Every month, I’ll introduce you to some little-known British films and even some from across the Channel in Europe, along with any entertaining pieces of news or perhaps an actor or director profile of someone well-known or someone up-and-coming.
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffecontinues his post-Potter efforts, and while the glasses are back, they now come with a five-o'clock shadow. Set in 1944, "Kill Your Darlings" places Beat poets into a murder story.
Having been thrown into the limelight as the boy wizard, Radcliffe made the smart decision to start his post-Potter career before the franchise came to an end. He began with some intense theater in London’s West End and Broadway with “Equus," before moving on to a Broadway revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." A gap between “Potter” and his next project may have spelled disaster for his career, but instead, it's taking off. Fans of his seemed to have followed him through all this change, having invested themselves truly in his career which started at age 11.
“The Woman in Black” (2012) was his first non-wizard feature film, which received average reviews. Radcliffe now stars as Allen Ginsberg in “Kill Your Darlings." Already screened at the Sundance, Venice and Toronto film festivals, it’s due for general release in mid-October.
The film covers poet Allen Ginsberg’s life at Columbia University in 1944. He meets Lucian Carr (Dane DeHaan of 2012's "Chronicle") and, through him, a bohemian world and classmates William Burroughs (Ben Foster, 2011's “The Mechanic”) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston, 2008's “Outlander”). Together, they begin the Beat movement.
Michael C. Hall channels a bit of Dexter as the dark Professor David Kammerer at the centre of all the intrigue. Kammerer has a more-than-friendly relationship with Ginsberg’s friend Carr, and he and his friends come under intense scrutiny when Kammerer is found murdered.
Another Radcliffe film, which also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this year, “Horns” tells the story of Ig Perrish and the mystery surrounding the death of his girlfriend. After her death, he awakes one morning to discover he’s growing horns.
Coming Soon: “The Railway Man”
Patti (Nicole Kidman) is concerned with her husband’s increasing inability to cope with PTSD after he was held as a POW in Singapore by the Japanese during World War II. After the surrender of the British Officer, Eric Lomax (Colin Firth) is tortured and forced to build the Thai-Bhurma railway.
With the help of his friend Finlay (Stellan Skarsgaard), he journeys back to the camp to face his persecutor and exorcise demons from his past, to rid himself of the anger and hate held for so long.
The film is based on Lomax's autobiography, and the story of his time as a POW and in the future as an older man are played side by side, the latter as flashbacks. This removes some of the tension from the ending when Lomax finally meets with his torturer Takashi Nagase (Hiroyuki Shimosawa of 2007's “Sunshine”).
“Under the Skin” (2013)
Scarlett Johansson is in Scotland, whisking away men to seduce them and turn them into black pools of goo. Don’t worry. She’s playing an alien, but I'm not sure why the setting is Scotland.
This isn’t a monster movie (or “Species”) shot from the point of view of us, the victims, but rather it shows us through alien eyes. There appears to be a lot that's unsaid and many questions unanswered; why she’s here, why is she killing lots of men, why was she sent to Scotland, etc.
This is the key to a good horror/thriller however. Less is definitely more. The expertly chosen music definitely adds a sinister edge to the already sinister plot. Directed by Jonathan Glazer (2001's "Sexy Beast").
Otto Sander
This acclaimed German actor who passed away last week built his acting career in West Berlin on stage during the late '60s and 1970s. During this post-World War time, German theatre was in a time of transition and it was here that he made a name for himself.
He starred in Shakespearean plays including “Twelfth Night” and a pop version of “Much Ado About Nothing” (1969). Sander was mainly known for his slapstick comedy, which was unique in German theatre at the time.
He is better know for his role as shell-shocked U-Boat captain Thomsen in “Das Boot” (1981), who makes an outrageous drunken speech admonishing Winston Churchill and Hitler in the film.
Sander also starred as angel Cassiel in the haunting and beautiful “Wings of Desire” (1987), directed by Wim Wenders. Cassiel, with his angel friend Damiel (Bruno Ganz of 2011's "Unknown"), roam West Berlin unseen except by young children, observing the lives of the people and offering comfort and solace to those in need.
In the sequel “Faraway, So Close!” (1993), he returns in the same role with Ganz as a now human Damiel. This time, the plot is more complex and the film generally upbeat in comparison to “Wings of Desire." Berlin is now united, multilingual and multicultural, and there is a strange cameo from Mikhail Gorbachev, among others. Sander is the actor who grounds the whole film and pulls the mix match of elements together.