There are few things as British as the James Bond series. The antics of Britain’s superspy unfolds in a series of mishaps and mayhem as 007 tries to save the world, and in the process, add a view pounds Sterling to the box office. While Spectre, the latest installment in the franchise didn’t make quite as much as the prequel, Skyfall, it still raked in a respectable £95.2 million. But these films don’t simply come together on their own, and their success is partly thanks to graduates such as Cambridge alum, Sam Mendes, director for film and stage. There is a long line of other graduates who, behind the scenes, to light up our screens.
Beloved Scores That Resonate Long After The Film
A graduate that lends her musical talent to the film industry, is Rachel Portman. Her repertoire boasts over 100 projects that include Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist and Saul Dibb’s The Duchess. She also went on to win an Oscar for her work on Emma and was nominated for two further Academy Awards for her work on Chocolat and The Cider House Rules. In 2010, Rachel was appointed an Office of the Order of the British Empire (OEB). To this day, The Little Prince which is a children’s opera is still performed in theaters across the world and has also been adapted for the small screen.
Stars That Persevered Despite On-Screen Success
Despite their on-screen success, actors such as Mayim Bialik, Emma Watson, and Natalie Portman decided to continue their studies. While education is often lauded as a requirement for success, these stars prove that education is part of the journey. While these actors relied on their hard-earned cash to pay for their studies, others rely on scholarships, part-time jobs, and other means of funding to pay for their studies. Actors Kate Walsh, Kerry Washington, and John Hamm are some of the actors who only managed to pay off their debt once they landed their big roles. Others are in no hurry to pay off their loans. Despite having the means to settle his debt, actor Miles Teller revealed that the interest on the loans is so low, that he’s in no hurry to settle them just yet.
Vassar Graduates In The Film Industry
While Vassar is known to churn out some of the most brilliant minds, these minds often find their way to the arts. Anne Hathaway and Lisa Kudrow are actors that have Vassar as their alma mater, along with film score composer and rapper Mike D. Chefs Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain also walked these halls despite having their chef hats firmly on their heads. This undoubtedly led to the business savvy that afforded them the opportunity to have numerous cooking shows and projects across the globe.
Sometimes it’s necessary to leave studies for a period of time to pursue a film project, but these graduates show that education is a worthy enterprise to pursue.
Assassination Nation hits UK cinemas on 23 November and in celebration of its release, here’s 6 reasons why you need to see it…
It’s the ultimate anthem of 2018
Tackling the most prescient millennial and Gen Z issues: sexism and social media, the film takes on the dangers of our digital age, dissecting internet misogyny, the policing of female sexuality, and all round patriarchal attempts at controlling and monitoring female behaviour both on and offline. A modern re-telling of the Crucible, set in present-day Salem, the film gives new meaning to the term ‘witch hunt’ – a phrase we need to be reclaiming now more than ever, as it gets thrown around by angry men on the wrong side of #MeToo.
It has your favourite of-the-moment gals in it
Suki Waterhouse? Check. Hari Nef? Check. Bella Thorne? Check. And to balance it out – Bill Skarsgard in another creepy role. What more could we want?
Poker has become one of the best professions in the world. It is one of the most taxing and skill-based activities to consider, but the pay could be way up there. No wonder that everyone in every country features at least 1 poker superstar, within its borders at the very least.
You might not expect such professionals to come from countries that have serious regulations about gambling, but it sometimes happens. For example, Norway has one of the strictest regulations about playing poker for money, and features only two companies who provide just the tables. However, this nordic country was able to produce one of the stars of Poker Thor Hansen himself. Full article can be found on Norskcasino.online website.
Little bit about Thor
Thor was born in 1947 in Oslo and quickly grew up to be a poker sensation within the country. His career pretty much began in the 90s when he was able to play against Larry Flynt in Las Vegas. After the game Larry Flynt invited Thor to play poker for him, ultimately spearheading his career. Currently Thor is living in California and enjoying all of the wealth he was able to accumulate over the years of professional poker.
A new career?
Thor Hansen is regarded as the Godfather of all the Norwegian poker players. All the new players look up to him and want to be like him. Therefore, Zacapa Film a Norwegian film studio decided to make a documentary about him in 2016 calling it All In.
At first the project was proceeding with the studio’s own resources but soon it became evident that it could not be sustained. Therefore the studio created a fundraiser, hoping to gather 250,000 NOK (about $30,000), which they were able to achieve.
The story of how the studio met Thor is quite amusing. It turned out that Zacapa Film was making commercials for the Blood Cancer Society in connection with NM in poker 2015. They were soon able to find out that Thor was a very popular poker player, they decided to meet him. Getting through to him seemed easy enough and convincing him to agree to the documentary even easier.
There are even quotes from the studio talking about Thor and the future of the project
“Thor Hansen is a wonderful man who everyone will soon become fond of. He is so full of exciting stories that one would not think that half is true. But when you get to know Thor, you understand that everything he says is the truth. He has always lived at the moment, without worries for neither the past nor the future. Now he suffers from incurable cancer, but looks back on an adventurous life without regret for anything. Even while fighting such a terrible disease, Thor is able to live strong. We want to find out what is the secret of Thor’s life philosophy and fascinating character, and make a documentary that is about going “ALL IN” in life – and living alive all the way to goals.”
“Fifty years later, Thor has become world champion in poker for the second time. He lives in a Los Angeles villa with his wife Marcella and lives off to play poker. For 11 years he is permanently playing the team of porn king Larry Flynt. He plays against the richest and most famous in the world and has no idea how many hundred million he has won. In the poker environment he is called only Godfare from Norway. Despite this, Thor never has money, he is a notorious gambler.”
The latest film from Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the Turkish director behind Palme d’Or winner ‘Winter Sleep’, tells the story of Sinan, a young graduate returning home and trying to find his place in the world. Sinan is desperate to get his book published, in need of financial support but hampered by the debts his father owes to everyone in town.
The problems that modern Turkey is facing act as an undercurrent to the story, with references to riots, police brutality and religion, all acting as recurring themes throughout. Sinan is unsure of what he wants. Of course he wishes to be published, but outside of that his options appear limited. It looks like he will either become a teacher or join the police, neither of which appeals to him. He’s a young man with his whole future ahead of him, trapped by the lifestyle he was born into, and unsatisfied with his prospects.
Sinan’s family life is no piece of cake either. His father, Idris, not only owes money to everyone he knows, but appears to still suffer with an addiction to gambling; an addiction that is affecting his children, and indeed his wife, who does all she can to remain loyal to the man she still loves in spite of his many flaws. At the heart of all this is a young man who feels lost, and it’s his journey of self-discovery that we see unfold in Ceylan’s 188 minute character study.
This is an interesting story with a lot of important questions being asked, even if it’s not necessarily Ceylan’s best work. Sinan’s situation is one that many people can relate to. In your early twenties and post-graduation state, you are left with the terrifying prospect of having to decide what to do with your life. It’s a daunting thought, and one that many have suffered with. We realise that the world isn’t kind or easy, and that perhaps our dreams aren’t as achievable as we once thought. Of course, Sinan’s situation is a little different, but these are all difficulties millions have experienced, and there is a high chance that many viewers will find something to sympathise with here.
The difficulties of life in Turkey act as an ever-present concern for all those living in Çanakkale, the small city in which the film is set. These issues are only ever subtly hinted at when necessary, never detracting away from the character arc at the heart of the story. The film’s tone is exceptionally well-balanced.
While the pacing as a whole is very well done, it could be argued that the film overstays its welcome. This length is nothing new for Ceylan, but it’s what you do with those minutes that defines their worth, and while this isn’t a problem ‘Winter Sleep’ suffered from, one could say that his latest film does exceed its limits at times. The film is not without scenes or sequences that feel unnecessary and add little to the ongoing narrative. Admittedly, these are few and far between, but Ceylan’s previous films didn’t have the same problem. ‘The Wild Pear Tree’ does have an interesting narrative and there is no denying that it all builds to a satisfying conclusion, but it certainly takes far too long getting there.
The film lacks an imposing score, adding to its realistic approach, simply using the same piece of music by Bach frequently throughout. While this creative decision is very effective at first, it eventually feels overused; lessening any impact it previously had on the audience. It’s an innovative idea that feels played out by the film’s finale.
The film’s central performance from Doğu Demirkol is undoubtedly its biggest strength. The inexperienced actor is able to bring Sinan to life with ease. His struggles feel real and his interactions plausible. It’s a quiet yet wonderful piece of acting, particularly when you consider that Sinan isn’t a necessarily likeable character. Sure, at times, it’s fairly easy to sympathise with him. He’s not in a good situation and no-one around seems likely to show him support. However, he is oftentimes rude to those around him, ignorant of their own personal situations, and of the real world in which he lives. He’s a twenty-something that thinks he knows best, and this is a trait that appears to show in his writing. We’ve all been that person before, but he doesn’t seem to learn too much throughout this particularly long film. He does indeed seem a different person by the end, but the man we see as late as 150 minutes into the picture doesn’t appear to have changed much from the one we see at the beginning.
It’s not Sinan’s negative aspects that are the problem. We’ve all been there, and we can all understand his struggles. The issue is that Sinan doesn’t appear to make any significant progress for the vast majority of what is already an overlong picture, and by the time he does appear to grow and learn, it’s far too late to expect the audience to feel anything. Spending this much time with a character who makes little progress throughout is a big ask of any audience, and it may be one of the biggest reasons the film will fail to find viewers outside of those cult fans of the director’s previous works.
‘The Wild Pear Tree’ is a very well-constructed film. It moves at a nice pace, and features wonderful long scenes in which characters exchange realistic and engaging dialogue, sharing moments that feel extremely real and typically human (one scene in a library is a clear highlight). It’s a film that asks a lot of questions about the country while telling an interesting character-driven story, featuring a relatable protagonist, brought to life with a superb performance. However, Ceylan’s ambitious length feels far less worthwhile this time around, and spending that much time with an unsympathetic character may feel like a big ask for some people. It’s certainly an interesting film, but one wonders during the closing minutes whether you every really cared where Sinan ended up.
Danish director Gustav Möller’s first feature film is an expertly crafted thriller with a simple but effective premise. Jakob Cedergren plays Asger, a deskbound Copenhagen cop answering emergency calls. What appears to be a fairly ordinary shift becomes far more complicated when he answers a call from a woman claiming to be kidnapped.
The film is told in real-time, set entirely in one location with primarily one central performer, but is able to evoke a more suspenseful atmosphere than the majority of Hollywood pictures of this type. The audience’s inability to see what’s happening on the other end of the line is used to add to the central mystery of the narrative. We are put in the protagonist’s place, only finding out information as he does, and it’s a tool that’s been used masterfully.
As Asger breaks rules in an effort to save this woman, we learn a lot more about the man himself and precisely why he has found himself in this position. As we see the way he works, doubt enters our minds about his practices. His own backstory is revealed to us gradually throughout the picture, unfolding as a secondary mystery, only when necessary to the plot itself. It’s a film that is exceptionally well-paced and controlled, while also being terrifically acted.
The truth is that films such as these really live or die on their central performance, irrespective of their other merits. Cedergren’s performance is flawless. His character feels human, and nothing about his interpretation is over-dramatic, with Asger’s emotional unpredictability unfolding at a natural and plausible pace. He’s genuinely impressive, and an absolute joy to watch.
For such a minimal production, the film is also superbly directed. It lacks an unnecessarily emotive score, putting us right there in the moment with Asger, and Möller’s tactical use of close-ups and excellent sound design create an unparalleled atmosphere that most other thrillers should be striving to reach.
The story is wonderfully unpredictable, catching you off guard even in the moments at which you’re expecting it, going in a direction few would have seen coming. At the heart of all this is a simple character study, following a man with several question marks over his head. Is Asger a hero, or does he simply see himself as one at the expense of the wellbeing of those around him?
‘The Guilty’ is, quite frankly, a terrific piece of suspense cinema. This isn’t simply a well-told thriller. It’s an exquisitely directed picture made by a filmmaker with an eye for creating an atmosphere and building tension, in spite of the minimalistic setting. As far as debut features go, it’s hard not to be impressed by Möller’s achievement. The film is well-scripted and paced, immersive, anchored by a world-class performance from Cedergren and a wonderful use of sound. Möller has used everything at his disposal to create a film that could be used as the benchmark for contained thrillers.
