Introducing Bill Hastings. We’ll hand over to Bill to introduce himself, and how he has managed to find himself with the role of JANZ’s film coach.
I am the new “film coach”. JANZ’s president craftily introduced me in the recent Te mohio ki a koe / Getting to know you piece as a way to get film review for JANZ. I am happy to oblige, but the expectations put on a former Chief Censor to provide erudite reviews of films are high. I may disappoint, but you’ll get my honest review of films I’ve seen, both in cinemas and on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Three films this month.
This Town
First up is a film mentioned last month: This Town (2020; in cinemas). I love Rima Te Wiata. She’s in this film. I didn’t much like the film, though. I feel guilty saying that because it’s a New Zealand film. All the Kiwiana displayed on the sets occasionally threatens to overshadow the actors and the plot, which is about a woman falling in love with a man accused of murdering his family.
He was prosecuted and eventually acquitted by a jury, much to the dismay of Robyn Malcolm, a cop who will do anything to overturn the verdict. Too soon, you’re thinking? If you are a judge who had anything to do with the Bain trial, or if you even have an opinion about it, avoid this film. If you think you can cover your eyes and hold your ears to avoid the Bain bits, you’ll miss the whole film. Bain is pervasive, to the point of Robyn Malcolm walking us through the remains of a burnt-out house describing who got murdered in which bedroom. If you can get through those bits, this is a quirky film, delivered in that typically deadpan New Zealand style, with some sweet depictions of the relationship between Sean / David Bain, played by David White, and Casey, played by Alice May Connolly from Daffodils.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020; Netflix)
If This Town was quirky, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is off-the-hook bonkers. Will Farrell (US) and Rachel McAdams (Canada) are a brother-and-sister (maybe) act from Iceland who accidentally end up representing their country at Eurovision. Their father is Pierce Brosnan (Ireland). Rachel’s love interest is Dan Stevens (UK) — that impossibly good-looking hunk from Downton Abbey who got killed off in the Christmas special. He plays a very gay-in-denial incredibly wealthy Russian heartthrob who shows an interest in Rachel, much to Will Ferrell’s disapproval.
The picture has some really good singing in it (true fact: there are even real-life Eurovision participants in it), and not since the dance-off with David Bowie in Zoolander has there been a better sing-off than in this film. It is positively uplifting, notwithstanding the high mortality rate at the start of the film and the fact that everyone, absolutely everyone, speaks in English as if it were their second language.
Beware, there is a free and frank discussion of Dan Stevens’ character’s penis that appears on classical statues throughout his house. A highly recommended pick-me-up on a Friday night at level 2.5.
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019; in cinemas)
I don’t know if I love Tilda Swinton more than Rima Te Wiata. To pick one would be like choosing a favourite child. But I love Tilda Swinton, who plays the donkey-phobic Betsey Trotwood, who lives with Hugh Lawrie, who plays Mr Dick, who is obsessed with His Late Majesty King Charles I. Everyone is in this film. The two star turns are from Dev Patel as David Copperfield — who, since Slumdog Millionaire has been in a gazillion films including both Marigold Hotels, and who plays Gawain in the not-yet-released horror-fantasy (not-really-my-thing) The Green Knight — and Nikki Amuka-Bird who plays the incredibly snooty Mrs Steerforth.
I should add Ben Wishaw’s Uriah Heep to my list of star turns. You may have noticed from that list of actors that diversity in casting has added a sparkle to this 18th (maybe?) screen or television rendering of the Dickens story (the first was, I think, in 1911 — only 41 years after his death — and is available on Vimeo).
Do not watch this film if you like your Dickens characters played by stodgy 20th-century American actors speaking with bad English accents (speaking of which, who can forget Dick van Dyke in both, yes both, Mary Poppins films). The cast of this film does more justice to the lively, flamboyant Dickens characters than any film retelling ever has. Another goodie.
See you next month.