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News: Almeida 2021 season announcement

First up in June is the World Premiere of and breathe… by Yomi Ṣode, a theatrical adaptation of poems from his forthcoming collection Manorism. Directed by Olivier Award-winning director Miranda Cromwell, featuring David Jonsson.

From July Lolita Chakrabarti’s Hymn will be performed to live in-person audiences for the first time following a string of sold-out live stream performances earlier this year. Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani reprise their roles, and Blanche McIntyre directs. Continue reading “News: Almeida 2021 season announcement”

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Film Review: Ammonite (2020)

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan deliver committed performances in Francis Lee’s Ammonite but the film rarely excites

“You know you can always ask me for help”

Francis Lee follows up the exceptional God’s Own Country with another story about hard labour in LGBTQ+ lives, this time focusing on the first letter of the acronym. Ammonite follows the life of 18th century fossil hunter Mary Anning, a woman working hard in her chosen field but stifled by Victorian attitudes which resulted in her discoveries being shown without any credit being given to her in her lifetime.

Lee couples this narrative of historical misogyny with a love story of his own making, a speculative romance that sees a growing connection build with Charlotte Murchison. Their ‘meet-cute’ comes at the behest of Murchison’s husband, a geologist wanting to learn from Anning’s practices and when he opts to take a trip away which conveniently coincides with his wife falling into a depression, a period of convalesence under Mary’s care in Lyme Regis is prescribed. Continue reading “Film Review: Ammonite (2020)”

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73rd British Academy Film Awards nominations

BAFTA Fellowship
Kathleen Kennedy
Hideo Kojima

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
Andy Serkis

Best Film
1917 – Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, and Jayne-Ann Tenggren
The Irishman – Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Joker – Bradley Cooper, Todd Phillips, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino
Parasite – Bong Joon-ho and Kwak Sin-ae Continue reading “73rd British Academy Film Awards nominations”

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Film Review: Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

A starry Mary Queen of Scots proves an intriguing if a little frustrating film debut for Josie Rourke

“The world will decide for itself”

An intriguing, if a little frustrating one this. Josie Rourke is a titan in the world of theatre and Mary Queen of Scots marks her cinematic debut. But despite a classy pair of lead performances from Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie as diametrically opposed queens Mary and Elizabeth, an ensemble consisting of the cream of British acting talent, and the sweeping beauty of the Highlands to frame every other shot, the film never really quite sparks into life.

Beau Willimon’s screenplay, based on John Guy’s book Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart, dances around historical accuracy with its own determination, building in a climactic meeting between the two which although visually striking, dramatically brings precious little. Before then, the film is plotted as a strategic confrontation between two monarchs, two women, who are battling the worlds around them as much as each other. Continue reading “Film Review: Mary Queen of Scots (2018)”

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25th Critics’ Choice Awards nominees

Best Picture
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite
Uncut Gems

Best Director
Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
Greta Gerwig – Little Women
Bong Joon-ho – Parasite 
Sam Mendes – 1917 
Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie – Uncut Gems
Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Continue reading “25th Critics’ Choice Awards nominees”

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Film Review: On Chesil Beach (2017)

On Chesil Beach proves a most painful watch indeed

“Minor seventh might be better”

Dominic Cooke’s theatrical résumé includes such triumphs as Follies and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom so a measure of anticipation about his feature film debut was surely not unexpected. But I should have remembered he was also responsible for the challenges of The Low Road and In The Republic of Happiness and for me, it was to this end of the scale that On Chesil Beach tips.

An adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2007 novella by the man himself, we’re in the world of classic 1960s English sexual repression. New graduates Edward and Florence come together in a theoretically perfect courtship but when they come together disastrously in marriage, their sexual inexperience on their Dorset honeymoon proves utterly and completely life-changing. Continue reading “Film Review: On Chesil Beach (2017)”

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Oscar Week Film Review: Lady Bird

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird is rather brilliant – will it make her only the second woman to ever win Best Director? And should Metcalf get the win as well…? (Yes, to both).

“I want you to be the very best version of yourself that you can be.
‘What if this is the best version?'”

It seems scarcely credible that Greta Gerwig is only the fifth woman to be recognised with an Academy Award nomination for directing a film – a statistic that is nothing but utterly shameful in so many ways. But nominated she is, and for the gloriously funny and undoubtedly excellent Lady Bird.

A coming-of-age story that matter-of-factly puts the emotional lives of its leading – female – characters front and centre to create a rich and poignant tale of mothers and daughters. And in the hands of Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf – also both Oscar-nominated – Lady Bird soars all the way home. Continue reading “Oscar Week Film Review: Lady Bird”

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71st British Academy Film Awards nominations

BAFTA Fellowship
Ridley Scott

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
National Film and Television School

Best Film
Call Me by Your Name – Émilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito, and Peter Spears
Darkest Hour – Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, and Douglas Urbanski
Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, and Martin McDonagh Continue reading “71st British Academy Film Awards nominations”