Can Actors Blush on Command

Right, here we go with the take two. You ready for a take two? Ready for a second take? I'm always ready for a second take. How was it on the first take for you? Well, it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the disclosure day discussion because I do think there is something really good when we've both seen a film and we have areas of disagreement and areas of agreement. I find that really I mean because that's, you know, it's like it's like Kenderman says in the exorcist which you've never read or never seen. He says he says, you know, I love to discuss film to critique , you know, and I do. That's my favorite thing. That's the whole way I became a film critic was going to see movies with people like Simon Blair, my old friend who I was in a band with. And we'd go and see whatever rubbish was on, and then we insist that we must go to the pub and talk about the film . And Simon would go, Do we need to do? Yes, that's what we need to do. We need to talk. We need to discuss, we need to critique Do we? I don't think so. And in Staffordshire Thank you incidentally for just completely quashing. That was me bigging up our natural chemistry and all the rest of it and the point of this show and you just go, yeah no it isn't just because you've got another job just because you've got great hits radio to fall back on is. my This living, alright? No, I was empathizing with your friend right that you were channeling Simon Blair, I'll tell you. Who wasn't particularly thinking? We don't need to discuss it. Can we just have a pint and a packet of clips? That's what I would that. I was empathizing with him really. But what he really what Simon Blair really wanted to do was discuss Duran Juran he loved Juran Juran. He was a real sort of drandread obsessive. We thought they were great. Because the bottom line is there are some movies that you do want to talk about and others there's nothing to say really. So you just go yeah, it was it was if you like that kind of thing. We once we once we once went to the, I think it was the Edgeway Road ABC, right ? And we went to see some, I don't know, some shonky horror movie. It would be something like, you know, the house on the Edge of the Cemetery or something just something shonky. And we always if there was a supporting feature, we always went for the supporting feature as well . But then I started discussing that. And Simon Bay said, We are not discussing the supporting feature. Yes. Again, I' emmpathize it with your friend . Andy in Staffordshire , fellow Warwick alumnus , medium long term listener, third time emailer here going off on a tangent following the tales of Warwick Student Radio, hampering submarines , which reminded me of an old work project. Right. So this is referencing back to old student days when they turned off radio work because it wasn't, even though you couldn't hear it on campus, you could hear if you it were a captain of a nuclear submar . And he says, I spent a lot of time working on projects for the Ministry of Defense in my job as a structural engineer and would design buildings across the country on one particular project at an unknown facility . I was called to visit a site as there was an issue with the foundations that we had designed. When I arrived I was shown out to site and shown where a buried cable had been uncovered and it, was in the way of the building, and could we design the building around it? Feeling slightly aggrieved, I asked the obvious question whether the cable could just be removed or moved out of the way. It is just a cable. It was at this point that a very patient man from the base explained to me that the cable was part of the NATO early warning system in case of nuclear attack , and that cutting it would make some very important people very nervous and very quickly. That's kind of thing that you would put in a movie . Needless to say, we redesigned the foundations around the cable. How reassuring to know that there are some cables that if you cut through , all the alarms would go off and Andy has been protecting them. Thank you very much indeed, Andy . Vicki says, Dear Uncle Monty and Jake the Poacher, this year I'm going on holiday by mistake to watch with Nal and I being screened at the house that was used for the Crow Crag at Uncle Monty's summer soare. Been there, it's fabulous. I think this is now a yearly mini festival and I'm hoping it will be as glorious as the film Chinchin and I'm assuming it will all rain relentlessly. Up with ice in the cider and down with those selling hippie wigs in Woolworths . Well last year I went and did some filming up there because I was doing a thing with we were doing about Whitmell and I. So we went up there and we filmed around it it, and was indeed pestilential rain. You know, the sky was starting to bruise and we should be forced to camp . And then yesterday interviewed Bruce Robinson for something else I'm doing for programme I'm thinking about a male friendship on screen . And I said to him, you know, just last year I was up at the place he went, was it raining? I went, yes, it was n't. It's always raining in the overflow car park because the main car park is full, so follow the signs of the overflow car park in that there field. Tuna is the movie here discussed by Chris with a K. I rarely write, but felt the need after spending part of my fifty first birthday watching Tun e at the brilliant picture house cinema in Jericho, Oxford with the comfiest seats ever. I apologize for the hedge cutters by the way who are getting disturbingly close. Brilliant, just brilliant. Leo Woodall is a sensation. The film builds to a magnific ent crescendo , replicating the musical theme and score, which is also excellent, that ended with a tear rolling down each cheek, and I rarely cry at films. There are holes to be picked, but they are minor, including stereotypical baddies in his van never seem to be ever far away from the crime scene. The fact that Hoffman plays second fiddle to Woodall's character says it all about his performance, which was completely believable from start to finish, an utter delight. Thank you, Chris . On the subject of Savage House , this is now I think I've got the pronunciation right, Dr. Senior Rosaux, School of Management Studies, Faculty of Commerce, University of Cape Town Malcolm Simon, thank you for a lovely interview with Richard E. Grant about his new film Savage House. I was especially touched by the references to Swaziland, now Esswatini, but Swaziland to those of us who grew up there, as I've just returned to Cape Town after attending Bushfire there, an annual music and arts festival now in its nineteenth year and easily the biggest cultural event of the year. Right. Richard E. Grant was on the Bushfire stage in twenty twelve where he was interviewed by Cass Mamba, a dear and longstanding friend of my family and well known to the nation as she used to read the evening news on Swazi TV. At this year's festival, my first, I wanted to hon our my father by wearing a tie of his that I've kept since he died in a car accident in Zimbabwe twenty six years ago. It's dark blue, embellished only with a simple red stripe and the Swazi shield featured on the kingdom's flag. I knew my father had worn it to the coronation of the current king , who is Muswati, and before it to the sixtieth jubilee of his father, King Sobutsee. Well, what I didn't know until recently was that it had a longer history than that. It was bought in a shop this Thai in Swazeland in the early seventies owned by Richard E. Grant's mother . So much in the same way that I had a link back to Richard E . Grant. Maybe everybody has a link up to everybody else in Swaziland. Very best wishes from senior , long term listener and proud holder of the most pretentious thesis title from a previously read email that left even Mark stumped about how the obscure film theory of Suturing related to Trufau's four hundred blows. Anyway, it sounds as though Dr. Celia Russo what a fantastic name by the way, is out of a case. So thank you very much indeed, Dr. Russo . Backrooms, Lucy Beresford says, I'm a horror movie virgin. I'm assuming American werewolf in London doesn't really count. Does it is it Yeah?, yes. Comedy is horror yeah, it is . Anyway, but back in the day it certainly put me off the genre. I felt compelled to see backrooms not so much because of the hype or box office success but because of its own origin story and the sense that there might be a f ilm that could have a revolutionary effect on how films get made and stories get told in the future. Plus as a psychotherapist , I always enjoy a good bossman's holiday of watching Shrinks on screen looking at you, Dr. Beth Gerva. I warned my companion I might have to leave if things got a bit, you know, squelchy . But instead I was utterly absorbed by a narrative that I took to be about what I feel is the greatest undertreated horror of modern which is loneliness . And how the scariest film in life, the scariest thing in life, I'm sorry, is the way our mind can keep us trapped repeating unhealthy patterns from the past. Parsons endless corridors represented the way an anxious brain can ruminate on things for hours, weeks and even years. The film's ending, miss a bit here, basically upends my entire career, says Lucy Beresford, but I still enjoyed the way my world of the messy unconscious got portrayed so effectively . So everyone is going to see backrooms, including people who know about this subject. I do think that that is a perfectly valid take on what it's about. And I think one of the interesting things about backrooms is that it is going to turn out to be what it has turned out to be, one of those things in which there are any number of readings that you can impose upon it and they and that they work, that it holds up. Incidentally, that is a really loud hedge cutter. Yeah, I mean, I can only apologize. Are they doing topiary ? I can't I can't see them from where I live. Carving into the shape of a peacock. I mean, that would be great. Actually, what we should we should get a couple of hedges and one sculpted as you and the other one is me. What do you think? Hey, I could do that in a second, I'm sure, but anyway that, could be the thumbnail for this particular edition of the show. A toopyrid mark and a Topiid Simon. Very good. What do you think? I'm up for it. Yeah . Anyway, I mean, I could go out the front door and say, could you please stop? But I don't think that would be better. Don't you know who I am? Yeah. Anyway, what's out that we might be interested in? So again, we were talking in take one about the four K reissue of Boogie Nights. Yes. Also out this week, four K reissue of strictly ballroom, which is the nineteen ninety two feature that became laterally the first installment in Basleman's Red Curtain trilogy, which consisted of that , Romeo plus or Romeo and Juliet. I never really understood the plus thing. We do refer to that film as Romeo and Juliet not Romeo plus Juliet. No Romeo because that just sounds nuts, doesn't it? It's Romeo and Juliette in the same way it's not Juliette and Romeo. Amate. Yeah. Romeo and Juliette, or do you remember what the Elton John accompanied animated one was? No and Juliet . Oh dear heavens . Yes, maybe not. And then of and course who starred Simon in Romeo and Juliette? Who would have starred in Boogie Nights? Stop asking me quiz questions. Leonardo DiCabrio. Oh, him again. Okay , okay, a bunch of questions and the answer is always Leo. Leonard Di Gabrio. Okay, exactly. So yeah, so Romeo and Juliet and then Moulin Rouge . So the film of Strictly Borum began life and I mean , I remember when I saw it and then found this out, it seemed extraordinary. It began life as a stage play in the early eighties that apparently became a success at the Czechoslovak Cechoslovak Youth Drama Festival in nineteen eighty six , then transferred to Sydney where it was seen by people in the movie Biz who thought it could then be picked up and turned into a movie. So you must have I imagine everyone has seen Strictly Borr and I imagine that you have many years ago absolutely and constantly point people back to it because of course strictly becomes such a phenomenon it's on mainstream live entertainment telev ision. Well, it started with this Australian movie. It started with this Australian movie that kind of came out of nowhere. So the film plays out in the heavily coffered and dressed world of ballroom dancing , in which the rules of which steps one may or may not do are strictly enforced, hence strictly ballroom. It's a common theme of dance movies that you know dances have got rules to them. And then there are people who are they're young and they're funky and they're doing stuff and they are breaking the rules of and they are ruffling feathers. Well that is absolutely what happens in the world of strictly ballroom , here's a clip . I want to dance with you What ? I want to dance with you . I want to dance with you your way at the Pampac s The Pamp . You want to dance Mahai at the Pacific . Yeah You can't dance my way, you don't win. It's just because you've been overdoing it. If you if you kept it simpler and danced from the heart. What? And had the right partner ? Ih, sir . That's yours . When you dance your steps , I understand how you feel because I'll make up my own steps too. You make up your own steps? Yeah, and now we both haven't got partners. Look, what are you carrying on about? You've never had a partner . I'm sorry, but even just hearing that dialogue makes me want to go and watch it all over again , it's decades since I've seen it. Yeah. What I mean is it was nineteen nineteen ninety two. And of course it was one of those weird things that as you were saying, I mean, it has now become part of the international cultural furniture. Everyone knows what strictly means , but we forget that the way the film was introduced to the world was that it played in can in the uncertain Regard strand. I'll make the gag that we always make. When the uncertain Regarde strand. P sayeople, What does it it mean? Because means the film which for films which are uncertainly regarded by Cannes. It's a sort of side strand, but often it's the most interesting stuff. There's all the stuff that happens in Can which is in the main competition, but then there are all the side strands. You uncertain regard the d,irector's Fortnite, the critic, all that sort of stuff. And or in the case of the Devil's thing that I did, the Kang classics . And it played, I think it was a midnight slot or something. It was a late night screening . And it got this massive standing ovation. I know every film at festivals gets massive standing ovation, but it was back in the time when that was slightly remarkable. Allegedly, fifteen minutes of people standing up went on to win the Pri de Journeys and to become the center of a can bidding war for the international rights. And again, if you've ever seen this happening, it's like there's a movie , it's a small movie, it arrives in can, there's a buzz about it, it has a screening, everyone goes nuts. And then the next thing is people are falling over themselves to sign the movie up . So in terms of where it fits culturally , it's kind of part of the Australian new wave. So there's the Australian new wave and then there's this Australian New Wave which included things like Murial's wedding, which of course was the film that made Tony Collette, who , you know, gone on to have such an amazing career. And Stefan Elliot's Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I remember so clearly interviewing Stephanie Elliott when Priscilla Queen of the desert came out and saying to him, you know , just what was the inspiration behind it? And he said, I'd do a very bad image. He said, he said, I had to I had to bring back the musical because the musical had been killed by Zanadu. Zanadu, a film in which the plot is The Great God Zeus sends his daughter Zero down to Earth to open a roller disc . Yep . That's pretty good accent. Again, Mark very good . Thank you. Help, help . So the police I went to Australia for twenty one hours to interview Bas Lerman . A culture show we're doing a program about when Australia , what all of it came out. Incidentally that wouldn't can you imagine that just sounds like something from before the war? I know , I know. They literally flew in travel . It is twenty five hours to get there , and then I was on the ground for twenty one hours, and then twenty five hours back, and then I got off the plane on the way back and went straight into the interview Charlie Kaufman about Senatici, New York . That got his backup so much that he was still annoyed about it when we spoke to him about you know, whatever the anime whatever that film was called I can't even remember the name of now that went so well. Anyway , so I went I went to Australia to interview him and I was just there for for less than a day one. And of the things that we talked about was strictly ballroom . And what was really fascinating about it is the way in which it evolved sort of slowly out of these kind of strange little beginnings, and then it had been picked up and then it had become this really big cultural phenomenon. And then of course everything had taken off because Romeo and Juliet was really the thing that changed the face of how Shakespeare was done on screen. Even to this day, to this day, I know you must know as well, you know, school teachers who tell you, if you want to get kids interested in Shakespeare, show them Baz Lermans, Romeo and Juliet. Because he is the Shakespeare in dialogue, obviously, but it's an amazing thing and it gets people into Shakespeare. And then Mulan Ridge, which I really liked. I know some people didn't . Australia, which I know was a bit of a kind of car crash, although there is this limited series Far Away Downs now, which you can watch, which is the version of what Austr alia would have been had they not done the recuts and the reshoots. And it is well worth checking out because it's, I think it's kind of fascinating. And then of course Lehman went on to become the great chronicler of Elvis both in the Elvis biopic and in the Elvis Presley in concert concert, which film which you and I both absolutely loved . And when you watch strictly ballroom, the idea that somehow all that stuff is encased in this , you know, young budding filmmaker who's found his way into Bern and been celebrated from the moment that film played in the uncertain regarding people just took it to their heart. Why? Because it's funny, 'cause it's strange , because it's weird and quirky. And I knew nor cared nothing about ballroom dancing, but I guarantee you, by the end , by the end of strictly ballroom, you think this is just a fascinating world that I've been led in. And of course, the other thing is, we were talking before about how spoofing things only works if you've got a love of the subject . Bas Lerman clearly does love the subject. He clearly is in love with that stuff and all the stuff about the regulations and blah blah blah blah he knows his way around that world. He's, you know, he's he's lived in that world. He knows what it is that he's talking about . It's just it's I think he's a remarkable filmmaker. I know people are people can be sniffy about him. And they thought he's all star over substance, well first you look at Striply Born, that's absolutely not the case. But that is a heck of a filmography, isn't it? From that to epic. That is a he has really, really done interesting work. And as a double bill epic with his Elvis movie, yeah, you go here is a guy who is clearly completely on top of everything . Yeah, and firing on all the cylinders. So the great chronicler of popular culture and has managed to do it with, you know , you know, with his tongue in his cheek and his heart on his sleeve and you know, some interesting hair decisions over the years. Yes. And if you're taller than him, the photograph of you two together might not get approved , however or let's not let's not be hung up on small things . Yeah, anyway, it's strictly born back in Cinema's on the big screen, ghost see, it's just it's a treat. James Lark has emailed yelled dear Mungo, Jerry and Rumpelteaser. Last week filmmaker Gareth Edwards this is the filmmaker, not the rugby player who's been on the show, of course , excitedly announced that AI filmmaking is going to be, quote, better than CGI . End quote. I think he may have unintentionally made a shrewd comparison. There are plenty of examples of CGI looking wonderful . Even thirty three year old Jurassic Park, the film that changed everything still looks pretty spectacular. The lesson that often seems to have been learnt from those sorry, the lesson that often seems not to have been learnt from those six minutes of carefully deployed CGI aside from the fact that the six minutes was enough , is that they were painstakingly crafted by a team so committed to getting it right that they spent time leaping around the yard pretending to be dinosaurs so that they could fully inhabit the effects that they had to realize . CGI does not have a reputation for that kind of artistry. I used to teach in a school of eight to thirteen year olds , and they talked about CGI as one of its defining qualities was looking shonky. Given the indifferent CGI saturating everything from children's TV to the latest superhero film, that's hardly surprising. The art less AI slop proliferating on the internet doesn't suggest that we're approaching a golden age of visual media, so much as a hellscape that will have us begging to go back to the good old days of the cats movie heavens . What we have here is a tool that is, like CGI, only as good as the creativity and effort of the humans using it. That being the case, it might have been nice if Gareth Edwards had said a word in support of those artists, maybe by mentioning the mass unlicensed plundering of creative content on which the AI industry has been built. Up with practical effects and down with copyright theft James Lark Well, I'm reassured that in a I didn't see or hear the interview that you're referring to, but we like Garath, he's made some very good films , and if AI is going to be better than CGI, then that seems a good thing. And he's right to say that you know it does it's not it's as good as the people who are using it. Although that's the concern, isn't it that eventually it'll get to be better than the people and it won't need the people who are in putting at all . But yes, it does nick work, it steals work and maybe that needs to be credited all the time. Well, I just constantly tell this story that you told me, which was that you were in conversation with some AI technology and you said to it, have you ever scraped the books of Simon Mayo? Yes. And it said , Why are you asking? it did And you said, Because I am Simon Mayo and it said , Yes . It said and then it gave all the legal conditions under which it operates and all that kind of do you do the thing now that when you sign a book contract you sign a thing which says this may not be scraped ? I've been operating under I've got so I've got one more book in my contract which is coming out next year and then I'll have to sign a new contract. So I suspect the new contracts will have that in. I might have mentioned this before. When I got to the end of the audiobook of Patrick Radenkee's London Falling, which I recommended a couple of shows ago . Yeah . Patrick Redenkef himself says no part of as part of the, you know, this was produced by blah blah and no part of this book may be used to train AI blah blah blah blah which I hadn't heard before . So I suspect that all new contracts and everything that is coming into effect from now on will have that in. The only issue with it is and this is as far as I understand, because when I did a book contract recently and which had this in it, it may not be scraped for AI . And I said, That's great, you know, so does that work? They went, no, no, of course not. They don't care. Absolutely, they don't. Because the rules are already there. If you if you steal , you know, a book 's worth of stuff , there are laws already there you know to stop that happening and that hasn't made a scrap of difference. Not a scrap. Not a scrap basement don't want to be left behind, you know, they want the AI companies to come and spend money in our country, understandably. So that's what they want. It is the very definition of a token protest that you are saying, I do not agree to this happening in the full knowledge that it's happening. And apparently the point at which it happens is the book available on the internet ? In that case, all bets are off . Yeah . But hey, let's let's step with the bright bright side because we got one frame back mark. Right. And as you heard in Take One Disclosure Day is out. So we just talked about favorite Spielberg science fiction films . So obviously there's a lot of people saying the same kind of thing, but my favorite one is the last of the emails here. So Sarah says I suspect it's a little like your favorite bond theme. It depends on the age you were when you first heard it or saw it. Having said that, it's clearly ET . Stephen Blair , is he your friend ? No, Simon Blair. No Simon Blair. Stephen Blair, it's of course CEO T three K , which no one has ever called it Close accounts of the third kind. However, Super eight needs a wee bit of love. Absolutely right. Super eight was a fantastic little film. Yeah, it was terrific. Brother Jim Hayes, who has got through a whole couple of takes and we haven't mentioned him once Are we saying that Super Rate is a Steven Spielberg movie ? Did he produce it? He didn't direct it. It's JJ Abrams, but it's produced by Steven Spielberg. Feels like a Spielberg. Yeah, I mean, it's JJ Abrams doing a Steven Spielberg mov ie and Steven Spielberg is involved in it, but it is a JJ Abrams movie, which relates back to when I said it almost feels watching Disclosure Day like you're watching JJ Abrams doing a Steven Spielber g tribute . Fair enough. Anyway, Brother Jib says minority report, this film hasn't aged a jot, a visually stunning neon noise science fiction romp in which Tom Cruise's John And erton learns empathy, that word again, and the ability to see with someone else's eyes both figuratively and literally , prophetic in its predictions of the tech revolution, Spielberg's masterpiece in the op,inion of Brother Jim . And here's my favorite one from someone who apparently wants to be called He Wanders Around . Okay , okay . I'm a child of the eighties and my son, just over a year old now, is named Elliot. So my answer is pretty obvious . It's Jurassic Park. Well done, you timed that well. That's very good. Well, he left two lines as a gap, so I thought I was timing it roughly. Correct. That's very good. So let's view one of those. What do we so we got? Do I have to choose one of those? Am I not allowed to make my own choice? No, you have to choose one of those. Can I make my own choice first? Okay AI . Okay, AI first ? Yeah. And does AI in that movie feel anything like the AI that we're that everyone is worried about now? No, and that's the weird thing, isn't it? That AI in that movie feels like a you know, because AI in that movie is embodied by the character of this young innocent child , it's the Pinocchio story who wants to be a real boy and it's completely benevolent and completely kind and completely, you know, your heart goes out to it. It's not something that you want to stomp on because it's the evil robot overlords. No. It's not Skynet , it's not Skynet. Interestingly enough though, because of the of the ones that were chosen , I'm going to go for minority report, not because I actually think it is the best, but because I haven't seen it in a really long time. Yeah, me too. And I'd like to go back and see how it's aged because it was so ambitious. And at the time, I wasn't crazy about it. I loved Samantha Morton, I thought she was fantastic. But I would like to go back and watch it again . Okay, um Correspondents at Coonamo dot com welcome all correspondents we seem to be getting a lot of spam. So spam of the week comes from the Find Health Clinics team. Okay . Who say, We're excited to inform you that your listing has been successfully added to Find Health Clinics, the world's premier directory for medical health and wellness institutions. What? Having a prominently positioned listing on our directory can significantly enhance your visibility to potential clients. For those looking to maximize their presence, we offer paid promoted listings . Blah blah blah, thanks for being part of Find Health Clinics. Do you know why this do you know why I think this is happening? Why is this happening? Because we've talked about the movie doctors on the show recently, and I think some scrapy AI technology has found a trans cript of the show and gone doctors, doctors, doctors Yeah that's interesting. In which case have you ever considered having a luxury five star break in the Caribbean . I'd love a luxury five star break in the Caribbean. Would you like a luxury star break in the Caribbean? I'd like to fly club class. Actually, you might as well let's go first class. First class , all expenses paid that, will be very nice. Yeah, so a free first class luxury five star stay in the Caribbean would be something I would be interested in hearing about. That's and I would be interested in hearing about it also . Great . Thanks for pointing that out, Mark. Yes, that's fine. So to recap OK, very good. Anyway, thanks to the Fine Health Clinics team, but we're not interested. Okay, five question film club. Three questions, Your Majesty. Last week, Mark introduced the Goonies . Will Tunnell, possibly Will Tunnell ? After Mark's sulky review of the Goonies and the redactors razor sharp insight just in case anyone doesn't remember, I did my version because I'm not a fan of the Goonies. And then the redactor who both he and his family are huge fans of the Goonies did an alternative version in order to give two sides of the argument. That's right. So Will says after Mark's sulky review of the Goodies and the Redactor's razor sharp insight, I don't think we should ask Mark to do the Blues Brothers, but perhaps we should ask the Redactor again . I know how much he likes to build up his part ner. Well, I think that was just a one off and we don't think we should be encouraging any more from him because he's going to have a lot to do later on in our live show, which if you're listening to this on Friday has already happened. Is he actually here this week ? I don't know. He's on holiday most of the time, isn't he? Yeah . That is true. Briefly, he says briefly. Anyway, reminder you can watch all our intros to every five question film club on our patreon page . This week's choices are the Blues Brothers from nineteen eighty. That's on iPlay, BCIPlay, the lobster on film four and the piano which is on Prime video The verdict was very, very clear The Blues Brothers fifty two percent , the lobster thirty three percent, the piano fourteen percent. David Woolin said, The lobster is one of those films that you can watch and love and then tell someone else to watch and they come back to you and they say either A , I'm never letting you recommend another film to me ever or B. That was incredible. Thank you for being the most amazing recommender of films in the world. Kate Hurley, I'm saying the lobster, I think it has some editing issues in the last part which goes a little flat, but the idea the acting and the brilliance of the rest makes it unique a and h ilarious version of what exactly some kind of critique of bureaucratic USSR like state intervention. I have no idea, but it's very odd and very funny. My daughter rightly pointed out just how weird the piano is our Holly Hunter only achieves her freedom after being freed by a white guy cosplaying as a mauri. So I must now bow to her twenty first century feminist critique . Jason Mast and let's go for the Blues Brilliant film Snapott Tsimhe of a director being at the top of his game, a cast that performs impeccably, a script that gives me a line to say to my son every time he's gone in for his numerous operations, it's hundred and six miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas. And Mark Clement Jones says clearly it's the lobster. The sprawling mess that is the Blues Brothers only matters because of reinvigorating all those fabulous soul stars whilst the piano is just wet and nobody needs to see Harvey's buttocks beautiful Carrie Is it Carrie Carey scenery mind? We'll take that. Yeah, I'm guessing that. So anyway, the people's verdict was very much that the piano fourteen lobster the thirty three percent, the Blues Brothers fifty two percent. So clearly Mark you being a populist and a democrat and not an authoritarian dictator overlord . You're going to stick or twist. I'm going to twist this. I have stuck for the last few weeks, but I'm going to and in fact last week I stole some elections you accept but others you think you're going to do no. Yeah, taking my lead from yeah world events. I'm going to I'm going to twist and I'll tell you for why. Firstly , on the subject of the Blues Brothers, I am sorely agnostic on the subject of the Blues Brothers. So if we do that, and I think despite the fact that you've already mixed it, it actually might be an idea that we do Mark says this and the Redactor says that . As you say, the Redactor is always up for building up his part. I'm going to go for the piano because we had a we had a great time discussing both of us the merits or otherwise of disclosure day in Take one And the thing with the piano is that it is a film that you have written about in a book that we co authored called The Movie Doctors . And you have there, the English language version, well done. It is also available in Korean and Chinese . And was there was there another edition ? Anyway, it's been transl ated into many, many languages. And I am going to go for the piano because although it was the least chosen one, I think that in terms of your contributions , this will make more entertaining radio. So I am overturning democracy in the pursuit of a cheap laugh. First of all, the authorized words. The piano directed by Jane Campion is widely regarded as a classic for its powerful storytell ing, striking visual style and deeply emotional exploration of desire, silence, and personal freedom. Set in nineteenth century New Zealand, the film follows Ada, a mute Scottish woman whose piano becomes the central expression of her identity . Acclaimed for its performances, evocative score and groundbreaking perspective on female agency, the piano won the Palm Dor at Can and remains one of the most influential films of the nineteen nineties. you read that in exactly the way I wanted you to read it. Right . Okay . Under the section, avoid Wing When Drowsy how the movies can cure your insomnia , the movie doctors wrote Welcome to New Zealand where it is raining . It's been like this since the eighteen fifties, and by now everyone is really pretty muddy. Remember your dampest, dreariest holiday when you spent the entire time shivering, drinking soup in a beach hut, and wondering how wet your towel had to be before it was heavier than lead? Well, the piano is like that, only bleaker. Just part of it. I feel as though I can read that because we wrote it . Anyway so five questions then. Three questions, your Maj theesty. What f'ilsm actually about? I think you summed it up and although that book is co authored, I credit where it's due because it was your line and I've said it ever since. What is the piano about? It's about welcome to New Zealand where it is raining . Yeah . And it's the most waterlogged film of all time. And when I went to New Zealand, I apologize to all our New Zealand listeners . I've only been once to New Zealand and it rained the whole time , literally the whole time. And it was like being in the piano, not in a piano, which would be more fun than being in the piano. It would be more fun being in a piano than being in the piano. Yes. Wow. Do you remember we had an argument about that with Andy Circus who loves it who thinks it well, I mean lots of people love it. You know, it's maybe I need to watch it again, but I was I was made pretty miserable, I think, by the whole thing. So but from the film critics point of view, what is the film actually about? I think from the film critic's point of view, what it's actually about is welcome to New Zealand where it's raining. That's my answer and I'm sticking with it. What made it groundbreaking ? Well, I think the thing that made it groundbreaking is the score by Michael Nyman. I told you that I met Michael Niyman in the street once. He's a very nice guy. And he said high blah blah blah and he went, You hate the piano, don't you? I go , Michael , I love your music. The music is great. No, the music is great. The music is great, okay? I'm not just the film itself because he had heard you and me having this discussion so often. So the score by Michael Nyman, which was okay, the film was nominated , you said the problem . So the Oscar nominated for best picture, best director, best cinematography, best editing, best costume design, one for best screenplay, actress and support ing actors. I think Anna Pakwin was the youngest supporting actress ever and went up on stage and, you know, was like a child in the headlights because that's exactly what she was when she when she won this Oscar . Somehow , not nominated for best score . Now, you and I worked at Scarla in the five years that Scarlet was on . You'll know that Michael Nyman's music for the piano was a playlist regular . I mean, it was just one of those things that you just went to. Traction that you went to that became one of the biggest selling classical and soundtrack albums of all time duly nominated for BAFTA, Golden Globe, Australian Film Institute, among others , but not the Oscars . Instead, the geniuses at the American Academy decided to nominate Dave Grusen School for the firm. Remember that ? No , no me neither. Alongside Richard Robinsko for remains of the day, James Newton Howard School for the future in all perfectly fine work , but not the piano. And so when I had that conversation with Michael Neyman, it was very funny about it. He said, You hate the pirate, I love your music . Hm . Question number three, what should we pay attention to apart from Harvey's Buttocks? Well , thanks for bringing that up . The good ladyf proessor her indoors once said to me, If I have to read another essay about Harvey Kitel sticking his finger in the hole in Hollyhunter's stocking , I will and then she said something unrepeatable . And it is one of those things in which the things that you pay attention to are the things that got paid attention to so much that everyone is absolutely sick of hearing about them because after the piano became the huge sensation that it did. And although you read it out in a deadpan AI voice because of how much you don't like the piano , all those things that you said about all the accolades that it got, it did . I mean, it was the talking point of the season . And for years afterwards, people continued to write essays about what it all meant and you should probably pay attention to all that. I say you don't like it any more than I do. No, Simon, no, I don't I don't. I think it's boring. Okay, well let's try question number three. What scene explains the film's power? Do you know what scene explains the film's power? The scene in which Harvey Kitel sticks his finger in a hole in the hole to stunning . Question number five , why oh why? Why does well still matter? I mean , here's my question does it I mean, you know, 'cause Jane Camp bell would go on to , you know, all the accolades of power of the dog . Johnny Greenwood was nominated for best score for that, although incidentally wasn't actually Johnny Green's best score of that year because I think his work on Spencer was better than that . But there's a big part of me that thinks that I don't know , everyone talks about how important the piano is. And you think of all the other I mean, I love Jane Campan's director. She's brilliant. She does some amazing work. Jane Campion's in the Cut is a really terrific film and I'm a I am a really, really big fan of hers . the piano still important today? I mean, it was important enough that we did a chapter about it in the movie Doctors . That is true . And we both accept that it is part of film history and certainly in terms of, you know, women directors and , you know, they're being accepted into the great academy of film. Jane Campion was an absolute groundbreaker. No question about it. All those things are absolutely true. Welcome to New Zealand , where it's raining. Don't forget you can watch this movie. No one wanted to read because only fourteen percent wanted you to review it, but it is on prime video . So if you're feeling like you need a bit of help nodding off, there it is . And let us know precisely what you think we would be much in your debt. We'll regroup next week to see if anybody did watch the piano. You can check out our Patreon page for next week's poll on our next film choice. And if you'd like to write us an essay on the significance of Harvey Kitel sticking his finger in a hole in Holly Hunter's stocking , go ahead Okay, correspondents at Kemware. com That's where you send your observations and your questions for this particular feature with its own music Questions Messians . Emma, who grew up in Showbiz, North London, but is now in Lesshowbusy, East London. Yes, dear, Emma. Doctors, in response to your correspondent asking about blushing on screen, which was a very interesting conversation which I don't think we've had before and I don't think I'd heard anywhere before. No. There is a scene in possibly my favorite film of all time, which is Tampopo, a fabulous Japanese film from nineteen eighty five about the art of making ram en and food in general. At one point, the film wanders away from the main story to a scene where a group of business executives go to a fancy restaurant for lunch. It becomes clear that none of them understand the menu, which is entirely in French . Most of them put off ordering until one of the executives goes for something light and orders the solemnier. Google says it's lightly floured and fried, consume and a beer . All the other executives or der the same, but when it comes to the junior who is carried out who has carried their briefcases and is clearly there on sufferance, he can actually read the menu and knows French food and orders a very different meal to the others to the admiration of the Metro idie and huge embarrassment of the executives, red faces all round. Admittedly those red faces could be make up, but it was certainly the scene that came to mind for blushing on film up with down with etc. Now I haven't seen that Emma, but I would imagine that is makeup because if all of the if they've all got it, unless they've got amazing performing actors who can all blush on demand . Yes. Then I would think it's false, wouldn't you? I would think it is . However, we have we have two emails on this subject and I also have a correspondence that came in through the miracle of Instagram . So firstly read the next correspondence about this . Okay . Finagan Bell says first time email at longtime listener since five live days just wanted to address an issue one of your correspondents brought up last week about whether it's possible factors to actually blush for real . Eleanor Dewes , DUSE was considered the first modern actor, ahead of even Brando, who had the ability to blush in her work on stage . Her ability to seemingly blush on command staggered audiences in the late eighteen hundreds used a more defamatory style of, I imagine that must be declamatory style, which has been is there a defamatory style of acting? So let's assume it's a declamatory style of acting. And so I impressed one George Bernard Shaw that he related her impressive feat to the great acting teacher Sanford Meisner as an example of real acting , and so it is that the legend of Duke's Blush passed into legend. So yes, if properly inhabiting a role, it is indeed possible to blush. And I imagine Phillip C Moroffman channelled Dues's spirit in his many raw performances in films such as Cent of a Woman, Boogie Knights, Magnolia, and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, he was indeed the master, but it was Eleanor Dews that set the template that he and Brando would go on to follow. Up with the courage to blush in public and down with those who think it's a sign of weakness from Finnegan Bell. So I had said that I thought I had a memory of Philip Seymour Hoffman who did flushing on screen, okay ? And it turns out that the scene that I was remembering sent to a woman. Do you have that correspondence from Steve Hallmark? Have you got that there in front of you? I have just noticed the correction from Finnegan Bell, so her apologies who says her name was Eleanor Dews, not Eleanor , yes, it's declamatory, not defamatory. Defamatory. Well, there was an email that we have from Steve Hallmark who said I want to help Rioco and Cole to confirm the doctor was correct. The late great Philip Simon Hoffman was only twenty five years old when he turned a marvelous shade of puce in the climactic scene of Sentiment Woman, which was just mentioned in that email that you had there. In the courtroom scene in Chris O'Donnell's school, the truth is noisily revealed by Al Pacino and Hoffman shuffles and blushes beautifully as he is found out. Now I said I thought I remembered Philip Simon Hoffman blushing in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. I then got a message on Instagram from Hannah Gatwood who said Hi Mark reblushing on screen , Vicki Creeps does a real one in Phantom Thread . So there is a Paul Thomas Anderson film that features an onscreen blush, but it's Vicki Creeps not Philip Seymour Hoffman . But what's fascinating is that this all relates back to that previous email, the one that you read out about it it was actually considered to be a thing . The fact that you could actually do it is extraordinary. So when last week when we were saying, I can't imagine how it could be done. Yeah , there is evidence of plenty that it has been done . And yes, looking at I just found the Steve Hallmark email . I seem to recall Mark Rylance doing something similar in Wolf Hall, but he did so much so brilliantly in that series that ended up . So there are a certain mentioning these actors specifically , it's a gift, isn't it? If you've, you know, Mark Riley is and Philip Seemoffic is exactly the kind of actors even if you hadn't seen the evidence, you would expect them , if anyone can do it, then they can do it. Yeah. And it's really interesting that when this question was raised the name that came to my head was Philip Simoffer because I had a memory of seeing him blushed on screen and I just assumed Paul Thomas Anderson, but as now several email ers have pointed out, it's sent to a woman that that happens in. Vicky Creeps in Fantasy . Oh it says the only thing I can recall on blushing is Allison Oliver in the Conversations with Friends TV adaptation, a performance I was so enamored with because of her ability to blush. I would love to know what it is that you have to be able to master because it's not about being a great actor, is it? There must be something that you can do to your body. Well, maybe it is. Maybe it's the same way that you can learn how to cry that you can teach your body to react in that particular way that makes your face go red. Anyway. Well, yeah, evidently it is a thing and we were both saying quite good you can't do it, but evidently you can Correspondents at Kemenware. com Thanks for all of that. So other questions schemes dear Odysseus and Athena, who's this? Oh, it's Philippe Schweer from Hamburg in Germany . My social media feed has recently become a relentless parade of aspect ratio comparisons for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Every few posts, another nerdy cinephile informs me exactly which portion of ancient Greece I will gain or lose depending on whether I see it in one hundred forty three oneM, iax one hundred and ninety one IMAX or two hundred and thirty nine one scope and it keeps making me wonder Isn't this artistically speaking a bit odd? We usually think of framing and composition as fundamental to cinema. Directors and cinem atographers obsess over what is and isn't in the frame. Yet with modern IMAX releases, different audiences seeing meaningfully different compositions of the same film. I understand filmmakers like Christopher Nolan design these filmsed for multiple formats and that all these versions are intentional, but it raises an interesting question, is there really such a thing as a definitive version anymore? When a filmmaker creates multiple versions of the frame, are we seeing artistic flexibility or artistic compromise ? And does Nolan secretly have a favorite because he must have well, if we get to talk to him, which I'm hoping that we will , then we will put that question to him. But what do you make of all that? Well, it's funny because I've had exactly this thought , which is that for such a long time , the idea of the sacred shape of the frame, which is chosen by the filmmaker is a thing. And then you hear about people shooting one, three, three safe. So if you're shooting a film in one hundred and eighty five, which would be the standard widescreen for a long time , you shoot one, three, three safe , meaning that if the film is going to come to television , rather than cropping it, you open up the top and bottom and make the frame bigger. So you make sure that your booms aren't in the one thirty three thing, okay is? Wh quichite often if you saw a film on television, particularly in the nineteen seventies, you'd watch it on television and you'd see boom mics everywhere and you'd go, how could the filmmaker have been so stupid? No, they weren't. They shot the film to be shown in one hundred and eighty five, and then rather than cropping it for television, they just put the, you know, the unmasked frame up, and that's why you can see the boom. So it's that moment that take you out of the scene. Yeah, I know I know I see the kit. Yeah, but it's not true that it's the filmmaker's fault. And in fact, we even discussed this when we talked about plan nine from outer space that one of the things that you know, Edward is the lousiest filmmaker in the world because you can see the script in that thing. Well, not in the shot you couldn't until it was unmasked for television. But the whole thing was the unmasked version is not how it was intended. It was intended to be one hundred sixty six or it was intended to be one hundred eighty five. That has all gone to the wall now because the IMAX frame is a different shape to the cinema frame, which is and so I'm completely with you on this question is where are we now? Is there such a thing as a definitive version of the film? And all I can say is, I really hope you get to speak to Chris Nolan and say to him , Which one? And my suspicion is that he'll say IMAX . He'll say the IMAX , that's the version that I know that I want you to see. But the IMAX frame is a square frame than what we're all used to of the kind of, you know, the post white the vista, you know, the wide frame . And yeah, it has completely changed the rules of what is the definitive version of a film. I think Chris Nolan should film in Super Marion and see where that takes him Neil Sheridan in County Mayor in Ireland, obviously, Margaret Saman. I love your work. Just wondering, have you ever done a feature on Hollywood baseball movies? I don't think we have. As the national pastime in America, it has been the subject of some immense films that stay with you long after the credits roll. So the question is in your opinion, has there ever been a weak Hollywood baseball movie? Which one is the best? Also, which one has launched significant careers? I mean, there's a bunch of questions here, Neil . I'm thinking of Bull Durham with Kevin Cosner, Tim Robinson and Susan Sarandon. After the recent passing of Robert Redford, I re watched The Natural and really loved it. Fact based baseball movies may also have a strong place on this list of being the best money ball and forty two tell great stories of significant baseball events that had a huge bearing on how the game is played today in America. For me, all great baseball movies give you the sound of the ball hitting the bat for that glorious home run with the pitcher on the mound and the keeper on the plate signaling the play, the crowd hushed and the keyboard counting the time. The movies all show the quirky uniforms and the heroes and stories that almost become myth . Any thoughts or ideas in any of your podcasts will be greatly appreciated. I mean, I've never seen baseball. It's not a great British pastime, but my understanding of it is entirely from the movies. I like the jackets and I love Field of Dreams, which was the movie that occurred to me hadn't been on their list. But I think Neil is trying to find out if there's any been any duds . I mean, I'm sure there have been. We should flag and we're talking about baseball movies, we should flag Eight Men Out, which is the John Sails film about the Black Sox scandal , which is a really, really interesting film and demonstrates that you can, you know, you can use inverted Cceom,mer theorts S mopvie for any number of things in the same way that you know, Money Ball is a sports movie, but it's not a sports movie and eight Man Out is a political movie. And you know, there was there was a weird point at which we did have a discussion. It wasn't a program, but we had a discussion about whether or not baseball was just the great American cinema metaphor for everything , whether it could just be turned to any purpose whatsoever. I mean, I'm sure there are bad baseball movies, but what's amaz ing is how many good ones there are. And we were making the comparison with why is it that there are so many great baseball movies and so few good football movies ? And it was, you know, was there something culturally or mechanically about the sport that meant that one of them was great for the cinema and the other one wasn't because there was just a plethora of great baseball movies , very, very few good football movies. Do you think I could get away with writing a script or a story where it's all about the game of rounders, which is obviously clearly where baseball came from. But rounders , everyone plays rounders, played it at school. You know, even people who don't like sport, they played rounders. Yes. Do you think that would work? There is a film called Rounders, but it's not about rounders. A different thing. That would be a good I think it's a good idea, which unfortunately I've added to the podcast, but anyway, okay that's the next question. So here's the question, look, this is our last question. I wasn't going to I wasn't going to include this but anyway , as I hinted that we might . As a Mank from Hume, I know of Mark's past Remanchester University. I just wanted to ask if you had ever highly likely to be apocryphal, but you never know, heard of Allen Delon spending time living in the ball rings with some young girl for a period, even extending him going for a local pint at Zegle. Any more informed detail greatly appreciated from whoever that is. Have you heard of Alan Delon hanging out in Man chester . Paul shit's from Yeah . No, Paul, I haven't heard that. I mean, I've lived in Hume for four years and I have never, ever heard of Alan Delon staying there. Now, I mean there are Nico was there for a while and you know, other luminaries underground out Velvet underground and, you know, other luminaries you then went on to be later big in the music scene. Ed Barton and I think Michael Gerald was there. But I have never heard and of course there's a scene from Reds, which they shot there, but I have never heard of Allan Delon being seen in Hume in the crescent when you say the boring no, I don't know. Maybe it's a progress. I mean, it's not impossible that it's true. It seems weird, but there were so many things about Hume that were weird. Funnily enough, I was in Manchester a couple of weeks ago and I drove through where Hume now isn't. The bridges are still there. The Joy Division bridge and all that stuff is still there. But there were so many strange stories associated with Hume that it's from it's far from impossible that it happened, but I have never heard of it. Correspondents to Companime. com if there's a question or a question or just an observational review or something, we would love to hear from you. Thank you very much indeed. There'll be another take along very shortly.