Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Laura Linney, The Miracle Club, Blackberry, Silver Dollar Road & The Fall of the House of Usher

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

This week, Mark hosts the show alongside Take fave Ben Bailey-Smith. Ben sits down with one of Hollywood’s finest actresses Laura Linney to discuss her sentimental comedy-drama ‘The Miracle Club��, which follows a group of Dublin women in 1960’s Ireland as they embark on a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Lourdes. Mark offers his own thoughts on the film, while also giving his take on ‘Blackberry’, a Glenn Howerton-starring biographical drama about the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone; ‘Silver Dollar Road’, Raoul Peck’s latest documentary about a Black family’s decades-long legal fight to maintain ownership of their coastal property in North Carolina; and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, a Mike Flanagan-helmed Netflix horror miniseries loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. Mark and Ben also take us through the Box Office Top 10 and the film events worth catching in this week’s What’s On. Time Codes (relevant only for the Vanguard - who are ad-free!): 09:37 Silver Dollar Road Review 18:12 Box Office Top Ten 20:17 Blackberry Mini Review 34:49 Laura Linney Interview 49:12 The Miracle Club Review 55:23 Laughter Lift 01:04:34 Fall Of the House of Usher Review 01:09:47 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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Um, alright. Really? A clap. a clap. The body in the blood, the body in the blood, the body in the blood. Did you see it? No, no, no. I just, I listened to your review and yeah, the only thing that could have made it better as if I was there, I was just cutted not to have been sitting in for Simon when a proper chameleon rant hit. It was phenomenal. Especially, I think my favourite bit was that I've started to finish it when the buzzer went and you just went fine, I was not going well. I was more to attack here. Sounded genuinely offended. Well, it was very, very bad. I mean, very, very, very bad.

And it's always worse when you do that, like making a sequel to something that was great. Just making a bad film is fine. But it was desecrating something. Yeah, and I do feel like that, I don't know. I always remember that William Freak said the exorcist too. He said that film is the product of a demented mind. And he used to tell this story about the first time that they had a preview screening of it. And the Warner executives who'd all thought they'd

made something very clever, you know, it's going to be a hit because it was the emphasis. So they were all there and the screening was awkward or somewhere and there's a full screening room and the executives are there and then, you know, they go outside, you know, wait for their cups. But meanwhile, the cars, they've dropped them off and the executives say, you know, be a couple of hours, it will be great and the cars go off. Anyway, the film starts playing and it's terrible and it's absolutely terrible. And the executives start to feel the, you know, the temperature in the room change. And then they, at some point, they kind of start to leave the theater and this guy in the audience stands up and shouts,

do people responsible for this film are in the building? And the executives walk out again today because the cars have gone off, they sent them away for two hours, so the old ones go. There's no escape. See, that would be a good horror movie, then being surrounded. It's a very angry mob. Is the real criminal, whoever has the IP from the original that just keeps giving it out?

How does it work? Well, the story... You said there's going to be another two of these. That's the theory. The story that's been reported is that they paid 400 million for the IP, but I think that must be therefore for the series, because the IP is the value. The only value in Exorcist believer is the word Exorcist. So they've paid a huge amount of money, and I don't know whether that figure is correct

or whether that figure includes, but the reported figure is 400 million. They have spent a lot of money getting the right to make an exorcist movie and then they have made believer and the theory is there are going to be two more. Next one is deceiver. But and the timing of it sort of birdsonging all over the anniversary of original. Yeah, well, yes, except that, you know, brilliantly, the original went into cinema, and did great and, you know, packed out all these spaces that we're showing and then deceived. I mean, to see if we said, you know, have one week at number one and then it'll just drop like a stone. So excellent.

Right. Well, maybe we'll be reviewing something a bit more palatable. We will. How are you? How are you? Yeah. This is not Simon, obviously. It's me. I mean, for me, where'd you stay when mayo away? I have to stay in the way into his house anyway. No, that's not. You know, weirdly, I hadn't thought about that? I have to stay in the way. He's in the way. He's in the way. He's in the way.

You know, weirdly, I hadn't thought about that, but that would probably be the case. No, I enjoy the hospitality offered by some of the premium low rent hotels, you know, premiering, travel lodge. Wherever your room won't be broken into. That's what I strange. Yeah, although, I've told you you, I stayed in one down market chain and they gave me the

key to the door and I went to the door and I opened the door and there were people in it. There you go. Because they gave me the key to somebody else's room and I went back to the reception. I said, excuse me, there were people in there and they said, oh, that happens all the time. Did not, did not, did not instill a sense of confidence anyway. Alright, so what are we going to look at? We are going to be reviewing Silver Dollar Road,

it's a documentary, a fall of the House of Usher, which is a new series by Mike Flanagan, who made Midnight Mass, which I absolutely loved, and the Miracle Club, with our special guest. Yeah, Laura Lennie, who I will be, have been, did interview, have an interview, yet have interviewed. Yes. Simple as that. That's like the thing in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when they have to form a new tense in the language because of time travel. So essentially, we are doing the program now.

You haven't yet interviewed Lollin and you are tomorrow. And then Friday, when the show comes out, I will have interview. I interview him yesterday and it was amazing. It's like Lister in future echoes, you know, when he finds out that he's died. It's as it hasn't actually happened. It hasn't actually happened yet. Exactly.

So that's all to look forward to. Yeah, lots to look forward to, as well as another 90 minutes minimum of this waffle in the extra takes. The madness of take two and the madness of take three. We'll talk about pop records that we've got. Yeah, there's going to be the recommendation feature. We can watch list, we can not list, favourites and most hated. We've got the bumper bonus review edition this week.

We've got what's on the bonus edition. We've got some other hood, SESX, poor patrol, the mighty movie. Wow, I know you're hot to find out my hot take on that. And then Mean Street's and Friday the 13th are both being reissued, so we can talk about that as well. That's pretty cool. And pretentious maras heating up massively

because Mark Kermode is on 18 and Mark Kermode is on 19. Oh, did I get, we upped it to a point. It was 18, do we upped it to a point? I'm not sure. That's great. That's great. No, no, it's written. That's there. You can't go back. They've done the, yeah. Maybe get VIR on.

Simon Pull wasn't in the building. So he, I see. Yeah, that's fine. One frame back. Yeah, it's just a matter of just overruled by, he was decked. He was in the building. He was, the building. He was and also the pretentious one is this week I'm doing Ben, right?

It's Uno River. Yeah, I'm doing you, not you doing me. Oh, yeah, okay, you're in the hot seat. Right. Did you not know this? I had not read the script in advance. Oh, yes. No, of course I have.

What are you talking about? I'm professional. You're an actor, like literally reading the script in a box is the thing you're meant to do. Yeah, but you know, I often just highlight my lines. No idea what my motivation is. Yes, I'm. For sure. One frame back.

Objection, you're right. Is inspired by the full of the house of Usher and its egg, alempo, adaptations. And you can find all of this on Apple Podcasts or head to extra takes.com if you don't have a free related device. And as ever if you're already a vanguardist, we salute you, we salute you. There we go. Right. Let's get into some emails. This is from Ryan, who says, dear Doctor One and Doctor Two, a film telling the story of a band of prisoners devising and hatching a plan to evade their captors

and ride off into the sunset towards freedom. But spoiler alert for a 60-year-old film results in almost all of the participants being captured, recaptured, or shot dead. Can't really be considered great nor an escape. LAUGHTER The great adventure to end up worse than before, or the nice idea but shame about the execution maybe, but a great escape, it is not.

Love the show and down with the Nazis. This is on the so-called film titles. This is on the subject of film titles. It's down on the stand. The don't make any use. And the story is. The classic is unstoppable in which the train stops. Stopps. Yeah. Here's another one. make any is and the story is the classic is unstoppable in which the train stops stops.

Yeah. Here's another one. Dear Falcore and Gamork. Gamork. Gamork. Gamork. I don't know. On the subject of movies where the title is wrong, I suggest the never ending story. Ended after one hour and 42 minutes. Also, every mission impossible movie, they're always hard. They're always possible. They're always possible. They're always possible. Dinkity Tongue. There is an argument with never ending story, but actually because they were all the sequels, that it is should have ended. Theoretically, yes, the hasn't quite ended yet.

And it's still maybe should have story. It's a bizarre film, wasn't it? I remember seeing that the first one when it came out and that if I remember correctly, the theme tune was sung by Lamarl. Ah. Who would... Lamar from Cajugugu.

Really? Yes. It'd be on the... That adds to the weirdness, if the whole thing. Yeah, precisely. Because they're making this movie and they think, who do we want to get to sing the theme tune? Let's get that guy out of Cajugugu.

No, not Nick Begs, the other one. The other guy. Yeah. And it's sort of framed like an American fancy. Yeah, it was. Wasn't it like German? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very odd.

But with Limol. Yeah. With Limol, who had the kind of the strange, the dual hair system, it was the sort of lower bit that was one section. Yeah, and then there was another bit. It was like close to the movie. It was close to the never ending story of Lim was another bit. It was like close story. It was two, it was the never it yet.

It's a never ending story of Lemoll's hair. It was definitely a thing. And finally Richard Sprag, who just said on Twitter, just watched Day of the Jackal. Really wasn't his day, wasn't it? It was. It was. Any more of that stuff, send it to correspondence

at curmodeandmayo.com. Thank you very much. Let's get into first review. Silver Dollar Road. Silver Dollar Road, which is a documentary by Raul Peck, who made the James Baldwin film, I'm Not Your Negro, and the HBO mini-series exterminate all the Brutes, which won a Peabody Award. By the day, this is one of the exact producers on this project. This is based on a pro-publica article by Lizzy Presser, which was originally headline kicked off the land, and the article, which was done in collaboration with the New

Yorker, asked, why are so many black families losing their property? So it focused on the Curtis Reels and Melvin Davis, who were jailed in North Carolina for failing to vacate land on which they and their family had lived for years, but which it was claimed had been sold without their knowledge or consent. They believed it to be there and suddenly somebody said, no, no, we purchased this land, you have to get off it. And they said, no, we live here. Land on Silver Dollar Road had been bought by their great- grandfather, Mitchell, a hundred years earlier. It was thought of as a worthless bog, but it was worked by the family and it was turned

into something of value and it was waterfront. Wait, so what area is this? This is North Carolina, North Carolina. And the grandfather, Mitchell Reels, had worked and transformed it. When he died in 1970, he told his family, don't let the white man have the land. He didn't have a will. And the land was then passed through something called air's property, which means that it passes to the descendants, but it has been generally recognized that air's property is a terrible law. Apparently in the US 76% of African

Americans don't have wheels, which is more than twice the number of white people. And this is significant because there's property laws are a legal nightmare. The US Department of Agriculture has described them as the leading cause of black involuntary land loss. So that's what this film is about, which doesn't sound immediately like, this is going to be like a strange legal drama. But while Lizzie Press was doing this article, she got videographers to film 90 hours of footage. So literally what you see is the story playing out right before you, because while the article was being researched, all these interviews and things were being done.

And I think the result is superb because on the one hand it is a polemical story about this terrible legal situation in which land is literally taken away from people because the law is against them. But also it does that thing about it tells a complicated legal story, but it tells it through personal testimony. So what happens is you meet the people who this story affected. You see the dwellings and the land and the history and the families, and then you see this thing play out

in a way in which you've got no, surely that can't be happening. This is terrible. This is, and the thing that it reminded me of, there was a documentary a while ago, actually I think it came out during lockdown called Time, which was Gary Bradley, and that was really a documentary about how the modern US penal system is a modern form of slavery. It's a way of having a workforce who have no rights who are exploited. And this is a story of extended family who have worked and

lived on land that is theirs, who, due to a complete injustice of the law, see everything that they have being taken away from them. And it works because you're invested in it's beautifully done, fantastic use of music, really well told story and you can hear even from this review, it's a complicated story but what the documentary does is it makes it understandable on a very personal level and I think that when you get that thing about the personal and the political completely intertwined, that's the kind of sweet spot. So I think anybody could watch it, you don't need to know anything in advance because the documentary tells you, as I said, it's based on an article, which was kind of like a revelation.

But it tells the story, it tells it really well. I think you love it. I can't wait to see it. I mean, black people being disenfranchised is just like a recurring theme. Yeah, and you see it all over the world. You know, I mean, just as you were speaking, I was reminded of the absolute

bird song show around, you know, people, my family, my family history in Jamaica being suddenly disenfranchised with their status as British citizens. Right, right, right, you know. And this feels like yet another loophole. It's similar to what you were saying about time as well. Yeah, yeah. All sorts of fancy new ways of keeping black people in a subservient position. Do you want to hear a little clip of silver doll around? Oh, no, because we have to.

Here we go. Growing up here on Silver Dollar, it was so magical. It was the one place you could go. You wasn't worried about being targeted by the law. That property was so valuable, and not from a monetary standpoint, but valuable because of the history. The first owner of the property was born in slavery times. My great grandfather died without a living will. Before he died, he said,

whatever you do, don't let the white man have my land. You see what I mean about the way in which it's told. I mean, you were just looking at the clip that it's visually really kind of interesting. It's got very, very good use of music. And it tells a story in a way that's completely, you know, it's personal. It's really, really personal. And anyway, I think it's terrific. I think you really, it's personal, it's really, really personal.

And anyway, I think it's terrific. I think you really like it. Yeah, yeah. I think I always think like the best way to make something not feel preachy. Yeah. I mean, we might even touch on this when we, I watched of Time in the City last night. Oh, okay. Do you know what I mean?

We'll get into it later, but exactly what you're saying when that personal is there Yeah, if they're making points that happen to be socioeconomic or or historical it doesn't feel as kind of like This is important. This is why you should care. It's like I care It's the yeah, it's the intertwine I care the intertwining of the personal and political when it's done properly is very very powerful I think that this is very powerful So what we got still to come? We're still to come. We're going to be reviewing a miracle club in which we have our special guest who you haven't

spoken to yet. But I have. But you have in that kind of very weird way. And we'll also be talking about the fall of the House of Usher, which is the new series from the director of Midnight Festival. All right. Awesome. And we'll be back before you can say, you have to look through the rain.

See the rainbow. Hi, esteemed podcast listeners. Simon Mayo. And 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 crown's Queen Elizabeth in Mel Distant. 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, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West and Elizabeth

Tabicki. You can also catch up with the story so far by searching the Crown, the official podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the Crown, the official podcast first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself while Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe. Plus, when you shop online, you'll have to give websites your card details and other sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems,

but to be on the safe side, you can use a VPN to ensure that all data coming to and from your device is encrypted. Even if you're using an unsafe Wi-Fi, you'll still be able to shop securely with a VPN. And you can access Christmas films only available overseas by using streaming services not available in the UK. To take our huge discount of your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. And we're back on the other side of the rainbow here. Here's an email from

Ann Desmond, who's a Vanguardista of the OAP corner of the church. Dear Mark and Ben, you can experience Japanese toilets. Oh yeah, we were talking about the amazingness. The amazingness. I think Simon mentioned they have like maybe five times as many public toilets in Tokyo as they do. And their toilets are wild. I mean like really. I mean the one you described at your friends place. Yeah. It was I wanted to go there. It was. It was a washing blow dry basically. It was a votive. I dream of a washing blow drain. One day. Anyway, sorry, Dean. Dean says, you can experience Japanese toilets at Japan House.

The gorgeous shop and art space on high street Kensington. Oh, well. Two minute walk from the two stations. It's a good show. They are wonderful. Take your sandwiches in as you want to stay on its warm seat all day being washed and gently dried. I think just, I don't think I have things going in and out of the same. The weird thing with the warm seat thing

is that if you are us, if I sit on a warm toilet seat, it feels, there was a word that used to be called scrumbugly. Scrumbugly is the slightly uncomfortable you're feeling you get sitting on a bus seat that's still warm from the previous passenger. Oh yeah, that is a bit weird. Yeah, well imagine that on a toilet seat. It's like I would like the toilet seat to be cold. Yes. Yeah.

But that makes a lot of sense. I remember in the 80s going to certain people's houses and they'd have that furry lining on top of a toilet seat. That feels never quite so wrong. Never got that. Yeah, they were probably the same people who had bits of carpeting in there. Yeah, the bits around the floor. I mean, why? No.

Let's do the streamers and box office. Yes. Top 10. Starting at 54, of course, mindsets. I like mindsets a lot. I mean, I think it's well played. It's a sort of very independent drama about a script writer and an actor living together. And on one hand, it's kind of very tragic comic and it deals with

difficult subjects like the mental health issues, but it's just hilarious, but which Steve Orham is the script writer. And he's working on a script which is about a space cadet wrestling with his sexuality. And he describes it to the director, punting it to, and silent running meets broke back mounting. So I would pay money to see that. Mine set. And at the UK 22 is Golda. Yes.

So there's a course on controversy. It did and there were non-Jewish actors,, there was a very specific question about whether or not. And of course, with Helen Mirren responded very well to this saying, yeah, I think it is a valid question. I think the film itself is very nuts and bolts. It's not doing anything remarkable. Is the harmonica hanging around you, Nick? Does it play?

Oh, I'm so delighted. I'm sorry, I only just noticed that you literally have a Humble Nica Hangy Ranger next. So there's a mini-hona for those at home. It's called a little lady. I was in a flea market in Brooklyn when my kids were very small and child too was about three or four. And at the time I was spending a lot of time traveling around the world as a job being stand up. So I was missing a lot of their pivotal moments which was quite sad to me. But she picked this up from a store and she thought it was the cutest

thing ever. So I stuck it on a necklace and it's called a little lady. So I thought, well, you know, when I'm in a book standard, the hotel room, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, walking in on strangers, probably. I can remember my little lady. UK's number 10 Blackberry. So we didn't review this last week because we had a ton of stuff going on.

So this is like after air and Tetris, this is the latest drama about copyrighting a modern product. Oh my God, I was going to joke that is this a movie about a mobile phone. Yeah. Well, because it's, yes, a Blackberry, which is kind of, which was kind of wiped out by the riser of a phone. So this is co-written by Matt Johnson, who's an indie filmmaker behind things like The Dirties, and it's adapted from a book called Losing the Signal, the Untold Story, Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry. And it starts with these two Ontarians, Mike and Doug, they're attempting to sell then you kind of palm pilot

pocket link device to Jim Balsili. They're played by J. Baruchel, Matt Johnson, who is the director and co-writer, and Glenn Howardton. And they are basically tech doofuses. They run this research in motion company, like a crash, they have movie nights, they throw stuff around. He initially gives them, you know, short shrift, but then he comes

back up to getting fired from his company and says, okay, I will take you on as long as I can be CEO of the company. And I'm given half the company and they agree and promptly find themselves making and selling more blackberries than the network can handle. And the more he sells, the more the network can't handle it and hostile takeovers of looking back. Here's a quick clip. Mike? Hi. There are three reasons why people buy our phones.

You know what they are? We're email. They work. Yeah, okay. It's not us, Jim, is the carrier. Verizon is doing something weird. Okay. Well, I'm about to do something weird if you don't fix this now.

The deal was I get the engineers you Are you are you selling more phones? What the hell do you think I've been doing over here Mike? We're in the middle of a hostile Take over Okay, okay, so that's okay Yeah, the entire system is crashing. He's selling more for it. God damn it!

Yeah, so I'll keep you high. You know, maybe just hold off, sell more for it. I'm not fucking... This after you can hear is him smashing up a phone box. And then the rest of the film is basically on the one hand, he's doing the sales sale, sale, the kind of the film is basically on the one hand, he's doing the sales sell sale, the kind of slacker guys doing the, how do we do this? Then the main guy is kind of stuck in the middle.

So there are echoes of social network, which has got a scrappy company, with two guys at the center, and then they get torn apart by the success. There is a, and the plot actually coincides with Steve Jobs and, you know, the iPhone comes along, other things happen in the tech world that basically, the story of BlackBreeze, basically it was huge until iPhones arrived and then suddenly there weren't. So anything that's in that area, you kind of basically,

I don't think it's really funny that you think I was gonna joke this was about BlackBreeze that it really is. And there's also a bit of dumb money in it, it's guys in basements wearing headbands and funny t-shirts doing things that will change the world around them. There's also a kind of underlying thing about he's an indie filmmaker, these guys are a scrappy indie tech, he's actually playing one of them, so there's a kind of thing about indie cinema. The best description of this is my colleague Wendy I'd at the observer coined this word. And I think it's brilliant. She said when she was talking about this in Tetris and this whole sort of series of movies in air about the sneaker. She calls them biopics, B-U-Y, biopics.

And I think that's absolutely what they are. They are biop picks. They are like the life story of a product that we buy in his mentioned. I kind of enjoyed this. It was fun. You heard from that, the tone is kind of ripe and comic. But I never had a bike before you see. So I only found them bizarre because they had an entire Quirty keyboard on them.

Yeah, they just seemed like too many buttons. Yeah, and then they were really wide, weren't they? Yeah, they were a big thing. Apparently they were, they were, you know, secure. I don't know because I literally, I'm very, very slow to text. And by the time I knew what a BlackBerry was, it already been, the iPhone just wiped it out. Yeah, almost overnight.

Yeah, exactly. Interesting. Yeah, I've just got a piece of glass. There was a period where just before the iPhone wiped out the BlackBerry, lots of people still have BlackBerry. Yeah. And I know this whole new wave of people still have Blackberries. Yeah. And I know this whole new wave of people were getting iPhones. And it was at that point, I know this because I'm sat here today because I was a superfan

of the old version of this show. And I spoke about it in the observer, which the redacto-in-chief must have read. And I got a call, come in and take Simon's place. Right. When he's away, you know. Yeah. So I remember back in the day, you and Simon, and I come in, which of you it was, discussing, because you don't want to overbrand

on the BBC, fruit-based devices. That was so blackberry. That was absolutely absolutely. Anything else that might have a fruit, it was probably Simon. That's where it comes from. I think now when people hear it, they assume that it's just a reference to Apple. Simon. That's where it comes from. I think now when people hear it, they assume that it's just a reference to Apple. Actually, you're right. The battery's a big part. Sorry, yeah. Yeah, the free base device. Yeah, there we go.

Yeah. All right, moving on to UK's number nine, which is a little life. Okay, so not that is a streamed theatrical production. Oh, so that's yeah. So that's fine. Okay. And then UK's number eight, can it be any more Ken Loach?

And the answer is no. If weirdly enough, I went to see a screening yesterday on Waldoke, I walked past the poster of the old oak and the poster is literally the most Ken Loach poster. It's a bunch of people with a brass band and a banner marching hand in hand, but you know, it's kind of, you have to admire the fact that he has, he has plowed that furrow and he has not compromised or changed.

He has. You know, and we love him dearly for that. I mean, as we were saying before, on air, it'd be lovely if some people actually picked aside and had an opinion. Yeah, exactly now and again. That's never been a problem for Kehlons. Can it be any more nonning than non two? Have you seen them?

I don't watch these films, I don't watch them. No, okay. I'm like Simon, I just like, when it comes to those kind of horror films, I just, I mean, no. I'm like, it's like with sci-fi, if there's a great idea, if there's an idea behind the science fiction, if there's an idea behind the horror, there isn't just horror, then I'm in.

But if that's not there, I don't even... Do you know what the idea of the nun is? Boo! That's it. Okay. Right, nuns appearing in the mirror. Yeah, you know, it's just Marilyn Manson face, you know. Right.

Okay. But is it hanging when in there? It's doing okay. It's done fine. I mean, that franchise baffles me I have to say, but it's you know, it's it's certainly washed its face financially. Now I know a lot of Denzel Washington fans and a lot of them have said, it's actually not as bad as you think the equalizer three I mean, I don't know the equalizer three

Mission Impossible for me, you know, it does what it says on the tin. It is, you know the movie that you think it is. It's that done well. Exactly, fair. And at five, a haunting in Venice, the moustache is still. The moustache? Well, the double-layered moustache, which is weirdly, it's the moustache equivalent of limo-holz hair style, isn't it?

It's just, there's levels here. This is such a tribute. I enjoyed it and Kenneth Branner is really having, I mean, somebody said to me, I saw that haunting in Venice, it made no sense. You got, yeah, really? Wow, you know, I watched that mission to Mars, I did make it this. You have to be a bit of a cynic, I think, to not enjoy it. You can just see it like having its TV premiere on the Bee

or an ITV or something like Christmas. Yeah, precisely. Oh, perfect. All the family will sit down. Yeah, I'm going see it like having its TV premiere on the Bebe or an ITV or something at Christmas. Yeah, precisely. Oh, perfect. It'll be all the family will sit down. Yeah, someone will fall asleep.

Someone halfway through will go, who's that? Who's that person? For the great escaper. I thought this was really moving. But watch this. But you know, as I said it's partly because it there are certain films that will just hit you in a way because they I mean Glenda Jackson reminded me of my mum and that was it. I was my critical faculties went out the window. And it was her last film so

that's it added and she's great in it. She's absolutely great. I was just watching some of the work that she did with Ken Russell again recently, which is astonishing actor. And then Michael Cain, it's like, okay, we'd like somebody who is twinkly and can with just a kind of the nearest flutter of an eye tell you a story about the backstory of this person, get Michael Cain. You know, and it said he, when Simon and I interviewed him some time ago, he said, I'm retiring, I can't make films anymore, I can't walk. No, he can, and he's out there doing it, so good for him.

And oh, actually, Jason saw this film, this is Jason on YouTube, who said, I saw this wonderful film yesterday, managed to hold back the tears, but only just, incredibly emotional, warm, and all together a beautiful celebration of love and devotion. I cried all the way through it.

Yeah, I think I probably would as well, knowing me and knowing that and thinking of my dad and all of that. Yeah, yeah, me. And Billy says, hey, uplads, just a quick note to say tar for the review. It's a very casual this. This is Philly.

Hello, Billy. How you doing? Have you been? Love the show. It's one I hope most will be positive about the stuff I write. Good luck. Keep up the impressive work. Maybe we'll bump into each other one day in town.

I did come across you in Soho once, Mark. Just off, you've been very kind about Maiden Dagonum. I love Maiden. And went a bit fanboy, which I expect was terrifying. Oh, this is a writer. This is the writer. I think who is this casual Billy writer of Maiden? I wrote, it's Maiden Dagonum.

Yeah, fine. Okay, well that makes a lot every, yeah fine, okay, well that makes a lot more sense. It's also wrote the greatest game date. So A up, A up Billy boy. But you really got to read the script in advance. Yeah, I should have read the bottom of that email. What I usually do is I read the name first

so I can say this one's from, but I've got a reason I didn't do that. Well done. But that's nice, because then you got genuine surprise for me. Yeah, yeah, it was not expecting that to be Billy Boy Ivory who wrote the greatest game. Anyway, number three. That's very funny.

We've got Sorks. Sorks, you know, which is not a film that will produce tears, but it does what the saw movies are meant to do and it is definitely one of the better ones. And it's a You know there is that weird thing it's sore x is there really anywhere else to go? Well no, but we just go back this is saw 1.5 because this takes place between the first and the second They're like filling it all the it's Star Wars. Oh my it is literally still on the gas It's filling in the gas, but you know It's it's a good saw movie if that's what you want. Right. And this is the 10th one for me.

Yeah. Or anything. Right. I've never seen any of that. Really? No. No, single. I told you like, okay. No, fairly. These kind of horror films I will never watch. Yeah. Right. Is there some kind of added social comments, something else going on? No, there isn't. Out. I mean, there is, but there is. Yeah. The added social comment is, you know, we should probably all have free healthcare and, uh, yeah, yeah, you know, that's it. And at UK, UK's number two is the creator. A lot. Have you seen this? Yes. And I, okay, go on, go on. I was completely

swept away by the, uh, the visuals of this film. Yeah, it's brilliantly just like, I absolutely loved that element of it. There was lots of things that took me out of the world every now and again. I think it was maybe a script thing, but on the whole, it was a very similar experience to Blade Runner, 2049. Okay, I felt completely immersed in the world and loved being a part of it.

No question. And people say, oh, you know, this shows to kind to Garafed was. I'm just being honest. That's how I felt. I think there's been some unfair criticism of it, in fact. Yeah, I mean, I really liked it. I think it's I think it's flawed, but it's ambitious and it's an original, original IP. And I think it combines the kind of the on the ground guerrilla filmmaking style of monsters. Yeah, they feel like a return to what we originally loved about Garafet was people like him, they're a bit like exciting young footballers. They get snapped up by a behem off club and then sit on their bench and we just watch

them rock getting in court of a million a week when we club, and then sit on their bench, and we just watched them rot, getting caught over a million a week, when we think, you know, if you could have just stuck out just getting 70 grand a week. But here's the thing, but creator is seeing you grow. Creator is a movie that looks like it

cost a lot more than it did. But it is a properly, you know, it's a big movie. So there is big visual effects, as he demonstrated with monsters, he can do big visual effects in his front room. But I do think it's that sweet spot. That's the phrase that he used between monsters

on the one hand and the star wall stuff on the other hand. And I think it's, you know, I think it's a, well, there are things wrong with it, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. Yeah, I'd much rather see an ambitious film than see a film just playing safe. And the UK's number one is the incredible, I think you could call it incredible. In the ex-issue sense of the...

The Lever. I mean, it's just, it's absolutely, as I said at the time, it will go to number one for one week and then I think next week it will just plummet like a stone because it is absolute abomination. And for a full review you can go and listen to the last week so very entertaining. I thought it was detestable. Yeah, well as with a lot of your best rants they are way more entertaining than the movie itself. I would recommend all listeners and all fans of the kimoni and rant to rewind one week. Seaco's six, two, four, six on YouTube says, how David Gordon Green continues to make horror is beyond me.

Hollywood is pretty much bankrupt of any creativity and imagination anyway, but this goes to a whole new level. Couldn't agree with Mark Moore. I know you said in some of that that he's not making horror. That's the point. Yeah. That's the point. Well, I mean, you said it wasn't even scary.

No, it's, I mean, he's got to be the baseline. Unbelievably dull. Like really properly boring, boring, boring. Like at least just be mental. Do you know what I mean? If you're making a terrible horror. Well, that's, actually, this is too2. X-S2 has got hang on. They are flying to Africa on the back of a locust. There you go.

OK. Let's take that in. Let's take a little break. And when we get back, we'll go straight into our special guest this week, which is Laura Lini. MUSIC This episode is brought to you by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From my comic 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. If you see that and think I want to know more about Aki Karri's Mackey, you can go to Mooby the streaming service and there is a retrospective of his films called How to Be a Human. They are also going to be theatrically releasing in January, Priscilla, which is a new Sophia couple of film, which I am really looking forward to since I have an Elvis obsession. You could try Mooby free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash Kermit and mayo. That's m-u-b-i.com slash kermed and mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. With banking packages from Scotia Bank, you can put money back in your pocket. That's

how Marcus was able to invest in everything he needed to launch his podcast about his pets. Welcome back to PetGas. Visit ScotiaBank.com slash welcome offer. to that guest. Okay, welcome back. Our guest today is Laura Linney. Now normally I would do a real off a list of amazing things that she's done and that she's about to do, but what with the sag strikes and everything, we can only actually really reference the movie, which is kind of good because it keeps things focused and it'll stop

me from waffling on. And you know Laura Linney, I mean, she's just incredible, as you're about to hear from this interview, she is an incredibly warm and thoughtful person. It was kind of a joy, not kind of a joy, it was a joy to speak to her. So hopefully you will get the same kind of joy in through your log holes. After this clip from her new film, The Miracle Club. How much were the flowers? I want to pay you back. I bought them for your mother. She shouldn't think she'd be here. Why would she think that? Have you ever come back in 40 years? For the flowers. I don't need that. It was another. Your mother was a saint. And that was a clip from the Miracle Club. I am overjoyed to say that I'm joining here in the studio by

the movie Star, Laura, Lenny, Laura, how are you doing? I'm very well. It's a real privilege to be here. Ah, thank you, that's lovely to hear. So I saw the film on Monday with our resident film critic, Mark. We both loved it, which makes this whole lot easier. It's happening when it's a stinker, this is the most difficult thing. For everybody involved, I'm sure.

So for our listeners who are hopefully going to go out in their droves next week and check it out, can you sort of introduce us to the world of the Miracle Club and how your character? Sure, the Miracle Club is a movie that takes place in Ireland in the 60s that deals with some women from a very small town. My character is someone who has left when she was young. She's gone to America for mysterious reasons that are devolved just the movie goes on. And she returns because her mother has passed away.

So she returns to bury her mother. And she has to confront the members of her town who used to be her family, maybe not her biological family, but her logical family. And there's a very tense history that needs to be negotiated. And two of that, like you say, sort of non-biological family, Cathy Bates is character, Eileen and Maggie Smith's character. Lily, it's obviously very frosty when you meet. But just that tension is there from the start.

I'm just wondering what were the initial things? Was it Cathy, was it Maggie? Was it exploring that character? Was it just the script itself? What drew you to taking this project on? Well, Maggie, primarily, I was. Well, an opportunity. You know, she's been an idol of mine ever since I could, you know, even think about acting.

And Kathy Bates as well in the United States is, you know, is a theater icon. And I was primarily raised in the theater. So, one of the first shows I ever saw that really imprinted deeply was a play called Vanities that she was in. Okay. So, I saw her when I was quite young.

So, both of those women have had an enormous impact on how I look at acting, the type of standard I hope to help uphold. So it was fantastic to be around both. You'd not work with them before you... No, Maggie and I were friendly. Maggie and I had struck up a friendship. I was here in London doing, my name is Lucy Barton, which was a play at the bridge.

And she came to see it and we struck up a friendship. And then she did a one woman show right after that at the same theater. So we were in conversation about how do you navigate doing a one woman show. Not bad conversations. And have my gosh. With someone like that.

I just find her so powerful. Like in everything that she does, but in this movie in particular, there's one moment where she's almost looking into your soul which just past the lens. I know exactly what moment you're talking. You know, it's my last chance. Yes.

And having just lost Glenda Jackson, I just felt like the character Anne Maggie and everybody, all of us who've loved her for so long, it's carried so much away. There's a generation of Titans who came primarily from the theater in the country, whose influence is enormous, and, you know, that we all value beyond words. So they have, they are the template, and they have, you know, pointed the direction in which we should, hopefully, we will all go artistically.

So they are quite, quite valuable. Yes, they are. And obviously Maggie is an actor who has an entire life, you know, all this experience you can see it in her face. With the character of Chrissy, we've got to sort of imagine this experience, this 40 years that she's been away.

Been away, yes. I'm just interested to know a bit about your process because there's so much unseen. Yes. There's a visitations from the past and there's a haunting. So the past is always present in this movie. So you sort of, you know, you do all the good fun actor homework. You create the past in your brain. You make very specific details and then you tuck it away,

and you let it bleed through. Are you doing that on your own or with Thaddeus? I do it on my own, I tend to base everything off a script so that it organically comes from the script itself, and then it will lead you in the right direction, and then other ideas and things will inspire you from what the script sort of triggers within you. So that first moment when you walk into the sort of church hall at the event, trying to win a stuffed ham or... My character comes into a talent show.

And that's the first time she lays eyes on these women who were once such an enormous part of her life. Exactly. And in that moment, that's where that that was the first time I saw in your eyes, in the way you carried yourself 40 years. Yes. And also what just an acting thing that was fun is to play someone who was originally from a small town in Ireland, who moves the United States, who moves to Boston in the 60s. Yeah. You know, she's been there in the late 50s. No, she's been gone even longer than that.

She's been in the States for decades. But to bring that culture, that American culture into a small town in Ireland that has not changed. It has not changed at all. Just what music she's been listening to, her hairstyle, her makeup style, the clothes she's been wearing, like what she brings with her to a place where almost, you know, time has forgot, you know, not much has changed. So, and what

that does when someone leaves home and sort of figures out who they are outside of the environment that has created them. It's misread, isn't it? By Eileen and Lily to be, I don't know, as if Chris is arrogant, she's showing off, she must be flirting with the priest, whereas the younger character, Dolly, she's in awe because of these things, like it's almost like she's seeing the future. That's right. The outfit, she comments it on it explicitly, right?

Yes. So there's a lovely dynamic that the four of you've got in that way. The younger actress who we're talking about is Aguio Casey, who is Agnes. Thank you. She was a remarkable British actress here who's just wonderful. And lovely presence. Yeah, no, she's just divine. She's divine on screen and off.

So it was really, so it was, it's the four of us really. Absolutely. And was there a lot of play, you know, I mean, jokes, I don't know where I read it, but Kathy was quite funny in between. Everybody is funny in between. And you know, making a small, a small low budget movie is not easy. So there's, it's really how you deal with the stress and the best way to deal with stress and difficult situations, demanding work situations, you know, as humor. So, you know, as most of the time on movies like this, you have to sort of become bound together and sort of, you know, face the challenge together and relish the challenge of how do we make this, with a limited budget, how do we make

this happen so that it will hopefully speak to other people. And when you were number one on the sheet. Oh, I was not number one. Or should I? No, no, no, no, no, absolutely. I should, no, no, no, I would never do that. Okay, so let's say in general when you are high up there on the cast list, when you've got an ensemble like that, when there's like four of you, this movie feels like it's got four stars. Yes, yes.

Do you feel a lot of pressure lifted? Does that make the whole thing more enjoyable or is there a new pressure that comes in where you think that's what's as good as these guys? Now it always depends upon the people. Most great actors are incredibly collaborative. The big first law of acting is this not about you, it's about the other person. So there's an understanding that how to best serve a story, how to best serve a script, how to best serve a character, and the audience who ultimately will see it is through generosity of spirit.

So that's sort of how we all proceed, most of us anyway. Is there anything you can tell us about working with the Deus Osalivan or a bit about the process of the director? Well, this project is unique because the script had been around for about 20 years. And Maggie had been connected to it, I think, for most of that time. So it just went through various incarnations and different casts and different situations, and it would fall apart,

and it would come back together and and then it came together with This this group our group and then the pandemic and it fell apart again and then so when it finally happened, you know, it was sort of You know, it sounds so corny, but you know really a miracle and enough itself that the movie actually got made Hmm. Let's talk about miracles and Chrissy because she's clearly skeptical. She says it, you know, my mother was into all that hocus, hocus. We're talking about Catholicism, yeah. Catholicism, yeah.

And of course there's this trip to lords which is a very holy place, supposedly that the Virgin Mary visited, being a skeptic, not necessarily believing in miracles. Why do you think Chrissy goes? Why does she go? Why does she make that decision? When she stands in front of that bus, it's dramatic, she's making a statement publicly. Well, I don't know if she's looking for a miracle,

but I think she's looking to make her presence be known. She's not going away this time. Is reconciliation in her head at that point. Oh, I don't think so. I doubt it Yeah, I think that's something that you can you can you hope will happen, but it's and you feel that as an audience member You you start to feel that so that's the miracle. I'd love to see yes to the point where you know Any sort of tiny Tim moment with dolly's yeah, that would be an added bonus Yeah, you know, any sort of tiny tim moment with Dolly's life is, that would be an added bonus for audience member. You know, and it's interesting to think about, I mean, I am not a deeply religious person, but I certainly, I think I probably am spiritual, I think most people in the arts

tend to be because you are in service to something that's bigger than you, and the act of making art is a miraculous thing, it just is. But it's interesting to think about what miracles are. And miracles, because I think most people think of a miracle as something that happens outside of themselves. And in this movie, it's really more about what happens within each of these women, how people evolve. Evolution is a miracle when someone very strongly believes one thing and then they change their mind.

They evolve. And that's miraculous in and of itself. You don't think it's possible. And particularly in the time that we're living in right now, where there is conflict and there is pain and there is terror and there is confusion and frustration, you know, it is, it is like a basic human thing to hang on to at least I am during this very trouble time, that there is evolution that is possible within ourselves and within a community. So it's something that I'm contemplating a lot even just on my own.

Well, I love Leonardo's inspiring thing to wrap up on. That's so nice. And thank God for our, I suppose, or if you're an atheist, thank. Yes. Yes. I think the arts aren't. They're inherently medicinal. You know, the arts is a, you know, there's a direct way to, to connection. Yeah. And only through connection can things be, be solved or make that or. Okay. Real brief before you go, I have to ask this because I have a lot of Irish family Irish and Austrian. We love to claim people for the team, for the time, the name Lini.

I am 10% Irish from what I'm told. Lini is actually from County Tyrone, the name, originally. I did wonder if there was any percentage. There is. Okay, but these are my people. We will have you back 17th of March, St. Patrick's Day 2024. Hope I hope to be there.

Thanks, Laura. My pleasure. Thank you. There you go. What an interview. Absolutely phenomenal. I'm not sure what I was wearing. I'm going to wear, but it sounded great. It's going to be great. I tense ways. I'm all sure what I was wearing. I'm going to wear. But it sounded great, is going to be great.

I tense ways, I'm all over the place. So just to stress, because I'm about to review the film, but I haven't heard the Laura Lennie interview that you have just heard, because it hasn't happened yet. And yet it happened. Yes, it happened yesterday. It has been edited into the show. And I say that so that, because I may well repeat something,

because I have no idea what she said. I'm a big big fan of Laura Lennon and I hope it went really well. Yeah, I hope so too. I feel like I'm in source code or something. I know it really is, it really is like that. Laura Lennon is very, very excited to meet her, have met her. Because there's something, she's got that twinkle thing, hasn't she? Yeah. You see it in Ozark when she's like, obviously a bit more evil. The mirror evil. She's just a mother you don't want to mess with. You do not want to mess with her.

And yet she has that same twinkle, that smile, that's like, yeah, she's kind of special. Anyway, the Miracle Club, we both sorry, what did you make of it? Okay, so, again, as I said, having not heard what Laura Linney said about it, so poignant tragicomic drama from Thaddeus O'Sullivan, who is directly has done a lot of television, he is a big screen CV, he includes December Bride, who's already liked ordinary decent criminal.

So the story is that Laura Linney's crazy returns to an old Irish hometown, where she's met by Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith as Isling and Lily who look upon her scornfully because she went away decades ago and never came back and then it turns out that there is all this kind of backstory between them and unresolved tensions and through a plot contrivance they are all being sent to lords which is theoretically the scene of miracles because they all have things that need to be dealt with. Ileem has found a lump on her breast, Lily has leg problems and is grieving the loss of her son, Declan, which becomes clear, is tied up with the reason why Laura Lennie's character went away.

So, they go on a bus, to lords, all of them, with stuff to be dealt with. And they're all in need of a miracle or a cure, and their husbands are pretty much to a man annoyed at being left alone, and the fact that the women are going off on a wild goose chase. And as with all the best secular miracle movies, and I included that thing, things like Jesus of Montreal, or even Jessica Housens' Lords, the plot contrives to allow the audience to

decide for themselves whether or not miracles happen because miracles may happen but they're not of the, you know, making the lame walk kind of miracle. It's miracles are not, they're not dished out in the way that one would expect to be. So you can read it. You can interpret it however you want to. I thought this was this kind of tonally reminded me, you know what I'm saying, how much I like the great SKP, the greatest K-P, because great SKP was what he was called in the press.

This has a similar kind of, you know, you could say, well, it goes down well with a cup of tea misses and it's a Wednesday afternoon movie, but it does also tackle some serious issues. I mean, not least, reproductive rights, the lack of reproductive rights, and the terrible devastating legacy of denying people reproductive rights. Promises are very good. I mean, Laura Lennie walks on water for me,

and it sounds like for you as well. Okay. Kathy Bates has a very good job of being scary when she's got a glass of red wine in her. You know, she's got that thing about, you know, she's fine, but again, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her. And Maggie Smith goes from flinty to sympathetic, like that. And it's, again, you're talking about that kind of glimmer thing. It's, there is a certain kind of, you know, magic to watching her do it.

You know, when she says, I'm not sure how many more chances I'll have to do this. Yeah. How many more chances. And that big close up of her face and you're really sort of struck not just with the characters' mortality, but Maggie Smith's as well. So you're sat there thinking,

how many more times do we get to see this wonderful actor? You know, we just, Glenda Jackson. And yeah, that really struck me that moment. So it's funny, you know, it's, it's, like I said, you can, he just glends Jackson. And yeah, that really struck me that moment. So it's funny, you know, it's, like I said, you can be sniffy about it and you can, you know, you can say, oh, well, you know, it's whimsical, and which it is, but I actually think that it does go into some darker place.

It does. And I was very pleasantly surprised by that, because obviously, you know, the title and the, the title was a thing that's getting the most, is as soon as I see Club, I just think, oh, this is like an outing, it's like a care home outing type thing. Well, also, it's the image of they all get on a bus, because they're all going somewhere. And that is holiday on the bus, it's absolutely.

Really worried when I see the work club. And it just didn't, it went against that grain completely, I thought, I found it really evocative from the start and you know, it should be said this, this community that they're all from is like a deeply Catholic enclave, you know, on the outskirts of Dublin and you can really feel all that stuff and how much things mean and I found it lovely that, you know, like you're saying, you can decide what the miracle is. With human beings, a lot of the time, especially with British and Irish people,

I don't know, we do struggle to be open with each other. And, you know, kidding. You know what I mean? For me, I got from it. It's a miracle that they're finally talking about these things openly, these really difficult things. That's a miracle that they're finally talking about these things openly, these really difficult things. That's the miracle. Almost to the point where I wasn't sure

if we were gonna get a tiny Tim moment or not with the little boy, but I didn't really care because it was the miracle of these women finally letting go, you know. And also that is, it's kind of the McOphan as well, is the pursuit of the miracle. There's a lovely performance by Stephen Ray as the husband who has never cooked before

and goes on a culinary voyage of discovery. Yeah, it's lovely, the Irish Jew. The younger husband being left with a baby and just picking up the baby like he was picking up a flat pack from IKEA, you know, what do I do? Where the instructions are, yeah. And Maggie Smith has been that character, you know, she tells him, look, just go to bed,

don't worry. If you're worried, just go to bed. It'll be safe. Whenever we cut to him, he's just in bed, I'm just snacked. You know, maybe I'll be safe here. It's great. Good. Well, I'm really enjoyed it. Yeah, good, good.

And I think it's, yeah, it's, it's not perhaps the movie that, that you would expect it to be. Yeah, and also like club, and it was Build as a Comedy, I read, and I didn't see it as a comedy. It's comedic. It's comedic, you know, yeah.

But it's, yeah, you know, it's, but yeah, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit moment approaching. Yeah, because you know the ads are coming, but also because you know the format of this show by now, there is something that needs to happen before we step into the ads, we've got to step into the lift. This time, we're with the practice comedian. You know, it's just, it just adds a venture. Make it funny. All right, let it Hey Mark.

Oh, hey, Ben. Oh, Hey Mark. Oh hey, hey Ben. Oh hey Mark. Come on, we're gonna sit back. This is gonna be the first, this is the first time the laughter lift has ever been funny. Oh, make me laugh. Make me laugh. Oh hey Mark, I enjoyed a mini break to Berlin recently.

I mean, I say enjoyed. I mean, everything other than the food. Sossages, sausages, sausages. Did you know in Germany, mean everything other than the food, you know sausages sausages sausages Did you know in Germany they even have a sausage made out of other sausages? No, that's the worst of the worst Okay, I really messed up this week. Yeah, I surprised my postman It's been very, very opening the door completely Starcos was naked. I don't know what shocked him the most the the nudity, or the fact that I know where he lives.

Ah, twist! Twist and reveal. Yeah. I told my wife this week that I've always had a crush on Beyonce. She said, well, you know, whatever floats your boat, I'm really confused because that's buoyancy. Yeah, that doesn't work. They saved the weakest one for long.

They do, really. Do you want to have another run of that? Yeah, I've... Okay, so I told my wife had a crush on Beyonce, she said, I'm confused because that's Boyancy. Boyancy. Let's see, I was trying to...

Just... It just doesn't work, if Boyancy... Yeah, no, Simon Paul, worse than, yeah. I've got a film adjacent joke. Okay, go ahead. Written by my friend Olaf for Lafford. I'm looking for an actor to help me cure my list, right? Anne Hathaway, but I'll ask Colin Firth.

Anyway. We'll be fine. How long will you stand up coming for? Well that's Olaf's joke to be fair. I love that joke. I think he's a very funny man. All right, it's Olaf for left for left for left for left for dot com. We'll be back right after this unless you're a fan goddys. In which case you have just one question.

What everyday object weighs 500 tonnes? What everyday object weighs 500 tons? Mmm. Enjoy the classic taste of the holidays at Tim's with the new non-alcoholic Bailey's flavored holiday menu. Whether you're hanging holiday lights or driving up to your folks, you can enjoy your Tim's and Bailey's anytime, anywhere, at participating restaurants in Canada. Get holiday ready at Real Canadian Superstore.

Will you find more legendary ways to save than any other major grocer. Until December 13th, you'll get a free PC turkey when you spend $300 or more. That's right, free only at your super holiday store. Conditions apply to fly every details. We're back and the answer to the little quiz question is the average cloud.

Really? Yeah. The average cloud, a cube bit, a 1 cube bit kilometer, a KM3 cloud contains 1 billion cubic meters. It's 1 billion times 0.5. She equals 500 million grams of water droplets in the cloud. That's about 500,000 kilograms or 1.1 million pounds, about 551 tons. My mind is blown. There you go. I'm still reeling from the from the

laughter lift. Yeah, well, the less said about that, the better, the more said about few big meters of liquid in clouds, the better. So listen, to take a complete and like 180. Aside from losing Glender Jackson recently, we also lost the mighty Terence Davis. You knew, right? Yeah, you had a relationship. Yeah, I knew him because I was a huge fan of his and I've time in the city was my favorite film the year it came out. I mean, I had loved his early movies, his trilogy. Anyway, we invite him to come to the Shetland Film Festival. So we had a week in his company. And while he was there, he started writing, he was working on sunset song. And we just, I went to Liverpool

with him for a piece that I did for the culture show about of time inset Song. And we just, I went to Liverpool with him for a piece that I did for the culture show about of Time in the City. And I just thought he was, you know, this great poet, but the lovely thing was that he was also this, he was incredibly good company. He was, he was funny and charming and witty and, you know, could be scathing. And he was, and he, he loved filmmaking.

And he loved film. And if you look at his early movies, which are really basically about falling in love with cinema, I think what's extraordinary is how much, like if you look at Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, there's a sequencing that, which is absolutely Terence Davis, when he goes to the cinema, and he watches Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang,

or you look at Empower of Light, and you go, yeah, well that is a Terence Davis movie. He was the great poet of British cinema and it's a real loss because I love his movies and he was just an extraordinary person to be around. You love Tom and Sissi. Oh my gosh. I could safely say, I mean, I love feature length documentaries. One of my favorite things to watch. And there's something about this movie. I don't think I've ever seen a doc quite like it. You know, you're used to seeing a doc that

might be written and directed by the same person who may also narrate it. But a lot of the time they purposely distance themselves emotionally from what's going on. Not Terry. Terence takes his so deep into this. Obviously, it's about the place of his birth and he's grown up and how it's grown and changed over time and how he feels about it. But to see his raw emotion in every scene, and if he isn't speaking, it's a beautiful choice of music. And you're just lost in the archival footage. But when he does speak, it will constantly take you

by surprise by being like incredibly cutting or a serbic about something when you're expecting him to say something kind of sweet. And his voice is so, his voice is, you know, it's like, it is an absolutely superb voice and I could listen to him talk for hours completely singular, the style of narration. And I mean, what I really love is if people went back

and watched things like, I think the trilogy is available on a BFI DVD, if you look at things like, I mean, House of Murth, which is is, I think, a really wonderful film. Sunset Song, which deserves to be seen on the big screen, but if you can't, you know, just see it anywhere. Benadiction, of course, was a huge success, and I had the great pleasure of doing some on stages with Terry when Benadiction was out.

He had more films to make. He had more stuff to get. I mean, it was, it's, this is kind of slightly heartbreaking because yeah, I just thought he was a great filmmaker and I, and I loved his films. And I, he, you can tell from hearing of Time the City, imagine being in a pub with that voice. I just can't.

You know, give him a port and lemon and go, Terry, just talk, just talk to me and tell me stories, you know? And he was a great, great, great storyteller and a great poet and an advocate of cinema. Somebody whose life had been transferred for whom cinema was the church, you know? And yeah, a great shame. Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard anyone end sentences

in the way he does. I would like to hear him order another round of Guinness A little underappreciated in life perhaps I think you know He always struggled to make movies. He was constantly you know struggling to get financed This is the great story of British filmmakers, is that, you know, Ken Russell struggled to make movies, all our great artists, you know, the people you just think would just be hand them, no, no, they spent years of their lives fighting to get the funding to make the movies the way they wanted to make them, but what a body of work, what a body of work.

I mean, there is- Maybe that fight is part of why there's so much great passion in those pictures. Exactly. Because when they actually get to make the film, it's, you know, you can, it seeps out of the, out of the screen, you know, you can feel it to be, never did, you know, never did anything for anything other than love. I mean, I think it's absolutely true. You would not make those movies unless you absolutely were burning with passion to do it. For Hammer and Tongue to Get A Made. Well, here's some appreciation for Terence from some listeners, this is from Greg.

He says, the final scene of Ben Addiction features some of the finest acting you're likely to see. I remember being sat processing for the duration of the credits. David's films could tap into a very specific loneliness and pain, but always with a deep humanity. Britain's greatest filmmaker.

I think that is sort of a very arguable year. Rupert says I love the trilogy, but I also adore the neon Bible. Had it had me from its first use of herfidia as the boy slips into his memories. Benediction was my favorite film of last year too, credibly witty while also being completely quietly tragic. Logan says, I saw a quiet passion when I was 15. Glasgow Film Festival. I connected so much to his melancholy and portrait of isolation. Actually met Davies after the screening and I was extremely complimentary. He seemed confused at why a teenager was at one of his films.

But was nothing but kind. That's brilliant. Thank you. But what are you doing here? No, no, no. But that's he was always delighted and amazed when people loved the films. And as I said to somebody who, you know, who found his soul in the cinema, it was, yeah, he just lived and breathed the films. He lived and breathed the films and he was very funny, very, very funny. And we go goodbye. Terence Davies. Okay, we are going to talk about the full of the House of Usher. This is the new Gothic drama, excuse me. Sorry, that was an emotional moment. The

new Gothic drama Netflix mini series from Mike Flanagan, who made films like Oculus, and was the show runner on haunting, created and directed, Midnight Mass, which Simon and I both love. I don't think you've seen it, but I must recommend it. So this uses Edgar Allan Poe's Titchel of Story as the set up, and then it proceeds to draw on other stories, all transposed to the modern day for subsequent episodes. So in the first episode, Bruce Greenwood's Roderick Usher, who is the twin of Madeline Usher, Merrick Donald, is the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company telling Colin Lee's police investigator that he is responsible for the catastrophic fall of the House of Usher for the catastrophic demise of his family. The investigator says, look, you know, I know how each of these

people died. What you didn't do it in Roderick says, look, you know, I know how each of these people died. That's what you didn't do it in Roger, because, ah, but you don't know anything. Sit back and listen. And then so episode two is called The Mask of the Red Death. He's, you know, little wasteful, a son is setting up an elite orgy-like dance club, which is basically eyes wide shut goes to hell. And so the original post story,

transposed to the present episode three is murder in the rumor. Episode four is the black cap. Are they all like setting the present day? Yes, it's a present day setting. I mean, I've seen three so far. So it's, yes, it's a present day setting. Okay. So here's the thing. I loved Midnight Mass because Midnight Mass dragged me and you start it, the narrative is so engulfing. It's about the island and this is kind of religious thing going on. You're not sure what it is and you're quite a long way in before you discover what it is. And then it's got this real creeping sense of dread. In the case of this, because it is episodic, it is uneven because anything that is episodic

is going to be uneven. So the opening, the first episode I thought was terrific. It was great. Okay, this is an interesting way of updating the story. This is good, well done, fine. Then the second episode had some moments, but it also committed that anything that reminds me of eyes wide shut just literally makes me just like, yeah, it's never a good thing. And, you know, masked ball dance orgies. It's something very hard to get right. Abelan.

Yeah. Abelan. But, you know, yeah. Yeah. You probably feel the same way about Babylon's idea. But then episode three pulls it back again. So my, what I think is, I think he's a great director. I mean, there is a reason why people have said

so many nice things. He's been praised by Stephen King, by William Freak, Kim, by Quentin Tarantino. He has style, he has flair. And this is an ambitious project. It is flawed, but ambitious. And as we were saying before, we were talking about creator,

flawed, but ambitious is good. The unevenness, if you think of something like, you know, Guillermo del Toro is Cabinet of Curiosity's, or it tells you the unexpected, you know, some of the tales of the unexpected were great and some of them weren't. And everyone's got the ones they remember. So I, you know, from what I've seen so far,

I am sure that they will be the great episodes and not the great episodes. I think he's got an awful lot of, you know, panache and style. What I don't have is that because essentially because of the way it plays out, it's sort of like, and this is going to make it sound better than it is, it's like succession written by a Garellum Poe. Right. Because there's a, there's the whole thing about the family, the corrupt family, and then the offspring and the collapse. So there is a lot of it in which you're going, okay, fine. So this is, you know, so it's a bit sub-Jessey Armstrong and it's a bit sub- Stanley Kubrick and it's a bit, you know,

but every now and then, succession as written by a Grand Poe kind of works. Because obviously, there is a lot of fall of the House of Usher in succession. So, you know, it's enjoyable. I don't, I don't, it's not midnight mess, but it is enjoyable. So, there are recurring characters from, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, come back in. Yeah, yeah, so, but it's, the story of how each character's fall has happened, and he is centrally blaming himself, and it's saying, I'm going to explain to you why it is that this curse is actually at the root of all of it. Because the whole thing about fall of the House of Usher is, the House of Usher is rotten from the inside. And it's all to do with you people being, Edgar Allan

Poe is all to do with people being buried alive and walled up and, you know, and, you know, and, and, but that idea of, of rotting, there is a really brilliant power adaptation by Jan Svankmoyer, which is kind of part live action, part, um, part animation, but it's the idea of fettied rotting corrupt, you know, so whenever we think about the collapse of an empire, fall of the House of Usher is there in the background. Right. So I think so that's probably the succession connection is the succession isn't without its Edgar Allan Poe.

Got you. So worth a watch, but maybe it's a key favourites. Yeah, but I mean, the ones that aren't great, are still watchable. It was just I think after the first episode, which was really great, and the second, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then it pulled it back.

Okay, well there you go. It's time for our listener correspondence now, in the what's on section. This is where you'll email your events to correspondence at kermodomeo.com. And this week we have Cameron from Toronto, the Toronto International Film Festival. Let's hear a bit from Cameron.

This is Cameron Bailey at TIFF in Toronto. Now that this year's Toronto International Film Festival is behind us, we're inviting film lovers to our autumn season at our light box cinemas. From October 12th to November 2nd, we'll present reclaiming the past Romanian cinema before the new wave. If you love your poor and boy-o, your mungu and your juda, you'll want to see the subversive Romanian films from the 50s through the 90s that laid the foundation. Details online at tiff.net. Pa!

We'd like to let everyone know about the Perbek Film Festival in Dorset. We're screening over 80 films at more than 30 venues from village halls and sports clubs to churches and restaurants, as well as our local independent cinemas like the Rex and Warram. Our line-up showcases recent indie films such as Rhymony, No Bears and Brother alongside favourites like Ticket to Paradise and Classics like Dr Strange Love. The festival runs from October the 20th to November the 4th and our full programme can be found at PerbekFilm.com.

So there you go, that was Cameron from TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a long-time listener with perhaps... Definitely the name of the week, perhaps the name of the take so far. Pippa Punch. Fantastic. Pippa Punch, could you pippa to the punch? Probably not. Who was telling us about the Perbek,

Perbek, sorry, film festival, endorse it. So it's beautiful. Yeah, it is lovely. If you have a trailer of your own, sort of no more than 20 seconds, nice and punchy, pipa punchy, send it in from anywhere in the world to correspondence at kermode and mayo.com. And that's the end of the madness to take one.

I wasn't for you. Yeah, it was great. I mean, listen, I love it. I love being asked to take one. I wasn't for you. Yeah, it was great. I mean, listen, I love it. I love being asked to do this. I really do. It's been an honor from the start. And to have gone through the changes from, you know, back in the old days, the beab to get the old days.

Yeah. And you got a bit of a mind. I've been listening since you looked at on Radio 1. Like, that's how LTO I am, you know. Somebody came up to me the other day and said, I've been listening to you all my life. And all you can think is that makes me feel sold. Yeah, I'm not gonna say that.

But, you know, I will say that when I first started listening to you, if someone told me there'd be a day where you'd have your own coffee cups and bloody chili bottles, I'd have your own coffee cups and bloody chilly bottles. I'll tell you to naff all. So you know, well done is what I'm saying. I'm glad to be a part of it. Well stick around because take two. Manus and loads and loads of tape.

Loads of reviews. Oh my gosh there's so much more to come. Thanks for listening guys. This has been a Sony music entertainment production. Our brilliant team as always is Lily, Matthias, Vicky, Paul B, Richie Lee, Teddy, Beth, Michael, and Hannah Talbot. The redactor in chief, as always, is Simon Paul. Mark, what's your film in the way? I'm going to say silver dollar road because I want people to see it. It's a documentary that's really worth checking out.

Yeah, and yeah, of course, Manusah take to get it downloaded. There's going to be, Yeah, of course, Manusah take to get it downloaded. There's gonna be loads of extra stuff. Recommendations, bonus reviews, and Manusah take three will be on Wednesday with questions, semesters. So, you know, don't miss that, Eva. Toodaloo. Toodaloo.

Simon will be back next week. Hey. you