have a British passport. I'm a British citizen. A lot about England and London feels home, you to me. I understand it. Yeah. Well, welcome home. Thank you. So that feels like a long way away from the sun. An extraordinary film, a very intense film. Tell us how you got involved and what impact reading the screenplay had on you when you when you sent to. It's one of the rare occasions that happened with Lameez as well, where I reached out to the director where I wanted to play the part.

I was not a good poker player. I just put it all out on the line. I knew Florian's work. I almost did one of these plays, but didn't have any because of timing. I'd seen the father was blown away by it, and I read the play, the son. I didn't have the script yet. And I knew in my gut that I had to play this part.

I could feel particularly coming out of the pandemic. This was a story that would really resonate with many, many people, that these were the kind of conversations we needed to start having. And as a man, I think, as a father, as an actor, I just felt an urgency to play it. So I reached out to Florian. I'd heard that he was talking with a couple of other actors. My agent had told me that. It's always a good motivator for an actor. And I just put my cards on the table, and thankfully he said yes. We had, for the father, we spoke to Olivia Coleman

and Florian Zeller. And to start with when I was reading about the Sun, I thought, is it connected? Because obviously, thematically, or as far as the title is concerned, you would feel they're connected, and Anthony Hopkins is in your movie as well. But how do you see the relationship

between the father, the movie and the son, the movie? I think you put it perfectly, thematically, they're linked. There's another play that you wrote called the mother, which he hasn't done as a movie. But so the father, the son, the mother, were three plays that he wrote all around crises to do with family. And what you had with the father, what he did so brilliantly was put you inside the mind, the heart, what he did so brilliantly was put you inside the mind, the heart, the head of someone suffering with dementia. What is that like? Now I suddenly felt that as a viewer watching that. I got a real visceral understanding of the disorientation

and the fear. This movie is based around a young boy suffering acute depression, but instead of being inside the point of view of the person suffering the mental illness, it's the people around him and how it affects them and how hard it is for them to navigate the journey. Well, did Florian tell you about your character? Because I think it's a very personal project for him. I think it's dedicated to his son. Yeah.

So what steering did he give you? He gave me a lot of steering. He's a wonderful director. He's got great vision. He basically told me, this is, he said, I don't think you have to feel you have to get too far from yourself. He encouraged me to, we didn't rehearse. I'm somebody that likes to do a lot of research. I did some and he was like, well, you can't if you want, but I don't think this is very far from your imagination. He said, he's a good man who is really struggling in this situation because of the scars of his own upbringing and being completely overwhelmed out of his depth, but refusing to admit that he's not going to be the one to fix things,

to make things better, to save his son. And so he ends up making some decisions, which I don't want to give it away, which are very, very hard decisions. But all along, it's even if misguided, he's a good man. Why didn't you rehearse? I mean, that seems to me weird because you're a theater man, he's a theater man. Surely that's what you do. I think the intensity of the scenes, the immediacy of that, the rawness of the scenes, he didn't want us to go into any scene with a preconceived idea of where we need to get to. So even in filming and I ultimately found a very freeing, I was nervous about at the beginning because they're very intense scenes and there's many of them. So for me, rehearsal is not so much about cracking a scene but about modulating an entire performance

because even though it's a two hour movie, you're shooting it over three months. So it can help modulate. But we would start scenes and have no idea where they were going to go. He wanted us to trust each other as actors, trust the words on the page, and just trust what we were genuinely feeling, whatever emotion we were genuinely feeling. And I ended up finding it very fraying. Did it take you to some uncomfortable places?

Because as a viewer, you certainly have that experience as a performer. Definitely. I would have categorized myself and I guess the style of acting that I learned was one where you, it's real, you're feeling things and you find triggers to help you get there and then you healthily get out of it. So you're not carrying it home with you and you know, putting that onto your family or friends and I found with this that very, it was difficult. I was having a

lot of sleeplessness. I found myself my father passed away during the film. So there was a lot of stuff going on for me personally. And thankfully I had my family with me in this COVID bubble that we were in. With that really, really helped. But I, yeah, it was surprising where this role took me and there were times when we were filming where I felt very raw, vulnerable, and the blurred line between Hugh Jackman and Peter Miller was certainly very blurry. Have you ever experienced that before? A couple of times. Once on the fountain where I did with Darren Aronowski and other very intense film, in some ways

I embrace it. In this case, I talked a lot with Florian about it and I embrace it because I'm lucky in a way as an actor, I think, as an actor or even as a viewer. We go to these movies and you may get caught up in the story, but it's also a way for us to sort out turmoil within or questions you have within. And so I don't know the answers when I'm going in, but I just trust the process that somehow this is all meant to be. And there were certainly times,

song-aware, I remember the first day filming, for some reason, some line in one of the scenes, I just broke down crying. And it was completely inappropriate for the scene. It's not in the movie. You got cut. And even after he called Cut, I couldn't stop crying. It took me about five minutes. And I was a little embarrassed and very surprised.

And he was like, this is just fine. Let's just keep going. And so right from day one, I knew that this was going to be different. Has that ever happened before? No. That's never happened before. No. It's an intense film. I imagine it was an intense set and an intense filming experience. I wonder how much of that comes from Covid and lockdown. Yeah. I'm fascinated by the way, the fact that globally we've all had the same experience, you know, over a long period of time, how that's

affected storytelling, directly referenced in your film. but do you think it affected the performance and the intensity that you're talking about? I think that's a great question. The first one to ask it, and I think it's something that we see across the board. I think the effects of COVID, psychologically, emotionally on society are far greater than I think we'd anticipated. I was with a friend last night, Enrichson, a theatre director, and he was saying to me that coming straight out of COVID, he noticed the resilience of the actors wasn't the same.

Because when you're on a treadmill of working, there is a resilience. And what comes with the resilience is also maybe some walls. So going in for first time working for 18 months, being with people for the first time in 18 months, even though we are wearing masks and we had to be careful, working on scenes of this kind of intensity, it was unfamiliar in every way. I didn't feel I had resilience. I didn't feel I had the control.

And I think ultimately, if I could analyze myself as an actor, that's probably a good thing. I think I can be a little bit too in control sometimes. It sounds like this is a role which you will... Whatever happens to the film, whatever people think of it, it's a role that will stay with you. You're not just turning up and playing this part that you will always look back on your experience in this movie

and think, I'm kind of different in some way. 100%. The experience of filming it, the film itself think, I'm kind of different in some way. 100%. The experience of filming it, the film itself or something I'm forever grateful for, I can count on one hand the amount of times in my career where I've had an absolute 100% certainty that I wanted to play the part, that I needed to play the part. And who cares what happens with it?

This is something I need to do. And this is a movie I think needs to be made. So when I get that, it's such a relief, that that feeling. And so the result, success of it, it's not that it's immaterial, but it doesn't matter as much. I am forever changed by this, I think is an actor,

super grateful to Florian. And I'm a change, there's a parent too. It really did change me. It I'm a change, there's a parent too. It really did change myself. I'm more vulnerable, more open, more likely to say things like, yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I'm sorry, give me a couple of hours or even in the middle of a five. You're supposed to know the answer to this. I know you're the rock, you're the one who you're guiding the ship, you're calm, steady, they can rely

on you. Same things like, I don't know, I would have thought before would give them anxiety, but it's actually the opposite. What are your kids and what are your other half? Were they fed back to you? We got in the car straight afterwards and my wife said, you know, she's very extroverted my wife and she said, what do you think, what do you think guys? And my son goes, my, I need some time to digest this. And then that evening we had about a two hour, three hour dinner where we just talked and talked and talked. I think the younger generation are much more open about talking about any subject, actually, than we were. It doesn't

matter what it is, there was more secrecy for us, I think. They're totally fine. And going back to your question before, I remember leading up to the, I just did a musical on Broadway and I was nervous leading up to the opening night. And I thought to myself, I wonder what this looks like for them. What does my nerves look like?

So I said to both of them, I said, if I seem a bit distant or cold or, I just want you to know it's got nothing to do of them, I said, if I seem a bit distant or cold or I just want you to know it's got nothing to do with you. I'm actually just nervous about the opening next week and it keeps taking my attention. I keep thinking about it and I have to talk myself through it. And they're like, I am, we know that, that's cool. But they understand it. But I thought for years, I thought don't burden them with your problems. You know, there's hard enough of them. I wonder if one of the most awkward and difficult scenes is the scene where you dance.

And we all know that you can dance. And we all know that you can sing. And you can do both exceptionally well, except in this movie, your character Peter has to be a bad dancer. Like a dad dancer. He's quite thrilled with the way he's dancing. He thinks he's great. Is it, when you're a great dancer, is it difficult to dance badly? Or, well, here's the truth.

I literally with my daughter, who is a great dancer, I said, oh, I got this scene coming up and I let me read it. The only clue I have in the thing is embarrassing dad dancing. Everyone's eyes are on him, and he's on the dance floor, and there's something about a famous hips way.

So I've worked on three things, and I wanna show you the three, and she's looking at me like, all right. And so I did the first one, and she goes, stop. She said, you're way over thinking this dad. Trust me, you have the dad dancing down. So, and apparently in my house, there none of the you're a great dancer. What do we see in next year? You've said in the past you're happiest when you're on the stage

and you have been in the stage because you did music, man. What do we see you do next year? The next thing I'm doing is I'm reprising my role as Wolverine and I'm going to be doing it with Ryan Reynolds which he's been pestering you for quite a while. Nonstop, and I know people look, I'm like, oh, you never, I really, really thought I was done. And I would tell him with full honesty I'm done, and he's relentless. Although he shut up for about a year before I- You got a message.

Yeah, and I was just driving out to the beach was last summer and it was my first vacation from the show. And the thought came in of my head because my wife had said something like, you know, you can do whatever you want to do. What do you want to do? I was like, I don't know. And thought of that and I thought, the thought question came in my mind and I went, I

want to do that movie. And then I went, I know I've already said no, I'm out. And I was like, I don't care, I want to do that movie. And I rang him the moment I got to the beach, and it turned out he was just about to have a phone call with someone at Marvel. So he said this, he went silent and he goes, I won't tell you exactly what he said, but anyway, that was it. So when the makeup goes on again and the outfit appears, you'll be going.

Yeah, this is for me. My wife is not so happy right now because I'm eating so much and training so much. And let's just say, yeah, it's a nine for her. Well, we look forward to it as a huge anniversary. Thank you so much. Thanks a lot. Good to see you again.

Thank you. It's just one of those guys who knows how to perform in an interview. He also sounds like one of the nicest guys in show business. And what's interesting is he, which is absolutely his right, you never talk, never talks about his private life. Not at all. It's not, but he was bringing that up obviously just as a, as a reaction to

you being in this movie. And also how interesting he has a UK passport and it is a British citizen. I did not, I did not know that. Anyway, I know you didn't think the sun worked particularly but it clearly, as he says in that interview, it's had a profound effect on him and has changed him as an actor. Absolutely, and I think his performance in it is terrific.

I think the problems I have with ought to do with the structure of the drama and the play itself. But I think his performance is pretty flawless. And you and I were just talking this morning, it's possible to say, I don't think a film works, but also you might well want to see it because there's interesting stuff in it. And it's really lovely to hear somebody talk so passionately and openly about something that they know. He's lovely to hear somebody talk so passionately and openly about something that, you know, they know, you know, he knows that it's had a sort of soft reception, but he's out there

working because he's really proud of it, and good for him. So that is the sun, which is out at the moment, what else is out? Okay, so Broker, which is the new film by Japanese director, Hirakaze Koryeda, although this is a South Korean set drama. It played in competition at Cannes last year. Song Kangho, who of course is from Parasite, one best actor. It also won the Ecumenical Jury Award, which bear that in mind when I talk about it. So Ligyeun is Mun So Young, who is a young woman who we meet leaving her baby by a baby box. These

are places that churches use to leave unwanted children. There will then be something which has existed for years. Song Heng Ho is Ha Song Hyun who runs a scam with Gang Dong Wong's Dong So. He works in the church and what he does is he deletes video footage of some babies being left in the boxes so that the peck can then sell them for adoption on the black market. So this is basically the story is about stealing children and selling them on the black market which sounds incredibly dull. So young then comes back for the baby that she left and discovers the scam.

But rather than going to the police which she can't, for reasons which are revealed by the drama, she agrees to join them in their search for looking for parents for her child on the black market. Meanwhile, there are two detectives on the trail who have been from the outset. So on the one hand, this sounds like a very dark thriller. On the other hand, it has a kind of slightly comedic element to it. The most important thing is that, here at Casacoreeda, who won the Palm

door in 2018 for shoplifters, which again was a film that appeared on one level to be about child abduction, I suppose. The theme that he returns to constantly is families forming on the borders of society, families forming outside of ordinary family units. He's been compared to Ozu and DeSekir and the Doddens, he's a very humanist director. In I Wish, which is 2011, it's Brothers Taunapart by parental separation who dream of being reunited through a miracle involving the bullet train. In like Father like Sun, it's a kind of modern twist on the baby swapped birth story

in a little sister. There are three, 20 something siblings and they're 14 year old half sister meat when they're estranged, Father dies. And then of course, there is shoplifters, which again is about this sort of family unit thing. I've mentioned before that Kurt Vonnegut has this thing about this invented

religion, but a botconnism, which is a theology based on harmless lies, that says that your real family is a carous, and your real family is really intersect with your biological family, but people find their families in the world, and this seems to me to be something that runs throughout Coriader's movies. In the case of this, it's actually really beautiful and touching and yes sentimental, I think some people would say that it was contrived in its sentimentality, but it just, it was so definitely done, it got right under my skin, it has a fantastic score by Junjail who did the Scorfer parasite, which was really inventive and weird and involved musical sores and all that sort of strange stuff. And yet I played you a little bit of it before.

We burned the show, I just had plenty of it. And it was like this lovely piano theme. I think it's a really, really touching film that very gentle, very understated, very kind of unexpected in the way in which its story plays out because at first the setup seems so contrived but also so potentially dark. You know you think what is this like some kind of really twisted caper and then it just becomes a film about

the way in which people find family units in the most unusual circumstances. And the most moving scenes are scenes with people just having conversations, people in cars together talking in cars. There's one moment in it, in which you remember Amy Mann's Wise Up from Magnolia. There is a scene where the woman sitting in a car and the camera is looking at her through the windscreen and she hears wise up playing and she takes her phone out and she holds it out and she says, listen, can you hear this song? It's like that scene in that movie that we saw. But of course that it and it it's one of the most strangely meta moments that really shouldn't work in which you literally evoke somebody else's film and Magnolia, I think it's a very powerful film.

But you do it in a way that doesn't undercut the film that you're in. I thought it was really beautiful. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I thought it was really moving. It's called Broker and it really, really got me in the fields. Well, it's the adsker and it really really got me in the fields. Well it's the ads in a moment Mark but first it's time just to ease your fields and step into the laughter lift. Hey Mark the good lady ceramicist Herandos called me self-centred this week. Anyway that's enough about her let me tell you about my week.

Do you ever have those moments where you see yourself and think, who is that older person in that mirror? Yes. It happened to me on Sunday. There I was, as God intended, in the full length mirror. And I thought to myself at that moment, it's probably time to leave the furniture shop. And as you get older, Mark, we leave more and more friends

by the wayside. I was at a funeral on Tuesday. I was so moved during the ceremony. I said to the widow, do you mind if I say a quick word? Of course she said, bargain, I said, thank you. That means a great deal. Anyway, what have we got still to come? We've got cocaine bear and we've got some other things that I can't even love to live to. It's a first. Back after this, unless you're a Vanguard Eastern, in which case, your hair looks great like that and your service will not be interrupted.

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who've passed in the previous year. Is it the BAFTA Awards? I think maybe it was because after leaving it to the TV Awards to do however, it seems they tweeted that there wasn't time, which caused some consternation on Twitter. Well, first acknowledge Stephen, that things that cause consternation on Twitter

is everything on Twitter. Ever. It's right, yes. The one thing in any kind of print journalism that drives me crazy is caused an outrage online. Absolutely everything caused an outrage online. There is nothing that does not cause an outrage online.

However, it does seem a little bit clumsy and presumably with a year you only need a few seconds just to put in the fantastic Berlin Gribbins. So I confess that I was in Germany. I was in Berlin, and so I didn't see the BAFTAs. I saw the results as they were coming in. I was slightly surprised that all quiet won. I mean, it won the film, not in the English language, but also that it won best film.

Outstanding British film banschies have been a share in. There was the kind of, there was, it was the moment I must be. I mean, everybody knows why it's okay because it's a funding thing. So that's why it counts as a British film. But it's such an Irish film that it clearly raised eyebrows. Outstanding debut by British writer director of producer after son, which as you know, I absolutely love after son. And the only one best documentary we will talk about that in take two.

Mm hmm. Take two, yes. Yeah, but I'll tell you what I think is on course to win best animated also at the Oscars although as I was just talking earlier on about Marcel the Shell, which is, which is really, really lovely. K-Bot and Shep Best Actress, Austin Butler, really lovely. Kate Blanchett, best actress, Austin Butler, best actor. I love Austin Butler's performance in Elvis. I'm not crazy about the film of Tar,

but that wasn't the surprise, but the real delight is Barry Keegan winning best supporting actor, because I think he's fantastic and Kerry Condon winning supporting actress. I also think they were right about, if you were only choosing from the nominees, which of course you were, Volker, Betelman, Scorfer, all quiet, was the best of the nominated

scores. Although, as I keep saying, my favourite score last year was Ask a Matsumiya score for After Yang, which wasn't on anybody's radar anywhere, and I still and I'm thinking it's outrageous that Hilda Gooden the Doctor wasn't even in the running because I think that score is absolutely brilliant. And it is a shame referencing previous programs, I think it's outrageous that Hilda Gooden the Doctor wasn't even in the running because I think that score is absolutely brilliant. And it is a shame referencing previous programs. I think that Daniel De Boiler didn't win and as a number of people have pointed out, all the winners were white. Well, are you interesting to see what happens now at the Oscars? I mean, when you vote, when you vote because you're both in the bad justice, yeah. what happens now at the Oscars.

I mean, when you vote, when you vote, because you're both in the back of justice, yeah. You get given, you know, they are working hard to make people realize that they might have certain prejudices which they need to overcome. I don't know whether that's needed or whether that has worked or... Well, may I cite Daniel deadweiler from your interview, which of course, you've been picked up around the world.

What she said, and I think never has a true word been spoken. If people don't watch the films, you're not going to get the nominations. The point that she was making, which is stuff can be in contention, but people can choose not to watch things. And unfortunately, the way that awards seasons work is it has a tendency to thin the feel that I mean, I did before the before Christmas, my list for the observer, a newspaper of who I thought should be in contention for best actor, best actor, best thing, I knew even as I was doing it that most of these films were not ever going to get looked at by a Ward's photos.

And that is the problem, I think, that Daniel Deadwilder is absolutely spot on in that if they don't watch those films, and you know, I mean, my job is to watch the stuff that comes out, and I would therefore expect that I've probably seen more films this year than people who make films because they're making films I do understand that but I do also think there is a weird choke point in

In terms of what actually gets watched. I think a number of and a number of people have said this to me after that interview that people Might have chosen not to watch till in the same way they chose not to watch women talking because then they're going out on a Friday night They don't want to watch a film about a very, very upsetting fact that happened in both, you know, which is the central point for both of those films. And yet in both cases, the films absolutely are made for an audience that made in the awareness that people don't want to be horrified and repelled. Even if some of the subject matter is horrific and repellent,

what they want is something else, and it is a real shame if people don't watch those films because of that, because the films are so much more than their subject matter. And Stephen Palmer's point, yes, it clearly was a mistake, I think, the penalty. It burned it, creppings, wasn't included. Let's do a watch on where you email us a voice note about it. Maybe you're

running a festival or you've got a super special screening or something that you just like to advertise, you know, like maybe you're selling your car or something. You can always do that. Correspondence of Kevin and I don't think that's true actually. No, I think it's not. No. Oh, okay, it's not. Okay, I got that wrong. Anyway, here come this week's Correspondence. Hi, this is Charlotte. And Zeb. From Water's Bright Film Festival. We're the second largest student film festival in the world, and this year we received over 1500 student short films from over 100 countries. From the third to the fifth of March, we'll be screening our 27 nominated films in Cambridge alongside a vast range of talks, panels,

and Q&As, including poppities, cinematographers, writers, directors, and even a workshop on film criticism. Our events are completely free to attend and you can also watch them online from anywhere in the world. Visit www.watersprite.org.uk for tickets and to find out more. That's 3rd to 5th of March for unmisable events and breathtaking screenings. See you there! Hey, Mark and Simon! We have a special screening of our independent feature film, Casting Kill. On Friday, the 3rd of March at the Courthouse Hotel in the west end of London. Hey Mark and Simon, we have a special screening of our independent feature film Casting Kill on Friday the 3rd of March at the Courthouse Hotel in the West End of London.

If you like your horror with a splash of old Hollywood glamour and creepy hitch-cocky and suspense, this is for you. After you've experienced the scares, there's a Q&A session and a chance to meet the actors and mingle in the bar. For tickets, search online for Casting Kill movie or check out rarefilms.com forward slash Casting Kill. That's rarefilms, R-A-Y-A films.com forward slash Casting Kill. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, that was funny. We're doing it. So that was Charlotte and Zeb. I just say Charlotte and Zeb said rather cheekily, and there's even a masterclass on film

criticism for which I read, Oy. Also Charlotte and Zees, I've said rather cheekily, and there's even a masterclass on film criticism for which I read, Oy. Also, Charlottes, I think we're auditioning to host the BAFTAs. Next year. I know from the water Sprite Film Festival in Cambridge, and then Caroline Spence promoting the independent feature film Casting Kill.

If you're listening to that thinking, I could do that. Send your trailer about your event anywhere in the world to chorus line page. Yeah, and like, chorus bonnance a COVID-a-mail.com. I think the thing is troubling that. Yes, it's the Sunday afternoon now. It means the album show on Greatest It's Radio. It does. It does not mean. And then we're not in my house. Anyway, chorus bonnance at kermeda-mail.com. Okay,ence at Kermit and May.com. OK, what else is there to...

OK, what's love got to do with it? Obviously not to be confused with the... Pop Bio-Pick about Tina Turner. This is a rom-com, the posters for which declare that it's from the people who brought you Bridget Jones' diary in love, actually. Rather than saying it is from the director of Bandit Queen Elizabeth and Elizabeth the Golden Age.

So directed by Shekka Kapoor from a script by Jemima Khan. Lily James is a documentary filmmaker, Zoe was aspiring documentary filmmaker. She's looking for work. Her best friend and neighbor is Kaz, who is played by Shazad Latif, who is a doctor in some way. She really, really likes clearly they have a bond. And she discovers

that he is going to have an arranged marriage or as he calls it an assisted marriage. She's surprised, but she pitches a doc about this because she's desperately looking for ideas and the TV company goes, oh, yeah, okay, you know, my big fat arranged marriage, that sounds soluble. He's not particularly keen, but she says, look, we'll get to hang out together. And the documentary follows him going through the pairing process, which includes an arranged marriage dating agency run by in this clip, Asim Chagry. Here's a clip. Slamu alaikum, Moe here, Moe the matchmaker. And if you're looking for a suitable match for your son, then you've come to the right place.

We do daughters as well. Again, you can just pretend I'm not here. Sorry, I'm invisible. Natural. Bring it down a little bit. Sure, okay. So platinum services, they also include me checking out the girls family, seeing that she's from a good family home, nice, tidy, clean.

Okay, so guys, tell me, what kind of lovely lady are we looking for today? Someone intelligent and attractive, and who I click with, I suppose. Okay, so that gives you a sense of the tone. Emma Thompson is Zoe's mum, who means well, but keeps holding forth, and how fabulously exotic it all is in that kind of very British way. And when Cairz meets a match and plans a trip to Lahore, Emma Thompson goes along with them because, well, because that's what the film requires.

It's not ultra-realist, you know, it's not Rome Open City. Meanwhile, Zoe's own personal relationships are disastrous. She pinballs from one terrible encounter to another and it's clear to everybody in the audience that there's only really one person with whom she has a fundamental connection and that's the way the drama's gonna play out. So look, this is solidly big-hearted fare. It has a couple of interesting points to make

on the subject of whether the kind of freedoms and inverted commas that Zoe has, meaning the freedom to just, you know, career around in these disastrous, self-destructive relationships. Relationships. So there's one point when she's reading stories to the kids and she starts reading the story of Snow White

and she says, and Snow White was very sad. And so she decided to eat the poisoned apple, the end. And how much free of that is than a system which actually attempts to match make in an old fashioned way, but which does seriously attempt to take into account whether two people are going to be compatible in the long term, not just in a kind of, you know, one night's downway. So being check it, it's very, very watchable, big, colorful. There are a couple of dance routines thrown in, although the Emma Thompson character gets in to goof it up

a little bit with that, which I think maybe doesn't entirely hit the right note. I could complain that the plot doesn't make any sense at all, and that I never believed in the documentary that was being made. But then again, I then have to say, yeah, and I don't think yesterday made any sense at all in which we imagined the world in which the Beatles

hadn't existed, except for some people who could remember their songs, or I could complain that love actually didn't make any sense at all in which we imagined a world in which the Beatles hadn't existed, except for some people who could remember their songs. Or, I could complain that love actually didn't make any sense at all because the whole thing takes place in a number of weeks during which time, for example, Liam Neeson seems to totally get over the tragedy that has just blighted his entire... So, it's a romcom. The thing about romcoms is that they are by their nature formulaic. And therefore, anything that they do within that formula is, you know, to shift things on and do something interesting is by its very nature, the kind of

the thing that makes the project intriguing. So look, I can see this making a popular splash. At this moment in time, it would be the right kind of popular splash, you know, a film that says, in time, it would be the right kind of popular splash, you know, a film that says, hey, you know, the world may be more complicated than you initially imagined. And some of your prejudices may, may not be exactly as on the money as you think they are. It's got big broad performances, broad comedy. It's hard is solidly in the right place. It's a bit creaky around the edges, but I kind of enjoyed it. I thought it was rather winning. Now, the thing that I've been looking forward to is cocaine bear,

because right at the very beginning, you said it is what it... Well, what about what? And bears and cocaine don't really go together. No, okay. So this is the one I'm interested in. Okay, so cocaine bear, which is the new film by Elizabeth Banks, you know, who's a right to pitch perfect to when the Charlie's Angels read, but you know, the actor Elizabeth Banks.

It is billed as based on a true story, okay? The true story of Cocaine Bear. So the true story of Cocaine Bear is this. December 1985, a huge bear was found dead in the Chateauchi National Forest, after having ingested a duffel bag full of drugs that had been dropped out of a cessinolite airplane by a drugs mugler by policeman turned drugs mugler. The drugs mugler subsequently bailed out and was then found dead on a driveway in Knoxville

wearing a Kevlar bulletproof vest, Gucci loafers, and weighed down by a huge amount of drugs which he himself had jumped out of. His parachute hadn't opened and apparently he, you know, something had happened. As for the bear, and this is the true story, it was stuffed, placed on display in a local visitor center, before being purchased from, and I'm not making this up, from a Nashville pawn shop by Wailon Jennings, who then gave it to a friend of his in Las Vegas, and then it finally ended up in a Kentucky Funmall in Lexington. That's the true story.

I don't think that's a film. Jimmy Walden then wrote a spec script, which was, what would happen if the bear, about which the only thing that we actually know is it was found dead next to a duffle bag full of cocaine, if the bear whilst on the cocaine had interacted with human beings, and this is a complete invention, so the true story is this thing over here. The thing that happens in the film is completely different. So that script then went, Phil Lorden, Chris Miller, Lego movie, and Kraddy with Charles Meet Balls, produced it.

They were originally, uh, I think touting it to be directed by the people that went on to do the, to do the, we're doing the screen movies. And then Elizabeth Banks comes into the frame. So the story now is that, um, a group of people end up being in the forest while a bear, which is off its face on cocaine, wreaks havoc.

So everything is in the title. And indeed in the trailer, because the day that the trailer dropped, it was like everyone was going, is this real? It's like, can this possibly be a real thing? Can this possibly be an Elizabeth Banks movie? So the kind of people that around you have O. Shade Jackson, Jr. and on Erwin Reich, who are looking for the bag of drugs. They have been sent by Ray Leato. The film is instantly dedicated to Ray Leato, one of his last performances.

You have Azzai with Locked Jr. as a lawman, who is also got dog problems. You have Margot Martendale, who is a love struck ranger, and most importantly, you have Kerry Russell as single mom on the hunt for her daughter, Dee Dee, who was gone off playing Truan with her friend Henry, they have skipped school and encountered both the cocaine and the bear. Here is a clip that is very, very low key when you consider that this film is cocaine bear. Mr McKinsey, have you ever done cocaine? What? Why do you ask?

Just wondering if it has all kinds of side effects. For the bear, of course. If it just did a little bit. Well, it could create a habit for the bear. What if they never want to do it again? Well, then it should be fine. But mama bear and papa bear will be very angry because drugs, especially cocaine, are very,

very bad. What is they, when they're found out? Oh Henry, we always find out. Into the only Oh Henry, I don't know if I'm supposed to, must be intense, but it's such a thing as the Oh Henry ending, which is a thing which dates back to comic book fans while they're there. Anyway, so essentially, the big question is, can the film possibly be as good as the trailer or is it basically going to be snakes on a plane in which it's all title and nothing else?

And the answer is, well, somewhere in between, it isn't as good as the trailer, the trailer is insane and it all plays out to white lines, don't do it. And it's got like the bed, it's been a... The trailer is, I want to see this film now. The reality of it is that actually it's got this weird sort of sub-speelbergian family thing about in the end, it's all about family. Like everything is, there's actually one shot in which there's Ursa in family

and human family sort of counterposed because it's got, you know, so Elizabeth Banks says that she looked to inspiration things like Sam Raimi because it's got all sort of slapstick, a gore. And there's, you know, there's dismembered limbs and severed heads and faces and intestines and all that stuff. It's got that kind of phago, co-in brothers and of course co-ins and Raimi come from the same some oddball characters in strange situation that also kind of involves violent death. It also fits into a stream of predator movies, so at the very beginning, the very first

eating is absolutely referring to jaws to the Chrissy death from the beginning of jaws, and there's one moment when the bear arrives and the score goes, you know, so it's, it's knock about fun. It's not as mad as I wanted it to be. I mean, I wanted it to be a full-on Roger Coleman just absolute insane fest. And there are things in it that it's got CG bear and the CG is a little bit chunky. And it's but it's kind of okay. It's much much better than snakes on a plane. It has a couple of laugh out loud moments in it. It's 95 minutes long, which is absolutely the

ideal running time. So it's not as good as the trailer. It's much better than snakes on a plane. Friday night, you know, let's just go and see something completely silly. You might end up thinking there's more heartwarming stuff than I perhaps expected, but considering how badly it could have gone wrong, it was much better than I expected, although it's not as good as the trailer. That is the end of take one, production, management, and cameras, and general all-round stuff, the incredible, Lily Hamley. Videos were by Ryan O'Meera and Sancho Panzer, studio engineer Josh Gibbs' check.

Just checking. Josh Gibbs. The guest researcher was Sophie Avand, Flynn Rodham, as the assistant producer and guest booker, Johnny Socials was on the socials, and it's called Johnny. Hannah Tolbert was the producer, Simon Puller, a doctor, Mark, what is your film of the week?

Broker, thank you for listening. Our extra takes with the bonus review, bunch of recommendations, and even more stuff about the movies and cinema and adjacent television is available. Right now, we take three questions, shmessions, we'll drop in with you next week. Thank you.