Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Paul Mescal, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Menu, Aftersun and Armageddon Time

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Simon speaks to actor Paul Mescal about his new film ‘Aftersun.’ Mark reviews black comedy horror film ‘The Menu,’ starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Holt, and Ralph Fiennes - about a young couple who visit a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant, but the chef has prepared some shocking surprises for his guests, ‘Armageddon Time’ - a personal coming of age story by James Gray - starring Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, ‘Aftersun’- the debut feature film from Charlotte Wells, about a woman reflecting on the memories of a holiday she spent with her father as a child, and ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ - detective Benoit Blanc is back solving another case, this time in sunny Greece. Plus your correspondence, the Box office Top 10, What’s On, the Laughter Lift and much more! 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 Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts   To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trying to escape the holiday playlist. Well, it's not gonna happen here. Jesus' season for a vacation Fa la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la With sunwing seasons of savings on now, why not ditch the cold and dive straight into sun? Visit your local travel agent or... Sunwing.ca Sunfibas What's up with your big bad sweater self? It's a big wintery jumper you've got on there. It looks like the jumper you'd wear to go to the Arctic.

This is one of my favourite jumpers. It's got a hole in it as well. You can't see it, but look, you can put, you can hang on. Look. And you know that a jumper is one of your favorite jumpers when you're still, because it's a black jumper, I have to wear a black t-shirt underneath it, otherwise you can see the whole, but I love it so much that I'm just going to wear it until it just ceases to exist. Now, I am on my own in the Kominamode take studio, and I'm only looking at you on a screen which is making me think it's Covid lockdown all over again because you got like that fuzzy kind of buffering look. Yeah, actually I'm not buffering that much because I'm in Ali's house. Okay, so long story short.

Yes. So last week when you were off anyway, I mentioned that I was having a hernia operation. So I had the hernia operation, all went fine. Thank you for asking. But I was going to get to that bit. Okay. But just take a little longer for me to be springing back to, you know, to full strength. So actually, so Simon pull very kindly said, look, Mark, you can do the show from Allie's house because Allie's house has got super fast internet, whereas I don't have so much. Allie from the Dodge Brothers. Allie from the Dodge Brothers.

So I'm upstairs in Allie's attic doing the show to avoid having to travel two hours into London, presumably wearing a truss because I'm not quiet. But I'm, you know, I'll be fighting fit next week. I'm just, I'm doing all well on everything, but, you know. Yeah, because if you have stomach surgery and stitches and stuff, then you should, shouldn't you be lying? Should you be doing the show lying down?

Is what I'm saying? No, I'm not doing the show lying down. I was an unbilical hernia. And apparently my belly button is no longer the same as it was. I don't, in what way is it different? I don't know, I haven't looked under the dressing yet. It'll be exciting. The unveiling of a whole new belly button. So, have they give it, are you,

this might be too much detail, but are you going to wear a Liz Trust anyway? Do you not have to wear one now? I don't know. I mean, I haven't, I mean, I have one, but I haven't put it on, but I don't know, maybe just for the William Chapmanness of it, you know, we're under the Star Trek outfit. We don't know what now. Well, you know, we just need you to be carried from room to room, like like popes used to be. Yeah, in one of those very ornate things on two big halls.

Yes, could you get your children to do that, maybe? Almost certainly not, although if I got the combined strength of my children and your children They might just about actually know they won't know it's not gonna happen. No, I'll just walk. They'll be fine But I am fine. Thank you for asking. I think you need to be carried I'll also plus you're a senior broadcaster, you're a veteran critic. And so therefore this is just like what you should be entitled to. You know, you cash in your chips at this point. You go, don't you know who I am?

Please carry me from room to room. Why don't you try that? I bet the rest of the Dodge Brothers, if your kids won't do it, the Dodge Brothers will get all your mates in the band, you've carried them. Come on, for years. So they could carry you. No, but I do. I am actually now finally able to say I'm very sorry. I can't carry that double base out of the van into the venue. Can you carry it for me? I'm very sorry. I can't lift that harmonica. Would you mind just looking at me? Now harmonica

is what you just need to major on the ditch, ditch the base. It's the base. Stick with the mouth organ. What do you think? Yes. Anyway, but as you can see, I am, I am match Ditch the base stick with the mouth organ Yes, anyway, but as you can see I am I am match fit as far as my mental agility is concerned Excellent, which is all very good all that you care about yes, no, no, no, no absolutely. Yeah, we were all You know following updates How everything was going whenever you look you look tickety-boo even if you're buffering. Thank you. And the buffering is nothing to do with the stitches.

What do we have a good show today? What do we have? We've got a fantastic show. We have reviews of Glass Onion, a Knives Out mystery, Armageddon time, which should be called Armageddon time, and After Sun, which brings us to our fantastically special guest. Who is Paul Messgal, who is the star of that, I mean, there are two stars in that film, but he is the bloke who is the star of that film. And as if that wasn't enough?

On Monday, for the Vanguard, deeper into the world of film and film adjacent television with another extra take, there'll be more Paul Messgal because he's done some extra listeners questions for us. And you get a bonus review, which would go into the confess Fletch, which is the third of the Fletch movies. And I mentioned this simply because when I first came to London, which always sounds like a pokesong,

to work a time out, one of the very first films I reviewed for them was Fletch Lives. Is there anything to do with Ronnie Barker in Purwich? No, it certainly isn't. No. I think I see which it was. Also expanding our viewing in our feature one frame back inspired by After Sun, which we just mentioned, going to be discussing father daughter bonding movies, literally

interpreted. And I hope we have a wide smorgasbord of them because that is a more surprisingly broad category than you would think. Anyway, take it all over you decide, I would have mouth on a podcast, feature Mark is gonna be talking about. Yeah, we're Dr. Torres Cabinet of Curiosity's which is very, very strange.

Send your suggestions for elite streaming stuff that we might have missed, correspondents, at comadomeo.com. And please do sign up to our premium value extra takes through Apple podcasts, or if one prefers a different platform, then one should head to extra takes.com. And if you are already a Vanguard Easter, as always, we see you. Dan Phillips, dear Mozart and Salieri, along with Phil, my other biggest hobby is Board Games, and have amounted quite the collection over the last few years. Recently, a new game was announced called Lachromoza, which follows the death of Mozart.

Your job is to work with his widow, who is of course, Constanzia, to finish his unfinished Requiem in D minor. Having already ordered the game, I'm now excited to have a movie and game night watching Amadeus and then playing lacrimosa. I call out to any other listeners, also in the board game Hobby World, to recommend other game night mashups. Please know mention of the M word, love the show Steve, take it to Tonka, down with Monopoly, oops I just said it, Dan Phillips. So I went, this instantly appealed to me and I went online to try and find a copy of Lachromoza. And it sounds like a very, very difficult role-playing game, and it also was going to charge me 60 quid. So I thought, well, maybe I just would just hang around and find out a little bit more about it

before I spend 60 quid. But it's a real thing. It's a real thing. It's definitely a real thing and it's a real game. Now, on to Armageddon Time, which, as Mark has already said, if you're a Clash fan, you will instantly thinking of Armageddon time. Actually, it's not a Clash song.

It's Jamaican reggae song. But anyway, let's do Armageddon time and then we can do Clash stuff as well. Okay. So this is the coming of age drama by critics favorite James Gray, who CV includes the odds, Little Odessa, Lost City of Z. I think you interviewed somebody for Lost City of Z. Was it Robert? Who was it? Robert Pattinson. Robert Pattinson. And Ad Astra, which if you remember when I reviewed it, came in at something like $100 million and had a bunch of action scenes bolted on after bad preview. So this

was the kind of, it was like an interstellar movie, starring Brad Pitt, very moody James Gray, but also had these bits that seemed completely out of place. Charlie Kaufman apparently did an uncredited rewrite on the voiceover. And Gray has said later on, he said that he lost control of the film and he said it was as painful a thing as I have experienced outside the death of a loved one. So Armageddon time is the kind of film you make after you've had, you know, yourself kicked around Hollywood on a hundred million dollar movie, this cost 15 million. It's clearly James Gray's movie From Start to Finish, autobiographically inspired set in 1980 around the time of Reagan's rise, time of tensions, Soviets and Afghanistan has happened. There's talk of war, there's talk of nuclear war.

Wow, seems terribly contemporary. Backstreeter is Paul Gruff, who is this Jewish American kid, whose mum and dad are played by Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, both of whom are really good. He gets into trouble at school. He seems to connect only with his grandfather who is played by Sir Anthony Hopkins. His parents disapprove of his friendship with Jellin Webb's Johnny, who's an African-American kid who's been held back at school and they appear to disapprove because he's been held back and therefore is a bad influence, but maybe there's something else going on. But they think he's such a bad influence, they think the kid's going going on. But they think he's such a bad influence, they think the kid's going so much off the rails

that they send him to a private school that he does not want to go to his clip. Oh, look at you. Come here. Look at you. Oh, the young man. The first day of the rest of your life. Look absolutely gorgeous.

Yeah, I look like a total idiot. No, you don't. I can't even have normal mapsack. Normal mapsack? Why would you want a normal mapsack when you can have this? This is an Ate Shake case. This is Class A1.

This says, I am ready to work. I come to student. Just want me to be like you. What? You just want me to be like you. What? You just want me to be like you. No, no big boy. I want you to be a whole lot better than me. That's what I want.

So when he gets to the new school, he's got a new set of friends. The school is kind of fairly hard work. And it turns out that one of the people presiding over the school is this reptilian creature who played by John Deal when you first meet him, you think, I recognize that. Who is that?

Turns out it's Fred Trump. Jessica Chastain is Marianne Trump in a role originally in March for Cape Blanchett. So the film was originally announced with Oscar Isaac and Robert De Niro as father and grandfather respectively. Obviously, those roles change when the schedules moved around. It's solid, earnest, very personal. If I confess, I think at times rather uninspiring, fair, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong are terrific. Anne Hathaway is brilliant.

I think her performance is really, really remarkable. I do have this kind of this strange thing about the fact that it's not called Armageddon time, because obviously the William Song from 1977 is famously covered by the clash, and we hear all the way through the movie, these bursts of Armageddon time. And it's just like one of those weird things. It's like, I don't know why you don't just call it Armageddon time, I presume probably because somebody said, oh, well, you know, that won't mean anything to anybody who doesn't know the song. And also James Gray is there.

Which is a good, which is a pretty good reason. Is it? Yes. It's like the thing about changing, they will grow not old, you know, to they will not grow. It, I don't know. I mean, it's, look, it's, it's minor, but since the song features in it so much, it seemed to me like, well, you might as well just stick with the

song. Because obviously the brilliant thing about the song is it's got, there's a bit and about it, however long it is into the song. Because the story is Joe Stromb has said to Cosmo vinyl. What, you know, it was there. It was there kind of a long time associate. Yeah. So long time associate, you you know, Cosmo Vinyl had something like a theory that all pop songs should be two minutes, 55 seconds. And at some point on the the B side recording of Armageddon, obviously there's there's several different versions of it. You hear Cosmo Vinyl go, all right, times up, out you come. And then Joe Stromba goes, no, no, no, don't stop us when we're hot, and it's just it's just, anyway, it's just, it's a brilliant thing.

And I love that song. And so does James Gray. But he said also that the significance of the song is first, firstly, because the film is about a personal apocalypse playing out against the global apocalypse also because all the themes that are in the song, you know, a lot of people won't get no supper tonight, a lot of people won't get no justice tonight. It is about injustice. It is about racial prejudice. It is about growing up at a lot of people won't get no supper tonight, a lot of people won't get no justice tonight. It is about injustice, it is about racial prejudice,

it is about growing up at a time of growing inequality. So all those things fit, all those things make the song the perfect choice. So this is, it's very personal, very heartfelt, great performances, not quite as inspiring as perhaps it might have been, but very much the kind of film you make after you have fought a battle and lost with Hollywood.

And that's Armageddon. Time's still to come on this ear pod. We have reviews of, as he says, as he just scrolls down the thing. It's a traditional moment in podcast, where it kind of is. It kind of is. Thank you. I'll be reviewing the menu, glass onion, and after some with our special guest. Who is Paul Muskel, one of the stars of that film?

Time for the ads unless, of course, you're in the van god, in which case we'll be back before you can say, Garis Southgate. Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe! Plus, when you shop online, you'll have to give websites your card details and other sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems, but to be on the safe side, you can use a VPN to ensure

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Highest team 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 crowns 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 Connacher and props master Owen Harrison cast members including Jonathan Price, Selene Daw, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West and Elizabeth the Bikki 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. This episode is brought to you by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From myConnect directors to emerging O-Turs, 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 it 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 movie 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 new so for a couple of films, 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, Kermit and Mayo,

for a whole month of great cinema for free. And we're back, or maybe we never went away. Last week's streamers before we get to the box office top 10, John Sellings says, I had the joy of working on the crown for this season, VFX-wise, working on multiple shots and knowing Mr. Kermot's or episode three, I would ask this question. In the Paris Ritz building shot that I did, says John, as it pans down, can he name the film we use the lens flare from? Hans is on a postcard.

I should say, by the way, I haven't got the answer. So this isn't, I have no idea. Okay, I'll tell you what. So just read that bit to me as they pan down. In the Paris Ritz building shot, as it pans down, can you name the film that we use the lens flare from? Okay, I'll have to go back and look because I can confess I didn't notice, but I will go back and have a look and I will see

if I can genuinely answer that next week. I suspect the answer is no, but I won't cheat. I will go back and have a look and I will see if I can genuinely answer that next week. I suspect the answer is no, but I won't cheat. I will go back and have a look at it and I will come up with what I think where I think you got it from. Then you have to tell us where you did get it from. Box office top 10, let's have a look as we go through these. Number 32, a bunch of amateurs. Well, I loved it. Have you got any emails about it? I should tell you how much, okay, you do those first. No, I've got this from Casey McKeeting, which? I should like to send you how much, okay, you do those first. No, no, I've got this from Casey McKeeting, which I think you'll find interesting.

A long-term listener, first-time emailer, there are many times over the years I've considered emailing you good selves, but naturally I've never gotten around to it. I decided finally that this had to be the occasion. I just listened to your review of a bunch of amateurs, and I was thrilled to finally be one of your many listeners who has a tenuous connection to a film you have positively received. I am a secondary school teacher in Bradford, and my connection is to one of the titular amateurs

of the documentary. In the documentary, he is not one of the members who are central to the story of the doc, but in my view, he has some of the best deadpan one-liners in the background that add to the wonderfully comic-tone of the best dead pan one liners in the background that add to the wonderfully comic tone of the film. He is in fact my best friend's dad, but refers to me as his adopted daughter. He was best friends with my mom who passed away many years ago when I was 18 years old and has been an integral part of my life both before and for these many years since. He was kind enough to invite me along with some other close family and friends, so that we could all attend the very Yorkshire Homecoming screening Bradford Premier on Thursday night.

The picture will in the photography museum. We had a truly wonderful evening and I was very lucky to meet many of his lovely friends from the Bradford Moviemakers Club and hear even more about their stories. He's always been very low-key about the club, having attended it as long as I can remember and was very low-key about how significant this documentary was, but that's Dave. Much like his fellow club members who despite so many challenges just crack on in demonstrative Yorkshire fashion and find a way to get things done, he is as kind and generous in spirit as any of them and also extraordinarily humble.

It was an honor to see their stories so well told and so lovingly and to know that this film will open both the club and perhaps Bradford to a wider audience Showing the world that true Yorkshire grit in diores and through such perseverance when people come together They can achieve wonderful things and find a sense of community no matter their circumstances Thank you Mark for the wonderful review his to ten more years technically tongue hello to Jason and so on Casey McKeating since then. That thing about generosity and grit is absolutely what's at the heart of the film.

It's just a wonderful portrait of people finding companionship in a cinema or a Jason area, whether it's making the movies or watching the movies. I had the great privilege of meeting a couple of them and meeting the director and they are exactly as they appear on screen. I said to the director, what's the trick? What's the thing about disappearing so that they talk as if the cameras aren't there? She she said, well, you know, I've made really complicated documentaries in like war zones and things, but this was harder. And I think that she does a brilliant

job of actually just making them forget that there's a camera watching. And I think the film, it just sings, it just, you know, it lifts the soul. You look at it and you think, yes, yes, yes, this is what we need at the moment. More of this, please. Essentially, because you talk about grit and we have an email shortly talking about stoicism, and I guess they're connected, but anyway, we'll come to it. Number 10 is ticket to Paradise, which does what it says on the packet. It looks nice. Number three in America, that is. Number eight in the state, number nine here. One piece film, colon, red. So there's two films in the chart that I haven't seen. So one piece film is animated

feature, which I will try and go and see it next week. The other one is a pray for the devil, which I don't believe was press shown. I have heard bad things about it. But do we have any emails on one piece from the red? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm afraid. Well, once you've seen it, correspondence, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no super wealthy or not great people. And that's incidentally something that we will find out again in a new release this week. I think there are, there are very good things about it. I think heritagans are very good, but I don't think it's up there with square and certainly not up there with force measure. Number seven, here number five in the states is smiles. Still enjoying it. And I got a very nice message from somebody who went to see it and said, Oh, I was really enjoyed that it just properly creeped me out.

Six here and six in the States, pray for the devil. Yes. So this is going to have to be an audience. I mean, I know I'm going to have to go and see it, but my heart sinks. But you also have quite a good reason for not going to see it. What were the stitches and everything? That's right. Right now, at the moment, my argument is, I don't want to be that scared in a cinema because it might pop a stitches. I'm slightly worried about the laughter lift actually already because,

you know, stop, stop laughing, stop enjoying yourself. Rebecca in Sheffields, because number five is, number five here, nothing in America is living. And Rebecca says, long term list, the first time emailer, America is living. And Rebecca says, long-termness, the first time emailer, I have long maintained a well-curated log of each film that I watch, including carefully considered ratings out of 10, a practice which I'm sure has shared in some way by many Whittitaineese. For the first time ever, this week I tapped a 10 out of 10 into that cherished note on my phone. The honour goes to Oliver and it's Hermannus.

Or is it a shirt at the end? Hermannus? No. I thought it was Hermannus. South African. Okay. I thought it was Hermannus because I pronounce everything wrong. Okay.

Anyway, the movie is living. Although I was reluctant to deem it as perfect at a principle, I realized that there wasn't a single thing I would change about it, so therefore it had to be a ten. I am a doctor who works in palliative care. The lessons of this profoundly beautiful film are ones that I have often encountered in my line of work. I consider the experiences I have shared with people I have helped, care for, and immense privilege, and each one unforgettable. There are few places that contain as much wisdom as is found in a hospice. Nonetheless, it is always welcome to have a reminder of some of these lessons.

Life these days feels too often beset by drudgery, especially in the current environment of rising energy bills, culture wars, political incompetence, political incompetency beyond satire, and the underfunding of public services which has left our society strained beyond anything in my near 30 years of living memory, which makes me still a bit wet behind the years, I realize. In this context, there is a broad acceptance for many of life being about surviving rather than thriving. Bill Nye's journey in this film reminds us that life is therefore living capital L and never more so than when life has become an infinitely finite resource. I stayed for the end credits,

in full letting the Rowan Tree wash over me, which is a songwish yet. Wonderful, wonderful. As I eventually exited up the aisle, I exchanged a meaningful glance with a fellow solo cinema goa who wasn't quite ready to leave. One of those moments that testifies to the truth that you do not need to go to the cinema

with people familiar to you to share it. I walked home for once without the need to plug myself into a podcast such as yours. I didn't need to lose myself in a world of football chat, film reviews or true crime because my head was already elsewhere. It was still sitting in that cinema seat and the lesson to embrace all there is to live still reverberating through me. With that in mind, I pulled myself back into my own moment and focused on a sense that although tomorrow in the days onwards would no doubt bring with them more strife, they would also bring ample opportunity to be alive. Tomorrow, after all, is no guarantee. I may go into work on a day

and find that the person I spoke to that day previously has never reached it. It is best, therefore, to make the most of today. Thank you, says Rebecca in Sheffield. And she's definitely onto something about how the film stays with you and that sense of making the most of what you have. I mean, I think the films, you know, lovely. I think you and I both thought we had an amulet wood on the mean, I think the films, you know, lovely. I think you and I both thought we had an amy-leward on the show, on the live show, on the Halloween show. And, you know, we're just both saying how much it touched us.

Number four here is the banshee's of Inner Sharon, which you and I both loved and I think it's one of the best films of the year, the more I think about it, the more impressed I am by. And La La Crocodile, number three here, number four in the States. It's a big crocodile. Don't get it. Black Adam is at two here and there. Absolutely. Don't get that at all.

I mean, I know black Adam is doing okay, but most of the people I've spoken to about it think the same as I do is it's an absolute car wreck of a film. Number one in the UK, number one in the US is black Panther Wakanda Forever, about which have an uninformed opinion for you, Mark. Yes, so might know something about. I do, because I got a text from you.

So go ahead and give us your uninformed opinion. So we'll get to list this correspondence in just a moment, but I went to see black panther Wakanda forever in Copenhagen on the first screening, which was, I can hear some strange noises. It suddenly started raining outside. Because I'm not ecstatic. That is the sound of rain on a tin roof,

sounds like a drum and we're marching for freedom today. I'm afraid I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about it. So I go to see the first showing of Wukandah Forever in Copenhagen and think, okay, well, and child one reassures me that all movies have for English subtitles. So I think it's fine. Completely forgetting, of course, that a lot of the movies in Swahili, this particular movie has some Mayan and some French, and so therefore those sections are have Danish subtitles, and I have no idea what's going on.

Then after an hour and an hour and 20 minutes, the whole thing breaks down and The cinema lights come up and that's the end of the movie and so So my uninformed opinion is I was very disappointed not just because of the rain has stopped not just because I Didn't get to see the second half of the film because I didn't understand a lot of the first half and also I thought it was seriously lacking Chadwick Boseman obviously But anyway, here come the I texted you and said does it was seriously lacking Chadwick Boseman obviously. But anyway, here come the, I texted you and said does it get better and you said yes it does. So I'll do the correspondence and then you can do your thing. Go ahead. Chris Duclin, I found it treated the untimely death of the actor and main character well and it obviously extended to the performances of the actors who had to deal with the loss of a

friend and colleague. But I came out of the actors who had to deal with the loss of a friend and colleague. But I came out of the cinema touched by the emotion but merely satisfied as the film was overly long and suffered from the similar curse of third-act CGI overload that before most movies of the genre, the better half said she got bored towards the end. Angela Bassett as Ramonda shone with a performance strong on the grief of her mother trying to balance the need to protect her daughter and the nation she represented. And Latisha Wright's shurie had a tough job carrying off the grief of the loss, the despair of not being able to prevent it, and also the other responsibilities and conflict forced on to her. But I am unsure if the development of the character with so many emotions to go through constrained her performance. The movie seemed to suffer from what I would like to call ensemble fatigue, with too many characters not given enough time to shine or establish any particular reason or motive for being part of the plot. My partner and I agreed that every time the late Chadwick

Bozeman appeared in Flashback, you were reminded of what was missing in terms of a single actor's star quality, charisma, performance, and ability to carry the film. In his absence, the film was initially carried by a redacted thing, and then a redacted thing, which appeared to remove a lot of the dramatic weight and credibility following something else that's redacted. And then a brief climber of hope was restored with a surprise appearance of, I'm going to say, Bill Ody, but disappeared as soon as the cameo led to the third CGI heavy act. Anyway, take it, he took down with Spanish smallpox and it's after effects on the Aztecs. I thought that the film had an L.J. equality that actually did deal with the absence of

the charler of Chadwick Boseman, rather well, and considering that it is a an overpacked, overstaffed, overcrowded, overplotted superhero movie, the fact that any of that sense of energy remained was, I thought, remarkable. Also, that it was kind of fairly remarkable that the, considering that I actually found the central plot about the fish people really not convincing or interested. You might have mentioned this last week, but Avatar, they must have known Avatar was on its way. And before, in Copenhagen, when they showed it, they had a big Avatar trailer beforehand.

We just made you think, are we watching the wrong film? I know. I mean, it does look like underwater navel. Does it? And as I said last week, actually, outside of stingray, I fail to remember a time in which an underwater kingdom worried me in the slightest bit. So I think that whole central plot doesn't work for me. And what's remarkable is considering how many things are wrong with the film, the fact that I actually did think it did have an emotional punch,

it did have a sense of energy to it, was really impressive. But it's just a three-star film that got me in the fields, because I know you feel the same way about Chadwick Boseman because you interviewed him, and I think you had a really profound emotional connection with him when you interviewed him. I thought, well, he was absolutely extraordinary. And I do think this film, I mean, as I've only seen the first half in a foreign language.

In a foreign language, but it did miss, I felt it really, really did miss that central character. It does, but it went, when the blue, but when the blue fish people jump out to see the first time, I thought, oh, no, no, I don't. No, I think, I think, the blue fish people jump out to see the first time I thought, oh no, no, I don't. No, I don't think so. The blue fish people are... they're blue fish people.

I guess today on the program is an actor who's only in his 20s. I mean, and he has 12 Instagram fan accounts. I don't think he runs any of them. They were all created after one particular show. And that show was of course normal people. He's the star of the new film After Sun, one of the most talked about films at this year's Cannes Film Festival. He is Paul Muskel and you'll hear our conversation

after this clip. Oh my god, what even has that? These are my moves. Oh, that's so embarrassing. That's not embarrassing. Hey, who's gonna help you? Oh, are you well? Where are you?

What were you gonna interview me about? I don't know. No. Well, I turned 11 and you are 130 turning 131 and 2 days. So, when you were all 11, what did you think you would be doing now? And that is a clip from After Sun I'm delighted to say I've been joined by its star Paul Mascale. Hello, how are you? Hey, how's it going? Are you filming at the moment? No, I'm just started rehearsals on street car, named as Iyer, in the Almeida. Are you looking forward the moment? No, I'm just started rehearsals on St. Carr, named as I'm in the Almeida.

Are you looking forward to that? Yes, it obviously comes with a lot of performance history attached with us, but an amazing character and very much looking forward to it. So just before we started to record this interview, I got an email about the British Independent Film Awards. Have you seen this? I have, yes, yeah, I've opened it. It's recording. Hence the very large smile. So according to this, these are the bifurs, the British Independent Film Awards, after Sun has been nominated for 16,

that's one six awards. That's that's incredible, isn't it? It's pretty wild, it's like I think to have made a film with a huge amount of people that don't, you don't see a lot in front of the, or on the screen, the final product to see them kind of rewarded with nominations is really exciting, but 16, I think, goes far beyond, I think, our greatest expectations. Let's be honest, Paul, it's indecent. 16 is indecent. That's awesome. So obviously this is being well received. Just introduces to After Sun, where are we?

What are we looking at here? Yes, so After Song is a song set in the late 90s, it involves Kalam and his daughter, Sophie. They're on a holiday resort in Turkey. And I think it's fair to say that narratively not a huge amount happens other than they're spending a week together on holidays, but I think it's a character study and a study of memory and how that changes the older that we get and how we look at how we view our loved ones and parents. Is it all flashback? Is that how you would describe it? Or is that a little bit too conventional? I would say that the vast majority of the film happens in a kind of present tense feeling, but there's kind of an air of adult Sophie who plays this play by Celia Wilson Hall.

Is looking back at this handheld DV cam footage of this holiday. I think Flashback is a tool that is used throughout a kind of very succinct moment. So this is your first lead role after normal people just tell us about getting the screenplay and what you thought as you read it through. It was one of those screenplays that I remember reading very vividly. I think it's like when you see the film it feels maybe quite sparse, but it's the kind of what I call the stage directions and everything that is between the lines that was so beautifully written by Charlotte. I read it on a Friday. My agent sent the script to me very excitedly and that's a normally a good sign.

I read it on the Friday and I basically read it three times over the weekend in the anticipation of hopefully meeting Charlotte and trying to get in ahead of anybody else who might want to play this amazing character. So yeah, I just was deeply drawn to Column and the challenge that I think is in, that would be in having to play him in terms of the kind of public persona of him with his daughter versus those kind of private moments,

that kind of punctuate the tail end of the film. I just thought would be a big challenge and obviously to work with Charlotte, even though it's her first feature, I was like, I think we have encountered somebody in the world of film that will be here to stay, I think. So yeah. So I want to ask you more about Charlotte in a second as well. I'm just trying to understand what was it that you were reading on the page that made you so excited? Was it? Because there's not a lot of dialogue. So I just wonder what it is that you're getting from the page that makes you so excited

that you've read it three times before you speak to Charlotte. Because it's not in the lines that I was mostly interested in. It's like the scenes are beautifully constructed, but it in the lines that I was most interested in. It's like the scenes are beautifully constructed, but it was the cut. It was the feeling that I was left with at the end of the thing, which is this kind of like I felt like kind of hollowed out, but there was something cathartic in finishing the script. That when I when I thought about playing it, I was like, how do you as an actor do that? When you don't have a lot of words to say to

actualize that feeling? And I think it was the challenge of it that I was most excited in. There was something in column that I recognized. I was like, I think I can do this. But ultimately, like when I first re-descripted, you're kind, I find that I'm just going off a gut feeling because you haven't done the work yet. You're just kind of trusting off a gut feeling because you haven't done the work yet. You're just kind of trusting your instinct. My instinct was felt really strong to it. So I find that question weirdly hard to answer other than the obvious things that I felt a great deal of empathy towards him. But I don't think that's like that is challenging with someone like calm. I think he's a really good man. I suppose I liked the kind of dichotomy of him being mistaken as her younger

brother and kind of emphasis on him being a young man, but also I think a very good young father as well. Those two things I felt like I haven't seen in film before. So he's a good man and he's a good father most of the time. Most of the time, yes, yeah. When I watched the movie, Paul, I didn't know anything about it. I watched it without reading anything about the film. I hadn't watched a trailer, I hadn't seen a poster. And I wasn't sure how nervous I should be,

because I wasn't sure what kind of picture it was going to be. And I was scared, and then I relaxed a bit, but it has its own story to tell, which it tells in its own particular way. Maybe you could tell us more about Charlotte Wells, her first feature. I think if I had not known that it was Charlotte's first feature-length screen player, first time on a set, you would never... It was... I found it so hard to kind of wrap my head around that fact when I sat down and spoke to her

but also like I'm new to this game myself and recognized a kind of appetite and a desire to tell probably stories that like we've seen single parent stories before But I just felt that there was a really clear vision behind what she wanted to tell about the story. Obviously, she describes it herself as like an autobiographical work of fiction, so it is coming from a personal place, and I think sometimes that can be a detriment to a film, whereas I think in this case it really isn't, because she is such a kind of mastery on the visual language that she wanted to be a part of the film as well, and then casting Frankie and myself, and building this kind of trio was kind of last bit of the puzzle in terms of production side of things, which I think Charlotte gave us a huge amount of time. She gave us two

weeks before filming started to kind of just build a bond that we hoped would kind of result in the that relationship being believable and I think that it is the final product. No, it absolutely is. So your column and your daughter, so if you see a leaven in the movie? Yeah, it turns out. So Frankie Corio, you are so totally believable as father and daughter. There are a couple of moments where I kind of forgot that you were acting. You just, it felt as though we were watching a proper father-daughter relationship. So great for the casting, but how long did it take to get that kind of instinctive, compassionate relationship?

I think it's like interesting that we, like I've just jumped into rehearsals at the moment on street carn, I think actors have this weird superpower where they kind of fore go all social norms and commit to another human being that they don't have any idea who they are. And I think Frankie did that in a way that I was so grateful for because I don't know, I found it kind of a difficult place to start from in assuming to be like a difficult assumption to make that I needed her to believe that I was her dad.

And we kind of skipped over that initially in the first couple of weeks and we built a bond in terms of just being friends. Like we went down Swam in the Sea, taught Frankie how to play pool because it's featured in the film. And not quickly in my head. And I think Charlotte's head, we realized that that was the best way to do it was to build up a rather than building up a kind of performance bomb, building up a relationship that felt and does feel now like we're friends. I think that was the key to kind of making that relationship feel authentic. Because the signifiers for like a healthy father daughter relationship

versus a healthy platonic relationship, I think can be mistaken as the same things because I think it's they're all kind of expressions of love and care and that was maybe the big learning and those two weeks prior to filming. When you were talking just a moment ago about Calum and reading it off the page that you were sent, you said that you reacted to Calum, that there was something in Calum that you understood and something that you thought you could work with.

What was it about Calum that made you think that you could be him? Because he's a dad, he's a young dad. But what was it that Charlotte had written that made you think I can be Callum? I think there's something about Callum that I look at when I see it in the film and red on the page was this kind of like the idea of the duck with its feet moving very like looking like it's gracefully moving through the world, but it's moving like, chaoticly under the water and I feel, can relate to that feeling that like

a lot of the time, I don't know, performing a kind of like ease with the world as sometimes what is or for myself is not what's really happening beneath the surface. And I'm also drawn to that world of masculinity and humanity in general of what is it like when we switch off the lights and are along with our private thoughts, even if we appear to be doing well on the surface. I think it's also just rich territory to be acting in. I think it's difficult work and satisfying when it lands. And even the process of trying to make feel authentic is satisfying. The great Barry Jenkins, who is a producer on this movie, says of Calum that he is is quote waiting through wells of quiet anguish Yeah, I think it's so that such an eloquent kind of way to describe it, but I also think that there's something

I think Calum is a master at hiding it like I think he's There's there's a way in which which I think kind of adds to what I feel like is the tragedy of it. He is able to present so burliently, bar like tiny snippets that Sophie is privy to. He doesn't really let anybody into that other than himself. So I feel like when I think about waiting, I feel like that being like a long form thing, whereas I think he drops himself in consciously when he feels like he's safe to do so. And that's ultimately quite dangerous

because it's normally in private. And he's not sharing those insights or those feelings with anybody. How was this Scottish accent? You tell me. I thought it was great, but I'm a Londoner. So, you know what do I know? But he sounded as though you'd mastered it completely.

It was one of those ones in drama school that I could never get the knack out. I was like, well, I'll just never do this, but it's amazing when you read a script and you really want to do it, it kind of just, I didn't just come out of me, I worked with a dialect coach, but worked with a wonderful mave diamond for like months, honest, and it's the only time that I've stayed in Accent during the process of the shoot, which is actually kind of liberating, like to be given permission to do that. It's really nice. And only at this point I would say what do we see you in next, but the answer to which you've already told us, Streetcar Name Desire at the Arme de Thea in London. We're going to get to some list of questions in take two, but for the moment Paul Maskell, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you. I should say the conversation was recorded. He was in an attic somewhere, and that's a laptop microphone that he's using. And a lot of the time when he was answering the questions, he was looking away. As though I think it might be quite early in the promotion for this movie, and he was sort of questions, he was looking away. As though he, I think it might be quite early in the promotion for this movie,

and he was sort of formulating his answers. So the reason why it sounded like a very kind of open acoustic was because I think that, that was the sound of an actor thinking about what he was trying to say. And I think he got the message over very clearly after Sunnage the movie. What did you think? But when he was in the attic, Simon, was he going to write a classic?

No, I don't think it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was very nice to talk to him and, he's a top performer. I confess that I didn't notice any of those technical things because I was so gripped by the conversation. And how lovely to hear somebody being so thoughtful in their answers, particularly on the question that you return to a couple of times, which is what did this look like on the page when it's not a film that is dialogue heavy, and we all imagine, I mean, we're not actors clearly, you and I are not filmmakers. We imagine that when you read a script, what you're primarily reading is dialogue, and it's very hard to imagine what after sun, which is such a visual and textural and sort of sensual film, would look like when written on the page. So let's just begin with the basics. I think Charlotte Wells is an extraordinary talent. And I think Paul Muskell is absolutely right when he says she is somebody we are going to see much more of in the future. The Biff

nominations, I think the film is second only to St. Mord in the terms of nominations that it got and deservedly so across the board. The head to Department of all being nominated, which really sort of demonstrates that it's a group effort. So I think she's an extraordinary filmmaker and her short films kind of showed A lot of where this was this was coming from, but it's so it's so confident The second thing is as you say we completely believe in this father and daughter relationship to the point that you forget that they're acting Now one of the things that adds to that is that the film has two registers one of them is DV camera footage Which is okay? this is real truthful.

It is actually happened because it's there on DV. The other is a kind of remembered register of Sophie Older looking back and remembering. So there's attention between those two things about what we have documented and what we have remembered. And in both registers, you watch the two performers and you just completely forget that they are performing, you believe that they are absolutely in that relationship that they're in. The film has an awful lot of the feel and the textual quality of Lin Ramsey's

works, but particularly I think Lin Ramsey's early short films, I had the privilege of speaking to Charlotte Wells and she was talking about Gasman as being an influence and I think it's very, it's easy to see how that, you know, how that does feed in. That kind of snapshot images that your mind does, but also great to see a film that's set in the past, but this is something that Paul mentioned in that interview. It feels very present. It's bright, the colors glow. It has that kind of almost hyper-real quality of a memory about it. And also, you know, pulled it to the editing, because the editing has a way of kind of creating a magical, liminal realm in which watching the film is almost like

experiencing a memory. And I think this for me was the thing that I took away from it most profoundly. I've always thought that film and memory are very, very closely connected and all the great filmmakers understand that. Watching, um, afterson, is like remembering something that didn't happen to you, but you kind of feel like it did. And I think that, you know, I'm not critic enough to be able to explain how that happened, because all the best movies in the end leave you slightly baffled as to how that happened. Despite having listened to your interview, I still can't imagine what afterson looked like on the page. I can only describe what it felt like

in the room watching it on the screen. And because so much of it is to do with the sound design and the imagery and not the dialogue because the dialogue doesn't feel scripted. The dialogue feels like it's just people talking. So on the one hand it's a coming of age film in which one of the central characters is definitely a child but is also sometimes confused as being I mean people see there are farther daughter and sometimes people think they're siblings because he looks young and she's Smart beyond her years not precocious, but just smart and on the cusp of something so it isn't coming of age film In the same way as poses something like rat catcher is It's got the use of music is brilliant. There is a vocal version of under pressure, which is used. Had you heard that before?

No a vocal version of under pressure, which is used. Had you heard that before? No. No, I didn't think so. So I hadn't. And the fact that it works as well as it does is remarkable because it shouldn't. It absolutely shouldn't work. And yet it does. And it's that classic thing about all the best needle drops

in movies are ones that really shouldn't be there. It's the wrong piece of music. And yet it completely works. And I think as just a piece of filmmaking, you just go, wow, yeah, that, that is what film is about. It's about creating that liminal space between memory and experience that makes you invest completely in a relationship. Also, there's another thing going on, which you kind of hinted at, which is that there's a sense of threat.

There's a sense that something bad is about to happen. What's really clever about the film is, you're never quite sure where that feeling came from. And so you look deeply at it because you're looking for clues. It's as if you're sifting through the past, just trying to remember something that you can't quite remember.

So I could go on like this for hours, but I won't do. I'll just say it's terrific. It deserves all the nominations. It deserves, you know, it got got he is brilliant. She is fantastic. And Charlotte Wells is a name that we will be hearing again and again on this show. Okay. So, and that is after son. Now it's the ads in a moment, Mark, but first, this is great. It's time once again to step into it. Now, this is very, it's love to live, but

be careful. ...I'm concerned about your step. Okay, so you're going to make it not funny. Put on your list, trust, and I'm gonna make it as unfunny as possible. Here we go. Okay. It's funny already. Stop. No, it's not.

Hold yourself together, man. Literally. Mark, as you know, I'm a writer and I adore words. I love to thumb through with the sawrus making notes of interesting words to improve myself. Sometimes I don't even know what they mean. I just throw them into my conversation as I think they make me sound really anaphylaxis. And that, can I just say, has a particular relevance for me moving on? Yes, it's stitch appropriate.

Mark, I'm trying to do my bit for the environment. As you know, I bought a beehive this summer. And as you know, several species are in decline. I went to my local upmarket pet shop in Shobby's Norslanden, and I asked for the optimum number, which is 12. He went into the back of the shop and brought out 13 bees. I said, why have you brought out 13 bees? I asked for 12, precisely. He said, well, I'm a big fan of the podcast.

So one's a free bee. Anyway, I walked out at least three bees. It's a free bee. Anyway I walked out at least freebie. It's a freebie. It's a bee that's free. That's not even a joke. That's just like a promotional thing. It's a freebie. It's a play on words. It's a freebie. Okay. There were no no danger of popping the stitches over that. Anyway I then walked out because at least I've still got my pet, death watch beetle, Clint. Clint eats wood. Okay, that's good.

That's good. I've also got a very sophisticated miniature ant colony. Their society is extremely highly evolved. Five ants have rented a flat with five other ants. Now they're ten ants. Ten ants. other ants. Now they're tenants. Tenants. I thought you were going to go for deck head down till something. Anyway, stitch appropriate, like I said. Still to come, what have you got?

I will have to look back now because I just stopped looking at the script because of the the jollity. I guess so. You should ever know what we're doing. I'll be reviewing. There's a whole bunch of stuff. Without looking at the script, I'll just look at what I've got on my thing. I've got a review of the menu, which is the new film starring Ray Fines and Glass Onion, a Knives Out mystery. Okay, back it off to this,

unless you're a Vanguardista, in which case your service will not be interrupted from more than a microsecond. Trying to escape the holiday playlist. Well, it's not gonna happen here. Deez a season for evocation. Fala la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la with sunwing seasons of savings on now. Why not ditch the cold and dive straight into sun? Visit your local travel agent or... Sunwing.ca So your correspondence welcome, please correspondentsacuminomea.com in Colorado. Dear one hand, take it and one hand, take it the way.

I'm listening with increasing Desquiet to your repeated plugs for the paid subscription to your new podcast. These guys must really need the money I thought to myself when the news show first started. I must say when I was reading this through early, I was thinking, sure this is supposed to be in the program. They've really sold out says Kevin. I thought to myself as I had again and again how much high quality content I was missing out on. They've gone too far. I exclaimed to my thoughts, do you talk to your thoughts? When you started cleaning some reviews behind the paywall, I'm one of the rare long-time listeners who's in this for the reviews, nearly heresy, I know. Then just a few moments ago, with no particular thought at all, I became a paid subscriber.

I've yet to listen to my first extra take and already I feel a great sense of peace. I'm coming home. Thank you for the years of pitch, perfect banter and precisely calibrated recommendations. I can't say how many films, directors, and actors I may never have heard of, let alone acidulously sort out if not for your witterings. I mean reviews. Thank you for continuing on in whatever format you choose. And Kevin and Colorado, they're proving that by becoming a subscriber, your life becomes better.

That he hasn't actually listened to any of the stuff. And already he's at peace. It hears all known unweldorcist. Is there someone in your life who is not at peace? Tell him to subscribe. And a very small outlay, you'll find that peace will come in the words of Tom Pax. Saham Hasaini says,

Hi, both. First of all, after thank you for your promo code on NordVPN, I've used it to buy multiple VPNs for some protests. I think you might mean some protesters, but need some protests in Iran who need them desperately, which I have to say is an aspect of our NordVPN promotion, which I hadn't thought of.

But Sam, thank you for that. I wanted to share my thoughts with you on blonde. I actually watched this movie in the theatre, and instantly I wish it had a special or limited release in IMAX. I love the aspect ratio changes with the shift of black and white to coloured frames. I also love the score and sound design. For example, how for half an hour there would barely be any soundtrack and then it would hit the perfect moment. Overall, I think it would be the perfect film without

those controversial scenes. I really don't understand why suddenly it had to become an anti-abortion and pro-Republican movie. In the world of fake news, I have a feeling some viewers might think it's a hundred percent factual story. After coming out of my showing, I saw Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst talking to director Scott Cooper. So this isn't just any old screening, is it? This is a screening with Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst and Scott Cooper. Anyway, they sounded like they were talking about the same topic. I have to mention that Plemons and Dunst are such a humble couple. Once again, thank you for your promotion, code on VPNs. And hopefully one day you'll have a live show in a free Iran. Yeah, that would be amazing.

How about that? Can I just say just in response to that, I don't think it's a pro anti-abortion movie at all. I think that what those scenes are are depicting imaginations, you know, and terrible imaginations in the mind of the hideously harassed central character who may or may not be Marilyn Monroe. And I think Andrew Dominic pitched that knowing what he was doing, knowing that it would ruffle some feathers, but also knowing that what it's meant to be is telling you absolutely that this is in the realms of it's alive or you know, a horror film like that. I mean, those are horror scenes. That's what they are. And just on the subject of Iran, just to mention for the incredible work that Omi Jalili is

doing, going around just talking about the protesters and the extraordinary scenes of the women and girls taking off their veils. And it reminded me again, and I know this is a ridiculous cut. So, so the first point, Simon, thank you for reminding us about that. I'm glad that you, you know, you're sending the VPNs to where they might be most needed. But Omigilili, I watched again last night his scenes from Monomia 2, where he has a tiny role as a passport controller, which would just... And he genuinely gets the last laugh.

The actual last laugh, it was... And I remember you and I talked about it, and I think Omajilili tweeted something about this in the comment of my hotel in your state on the very end. Yes, because that's where you get Omen Gillily. Anyway, hello, Omen. Right, the menu is out. Yes, so do you know anything about this film in advance Simon?

Okay. Well, I know, no, roughly the subject. Okay, that's all. Because obviously I checked with the trailer to make sure that I wasn't giving away more than the trailer. There is partly, and your Taylor Joy was on the telly the other day saying, you need to know nothing about the film in advance.

And when I saw the film, I knew nothing about it. And I watched the trailer after, was to see how much the trailer gives away. So I'm working within the confines of the trailer and what's available for publicity. I was so black comedy-chill, directed by Mark Mildred, who's best known for his work, probably on succession and on to Raj.

Produced by Adam McCain will feral. So the setup for this is not a million miles away from a film which we'll talk about later on, which is Glass-Anneon. So a disparate group of people traveled to a posh private island where he's Celebrity Chef Julian, played by Ray Feins, will present them

with an ultra-expensive meal at Hawthorne, which is his ultra-ultra-ultra-exclusive restaurant. The guests include John Lakewoodsamo as a movie star whose career is hit the skids to some extent. Janet Catera as a restaurant critic who helped make Ray Fines' career earlier on. A bunch of obnoxious rich financiers, and Nicholas Holt as a Julian superfan, Tyler, who takes foods of the pictures, to take pictures of the food on his phone, despite being told not to. And he was showed up with a date, Margot, played by Ania Taylor Joy, who was not the date with whom he booked the restaurant booking originally, which we discovered fairly early on. At first, the food is just the usual preposterous, you know, artsy food foam on a rock, an empty breadboard. And

Nicholas Holtz says, look, he's not just a chef, he's a storyteller. The game is trying to figure out the overall, exactly, but that's the point. The overarching theme of the entire dinner. And it turns out that it is indeed a game, but how much of it is real, and how much of it is stagecraft, just to get the digestive juices flowing, no one's quite sure. Here is a clip at which the male guests are told to take a run for it. To our male diners, we now offer you the chance to escape. You'll be given a 45 second head start,

at which point members of my staff will try and catch you. If they do catch, okay. 45 seconds starts now. What? Sorry, come on, you know I'm a awful, wonderful critic. I'll send for help first thing. You too. I just say, um, so that right at the end we says you too, he's pointing at Nicholas Holt, but that there were a couple of looks from our friend, Rafe there, which were

vulnerable to it, to the absolute, the way he looks at those guys as they're running off, he's thinking, yes, kill the smell. Kill the smell. Which is still the most terrifying line from the Harry Potter films, isn't it? So look, this is kind of fun in a disposable way. The script is by Seth Ryzen Will Tracy and it had appeared on the black list.

We've talked about the black list before the black list is a list of lauded but as yet unmade screenplays. 2019 Emma Stone was in place to star with Alexander Payne, who made Nebraska and downsizing directing. Now it reaches us under Marlode, who as I said, succession, entourage,

you actually way back in the future, you know, Allie G. This has a slick sheen and a few sort of nicely bitey treats. Like the meal, I have to say, it is, it's all surface and no substance. What it tells us, much as we knew from Triangle of Sadness, is that the super rich are horrible. And people who pay this kind of money to eat foam on a rock, pretty much deserve what they get.

It zips along merrily enough, there are a couple of kind of fun smug posh foodie laughs. It is, I think, very much an appetizer for glass onion, which is also, we're going to talk about in a moment, but it has a similar kind of setup, but if you look at the trailer, it tells you exactly what you need to know about the film. And I enjoyed it. I, or five minutes after I'd watched it, I felt like I needed another one. Or, and there, and there is a joke in it about the fact that, that the food isn't filling. It's not food. It's, you know, it's performance-frippering. Not all that stuff is fine. Again, fairly easy target.

You know what? People who pay staggering amounts of money to go to really, really expensive restaurants where you eat a bit of spit on a leaf have kind of got no one but themselves to blame when they want a hamburger afterwards. But it's a movie that's going to be in a cinema and we'll stay in a cinema as opposed to glass honey, which we're talking about. Yeah, which we'll be in the cinema. And then we'll be in the cinema and we'll stay in a cinema as opposed to Glasshoney which we'll talk about. Yeah, which we'll be in the cinema. And then we'll be in the cinema.

Yes. Right, let's do what's on now as to where you email us and voice note about your festival or special screening from wherever you are in the world. I'm Sam Clements, host of the 90 minutes or less film fest. We are a podcast that celebrates films that are under 90 minutes long, and we are hosting a special real-life screening on Sunday the 27th of November at 4pm in the wonderful Hackney Picture House with special guest John Ronson, who will be screening his own 90 minute long film, The Cermode Award-winning Frank, and will be joining us for a Q&A afterwards.

Tickets are on sale now on the Hackney Picture House website. Hope to see you there. This is Renoir, Anaïse, Arman and Anika from the Middle East and North Africa Film Festival in Vancouver Canada. We want to invite everyone to check out our amazing programming with more than 50 films from the Minaswana region, panels, workshops and more events. Please check out our programming on minafilmfestival.com or at Minafilmfestival on social media. We really hope to see you there. Hi Simon and Mark, I'm Michael from the UK Jewish Film Festival, which runs across London and around the country until the 20th of November. And we're online from the 21st to the 27th of November.

This year we've got a fantastic lineup of premieres, such as Charlotte, where Kieran Knightley and Jim Brawlbent will be joining us for a Q&A after the screening. Tickets and the full lineup are at UKJewishFilm.org. So we had Sam Clements host of 90 minutes all of us. How long? Film Fest. The team at Mina Film Festival and. All of them. Film Fest. The team at Meena Film Festival and Michael from the UK Jewish Film Festival.

Thanks for those. Send your audio trailer, please, from wherever you are in the world, to correspondents at kermanomeo.com. A couple of weeks up front, if you can, and then you get to give yourselves a shout. I just say that. By the way, if you correspond, you go on. I'd just say all three of those festivals sound terrific. The idea of John Ronson doing a Q&A

after a screening of Frank is particularly delightful because hearing John talk about Frank is a real treat. Yes, correspondents.com.com, if you just attach your message to that, we'll try and include it when we do a what's on around the world. Okay, so we've talked a lot about glass onion without talking about glass onion. And actually, in a way, we're going to continue to not talk about glass onion because one of the things that happened when I saw glass onion was we, I was told, we get it, do not reveal anything. Please do not reveal anything. I then did a an onstage thing with the director

and a few members of the cast in which it was like, look, I don't want to ask anything at all because I don't, you know, you tell me how much we're allowed to. So what I'm going to say, I mean, I, stuff has been revealed in, in reviews and stuff, but I'm not, I'm going to try very hard not to spoil anything. So, class on, you know, Knives Out Mystery, which is a sequel to Knives Out, which was called Directed by Ryan Johnson, and featured among its star-studded cast Daniel Craig as gentleman's sleuth, Benoit Blanc, with his extraordinary performing accent, which I think we have all grown to know and love. The plot begins with a number of different characters receiving a puzzle box that reveals itself

to be an invitation from a tech billionaire played by Edward Norton, calling his friends to join him on his private island. This is why I say this kind of connects back to the menu to solve his murder. Those friends include Catherine Hans, Senate Hopeful Claire, Kate Hudson's birdie, who is a model-turned-fashioned designer, Lazy-Holome Juni's scientist Lionel, General Monet's Cassandra, who is an ex-business partner, and also Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, the detective who apparently never gets anything wrong,

and David is as Duke Cody, who is a men's rights YouTuber. Here is a clip. My dear friends, my beautiful destructors, my closest inner circle. We could all use a moment of normalcy, and so you are cordially invited. For long we can on my private island!

Where we will celebrate the bonds that connect us, and I hope your puzzle-solving skills are wetted. Because you will also be competing to solve the mystery. Woo! Of my murder. Travel details to come, please forward any dietary restrictions. Love and all my kisses, miles. Ma, where's my spear gun?

I got a pack, beep, get pack. What's that? I don't know. So I think that's, you know, I do like the joke about solve my murder. Please let me know your dietary requirements. So they arrive on the island where the game, the murder mystery game soon turns deadly

and then it's a kind of cat and mouse who done it time all over again. Now, as I said, you've seen the film obviously Simon, yes? Yes. Because you will, in future episodes, be hearing, Ryan Johnson and Danny McRae. So, without giving away any more than I think is obviously apparent. I mean, both Angela Landsbury and Stephen Sondheim have brief cameos at the beginning. The 1973 murder mystery, the last of Sheila, which Sonheim co-wrote,

looms large in the setup as does evil under the sun, that idea about, you know, the special place where everyone goes to and you kind of then got a kind of captive audience on which the thing will play out. So look, I loved knives Out. Knives Out apparently made over $300 million on a $40 million budget. And you remember that, you know, Ryan Johnson had directed the Star Wars movie that caused all that fuss, which you and I liked. And then, you know, there was all this stuff

with the fans complaining about it. But I think this kind of reminds you just what a really accomplished filmmaker at Ryan Johnson is, after Knives Out of Done as well as it had, Netflix reportedly bid something like $469 million for the rights to this and a second sequel, a second in the Knives Out of Third Knives Out Mystery film, with Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig and the producer Rambergman all getting something like 100 million each,

which is astonishing. The film opens for a week in cinemas and then it's off and then it will resurface on Netflix on the 23rd, where it will become the sort of great Netflix, you know, tent pole flagship movie for subscribed to Netflix, get everyone around the Talia Christmas, and, you know, and this is our big pitch. So they are banking big on it,

although I have to say I do think it deserves to be seen in the cinema, Mirage Onsen, is a filmmaker, and everything about this is bigger and glitzier than the original. The original took place in an old manor house. This takes place in a futuristic glass onion. I mean, it's kind of hugely constructed super layer that's owned by this tech billionaire

on a sun-drenched island with high tech, tech-seq pieces and futuristic plot points. It's not as sharp or not quite as sharp as Knives Out, which was kind of a remarkable relaunch of the Who Done It genre. I think since Knives Out, people have suddenly remembered how much a great Who Done It is good fun, but it is terrifically good fun. I laughed out loud loads of times, not least at Kate Hudson as the sweatpants designer who thinks that a sweatshop is a place

where sweatpants are made with Kat... As you mentioned, you said Kat Hudson's birdie. So she's Catherine called birdie. There you go. Wow. Okay. Okay. Okay. But, yeah, so, so, Kate Hudson, I think, you know, is very, very funny. Catherine Hahn is very, very, very funny.

And I think that's, you know, it's a really smart bit of casting because I think she does, she does an absolute terrific job. Johnson knows how to make this stuff work. I mean, the thing about it is, he, you know, he loves to who done it. He grew up loving the Christie's and loving the film adaptations of Agatha Christie.

As I said, last of Sheila actually is probably the really big thing in the back of this. But there are gags about characters not understanding internet gaming. There are gags about Cludo. There are enough red herrings to fill an aquarium. And the whole thing moves almost like a James Bond movie. I mean, I got Daniel Craig in it.

But in terms of the sort of high tech stuff that's going on, this could be playing out in a James Bond villain layer. It's perfect Christmas viewing. It's exactly the kind of thing that you can get the whole family sat down on the couch and just enjoy the heck out of it. But I would actually say it's worth going to see in the cinema because the design of it is really well done. And I saw it in a cinema and I saw it projected and I kept thinking it will be a shame to only see this on the small screen because I really, really enjoyed myself.

I mean, I thought it was terrifically good for yes, it's mechanical. Yes, it's, you know, it's kind of quirky and prominent. But if you compare this, for example, to the menu, you realize just what a good job, Brian Johnson has done of bringing the, you know, the who done it genre into the 21st century, giving it all the bells and whistles and all the flair and all the Christmas festivity because, you know, think we used to watch horror movies at Christmas. And if they carry on making these, I'm very, very happy.

I'm quite astonished about the amount of money that they're gonna throw at them, but they are great fun. Ryan Johnson and Daniel Craig will be on the show. So this is all part of the, all the promo, all the interviews has to be tied to the Netflix appearance, rather than the cinematic appearance, which is why Ryan Johnson and Daniel Craig will be on our show on the 23rd of December, which is a lot to look forward to.

Did you enjoy the film? I did enjoy the film and I enjoyed speaking to both of the gentlemen, which you'll hear in a few weeks time. That is the end to take one, production management general, all-round stuff, Lily Hamley, cameras, Teddy Riley, videos on our mighty fine YouTube channel Ryan O'Meara, studio engineer Josh Gibbs, Flynn Rodham is the assistant producer, guest researcher Sophie Ivann. Hannah Tolbert is the producer Simon Paul is the red actor, Mark, what is your film of the week? Well, I think there's no question it's after, son. At next week on the program, Dame Emma Thompson, talking about her role as the fierce and mistrunchable the sun.

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