Kermode & Mayo’s Take - James Hawes, One Life, Night Swim & Good Grief

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

We’re back! Well kind of. This week, Robbie Collin and Rhianna Dhillon are filling in for Mark and Simon, who are still recovering from their completely raucous New Year celebrations. Rhianna chats to director James Hawes about his new war drama ‘One Life’, which sees both Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn star as humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who is known for his role in rescuing Jewish children during the Holocaust. Robbie gives his take on the film, as well as reviewing ‘Night Swim’, a horror about a haunted swimming pool – yes, you read that right, a haunted swimming pool; and ‘Good Grief’, the directorial debut of Dan Levy of Schitt’s Creek fame, which follows an artist who takes his two best friends on a trip to Paris after the death of his famous writer husband. Time Codes (relevant only for the Vanguard - who are also ad-free!): 03:07 Night Swim review 15:52 Box Office Top 10 35:01 James Hawes interview 50:04 One Life review 54:58 Laughter Lift 59:29 Good Grief review 01:07:18 What’s On You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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by money sense. Get started today at Questrate.com. Hello and welcome to the take. I'm Rihanna Dillon and with me is Robbie Collin, happy new year, Robbie. Happy new year, Rihanna, how are you doing? I'm very good. What a brilliant way to start the new year, by the way. Isn't it just? It's so lovely to see your face and I'm very excited for your reviews.

What have we got coming up? Yes, we're talking about one life, night swim and good grief. And I also got to interview James Hors, who is the director of One Life and luckily didn't cry in the interview. I sobbed so much during the film. We'll come to that later. And in the extra takes,

we've got reviews of Chikovsky's wife, Priscilla, which I've not seen for months, actually. So I'll be needing your refresher. And also Scarlett, which I watched last night. Pretentious Moir, Robbie is gonna have a go at this. What's your record on Pretentious More? I think I've got them all. I think, I think this may be the week where that record comes crashing down. Let's see.

We've got one frame back, which is inspired by one life. And so we're talking about films in which a character is played by multiple actors. Plus, obviously, loads more wittering, recommendations for great and awful stuff on tele and streaming services. So you can access this via Apple podcasts or head to extra takes.com for non-fruit related devices. If you're already a Vanguard Easter, know you are loved. It's a little body's reference for you there. Okay. Hopefully we'll go away with that.

Dear upper and lower east side. Can I just quickly see yeah when on my version of the script the emails are blank taped yeah yeah all I can see at the moment is a photograph of a man wearing an eye am canoff teacher and I'm kind of dreading what this is going to be but but please please go ahead. I love this photo so much because I have the same photo and this is Paul Crickler on Roosevelt Island in New York City who has sent this in. Dear Oppa and Lower Eastside, English man in New York again, I'm attaching a picture of myself wearing the not-so-suttle pink I am Kenoff T-shirt. My lovely daughter Jessica

got me for Christmas today. I love that you took this picture on Christmas Day as well. So invested in the podcast. I wonder what the collective now for dads wearing this t-shirt would be, a brave of canoffs, a foolish of canoffs. My daughter says an embarrassment of canoffs, and I think she means that lovingly. What do you think? Robbie, a collective of dad. I can't say, none of a assembly for canoffs. Hold on, for a dancer, for canoffs, because canoff, canoff isn't a noun, canoff is a determinator. So, I mean, it's not actually a real world word at all, but enough, you can't have a noun of assembly for enough. I don't think. So it would have to be kens, I think.

Gone. I'm gonna be taken to task by this on someone that's listening. Yeah, you will, but what would the collective be? Okay, so the kens, you don't have a beach of kens. A beach of kens. A vanity of kens. Oh, I like that. I really like that.

That's another one. I mean, those are brilliant. I think you've nailed that. Thank you so much. We're good with a bunch. So much pool. Don't forget to get in touch. Correspondence at comodameo.com.

I want to move straight on to reviews. And this one, I have not seen yet. Night swim. And I'm a bit disappointed I haven't, because it sounds so up my street. Yes, I think it would be. I mean, I should just, for the listeners benefit, I should say I've literally just come from a screening of this.

So there's been no time for any reflection on the film whatsoever. Right, what about the tube journey? I mean, I was in your sandwich, so that was the priority. I took up all male brain space. However, I have to see. If I see a film this year which requires less reflection than night's whim, I'll be astonished. So I think we're good, okay? Okay.

This is a Bloom House horror written directly by Bryce McGuire, who made a social media inspired horror called Unfollowed a few years ago, and he expanded this from a short film from before that. And the film is about an evil swimming pool. And the swimming pool is evil. That's new. I've not heard that one before. If you want to see a film about an evil swimming pool, okay, this is the film for you. Let's listen to a clip. I'm looking for my mom. Who are you? My name is Rebecca Summers. I found you a door. I didn't get to the scary bit. Yes, so for the benefit of listeners who did not see the clip

that we've got a little kid in the swimming pool who, sound of lots of ominous sloshing, is lured towards one of the draining bits at the side by a voice. And this is, I mean, if you think the premise of, you know, suburban house with an evil swimming pool in the garden, sounds a bit Stephen King. This film is massively inspired by Stephen King. This is that high-age Georgie moment, right? So you've got the kid kind of being lured over. There's a toy even, it's not a toy boat, it's a toy action figure, but it's kind of lodged in a drain

and lo and behold, is this kind of voice piping out of this drain. And then something else comes out of the drain in short order and that's that. So the family that move into the house, why Russell is a dad? He stars as this former baseball player who's got multiple sclerosis.

He and his family are looking for this new house where he can recuperate. And ideally in his head, you know, get back to match fitness and get back on the court, I don't know, baseball. The baseball thing, the view. It's a diamond, is it? He gets, yes, he wants to get back on the diamond. Yes.

Desperate to get back on that diamond. Not White Diamond, okay. So he's looking for, and obviously with the pool, you can do the physical therapy and the pool, get the muscles working again. And so this house is an obviously appealing. But one catch is that the swimming pool is evil. And the swimming pool is actually built on top of an ancient spring, which granted wishes in exchange for human sacrifice.

So again, this is a very sort of Stephen King thing, you know, a stain of evil on a place and it's, you know, reaching back into American pre-colonial history and then people have kind of built on top, but the curse kind of persists, the evil persists and finds ways to attack human life in the present. Lots of other Stephen King things, it's about small-town community life, it's got very unhappy kids in it, self-involved fathers. Horror used as this kind of blood-curdling, crazy, big straplet of metaphor for this difficult domestic situation. And as we saw the higher George E. Moment, which is one

of a number of, I think, pretty well judged jump scares in this. I think my main problem with the film is that the premise of this evil swimming pool is so incredibly specific that the film struggles to find enough to do with this evil swimming pool to actually get to feature length. It's limited, is it? As a short film, it makes, you know, I can see this working beautifully. It's at around 38 and even then it sort of felt like it was a little bit padding. Clearly, for the swimming pool to do its evil, people have to keep on like getting into the evil swimming pool.

Right. And if I lived in the house with the evil swimming pool, I would simply not swim in it. So that's kind of something that people keep missing. There's so many moments in this film where I remember the family was walking through their house in the middle of the night and then turns to the window and looks at someone else in the pool. It's like, the pool's evil just come out of the pool, please. But you have to keep doing these things obviously so that the evil swimming pool can do it. The evil swimming pool is not coming into the house or anything.

No, exactly. It's in the garden. You need to go to the pool to pull itself. And I think the king-earness of it also becomes a little bit close to pastiche at the end. There's a moment where White Rostrel's characters is doing this demonic game of Michael Poulos to try and find his daughter in the house. What can you do in a swimming pool? Ah, this is Blind Man's Buff game. Let's do a horrible version of that. Kerry Condon, who plays the mom and is very good at it.

Oh, I mean, I haven't seen her since she's actually. No, right. I was trying to think if I had as well, I'm not sure I have, but she was, she's out in the garden getting poured by these subacquatic ghouls and things. And it's all a little bit like if we were going to spoof Stephen King, this is the kind of stuff we do. Having said that, I think the individual scenes

are all really well built. The jump scares us as it had worked very well. There's also no gratuitous CGI. There's maybe a little bit, but it's very limited. Okay, so these are like real monsters. This scares, yeah, the scary thing. It's called the fad. It's what I mean, but.

Rounded in the real world. I'm sure there's some CG in there, but you're not looking. Is what I mean, but. Roamed it in the real world. I'm sure there's some CG in there, but you're not looking at it thinking this has been sort of here brushed on after the fact. And it has the courage of its convictions. It has the story is about really whether the dad's desire to pursue his profession is going to outweigh his love for his family and it sees that through to, I kind of are particularly provocative ending, but certainly the ending that doesn't pull any punches.

Okay. I think if you're like, there's a film on, but an evil swimming pool, do you want to see an evil swimming pool, eat some people, yeah, why not? This is gonna do this. The trick. Just quickly, I wanna pick up on the idea of like an homage to or a ripoff of or a spoof of or inspired by Stephen King.

Where is the line for you with all of those things? I think the thing with Stephen King for me is it's the setting, right? And this isn't set in mean. I think it's set in Minneapolis or somewhere further west, mid-North- Don't be getting the M, come on. Yeah, I mean, but it has, you know, that's kind of small tone, unhappy kids, self-absorbed, self-interested dads, and it's a vibe, isn't it?

You know Stephen King when you're watching it or reading it, I think. But do you think that's okay, or is it a disappointment? Well, the thing is the Stephen King form, that really works. You know, it is about sort of reaching into domestic and community unhappiness and kind of thinking, well, what if that was actually caused by an interdimensional monster? So yeah, you know, I'm a piece with that. I think if you like that approach to horror, you know, it's not super gory. It's also, it's got the texture of, they make a big excuse of bringing a camcorder in just because I think the visual texture of a camcorder on screen is more interesting than an iPhone or other forms of mobile devices. It's got that bit more tactility about it. So it's interesting

those things that Stephen King stories are interested in too. So yeah, it's a vibe, it's a mood, I'm very at peace with people ripping off Stephen. Good to know. Still to come, what have we got? Yes, we've got reviews of one life and good grief. Oh my god, I just cried so much in both of these forms. It's going to be quite traumatic for me to relive this. I also interview director James Hors, and now part five of Wise, Wise words, in which Robbie has to guess the artist and song during the break.

So this is an easy one, Robbie. Well, it should be. It took me a minute. Okay. When the morning cries and you don't know why, it's hard to bear. With no one to love you, you're going nowhere. Mark, who would you say is our biggest fan? Well, we do always have the LTLs in the long term listeners who email, they tweet the Instagram us, but I don't know, hard pick one. If I gave you a clue, you might get it. If you think of a sound that a cow makes...

Move. Oh, I see, movey, very funny. Anyway, guess what, they are supporting us right in not just now, not just now, but right into 2024. So while we're here, do you want to update the fans with the very latest on movie? Yes, so they have Priscilla, which is a new film by Sophia Coppola, which is in cinemas from the first of January. This is telling the story of Priscilla Presley, very interesting, particularly in the wake of Baz Lerman's Elvis. This is telling the story of Priscilla Presley, very interesting, particularly in the wake of Basil Eurman's Elvis. This is a complete different take on the story. And how to have sex is streaming on Mubi in the UK from 29th of December reviewed that and when it came out, I thought it was really

powerful one of the best films of the year. You can try Mubi free for 30 days at Mubi.com slash Kermit and Mayo. That's Mubi.com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. Sam and I'm Arkey with another message from our good friends at NordVPN. They are a great bunch of those NordVPN folks. They are indeed and they're back with another handy tip for making your hectic life. That bit easier. Yes, because if you're thinking of booking a holiday this January, then NordVPN can help you save money.

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There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. So head there, right away. BELL RINGS I'm sure you got it, but if you didn't, the answer to this week's wise, wise words is... Try to do it by the Bee Gees. I'll see. I knew that Robert was going to say Bee Gees. You were going to say steps where you are. This is what's written down and I was like Hannah. Oh, yeah, the production, the production didn't. like Hannah. It was also steps is Hannah's defense. Well, it's also you, you just said it now. We would obviously

tragedy by Rihanna Dylan. I mean, we could. Um, absolutely right. It is from the BG. Can I just see you recited those lyrics with such feeling? It was like Jared Manley Hopkins or something. I was trying so hard not to just break into song. What was the, what was the first line that you read? When the morning cries and you don't cry. Until you did the pie, Ryan, I was like, what's this? This is so profound when the morning cries.

It's quite a nice line, actually, isn't it? It is. I'm really trying to move on. It's like, buddhung. But yeah. You're going nowhere. OK, we have an email, dear actor and director, if that was us,

which would be the actor, which would be the director. Well, I certainly wouldn't be in front of the camera. Right, fine, I'll take that. Recently, you were referring to Hannah, covering for the redactor in chief as the velociraptor. As there have been many previous digressions into etymology and lexicography, I thought the following might be of interest too. Based on the Latin, the feminine equivalent

of the TOR suffix would be tricks. This is perhaps most evident in dominate tricks, but could be used for any TOR noun. An online dictionary explains in full, for masculine agent nouns ending in TOR, masculine agent nouns ending in tour, the feminine equivalent ending in tricks is the etymologically consistent form. Etymilog, what did I do about the first time? Amelia Earhart would be an aviatrix, for example. Aviatrix?

Yeah, except the film was called the, no, no, that was the aviatrix. Yeah, that was the aviatrix. What was that called? The, the, the, the, the, the, no, that was the, the other one was the ABA. Yeah, that was Scudia Bia. What was that called? The, the, the, the, Oh no, Scudia. So the feminine form of redacta would be redactrix. Actrix is a dated but poetic equivalent to actress.

Up with the usual and down with fascism, Louis pronounced in the French way from Ecknie. That was the French way as well. You read that very well. I was just standing at the side like, you know, that you were in Evil Swimming Pool. I was happy to let you thrash your own, but that was, I know that was beautifully done.

What are you, sort of, a bit of a, well, you've already done a bit of etymological chat yourself. I'm afraid I did an English degree, so yes. But this is, yeah, I always thought the tricks suffix was only applied to naughty stuff. Well, what defines naughty stuff? Well, I dominate tricks. But presumably, we're not gonna go that.

Presumably, a female janitor could be a janitor, does that work? According to Louis, yes. Okay okay um okay we have an email on saltburn which came out on amazon prime over the christmas period much to everyone's delight who's watching it with their family i'm sure can i just see no film has caused more people to come up to me over the course of a single mother so oh my god we have to talk about then salt mine i know and i was sad to see it go to streaming so quickly because it was doing really well in cinemas. But I think just

dropping it as this sort of stealth attack on family values in the middle of the Christmas period was so much fun. I mean, a few nights ago at the New Year's Eve party, I was at people. Oh, salt prime can't believe it. So yes. So Richard is written in to say, I moved to write by Mark's astute comment on Richardy Grant at the end of Saltburn. I'm a 50 plus man and lost my best friend and my dad during COVID.

However, it was my best friend's wife, I thought of when watching Saltburn. A life really blown apart by an untimely and sudden passing. Grant captured perfectly the way, everything of value just drained away. Saltburn intrigued me. Beautiful, vapid, hilarious, empty, ever so slightly spoiled by its own excesses.

A story about how we love, voyeuristically, the entitled. A moral car crash which fits this world, I suppose. Hello to Jason Isaacs, Tinkety Tonk and Down With Katens, Cakin the finest wine for Mr. Grant, because Shepherd's Pie will never be the same again. Thank you, Richard. Yeah, the goodness that grieving scene

with Richard's grand at the end of the pie is just fantastic, and it's incredible the way the mood turns in that film. Okay, I think it's time for the streamers and box office top 10. So Rebel Moon, part one, a child of fire, which was coming out on a streamer, This email from Mark starts an even more prosperous new year to you both. I had to agree with Mark wholeheartedly regarding his review

of Rebel Moon and the film was a nutshelled further after listening to Simon's interview with Mr Snyder. Simon attempted Rebel Dree with his wheat conversation. But this passed him by like a desert bushel, and it struck me there and then that this man has no sense of humour, just like the film. Throughout the film, I was delivering one line as to myself in anticipation, but they never arrived. I love that Mark was just filling out a script

in his head with it. Ripping away. Yes, I love that. Clearly, Mr. S's had so much Hollywood smoke blown off his blue moon That he believes his creations to be too earnest to be funny and regarding this film as original is laughable and insulting This was magnificent seven on another planet not seven samurai, which he arrogantly refers to for this did have nuance Yes, the effects are spellbinding but crazy crazy sci-fi, it makes me wonder if Zack has seen Alien District 9 or even war games for that matter. Godzilla-1 shames Rebel Moon

in every way. Budget, script, FX, and originality, I hope Zack watches his over Christmas and hangs his head in a shame. Snyder needs to take a long look at himself, get out of his Hollywood bubble for a while, and get some life experiences and a sense of humour. Mark, why don't you tell us how you really feel? Yeah, I mean, look, I've been known to enjoy a Zack Snyder picture in the past. The Army of the Dead was very good. I think he's just as the cut. I'm not, he's not a bad, I'm not one of those. But I thought he was just the cut was, he's like, kind of the last world on Superheroes. No one needs to do anything Was to do it was ever again that films happened in a good way, you know, it's kind of said and did

Everything that could be done with with that particular strand of the medium. I've seen this I thought was pretty awful And it doesn't I mean I know much that he thought that the effects were quite Worse bellwinding I have to disagree. I think it looks really grey and marquee and sloppy and like everyone is kind of wandering around in front of green screens all the time. The other thing that really puzzled me about it is that it began life as a Star Wars project. We know this, I think, to end 15 however many years ago, he went to Lucasfilm until I watched a Star Wars film. The Zack's Knight away and they said, so he kind of went and shopped it around and eventually got to Netflix.

And I think that, you know, George Lucas has been so open about the films that influence Star Wars in the first place. So obviously, Seven Samurai was one of them, Lovka Resawa in there. All of the kind of, you know, talk any stuff via the, you know, the kind of mythic structure that Tolkien drew on. Lucas then kind of went back to and pulled stuff out of. All of that stuff that is in Rebel Moon

is so already associated with Star Wars. Every scene just feels like a Star Wars ripoff. So when you have... Bommaj, Spoo. No, no, no, no. So here is the line. And here is Stephen King over here. And here is Zack Snyder.

Well, even I mean, past the producer's booth, kind of down the Old Street Tube station way. It's just, you know, they turn up to the Cantina and there's Crazy Aliens, and there's the music playing, and then there's, you know, the... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then Charlie Hunnam is playing the hand-soldle guy who comes in and, you know, kill someone and then everyone was,

oh, he's like, sorry about the mess and threw some money in, and then he was like, oh, it's fine. I mean, I can't believe I'm watching this. He's not kind of doing, he is literally doing it, it's not exciting. Star Wars. So yes, not for me. UK number 10, US 11 is Godzilla minus one. I've seen this one.

It's great. Isn't it good? It's so good. Dear the Redactoring Chief and the fantastic production team, without whom this podcast couldn't possibly exist or or be as good? Here, here, to that, by the way. I am a long-time listener, first-time emailer, legacy listener. I want to tell you about Last Night's Fiasco.

We're all big studio jibbly fans, and ever since my daughter knew that this film, The Boy in the Hiron, was coming out, she's been asking to see it. So last night, my husband booked a scene to see it. We roll up at 715 for the 730 showing. He goes to the screen to print out the tickets twice. Computer says no. He jacks his phone and yes, the booking is for this film on this night. But it's in Cardiff. Where are you port? There are some great emojis here, which I'm just, I should just show my, it's like this. In my related version of this script, these are the only, which I'm, I should just, just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, in my related version of the script, these are the only things that I'm not going to be in that. So we've got the kind of the gusty shock emoji.

We've got the raised eyebrows teeth showing emoji. They've got another gusty shock emoji. I don't even have those. And then the raised eyebrow teeth showing emoji and then the raised eyebrow and nor teeth showing emoji. I might just look like pandas. Anyway, sorry, Helen.

My daughter's really upset. I sent my husband up to talk to an attendant, the lovely, cine-world lady agrees that she'll transfer the tickets and let us see a film of our choice. Godzilla minus one is the only film we can agree on. It was fantastic characters you care about, great action scenes and SFX, great film score,

and a plot that makes sense. And that ending, there may have been tears in some of our eyes. I mean, Helen, as I've already alluded to, I cry in every single film I watch, but yes, I bould my way through this. But to paraphrase Mark's review, you're never waiting for Godzilla to return, and this definitely isn't a film in search of a plot. We all loved it, including my daughter, who got over her deep disappointment of not seeing the boy in the heron. Thanks for all the film reviews, Tinkety Tonk, down in the Nazis, all of them, and a happy new year. That's from Helen in South Wales. Godzilla minus one, I love how old fashion

this film is, and it's completely unapologetically melodramatic in the music, in the kind of throwbacks. melodramatic in the music, in the kind of throwbacks. I didn't love the color of Godzilla's lasers. He thinks. That was, I don't know why, I just had a little issue with it, taking me out of it. This is when he does the re-uact of the brain. I don't know why it took me out of it every single time. I know that is iconic. I know that's part of the law. I just don't like it. I tell you what I really loved about that sequence is the fact that the explosion from the heat, the radioacto breath is actually a mushroom cloud,

which I found that was the moment that which I first welled up during this film, it's when the citizens, because you have the carnage and the stomping and they're all running around screaming. But then there's the moment when that explosion goes off, they all sort of freeze on the street and turn around to look at it. And I think the sense of being an ordinary person completely overwhelmed and you know, life at the mercy of world events came across so

powerful in that scene. I find that really moving. And it's a crazy thing for God's filmers as being moving. I enjoy some of the legendary ones, the recent US ones, but was never moved by any of them. No, and this just takes you on a whole other plane somehow. And it never lets you forget the story that it's really telling. It never loses sight of that. And I think this has come up quite a lot, and especially with one life as well,

it's quite tempting to talk about films that either are very specifically about war or are alluding to war as being quite prescient, et cetera, but they are always prescient, they've never not been prescient, that's a scary thing. And I think that's what Godzilla does, such a great job of reminding us of, it's not just now and it's also then, and it's also fictional, you know,

it's all these three, it can be all of these three things at once. Thank you so much, Helen. UK number nine, US number 16 is Napoleon, Robbie. Yeah, this has been our interest for seven weeks. I love this film as well as it's doing. It shows that there's still a market for big adult-scene blockbusters that are not part of franchises. Yes. And number eight in both the UK and the US, it's the Hunger Games, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Now, I also, I'm quite, I didn't enjoy this enormously,

or in fact at all, but I'm also quite impressed by how well this is doing. So it's now taking 17.4 million in the UK and it's been around for seven weeks. Obviously it's done, it's done far better than the Marvel, the recent Marvel film that came out, I think it was a week four a week after. For me, the good part of this

film was the last bit. So after they've done the Hunger Games... You don't mean the ending, you're not being facetious. No, no, no, no, no, it's like the last 45 minutes, because they do a whole other Hunger game that you have to sit through. This is the Hunger Game that happened before the previous Hunger Games that were in the earlier film. And it's all very, very familiar. Thank you, you're welcome. And then suddenly the characters are sent off into the forest and he was off as to go and train with the military. It's like, oh, this is interesting. This is kind of new.

This is, I wish they'd just focused on that and not felt obliged to have the kids running around to be emerging each other in order to... Battle royale bit. The Battle royale rip off almost. I'll see you on my ass. It's not chartered in the US. I don't think it's charted with you at all.

So you can number seven. It's next goal wins. Yes. So this is the new Tiger YTT film that is, you know, he kind of toggles between doing one from me and one for them. Yes. His ones for him are so bad. I wish he would just kind of do the ones for them.

And the thing is with Jules J. Rabbit, which was the previous one. I mean, Megan is such an incredibly contentious premise. You know, we're going to do a come of age story set during the Holocaust. With the comedy Hitler. Yeah, I with the comedy Hitler. And I like I love that film.

I find it really repugnant. I do think it was trying to be, but I think it was it was trying to to to to be moving and interesting about that subject. I think it completely bungled the way in which it handled it. And um, but I, you know, I feel like that, you can kind of understand why it would fall apart for some people.

This is such a non-contentious, such an easy story about the American story. I'm just already been told very well. I've told beautifully in a documentary, so we know this at work, so we know that it can be moving and engaging. And he bungles that as well. I don't understand how you can kind of take that source material and have it fall around you years in the way that it can be moving and engaging. And he bongles that as well. I don't understand how you can kind of take that source material

and have it fall around you years in the way that it does. Because it's so naturally full of heart. Exactly, exactly. But no, not for me. No, fair enough. What about wish? Was that for you that's in the UK number six?

It was not. But it's kind of sticking around. You know, it didn't make much of a splash when it first came out, but maybe like Elemental, it's one of those ones that's just going to, you know, parents will tell parents to, you know, it's good enough. It kind of does a job and it will kind of hang around for a while. I've seen it twice and I think the second time, you get more out of it the more you see it because there are so many things to look at and so many in jokes. But I think the first time around is perhaps a bit of a...

Yes, it's like so kind of generic because it's trying to be the archetypal Disney Fable and by being, by kind of reaching to those kind of broad archetypes, it ends up just feeling like, well, this is just the blandest imaginable version of this story. But it actually isn't necessarily, but I think that's what it offers in its first go. Yes, right. So, number five in the UK, number five in the US, it's anyone but you, which wasn't screened for critics before Christmas. And obviously, we're recording this two days after

New Year's Day. Yes, this is the Glen Pearl Sidney Sweeney romcom. Yeah. I thought it looked pretty interesting. You know what's Glen Pearl? And Sidney Sweeney, I'll watch those two very happily. I don't want to give into Celacias gossip, but there has been a lot of gossip around this film.

And... Has that? Yeah. Free tale. Well, I don't want to be... Yeah, I'm not going to get into it, but you know, there's been a lot of the behind the scenes. Oh, okay. It's only a conversation, okay. Um, whether or not that's true.

So I have to say, if you were... This is the Swedish chef, a boyfriend. I'm not kind of auditioning, but I mean... This was it, there's been break-up. If you saw all has that, okay. So if you were to have seen the set photos, which is what having not seen a film, that's my knowledge of this film, the taste of it.

Same. You would be seeing at home at the film going, I think that's what a lot of people did. Yes. I mean, that was kind of an angry, of the boyfriend. Yes. Well, and probably again,

that was girlfriend as well. I'm very sad that this was not screened for critics, but it was. I don't really sad as well, because I do really like Glen Powell not screened for critics, but it was. I don't know why he said it was such a question. I do really like Glen Powell, and I didn't watch you for you, so I don't really know. White Lotus, Sydney Swing was brilliant, so cold. What is it about Glen Powell that you like, Rihanna?

His face. I mean, his brilliant acting. At UK Number 4 and US Number 10, it's the boy and the Heron. Dear boy and heron the Mike, I am an LTMF, a long-term Miyazaki fan. And I've been looking forward to The Boy and the Heron for years. I was a little concerned when I read Wendy Eid's description of the film as middling Miyazaki best, but Mark's glowing review laid my fears to rest. As I took my seat in the city screen picture house in New York, along with a decently sized and beautifully behaved audience,

I was sure I was in for a treat. However, for all its charms, it's a hot mess of a film. I just wanted to watch Robbie's re-whip something to that. Pass, okay. You holding it in your holding it. The task girlfriend, they get it for me to do this for us just now. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Um, it was just. Just try it me. It was at its best in the opening act, describing the effects of fireballming on the Japanese family. However, the moment that our hero, Mahito, entered parallel realities of storytelling lost its coherence. Miyazaki is well known for developing his plots as he goes along, which isn't usually a problem when you have an imagination as powerful as his, but too much of the boy in the heron has a, he goes over there to do that with him, while she tells her that this because of that, or for some other reason,

quality to it. That was all with hyphens, by the way. There are a lot of birds and they spend most of their time bursting through doors and putting on people, which sounds like it might be fun. I mean, it does sound quite fun, but there's a dearth of laughter here. It was a long two hours. My wife Ellis Leap, but I soldiered on trying to care more about what happened to the characters. The score was lovely and I hope that wins at the Oscars. Other than that, I can't help feeling that the wind rises would have been a better swam song. Yours unable to believe that I'm writing this, Ian Wilson. That's really interesting. I should say also, as you've implied, I am also a long term,

here's Anki Fank. I think this film is a masterpiece, but when I saw the London Film Festival, I got the distinct impression in the room that Ian's reaction and his family's reaction was more how the film had landed for people. I really. I think, I mean, goodness, I'm such an old studio jibbly kind of first gen, you know, lover of their work. And certainly over the last decade with these films appearing on Netflix, the fandom for

the studio's work has massively increased. And I think there is a, and this is not to be gay-keeping about it, but I think there is a certain perception of Jibli as being quite a cosy studio. And there being a sort of, you know, there's a gentleness to their work and, you know, through total ruin and whisper of the heart and those kind of films, there's a cuddliness

and it's all very silver and subdued. And it's not comfort viewing, but it is comforting to watch. And I think the edge that Miyazaki's work often has has slightly been forgotten in this new kind of cycle of fandom. And it's almost as if Miyazaki was kind of looking at these, you know, the way in which people regard this studio now. And has made this film to destabilize that perception

as much as possible. I mean, it's true. The birds which you might think would otherwise be cute, cutly characters are pusing on people all the time. And he creates these little sprighty things called wara-wara, which I like the forest spirits and princess mononoki. But as soon as they kind of turn up within five minutes,

they're being devoured by meanGi pelicans. So there's this, you know, there's this kind of, I'm going to give you something cute and then I'm going to massive the undercutter and the understarbue. I should say I've also seen the English dub of this. I've seen it a couple of times in Japanese and once in English, Willem de Foul plays, I don't know if it's the pelican king, there's some kind of old venerable pelican. Has this incredible monologue kind of spluttering on his deathbed in his very will and a full way that the Ghibli dobs are normally very well handled and this one's particularly well

handled. So yes, I get this, it's a very tricky film to kind of get your head around in one go and I do see that other people would be this way. So for me the way it landed really was this kind of double autobiography. Miyazaki has spoken, have I ever mentioned that I interviewed him, but he's spoken in the past about his, one of his earliest memories being escaping the far bombing of Utz Namia during the Second World War, and kind of running with his, one of his parents,

they was father through the streets and getting separated and then this kind of flame reigning down all around him. So this is the idea of the kids moving to the country to escape the war and his father being a manufacturer of airplanes, which Miyazaki's father was. That's all very much from his childhood experience. However, you then have the kind of Alice and Wonderland sequence where the Mahita was dined into the tower. And he discovers this kind of fantastical kingdom that's been created by this old man who, and is when he was a much younger man, withdrew from the real world in order to construct this incredible,

alternate, beautiful reality around him. And then he's come to the end of his life, and he's not found an heir to continue ruling this kingdom in his stead. And the whole kingdom begins to crumble around him during his dying moments. But then, because it's managed to navigate, Mahito has been able to use this kingdom to navigate this period of intense grief and to kind of address his fury at the world and to address his unhappiness. And having gone through the kingdom, he's come out the other end of better person. That in itself is enough to have justified this man's

entire life's work. I was massively moved by that. You know, because that is, I'm sure that's how Miyazaki regards his, or at times I'm sure regards his, you know, what he's done with his life. He's an amazingly principled filmmaker. He has such kind of particular views on, you know, I'm sorry I could go on a bit of this for it. For the first time. But yes.

But you know, his worldview comes across in it very powerfully. I get that it doesn't feel like a great last film. I think the fact that it doesn't feel like a great last film But his world view comes across very powerfully. I get that it doesn't feel like a great last film. I think the fact that it doesn't feel like a great last film is one of the things I love to watch about it. And also, fun fact. Do you know when Miyazaki's birthday is? I should do, no, I don't.

Fifth of January, which is when some people might be listening to this. Is it really? My good decision to start. Do you know where my birthday is? Fifth of January. It is. Wow, OK. One coincidence, right?

Yeah. OK, that was not just a way of trying to get me to say a birthday to me, it's fine. I didn't even do that. Happy birthday, Rihanna, for Friday. Which is maybe today, if you're listening today. And number three in the UK and number one in the US, unbelievably, is Aquaman and the lost kingdom.

Absolutely rubbish. Yeah. I think that's all we need to say. Number two in the UK and number nine in the US, it's Ferrari. Yes, which I thought I mean, it's Michael Mann coming back to do fast cars driving through the Italian countryside. What's it's not to like? I mean, everything I found incredibly dull. Number one in the UK and number two in the US is Wonka.

Which everybody loves. 43.8 million sous-fraud. Still things don't matter. I love that people are embracing this. Okay, thank you so much. We're going to take a little ad break and we'll see you in a second. What's up Canada? After five long years, the UFC is heading back up north for UFC

2.97 in Toronto. This is the first event back with Bud Light as the official beer sponsor of the UFC. We put together a bad **** card and it is going to be an electric night. The new Hot Honey McChryspe is now at McDonald's with juicy tender seasoned chicken shredded lettuce, crispy jalapenos and what we like to call pure liquid gold, fiery gold, the hot honey sauce, the new hot honey mit crispy, available for a limited time on the at McDonald's. Today's guest is the director who set up and directed the entire first season of Slow Horses for Apple TV. You watch that? I keep meaning to, I've not got round to it yet, I've

heard such good things. I know everyone loves Slow Horses. So he made his name with that and plenty of other things on TV and he's just released his debut theatrical feature One Life. So you'll hear my interview with James Hors after this clip from the film. What did I miss? Nicky was just saying we have to assume that this is happening. Yeah. We are moving the children.

In big groups, by train. That's a two-day trip, which would mean crossing Holland and the Dutch have shut their borders to Jewish refugees. And they'd have to cross Germany. Yes, but they'd only be passing through and on British visas. With British foster parents' wages. Well, Balis, if you can find British foster parents, there are a thousand children on that list. The will can may not be as warm as you're all imagining. Then we have to heat things up. We have to get the press working, get the moving,

and on our side, ordinary people wouldn't stand for this if they knew what was actually happening. That was a clip from One Life and I'm delighted to be joined by director James Hors. How's it going? It's going very well. Thank you. Nice to be here. Really lovely to speak to you again. I first spoke to you months ago before the film was released. No one really had seen it yet, which was you were quite anxious, then understandably. Well, it was our first sort of test screening, really.

It was a toadip in the water just to see how audiences were going to respond. And so it was nervous. It's like having your homework marked. And however much, and perhaps the longer you've invested in a film The longer you've lived with it The harder it is to know quite how an audience fresh to the story, fresh to the film is going to respond

How long had you been with it just out of interest? About 18 months Okay, so yeah, that's pretty substantial amount of time Could you introduce us to the wonderful story of Nicholas Winton and the film One Life? It's an extraordinary story, a true story about a man who in 1938-39 traveled to Prague where he had been told by a friend that there was a real crisis with refugees fleeing from the rise of Nazism and Hitler. And what he found in Prague was so shocking to him, particularly the children who were living in fields, in ruined factories, in desperate conditions, that he decided

that his one week of volunteering wasn't really enough and he needed to try and do something. This was not a professional, he was a stockbroker. He didn't have resources, he had no structures, he had to build everything from scratch, with some fellow volunteers, with some colleagues, and indeed, even with his mother back in London. And together as a team of the next few months, they managed to save 669 children. Most of them Jewish, but not all of them, he very much wanted to save children of all faiths and of none, some of them were the children of people who protested against the rise of Nazism. However, that was the end of the trains that you could get out at the time when war was then declared. And so this man, Nicholas Winton, spent the second half of his life regretting not having been able to do more, feeling guilt for it until, and I don't want to spoil the film for those

who haven't seen it, until a scrapbook with details of what he'd achieved came into the hands of a journalist and would go on in fact to become a YouTube clip, a viral moment, an evergreen viral moment that says a huge amount about human compassion, human decency. moment that says a huge amount about human compassion, human decency. It's, I've seen that clip by Surrey, you know, years ago, I think when a lot of other people did on YouTube, and it only does tell a fraction of Nicholas's story. And you tell it in such an interesting way because it's set over to eras, neither of which are the present. So can you tell us about how you decided to wait this story in the 30s and then

in the 80s because we have two kind of powerhouses of acting leading both of those storylines? Yes and that's been an organic process. The original script has a little bit of the older Nicky played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the 1980s and then we went right back to the story in the 1930s and told it in very strict linear fashion until we rejoined the 1980s the older man, informed then perhaps by his youth and what we'd seen he'd achieved. As we went into the production process, both filming and especially in the edit, we realized that these two stories could inform each other better. There were elements of mystery that could be

planted into the 1980s story and clues that could be discovered a bit like Rosebud, honestly, it's a classic citizen-cane type of beat through the 80s that will keep you sort of drawn with the mystery of it all. And also, a lot of people coming to the film will know that he saved children from the Nazis. So what's the reveal? Well, the reveal becomes what happens to the ninth train, and that was another element that we pulled way back So you didn't understand until late in the film what the exact purpose and point and cause of his grief was and I think that's what very well structurally to then switch between the two so tell us about the casting of Johnny Finn and

Sir Anthony Hopkins both of them so incredibly moving in their own way in their own kind of very quiet both of them so incredibly moving in their own way and their own kind of very quiet performances. Did you want them to have a synchronicity or did you want them to sort of find their own way to Nikki Winton? It was important that there was a synchronicity. There's a real man and then it was then down to the individuals as how they approach playing a real character and I think it's important that it's never an impersonation that it comes comes from within. And Tony's process is to spend weeks, if not months, watching everything there is of the man reading about him, rereading and rereading the script, so that he starts to inhabit everything that's known about the person. And then you touch on something else about the quiet performances. I think that was the thing

that I wanted very importantly, that this would be a simple direct telling of a hugely emotional story. And we had a tone word for the film which touched firmly on performances and that was restraint. We felt that there's so much emotion and so much even melodrama in the story if you push it too far, that we wanted to hold back. We wanted that perhaps quite British but certainly very honest to the period and to the man with holding of the motion. I think that's especially powerful because there is one scene where we do see a breakdown,

where we see the old and if you went and break down. What was it like to film? Something like, well I love that you call him Tony, obviously that is what he's known to his friends. It just was so wrong. We ever calling him that so I'm gonna stick with Sanjani Hopkins and but filming him and directing him in a scene like that We so rarely see men of that era be as vulnerable as we see Niku Newton in this scene It was a key thing and first of all I have to make it absolutely clear that Tony is not me being over familiar That is what he would oh I know. Yeah

he is not me being over familiar, that is what he would tell me to call him. Oh, I know, yeah. Yeah. He is such a great actor that a lot of that in the way director works with the cast is about those individual conversations, about the way the processes of that individual actor and how they want to find out performance. You're right, it's key to that man that he so keeps a lid on his emotion throughout the story. And I think that's so much more interesting to watch and for the actor to play because it feels like a pressure cooker rattling against the lid. And then there is this moment of catharsis, honestly, and it's

hugely moving and hugely satisfying. So Tonya, I talked about it, we talked about what led up to it. In fact, we filmed it before the scenes that trigger it. So we had to imagine those. And then, honestly, I tell him what the camera's going to be doing. And in that first take, I let him go because it's so Anthony. The idea of which comes up a lot, you can interrogate this idea a lot in the film of you've done enough versus it's never enough is such an interesting one. Where do you sort of stand on it and where did you want to kind of take that idea in the film? Well of course that's the thing at the root of Nicholas's pain is that he blames until for not doing more that it's never enough and that's what he then spends those

five later decades of his life trying to do is to some extent make up for what he deemed to be his failures in the past. The story tips on that maximum of save one life, save the world. And if there is a lesson to come out for all of us, it's about compassion and it's about doing the thing you can do however small. And that could be just about becoming more aware, about talking about a situation, about being involved. It doesn't have to be as extreme as his was, but neither does it have to be setting up an entire charity and feeling that unless you do that, there's no point in engaging. So, the lesson is, it may hurt, but get involved and do the bit you can.

The shoot itself must have been quite chaotic one because you do have, you're working with plenty of children, you're working on quite a huge scale. So tell us what was the most kind of challenging thing about working with all of the kind of plethora of children that you have to. Well, I have to be brutally honest, it may be a rather boring answer, but the the biggest challenge was the lack of time. I have 32 days to shoot the whole film. 32. Yeah, those. Yeah. So 15 were with Tony and we shot the 1980 scenes first and then 17 in Prague. But we only had two days on Prague station and all those children and it takes a while

to reset a steam train to the position you want and to bring it back in, that speed you want. And obviously there are other strictures like children's hours. And the emotion of what we were recreating, actually working with as children, you have to be obviously super aware of the drama, the emotional trauma that you are staging. And having this bunch of soldiers walking down the side of the train, even if they didn't probably understand what a Nazi uniform signified, but they're slamming the sides of the train, they're banging the doors. Obviously, we had to be careful in how we set that up, explained to the children what was happening.

Some of them very young children had people around if they were upset and some of them were upset. But when they also young, how did they understand? How can they process that and know that it's all make believe? Well, we did workshops first, which were incredibly straightforward for the youngest of children, talking about the telling of a story and that it was a true story. And we pulled children, most of them not familiar actors, many of them from schools and community centres,

who were representative of the right ethnicity and heritage, because we thought that was important as well. So we were very much able to tell them that we're telling the story of your grandparents and great grandparents here. And we worked with a team in Prague who were specialists with working with children in drama who were able to divide them into families and tell them what their back story might be and what their mother had told them. For example, many of them were told they were just going on holiday or whatever.

So they then could inhabit that story within that moment. I remember when we met a few months ago, you were talking about all of the extraordinary coincidences that happened. I mean, and the fact that you said it happened on the, you know, just in 32 days, you had a real number of them. Can you tell us about some of those starting perhaps with Walson Station in Prague? Yes, I mean, that still gives me chills when I think about it. We were on our first record there, so I just had a handful of the key crew, the producer, the director of photography, the designer, and we were walking along Wilson Station, the main station in Prague,

to where there is a statue of Nicky Winton. He's there with one of the refugee children of his shoulder and one in his hands, some bronze statue, life size. And of course we were taking our pictures for our Facebook and Instapost and whatever you, because we're like everybody else. And then suddenly there's this real change in the cosmos on the station, were taking our pictures for our Facebook and Instapost and whatever you because we're like everybody else.

And then suddenly there's this real change in the cosmos on the station, there's shouts, there's radio chatter, lots of people in high vies and suddenly we realize there are police there. I mean crowds of people, dozens of people. And then we realize that there are children crying and mothers with dragging cases. And what we were watching literally over the shoulder of the statue of Nicholas Winton was newly arrived refugees from Ukraine and the very first weeks of the war. And there to tell a story about refugees watching refugees from another conflict arriving just from over the border just to remind us what we are in Europe.

You can't help but think what Nikki would say which is God you idiots who still haven't learned. But no, we were surrounded by coincidence. It's something in the nature of the story. We were filming in Hampstead, because it's called Willow Road, where the original operation in 1939 was based at the Winton House, and where the volunteers turned up to go through the documentation.

Now, it turned out that the very house that this happened in, Johnny Flynn, who plays the Angoniki Winton, had lived there in years before. Without knowing the story, he had rented a room there for some years. That's quite a good filming there. That's so weird. This elderly man and his grandson, as it turned out, came up to us and said, excuse me, are you filming? Yes. We were on our way to Tesco's, right? Is this the Anthony Hopkins film? Yes, it. About Nicholas Winton, yes it is.

Oh, because my father is Trevor Chadwick, who's in the film. Oh my goodness. And this 91-year-old man was the son of one of the characters who plays a major role in the film. And he just happened to see us filming and then spent the rest of the day sitting by the director's monitor with me. I just think it says something about when a man like Nicholas does something as extraordinary as that, he drops a stone in the pond and it makes ripples. And you meet those ripples bouncing back and that's what we're doing. He made an impact in the world. I love that so much.

I just before I let you go, I just wanted to ask you about being reunited with her no bonham Carter after Inid, which you directed, because she's such a delight in this as Bebet Winton. So why do you love working with her? Well, there's a list. I mean, I love Helen a little bit, we really enjoy working together. She's mad as a box of frogs in all the best ways. She comes into production and onto set with such an energy, a creative energy, a spiritual energy, she just has fun.

She enjoys the process of production. She does the research and she invests in the character massively, but then she just brings a fizz and you see that explode on the screen. She knows just where to pitch that right mix of seriousness and humor. I took myself to the cinema as a paying customer on the first day, on the years day of this film opening, which was a whole, for all the screenings I've been to it was a whole new level of experience. Yeah. And here the audience responds when she is deployed,

both by Nikki and by the script, into the storytelling is a joy because she's the national treasure and she plays it so brilliantly. James, I could talk to you for such a long time about this film, I love it, but I am going to have to let you go. James, thank you so much for talking to us. It's been an absolute pleasure. I've really enjoyed it. Thank you. That was James Hall's talking about one life. I think you can tell what I thought of the film. Yeah, I mean, I think it can tell what I thought of the film. Yeah, I mean, I think it's really, he's obviously an incredibly thoughtful interviewer.

Yeah. And that's very out because this is an incredibly thoughtful film. What he was saying about Quincent's is so central to its point because it is, you know, he, Nicholas Winston, he does this thing nearly 100 years ago now, but the consequences of it have kind of sold no way through the fabric of the country afterwards. So you know, you're finding these threads decades later. Here is something that originated there, but it's still kind of important to, you know, the way in which the country functions today.

I think this idea that the film's restraint is what brings it power is something I've felt really strongly while watching it. My sense is that James and the screenwriters at the Cindercox and Nick Drake, they knew they had this very moving true story on their hands. And therefore, I decided to tinker with it as little as possible. So there's very little dramatic contrivance in the film. I mean, he talks about building this thing around the ninth train and that being the source of suspense

because so many aspects of this are known. I have to say, it didn't feel like much of a source of suspense to me watching it. There's like much of a source of suspense to be watching it. There's no sort of specific instant that makes the young Nicholas then go, my goodness, this is something I have to do. He's moved to help because he knows it's the right thing to do and he knows he should do it. And so he goes off and does that. There's also this, aside from a briefcase, there's no sort of artful connections between the past and the present. You know one thing, these things that are designed to make you think of okay, okay, so this links to that and that links to this. There's no lost love

or anything like that. Exactly. I'm really loved, I'm really so glad. It's very methodical. Now, look, I love the fact that the bucked the formula for that. I also will see, I think it means that Flynn and Hopkins are both perhaps slightly hemmed in because self-effacing decency is the key note that they have to play. And there's not a great deal of variation beyond that. They're both great, but they don't necessarily feel like they're up there with their best performances, because if the range is quite kind of hemmed in in that way,

they do put in really nice things. Johnny Flynn does do a very good young Anthony Hopkins. He picks up enough mannerisms and enough kind of turns if you know, ways of turning phrases without it feeling like an impersonation. Helen Abon Carter, of course, she's mentioned to explain the mother, the bet and the early sequencers who pesters the home office

to speed up the immigration process. This part is so Helen Abon. I know, it's so fun. You can imagine them sort of pressing the last button on the laptop of the last line of dialogue and then the window just flies open. She bursts in like, Nanny McFee or something ready to do the thing.

I'm here. It's so much hot, her. And again, this is not the widest range that she's ever to play, but the things that she's given to play. I'll play beautifully. I think also, another thing that gave me pause slightly, is it uses that's life sequence, where he is recognized, finally, for his good work.

I mean, that's life is held up as the butt of a few jokes over the course of the film, because it is quite tacky and quite exploitative in ways that this film very much isn't. Yeah. And yet, it does end up pretty much reproducing that episode beat for Beat in order to get this moment of catharsis at the end.

It is very moving. I do sort of think, well, you know, it can't have been that tacky and that crass if you're able to kind of resort to it and it's still able to resonate in this. But I don't think it would fall. Revolves around it in the same way that you might think it would before you go into the film. No, no, it doesn't. It doesn't, it absolutely doesn't. And I think that's why, I mean, you know, it is.

And then you have to include it because it's such a recognizable slice of Nicholas Winton's history. It's got to be in there. It has to be, right? That's the viral moment that James was talking about. Yes. I totally get the point. And like Samantha Spiro playing Esther Hanson, very hammy, very, you know, very kind of in your face.

It's a little moment out of the kind of calmer tapestry of what's going on in Anthony Hopkins' era. Yes, and I think also what's kind of interesting about this sequence is that he's almost being outed as a hero. He's not an unsung hero who's finally being sung about. He's almost kind of being dragged into recognition for his deeds against as well. Now, this is not sort of reactionary grumbling, oh, I'm good to see someone doing so, for actually signaling about it or anything like that. But there is a really unusual dynamic to see nowadays that someone would do something

and then not want to have it disgust and to have it packed away. And then the kind of, that being made public is difficult. And I think that dynamic is to me, ultimately what made the film work as well as it did. You know, it is a weepy, of course it is. I was in floods of tears at this in the sequence. It's not just a weepy, it's not Marley and me. You're not coming in and sort of wailing away as much more sophisticated than that. It's just so impressive. I suppose it's that

thing about you never know those little moments that you do can make such a huge difference and just hearing from, which I didn't get to speak to James about, but really wanted to, was about the influence from the kinder who are now growing up, who have now seen the film, who have been involved in it. I think it would be really lovely to kind of sit down and talk to them about their experiences, because we just get such a small snapshot. So that is one life. And now a bit of a change of pace, because we're stepping into the laughter lift. Robbie. Yep.

Do we not have to listen? Oh, here's the music. OK. Parish to thought that the scene wouldn't be set with the artfulness that usually exists. Hey, Robbie. Cool for it. You know, Mike, my husband.

Yes. This year, we decided to throw a New Year's Eve party. Thankfully for Christmas, I received a book called How to Celebrate New Year's Eve like the Popstar Prince. So I rented 10 things I hate about you, I reactivated my account on Napster, I put on Ricky Martin's Livin David Aloka, because Prince told me to party like it was 1999.

That's so thin, that's unbelievable. I mean the crowd got quite rusty. I'd say that joke has been written with the aid of Wikipedia. There has been, you know, cultural events of 1999 tab has been open there. So we've had 10 things I hate about you. It was pretty important for 1999. So the point got quite rowdy. Sadly, the police came round because the Ricky Martin was playing too loudly and a police officer confiscated my phone and my firework.

One was charged and the other was let off. Okay, yep, I've heard it before. Oh, bad. The next day, January 1, I was really focused on coming up with some really good New Year's resolutions and I've always wanted to read more, so I've decided to watch more films with subtitles on. You're reading your eyebrows as if that's the punchline, isn't it? That's according to Hannah, that's the punchline. That's the punchline. According to Hannah, that's the punchline. These seem to get longer every time. I know, it's like, this is never ending.

Is that it? This lift, one more. We'll be back after this, unless you're a Vanguard Easter. Oh no, sorry, that was it. That was it. There's no way to tell. Oh my god, it really is. It's kind of like the anti-julk.

Anyway, we're going to be back after this, unless you're a van Goddaster, in which case we have just one question. What is the longest a chicken has ever lived without a head? Jettley News, barely sanitized. The skate's might smell funky, but the comedy is always fresh. Catch DJ Demaris, starring in the brand new secondhand sporting goods workplace comedy One More Time, new series Tuesday on CBC Gem. Metro links and cross links are reminding everyone to be careful, as Eglinton Cross-Town

LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, this 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. The answer is, because I know you've been waiting with Bated Breath to find out. Can you remember the question?

About the headless chicken. Yeah. How long did a chicken live with that head? 18 months. What are? That's pretty mad, isn't it? How did was someone like putting crumbs down the hall? How did that work?

Mike, the chicken's incredible feast. Lovely, it was called Mike. It was recorded back in the 40s in America, in the USA, in the majority of cases, the headless chicken dies in a matter of minutes. I have heard this fact before, actually. Running around like a headless chicken, right? I mean, the obviously don't die instantly.

No, but within a matter of minutes, but not Mike. Anyway, we have an email from Sandy Guthrie, he writes, I, time, travelers, I didn't write in about the US president and his grandson thing because I thought many people would. It's pretty amazing, but not as unusual as you might think. It's not quite to the same extent as that, but my family tree comes close. I am 67. My father was born in 1911 and remembered

seeing German prisoner of wars near Little Hampton during the First World War, see the Imperial War Museum recordings. My grandmother was born in 1880, so I knew someone who was an adult when Queen Victoria was alive. My great aunt was a suffragette, which is a whole other story. I mean, one that I would love to hear, Sandy. However, my grandfather was born in 1855. My father was a late son from a second marriage. Obviously, I didn't know him. So if I lived in 1905, my grandfather would have been born 196 years before that.

I find time warps like this fascinating. My grandfather had children the same age as his second wife, etc. But as the late Great Towns van Sant said... Don't look at me, it's blanked out on mine. It's down to Van Sant. Time is a fast old train, it's here and it's gone and it won't come again. So let's not dwell in the past. He meant. and it's gone and it won't come again. So let's not dwell in the past. Hey, men. That's really cool though.

I really like that. It's weird. It's definitely weird, but just to have so many different generations in just two generations is strange. Yeah, I remember the first thing that really struck me about that was the hearing as a kid that the storage was only 85 grandies ago.

Are you, grandies? Yeah. Okay. Does that help people measure things? So we measure things in school and using grandies. Okay, it is time for our review of Good Grief. Yeah. Good grief. This is the debut feature from Dan Levy, who's the core creator of Shits Creek and the owner of the greatest eyebrows since his father, Eugene Levy. Now, he wrote and directed this film as well as dying in it. He's described it as less a romantic comedy than a love story about friendship.

And I think that's a very astute way of putting it. I would certainly downplay the comedy part of it. There are very funny moments in the film. But it's a drama, first and foremost. So, Levy Plees Mark, who's an illustrator, married to Oliver, this fabulously successful young adult author played by Luke Evans, who wrote the Victoria Valentine series of books and, which is now converted into a very successful movie franchise. Starring. From Booksmart, Katyn Deaver. Yes, who has this very funny one

in Camille. So it opens at this Christmas party, at their Notting Hill mansion, all of his about to depart on a book signing tour to Paris. And then after he leaves the house, minutes later, his airport taxi crashes, and he dies in the accident. Then after a year of mourning and not being able to paint an illustrate anymore,

Mark finds the strength to open his last Christmas card from his husband. And in that Christmas card is an admission that I'm not going to say because you're frowning at me too much about, but the way in which he regards the point at which the relationship was at his husband's death. And therefore, how he has to address that relationship going forward. So his brainwave to kind of get through this is to treat his two supporters BFFs, Ruth Negassofi and Hermesh Patel's Thomas, to a city break in Paris. And here we have a clip.

I wanted to thank you both for this year. So, I would like to take us to Paris for the weekend on Oliver, spend his money recklessly. It's what he would be doing if he were there right now. And I can't think of a more appropriate way to mark the one year anniversary. Yeah. We all deserve some joy. Yes, I think this is a beautiful thing. I think this is a beautiful, so full thing

you are offering us. Yes, thank you. Where are we staying? You actually have a place there. What? Since when? Oliver got it last year. I plan on giving it up. Sorry.

I'd like to just casually mention you're giving up a place in past. Sweet thing. Still finding ways to give us nice things. That is actually a very funny sequence. I think Ruth Negger playing against type here as being the kind of wild party animal, especially if you've made, you know, you might have seen her in loving, for example. Yeah, these are incredibly soul-searching somber rules. Yes, it's so wonderful to see her. As just being, yeah, exactly a hot mess in this

and having so much fun doing it. Yeah, goodness. And I think that clip goes to show, you know, the humor from this film and actually the emotional impact of it arises pretty much entirely from how incredibly well it's cast. I mean, those three are, or absolute dreams in the rules, see the emery is fantastic as all of her legal advice, but she has an absolutely knockout scene towards the end of some of those lovely little bits

and pieces of stuff. She has this monologue. I did a Q&A for this and it was like the first screening of it with Dan Levy and Hermesh Patel and Celia Emre was in the audience and basically got a standing ovation for that because it was just one of the most moving things I think anyone had seen her do.

Yes, oh, no goodness. The casting is so good and Hermesh Patel, I think anyone has seen her do. Yes, oh no goodness, the casting is so good. And Himesh Patel, I mean, if I had to pick a favorite, everyone's very goodness, he is such, such good final years as Thomas. I mean, the thing is, I will say the film is set in this very well off in some way, it's a irritating milieu.

I mean, everyone is wealthy enough, I have enough kind of wealth flying around. Can I write a Richard Curtis world, isn't it? Yeah, but Richard Curtis, as it is right now. So it's like, the equivalent of those lives now, I think people are better off than they were in Notting Hill. I mean, in this version, I'm notting Hill than in the Notting Hill Notting Hill.

Yeah, it's very low for weddings. That much easier. You know, they're not necessarily running the book shop, they're running an art gallery. Yeah, yeah. And that may kind of rankle, I think, if you're kind of slightly, if that makes you itchy, seeing people who do not really have many real problems

blowing up personal life stuff into this enormous thing, that may rankle slightly. But what I will say is it doesn't take any easy shortcuts with the storytelling. There's no kind of cliche resorting to cliche here or Pat moves. Everything feels very honest and from the heart. It's also a film that got me thinking massively about the importance of taste in cinema and a direct disability to create this world that an audience just loves spending time in.

Now this is obviously the case with some like Wes Anderson. Sophia Coppola as well who we're going gonna talk about and take to again with Priscilla. She's another key one of that, Nancy Myers as well, massively so you know, Nancy Myers kitchen, without to be in the Nancy Myers kitchen. Yes. Now Dan Levy doesn't have such a distinctive style as that, but he does like through these very savvy, costuming choices and great sort of location choices and interiors. I really just enjoyed spending time in this world and in these characters' lives. And you know, there's the Paris

Puyrata that you mentioned, so the kitchen is just wonderful. And there's the way that when he's patting around Paris looking all sad and hands, that way that Dan Levy does, like it's the trainers that he pairs with as Taylor Trosers. And it's odd because these things, they sound very superficial, but they do matter enormously in cinema. And I think when we talk about something being a fun watch or an easy watch, sometimes what we're saying is, oh, it just sort of washes over you and that's fine, and it kills a couple of hours. But sometimes it means that it just gives us these little kind of regular sources of delight, whether it's in how a very well-cast player will perform a line, or whether it's in this amazing unexpected

view of Paris or location choice or costuming choice like that. Or the barstools that all of us chosen for this Paris apartment, I found good grief and easy watch in that way. I don't want to downplay and just say, it's just something to stick on it. Being a Netflix film, I think a lot of people will encounter it like that. Yeah, it's not. There's got a lot more depth to it. Yes. And I do think you pick up on the passion.

I do know there's much psychological depth in it, but I think there's certainly depth in the craftsmanship of it that I didn't necessarily expect. I took a friend who works in the fashion industry and she spoke to Dan Levy after, and she was like, I just love your necklines. And he was like, thank you for noticing them. There's the sort of, the kind of heavyweight white t-shirt that he wears that's got the little nibbled bits of it. And he pairs it really nicely with,

is that the official term? The little nibbled bits. Yeah, absolutely. The adorable. Why not? Yeah, and I'm not seeing this because, oh, there's nothing else to do, but all the costume's so nice.

That's one of the pleasurable things about the film. But I agree. And I think he was asked to make a rom-com, and he came back with this, because he was much more interested in how friends film about friendships, because that's what I think we're more concerned with at this age. Yes. Then, you know, perhaps when we were in our 20s, when it's all about the exciting hormones and rom-coms, that sort of thing. Well, I'll speak for you, Sam. Oh, sorry. But that's kind of the, that's what he was talking about, I think.

Yes, that's why he was so determined not to make a typical romcom and wanted to make it so much about this beautiful trio. Yes, I agree. I think it's very easy to swap at the film and sound like you're diminishing it. And I don't want to talk about that. I loved it. I really loved it. And I did cry a lot, but I thought it was gorgeous. Really did.

And he's so still in it And it's so different from him in Shits Creek, which again just I'm not excited Yeah, he's gonna do next there's a busy party. There's Emma Corrin going wild in a kind of a weird network performance Art thing. Yeah, he's just at the back looking saddened hand. Yeah, he's a good movie He needs to know Okay, what's on this week's listener correspondence? Remember to email yours to correspondence at comodameo.com. Let's have a listen. These are Paul Riches from Skaida Dance. We have the Turner Prize-winning artist

Jeremy Della introducing Tommy at our film night at Hentley Pitchhouse on Wednesday the 17th of January. We invite guests to choose a music-related film and past creases of included John Ronson, Rosemar Tefeio, Ellis James, Dossi Long, Roblin's and Stuart Murdoch. Jeremy Della will be in conversation before the screening of the 1925 camera assault classic based on the Hughes-Rocopra. Tickets are available via the Pitchhouse website,

and we would love you all listening to come and join us. Thanks. So that was Paul promoting a special screening of the Ken Russell Classic Tommy in Hackney. I have to say, if Rosemar Tefeo's been there, I wanna follow wherever she goes. Send your 20-second audio trailer about your event anywhere in the world to correspondents at comodeameo.com. And that's the end of take one. Thank you so much for having us. It's been really

fun being the Super Sobs. We're glad to call ourselves that. Sobs. Super. This has been a super Sony music entertainment production. This week's team was Lily, Matthias, Vicki, Zachi, Michael, Beth, and Hallitall, but as the redactrix in charge, Robbie, what is your film of the week? I'm going to see one life. Oh, nice. I love, I can't make up my mind between one life and good grief. I see them both. We are going to be back in take two lots of extra stuff, we've got more reviews as Robbie is alluded to, we've got more recommendations, so make sure you join us then. But if not, we'll see you soon, I hope. Thank you.

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