We’ve gathered a panel of editors who worked on our new ebook, In their Own Words: Fiction Directors, to talk about what is in the book, how it was made, and why it’s so exciting.
Ep. 81: In Their Own Words: Fiction Directors
Brett Pardy podcast
Ep. 77: Deep Blue Sea(s)
On this episode we discuss two versions of Terence Ratigan’s 1952 play, The Deep Blue Sea. Terence Davies’ 2011 film version is a moving portrayal of memory and Carrie Cracknell’s National Theatre Live production from 2016 features strong characterization. We discuss adaptation choices, acting brilliance, how the two directors adapt the play to fit their interests, and more.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guest Andrew Kendall (@DepartedAviator).
The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies, 2011)
Terence Davies adapted Terence Ratigan’s 1952 play about the end of an affair between Hester (Rachel Weisz) and younger RAF pilot, Freddie (Tom Hiddleston). Simon Russell Beale also stars as Hester’s husband William. Davies brings his own interests in post-war memory and culture to create a distinctive take on the text.
The Davies film is streaming on Hoopla and Tubi in Canada and the US, Amazon Prime and Kanopy in the US, and on DVD and VOD
The Deep Blue Sea (Carrie Cracknell, National Theatre Live, 2016)
Britain’s National Theatre staged The Deep Blue Sea in 2016, starring Helen McCrory as Hester, Tom Burke as Freddie, Peter Sullivan as William, and Marion Bailey.
Show Notes
- Listen to Andrew’s first appearance on the podcast, discussing Steven McQueen’s Small Axe
- Read Alex on how Davies’ adaptation is a memory film with an unreliable narrator
- The Deep Blue Sea was 13th on our best of the decade list. See the other choices here.
- Read Alex on the Tom Hiddleston and the hollow charm thwarting the promise of a great actor
- Visit our Special Issue on a A Quiet Passion page for more on Terence Davies
- Sign up to receive our Sundance coverage right to your inbox
Ep. 76: Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako and Timbuktu
On this episode we look at two of Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako’s films, the newly restored Bamako, and one of our favourite films of the 2010s, Timbuktu. We also discuss locating African cinema and challenges in distribution and preservation.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, and Associate Editor Brett Pardy.
Bamako (2006)
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are put on trial in the courtyard of a house in a poor area of Mali’s capital city, Bamako. Life in the neighbourhood goes on around and in the midst of the trial.
Bamako is available on DVD and VOD, and streaming on Ovid in the US
Timbuktu (2014)
Set during the 2012 Jihadist occupation of Timbuktu in northern Mali, the film focuses on cattle herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed dit Pino), his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), and their daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed). Their struggles, complicated by the death of a prized cow, are complicated when they are drawn into the arcane system of order implemented by the Jihadists.
Timbuktu is available on DVD and VOD, and streaming on Kanopy in the US and Australia
Show notes
- Timbuktu was our 30th favourite film of the 2010s. See the other choices here.
- Read film curator Mark Cosgrove’s interview with film scholar Aboubakar Sanogo about preserving and restoring classic African cinema.
Ep. 75: Sound of Metal and Blind: Portrayals of disability
This week, we focus on two films, Sound of Metal and Blind, with different approaches in depicting disability. We discuss the formula of the disability melodrama, able bodied actors playing characters with disability, and the difference between best sound and most sound.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and staff writer Angelo Muredda.
Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019)
Darius Marder’s debut film follows drummer and recovering addict Ruben (Riz Ahmed) as he begins to lose his hearing. While he is set on getting cochlear implants, his partner Lou (Olivia Cooke) encourages him to go to a centre for deaf recovering addicts. Ruben attempts to adapt to his hearing loss and the centre’s strict rules.
Sound of Metal is streaming on Prime in the USA and Australia and available on VOD in Canada
Blind (Eskil Vogt, 2014)
Eskil Vogt, site favourite Joachim Trier‘s frequent co-writer, made his directorial debut with Blind. Author Ingrid (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), has recently lost her eyesight. Depressed and confining herself to her apartment, she imagines a fantasy world to play out her fears involving her husband Morten (Henrik Rafaelson), and fictional characters Elin (Vera Vitali) and Einar (Marius Kolbenstvedt)
Blind is streaming on Ovid in Canada and the US, Kanopy in the US and Australia, and is available on VOD
Show notes
- Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal was one of our 20 best lead performances of 2020. See the others.
- “It’s the kind of sound work that wins awards for Best Sound Design, when it’s really just Most Sound Design” Read more of Alex’s review of Sound of Metal in her discussion of the 2019 TIFF Platform lineup
- Sound of Metal received two votes in our critics survey of the best films of 2020
- Read Alex’s interview with Eskil Vogt, on Blind and Thelma
- Read Angelo’s review of Sound of Metal at Film Freak Central
- You can read Angelo Muredda’s essay on Portrait of a Lady on Fire in our Céline Sciamma ebook Portraits of resistance, and his essay on Wendy & Lucy in our Kelly Reichardt ebook Roads to nowhere.
Ep. 72: Steve McQueen’s Small Axe
To cover Steve McQueen’s ambitious Small Axe series, we have assembled one of our most ambitious episodes of the year. We discuss each film (or episode?) of McQueen’s series and how they work together to form a cohesive whole.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guests Andrew Kendall and Debbie Zhou.
Small Axe
Small Axe chronicles stories from London’s West Indies community between the ‘60s and ‘80s, and all of them but Lovers Rock are true stories that tackle racism
Mangrove
Mangrove demonstrates both the physical brutality and the brutality of the justice system, before going on to illustrate what it actually means to fight against it. McQueen places the subtler systemic racism faced by The Mangrove Nine in the High Court on the same level as the racist physical abuse of the police. He dedicates the whole second half of the film, which is set almost entirely in a courtroom, to exploring this.
Read the rest of Orla’s Review
Mangrove stars Shaun Parkes, Letitia Wright, Malachi Kirby, Rochenda Sandall, and Jack Lowden
Lover’s Rock
Lovers Rock stands apart as the most lighthearted of the films, the only fictional story, and the only one with a female protagonist. The entire 70-minute film is set over one night, at a raucous and joyous house party run and attended by Black Londoners, where Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) dances with her best friend, Patty (Shaniqua Okwok), and falls for a charming stranger, Franklyn (Micheal Ward). It’s a love story, but one with a keen eye for the racial and gendered violence in the periphery while Martha and Franklyn pursue a sweet courtship.
Read the rest of Orla’s review
Alex Wheatle
Alex Wheatle begins with Alex (Sheyi Cole) in prison, serving time for participating in the 1981 Brixton Riot. After a fight, his cellmate, Simeon (Robbie Gee) asks him “what’s your story?” In flashback, McQueen tells the story of Wheatle’s youth, from growing up in foster homes, reconnecting with Caribbean culture, and forming a reggae group.
Alex Wheatle also stars Jonathan Jules and Elliot Edusah
Red, White and Blue
John Boyega stars as Leroy Logan, the son of Jamaican immigrant parents who leaves behind his career in science to joins the police in the belief he could change the system from within. Logan’s father, Ken (Steve Toussaint) has been a victim of police brutality and is furious at Leroy’s career change. Leroy also finds changing the system is much harder than he imagined.
Red, White and Blue also stars Tyrone Huntley, Nadine Marshall, and Assad Zaman
Education
McQueen’s five-film series, Small Axe, closes out with Education, the most personal installment to McQueen, and the one with the youngest protagonist. Although 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy) isn’t a direct analogue with McQueen’s childhood self, McQueen has said the film was based partially on his own hellish experience in the British secondary education system. Education is a fitting end to Small Axe: it continues many of the series’ themes, from Black people creating safe spaces away from a hostile white society, to the sacrifices the older generation makes for the younger. It also leaves the series on a hopeful note: despite the trials Kingsley goes through at school, there’s the promise of greatness in his future, especially if we see him as a McQueen surrogate.
Read the rest of Orla’s review
Education also stars Sharlene Whyte, Tamara Lawrence, Josette Simon, and Naomi Acki
Show Notes
- Lover’s Rock and Mangrove were among the most popular choices on our best films of 2020 critics survey. Education and Alex Wheatle also were among the over 100 films selected. See the full list.
- Follow Andrew on Twitter @DepartedAviator
- Read Andrew’s interview with Steve McQueen for Stabroek News
- Follow Debbie on Twitter @debbie_zhou and listen to her on our episodes about Sam Mendes’ war films and Australian westerns
Small Axe is streaming on Amazon Prime in Canada and the US, BBC One in the UK, and Binge in Australia
Ep. 70: Another Round and Oslo, August 31st: Are men OK? Masculinity, mental health, & addiction
On the latest episode of the podcast, we delve into one of the best films of the year, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, and the best film of the last decade, Joachim Trier‘s Oslo, August 31st, and their depiction on men’s mental health and addiction.
This episode is a Seventh Row members exclusive, as are all episodes older than six months. Click here to become a member.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and Editor-at-Large Mary Angela Rowe.
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Another Round (2020)
“Another Round, or as my friend, fellow film critic Andrew Pope, calls it “Thomas Vinterberg’s Are Men OK?.” The answer this film gives is, very firmly, no. The four main characters, all school teachers, play out what they call a ‘social experiment’ — maintain a constant 0.05% blood-alcohol content and see if it improves their lives — which is really a very thinly veiled cry for help. Vinterberg’s film is funny and even contains some slapstick bits, like Mads Mikkelsen walking straight into a wall. But it’s also a deeply empathetic portrait of masculinity in crisis and how alcohol, while sometimes joyous, can become an unhealthy outlet for depression and pain. And what’s more, Mikkelsen gives a top form performance featuring everything from gentle crying to jazz ballet.” – Orla Smith
Thank you Andrew for inspiring the title of this episode
Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Joachim Trier’s brilliant and moving Oslo August 31st is as much about its protagonist — the over-educated, over-privileged, recovering heroin addict Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie) — as it is about his generation and his city. Anders is our window into the city, and as a former drug dealer, he was, in the words of his former friend, “the best connected guy in Oslo” — although he spends the film feeling like the most disconnected one. When he returns to the city for one day in August, it’s from a ten-month exile in rehab. The occasion is a job interview, but he also uses the opportunity to catch up with old friends and family, in an effort to either start again or to say goodbye — he hasn’t quite decided which, having attempted suicide that morning, but changing his mind. We wait with baited breath to see which way it will go. – Alex Heeney
Read the rest of Alex’s essay on the film .
Show notes for Another Round and Oslo, August 31st podcast
- Oslo, August 31st was our best film of the decade. Check out our other 49 selections here.
- Mads Mikkelsen’s performance in Another Round was one of our favourites at TIFF this year. Find out why here.
- Several critics in our best films at TIFF ’20 critics survey selected Another Round. See their choices.
- Read Orla’s interview with Thomas Vinterberg on The Film Stage
- Read Alex’s interview with Anders Danielsen Lie about his role in 22 July
- Read Alex’s essay “There is a world elsewhere: exile in Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st and Louder Than Bombs“
- Read our special issue on Louder Than Bombs, which includes a review and interviews with director Joachim Trier and cinematographer Jakob Ihre.
- Read our in-depth guide to director Joachim Trier
- Listen to our episode Dead Mothers, featuring Trier’s Louder Than Bombs
Where to Watch
- Another Round will be available on VOD on December 18th in Canada and the US.
- Oslo, August 31st is available on VOD, and is streaming on Kanopy in Canada.