film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Rosalynn Try-Hane

  • Tell It To The Bees: Review

    Tell It To The Bees: Review

    Tell It To The Bees is a period drama telling the story of an emerging lesbian love affair set in a small town in Scotland.

    Hostility, Racism and toxic masculinity all feature heavily in such a predictable manner that this feels like paint it by numbers period drama despite a stellar cast and strong direction from Annable Jankel.

    Tell It To The Bees is a period drama set in 1950s Scotland where Dr Jean Markham (Anna Paquin) returns to her home town to take over her late father’s medical practice. However, all is not what it seems and her return is not greeted with warmth.

    Lydia Weekes (Holliday Grainger) works in the local factory, raising her son, Charlie as a single parent when her husband leaves her. Charlie talks to the bees in Dr Markham’s garden, the two women meet and a forbidden love affair begins. Will love conquer all even the prejudices of 1950s Scotland?

    Tell It To The Bees felt like tucking into an assortment of chocolates: sweet, parts of the action were unexpected and the ending came as a surprise. However, for the most part, the film is predictable, a paint it by numbers period drama. It does deal with very important issues such as racism due to an interracial relationship, back street abortions, toxic masculinity and of course lesbianism.

    The back street abortion scene is probably one of the most horrifying and realistic depictions on the big screen of recent time and it will stay with you for a while long after the credits finish rolling. However, it is too nuanced when it should be bolder in parts to distract from the obvious plot devices. Grainger is and Lauren Lyle who plays Annie Cranmer are a delight to watch.

    However, as surprising as the ending is, it is a little too late for what feels an all too predictable film.

    Tell It To The Bees is released in cinemas across the UK on Friday 19 July.

  • Film Project: The Uncertain Kingdom

    Film Project: The Uncertain Kingdom

    An exciting new film project is coming for your viewing pleasure later in 2019: The Uncertain Kingdom with the aim of generating debate and reflection on how we live now. That may sound deep but if the list of the 20 directors is anything to go by it will be fascinating, interesting and anything but dull!

    It really is an amazing array: Academy Award winner Orlando Von Einsiedel (The White Helmets, Evelyn), BIFA winner Carol Salter (Almost Heaven), BAFTA and International Emmy winner Guy Jenkin (Outnumbered), Dazed 100 listed Iggy LDN (Black Boys Don’t Cry) and IWC Schaffhausen Award winner Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling) are among the directors chosen for the ground-breaking project. Read on to see the full list of directors selected!

    The Uncertain Kingdom brings together established and emerging filmmakers to create 20 short films, each offering a flash of insight into the state of the nation at this turbulent time. 

    “As technology advances and our future becomes increasingly more unstable and harder to predict, it’s important that filmmakers share thoughts on this crucial time in history. That’s why I think that the conversations that will be created from The Uncertain Kingdom project will strike a huge chord with many people.” Iggy LDN, director

    The films will represent regions throughout the UK, encompass a range of themes including climate change, migration, homelessness, sexuality, cultural identity and interracial relationships. The shorts will include fiction, documentary, animation, dance and experimental films, and a variety of genres. 

    Films begin shooting this summer and will be delivered in October. The Uncertain Kingdom will be exhibited in a national tour through winter 2019-2020, handled by Verve Pictures. The tour aims to initiate conversations and debate by placing the films at the centre of community events throughout the U.K.

    The Uncertain Kingdom was conceived by director and exec-producer John Jencks and will be produced by Isabel Freer and Georgia Goggin. 

    Asked about the selected filmmakers and their films John Jencks said “I’m thrilled with every single filmmaker who’s joined The Uncertain Kingdom and I can’t wait to share their films with audiences across the country.”

    Full list of filmmaking teams 

    1. Alison Hargreaves, writer/director/producer. Alice Whittemore, producer.
    2. Antonia Campbell-Hughes, writer/director. Marie-Thérèse Mackle, producer.
    3. Carol Salter, director/producer. Fleur Nieddu, co-producer.
    4. David Proud, director. Justin Edgar, writer/producer.
    5. Dominika Ożyńska,director. Imogen Kimber, producer.
    6. Ellen Evans, director. Alice Hughes, producer.
    7. Guy Jenkin, writer and director. Ryan Bennett, producer. 
    8. Hope Dickson Leach, writer/director. Wendy Griffin, producer. 
    9. Iggy LDN, director. Ibrahim Salawu, writer.
    10. Jason Bradbury, director. Yaw Basoah and Brett Webb, producers. Edward Cripps, writer. 
    11. Jason Wingard, writer/director. Hannah Stevenson, producer.
    12. Lab Ky Mo, director. Chi Thai, producer. Ming Ho, writer. 
    13. Lanre Malaolu, director, writer and choreographer. Alistair Payne-James, producer. 
    14. Orlando von Einsiedel, director. Matthew Wenham, producer. 
    15. Paul Frankl, writer/director. Amy Binns, producer. 
    16. Ray Panthaki, writer/director. Ben Jacques, producer.
    17. Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, director. Kate Vogel and Kat Mansoor, producers. 
    18. Rubika Shah, writer/director. Jessie Mangum, producer.
    19. Sophie King, director. Helen Simmons, producer. Sian Docksey, writer. 
    20. Stroma Cairns, director. Imogen West and Sorcha Bacon, producers. 

    “In such unsettled and unclear times, it is vital to harness the power of storytelling – to cast its clarifying light. The Uncertain Kingdom understands this and has brought together a diverse group of storytellers to collectively illuminate our visions.” Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, director

    Here at BRWC we can’t wait to see what this amazing and eclectic group of filmmakers bring to the screen!

    For more details click on the link: //theuncertainkingdom.co.uk

  • TV Preview: Years And Years

    TV Preview: Years And Years

    On Saturday 13 April, we were treated to a preview screening of Years and Years at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival at BFI Southbank.

    Years and Years centres on an everyday Mancunian family, the Lyons, over a fifteen year period. The first ten minutes is a montage at lightening speed of: a birth, birthdays and meeting the different family members who we are to follow over the length of the 6 part series. One of the leads is Russell Tovey portraying a house officer.

    Years and Years is very representative but I fear that the subject matter it is trying to grapple with is too big – political uncertainty, rise of facism in the form of Emma Thompson’s character, Vivienne Rook MP – a mash up of Trump and Nigel Farage -together with technological advances – transhuman.

    In the Q&A, Russell T Davies said the use of the family unit was to provide the series with its beating heart and, as such, something for us viewers to connect with. It is supposed to be personal even though set in the near future.

    Russell T Davies is the legend behind Queer as Folk that revolutionised my tv viewing habits of the 1990s following the path of three gay men in Manchester. Here again, the drama is set primarily in Manchester with only interior shots shown of the oldest brother’s house in London. Is it going to be a hit? Well, that will depend on the viewing public.

    There is no doubt a stellar cast of household names such as Emma Thompson, Anne Reid and Russell Tovey along with lesser known faces as Ruth Madeley and T’Nia Miller. It is just that the idea of the series of a right wing, populist female figure creating her own party and the world being torn apart doesn’t really make for engaging television viewing although I may be wrong. In any event the writer has realised his dream of writing a series he’s had the idea for a number of years, I just hope this doesn’t go the way of other passion projects

    Years and Years will be shown on the BBC starting in Spring 2019.

  • The BRWC Review: On The Basis Of Sex

    The BRWC Review: On The Basis Of Sex

    The problem in telling someone else’s story is where do you start and where do you end. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a titan in every sense of the word and deserved a better film. Her story is one that needs to be told but the hard bits, the truly gritty parts, shouldn’t be romanticised. What we get in On The Basis of Sex is a thoroughly romanticised, happy look at the landmark case that led to sexual equality.

    She’s a fighter and yet, On The Basis of Sex, leads us to believe that it is her daughter and husband that gave her the courage to pursue this case. It is clear that their marriage is avant garde for the time – an equal partnership – but let us not diminish Ruth’s achievements. We get to see a little of that aside from the courtroom set piece but even that doesn’t ignite as it should.

    This is a formidable woman and yet she comes across as a timid mouse. Ruth Bader Ginsberg deserved better than this as did we all. This film is a timely reminder that the natural of things can change and should. Gender politics are explored in great overtures in the film but the best part of the film is when Ruth and her husband are walking back from a party and she says “all the little the brush offs matter” and it is at this point that you think “we’re in business” but no the film goes in the other direction.

    That for me is the film. As a woman watching that is what predominately men couldn’t and possibly still don’t get those brush offs are the ones that sting. I wish that was the film that was made that showed how she dealt with that.  Instead, On The Basis Of Sex is a formulaic biopic which is clearly endorsed because the real Ruth Bader Ginsberg turns up a the end.

    Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer both give worthy performances. Felicity has such spark but feels wasted in this film the script just didn’t leave very much room for her to really shine.

    This is a dvd rather than going to watch in the cinema.

    On the Basis of Sex was released in UK cinemas on 22 February.

  • Coming Soon: Teddy Pendergrass Documentary

    Coming Soon: Teddy Pendergrass Documentary

    February is the month for lovers and February 21 is the date on which a full length feature length documentary will be released on Teddy Pendergrass – If You Don’t Know Me. The documentary will tell the powerful and moving story of R&B soul legend, who was on the brink of global super-stardom when tragedy struck.

    A compelling tale with surprising twists and turns, the film is an intimate portrait of one of the greatest singers of his generation. It also tells how Teddy fought for the rights of African-American artists in a 1970s music industry prejudiced against black performers and reveals how, aged just 31, Pendergrass overcame terrible tragedy to get back on stage against all the odds.

    BAFTA award-winner, Olivia conceived, researched and directed the film, which reveals Teddy’s meteoric rise from his tough childhood in Philadelphia to become the lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. His was the voice of worldwide hits, Don’t Leave Me This Way and If You Don’t Know Me by Now.

    Olivia recalls: “I grew up listening to soul music and I’d just started listening to Teddy again when I saw a documentary about Shep Gordon, the legendary artist manager who worked with everyone from Blondie to Alice Cooper – and Teddy. It included a little bit about him working with Teddy Pendergrass and it made me realise that I didn’t know what had happened to him. I had a really strong sense that I had to make a film to tell his story.”

    Olivia contacted Shep Gordon, who agreed to join the project as an executive producer, along with Michael and Katherina Saunders. A short trailer was enough to sell the idea to BBC Films, who stepped in to co-finance the production with Wasted Talent.  The 106-minute documentary includes magical and rarely seen original footage of Teddy’s performances as well as intimate and candid interviews with co-performers, friends and family. They include Teddy’s ex-wife Karen and mother Ida – now 100-years-old, all of whom co-operated fully with the production, as did Teddy’s widow, Joan Pendergrass.

    Lichtenstein, who is a partner and director of Storyvault Films, which produces programmes for all the major UK broadcasters and top digital channels added: “This is an extraordinary, human story that feels almost Shakespearian – it’s much more than just a music biopic, it’s an intimate portrait both of Teddy and of the extraordinary times in which he lived. We really get to know him because we hear from so many people who were close to him. It almost feels as if he comes back to life to let the world hear him sing again.”

    Producer Piers Tempest of Tempo Productions added: ”Teddy’s story is an important and ultimately inspiring one and we are delighted to help shine a light on the man and his music”.

    Following the BFI premiere (19 February) and theatrical release through Moviehouse Entertainment, Teddy Pendergrass – If You Don’t Know Me will air on Sky Arts and on the BBC in the UK. 

    We at BRWC can’t wait to watch it!