Kermode & Mayo’s Take - THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE: Enchanting or just lost in the woods?

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member-only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. On this week’s episode of Kermode and Mayo’s Take, director François Ozon joins us to talk about his latest film, The Stranger. He sits down with Simon and Mark to discuss the inspirations behind the story, balancing ambiguity and tension, and the challenges of bringing such a distinctive vision to the screen—along with a few reflections on his wider body of work and the themes that continue to draw him in. You’ll be able to hear Mark’s full verdict on The Stranger in two weeks’ time, and this week we have a packed slate of new releases. First up, The Magic Faraway Tree brings a beloved children’s classic to life with a mix of whimsy, adventure, and a touch of nostalgia. Then there’s Splitsville, a comedy exploring relationships in all their messy, unpredictable glory. And finally, They Will Kill You, a new horror starring Tom Felton—son of Jason Isaacs, of course. They’re really related you know, just like all the Skarsgårds and Sargaards….The Elsewhere, we’ll have all the usual Take treats: the box office top 10, a Laughter Lift that may (or may not) brighten your week, and your ever-wonderful correspondence. Thanks for listening! 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 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] Timecodes: 00:00:00 Show starts 00:07:57 Splitsville 00:14:59 Box Office top ten 00:31:43 François Ozon Interview 00:44:11 They Will Kill You review 00:51:35 Laughter Lift 00:56:56 The Magic Faraway Tree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mooby, the global film company that champions great cinema. From iconic directors to emerging hauteur's, there's always something new to discover. With Mooby, each and every film is hand-selected so you can explore the best of cinema. Yes, a new to Mooby in the UK this March is the brilliant, no other choice from Park Chan-Wook. If you're a regular listener at the show, you will have heard me reviewing the film and raving about it, actually kind of struggling to describe it because it's a black comedy, it's a thriller, it's a social show, satire. It's about a man whose life starts to fall apart and he takes unreasonable measures to correct things. I was absolutely fascinated by it. I thought it was a terrific film. And as I said,

it's coming to Mooby in the UK from March the 13th. You can try Mooby free for 30 days at mooby.com slash Kermode and Mayo. That's Mubi.com slash Kermudemayo for a month of great cinema for free. There really is no other choice. Hey Simon, how was your trip to Copenhagen with the family? Well, it was very nice, thank you very much. Great. How come you never call when you're away? I'm not wasting good holiday money calling you. Charming. Why don't you get an e-sim? It'll provide an internet connection wherever you

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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. These home broadcasts are all very well. You in your place and me and mine. Your small corner and me. in my small corner. But what I want is a cart wall.

Okay, you're going to have to explain to everybody listening what a cart wall is, because not only is it a radio-specific term, it's a radio-specific term from a bygone age. Simon, what's a cart wall? Cart wall is a wall of carts. What's a cart? So cartridges were... It was a bit like, you know, the 8-track.

Yeah. When that was a thing. but it hung around in radio for a lot longer and you had all kinds of jingles on big bits of plastic which had tape in the middle and you just bashed it into a machine, hit the play button and it would do your thing. And you'd have a big wall of about 100, 200 carts

and you'd reach for a cart and you'd slam it in the machine and then you'd press play and you'd be off and it had a kind of radio magic to it. And what I would just love to be able to have, It's the physicality of it. I don't want a digital equivalent. I want racks after racks of blue plastic with little bits of tape inside and then a bit of rubbish labelling, handwritten, you know, opener or, hey, hilarious, 35 seconds, that kind of thing.

I had one when I was at Radio 5, before it was 5 Live, when it was just Radio 5, 5. And I was doing the afternoon show with Karen Keating. And I had one which was a bit from the sound. soundtrack of Doogel and the Blue Cat, which was Doogel going, right, who's for a cup of tea? And it just to take huge pleasure in reaching. As you say, you grab the thing, because it was exactly like the kind of eight track, which, you know, in the wish I had a gray cortina, you know, eight track blazing Brucey Springsteen, bomber jacket, dressed to kill, you'd hoik it over. And as you said, rightly, you would literally slam it into the machine. It was very physical,

be clunk. And then it would do a thing and then you'd love. And then Steve Wright, we were just discussing Steve Wright was the king. He was the king. He had a wall, a wall of cartridges. Yes, I feel all kind of wistful now. Nowadays, it's just like a little knob, and it's a digital thing. So you just twiddle a little knob,

and all the funny stuff comes up. And there's nothing, there's nothing grey cortina about it at all anymore, which is a shame. Were you allowed, from a copyright point of view, to play that extract from Google? Nobody asked. Nobody asked.

I think that means no. I do remember that, a DJ acquaintance of yours and mine for years and years had an intro to their show on Radio One, which featured a bit from Star Trek. And at some point, is it paramount? Whichever studio it was got wind of this. And they were not best pleased. So, yeah, I mean, I think, but I don't think anyone was chasing the rights to Doogle and the

blue cat at that point. I'm not sure that anybody was actually owning up to owning it. When I was at, I remember in local radio, when I was at Radio Nottingham, I used a clip of Tony Hancock on a promo for a Sunday show that I was doing. It's the bit where Tony Hancock says, I ate Sundays. And it was great, it was a very good trail. It's just that apparently if I'd logged it, it would have cost an absolute fortune because it was very much not available to use, as you just fancy.

particularly. Later in this show, we're doing actual business now. Are you going to be talking about some films? Yes, we're going to be talking about Splitsville, which is an unromantic romantic comedy. They will kill you, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and the Magic Far Away Tree, for which I'm sure that you've seen posters

and some of you may have read the Enid Blighton novel books. Also, France's greatest living filmmaker, Francois Ozone, will be on to talk about his new movie, the stranger or let'sanger. Reviews in take two, Monk. Orwell, 2 plus 2 equals 5, and Romeo and Juliet, but it's the Basleman, Romeo plus Juliet, is 20 years old,

and he's back in Cinemas for its 20th anniversary. Also in Take 2, you'll get even more of the good stuff, including five-question film club. Three questions, Your Majesty. Last week, Mark supplied viewing notes for Michael Mann's Heat, available for you on Patreon, our intros to The Silence of the Lambs, heathers and the Elephant Man.

So head on over to Patreon, if you'd like to join the club plus all the other top quality content, add free. Now, let's just see if we can get in the mood. There's a take that delivers with flair, add free treats for the faithful who care. Two shows in full view plus take ultra times two with polls, secrets and fun stuff to spare. Yes, the release of the faraway tree is happening.

So we ask you for your suggestions of Enid Blighton, film and TV adaptations in one frame back, the features that gives you extended viewing for a week, cinematic release. And questions, Schmessians. What? But that wasn't an Eni Blyton. That was a limerick. Eni Blighton didn't do limericks. Anyway, question, Schmestians. Mark and I

answer this question, amongst others. Are there any films that we have watched and loved but have been unable to return to for a second viewing due to the emotional impact they had on us as children? Yeah. Yes. Okay, well, you can get out more details in questions

Schmestians. Julian Evitz in Chester, Dear AI and Slop, the discussion around AI in recent shows has been fascinating. I wanted to add to the discussion by sharing the world is going too fast AI titbit that happened to me recently. Last weekend I found myself at a small craft fair. On one stall, a woman was selling photographs that she'd taken. She had a sign up reading, no AI. The sign went on to explain that she'd taken all photographs personally and that no AI was involved.

According to the sign, any alterations or enhancements were done the traditional way using Photoshop. I suddenly felt very old indeed. Speaking of AI, Mark, we got sent a press release this week. Did we? Yeah. For the second edition of the World AI Film Festival in Cannes. It says, quote, an international event dedicated to the intersection.

of audiovisual creation and artificial intelligence. At a time when artificial intelligence raises as many hopes as it does questions, we are making a clear choice to turn it into a tool that serves creation. No technology will ever replace the sensitivity and perspective of artists. It can, however, open new horizons and enrich new forms of expression. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Despite this, one of the partners, Gennario is a French AI startup, specialising in generative storytelling tools,

screenwriting automation, and AI-driven audiovisual production. Okay. When is that happening? It's happening April the 21st of the 22nd in Cannes. Yeah, I'm busy. In Cannes? Yes.

Okay, fine. Well, that's, that's going to be easy to swerve then, isn't it? It feels like the devil has got his claws in the whole process. Yeah, but he's gone to Cannes, so that's fine. Do you think the devil would enjoy Cannes? More than you. I imagine it absolutely. Slightly more than you.

Correspondence at carbonomeo.com. If you go to that festival, we would love to know about it, whether there was anything that was engaging or made you feel positive about the world. Tell us about a film that's out. Splitsville, which is a, as we describe it, a raggedy, polyamorous anarcho rom-com on the poster.

Okay, hang on, hang on. Say that again. Okay, raggedy. You know what raggedy means. Polyamorous. You know what polyamorous means? Well, go on. It's the thing that neither you or I ever did or ever will do. And it's a sort of anarchic rom-com.

On the poster, it's described as an unromantic comedy. And it is from director and co-writer and indeed star Michael Angelo Covino. The other star and the other writer and co-star is Kyle Marvin. They co-wrote and co-starred together in his directorial debut, The Climb, which I reviewed and actually quite liked back in 2020. Do you remember 2020? Not really, no. No, okay.

All right. Well, like The Climb, this is a tale of friendship and infidelity. So the two main guys, Camino and Marvin, their best friends, Paul and Kerry. We meet Kerry in the car with his fairly new wife, Ash. Ashley, Adriajona, they're en route to visit Paul and his wife, Julie, played by Dakota Johnson, who is also a producer along with Kavino and Marvin. So all seems well until there's a car crash which gives Ashley a near-death experience. So she suddenly announces, okay, I've had near-death experience, I want a divorce, which is a total shock to her partner. Meanwhile, when they get to

Paul and Julie's house, they reveal that the secret of their marriage and the reason they're not getting divorced is that they have an open relationship, meaning that Paul can put it about, and Julie seems perfectly fine with this. However, when Paul is away, Carrie, now suddenly, shockingly single, and Julie hook up. And when Paul comes back and finds out he is outraged, gets into a fist fight with his friend, and angrily confronts Julie, here's a clip. When were you going to tell me? Tell you what? Are you sleeping with my best friend? Yes, I am.

Are you doing it to hurt me? No. Why does it hurt? Why then? I don't know, Paul, because he's kind and trustworthy. And he has a bigger shit than you. Which is pretty much the tone of the whole film. So the rest of the movie then...

Was the missing word duck? Yeah, he was. We all collect ducks, but his duck is bigger than your dog. Is that right? Okay. Yes, that was exactly. They didn't... They didn't have bleeped it out.

actually, it made it worse. So the rest of the thing is how, if at all, are they going to manage these new developments? So first off, Kerry says he's going to stay at home and he's going to stay living with his partner, who then brings loads of lovers home. And then to annoy his partner, he befriends her lovers. Meanwhile, Julie kicks Paul out, causing him to suddenly, now that he's not with her, suddenly become the devoted and loving husband that he never was before. And then to complicate things further, there are other hookups that, you know, that make things even more complicated, even though that we, so that's, that's the sort of central. So it sounds intolerable, and the people sound intolerable. And the whole thing is a kind of fairly bleak satire on the

morays of modern romance and the myth of open relationships, you know, the ludicrousness of only wanting things that you can't have and not realizing what you've got until it's gone. And then the pathos of realizing that very little is fair in love and war. And on it. And on honestly, hearing myself describe it, it sounds very grating. In fact, it's actually much more entertaining and funny than I had expected it to be. And then I was only when I was halfway through watching it. I remembered that I'd actually liked the climb a lot more than I thought I'd done. There is a very, very funny scene in which the guy reveals to his best friend. He said, you know, I've, I've slept with your wife, but you're absolutely fine with that. And not only

is he not fine with that, they then get into this. fist fight. And the fist fight then goes on and on and on. It's like this huge slapstick scene that just keeps getting more and more absurd. And actually, in a way, that's kind of the key to why the film is fun, because there is this very, very anarchically slapstick element. There's quite a lot of with blokes having fights whilst women stand by and roll their eyes and just go, there's also a very kind of cracked subplot about Paul and Julie's son who's grown up amidst these parents with this ludicrous open relationship. And it's clearly had some kind of effect on it. But at one point, he says, you don't know what a boat is worth until you've sunk it, which I thought was very

funny. And so the two main guys have got very good best friend energies. The two main women have got very good rolling their eyes and, you know, aren't men ridiculous. There's also a great performance by Nicholas Braun, who is, you saw Succession, right? he's Greg in succession. And here he plays, I think they call it a mentalist who has to play a kid's party. And he's very funny and very dry and very deadpan. And as with so many scenes in the film, it starts

and then it just goes on into extended chaos. And actually one of the things I like about it is that the whole thing has this kind of chaotic sense of unraveling that scenes start and then they just keep going and they keep going and they keep going and they keep going in this kind of slapstick way with sort of kinetic panic-inducing, spiraling results. So look, it's an odd film.

It's not for everyone. But if you like your rom-com served up with a hefty dose of cynicism and quite a lot of people hitting each other over the head with bits of chairs, it's a welcome relief from kind of mainstream schmaltz. They still do sound insufferable then. Yes, they are insufferable,

but it's like the discussion that we've had many times is just because of, film has insufferable people in it, does that make the film is insufferable? And the answer is no. After the break, Mark will talk about the magic faraway tree. They will kill you. And we have, I mean, it's written here very disrespectfully is Frankiozone. Somehow it feels inappropriate. Francois Ozone. France is most respected. Yes, legend of the French box office, which brings us to the box office top ten and the laughter lift. Or apparently, as it's becoming known,

the Gigulator Elevator. Right. I'm going to leave you to do that. Hey, Sal. Hank? What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana,

and it was so easy, too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options. Mm-hmm. Found a great car and a great prize. Uh-huh. And it got delivered the next day.

It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed. Buy your car today on. Delivery fees may apply. At MedCan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup

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which was our big conversation with Stephen Graham last week. It was really funny because obviously because of the way that the timing worked out, I did the review first and then you interviewed Stephen Graham, but then when people listen to the show, you hear Stephen Graham first. before the review. Reacting to your review, which hasn't happened yet. Reacting to my review, which I hadn't done.

But when you said, Mark said it was a nicely nasty nasty comedy with a nicely nasty black comedy with touches of clockwork orange. And he went, get in. He did not watching the video of it. He was literally turning around

to the people behind him going, can we get that on the poster? Yeah. He said it's like waiting for your A-level results. That's what he said. We were the first interview in, I think, Why, when it gets to the description of the film at the beginning,

it's a little bit kind of, okay, where is this going? This doesn't feel like the film I've just watched. But one of the weird things is right at the very beginning, I say to Stephen, in America this is called Heal. Yes. And he said, yes, that's right, nothing to do with me. So we've got an email here from Dominic. He says, does anyone else think it was splendid

that when the Americans felt the need to rename the good boys, so as not to be confused with the film about a dog, they decided to call it heel. I mean, what titles did they reject? Stay, sit, roll over, basket, all of which would work very well with exclamation marks. I mean, it's a very strange rename. Don't you think?

Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah, it's very weird. And, of course, the chances of anyone confusing it with the film about a dog, fairly small. It's like, you know, when you have a little, when every time I have to say, you remember when Crash won the Oscar for Best Picture? No, not that one, the other one. Because, oh yeah, because the possibility of somebody going to see Crash,

the Oscar winning film, you know, the drama thing, and then accidentally ending up in David Cronenberg's unbelievably out there adaptation of the Ballard novel is pretty small. I don't think people are that stupid. Yeah. But I think Dominic's onto something. If you're trying to disassociation, yourself with a film about a dog with the same title, why would you call it something that you might shout at a dog? I know, it, yeah. It doesn't make sense.

It doesn't make sense. Still worth going to see, though, I think, and some very fine performances in that. Number nine is Scream 7 is number 6 in America. Well, it's his fourth week in the charts and it'll be gone by next week. Which brings us to number eight, which is Mother's Pride,

which I have to say is hanging around a lot longer than you might have expected. It's only its third week. It's a third week at number eight. That's doing fine. And I know that it's been doing pretty well at like independent cinemas. I know, for example, the Act 1 has done okay with it. I mean, it is exactly what you think.

It is fishermen's friends with pubs. Number seven here, number 31 in America, how to make it killing. So as I asked last week, if you haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets. Well, firstly, why haven't you seen Kind Hearts and Coronets? And secondly, if you see this having not seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, you think, oh, it's all right. But it is, it raises exactly the question that was then invoked with the emailer who said that when they did the remake of Whiskey Galore, my question was why? To which your man's response was unrepeatable, actually. Number six is Ardu three.

Okay, so this wasn't press screened. is an Indian-Malame language fantasy comedy. It is the sequel to Ardu 2. You'll be shocked to know. And it is the third installment of the Ardu franchise. And the first of a, and get this, because this is a thing now, the first of a sub-duology.

Oh no, this sounds like one of your phrases. Yeah. This is a thing now, okay. So Ardu 3, one last ride, part one. So it is a triology of which part. three is a duology. So this is the third installment of the triology and the first installment of the sub-duology.

Why is it sub? Because it's a duology within a triology. A duo within a trilogy. Yeah, it's like breaking dawn part one and two, you know, they split the last episode. Or, or, you know, what was the last Harry Potter? Was Deathly Halle's the last one? Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, so how many Harry's, Potter movies were there? Was it a septology or an octology or whatever it was? But this has now become the thing is that you divide the last episode into two. And that is now being referred to on wiki as a sub-duology, the third part of a triology. Heaven, spares. Number five here, number four over there, ready or not two. Which I enjoy. Here I come. It was good fun. And it was funny because I had to go back and remind myself of ready or not because it was a while ago. But I enjoyed this. It was good, splattery fun. Edin Romsey, I had an absolute Blast in Ready or Not, too. Yes, there are questionable plot decisions, superhuman levels of

walking off injuries and a minimal level of jeopardy or threat. But in the same way as the language computer in Project Hail Mary, that's not the point. The film is a thrill-ride roller coaster that brings our heroines from one set piece to the next and has a great time doing so. A simultaneous action sequence in the film illustrates Mark's regular point of fun violence versus nasty violence. Yes. As the two sisters face off against dual antagonists, one scene is played almost for laughs, while the other has a much darker tone.

The nastier scene is done in a way which reveals character and advances the plot, and most importantly, does not outstay its welcome. An entire film with that sort of violence would be quite different and most unpleasant. Yes, absolutely right. That's very, yeah, you should have my job. Thank you, Ed.

Number four here, number five, they're reminders of him. Proving that Colleen Hoover has now become the Nick Sparks do Norsjeure. I quite enjoyed this. I mean, it is exactly what it is, although, as I said, there is no jeopardy in terms of the plot. Just take a look at the poster. Yeah, that's what happens. Hoppers is it number three and number two in Canada, which I enjoyed. I don't think it's absolute classic Pixar, but I think that even not classic Pixar is still usually head and shoulders above most other stuff. So it's good. It's not great, but it's good.

Number two here. Number three in America, Duran Dür the Revenge, which is a new entry. Yeah, not press screened, and I'm not sure whether it'll be around next week because it's gone in,

straight into number two. This is Hindi language spy action thriller. It is obviously sequel to Duran D'a. So this is Duraner. The Revenge. If anyone has seen it, please let me know

because it wasn't press screened. Well, Sharon has. Oh, great. And writes, four hours of intense violence, gore, torture, and jaw-dropping, patriotism that would make even Michael Bay reach for the bath bag.

Like its predecessor, Durandir, too, is a box office hit across North India due to its right-wing friendly message of let's blame everything on Pakistan and Islam. Unlike its predecessor, it suffers from uneven pacing and uninspired writing. I was bored, bored, bored. I checked my watch five times during the first half and I gave up counting during the second half. In the end, the only saving grace was that the story is complete and there's no part three. I bet there is. If anyone plans on watching it in the theatre, don't forget the paracetamol. Well, I'm just looking at the BBFC advice, which is always fun. Characters' heads and bodies

are pulverized. Pulverized. I haven't heard them use that before. In a prolonged scene of sadistic violence, a man is torn apart when a hook embedded in his skin is removed and used repeatedly to slash him. Other scenes include blood gininks, shootings, explosions, impactful blows, decapitations, dismemberment and gang beatings. 18 for strong bloody violence. Yes. Okay. And given the politics of it, the way Sharon describes, makes it sound like a rather unpleasant watch. Yeah, I'm impressed. You're impressed that you stayed for the full four hours. Yeah. And number one, here, number one, there is Project Hail Mary. So here's some correspondence. Daniel in Hackney, if I'm not mistaken, Mark is almost as much a fan of Spoonerisms.

as I am. I thought he would enjoy the fact that Project Hail Mary becomes Project Male Hairy. This is particularly good because Ryan Gosling is at points in the film an extremely hairy male. Perhaps it should be referred to this from now on. Stuart Witts, having also skipped out of the cinema after watching Project Hail Mary, I can see why Mark compared it to the classic 70s sci-fi silent running. It's a joyous buddy movie and gave me the feels numerous times. One particular scene that almost literally took my breath away, especially in IMAX, was when Grace, who's the Ryan Gosling character, was outside the ship preparing to collect samples, and the whole screen suddenly flipped to a mesmerizing red. It truly was, as Grace points out, a moment.

Mentions should go to Daniel Pemberton's beautiful choral-led score. I still remember the first time I watched Silent Running as a child. It was one of those touchstone moments where I found myself crying uncontrollably as Dewey watered the plants and Joan Baez, started singing. Hal says the film really rocketed along, pun intended. In a number of instances, it explained fairly important aspects with just a single line of dialogue, sometimes delivered in haste. In contrast, the book took more time to explain the what's and the whys, for example,

how the spinner engine worked or how hard it was to develop a nitrogen-resistant strain of the bacteria. The film shows the impacts of these events and the audience have to either figure it out or just go with the new circumstances because the movie is not slowing down for you. Yes. But, and this is why it's a great movie, the film knows precisely what it's doing. And that is to make, deepen and celebrate the emotional power of the core relationship. In other words, despite Andy Weir's writing being laced with science, this is all about the vibes

and not the facts. And with such a wonderful duo carrying it, it does a fantastic job, really enjoyed it. So that is typical of most of the things. the correspondence. However, Harriet Morris, Van Gardester. My favourite film is Arrival. It is the deeply human dilemmas that sci-fi explores that make cinema such a perfect medium for its stories. Imagine, therefore, my excitement at the prospect of Project Hail Mary. What I got instead was a black hole of disappointment. Sure, there's plenty to like here. Huller's is a standout performance. The main two-hand are fun for about 20 minutes, and there's a brave attempt to tackle some thorny

questions of sacrifice and loneliness. The problem is the main character. This is a film that asks us to believe in someone who on the one hand has no friends or family. At the same time, he is so likable in engaging, excuse me, that he can charm a mobile pile of rocks into friendship and the icy shell of Huller's military official, possibly the harder task. It makes no sense. A character, a characterization to break even the improbability drive from hitchhiker's guide. to the galaxy. In the end, I felt like I was watching a film for 10-year-olds with the stupidest ending I've seen in a long time. So I don't think that's your opinion. No, I mean, I loved it. The question about the sort of seriousness, I mean, it was weird because I think the subject of

arrival did come up before, because in the subject, in arrival, pretty much the whole movie is taken up trying to figure out a way of communicating. Yes. And, you know, it's all to do with drawing the shapes. And actually when they learn the alien language, it completely changes the way in which our central character understands the world and time. And that ties it into things like Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. And the idea of time is not as a linear thing, but as something which can be seen in more cyclical terms. And in Project Hail Mary, they just go, okay, here's a laptop, here's a voice, boom, let's get on with it. And I think the thing is, they're just different tendons of movies.

I mean, you mentioned that thing about, you read the email person saying that they were very struck by silent running. And the thing about, you know, the drone with the watering can, watering the plants. Well, look, right here, this is, this is for video watches. That is my drone with the watering can. And there it is, because that sits on my desk, because it's one of my favorite films. It makes absolutely no scientific sense at all. It doesn't matter. That's not what it's about.

And I think one of the things with Project Helmery is that you have to get on board with the, it's not about the science. Whatever is true of the novel, the film is much more an odd couple thing that just happens to be in space. I mean, I have to say not being a scientist, but the book is all about the science. It's certainly all about the fields, but absolutely everything. It's all first-person narrative.

Everything is explained why this works and how that works and what we have to do, but that won't make sense. So we need to have to do that. So if you want it to make scientific sense, read the book. You just could not even begin to explain it in a movie. So it makes perfect sense that they've made. made the decision to go with the feels in the film. But if you want to know that it does make

scientific sense, then read the book because it absolutely does. And you've said that in the, in the book, they spend a lot longer establishing the means of communication. Oh yeah, yeah. Everything, everything is explained and why this would work and it just in painstaking detail. I mean, sometimes it leaves me a little cold and I drift off because I don't really need to understand how this bit works. But all the science, is explained in painstaking detail. And when it comes to the film, it's like, okay, it's not about that. We have to get them talking now because what it's actually about is, as I said,

one of the directors said, it raises the question of can men have friends? And the answer is yes, but only if the future of all humanity is at stake. Good, good, good, good. Good, good. What Rocky would say. Okay. Amaze, amaze, amaze. Sad, sad, sad.

You're asked to see the future. film or read the book or listen to the audio book for that to make any sense. Do go see the film, though. It's such. Have you seen it yet? No, seeing it at the weekend. Oh, you're going to love. Who are you going with?

The Good Lady Professor. Ceramacist. You're not going with my wife. Well, I refer you to the previous review. Yes, I'm going with the Good Lady Ceramacist. If I can get her out of the new studio. Did you just recast Splitsville with us, did you? That's the one.

In a moment, we will be talking to France's most acclaimed director Francois Ozone, who returns to this podcast after this. At Desjardin, our business is helping yours. We're here to support your business through every stage of growth, from your first

pitch to your first acquisition. Whether it's improving cash flow or exploring investment banking solutions, with Desjardin business, it's all under one roof. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. You never know who's going to show up on For the Love with Gin Hatmaker. From Mel Robbins to Tignitaro,

Kate Bowler to Stanley Tucci. I'm Jen Hatmaker and every week, my dear friend Amy and I dive deep with incredible guests who make us laugh and cry and think a lot. And think a little bigger about life in the middle years. For the Love, where great stories meet unforgettable people. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, special guest time. We're going to speak to Francois Ozone, one of modern French cinema's most prolific and varied directors. He has released almost a film a year for 25 years, including eight women, swimming pool, time to leave, young and beautiful summer of 85. The crime is mine.

Last time he was on the show, it was, When Vien Lottom when autumn falls. His new movie is Letrangé, and we'll hear from Francois after this clip, which is in French.

Why have you to kill this man? Why have broken this bonoer who you have to be barasay. There are some in your gesture that we need to you.

And that is a clip from Letrangee, the stranger. if you will, its director is Francois Ozone, who joins us. Francois, hello, sir. How are you? Hello, I'm fine. I'm in Paris. In good form. Excellent. That's very good.

That's the perfect time to speak to you then. This is based, obviously, on the Albert Camus book from 1942. Just introduce us, please, to how you came to make your movie based on this legendary book. Actually, I wanted to make another film, a film of a film. about the young men of today, very disenchanted about life, who committed a suicide. And I tried to finance this script.

I didn't find the money. It was very hard. And nobody wanted to produce my films. So I gave up and some friends told me, you should read The Stranger. And actually I had read The Stranger when I was at school, like all the French students. And reading again, the book was quite amazing

because I realized how this book was still powerful and mysterious. So it was a real challenge for me to try to adapt it. So I spoke to Benjamin Voisin about the idea to adapt the book and to play the part of Mursault. And he was very excited about it. And that's how it started. Were you surprised that the rights were still available?

I mean, this is such a famous book, so much a part of, as you've already mentioned, French education and just literature, world literature, how amazing that the rights were still there for you? Actually, only one director made an adaptation. It was Visconti in the 60s, but the family of Camus was not happy with the adaptation, and they refused to many directors to adapt the book. And actually, when Camus was aligned, he didn't want to have an adaptation. The only adaptation he wanted to make was with the actor Gerard Philippe and with Jean-Henouin.

But sadly, Jean-Henois traveled to America, so it didn't happen. And so I had to convince Catherine Camus's daughter about my adaptation. So I met her and I tried to seduce her in a certain way with a... my new ideas about the book, because my goal was to make a film about today in a certain way, with the eyes of 2006, not a film with the eyes of 1942. So I explain my choices about the adaptation, the contextualization, social and political, which was very important for me. and I think for the audience of today to understand the book

and what was the views of Camus. Francois, is it possible to say something about how those changes have made it into a different story? Because obviously, in the case of the book, it is all about the central character being disaffected, being removed from everything. And one of the things that your film has tried to do is to contextualize the crime that we know happens

because at the beginning we meet him, he is in prison, he's asked why, and he said, I killed an Arab. And what you have tried to do is to expand upon that. How have you changed that? Why, what shocked me when I read the book today was the invisibilizations of the Arabs. And I needed, I needed to understand why.

And so to understand that you have to contextualize, Because I know many people, some politicians or some terrorism can attack the book of Camus saying it's a colonialism book, which is absolutely not. You have to understand why he decided to invisibilize the Arabs. You have to explain that Algeria was France. It was two French departments. And there was a kind of apartheid. there was the propaganda of the French government who said everything was okay,

but actually it was not. The Arabs was considered as a second zone citizens. They were in indigent. Do you say indigent? Yes. Yes, indigent. So it was important to explain, and I needed to explain, to understand that too.

So that's why I met many historians. And because it's a kind of still in France, the story between Algeria and France. You know, it's always a wound for the French and for the Algerian to the story we have together. And so I wanted to keep my point of view of today, knowing that we had a war between France and Algeria. All these elements were important, I think, to understand why Camus invisibilize the Arabs in the book. It was, of course, not racism. It was just the period of his time. And you said that obviously you had read Lettranjay before. I remember really clearly,

I'm 63. I read Lettranjay when I was at school, and I read it because the cure had a record called Killenacare. Yes. Specifically relates to that. And back then, if you heard a pop song about a story, then you'd read the story. And I remember it being a book that everyone talked about. It was one of those things like Catcher in the Rye. It seemed to touch an angsty chord. Is that how you first encountered it? I think when I read it as a young man,

it was part of the job. It was an obligation of school to read it. So I didn't really enjoy the book when I was young. I think when I was young, I prefer to read Emil Zola or or Emily Bronte, you know, this kind of author, which were more romantic for me. And I think I didn't get the book.

I think the book is philosophical. It's not so easy to understand. And the book is very mysterious. But when I read it again, I realized how the book can touch young people, especially teenagers. Because when you're a teenager, you discover real life.

You have a kind of disillusion in front of your own. family in front of the society in front of your parents. And one of your possibility of being is to have a kind of detachment with society. And I remember when I met some Q&A in France, in all France to discuss with students about my adaptation. Many, many young men and women said, I'm very close to Merceau. I feel I'm a kind of Merceau. So that's why this book and this story is so intemporal and still a classic and that's still touching your young people.

In your film, Francois, Merceau, when he's on trial, is described by the judge as taciturn and withdrawn. The priest, when he sees him in prison, says he's in despair. And certainly he appears to us to be, I was going to say, hollowed out. Evide, is that the right word?

How would you describe Merceau the way Benjamin Voisin plays him? I think Merceau is a spectator of his life and he becomes a real actor of his life in front of the priest. At this moment, he's able to assume his emotions, his feelings, and at this moment he becomes Camus in a certain way because all the speech of Merceau in front of the priest He's really the philosophy of Camus about life, you know. So it was a real challenge for the actor, for Benjamin, Wozain,

to play someone who doesn't act because actually he's an actor and people, and actors likes and joys to play and to act. So I asked him to watch the film of Robert Bresson and to become a kind of model, you know, and it was disturbing, he was quite depressed at the end of the the shooting, but I think it was good for the, to, to, to be this, this character. Who is, and this character is the kind of abstraction, you know, you can't, you can direct him and describe him with the psychology. He's more an idea than someone. Francois, what about the decision to, to, to present this in black and white? I mean, you can

read that as he sees the world in black and white, but why black and white, it's not just to do with the time period, is it? No, it's different elements. It's artistic, of course, but it's economic too. When you don't have enough money to make a period movie, it's easier to shoot in black and white. But actually, the idea with the DP was to work on the light and the sun,

which is so important in the story. So we had the feeling with the white, we could more work on the idea of the glare of the sun and to feel the heat. It's quite paradoxal with the book because the book is full of colors. But for me, the idea of the black and white was obvious because it's a philosophical book

and it's more a pure, you are more focused on... You are less disturbed by the colors. I had the feeling that colors will disturb us. And it's funny because we shot actually in color and we put everything in black and white. And two weeks ago, I saw all the film in colors. And it was quite a surprise because the film is totally different. It's a totally different mood.

Maybe I will release it one day. But my real choice was the black and white. I need to mention Mousseau's girlfriend played by Rebecca Marday, who's fantastic. It seems that the women in this film balance the toxicity of the men. Would that be fair? Yes, I think so. So all these men in this story are very toxic. You know, one is beating his wife, the other one is beating his dog,

and Merso kills an Arab because of the son. So it's difficult to identify to this male character. So my idea was to develop the female parts which who don't really exist. They are in the book. They are not developed. And I wanted to give them a kind of awareness of the situation. politically and socially. So Marie is conscious.

Merceau is different and she's conscious of the tensions between the two communities, Arabs and French. And I wanted to give a name to the Arab and to the Arab sister, Jamila, who is very important to. You make films faster than Ridley Scott,

25 films in 28 years. I don't have the same budget. Not the same budgets, no. But that must mean that you have about six films on the go right now, Francois. No, no, I need to finish totally a film to be sure what will be the next one. I don't have a plan of many films. But actually, I'm working on a new film. All right.

Francois, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for talking to us today. Thank you to you. Merci. Auvoir. So our thanks to Francoise de Saint-en-en-en-en-re. for speaking to us. Again, the movie comes out in a couple of weeks.

Yes. It comes out on the 9th of April or something like that. Yeah, 10th, I think. 10th. Okay. All right. And Mark will review it then. Correspondence at curbinameau.com.

What else is out, and we can talk about this week? Out this week. They will kill you. This is action comedy horror. It's co-written by Alex Litvak and directed by Russian director Keryl Sokolov. Now, that is a name that will ring a bell to you because he made the the 2018 film, Why Don't You Just Die? Which I reviewed, I think I reviewed in 2019,

which was, it was a film that played out in a cramped Moscow apartment, which basically turned into this kind of blood-soaked Wild West Corral. And it was like Jeunay and Caro design with evil dead slapstick violence. I think the way it was described by one critic was, Meet the Parents, Meet the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was exactly right. So that film owed quite a lot to, to tarry Tarantino. Stylistically, so does this. At times, this plays like Kill Bill on Speed. It stars. Zazi Beetz,

Mihala, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette. Now, Patricia Arquette, of course, starred in the Tarantino scripted true romance. Here, she plays the matriarch of a New York building at which Zazzi Beats' newly released ex-con arrives in the rain, knocks at the door. She's in search of a missing sister, but she says she's there to be a maid. Now, as I said, features Patricia Arquette. Listen to this clip and tell me what accent you think Patricia Arquette is doing. Okay. The Virgil was built in 1923. Today, it's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan. Hi, I'm the new maid. With such wealth comes the expectation of the highest quality of service. A lot of locks. This building is a temple to Satan.

Each month we must pay with a human sacrifice. You are the offering. I've stayed in those student flats. I think they're describing tussle flats at Warrick University. They're definitely dedicated to the devil. Okay. Now, just what accent do you think? Could you just play us the beginning part of that?

It's kind of English, kind of Dick Van Dyke, I think. Okay. The Virgil was built in 1923. Today, it's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan. Okay, stop. Stop. Yeah. What do you think that was? Well, it sounds, it sounds southern English to me, estuary English.

Meant to be Irish. No, it's definitely not. It's definitely not Irish. It's meant to be. I thought it was Scottish. I literally spent quite a lot of the film thinking, where's she from? Right, okay, in which case, let's hear it for the third time. So this is an Irish accent.

Here we go. The Virgil was built in 1923. Today, it's one of the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan. No. That buzzer there is someone going, no, sorry, next. Failed the audition. On we go. Let's get an Irish actor.

But honestly, I was watching the, I don't know what accent. And she's only doing it sometimes. And I don't know what it is. Anyway, okay. That aside. So Zazia Beetz is there to find her sister. Instead, she finds a bunch of oddly domesticated Satan worshippers.

So it's like kind of, you know, in Rosemary's Baby, when they're all Satanist, but they're like people. Or this is like Rosemary's Baby meets ready or not via Kill Bill. And they need regular sacrifices to ensure their immortality. And she is to be the sacrifice. cue a ramped-up cocktail of what the BBFC calls strong bloody violence and gore including stabbing, shooting, slashings with bladed weapons, decapitations, and people being impaled, set on fire and struck with axes and other weapons.

Now, the fact that it has all that, but it's only a 15, tells you that like, ready or not to, you know, here I come, the violence is all, it's all painless, it's all knockabout fun. I mean, there isn't any sort of any cruelty involved in it. I mean, there is a wince-inducing moment involving an interface between a hand, a knife and a finger. But, you know, essentially it's all three stooges with blood and guts for custard pies.

So the film is from Nocturna, which is the company set up by Andy and Barbara Muskeetti who made the It movies. And in a way, sort of their involvement is kind of like a badge of merit. Because I like them. Actually, you know, Guillermo del Toro was very, very fond of one of the first films they made.

I mean, this is a hot mess. It is, it nicks elements. from John Wick. Do you remember that Jodie Foster film Hotel Artemis? I think you might have interviewed Jody Foster for that. No, it wasn't for that one. But there's a film which she's in, which there's like a big building where people are able to go after,

because they're crims. The one we did was for the one where Jack O'Connell was the bad guy. Oh, that's right. With the financial journalist who's kidnapped on television. That's right. where it's not like that. So this is a bit like, it's a bit like John Wick.

It's a bit, it's steal stuff from Hotel Artemis. There's a film by the Rizzer called, oh, Simon Paul is saying Money Monster. Yeah, that was the thing, but that's not relevant to this, this review. Yeah, back off, Paul. Yeah, back off.

There's a film by the Rizzical man with the iron fist. Weirdly, weirdly, weirdly, there's also a bit of Lord of the Flies in it. Because remember we were talking last week about the whole thing about Lord of the Fly's pig's head on a stick, Belsibob. So there is, in this, a pig's head on a stick, which is, to all intents and purposes, beelzebub.

The special effects are nicely squishy. The splatter is very splattery. So as you beat, shows off her action chops. I mean, this is a real physical workout performance. This is the kind of thing you'd have to get into training to do when she does it really well. And the director captures that sort of same aesthetic, kinetic violence of, why don't you just die?

The one thing I would say is that 15 minutes after seeing it, I could remember virtually nothing about it other than I had enjoyed it while it was on and then it was gone. So it is perfect Friday night popcorn fair. You'll have a laugh. It's a bit of a riot, you know, and then it stops. But that's perfectly fine. So it's a bit like a bag of jelly babies, really.

Very nice while you're having it and then you've forgotten. Apart from that strange taste in your mouth. I love jelly babies. I love jelly babies. I love jelly babies more than I love this. Okay. I do also, but the black, green and yellow ones are superior. Yes.

Yeah, they are. Which ones don't you like? The ones I don't like is the pink ones. The pink ones, which just don't taste of anything. Is that the same as the red ones? I don't know. Yeah, this sort of pink and dusty. So if you could do some jelly babies, but just the black, green and yellow ones.

Thanks very much. Thank you. Well, that's very good. So do we take a break? No, we're just going to press on with the laughter lift, which is great. However, before we get to this, which is apparently also now becoming known as the Gigulator Elevator, but only in Simon Paul's world. There are three jokes, okay? One is a reasonable joke.

The other works on the page, and the third one is going to make me cough. Okay. So with a sense of, well, even greater trepidation than normal. Where's this going? Here we go. Press the button. Okay. Hey, Mark, even though I've just told you, I haven't seen Project Hail Mary.

I saw Project Hell Mary this week. It really got me thinking about the future. In 3,024 years, life will either be really good or really bad. Okay. It's 50-50. Very good. Okay. That's all right.

That joke works quite well. Correct. And now we move on to the written joke. Hey Mark, two lovely new eateries have opened up on the high street in Showbiz, North London. An Indian and a Vietnamese. Do you know what the difference is between the two? No. The Vietnamese restaurant is for profit. The Indian is non-profit. Okay. So non as in N-A-A-N. No, no, I know. I know. I got it. And four as in P.HO. I got it. I got it. So works on the page. Okay. Simon, faux profit, yes, but it's pronounced for-profit, F-A-W. That's how you pronounce it.

Can I give you a related joke? Go on. What's the difference between Vietnam and Iran? I don't know. Donald Trump had a plan to get out of Vietnam. So I like the fact that Simon Paul has tried to correct my pronunciation because it's written P-H-O, but you pronounce it for. So it's...

Needed to be more foe. No, he didn't because if you check pronunciation, it's F-A-W. So I'm right and you're just the redacta. Moving on. And here's the joke that's going to make me cough. Hey, Mark, so I've seen the original of this, which is told on YouTube by a seven-year-old boy on the farm. Okay.

Surrounded by appropriate animals. Are you ready? Okay. Yes. Hey, Mark, why are chicken so funny? I don't know, Simon. Why are chicken so funny? Because.

Because. What's still to come? Is that it? Yeah, that's it. And that's how the boy says it. Okay. And then his mother laughs. The magic faraway tree is still to come, but I think you're going to need to lie down after that.

Yeah. Focus end time. Infamous is the gossip show that's smart. We talk about Tyra Banks and bringing down top model. We talk about Jenna Jamison and how she dominated the 90s. You know, she's horny and she's in charge. She just was very smart about marketing herself. We talk about celebrities who maybe shouldn't be celebrities, like the Beckham guy.

Brooklyn is their first kid. He's had a little bit of the Nepo baby curse. We investigate orgasm cults. A woman's erotic power can unlock many other powers in her life. And, of course, we discuss people who have gotten into lots of trouble. My name is Molly McLaughlin. I am one of Jen Shaw's many victims. She was defrauding the elderly and... And her tagline was the only thing I'm guilty of is being shamazing. Listen to Infamous, the gossip show that's smart.

The show's called Infamous. I want to tell you guys about a podcast that is near and dear to my heart. And I cannot believe it already came out a year ago. And you can all go listen to it ad free by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. What podcast, Corinne? Tell us. Oh, it's called Blink J. Candle's story. I created it about a man named. Jake, who I met, who is the only survivor of a terminal brain illness brought on by heroin use,

but there is a lot of mystery and medical malpractice and true crime elements that are very shocking and surprising and even some supernatural elements. It is definitely an amazing story. It's very unique. It did such an incredible job telling the story and cheering it with the world. So if you have not listened to it yet, my goodness, where have you been? Because Blink is so freaking good. Thank you.

Search for blink wherever you listen, and subscribers to The Binge will get the entire season ad-free. Plus, you'll get exclusive access to the over 60 other true crime stories on The Binge podcast channel. Hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts or head to getthebinge.com. So an email from Holly Tarquini, listening to you both talk about the remarkable women working in film today. This is a couple of weeks ago. Yes. We did a special. Yeah.

Filled me with a mix of grief and rage. Much of the grief comes from all the stories that we have never heard. Film is a machine for empathy, yet for most of its history audiences have been asked to see the world through the eyes of white, cis, straight, able men, often American ones. A report I read when my daughters were small said that by the age of two, girls have already been encouraged to see the world through boys and men's eyes, while boys are actively discouraged from seeing through the eyes of girls and women. The rage comes from these structural barriers. The reason so many films by women feel remarkable

is not because women are exceptional curiosities, it's because it takes so much more for them to make a film at all. Women struggle more to get funding to attract top crews and cast, and their films receive far less marketing support. Many brilliant films, therefore vanish. Many brilliant directors never get to make another. Then there is the grief of erasure. Alice Gie Blashe, one of cinema's earliest narrative filmmakers, and head of production at GoMont from 1896 to 1906 was written out of history. How many more Alice's are still missing? This is a systemic cultural problem, but film matters uniquely.

If we've fixed representation here, we would all learn to see through many lenses. Our empathy would expand, and that would change everything from Holly. I agree completely with that. And may I say on a related front that the good lady professor, her indoors, is currently involved in a very big research project to make women's film archives visible in order to address the problem of women being written out of film history. Because not only is there a shocking statistic, which is that women filmmakers make their first feature

and then statistically don't get to make a second feature, but also of the small number of features that do get to be made, several of them are simply, as you've just correctly pointed out, written out of history. And so this archive project is specifically to address that. I agree with everything that you just said in that email. And you are right. You are right. It is an issue which has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed on an industry-wide level.

Ollie, thanks for the email correspondence at kowena.com. The magic faraway tree is a movie. The magic faraway tree, yes. Now, are you familiar with the Enid Blyton source of this? I mean, I don't think so. We bought a whole lot of Enid Blytons for the kids when they were younger because they were like easy adventures to digest. But I don't think the magic faraway tree was ever one of them.

Yeah. Well, I don't think it was either. Firstly, I have a confession which is I thought for a long time that Enid Blyton's name was Gnid Blyton because the way that she would write, you know, But it looks like, ginnid, it looks like it's good, it blighten. I'm a ganoo, and another ganoon.

Another ganoo. Yes. I wish I couldn't gnash my teeth at you. So I haven't read the Magic Faraway tree books. Wiki tells me that the titles in the series are The Enchanted Wood, 39, Magic Faraway Tree 43, the folk of the faraway tree 46, and up the Faraway Tree 51. So, you know, a series of novels took place

in Enchanted Wood, gigantic magical tree. so tall that its branches reach into the clouds, big enough to contain houses and multitudes within it, and the tree is discovered by children who have moved into a house nearby. So I didn't know any of that. I just knew the poster. So about 10 years ago, it was announced that Neal Street, which is Sam Mendez's production company,

we're doing a live action adaptation. Now we have that adaptation. Ben Greger is the director, and it's written by Simon Farnaby. who most significantly, yeah, exactly, most significantly achieved huge success as co-writer of Paddington 2. So in this film version, as I said, I hadn't read the source stuff, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield, Apolly and Tim,

they are the parents of three in inverted commas adorable children. The adorable children are addicted to smartphones and computer games. One of them has pretty much stopped talking. And they live in a very modern, alienated world. When Polly loses her job, she's designed. designed a fridge and then it turns out that the fridge is spying on customers and she says, I'm not having that so she loses a job. Tim suggests that they fulfill an old dream that they used to have to live in the country

because he thinks this will be great because it will get the kids off the devices, get them into the country. And he has a plan to make tomato pasta sauce, of course. So they up sticks and move into a barn. And it is literally a barn, which they have got a certain amount of time in, after which they have to pay the 20,000 for it. said, well, how is it so cheap? Well, it's because it's a barn.

It's got no electricity. It's got no amenities. It's got no Wi-Fi. And the kids are spectacularly unimpressed, particularly the eldest daughter, who secretly writes to her super-rich grandmother, played by Jennifer Saunders, who the mother is terrified of disappointing.

And, but nevertheless, the daughter writes to her. Here is a clip. Dear Grandma, we've moved to the countryside. Dad's crazy plan is in front of, affecting the whole family. I feel like their childhood is slipping away. Polly, the kids need this. Just remember, don't go in that wood up top.

Some folks say it's enchanted. Strange creatures. Flolly lights. You have the usual things. We'll say that was very usual. No! Mommy! What is this place?

The magic faraway tree. It's amazing. So what is amazing? is this kind of fairy tale world that they find within the titular tree, which is it's like a portal to a range of fantastical adventures, none of which require USBs or plugs or electricity supplies. So within this sort of nine-eer-esque world in which there are a series of other worlds that they enter on a daily basis for adventures,

there is a star-study cast which includes Nicola Coughlin's Silky, because I have silky hair. Jessica Gunning's Dame Washalot, Nonzo and Ozzy as Moonface, Rebecca Ferguson as the deranged Dame Snap, and a many-headed explosion of beards known as the Great Know It All, played by Lenny Henry, Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beal. And exactly, Simon Barnaby is also in it as a sort of more down-to-earth role as the farmer who lets them use the barn.

Now, I confess that when I saw the poster for this, my heart sank a little bit because I thought the poster looked a bit, cringy. And I, there are plenty of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, bonding song, uh, which we get to hear more than once. And there's lots of sort of, you know, life lessons being learned. But the thing is, it didn't matter, because I found it surprisingly charming and entertaining and kind of uplifting. I mean, the thing is, Farnaby is, he's very funny, right? He, he co-wrote. that thing, Mindhorn, which is still underrated, which as I keep pointing out, was the first film

to be shot and set in the Isle of Man since No Limits back in, you know, whatever it was 1930, blah. And his script does a really good job of updating what I imagine the Enid Blighton source is like, because I have read Enid Blighton, obviously just haven't read any of these, but giving it kind of a little bit of a contemporary edge. So yes, there's the stuff about the gadgets and the devices, but there's also a very nice interaction between the elder grumpy daughter, played by Delida Bennett Cardi and Silky, the fairy, who's, you know, I am called this because I have such silky hair. She's clearly haven't heard of feminism. And that stuff works well.

The other thing is, despite the poster, it is a very good looking film. The production design is Alexander Walker. And the thing about it is it owes more aesthetically to that kind of very physical look of Spielberg's hook. I mean, I know I don't like hook as a film, but it did have a world that you believed in. And I think that in the age of the Tim Burton kids' fantasies, which are just so artificial, and you find it very hard to get involved. So honestly, I went in with a cynical, old grumpy head on, and I was won over and charmed, and I laughed, and I was moved in all the right places. I mean, it helps that I love, obviously we love Claire Foy, right? Obviously, we love

Claire Foy. Hello to Claire Foy's dad. David. Yeah, David. Hello, David. And so it helps that they've got a cast of this calibre. As I said, I mean, the many-headed beard explosion in which you've got Lenny Henry and Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beal all sharing the same beard is a particularly splendid moment. But I thought it was, I mean, I suppose it's Easter a hole's time, isn't it? But it is the rare treat for all the family that anybody can go and see. The BBFC rating is you for very mild threat, rude humour and slapstick and language. But honestly, if you're taking young kids to see it, they'll enjoy it. And I think the adult grown-up will enjoy it too. The adult grown-up? Yes, you know, with me.

Okay, that sounds intriguing. And also in... I kind of feel warm and warm, encouraged by your review. Correspondence at cumberdemer.com, which is also where you send your videos and audio bits and pieces if you have a watts on. For example, this one from Glasgow. James here from the Grovener Picture Theatre in Glasgow's West End

where we have kicked off our midnight movie season with primer and a sold-out eraserhead screening. Next to the list is one of Mark's faves, Silent Running. This is on April 3rd into the 4th. What is a more effective and immersive experience than to finish silent running at half one in the morning in a cinema near to Glasgow's botanic gardens? Tickets are on sale on our website,

grovenapicturet Theatre.court.uk, where you will find more midnight movie screenings, including the most dangerous game and eyes without face. James, thank you very much. You have to walk home at half-past 1 in the morning. Okay, anyway, grovenapentapetheatre.com. Okay, is where you'll find the details. Third and the 4th of April for Silent Running.

you to everybody. Please do send in your video clips and audio if you can't do that. That's fine. That's it for this week. This has been a Sony Music Entertainment production. This week's team was Jen, Eric, Josh, Heather and Dom, the redactor was Simon Paul. And if you're not following the pod already, please do so wherever you get your podcasts. Come and join us on Patreon for all the good stuff. Mark, what is your film of the week? Well, my film of the week is a double header, one of which I haven't spoken about yet because it's going to be in take two. But films of the week are Orwell 2 plus 2 equals 5

please do listen to take 2 for that and the magic faraway tree Okay that's good Gully was our engineer by the way I should have mentioned that Back next week with Hugh Bonneville Talking about repreasing his role as Ian Fletcher In 2026

where he's become Director of Integrity for the World Cup Oversight Team I am going to bestow a year's Ultra membership to correspondent of the week I'll give it to Holly Tarqueenny, who was writing about women in cinema. So I think she deserves that. Correspondence at Kermanameh.com, a take-two has landed at exactly the same time as this podcast. Go have a listen.