[Falling Down]

Scrapper, directed by Charlotte Regan is another recent and brilliant film with strong Aftersun vibes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8649252/

I’ve not seen it yet but “How to have sex” directed by Molly Walker is getting rave reviews.

[andy popp]

I’ve not seen it yet but “How to have sex” directed by Molly Walker is getting rave reviews.

Was going to say the same, haven't seen it but rave reviews. I also loved enjoyed Aftersun.

Fwiw, my daughter (25) hated Saltburn with a fiery passion. Though obviously middle-class (child of an academic etc.) she went from state schools in Widnes and St Helens to Edinburgh University, where she often felt treated as little more than an object of curiosity simply for being northern and state school educated. I think she saw a lot of that attitude in the film.

[Wellsy]

I thought Saltburn was pretty shit myself

[TobyD]

The shadow of the Moon: initially promising but overall I found it dragged a bit and was ultimately unsatisfying. Not an awful film but not great either. It's on netflix if that interests you anyway...

[Duncan campbell]

I watched Pain Hustlers the other week on Netflix, about some pharma company in the US that developed a “breakthrough cancer pain med” that contained fentanyl and the snowballing of the business and the underhand tactics they used (like loads of pharma companies)

Based on a true story and has Emily Blunt in it who was great!

[Mike Highbury]

I think we spoke about Aftersun when it was in the cinemas, it's a delight.

One Life at Camden Parkway Odeon. Dear me, that cinema has deteriorated a fair bit over the decades.

It's the story of Nicholas Winton and his pals who saved about 660 children from the grill just before the beginning of the war.

The cinema didn't sound overly happy when they realised that, though a decent British citizen, his antecedents were considerably less embarrassing .

Best thing: Helena Bonham Carter as the Grande Dame of European Jewry, which she is, of course.

Then a horridly sentimental ending but the rest is fine.

Duncan will be along in a minute to translate.

[Yossarian]

I’ve not seen it yet but “How to have sex” directed by Molly Walker is getting rave reviews.

Was going to say the same, haven't seen it but rave reviews. I also loved enjoyed Aftersun.

Fwiw, my daughter (25) hated Saltburn with a fiery passion. Though obviously middle-class (child of an academic etc.) she went from state schools in Widnes and St Helens to Edinburgh University, where she often felt treated as little more than an object of curiosity simply for being northern and state school educated. I think she saw a lot of that attitude in the film.

That’s kind of what I meant when I said it wasn’t quite the thing I wanted / expected it to be, which I Donny explain very clearly. And perhaps EF wouldn’t have been the right person to tell that sort of story…

I spent a year at Imperial in the mid 90s and met a load of insanely impressive people who didn’t get into Oxbridge for reasons which seem ludicrously unfair now. Conversely, I knew at least one person who failed to get in the first time, who then suddenly got accepted thanks to him pointing out that his dad had gone to the same college. When my sister was at Oxford in the early 2000s they were still having chav-themed college discos.

I think a superior film would’ve maybe made more of that sort of thing.

[steveri]

Re: Saltburn. Haven't watched, will watch. A good friend of mine went to Christ Church and I spent a year working in Oxford (on next to no money). It was quite an eye opener to a suburban northern lad, seeing the end of year champagne and boat burning antics. On the plus side I did get smuggled into college dining room a few times. And I got a new lifelong friend out of the year, looking forward to a rocky retirement together at some point.

[tommytwotone]

Know Saltburn is the streaming movie on everyone's lips but Netflix also released The Kitchen the other week.

Watched it last night and it's OK, but only that - visually very impressive for a "near future" type story, but despite looking like it's got some interesting things to say about the gap between the rich and poor, the benefits of community etc, I didn't feel it really got round to making them. Thought the main narrative was good, if predictable, but kind of lost its way towards the end of the second act though.

[Fiend]

Aniara.

Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned here as I'm sure it's the sort of thing some discerning UKBers would like. Large, luxurious colonisation ship goes off course into deep space, nihilistic melancholy ensues. One of those "human story in sci-fi context" things, a real slow burner, pretty cool and a bit haunting too.

[seankenny]

Zone of Interest

This film takes us into the domestic life of Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz, which he shares with his wife Hedwig and his five boisterous Aryan children. Höss has a large, modern house with a beautiful garden whose high walls are topped with barbed wire. Beyond the wall just the tops of barracks are visible, and a square chimney pours out black smoke. The camp itself remains almost invisible throughout the film, but shouts, barks, gunshots and a low mechanical grind percolate the Höss family’s domestic life. Hedwig gets a parcel of underclothes and tries on a luxurious fur coat, in which she finds the previous owner’s lipstick. One of the Höss boys lays on his bed with a torch, examining his collection of gold teeth. The house and children are immaculate, they clean and they clean and they clean. Höss plays with his children, goes fishing, discusses technical details with a delegation from an engineering firm.

Very controlled, very stylised, really no plot to speak of, it felt like some kind of fever dream. I suspect whether you appreciate it or find it pointless will very much depend on how you feel about the subject matter being approached in such a way.

[Falling Down]

Thanks Sean. Great review. I shall be watching.

[Mike Highbury]

Zone of Interest

Yes, saw it today.

Edited, I was unreasonably mean about the film

[Fultonius]

Last night was a toss-up between Zone and American Fiction - went for the latter, brilliant!

Proper laugh out loud funny, good pace, length, acting.

[TobyD]

Behind the Wire
A decent film as it's on Netflix,  some interesting ideas and I felt as though it could have been great but, though entertaining,  it's ultimately pretty forgettable.  Worth watching if you have Netflix and want a scifi war movie to watch. 

[steveri]

The Straight Story is on C4 currently, as gentle a road movie as you'll ever see. Not sure it's on anywhere but Lucky would make for a good companion piece. It was on Prime recently.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-straight-story

[TobyD]

The Monuments Men is currently on iPlayer and imminently on netflix as well.
I started watching it hoping it might be a bit like Inglorious Bastards, which I thought would be not that good but thought was hilarious, and actually pretty good as well. Sadly, MM is pretty bad, especially considering the very starry cast. It starts a little like an extremely camp Dirty Dozen movie, then goes drastically downhill (believe it or not), especially when it tries to be serious. It's not quite unwatchable but it's like the sort of thing that might have been on the TV on a Sunday afternoon in the 1980s. (IE good to doze off in front of).

[lukeyboy]

NYAD (not NIAD!) is currently on Netflix and I thought it was great.

It's about a lady who attempted to be the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida in her youth in the 1960s (I think?), failed, gave up swimming, and then has another go in her sixties. The whole thing is amazing and inspiring (it's over 100 miles, takes 3 days, sharks and jellyfish) but I most enjoyed the friendship between Nyad and the character played by Jodie Foster, and having a sixty-something woman as the protagonist - a rather forgotten and overlooked demographic. The backstory and past traumas also add to the tale, without defining it or her.

Includes Rhys Ifans as a salty old sea dog.

Would definitely recommend, let me know if you've seen it and what you thought.

[Will Hunt]

We found it watchable but a bit predictable and formulaic. Sportsperson has comeback, tries, tries again, eventually succeeds, fin.

[SA Chris]

Were you expecting a nailbiting thriller where the outcome is uncertain 'til the last second, but the hero saves the day?

[T_B]

NSFW  :

Well I didn’t know the outcome in advance and thought she might die on the last attempt

The acting was outstanding I thought.

Will might enjoy The Deepest Breath, if he’s not already seen it? Or The Usual Suspects.

[Will Hunt]

Were you expecting a nailbiting thriller where the outcome is uncertain 'til the last second, but the hero saves the day?

Nope, I got exactly what I was expecting! We picked it as an easy watch. I didn't dislike it, but didn't think it stellar.

Deepest Breath looks good.

This prompted a funny conversation with Daisy when I asked her what she thought about the swimming film we'd watched.
"Heartbreaking, harrowing".
"Really? It wasn't that bad for her was it? It all worked out in the end?"
She looks at me like I've declared I'm voting BNP. We went back and forth a few more times with her getting more agitated at my blasé attitude.
She thought I was talking about The Swimmers (2022).

[Stu Littlefair]

Funny thing about NYAD is that when you look into the story it turns out she's potentially a bit of a Rich Simpson!

[Plattsy]

Interestingly all the sea in NYAD is CGI. 

[stone]

Fwiw, my daughter (25) hated Saltburn with a fiery passion. Though obviously middle-class (child of an academic etc.) she went from state schools in Widnes and St Helens to Edinburgh University, where she often felt treated as little more than an object of curiosity simply for being northern and state school educated. I think she saw a lot of that attitude in the film.

I also went to Edinbrugh Uni but 30years before your daughter. My impression then was that most people there had a background like mine -ie had been the kid in their state school who was teased for being posh. Then at Edinburgh Uni they found a bunch of folk posher than them who they in turn could turn all of that crap onto -pretty unedifying.

Leeds Uni seemed mercifully free from such "class conciousness" - felt like a breath of fresh air to me after Edinbrugh.