Chapter 1: What are the highlights from this week's film and TV discussions?
We are going to preview, as always, the best entertainment on the big and small screen this week. It is The Watchlist and I'm joined in studio by movies editor with your tea guide, Michael Daugherty, and fresh from Le Tapis Rouge at Cannes, the director of the Dublin International Film Festival, Gráinne Humphreys, who disappointingly is not in her red carpet.
No, or tanned, which proves I was working. Can I just point that out? I mean, this is the evidence. I've put loads of concealer on to make sure the tan doesn't come through.
Working in verticolours. But you do get all the glamour gigs. And look, it was just breaking last night. Fjord was the...
Yeah, which I think was a little bit of a shock. I mean, Christian Mungo, Romanian director, he did four months, three weeks and two days, one with that very, I think, very strong kind of film about abortion. And he joins a very elite group of 10 filmmakers who've now won the Palme d'Or twice. But to my mind, it was a little bit of a surprise.
I think the one that I was thinking about was Minotaur, which is a new film from Andrei Zagyatsev, a fantastic, brilliant, brilliant Russian filmmaker who'd remade a film about a husband finding out about his wife's affair.
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Chapter 2: What were the major winners at Cannes this year?
but beautifully set against the war in Ukraine. Just brilliantly powerful film, but won a surprise, I suppose, lesser award. And then the other one, which was Pavel Pavlovsky, who many people loved the film. It's a beautiful, stark black and white film about Thomas Mann, the famous German Nobel Prize winning author who travels back to Germany
post-war with his daughter and kind of discovers what he has meant to the country and what he has probably failed to do as a father and a leader. And mostly loved because it was 83 minutes long, to be honest, in a festival where there were long, long films. So it was a surprise, I suppose, to see that it got the top prize.
There is no photographic evidence, but we understand you were rubbing shoulders literally with Gillian Anderson, who, can I say, is just living her best life.
I know. No, that was amazing. That was really, really funny, actually. So there was a very strong LGBTQ film. And one of the probably highlights, along with Lucas Don's Coward, which did win an award last night, was Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which is a new film with Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbender from Hacks, if people might know her. She's brilliant. But I was working.
Chapter 3: How does Paul Rudd's film 'Power Ballad' stand out?
So I was getting in or rather waiting for one of those tiny French lifts that shutters from about the third floor, the hallway down to the first. They're like boxes. They're boxes. And I kind of went, God, I have to get to this meeting and then have to go to another meeting. When will it arrive? Should I take the stairs, et cetera, et cetera. And then finally, it kind of burst open.
I mean, it literally exploded open. And Gillian Anderson kind of like said. spiralled out to go, we are never doing that again. That lift is dangerous. Don't go anywhere near it to me. And my eyes went, fine, thanks very much. But I didn't recognise her because as you said, she looked fantastic. And she was dressed for the red carpet.
But it was one of those things that literally, as I said, they can put as many crowd barriers as they want.
Am I wrong in saying bump into anyone. We saw a fabulous picture last, it was in the papers this morning, I think in the front of Sunday Times of Ruth Nagel looking absolutely stunning. But was there a lack of star power, particularly US star power at Cannes this year?
Was that one of the issues? That was one of the issues. And I mean, I think, you know, it's interesting. talking about festivals because they have to try and draw in, obviously, kind of like eyeballs and media. And at the same time, there's an art form at its center trying to be celebrated and championed. And I think Cannes has a reputation.
Its competition is very strong, high profile kind of lineup. But there's also those guest stars that drop in and kind of provide those red carpet moments.
john travolta um whose film i thought was going to be terrible but was actually fantastic uh called propeller one way night coach was probably the most high profile can is expensive and that is one of the reasons one of the studios i think stayed away uh the other thing about it is is that your reviews can kill you you know you can go thinking you're bringing a film with lots and lots of stars but you can be cut down as you said by this thing they might actually want to be on the
carpet.
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Chapter 4: What is the storyline of the film '500 Miles' featuring Bill Nighy?
Barbara stayed away as well, which was a great shame. She was meant to be there for the film. Barbara Streisand, sorry, I should obviously give her her entire title.
Because Gráinne Humphries is on first name terms with these people. Michael, two actual films. We'd better get on. Paul Rudd in Power Ballad, which was filmed here. How does he get on?
it was film theatre and actually it was shown it got its premiere courtesy of the woman on my right who brought it to the Dublin's National Film Festival yeah it's John Carney writer director John Carney former frame and as people know anyone who has seen Once or Sing Street or Floor and Sun I mean he's not just somebody who puts who has music as a soundtrack to his movies music is the heart of his movies
Everything else, the narrative is the soundtrack. Music is at the heart. And this is another story. And it's Paul Rudd, the aforementioned Paul Rudd, plays a sort of a wedding singer. And he hooks up overnight with Nick Jonas.
Another person who does not age.
Absolutely. Another guy with a picture in his attic who hooks up with Nick Jonas. And it was like an ex-boy band. And they write a song together, which becomes a hit for the former. And the latter is left out. And it's sort of that antagonism. And one guy's career takes off. And he's saying, hang on a second, I deserve to be part of this.
But what it is, it's typical of John Carney, the way he writes. It's a really heartwarming tale. You really care. You care about everybody involved in the story. It's amazing how much music moves you, how much, how important it is to ones. The soundtrack of your day, the soundtrack of your life. Beautifully shot, shot here.
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Chapter 5: What unique perspective does the film 'Hen' offer?
Co-star Peter MacDonald, who co-wrote the screenplay. Jack Rayner, who often pops up in John Carney's work. It's a lovely, lovely story.
And can I ask you, we were just speaking to Deirdre Kenan there about, you know, crossing art forms, but the theatre is now coming to the cinema. Yeah.
Very much so. Yeah. I mean, it's great to see. I mean, one of the hottest plays of the last year was the play about the Western world, which is shown in the National Theatre in London. And it was a really hot ticket. Impossible to get it because you had Anna Hardwick playing Christy. You had Nicola Coughlin playing Peggy and Mike and then Siobhan McSweeney as the widow Quinn.
So that was around the block to see it. So it's a great opportunity. It's going to be shown in cinema. It's one of those cinema events. spectacles now happening this week but also it's going to show next month as well I believe they've extended it because everyone's looking to go and see it.
I often lose the will to go and see a film just based on the premise but Gráinne a film seen through a chicken's eyes is very good.
This is fantastic. This is absolutely I loved this. This is called Hen. It's called Hen. It's by a Hungarian filmmaker called Jorge Palfi and actually you've Woman I met on a jury a long time ago is edited. And I think mentioning the editing is crucial because the hen, you know, sort of escapes and wanders off in this kind of mad adventure and is played by eight different hens.
There's no CGI and we literally just follow it and how it interacts. It's an actual hen, a real hen, not an animated hen, a real hen. And you kind of follow it through. It's beautifully shot.
You know, you kind of lean into following through the hen's eyes, the world around it and the people that it encounters and the people who are probably more animal like and kind of dangerous and dark and horrible to each other.
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Chapter 6: How does the series 'Falling' challenge clichés in storytelling?
So who played the hen?
No, no, no, no.
it's not a kids film though I'd say it's more done from a kind of it has some dark moments in it very kind of like tricky difficult moments around human trafficking captivity again which probably resonate with the life of a hen but as a cinematic experience and as a genuinely unique thing I mean I was thinking of EO or Andrea Arnold's film Cow but it's very much its own thing and definitely something that you know go see it on the big screen
Michael, going to the small screen, Faith and Forbidden Love mightn't be the order of the day for hence, but it is formed a series that you have picked out for us.
Yes, I mean, it sounds a bit clichéd. It's called Falling and it's about, you know, a hot nun and a hot priest who fall in love with each other. You go, here we go, a clichéd and, you know, it's back to the thorn birds written by Jack Thorne. Oh my God, the thorn birds. That's just one for the youngsters. But what's interesting about it is that it's...
It's written by Jack Thorne, who is probably the hottest TV writer at the moment. He penned Adolescence, which was the show that everyone's talking about. And what's great, what's really strong about it, not just the writing, but it's the cast. Keely Hawes and Papa Esadu, two tremendous actors.
So what starts out as a bit of cliche, like, you know, the nun and the priest, their eyes meet across a crowded chalice. But actually, it's really well written and you care about the characters. And Niamh Cusack, the great Niamh Cusack, she plays the abbess. So it's a six-parter. I mean, it just shows you what you can do. Do they have a good chemistry? They have a great chemistry, absolutely.
And just shows what you can do with great writing and great acting. It doesn't matter if the story is cliched. If you've good writers and good actors, it's a winner.
It makes it different. What about, Grainne, ponies? Who are ponies? What are ponies?
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Chapter 7: What makes the espionage series featuring Tom Hanks noteworthy?
It's set in 1977, Moscow. It's about two women who are attached to way more dynamic men who are part of the American embassy. kind of fighting the Cold War.
Is this one of these espionage acronyms?
It's a kind of, yeah, it's basically no one will look at you. No, you're completely unimportant. And so very quickly, and I don't think it's a spoiler, both of them become kind of widows within about 15 minutes and suddenly try to stay, if you like, in Moscow as a way of finding out what happened to their husbands. So this, I mean, I kind of compared it to Widows, the TV show meets Alias.
meets Cagney and Lacey. There's this double act between these two women, completely different. One speaks Russian, the other one's a firecracker with maybe two words of Russian, are kind of going undercover on behalf of the CIA to kind of infiltrate kind of Moscow in the 70s. But it's really well cast. Harriet Walter's in there. Adrian Lester's in there. I really liked it.
And I kind of surprised myself because I kind of again felt like, oh, We've seen this before. There's so many of the Americans, all of these shows. But I thought there was something about it that actually, as I said, kept me kind of like intrigued. And there is a fantastic baddie, which I think also helps.
It pulls you out of that. Who plays the baddie?
Oh, my God. He's got this mad name and I'm going to forget it now. It's called Archam Glitz from Tar.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The America's Dad, Tom Hanks, Michael, is taking part in a 20-part espionage and warfare series. What is it?
Well, it's starting this week. I mean, talk about one for the kids.
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Chapter 8: What are the emotional themes explored in '500 Miles'?
I grew up with a series called The World at War, which was one of the greatest TV series of all time. Laurence Levy narrating, Carl Davis, what a score. So this is like probably the equivalent that the Americans are doing. Hank says he's not just narrating it and hosting it. He is the executive producer. He makes tea. He does everything. He's a real war buff.
He also executive produced Band of Brothers and Masters of the Air. So I think with that in mind, I'm optimistic.
like say 20 parts but you need 20 parts to explore there's no point in doing the world at war in two parts you know you have to do it over you have to give it time and space so I'm interested to see because the British one I mentioned earlier on was very much Anglo-centric fair enough so I'm wondering how US-centric this is going to be
Can I ask you, Grainne, one I forgot to ask you about, which is sort of a English, is it an English-Irish course over Bill Nighy in 500 Miles? It's brilliant. It's on the west coast of Ireland. And it is literally, you know, they run out of money, they have no money, they get the train, then they get the boat, then it's the bus, then it's the pony. Do you know what I mean?
It's that kind of picaresque. Reminded me of Flight of the Doves if we're going back into the mists of time here. But wonderful cast, Maisie Williams, Claire Dunn. I really think it's a film with a huge heart. And I think the other side too that I think is really interesting is that
You know, people need to to to see films and we know we saw this actually with the the Shakespearean Hamlet, you know, the tears. I've seen two audiences reduced to floods of tears with this film by this film. And there's so it's not a comedy. It's not a comedy caper. It is a story about, as I said, to about family and family breaking apart and coming together.
But there's a beautiful script by Malcolm Campbell that is based on a book called Charlie and Me. And I just think the way you tell the story together. Is it a fictionalised story or is it a... It's beautifully told. But again, it has that kind of like wry humour, as I said, of, you know, solving problems.
Maisie Williams plays this kind of girl who, you know, will busk in order to get the money in order to the next part of the journey. So it's kind of fun.
And Bill Nighy also just enjoying this sort of incredible... Fantastic. Yeah, it's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant to see it. I insist you come in your red carpet gear the next time. But for now... We have run out of time. A big thanks to Movies Editor with the RT Guide, Michael Doherty and Fresh from Cairns, the Director of the Dublin International Film Festival, Gráinne Humphreys.
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