Life on the run gets messy and dangerous for Michelle Dockery in the second series of the hit drama
Award-winning actress Michelle Dockery will be back on the bad side when she returns as thief and con artist Letty Raines in the hit drama Good Behavior, as the second season launches exclusively in the UK on Virgin TV on Monday 16 October – premiering in line with the US
The first season launched on Virgin TV earlier this month, offering TV fans an exclusive binge-worthy boxset to get their teeth into. The much-anticipated season 2 airs next month, with a new episode available on the Virgin TV platform every Monday for 10 weeks. Juan Diego Botto, Terry Kinney, Lusia Strus and Joey Kern also star in the seductive drama, which was created by Chad Hodge and Blake Crouch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaH1whf5gM0
Whilst the first season of Good Behavior centres around Letty, her past, her love interest with Javier (played by Juan Diego Botto) and her quest to reunite with her son Jacob, the second season sees Letty and Javier try to create a normal life for themselves and Jacob. However, the sweet taste of normality slowly fades as Letty goes from bad at being good… to good at being bad.
Good Behavior is Virgin TV’s seventh exclusive UK launch, and follows in the footsteps of hugely successful box sets of Ash vs Evil Dead, Kingdom, Magic City, Billy & Billie, Full Circle and more recently, Imposters. Virgin Media now boasts an exciting library of exclusive programmes – all available for Virgin ‘Full House TV’ (previously known as XL TV) customers at no extra charge.
Good Behavior, along with all Virgin TV Exclusives, is available on demand through the Virgin TV V6 or TiVo boxes as well as on mobile devices through the Virgin TV Anywhere app available on iOS and Android.
In 2017 the buzz word in the film industry is diversity and In Between is just that – diverse. The director Maysaloun Hamound understands what diversity truly means telling the rarely seen story of Palestinian women living in Tel Aviv from different points of view. It is provocative, moving, joyful as all great art is – it will leave you astounded.
In Between tells the story of three Palestinian women leading three different lives in Tel Aviv. They are physically and literally between worlds as strangers in a foreign land and women fighting to lead their own version of authentic lives.
The film centres on Leila (Mouna Hawa), Noor (Shaden Kanboura) and Salma (Sana Jammelieh) who couldn’t be more different. Leila and Salma are flatmates. Leila a lawyer who parties mixing drinking with the occasional drug use. Salma is a chef in a Jewish restaurant and is wrestling with her parents desire to have her married even though she longs to tell them she is a lesbian. Their world is about to be turned upside down when Noor moves in. Noor is the good, obedient Muslim girl who is engaged to be married. When Noor suffers a horrific act, the women come together to avenge Noor and also show their defiance. They have the right to be heard, seen and live as equals to men in 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPiVZj8Mm7o
I found it an incredible film and it is rightly generating award buzz. This is not only down to the writer/director but the three lead actresses. Why the film is so startling is Muslim women have never been shown this way on film. The idea that there are Palestinian women who drink, smoke and go to parties is refreshing to see on film. The only other film of recent time where I have seen similar to this is: As I Open My Eyes (2016) a Tunisian film that showed members of Tunisian youth battling against the oppression and wanting freedom.
The fact that Maysaloun Hamound is the first Palestinian woman in 70 years to have a Fatwa issued against her by the Palestinian State because of debut feature shows the power of art and in particular film to galvanise a cause.
In Between is short and punchy with a run time of about 1h45. The director has a very strong voice. There is no mistaking the message that she wants you to understand here. The pace of the film is good and this is helped by careful editing. The pivotal scene that galvanises the three women when they are all the in bathroom is all the more visceral because it is not softened, it shows starkly the aftermath of rape and the collective strength of women. This is not to say In Between is anti-men because it is not. What it must be seen as is correcting the perceived image of Muslim women that the West has: these women are strong and proud and just like us.
In Between is a must see. It is released across cinemas in the UK on Friday 22 September.
Now in its 12th year the London Korean Film Festival, it is bolder and brighter than ever. This year’s special focus is on Korean Noir which as the name suggests hopes to stay as close to the literary definition but with a Korean twist. However, if Korean Noir does not peak your interest then there are several other genres which will be showcased during the 26 October to 19 November 2017 festival period including:
Indie Firepower
Cinema Now
Women’s Voices
Classics Revisited: Bae Chang-ho Retrospective
Documentaries
Artist Video
Animations
Mise en scene Shorts
Korean cinema is constantly in the spotlight and deservedly so. The films coming out from South Korea are innovative, stylish and engaging. The festival will open with a film that had this year’s Cannes Film Festival 2017 buzzing – The Day After by auteur director Hong Sangsoo.
Two out of the five Korean hits to grace Cannes Film Festival this year were crime and action thrillers typical of the booming Korean Noir genre, Illuminating the dark side of society: The Villainness (following a female assassin trained from a young age) and The Merciless (2017, Studiocanal, premiering at LKFF 2017), the latest feature from Byun Sung-hyun, a Tarantino-esque moody neo-noir thriller following double-crossing gangsters. “South Korea has such a turbulent modern history ridden with violence and political, social upheavals… I think that may be why we are good at making thriller movies like this,” said Jung Byung-Gil, director of The Villainness” (Daily Mail). It’s fitting that the festival shines a light on the killer genre this year with a full range of crime capers both old and new.
BRWC was lucky enough to attend the press launch of The London Korean Film Festival and watched The Villainness. The opening sequence of the film is what remains long after the credits have finished. It is stylish, slick and the stunts all the more incredible when you realise there was no CGI involved. The story, however, is disjointed and makes little sense spanning the spectrum from ultra violent thriller to tender love story. However, if you like action then this is a must see.
This is the second year of our Women’s Voices strand,showcasing four dramas and one documentary all from contemporary feminine points of view, films that are at the very heart of feminist politics. An extremely current and relevant documentary, Candle Wave Feminists (2017), deconstructs the misogyny and discrimination that was rife within the revolution that led to Park’s impeachment and her spiritual mentor Choi Soon-Sil’s arrest. The feature debut by writer-director Lee Wanmin, Jamsil (2016) is a rare look at two women’s transformative friendship, following a harrowing long-term breakup. My Turn(2017)focuses on pregnancy within the workplace, after a nurse becomes pregnant and tensions and backlash surface. Mild Fever (2017) captures the subtle rift between husband and wife, following a secret that surfaces from the past. Night Working (2017) follows a friendship between two factory workers, a Korean woman and a Cambodian immigrant.
London venues include: Picturehouse Central, Regent Street Cinema, ICA, Phoenix, Close-up, LUX, Birkbeck’s Institute of Moving Image, SOAS, Kingston University, National Film & Television School, British Museum and KCCUK
The festival tours to: Glasgow Film Theatre, Manchester HOME, Sheffield Showroom, Nottingham Broadway Cinema, Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre until 19 November 2017.
For more information, click here for the programme line up of over 60 films showcasing the best of Korean cinema.
The London Korean Film Festival 2017 runs from 26 October until 19 November.
Goodbye summer and hello film festival season. After all the summer blockbusters and hot summer nights (although weren’t many of those this year) comes September, and with it a glut of film festivals. The first was Lush Film Festival. Wait, Lush as in the can’t mistake it when you walk past one of their shops Lush. Yes, the people who twenty two years ago introduced the UK to the bath bomb are back and now with an independent film festival.
In keeping with their ethos of environmental sustainability and anti-animal testing have created an independent film festival showcase to help emerging and establish filmmakers highlight the voices that often get drowned out by the media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVm9MUkK5Y
2017 is the inaugural year for the Lush Film Fund with a £250,000 grant set aside to help independent filmmakers who apply make their film. All independent filmmakers there is another fund out there – the message BRWC took away from the evening is Lush want to get independent voices heard.
On the 5 September, in their rather, pardon the pun, lush screening room – think scattered cushions, wooden flooring and soft lighting we were treated to a showcase of what to expect and an excerpt of a rather heart rendering documentary called Refugee following the plight of a Syrian family making the exodus from Syria to Germany.
The other highlight of the night was a preview screening of Bruce Parry’s latest documentary.
The Lush Film Festival took place over two days 4 and 5 September 2017 at Lush Soho Studio, 67-71 Beak Street, London W1F 9SW.
If you are interested in watch films and documentaries that stimulate debate and inspire the collective conscience then this is definitely a film festival you should look out for. Oh, and did we mention there was free vegan food on offer – a definite added bonus!
What’s that saying – Good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere.
Well in this new role, Letty Raines (Michelle Dockery) is trying to be good and change her bad girl ways. From the outset, the viewer suspects that maybe Letty is a good girl gone bad. Actually, she’s not reformed so much as forced to change. Who is she and how did end up losing her son, on parole and now at the behest of an assassin? That is basically the plot outline of Good Behaviour.
Michelle Dockery will probably be for ever more linked to Downton Abbey and her role as Lady Mary. In a complete departure, in Good Behaviour she is anything but playing the complete opposite of Lady Mary – a thief, con artist, alcoholic and drug user.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaH1whf5gM0
The pilot is long and a bit too long. Yes, we need to see the different facets of the character but there are too many scenes when it is just the central character on screen. It drags and the central character feels as if it a muddle of too many cliches and not enough originality. I have had the opportunity of seeing a few more episodes and all I can say is stick with it. If only the pilot had been ruthlessly edited this series would be on everyone’s lips. However, stick with it because from episode two onwards there is a lot more sparring between Letty Raines and her “boss” the hitman (Juan Diego Botto) who she encounters in the pilot. There is no denying there is good chemistry between the two central characters but again this is only really evident from episode two onwards.
Good Behavior debuts on Virgin TV on demand on Monday 11th September, leading up to the much anticipated season two premiere on Monday 16th October to coincide with the US
