FILM OF THE WEEK
ROMERIA
This is a labour of love for Carla Simon, the award-winning Spanish writer/director of ALCARRAS and SUMMER 1997. The story here is partially inspired by Simon’s own life and follows Marina Pineiro (Llucia Garcia), an eighteen-year-old, who lost both her parents at a young age but now she must travel to Spain’s Atlantic coast and find her paternal grandparents she has never met. They need to sign some documents for a university scholarship and Marina, holding her mother’s precious diary, searches along the beautiful city of Vigo to find them – the place where her parents met and fell in love…
Simon’s expertly written screenplay plays with time and memory where the deeper Marina digs into her family’s past, the deeper she sinks into dark secrets and lies.
The family at first is reluctant to accept Marina as one of them apart from her uncle Lois (Tristan Ulloa) who welcomes her to his houseboat. She soon begins to form a strong bond with one of his sons, Marina’s attractive cousin Nuno (Mitch Martin).
Simon’s casting is perfect and her idea of having Garcia and Martin play both the young lovers as well as Marina’s parents works brilliantly. It is an attractive film superbly photographed on this beautiful coastal location and is very much worth seeking out.
OUR LAND
Orban Wallace’s excellent documentary follows a group of passionate activists who are fighting for the “Right to Roam” in the English countryside.
A vast majority of the countryside from Cornall to Scotland is owned by rich landowners who forbid the public to walk through the land and are prepared to prosecute them for trespassing. The only people allowed are special guests for the hunting season. Fortunately, the laws are different in Scotland but the campaign in England has still a long way to go…
I found it enlightening and rather depressing that still many pompous landowners talk proudly about their heritage and their rights that have been bestowed to their families for generations.
Wallace wisely presents both points of view in his essential documentary including Right to Roam campaigner Nadia Sheikh, and author of “The Book of Trespass”, Nick Hayes. See it and join the campaign!
THE SHEEP DETECTIVES
This pleasing but silly comedy boasts a fun premise and ace voice work from a strong ensemble of actors – unfortunately the humans look pale by comparison.
The story is based on the German 2005 novel “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann and the action takes place in a small English town where a loving shepherd called George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) reads detective novels to his sheep every night before bedtime. But when a dead body is found in the fields, it is up to the sheep to solve the murder…
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss leads the excellent voice cast as Lily, the Shetland sheep who leads the investigation in solving the murder whereas the human cast deliver approximate performances; even Emma Thompson fails to be funny as the overenunciating Lydia Harbottle, George’s lawyer. Overall, a mixed bag.
MICHAEL
Antoine Fuqua’s slick direction brings vividly to life the early years of Michael Jackson, who is superbly played by newcomer Jaafar Jackson. The production is backed by Jackson’s estate so inevitably he is represented here like a saint, especially when Michael is still a boy and is continually being abused by his violent father (Colman Domingo).
Jaafar is a natural performer and conveys perfectly his character’s extraordinary talents and charisma. The film ends abruptly during the late eighties, but the titles say the story is to be continued. I doubt if the sequel will have the guts to show Michael in a darker light especially during his controversial Neverland years.
BAIT
Riz Ahmed plays Shah Latif, a British Pakistani actor in this 6-part television series created by him.
Shah can’t believe his luck when he auditions for the role of James Bond, but it is all downhill from then on. He immediately begins to get hate mail from strangers, which also brings a strain on his family relationships and to make matters even worse, he accidentally meets his ex-lover and journalist Yasmin Khan (Ritu Arya), who is leading a newspaper campaign against him…
It is a very funny series with another remarkable performance by the luminous Ahmed who gets solid comedy support from Guz Khan as his cousin and friend. (Amazon Prime Video)
MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN
This incredibly brave documentary by David Borestein and Pavel Talankin has deservedly won the Oscar for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Pavel Talankin works at a school in Karabash, a poor mining town near the Ural Mountains. It is a deeply depressing place and Talankin’s job is to record his students in the classroom or during some main events. He also keeps a record and documents the increasing propaganda and the continuous brain washing from some of his colleagues to the young students, especially when Putin begins the war against Ukraine…
This is urgent filmmaking of the best kind and Talankin deserves all the praise he can get – not only for being an exceptional eyewitness to these horrific events but also for managing to survive the brutal regime. Unmissable! (BBC iPlayer)
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