Kermode & Mayo’s Take - More SALT PATH & Harry Melling + your take on SUPERMAN

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you. And if you’re already a Vanguardista, we salute you.  Our guest this week is Harry Melling—all grown up after first hitting the big screen as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He’s here to chat about the latest in a hit parade of pleasingly weird and wonderful post-Potter projects, ‘Harvest’. This trippy period piece sees a mysterious feudal society in an unspecified place and time fall apart after crops fail and sinister strangers arrive. Simon unpacks this unique film with Harry—plus a bit of Potter chat since the HBO reboot has put the wizarding world back in the spotlight.   Mark reviews Harvest too—along with two more of this week’s biggest cinema releases: ‘Friendship’--a black comedy about male bonding starring Paul Rudd as the new-best-pal-next-door, and ‘Smurfs’--the latest big-screen outing for the little blue fellas. If that didn’t sound like a bit of Mark-bait already, it also stars James Corden. Odds on Kermode going full ‘Grouchy Smurf’ on this one?   Plus we revisit the Salt Path controversy, including some of your excellent correspondence, run down the Box Office Top 10 and serve up sizeable portions of delectable daftness as always.     Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free):  Friendship Review: 10:25  BO10: 18:16  Harry Melling Interview: 26:50  Harvest Review: 42:09  Smurfs Review: 56:18    You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey   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

Hey everybody, this is Simon. And Mark. It's the summer of sport, Mark. Now, I love a bit of footy and tennis and cricket and so on. And this summer, wherever I am, Nord can help me follow along just like I was there, because with coverage in 111 countries, I'm guaranteed to be able to watch wherever I go. But I don't like sports, Simon, so let me suggest the following trio of sporting films instead. Battle of the Sexes, Damned United and P'tang Yang Kippa Bang. I remember that's a good film.

It's a cricket film. With Nord, I can stream them securely and anonymously, even on public Wi-Fi. I didn't mention you can get NordVPN across multiple devices too, so we can both be covered and protected at the same time. Unwrap a huge discount on NordVPN by heading to nordvpn.com slash take. Plus, with our link, you'll get an extra four months free on the two-year plan. And it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. Check the link in the description. Before we begin, a quick reminder that you can become a Vanguard Easter and get an

extra episode every Thursday. Including bonus reviews. Extra viewing suggestions. Viewing recommendations at home and in cinemas. Plus your film and non-film questions answered as best we can in questions. Shmeshians. You can get all that extra stuff via Apple podcasts or head to ExtraTakes.com for non-fruit related devices. There's never been a better time to become a Vanguard Easter.

Free offer now available wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're already a Vanguard Easter, we salute you. You're right, Mark. Have you come back from your travels? Yes, I have. I'm back in Cornwall, as you can see, because I have my guitar hanging by me, I have my Tom Robinson record and my Gang of Four record hanging behind me. How are you? How's things in Showbiz North London? It's cooled down, right?

It has cooled down. I'm sitting at my desk, the desk I've sat in for all of these shows, and I was rummaging around in the drawer, which is just below this table and I came across something. You said Showbiz North London. Yes. I came across this. Holds up a piece of card. CMB.

Yes. What's that? Oh, Call My Bluff. Yes. It's a card from when I was on Call My Bluff. I didn't know you were on Call My Bluff. Yeah. So it says CMB on the front and then when they guess wrong, you just hold it up and you go bluff. Who else was on it when you did it?

Because obviously the main period, it was, what was he called? Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson and the guy who did Everyone's a Food and Nutcase. Frank Muir. Frank Muir. Yes. You weren't on at the same time as Frank Muir. No, no, no, that's not true. No Muir. Yes. You weren't on at the same time as Frank Muir.

No, no, no, no, that's not true. No, I wasn't. But it was, you know, it was fun because, you know, I'd watched it as a kid. So you think, okay, well, I'm going to, I'm going to watch this. And when they asked me to go on, I thought, okay, well, that's fine. I'll go on that. I mean, I did okay. Who were you on with?

I can't remember now. Oh, come on, you must remember one person you were on with. There are some stories I could tell you, but I'm going to tell you when we're not recording because it has implications. Okay. You know. I'm not making this up. Noddy Holds from Slate used to do a rock quiz on the Men and Motors channel, which was based

at Granada TV in Manchester. We recorded again five shows in a day. And I think that those shows must have gone round about a bazillion times, because for years afterwards, people kept getting in touch and going, did I see you on Men and Motors? Wow. That's not a phrase that you once said out loud, really, in front of children. Hey, but listen, it was Noddy Holder, right? I mean, I'm sorry, I will take the shame of having been on Men and Motors, a station for which Vanilla Ice was at one point a presenter, but I was on there with Noddy Holder, so that's

fine. Wow. Anyway, in our films, so that was the brief chat then through to Mark for review line up. So I'm just going to throw to you now for the review line-up. For the actual review line-up, we have reviews of Smurfs, Friendship, which is a painful black comedy, and Harvest, a very intriguing and strangely non-specifically placed story with our very special guest, who is Harry Melling. Bonus films in T2 would include zero, which is a stripped down thriller, and Four Letters of Love from Ireland. Plus all the other extra

stuff you know and love, which you'd expect from us. The whole bank catalogue of bonus joy is available, especially if you're a Vanguard Easter, please subscribe wherever you get your subscriptions, which is basically here. So a lot of emails on the salt path thing, the story develops and changes and moves. So to summarize, following the Observer's article on July the 5th, in which they claim that many aspects of the salt path are untrue, Reina Wynn published a 2,300-word essay on outlining her rebuttal at the investigation. So we're just reminding you of where we are, basically.

Yes. Previously on Twin Peaks. Yes, that's a good thing. She called the article, grotesquely unfair and highly misleading. On the embezzlement accusations, Wynn accepts that she made mistakes, which she now deeply regrets. Contrary to her claims, the Observer offered to meet her six times before publication starting in March of this year. Medical letters published by Wynn also state that Moth's condition was

quote atypical and that he was affected, quote, very mildly. In 2019, one consultant wrote that he thought that Moth might not in fact have CBS, which is corticobasal degenerate, no, that's corticobasal syndrome, because his condition was not degenerating as fast as might be expected. This is consistent with what the observer were told by nine neurologists and other CBD researchers. That is corticobasal degeneration. The Moth's experience with CBS, as recounted in the books, did not match what they had seen in other CBD sufferers. There's a new interview with Bill Cole, who was so moved by Moth and Ray's story, he particularly empathised with Wynne's struggles

as his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Then he rented out his cider farm to them at a very reduced rent and it was here that she wrote her second and third books. Bill claims that her husband Moth told him that he had months to live in September 21. The couple appeared on Rick Stein's Cornwall demonstrating cider making, even though this was a process they were not involved in. So here's an email from a wittertainee who's also a neurologist who is called Rory and is in Sydney, Australia, MA, Oxon, MBBS, MRCP, FRACP, MPhil, BAGA3, gymnastics. Well, okay. So that's all of Rory's life. Dear Tenden and Hammer, thought I would write regarding the discussion this week about salt path, with a perspective from neurologist Naive. The diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration

is based on the symptoms of the patient and signs seen on examination. Whilst there are objective markers such as scans and blood tests in development, these are not widely available and therefore the diagnosis can be subjective and difficult to make in the early stages of disease. I myself have reversed a diagnosis like this many years later. Only with the passage of time do things become more certain. It is therefore very possible that Moth was given this diagnosis and believed he would have poor prognosis before they set out on their journey with no deception on their part. Perhaps if they sought another neurological review now, the diagnosis would be revised."

Right. Rory, thank you. That sounds sensible. This from James Dickinson, dear based on a true story and vaguely like the real thing, with all the controversy surrounding the salt path as mentioned last week, do Jason and Isaacs and Gillian Anderson have a unique opportunity to play the same real life characters in a feel-good biopic and then the sequel, a messy legal drama? Granted, the latter sounds more ITV drama than feature film, so it may not have the money needed for Jason and Gillian, but feels like missed opportunity otherwise. Are there any examples of anything similar having

been done previously? Controversial and misleading memoirs are a dime a dozen, so feels like it should have been done. Thank you, James. And there was, as Poole MacPoolface has added to the notes. It was a book called A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, which has been mentioned a lot in some of the articles talking about these sort of misery memoirs, which then end up teaching you lessons of life, that kind of thing. A number of people have mentioned this book, A Million Little Pieces, which is a memoir which is now marketed as semi-fiction. And it was also turned into a film.

One reviewer said of that book, it boils down to one line, which is actually in the book, I took money from my parents and I spent it on drugs. That's basically the story. Yeah. So, it's a cautionary tale. Yes. I mean, I don't know where this leaves everything. I suspect that this isn't the

end of this particular story. I suspect that it is still rumbling on very much as you said, The Observer ran a second article in the most recent thing. Incidentally, on the subject of going back and revisiting those roles, we should say that Jason Isaacs will now be very, very busy since he just got an Emmy nomination for White Lotus. Congratulations to Jason and little Jason. But interesting, but Jason and Gillian, presumably, but if Jason is nominated, there will be publicity and he will be asked. Yes.

And that's what I mean when I say I doubt that this is over. I think that because there has been so much interest in the salt bath both the book and the film, and because the way in which this story has taken these very, very peculiar twists now seems to have gripped the imagination as much as the original story did. I doubt that this is the end of it. I should say once again, to be absolutely clear about this, I did an onstage with Jason and with Raina Wynne and I met Raina Wynne and Moth. As I said last time, they seemed to me to be very, very nice, wholly credible people. A couple of people said,

well, that doesn't mean they are. I said, no, I know it doesn't mean they are. But I have to be honest and say that when I met them, that was how they appeared to me. There's a lot of people now doing the, I always thought there was something fishy. You know what I mean? It's very, very easy to be wise after the fact, or in this case, I think it's during the fact. But I'm not going to pretend that I didn't meet them and didn't think that they were,

as I said, very nice and wholly credible people. That was how they appeared to me. So that's it. And obviously, thank you very much for the correspondence, particularly from neurologists who obviously know what they're talking about. Correspondence at CoveninMirror.com, as you're a film critic, criticise a film. Okay. Friendship. This is a black comedy about male friendship from writer-director Andrew DeYoung making his directorial feature debut. The title Friendship, that evokes happiness, the Todd Solons film, which was very unhappy, or the Swedish director Lucas Moody-Sons together from 2000,

Till Semens, which was very, very lacking in togetherness. This stars Tim Robinson, not to be confused with Tom Robinson or indeed with Tim Robbins. Yes, absolutely. Right? Tim Robinson, comic actor writer from the Saturday Night Live stable, starred in the sitcom Detroiters and the sketch comedy Netflix show, I Think You Should Leave.

I think the official title is I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. Now, I haven't seen that. Child 2 has and is quite the fan. So in Friendship, he plays Craig Waterman, who is this marketing executive whose job, whose soul destroying job, I think, is to find ways to make products more, quote, habit-forming. So Friendship, to what you mean addictive, he said, well, we prefer to use the term habit-forming. Kay Mara is his wife, Tammy, who has recently recovered from cancer, and who now wanders out loud in support groups whether she will ever orgasm again.

She was helped through the darkest of times by a rekindled friendship with a former boyfriend, Devin, who is a fireman whose company she finds comforting. So Craig and Tammy are selling their home, but then this new neighbor, Austin, played by Paul Rudd, moves in. And suddenly Craig sees this whole new vista of possible male friendship. Austin is a TV weatherman. He smokes. He has a beer during the week. He plays in a rock band. He picks and eats wild mushrooms. He takes Craig into his house and plays him music and then takes him on an impromptu adventure into the local sewer system, which gets them into city halls.

Craig is just infatuated. He decides that all he wants to do is to be like Austin because he's never seen this kind of male friendship before. So, he buys a drum kit. he starts pretending to like punk rock, he starts trying to fit in with Craig's own buddy group, who are a group of men so supportive that they spontaneously burst into song. Here's a clip. Hi. Howdy.

Honey, the new neighbor invited you over for a drink at eight tonight. I said you'd go. You don't know my schedule. You sit there every night. It might be nice to have a pal, you know, a bud. Hey guys, this is my neighbor Craig. He's the best. I was just spiraling them and I see the way the guys look at her.

I'm just, I'm scared. She was lucky to have a dad like you. Boy, you should know that. I've got you on my mind. So Craig is just slack-jawed, and he really wants to be part of this world, but clearly he's not. He's awkward and dorky and self-centered and difficult. His character is somewhere between Adam Sandler's Barry in Punch Drunk Love,

the guy who breaks glass doors because he feels so out of place at parties, and Robert De Niro's Rupert Pupkin in King of Comedy, the kind of guy who attaches himself to somebody because he's impressed by them, but he's also an inch away from being a stalker. He is the kind of guy who complains all the time about people in conversations doing Marvel spoilers. He's the kind of person who can just stop a conversation as soon as anyone mentions a Marvel theme. No, no, no, no spoilers. No spoilers. No spoilers. We'll come to this incident in the top 10.

So as a result, he moves very quickly from being a new friend to being cast out. Then having been cast out from this friendship group to effectively becoming a sort of pumpkin-esque stalker and things start to fall apart. The film is a really, really deeply uneasy mixture of humor and toe-curling, wince-inducing, squirm-making embarrassment and shame. I can see already that this is not appealing to you.

The trailer made me feel as though I never wanted to go anywhere near it. The way you're describing it makes me think, not for me. The thing is, I think you and I also have a similar, I love Punch Drunk Love and I don't think you feel the same way about it, but there is just something about depictions of that awkwardness that I do find weirdly compelling. The thing about it is you can see why Craig wants to be part of Austin's world, and you can see why being introduced to this and then cast out of it is the worst thing that could happen.

Once he's, what's that thing? If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor. That's the line from, you know, from sit down, isn't it? But of course what happens is his sadness and his isolation because of the kind of person he is, is immediately turns to anger and rejection and all these sort of broiling, the thing is he brings everything upon himself. Every single thing he does is his own fault and is largely to do with just being completely self-centered and unable to see beyond the end of his own nose. So watching it, I did think at times, there were times watching it,

I was literally hiding my face behind my hands as if I was watching a horror movie. People sometimes watch horror movies like that. They kind of hide them because they don't want to jump. I was watching because the squirm inducing embarrassment of it was so painful. There is this kind of slow car crash sense of impending disaster about it. As far as the performance is concerned, I think it's the best I've seen Paul Rudd because he's doing this kind of, this guy who appears to have it all.

He's in this rock band and he smokes and drinks, but also he's got his own problems, but he's just keeping them at bay. And then Tim Robinson is this embodiment of this downtrodden, embittered schlub who's just emotion swing between envy, misery, grief, anger, resentment. And the writer-director said that he wrote the film very specifically for him. I think there are very few people who could pull it off without it just being intolerable. But I think somehow what he does is all the time that you're watching it, there's a part of you, or at least there's a part of me going, I know I get it. I understand. I understand why you are so heartbroken about this. So I said, the two specters that hang in the back of this for me are King of Comedy and Punch, Drunk, Love.

I don't think it's on a par with those two films because I think those two films are two of the greatest movies I've ever seen. But I think this is in the same neighborhood as them. And in fact, if you were on a street in which Punch Trunk Love and King of Comedy were two houses, this would be the film that moved in across the street and then tried to be your friend. But would be excluded on the basis of being deeply annoying. But would be excluded on the basis of being deeply annoying. Yes, he is deeply annoying, but I think the smart thing about the film is that you can't let him go because there is a part of you that just goes, oh. Box office top 10 this week at 10, the ballad of Wallace Highland still there.

Which is really, really done well, hanging on in there. Very small budget film, you know, that's really, I think, done it through word of mouth and has performed very, very well in independent cinemas and good for it. And number nine, speaking of small and independent cinemas, Mission Impossible, the final reckoning. So this is now week eight of its run in the top 10. So it's, you know, it's done very, very solidly. I think that when you get to the stuff that is great, it's really great.

There's a lot of stuff to wade through before you get there. Number eight is Sardar G3. An Indian Punjabi language horror comedy film, which I would like to have seen but was not press screened. If anyone's seen it, let us know. Lilo and Stitch is at number seven. The live action thing continues, although live action, except obviously at least one of those characters is a cartoon.

Elio is at number six, number five in America. I kind of enjoyed Elio in a strange way. It is all over the place and we'll get to this a little bit later on. We are currently in a run of big budget animations, which the narrative is at very best confused. Number five in the UK, seven in Canada and America, 28 years later. And I need to tell you that I spoke to some young people, by which I mean people under the age of 30, and they had no idea what was happening in the last two minutes of the film. A common experience, as I mentioned, when Child One went to see it, he knew that there

was a thing, but he didn't know what the thing was. See previous shows, take two spoilers if you want to know what precisely is going on. Number four here and number four over there, How to Train Your Dragon. Again, live action, an unnecessary live action version of an animated film that was perfectly fine the first time around. In fact, four, three, two and one is the same here and in America. So number three is F1. I thought it was four. Okay, F1, whatever you want to call it. F1, whatever you want to call it. I haven't been disappointed by how much people have enjoyed it whilst recognizing that of

course it's just silly, but it's Brad Pitt being silly and going fast. Jurassic World Rebirth is at number two. Yeah, can't say the same about that. I think Gareth Edwards did a very good job of directing it. I think the script is just absolutely lame. Really, really lame. Will Barron And number one here and pretty much everywhere is Superman. Gareth Edwards Supes.

Will Barron An email from Anapav. Gareth Edwards Yes. Will Barron iCryptoTheSuperdog and StreakyTheSupercat. Which do you want to be, by the way? Gareth Edwards I want to be Crypto. Will Barron I fell in love with the Superman character again after some years of indifference, thanks to Scotsman Grant Morrison and Frank Quitley's excellent all-star Superman, a 2008 comic book miniseries that intended to distill the Superman character's essence throughout his 70-year history from his inception by two Jewish immigrant creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, through his zany-aged shenanigans to the modern

day. They interpreted Superman as someone who has relatable problems, except magnified a thousandfold. For example, he, like you or I, also cleans after his pet, in inverted commas, his pet being in this case a gigantic amorphous blob-like creature that eats suns for breakfast. That's S-U-N-S. Yes, yes. While it's also leading with a sort of super kindness and super grace, which separates him from most other super beings. While Zack Snyder's dour Man of Steel borrowed some words

from the aforementioned book, it is James Gunn's new film that comes closest to capturing the essence and aspires to live up to its ethos. I don't think it's an entirely successful film. The script sometimes doesn't work. A few scenes felt inert to my Friday and Sunday audience, but it captures the dizzying feeling of reading a really ambitious comic book. It grazes against the threshold of zaniness that might be palatable to a mass audience and crucially makes you care about it. And he signs off by saying, I'd gone to watch this with my father and I was afraid the overstuffed

nature of the film might have bored or alienated him. In the corner of my eye, I saw him slump in his seat and I was afraid he dozed off like he does when a film is too boring. But when I turned to look, he was staring at the screen with the biggest grin on his face. I think I won't be alone in this experience. Johnny in Chester says, my nine-year-old Lola and I did the full 4DX x 3D screening and had a riot. Lola had a particularly good giggle at the large green, rude gestures that attacked the Beravian tanks. This is pure, cheesy, corny goodness, the way Superman is meant to be.

He's not just the strongest, he also inspires others. Movies like this make the world a better place. Take a deep ton of cold fruit and down with spoiled billionaires and Baravian aggression. Johnny and Chester. Superman is number one. Yes. Well, I mean, as I said, I enjoyed it. I think it's messy and all over the shop. But I enjoyed it more than I had expected to, much more than I expected to. And as I said last week, in the preview screening that we were in, the projector broke down twice.

The server broke down technically. And so they had to stop the film twice. And I think it's a credit to the film that both times when it started up again, I hadn't completely lost patience. I enjoyed it very much. Alexander Michaud is a software engineer in Washington, D.C. I believe there's a Nick Lowe tribute in this for opening sentence. Oh, fantastic. One of the most well-regarded Superman comics of recent years was What's So Funny About Truth,

Justice, and the American Way? Brinsley Schwartz having recorded Peace, Love, and Understanding. So maybe it's that, don't know. Published in 2001. The title insinuates a broad rejection of the values traditionally attributed to the man of steel as campy, saccharine, and oblivious to moral nuance. The first two decades of this century gave us filmic depictions of the hero that reflected a brooding and edgy zeitgeist enamored with deconstructing the hero that reflected a brooding and edgy zeitgeist, enamored with deconstructing the hero but allergic to any genuine wholesomeness at his core. Although Mark makes a fair point in his review that this latest take on the character is

a bit zany and overstuffed, Ophelia has failed to appreciate its cultural significance. James Gunn has placed a wager that audiences are tired of cynicism, the defining feature of contemporary society and much of popular cinema. The heart of the film lies in the conversation between Clark and Lois about their music tastes. She, a proper punk rock lover, has mistaken her curiosity and scepticism, traits that make her well-suited to journalism, as incompatible with Clark's optimism. He replies that perhaps his belief in human goodness is quote, the real punk rock. In a world where truth is under siege and justice seems elusive, sincerity is an act of defiance. Down with thugs in masks and black armor, up with unapologetically

colorful goofy underpants. Yes. I think the sort of the slightly cringey dialogue about punk rock is actually quite funny. As you know, you yourself have, I remember you did an interview with John Lydden, is it Lydden or Lydden? John Lydden. John Lydden, in which he had become a Trump supporter. He was arguing that being a Trump supporter was actually punk rock because Trump was an outsider.

So the definition of what God's called punk is very funny. But yeah, I think it has now become the place that we've now reached the point in culture when arguing what is punk rock is the subject of Superman movie. Well I think that's quite fun. Correspondence at KevinOMoe.com. Mark excite me about what's coming next. Well not immediately next. We are going to have a review of Smurfs because there's a new Smurfs movie and I know you're

looking forward to that. But before that we have Harvest with our very special guest. Mason- It's Harry Melling and also the most tortuous pun there has ever been in the laughter lift, which as Banana Rama and Funboy 3 like to say is really saying something. Anyway, back after this. This is an advert for Shopify. Mark, do you remember when we started this podcast? I do. Plunging into a world of subscribers, ads, merchandise, a lot to get done, a lot of different hats to wear. And hats to sell, of course. That's where the ad hook comes in. For millions of businesses

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Please don't make that our catchphrase. Yes, yes. Before you start sharpening your correspondence pencils Pencils. We know actually that song was actually written by Norman Whitfield, William Mickey Stevenson, and Edward Holland Jr. and actually first performed by the Velvelettes in 1964. It's just that the Banana Rama and Funboy 3 version is probably better. It's in fact goated with the source, as the kids say. What does that mean? Goated with the source? Well, presumably the goat bit is as in greatest of all time. Would that be what? Goated with the source? I'm not quite sure where the source

comes in. Yeah. I mean, it means good, but anyway. Remember that mark, goat with the source. No, I just remember goats. I got a Gritty Cross once because somebody called me a goat. I was like, what? And then the child had to point out, no, it's a good thing. I was like, oh, okay. Anyway, our guest this week is Harry Melling, who obviously became well known for playing Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter. That totally belies the career he's had since. He's appeared in Coen Brother films, The Queen's Gambit and a host of festival circuit offerings too.

And he talked to me about Harvest, a folk tale about a village threatened with being wiped off the map during the Middle Ages, roughly. Maybe. Maybe. Possibly. You'll hear more detail about this film after the clip. Listen! Listen!

Hi's on me. Hello, I'm Keys. Right. One week! Yes, one week! Yes, one week! These two must pay for dining out last night on fowl that don't belong to you. Look, look, you burn my barn, you burn my barn, you ate my doves. One week will help you contemplate better manners.

Better manners! And that is a clip from Harvest. One of its stars is Harry Melling who joins us from his summer house or somewhere like that. It's very bright, isn't it? The windows shine lots of light in, which is fantastic. It looks fabulous. Hello, Harry.

How are you? Very well, thanks. How are you? Good. Welcome to the show. We appreciate your time. We've spoken about you a lot over the years. Have we? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whether it be with Michael Winterbottom or Toby Jones or whoever, you're cropping up a lot. You're in some fascinating films. You're working with some fascinating actors and directors. And here's the latest installment, Introduce Us to Harvest. Now I've seen you do this before and it's sort of quite difficult, but anyway, maybe it's imminent

and so you can be more expansive. Tell us everything you can about this film. I've had a bit of practice, so hopefully this is best done. So it's about a community in an unspecified place, unspecified time, and they're completely dependent on the land. And over the course of seven days, their whole way of life just is completely eroded, it's dismantled. And that's really

all I can say, because the rest is the film, you know? No, that's actually, that's not going to be good enough, is it really? If that's all you could say, okay, well, let's just dig into what you have just said. So you say it's an unspecified time and place. So the book, the Jim Crace novel, which came out in 2013, as I recall is set in England, but this definitely isn't. So this feels to me like it's certainly Scotland. I think you filmed in Argyllshire, and it feels pre-industrial. So it feels like before the industrial revolution. Is that about right so far? Yes. I would say all those influences are very much in there. We filmed in Oban for the large

part of the movie. That's where the village was. That's why we all thought Scottish accents would be the smarter thing to do. Because we worked with local people there, who were very much a part of the movie. They were all local farmers and so forth, and they were integral to finding the language and the feel of this movie. So we knew Scotland was a definite choice. But then, you know, I mean, the outfits, I mean, what would you, where would you say the outfits? There's a sort of Japanese feel to them with the big robes that go over you, a Roman feel

as well. So I think they really wanted to pull from different aspects and different stories to try and make this almost Western. Mason- Yeah, it's sort of almost every film that anyone will have seen that looks a bit like this will come up and it'll say, you know, Oban, 1565. And so we'll know who the king is, you know, where we are in history. Presumably we don't know that quite deliberately so that we feel slightly discombobulated. Would that be what you're trying to achieve?

I think that's absolutely right. I think Athen was very keen on it feeling like a fable. And I think the second you start to be specific with time zones and even where you are, I think you lose the ability to maneuver into these different places. And I think you're right, the film does have a hypnotic, sort of mesmeric quality to it. The tempo, the pacing is very strange and trippy. And hopefully by not specifying where we are, it allows those things to happen. You mentioned the director there. Have I got this right? It's Athena Rachel Zangari.

Yeah, it's Athena Rachel Zangari. Okay. All right. So maybe one of the reasons she was chosen for this or she chose this picture is specifically because she's definitely not Scottish or British. Tell us about working with her because you work with the Coen brothers, you work with Michael Winterbottom, you work with some great people. Tell us about her. Yeah, she's extraordinary. I think you're right. I think a lot of the reason why she really wants to have a go at it was because she wanted to make a new version of the sort of folk horror thing that seems to be very British. I think she wants to very much find a way of telling this story. And I thought she was extraordinary. And the thing with Athener is you go to her and you say, this scene, I think maybe it should go this way. And often you're going down the most simple route to try and find where the

story goes. And she just does not want that on any level. She's all about the richness and the depth of the scene. So often you'll find yourself, and it was challenging in that regard, but you're trying to calibrate all these different things. She wanted the world to be very textured and rich and complex, which I personally loved. So you play Master Kent. Introduce us to where he fits in this, wherever it is, at whatever time it is. And whoever you are. And whoever I am. He's kind of stuck between lots of worlds, I think, Master Kent. He's the politician, I'd say, of the village. He has inherited this position from his late

wife and he's kind of stuck between all these different worlds trying to keep everyone happy. Some would call him a coward in lots of ways. I've had people say that before. He doesn't really do much. I think that is true, but I think he does want to do the right thing, but he's just caught between keeping the villagers happy, keeping this outsider who's very interested in commodity and making money from the village, keeping him happy. So he's kind of this ghost-like figure that sort of hovers through the village, is how I saw it. Yeah. I mean, you certainly could argue that you're a coward, but you could also argue,

as others have, that almost everyone in the film is a coward. Absolutely. Certainly the men, you know. I think the women are quite feisty in lots of ways, but certainly the men are completely, they don't do much. You know, they say they might do something, they don't end up doing it. And I kind of found that fascinating. And I found this position that he always takes constantly trying to appease people. I thought that was a fascinating angle to try and explore with Kent. Can we talk a bit about mapping and cartography?

Because it's sort of, It's a fairly crucial character. This guy called Earl turns up and he's making a map of the area. It's almost as though this is the catalyst for everything else that happens. Can you explain a little bit about what this character does and how it accelerates bad things in the village? Yes. So Earl is this outsider who comes into the village and without really giving much to the villagers, he starts mapping out and sort of cutting up the land and defining the land into different spaces. And of course this angers and gets the villagers very nervous because all of this is completely unknown territory, no pun intended for them. And you're very much right, it is the catalyst. And he realized why he's doing it is because there's another character called Cousin who's coming and he's interested in

making a bit of money from the land. But you're right, it is the catalyst and all these outside forces invading this land, I think is very much the reason why everything falls apart. Mason- And the locals, they kind of haven't seen a map before. So this is a, it looks to our eyes, obviously, a very primitive map, but it has this kind of seismic impact when people see precisely what's going on. And this village, before the modernity, such as it is, arrives, it feels as though there's a little bit of an Eden. This is unspoilt before the nasty progress merchants, the capitalists, before they came in, everything was fine. Is that fair?

Mason- I think that's very fair. I think also what's quite interesting where we find them in the story is that obviously the story is called Harvest, so they're mid-harvest. They're just about to start their harvest and it doesn't go right. And that again is another impact on maybe why things start to fall apart. This big ceremony they have, the success of their crop has not been what it was before. And I think that is another reason why things go south. Mason- Yes. And even though it's sort of 15th, 16th, 17th century, who knows? It feels very pagan. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, the tone of it, it being shot in 16mm I think gives it that sort of found quality, almost this archival quality that I think is very useful. But you're right,

it is pagan. All the dancing is very strange and weird and that we do during the festival. Yeah. So it's got a very pagan feel to it. A little bit of head banging going on, which people will have to discover for themselves. I'll tell you one thing that I think you come away with and obviously was intended by the cast and the director and the writers is that life is fragile and certainly particularly fragile for the villagers. But the disintegration of their way of life, which maybe hasn't changed for hundreds of years, happens within days. It happens so,

so fast. You think that these things will never change, but suddenly their life is gone. Yeah, I think that's completely right. I mean, it dismantles so quickly. And I think actually another reason why it does do that at such a pace is fear. They're fearful of these new things. They're fearful of these outsiders who they don't know these different people coming into their land. And I think that fear is really what accelerates the fall of this community. Will Barron When I say the beginning of our conversation about, you know, we've talked about you, that's because, you know, Michael Winterbottom came

on and talked about Shoshana. We've talked about the Pale Blue Eye. I don't think we talked about Wolf Hall, but you know, and obviously we talked about the Potter films. It's like you've been a part of our lives for a long time. But I wonder what it is about this script that made you think, okay, I think this is intriguing enough for me to do it. What are you looking for? Jason Vale I'm looking a lot of the time at the director. Obviously read the script and you think this is a fascinating script, which Harvest was. But I saw Athena's work, I saw Attenberg, I saw Chevalier as well, and I just thought she was an extraordinary visionary really.

I thought her voice is so singular and her films are always different. She jumps from one genre to the next. They always feel so rich. So I knew immediately that I wanted to work with her. I do love folk horror, sort of paper movies, and I wanted to try my hand at that as well. So I think it was a combination of all those things that really made me want to jump at this. I have you down as a future director, Harry.

I know that you like writing because you had a one-man show. It just seems a matter of time before. You're a student of film. You've already mentioned the cinematographer, well, we should mention Sean Price Williams shooting on film, and the difference that made. You just feel like a student of the art of filmmaking. Do you have any thought about directing one day?

That's an amazing thing to hear, so thank you. I would love to. Whether I'd be any good at it, whether I'd be able to handle all those things happening at the same time, I would love to. I mean, whether I'd be any good at it, whether I'd be able to handle all those things happening at the same time, I don't know. At the moment, I quite like the fact that all I have to worry about is this one thing. Whether, you know, juggling all those things that directors have to do, I don't know if I'm well equipped to do that as yet, but it would be something that I would love to eventually, hopefully, do.

Jason Isaacs was on a few weeks ago. Toby Jones was on a few weeks ago. And with both of those gentlemen, we talked about the return of Potter to television and the fact that these stories are being rebooted. And so a whole new generation are going to be part of this. Do you just watch sort of with a wry smile and go, well, okay, let's see how that goes? Or I don't know, what do you think when you read about the reboot and these these tiny little kids starting on that path that you went on? Yeah, it's extraordinary. I mean, I think I'm excited to be honest. I always think that if they want to tell this story again, and if they're going to try and tell it in a new way, which I'm sure they will, then it's a very exciting thing. I am constantly amazed at the generational, just the fascination

with these movies. I mean, my friends who have kids now, suddenly Harry is like, oh my word, you know, and it's just a story that gets repeated and repeated and is loved and loved again. So I'm excited to see what they do. What advice would you give? I know they're not asking you, but were you 10, I think, when it all started? I was 10. Yeah, yeah, I was 10. What advice would you give the new cast? It would be something like, don't go on Instagram. Probably. Stay away from social media. To

begin with, until you're old enough to really comprehend that. I mean, we were quite lucky in that regard, I think. It wasn't quite a thing yet. But that would be my main one. And just enjoy yourselves. It's what an opportunity to be running about playing make-believe at 10 years old in Leaves & Studios. So just have fun. Yeah. What do we see you in next once Har harvest has been harvested? What's next for you? I've just, in fact, it was at Cannes this year. I did a film called Pillion. Was that with Alexander Skarsgård? It is, yeah. That is. So that should be coming out soon. And so yeah, the next thing will

probably be supporting that movie and making sure that as many people know about it as possible. Any writing or have you given up on that for the moment? I don't know, it's so hard. It really is. Trying to act and write. I think I was so determined to finish this play and I had a bit of time to do it, but I don't know how people multitask and do both at the same time. It's kind of beyond me. But maybe one day if a bit of time presents itself, I'd love to do something again.

Yeah. Harry, it's a pleasure to speak to you. Thank you very much. All the best for Harvest and for your Alexander Skarsgård movie, which does sound fascinating, but we'll talk about that when the time comes. Harry Melling, thank you very much. Thank you so much, Simon. Thank you. I should mention that one frame back when we get to it in take two is going to be favorite films from Potter alumni. There are a few, I think, that are worth mentioning, but that will happen in take two. Harry Melling, and what a great actor he is. You wouldn't have necessarily thought of that when you go through the Potter films, but

Harvest. Yes. Nothing to do with the Neil Young album of the same name, though it would have been nice just to hear a couple of references to it. What did you think of Harvest? Well, let's start by saying that this is an adaptation of a Booker Prize nominated book by Jim Grace, which I haven't read. Have you read the book? No. No, I did mention it to Harry.

No, no, no, sure. read. Have you read the book? No. No. I did mention it to Harry. I'd not read it. But I hear good things about it. So co-written, directed by Athena Rachel Sangari, who's the creator of Attenberg, Chevalier, the latter of which weirdly actually would make a very, very good double bill with Friendship, a black comedy about male bonding. Also known as a long time collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos. Just to recap, Harvest plays out in this remote village, which as you explored during that interview, seemingly Scotland, seemingly, I think the phrase you used was pre-industrial

and that's about as specific as it gets. It's deliberately mysterious, fable-like quality, what Harry Melling called a strange, trippy atmosphere. And I have seen people refer to a field in England as a possible touchstone there. The village is insular, apparently idyllic, but there is turmoil in it. I mean, you compared the early scenes. You said it's almost like Eden, but the snake is already there. The snake of suspicion and the seeds

of its destruction are already sown. Then the Lord of the Manor is Harry Melling's master, Kent. Catterlandry Jones is Walter Thirsk, who is subject, someone that the villagers look up to. These strangers arrive and when they do, they are blamed for the burning of a barn. We heard that in the clip. And in which they clearly played no part. Two men are put in stocks, a woman has all her hair cut off, branded as a witch. But then more mysterious is the arrival of Orintzikene, who starts to make detailed maps of the area.

And they don't know what maps are. They haven't really seen them. And at first, they're sort of intrigued and a little bit baffled, and then they start marveling at the fact that you can draw out this one. The question is, why are the maps being made? Clearly there is a sinister purpose, which will see their lifestyle, as Harry Melling said in that interview, effectively overturned in seven days. You made a very good point that this appears to be a lifestyle that has existed for a very long time, but that falls apart at the merest width of modernity.

So, during that interview, Harry Melling invoked folk horror. He talked about folk horror, and certainly the idea of the failing crop is very, very Wicca Man. I interviewed Erintzikani, the map maker, earlier on this week, and he said that he'd heard the film described as a black comedy, which is very much the register of Athena Rachel Sangari. There are also, I think, visually shades of which find the general in the specter of the outsider arriving with their own agenda that's going to tear everything apart. So you know, maybe the film is about the dawn of capitalism and industrialism.

Maybe it's about the fragility of a lifestyle. I think actually, you really hit the nail on the head when you said that the men don't do anything. They're useless. They are spectacularly cowardly all the way through. And the women who have something about them. But that's often being racist and objectionable and rather horrible. Yes, there aren't any particular characters to warm to. And that again, sort of just connects back to what I was saying about when you were saying

that it appears at the beginning to have this Eden-like quality, but all the fault lines are there. All the fault lines are there from the beginning. The prejudice, the ignorance, and the sheer cowardice. And of course, at the center of it is Caleb Landry Jones's character, who does a lot of messianic wandering around and, you know, looking up at the skies and people look at him and oh he's so fabulous. He's not. He's not. He's useless. He's absolutely not. I found him actually really annoying. I kept wondering whether

what I was finding annoying was his performance or the character. I confess that I wasn't completely clear at the end of it which of the two it was. I think his character is meant to be annoying, but I thought he was spectacularly annoying. He has nothing about him as a character. Really nothing to be said in favor of him one way or the other, other than he's a coward. Yes, he's a coward who does a lot of gazing at things in a sort of slightly, you know, annoying way. So, I mean, visually it's very striking. You mentioned Sean Price Williams.

It's shot on 16 mil. It's got that. It was interesting, wasn't it, that Harry Melling said it had like a found quality. It's funny to invoke that kind of as if the film is a relic from the past that has been rediscovered. There was a movie that we reviewed a few years ago, which was a horror movie, which was actually meant to be a cursed film that had been rediscovered. I mean, I think overall, I found it hard to like and much easier to admire.

And I think one of the reasons for that is exactly the thing that we're talking about, is it's very hard to spend time in the company of people who just are fantastically unsympathetic. I mean, you're absolutely right, if there's any strength in that community, it's in the women folk, but then they are tied up with this sort of small-minded insular mentality anyway. So I think it's a very bold adaptation of a story which I haven't read. But I've been told by many people,

oh well it's very difficult because the book is so rich in its textures. I think the film is fairly rich in its textures. I just found it hard to enjoy. There was much that I admired about it. There was little that I liked about it. Will Barron I agree with that. It's certainly worth watching and Harry Melling is more convincing than our friend Caleb Landry-Jones. I also found there was something inauthentic about it. Maybe this was because of the unspecified time and place. Harry mentioned about the clothes that they wear. Some of them wear woolly hats that

would appear to have come from Hackney Market in the 21st century. There's also a line where one of the women actually says, nothing to see here. And I thought, really? You're not going to say that in the 16th set whenever it is. Did she follow up by saying move along, please? You've got a lot of things to go to. I genuinely am not an accent expert, and I'm certainly not a Scottish accent expert and I would love to hear from Scottish listeners, but the accent of the intruders, the people who have to get put in the stocks seem to be incredibly 21st century. Like contemporary Scotland has suddenly appeared in pre-industrial times. It was one plus one plus one.

I was thinking, I'm just not convinced by this, really. Yes. I mean, the only thing I would say there is the very specific attempt to make it not a specific place. You know, filmed and open, but they're saying they're not telling you where it is. There is an argument that the accents are just, they're just nonspecific. But I had a similar feeling that you did. I mean, I found Caleb Landry Jones's inflections hard to get on with because I couldn't quite place them. A little bit Russell Crowe.

It was Russell Crowe, the walking tour of the British Isles in Robin Hood. But as I said, there is a lot to admire, particularly in the design and particularly in the way the film looks. You can't fault Athana Rachel Sangari for aiming high, because it does. Did you find, as I did, that it was very hard to become emotionally involved in it? It was quite easy to become emotionally annoyed by it. Once that seed of doubt has been placed by the wrong bobble hat, as far as I was looking at it, then the wrong accent, and then someone saying, move along here, nothing to see. Thinking, I'm just not buying into this.

Okay. It crossed the Rubicon or whatever the thing was. Okay. It's the ads in a minute, Mark, unless you're a vanguardista, obviously. But first, everyone can enjoy the extraordinary pleasures to be found in our life. Okay. Hey, well, hey Mark. Hey, a policeman knocked on the door last night here when I was just about to go to

bed. He said, excuse me, sir, can you tell me where you were between seven and nine? And I said, sure, begging my mum for half a crown so I could go to Newsrack in Croydon and buy a bag of sherbet lemons and a copy of the Beano. Hey! He didn't find that very helpful. Did I ever tell you about Grandfather Mayo or? No.

Dear old Opa, as we used to call him. He single-handedly destroyed nine German tanks in World War II. To this day, he's remembered as the worst mechanic the Wehrmacht ever had. And here's the one that was teed up earlier. OK, OK, OK. Talking of transport, Mark, that reminds me, I had an awful journey to work yesterday. I was in an Uber on the way to Grady's Tits radio when a bunch of slightly sozzled and smelly blokes, flamboyantly dressed as 16th century vagabond sailors with cutlasses, boarding

axes and flintlock muskets all jumped in the Uber whilst we were stopped at traffic lights. They must have been the pirates of the car I be in. Oh, oh, for heaven's sake. the pirates of the car I be in. Oh, oh, for heaven's sake. The pirates of the car I be in. OK, no, yeah, you know, that joke is funny if I take my headphones off and can't hear it. Tell me something that will entice me to hang around to hear your next review. Well, after the pirates of the car I be in, Smurfs. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure.

Stay three nights this summer at Best Western and get $50 off a future stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Breaking news. McDonald's international menu items are vanishing. McPizza bites missing in Italy. Big Rosti stolen from Germany. Teriyaki chicken sandwich disappears in Japan. And a Biscoff McFlurry blackout in Belgium.

Uh-oh! It's just in. We can now confirm the stolen favorites have resurfaced at McDonald's Canada. The international menu heist. Try them all while you can for a limited time in participating McDonald's in Canada. So now Mark Raimi a while back wrote to us to tell us about his experience of paying to watch what he thought was a movie at the cinema, but actually turned out to be a prime video stream, if you remember. Paul Sparrow Clark says, regarding a previous email, who was perturbed at watching a prime video stream of Apocalypse Now at a local theatre, I believe I can top that and with

another Francis Ford Coppola film to boot. We have a theatre in town that shows films after they've left the multiplex, but also brings in smaller films and the occasional repertory screening. They had a series of throwback classics, and one of them was The Godfather, which I'd never seen on a big screen before and is one of my favourite movies. So off I went, looking forward to the lush cinematography of Gordon Willis in all its theatrical glory. When the film was about to start, on the theatrical screen before my eyes, I was greeted by the vision of what appeared to be

an iPad screen complete with a white arrow pointer moving across it with the Apple TV app. I sat there aghast as the pointer scrolled over to the icon for the Coppola film, double-clicked on it to begin the screening. I sat there for the next two and a half hours watching a version of the film that had less detail on it than my 4K disc, albeit on a larger screen. My ticket for this was only $5.

So I didn't write any complaints, but I never went back for any of the other classic film screenings. I have seen, have been since to see other older films there, such as Return of the Jedi and was never treated to a projected iPad again, so perhaps it was a one-off. Anyway, I hope this is not a trend in repertory screenings. I mean, if you're going to project something that you didn't get from a studio, at least make it a 4K disc for heaven's sake. For some of us, the theatrical experience is too precious to cheapen, which, thank you,

Paul, for the email, which you have to say, sitting down the lights go down and an iPad screen. That's really not good, is it? It's a shocker. Even $5, you would expect a little bit more than that, I think. Correspondence of Coadomeo.com. Now we used to do a regular kind of what's on feature and we get a little bit compressed for time, but it is there. If you, if you have a movie-related or movie-adjacent

or just completely movie-based event happening near you, or you are organizing it or you think it needs a bit of publicity, then send all the details that you can in a voice note like this. Hi, Simon and Mark. It's Anna Poole here from the Kingsland Festival. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rupert Julian's Phantom of the Opera, we're presenting the film with live Gothic organ accompaniment by Jonathan Hope at Kingslyn Minster on the 17th of July in a late night showing. Tickets are available at kingslynfestival.org.uk. There you go, that's exactly the kind of thing.

Very good. Anna Poole, thank you very much indeed. If there is something you want us to mention or you can voice it yourself, correspondence at kermadev.co.uk. That's where you send your voice note. All the way through the show, you've been teasing us with the Smurf. Teasing. Yeah.

People have been crossing the street asking me when the Smurf review is going to come up and what Mark thinks about it. I have to say, I really don't know. He's been keeping very tight lipped about it. And I think he probably had to sign an agreement not giving away too much detail about what happens. I did. And here's the thing. The embargo, so if you're listening to this podcast, it will be Thursday, but the embargo form, which we are recording this on Wednesday morning, and the embargo form said no reviews of this film are to appear prior to the global embargo date of Wednesday, July the 16th at 9 a.m. PDT. PDT is Pacific Time, is that right? So

I think I'm recording this review in advance of that. But then by the time you listen to it, it's fine. So I'm not breaking anybody. So Smurfs, the latest feature film inspired by Peo's creations. Previously seen them in Les Aventures des Strumpfs from 1965. Smurfs. Strumpfs. S-C-H-T-R-O-U-M-P-F-S. There's Aventures des Strumpfs. Okay. That's what they're really called then. Smurfs and the Magic Flute, 76. Then there was the Smurfs 2011, which was the American CGI version. Then there was Smurfs 2, 2013. Smurfs 3 cancelled, apparently.

Leaving way for Smurfs, The Lost Village. So now we have this new version from director Chris Miller. Not to be confused with, as I was doing Tim Robinson, Tom Robinson, Tim Robinson, Chris Miller, not to be confused with Christopher Miller, co-director of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Lego Movie. This is Chris Miller, whose credits include Shrek the Third and the spin-off Puss in Boots. The voice cast for Smurfs, it's just called Smurfs, includes Rihanna as Smurfette, she's also a producer, alongside Nick Hoffman, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel,

Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Kurt Russell, John Goodman, Uncle Tom Cobbly and all, Oh, and James Corden. James Corden, who previously lent his voice to Peter Rabbit, but now plays No Name, the Smurf who has no name because he has no interesting features whatsoever.

So that's a progression from irritating Rabbit to uninteresting Smurf. Well done. Here's a clip. I still don't have a thing and a quick follow up to the follow up. Don't you think that that's a bit odd? Like Hefty Smurf is hefty. I smash things. And Worry Smurf worries. You know, maybe everybody else just doesn't worry enough. And Brainy is really smart. And Grouchy is don Don't even say it. And there's Camouflage Smurf.

I'm right here. How to Focus Smurf. Clumsy Smurf. Ah! Way back there Smurf. I'm way over here! Handlebar Moustache Smurf. Quiet Smurf.

I have something really important to tell you. What did he say? I have no idea. But do you see what I'm saying, Papa? Well, your no name. That's a thing. There's not enough of a thing though. Incidentally, can I just say the quality of the jokes in that clip are the whole of the

film is up to that quality. I mean, you could probably just put it all in in the laughter. So he dreams of being Magic Smurf. And it's a dream that miraculously comes true, but disastrously leads to him opening a portal which leads to a cabal of evil wizards who are trying to find a living book, which is one of – they've got some but they haven't got this one. The book has been secreted in the Smurf village and they need it in order to take it, in order to let evil take over goodness in the whole of the universe. So QA makes

no sense at all, Adventure, in which the Smurfs slide through various multiverses like superheroes. They get kidnapped and they get threatened with torture and crushing and then they escape and then they get kidnapped again, all the while trying to save this living book, which is a book which got arms and legs and talks, and singing big, big, big power ballads out of context, performed in non-specific transatlantic accents, even when the characters like James Corden speak normally with British accents.

The whole thing about the book is set up in an explanatory voiceover at the beginning, an explanatory, you know, an explainer thing that tells you what's good. Honestly, by the end of the explainer, I'd lost all patience with it, all patience with it and all interest in it. So the whole thing is big, it's noisy, it's colorful, it's explosive, it's, you know, smashy crashy, zoomy, boomy, utterly nonsensical. Somewhere in the middle of it all, there is a message about being who you are.

Discovering your thing and learning that kindness is better than evil and coming together is better than coming apart. You know? Yeah. I mean, really tried to put myself into the mindset of a young viewer watching it. I'm 62, okay? It's a youth certificate movie. So very, come to the BBC, very mild violence, threat, language, rude humor. I tried really hard to think, if you were just a kid in the cinema watching all this colorful, noisy stuff and then

these big power ballads, what would you make of it? I tried. I tried to do that. I just couldn't. At first, I really struggled to get involved. Later on, I really struggled to stay awake. The noisier and the more colorfully explosive it became, the less I was interested in any of it. I thought, okay, well, look, maybe undemanding or younger viewers who just want color and stuff, and noise, and things happen like a sugar-coated candy rush or something. I don't know. Maybe they will find bits of it enjoyable.

I'm sure that next week we will have emails from parents who took younger kids to see it. They like Smurfette or they like this, that, and the other. I, as a 62-year-old man who, believe me, I did try, I found it completely tedious. It's only a couple of days away that I saw it, because I saw it on Monday, it's Wednesday now. It's almost like, you know that way when you have a dream and you wake up and if you don't write the dream down immediately, it makes no impression on your memory and two minutes later,

you've forgotten what it was. Yes. It's like that. If I hadn't written down some stuff the minute I came out the screening, and I knew this was going to happen. I wouldn't be able to tell you the character names, the story, the plot, who was in it, how long it was, nothing at all.

With every passing second, it fades further into the abyss of unmemorability. What is it? Unmemorability, whatever that is. By the timememorable, yeah, unmemorable, whatever that is. By the time we get to the end of recording this show, me now having said all this stuff out loud, I think I won't even remember having seen it. Well, if indeed you can get closer to the audience than Mark did, and if you have a smurfy experience, let us know, because we'd like to put your views when we do the top ten, if it makes the top 10. If

it makes the top 10, which I suspect it will, what with holidays and everything. Correspondence at covenbay.com. May I just say one thing? Do you know what the best thing about the film was? There was a SpongeBob short at the beginning of it. Okay. So make sure you're on time or at least early to get your seat so you can enjoy that. An email from Tom to conclude things. Last month's joyous episode on celebrating your 20 years really brought home how you've been a constant companion for most of my life,

guiding me through A-levels, university, the wibbly wobbly bits of moving to London and starting work, getting married, and the wibblier and wobblier bits of welcoming our first son last September. I've suffered from many bouts of lacrimosity on all forms of London transport and knew I had married the right girl when she agreed to work through the States back catalogue. So thank you for everything. Anyway, I digress. We recently enjoyed a road trip to Manerbe in the south of France where we happened across a winery called, which I think is Made am Famiere, owned by the Scott family. Of all the wineries and

all the Scots, it's owned by Sir Ridley Scott, would you believe. Oh wow. As you will see from the photos enclosed, it is part winery and part museum, housing props from his films, including Wacken Phoenix's Napoleon attire, miscellaneous from the gladiator films. Turns out Sir Ridley is a big fan of the area, also owning a house there and using it as the location for his ode to Provence, A Good Year with Russell Crowe. Apologies if this is already a well-thumbed part of the parish's canon, but given your global listenership, it would be interesting to hear of similar homage to a director or actor's work across the world, which could be added to

your crew's itinerary. Looking forward to the next 20. Tom, thank you. If you indeed have stumbled upon something similar to this, then by all means let us know and we can add it to our crew's itinerary. Correspondence at kermannamo.com. That is the end of take one. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. This week's team was Jen, Eric, Josh, and Heather. The producer is Jem.

The redactor was Pooley McPoolface. If you're not following the pod already, why? Please do so wherever you get your podcasts. Mark, what is your film of the week? Friendship. Yes. Thank you very much, Deep, for listening. Take two has landed adjacent to this podcast for the Vanguard Easter.

Thank you very much, Deep, for listening.