June 23, 2024 • 54 mins
**Host:** Alex First
**Guest Critics:** Peter Krauss, Jacqui Hammerton, Greg King
**Episode Summary:**
In this heartfelt episode, host Alex First reunites with critics Peter Krauss, Jacqui Hammerton, and Greg King to pay tribute to the legendary Donald Sutherland and delve into his illustrious career. The conversation then shifts to the much-anticipated "Despicable Me 4" and the gripping French political thriller "The Sitting Duck." The critics offer a mix of admiration and critique, providing listeners with a well-rounded discussion on these films.
**Highlights:**
- **Donald Sutherland Tribute:** The critics reflect on the life and career of Donald Sutherland, celebrating his versatility and memorable roles in films like "The Hunger Games," "M*A*S*H," and "Six Degrees of Separation." They discuss his impact on cinema and his legacy as a distinguished actor.
- **Despicable Me 4:** The latest instalment in the beloved franchise receives mixed reviews. Alex First praises its humour and creativity, while Jacqui Hammerton enjoys its endless entertainment. Greg King and Peter Krauss, however, feel it is overcrowded with subplots and lacks the charm of its predecessors.
- **The Sitting Duck:** A deep dive into the French political thriller about a trade union whistleblower. The critics commend Isabelle Huppert's performance and the film's intense narrative. They discuss its themes of power, control, and the challenges faced by whistleblowers.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/first-on-film-entertainment--5645288/support.
**Guest Critics:** Peter Krauss, Jacqui Hammerton, Greg King
**Episode Summary:**
In this heartfelt episode, host Alex First reunites with critics Peter Krauss, Jacqui Hammerton, and Greg King to pay tribute to the legendary Donald Sutherland and delve into his illustrious career. The conversation then shifts to the much-anticipated "Despicable Me 4" and the gripping French political thriller "The Sitting Duck." The critics offer a mix of admiration and critique, providing listeners with a well-rounded discussion on these films.
**Highlights:**
- **Donald Sutherland Tribute:** The critics reflect on the life and career of Donald Sutherland, celebrating his versatility and memorable roles in films like "The Hunger Games," "M*A*S*H," and "Six Degrees of Separation." They discuss his impact on cinema and his legacy as a distinguished actor.
- **Despicable Me 4:** The latest instalment in the beloved franchise receives mixed reviews. Alex First praises its humour and creativity, while Jacqui Hammerton enjoys its endless entertainment. Greg King and Peter Krauss, however, feel it is overcrowded with subplots and lacks the charm of its predecessors.
- **The Sitting Duck:** A deep dive into the French political thriller about a trade union whistleblower. The critics commend Isabelle Huppert's performance and the film's intense narrative. They discuss its themes of power, control, and the challenges faced by whistleblowers.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/first-on-film-entertainment--5645288/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
First on film and entertainment. Thewhole team is together. Peter Krauss,
delightful to have you back. JackieHamilton, where have you been? We
haven't seen or heard from you forwhat at least a year or two?
And Greg King the team. Absolutely, let's start with you. Peter.
You gave us a scare. Butyou're back, and you're firing and you're
fit. Correct pretty much? So, yes, fantastic. Well this is
(00:25):
really nice, Jackie. You've beena world traveler. Correct. Oh,
yes, but I've spoken with yousince then. Alex, So have I
forgotten that? You must? Yes, you've forgotten that I have? Okay,
Well you're old, Alex exactly.That's terrific, you know, it's
the mind sort of wanders in allsorts of directions. Gregory, Correct,
(00:46):
I would know that's not that old, not that old. Okay. Donald
Sutherland's passing, extremely sad. Onething. I just thought he carried himself
throughout his life remarkable, And Imean he was a very very well known
figure around the world for those whoare delighted by cinema like we are.
(01:10):
I don't know, it's again wetalk about age, et cetera. He
was eighty eight years of age.One thing that strikes me, and I
suppose this is somebody who has becomeenvious as I've become. What does one
say about losing the thatching up topchallenged in that area? He had a
fine head of air right throughout hislife and in fact, when I saw
(01:32):
a shot of him from about twoor three years ago, although he was
snow white, it was extremely elegant. Now why does that stand with me,
Jackie Hamerton, Well, because you'rejealous. But apart from that snowy
white, he also had a magnificentbeard from time to time when it was
called upon. So maybe that's whyit's prominent for you, because it really
(01:53):
stood out. The voice of hisHe often had that silky citizen andrew his
voice sometimes and played great villains.He did play great villains, and I
mean it was relatively late. Someof the roles have been relatively recent for
which he's known, and I thinkthat that's part of his allure, that
(02:14):
he spent one of the one ofthe first time you notice he was as
Oddball and Killer Zeroes way back then. Yes, but but I was in
math, yes, but I wasalso thinking about more recently, President snow
right, that that's the thing.The Hunger Games franchise, which was huge,
you know that that we're only talkingabout. You know that that ended
(02:35):
not even a decade ago, soyou know, this is a figure that
It's funny I was thinking about this. I can't remember which actor I was
hearing stories about, whether it wasSutherland or somebody else that young, younger
people used to go up to himand want him to sort of put on
a nasty face when they took aphotograph of him to reflect you know,
(02:57):
the nastier characters. Now that thatshows cut true. And I mean he
had such a prolific career, thenumber of movies that he made that really
stood out. And I mean,you know you're thinking about the Dirty Doesn't
and so on and mash and storieslike that, and then you know,
you work through this and you goto one of the movies that stood out
for me with six degrees of Separation. So a very prolific career, somebody
(03:23):
highly regarded. And of course aCanadian, wasn't he He was born in
Canada exactly. So you know whatstands out to you Peter Grause about Donald
Sutherland, Well, he's very mucha journeyman actor with two hundred credits to
his name, an incredible array offilms. He was in. Clute is
(03:44):
probably one of his best films.But I also want to mention a film
that's not that well known, afilm called Disclosure, which a film made
in the nineties with Michael Douglas andDemi Moore. And it was a film
well ahead of its time because itlooked at a computer organization with virtual reality,
(04:08):
which for nineteen ninety four was quiteamazing, and he was the head
of that organization. And the filmalso dealt with sexual harassment. So he
was very good at being cast insuch a wide range of roles, some
of which were quite unusual, veryelegant as well. Greg wasn't he a
(04:30):
really a statuesque elegant person that reallyhe stood out. You knew that he
was Donald Sutherland and that you paidattention. That's how I recall him with
a great deal of fonders and youYeah, I liked some of his more
villainous roles, like in nineteen hundredwhen he was a fascist leader who Bastiput
(04:50):
did this there in that film.I like that one I remember from the
yoty dozen and mash of course,Clue look now one of his best films.
I thought The Igle Has Landed.He had a great role in that
one as well. But he alsodid comedy like National Ampoons and Warhouse and
those kind of films. Everybody oftenplayed villains like I as a Noodle.
(05:15):
Was also in films like back Draft, JFK. JFK was the one that
again Oliver Stone movie that really Tryingto Kill and Space Cowboys, the remaking,
The Italian Job, a lot ofa lot of films and The Horrible
Bosses as well as in that,and lots of TV werek. But he
made a few TV yeares like Dirtysixty Money an Impearian Command in Chief as
well. So yeah, prolific career, memory, some memorable roles, but
(05:39):
a lot of shocking there as well. But as Peter said, he was
a journeyman actor just for god theroles and built up what he worked well
in terms of He's won a lotof awards, but I don't think he
ever won an Oscar. Did hehonore? Yeah, exactly what Time Achievement
Award? Yes? Yes, again, I mean I thought he was highly
(06:01):
deserving. You could have chosen anynumber of movies that could have won him
an Oscar. He's not unusual inthat regard. But Jackie, what are
your recollections of Donald Sutherland and howfondly did you regard him? Well,
not a lot of his films,to be honest, were really my favorite
kind of films, So he wouldn'tbe up there for me as one of
(06:28):
my you know, as being inmy favorite films. However he will.
He is an all time Hollywood,old school Hollywood gentleman, if you like.
I think it's the kind of personthat I liked. And I thought
that he could always almost physically dissolvehimself into a character very well, even
(06:51):
though he was he had quite physicallyhe had quite he was quite imposed,
you know, been having the heightand a very angular faith, so he
was easy. He could actually withquite a bit of makeup whatever, change
his hair all that. You know, he dissolved himself into a role very
(07:11):
much. And that's what I thinkof it. He has a very distinctive
voice. And the other thing thatwas really appealing about him was he smile.
He had a really nice, lopsidedsort of smile. He did.
And as you're rightly say, hewon the twenty eighteen Honore Award at the
Academy Awards. So it was terrificthat during his life at least, I
mean, I think he was veryhighly regarded by his peers. So that
(07:34):
speaks volumes as well. It's interestinghow friends of mine who are not really
the cinema were quite sort of theyexpressed their sadness about his passing, whereas
they perhaps wouldn't have commented on otherpeople. So I think he had a
strong impact on the world. Youknow. Also he was eighty eight,
(07:57):
Alex, so that's a good lifeand a good body of work, and
he'll be a you know, foreverlegend, really wanty of Hollywood of all
likely you think, I think that'sabsolutely true. I think he's one of
the names that will stand out andstand for all time and a number of
the movies. Of course. Youknow, when you've got such a prolific
career, Peter, with two hundred, as you say, credits to his
(08:18):
aim, there's going to be alot of people who are going to appreciate
his work long into the distance,aren't there. Similarly, Yes, there's
such a longevity and such a widerange of roles. And he also said
hed win an Emmy award, Imust say as well for a television production,
(08:39):
so apart from the honor are Oscar, he certainly was well recognized.
And his son Kiefer, who postedon X I thought his words were extremely
well chosen and you know, cutto the chase in a most effective manner
and very respectful. But it wasa very pointed message and poignant message at
(09:03):
that. So vallet Donald Sutherland andwe're talking about sort of franchise movies,
and we talked about the Hunger gamesthat have had real impact that that sort
of on j eighty eight FM.Let's turn our tension to which what I
would argue is the movie of theDespicable Me for now, what, oh
(09:26):
my, what a wonderful fourth moviein the franchise. I mean, okay,
you've got Minions movies, but tome, this shows that sometimes when
you have got a second to thirdor fourth movie, it can be just
as good as the original and howclever and creative and funny. And we
(09:46):
went along on opening opening like themedia Nite, and a lot of the
laughter came from adults who really appreciatedwhat was going on here. I think
that speaks volumes and you know,it may be the first film in the
collective, specifically the Despicable Me collective, for seven years, but it only
goes to show that in the interveningperiod the filmmakers have continued to own in
(10:09):
skills. So and wouldn't you loveto be a voice talent in a successful
series like this? That's that Iwas thinking about this when I was thinking
of Steve Carrell and Will Ferrell joinsthis one, so that's really sort of
it's a big thing. And becauseKristen Wig, they're the sort of three
that stood out for me. Butanyway, you've got grew the world's favorite
(10:33):
supervillain turned anti villain League Agent Avlattending his I think it's not an eighty
five high school reunion if I'm notwrong, And it's where his former nemesis,
a character called Maxine Lamau, thevoice of Will Ferrell, continues to
mock him and lord it all overhim, and much to his chagrin,
(10:54):
the principle of the school they attendedannounces Maxim Lamal as the most successful student
and he presents him with a trophy. But of course that's where the real
skullduggery begins, because in his victoryspeech, Lamel outlines an nefarious plan in
which he turns into this all powerfulmega cockroach. Who would have thunk it?
(11:16):
Yeah, but anyway, he's gota loyal cockroach following behind him,
and he's ready to take over theworld. Of course, he is until
Grew and members of the Anti VillainLeague jump upon him and capture him and
put him in jail. The problemis that he isn't going to be in
prison too long before he's sprung,and he's got vengeance in mind. So
(11:39):
to that end, the Anti VillainLeague has to act swiftly to keep Grew
and his family out of harm's way. So at short notice they moved to
the picturesque town of Mayflower, andI speak about Grew, about his partner
Lucy played by Kristen Wigg, theirdaughters Margo, Edith and Agnes, and
the baby Grew ju So they're givenfalse names that the parents adopt new fake
(12:03):
occupations, and with them are theirthree closest minions, who continue to get
into all sorts of trouble, andso too the army of Minions, who
are now all shifted to AVL headquarters, and among them five so called volunteers
are turned into mega millions at sortof larger versions of minions who can get
(12:24):
into even bigger mischief, and they'rethe ones who are called upon to help
recapture them out. So Gruel isalso prevailed upon to tone down his cranky
irrit his irritable ways, shall wecall them, and he tries to ingratiate
himself to his upperty car car dealerowner neighbor Perry Prescott, the voice of
(12:45):
Stephen Colbert and Perry's snooty daughter upPoppy, played with voice talent at least
by Joey King. In fact,it's the that's the daughter, that Poppy,
who dreams of becoming a super villain. She's obsessed with all things villainous,
and she blackmails Grew into helping herpull off a heist at his old
school. And while not all goesaccording to plan, Grew's real reckoning is
(13:11):
yet to come. That's going tohappen when, despite the anti villain League's
elaborate planning and with his fem fatalegirlfriend Valentina in tow, Valentino voiced by
Sophia Viagara lamal uncovers Grew's secret hideawaytheir home in this picturesque town, so
(13:31):
delightful, script, beautifully realized,with a surfeit of color and movement,
hijinks of plenty, characters really reallywell drawn, and there are laughs in
almost every scene, and many stemfrom Grew's awkward relationship with his new son,
who is a real well a realmischief maker. And equally, the
minions are frequently out of control,but continue to do their own thing with
(13:54):
some hilarious consequences. I reckon thisis the ultimate family film. You know,
You've got two really good family moviesout, both of which are Seat
A sequences or seat A series basedor franchise based at the moment, so
this is the second one, andto me, it's the ultimate family film.
As I mentioned, lots of mirthand merriment abound, perfect for children
(14:18):
and adults alike. It's one youcan really get your teeth into. And
I love a movie like this.I mean, I thought it would be
good, but I didn't think itwould be great. And I consider this
to be a great sequel, areally strong film that I would urge people
to go along and see. Imean, you know, it's it's an
important film in that regard, andyou know fabulous that you've got two really
(14:39):
good movies, the other one beingInside Out Too, playing at the cinemas
as we speak. What did youthink of it, Jacqueline, I loved
it too, Alex Me Despicable Mefor much. Yes, I have seen
them all. It's all a littlebit of a blurer over the years as
to you know wh what I thoughtof each one specifically, but certainly don't
(15:05):
have a memory of being disappointed inany of them. The only thing,
if I'm going to allow one criticismof this film, I didn't find it
quite as funny as you seem tohave. For me, it wasn't much
of a laugh out loud film.The dialogue, the scripting for me wasn't
actually witty or funny, so Ididn't burst out laughing, and I noticed
(15:28):
this because there were a couple oftimes when I did. However, on
the other side of the coin,it was endlessly entertaining and mildly amusing the
whole time, like I didn't wantto take my eyes off the screen and
some of that. Let's sort ofdig down a bit here. So you
said it was endlessly amusing, butyou didn't find it funny, saying on
(15:50):
how does that work? Okay,so there were splitting hairs here, perhaps,
but I didn't laugh out loud funny. I didn't out loud funny scroll
lines, witty lines, yes,And yet it was what was happening on
the screen was was visually very amusing. There was a lot of slap slapstick,
(16:15):
and of course the minions. Butyou went to opening night, didn't
you? You went to the media. No, I didn't, actually,
and I would like to say Irent along all by myself at a very
strange time for what could be,you know, a cartoonish young Nigle's film
at about six thirty PM, andin the cinema with me were several couples
(16:41):
in their twenties. And I thoughtthat was a fantastic audience for this film.
And yes, at the times thatit was funny, they were laughing
out loud. They obviously loved itas much as I did. And I
don't see who couldn't love this.You know, it's right, and it's
at and it's got fast action,and it's got minions. The other thing
(17:03):
I noted very much about this isthat the main plot that you gave in
a bit of detail, there actuallydidn't seem to me to be a dominating,
strong plot because there were so manylittle subplots to entertain this along the
way, and most of those subplotshad to do with emotion and family and
(17:27):
warmth. And you know, it'slike the youngest daughter worrying about her little
was it a go to little kid, yes, not remembering her when she
came home, and it's about it'sabout Grew trying to connect with Junior,
who obviously had a stranger danger thingwith his dad. And there were probably
(17:47):
you know, a good eight little, many subplots going along the way that
kept us amused. And so nothingabout it was too complicated, is what
I'm saying. They didn't have tohave a big plot that got complicated.
It was just a banny who wasobviously a baddie and he was a cockroach,
and you know, villain versus goodguy. So when you've done it,
(18:11):
I like that when you think aboutit, you think about the fact
that there's a cockroach at the centerof this, a mega cockroach or whatever.
You're thinking, oh, now,this could never work. And yet
you know, this is where Ireally admire the writing. And we talk
about this a lot Honestly, Idispute your claim there. I think a
villainous cockroach would totally work. Ithink it was a brilliant whoever came up
(18:34):
with that at the round table.When I think of a cockroach, I
think of a credit that I'm notparticularly fond of as such. Thankly,
we just want to step on itand squash it. Yes, but I
mean so fine. You hardly thinkabout it in the same way that you
you would something really puffed up andbowerful, though, do you. I'm
(18:56):
sorry, Well, this villain doesn'thave to be huffed up and powerful.
He's a he's a try hard thisvillain, right, you know. And
the other thing being a cockroach allowsfor is the gadgetry behind its movements and
its flight and it's you know,its body. So it brought there was
(19:17):
a lot of gadgets in this film, which is visually fantastic, and the
kids love that, so that workedreally well. Well. The other thing,
you know, we talk about thewriting my goalie to do it the
way that they do, and thenfor the animators to achieve what they have
done, and of course the minionsmake it. The minions are just mayhem.
(19:38):
The moment and they've got to comeup with smarter ways of doing it
and sort of blowing them up ifyou like. The Mega Minions thought that
was brilliant. So now I'm reallypleased you enjoyed it as much as I
did, Jaackie, because you know, we rarely agree totally on films,
but we seem to hear greg youdid see it at the media opening,
(20:00):
And what I was getting at isI think that the audience around me,
the sheer pleasure that I could seederived by them, sort of really also
catapulted the film in my eyes theway that I've expressed, did you were
you cognizant of how enjoyable the filmwas for those around you. Well,
when you're seeing a film with anaudience like that who are into it,
(20:22):
it does sort of build and makeit more enjoyable. But I had a
little problem with the film. Ithought it was a little too overcrowded blot
wise. There were so many subplotsrunning throughout the film there it was sort
of a little bit hard to keepup with them all. But as usual,
the Minians steal the show with theirzany and it's their slapsip humor,
all that sort of stuff, andI like the Metaminians who had to learn
how to harness their superpowers, whichprovided some big Lass as well as they
(20:47):
learned how to use them properly.The film's been written by Mike White,
who's better known for things like Schoolof Rock and the regular series writer Tendio.
But as I said, it's verybusy with subplots. It feels like
several short films thrown together to makea feature film there. I thought it
failed to mind that fish, mindthat fish out of water scenario big Lass.
(21:10):
There's a bit of a wasted opportunitythere. But the theme of family
and the subplat which Grew attempts tobond with his baby son I thought added
some emotional hests to the material there. But it's got a great vocal class.
As you said, a lot ofnew characters brought into the mix as
well, who are well brought tolife. There great vocal class there.
(21:30):
That's perfect entertainment for the whole family, especially with school always there. And
younger audiences certainly did love it withits color, its movement, and the
antics and minions, but I feelthat some older audiences may be a little
bit shaded by it all by now, probably not as fressally it was when
I first hit the screen, whatfourteen years to do? It's been a
long time, which but that's thebeauty of something like this that you get
(21:53):
a new generation can appreciate it,and those that saw the first one and
you sort of you clamor or togo along and see it because you know
it's going to be done good green, So I think that's important. Peter,
have you had the chance to catchup on it. I have,
yes. Look I'm not as impressedas all of you are about the film.
(22:15):
I think it's lost sight of itsoriginal franchise or its original plot line,
and it's become a sort of awatered down film trying to introduce this
version four as much as humor andover the top sort of slapstick. And
(22:36):
I don't know. It feels tome as if it might appealed to young
children. But I just don't feelthat it was a cohesive enough plot.
I agree with Greg that it threwin far too many characters and far too
many storyline threads, and I don'tthink all of them work particularly well or
In fact, the grou character hasbeen come a sort of a very much
(23:02):
as I mentioned, a watered down, sort of inverted Commas evil type character
who now has a family, andit's all very friendly and in fact,
we have to have a cock approachas a villain because there's not much further
that the that the writers have beenable to go. And I must say
(23:23):
the minions annoy me. They dominatethe film and look overall, I think
the writing is a bit of hiddenmiss and I would have liked a much
stronger, my cohesive story. Youare a Calcier treny individual. This is
(23:44):
a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful movie. It is. It is a joyful
production. I can't see how youcan't possibly see that. Look. I'm
just that can imagine that seesles plotsand then exactly exactly that's how I see
it. Correct. Oh my golly, wow, Jackie comment on Peter please,
(24:06):
oh, I'd be happy to.I think that the minions. The
one thing I thought about the Minionsin this was they dominated less than I
seem to remember. In two orthree, I think they suddenly everyone realized
how popular the Minions were, andin those at least one or two of
those previous in the sequel in theseries the minions did dominate too much,
(24:27):
but this I thought they had agreat role. There was a great balance
in the way that they were broughtout because because their little, if we
say, activities didn't impinge on themain story, they had their own were
They were like sidekicks the whole waythrough, doing their own little little bits
and pieces that were just mildly amusing. And I also think Peter that grew
(24:52):
had gone from evil and he turnedto good previously, so he's not a
villain anymore. He actually worked forthe anti villain Leak, which is why
they were being put into a safehouse and had to move away from their
home when they were being pursued bythe villains. So he isn't evil anymore.
He's got family and he loves themand he wants to be a good
(25:14):
guy now. So that's been thechange, the shift in the series in
his character. And if I couldjust also briefly to say with regards to
the number of subplots, I mentionedthat earlier as an example of something I
loved about it. Greg and Peterhave said there was too much of that,
(25:36):
but from my point of view,apart from the fact that I actually
really enjoyed it there because they wereall simple little snippets. Kids are going
to watch this over and over andover a hundred times, so it's not
too complicated or too busy or toomuch for them. They'll pick up on
the threads right the way through.So I didn't have a problem with that.
And it's interesting because Greg, yousaw the minions as dominating, whereas
(26:00):
Jackie didn't, so it's we allwere. It's fascinating. We've all seen
this same movie and we view itdifferently, so differently. That's not normal.
That's not normal on this show becausewe're viewing the same product. And
yet I suppose it's the way thatwe take to that product. Peter,
as you say, you know thisis not I mean, I get the
(26:22):
impression this isn't your cup of Titiwell, and that's disappointing because I enjoy
a lot of these animated franchises,and Inside Out Too is an excellent instance.
There's better than Inside Out Too.And I loved Inside Out Too Too,
Yes, two too. I gaveInside Out to a seven and a
half. I gave the original InsideOut an eight, and I'm going to
(26:47):
give this one, which is awonderful movie and one of my year's favorite.
I'm giving this an eight and ahalf out of dan Jackie. What
about you, Well, I wasgiving it between seven and a half and
eighteen. I think I'll go forthe full eight because I'm going to give
that last little bit to the minionwho gets stuck in the vending machine.
But that's a great little submage.And then yeah, it's clever, lovely
(27:12):
the pink part of that, ifyou know what I mean, where you
just see the eyes. Sorry aboutthe spoiler, folks, but that was
just just priceless, you know.And it's part of the trailer, and
I just think it's, Oh,it's gorgeous. There's all warm and mushy
stuff. Greg, what about youjust speak to what You're gonna only muster
(27:33):
a six? Yeah? Oh golly, PG rated ninety five, Peter,
Do I need a drum roll?Or not? Maybe not? But I
agree with Greg. Actually I gaveit six out of ten as well.
Oh where's your inner child, Peter? I left it at the cinema door
exactly. Well, it does appearthat way, so hang on one of
(27:55):
the Greg, do do the sumsplease? Six? Six? Eight?
Right? Secretion right, six,six, eight, twenty and then hang
on, is that twenty? Yesit is, and then eight and a
half, So twenty and a halfdivided by four or seven seven a bit?
Okad well is that the technical result? You? Yeah? That is
(28:18):
so well, seven and a bitis better than average, isn't it,
Jackie? Oh definitely, I reckonit's extraordinary. And I wouldn't be surprised
if this is in my top tenmovies of the year. That's how highly
I regarded Despicable Me for what aboutyou, Jackie? No, you no,
I don't. I don't think it'llbe in my top you know,
it could be there somewhere. Butwhat I think is it's going to be
(28:41):
one of those films that he kidswill just revisit for years. It's you
know, it's a it's going tobe a part of the childhood thing.
Despicable met the childhood thing exactly.Well, I know, Jackie, you're
going to push off and we hopefullywe'll catch up with you very very soon.
Thank you for your insight. Enjoyedfleet, and I want to move
(29:03):
on. JR eighty eight FM.By the way, if you want to
subscribe, fifty four bucks a yearjust go to jdash air dot com dot
au and you are supporting community radio, which we love. The other thing
I wanted to talk to you aboutis the Sitting Duck. Now, Peter,
you've seen that as well? Haveyou not? And did you when
did you see it? Did yousee it recently or also through the French
(29:26):
Film Festival? That's what I thoughtnow, So I never know, and
I suppose this is the case.Palace does wonderful job with its film festivals.
I never know which films are goingto be sort of make general release
thereafter and which ones are not.I wonder, how do you do you
have any insight into how they determinethat, because I mean, is it
(29:48):
on ticket sales? Is it onis it just lack of the draw any
insights? Not necessarily there are issuesrelated to who the distributor to her is,
and I think this might be aPalace film her and they bought quite
a few of the films from theFrench Film Festival. And also depends on
(30:08):
the star power, and of courseIsabelle Hupeer has a love star power.
In fact, we just received aninvite yesterday for another movie with Isabella and
Pair in Japan. Yes certainly inJapan, which also was part of the
French Film Festival. Ah was it? Indeed? Right? Got it?
Well? Okay, The Sitting Duckis a couple of hours. It's two
(30:29):
hours and two minutes. It's ratedM and it is a political thriller concerning
a trade union official and whistleblower.She was not believed after a violent personal
attack. Now I didn't know this, and I because I don't read about
movies until i've seen them and i'veactually written things up. But once I've
written up at my review and startedsort of talking about it, I realized
(30:55):
it was based on fact, andthat elevates it in my eyes, because
in a fact is often stranger thanfiction. And you can't quite believe this,
that this was actually based on areal situation, a court case,
and so on and so forth.Now, the central figure is Maureen Kearney
played by Hooper, who has wellhad a hood put over her head.
(31:22):
She was bound, she was raped, she was cut, and this was
the seventeenth of December twenty twelve.Now I don't imagine it's identical to the
real story, because I think thereal story occurred in Belgium. Didn't it
better? As well. That's myunderstanding. I'm not sure whether you're over
that or not, but I thinkthat's true. Yes, yeah, anyway,
Maureen Kearney worked for a company calledArriva are V, a French multinational
(31:48):
specializing in nuclear power. So achange of leadership at the firm ahead of
the twenty twelve French election brought withit extra pressure on this on Kerni,
and she vowed to stay on.And she was duly elected to represent Arreva's
then fifty thousand workers for a sixthterm, which is no mean feat.
(32:12):
And unfortunately she didn't trust the newArriva head, Luke Wi was sell played
by Vane Attal. Vindication of hersuspicions came quickly when she was presented with
a damning document that pointed to thisFrench conglomerate selling out to the Chinese,
so tens of thousands of Arriva jobswere on the line. When but when
(32:32):
she tried to raise this matter withpolitical heavyweights, and I'm talking about heavyweights
and politics in France, her overturesweren't welcomed and the Arriva head also also
made it clear that she should backoff. Whilst she was repeatedly threatened and
intimidated, and then came this physicalattack that I referenced at the start,
(32:57):
towards the end of twenty twelve,in which, among them other depravities,
she had the letter A carved intoher stomach, suggestive of Arriva. Now,
in a shocking turn of events,the upshot was that with no evidence,
no witnesses, no DNA, thiswoman, Maureen Kearney, went from
being a victim to a suspect,and her personal history was trailed over and
(33:22):
she took hit after hit nevertheless,over the ensuing six years. With her
husband Giles Hugo played by Gregory Gadabaybehind her, she fought an often difficult
campaign for justice so Ursy's and wasa most unusual case and it was ripe
to be made into a movie.When you hear that backstory sitting there watching
(33:44):
events unfold, I was incredulous.And it's been adapted from a twenty nineteen
book of the same name, TheSitting Duck, by an investigative journalist called
Caroline Michelle Igueri. It's directed byJean Paul Sali and he wrote the screenplay
along side for Debt Druard. Itreally is a film about power and control,
(34:07):
and at its core is skullduggery andmisogyny and sexual assault. I thought
Isabelle Hoper was a standout as Kenny, a woman of fierce determination and also
vulnerability. It's an interesting combination,and we learn more about that vulnerable side
as the movie progresses. Suffice tosay that Hoper carries herself with a lot
(34:29):
of dignity and poise, and Gatibebrings stoicism and warmth and good humor to
his representation of Kearney's husband now moreAttaquin or Mara Attaquin rather chip off the
old block paying Kenney's demonstrative and argumentativedaughter Fiona and He's a pair often don't
see eye to eye, but theyclearly care about each other. Ivanne tale
(34:51):
as fiery as the Arriva boss fedup with Kenne's meddling, and Pierre Della
I'll try to get this right.Dell champ portrays the policeman heading up the
investigation as a man copying pressure fromhis higher ups, pressure to get a
conviction. So that there are manythreads to this script, and the movie
does require concentration to take it allin. But if you do there is
(35:16):
payoff and there is satisfaction. Ireally appreciated the twist speed I was gripped
along to find out more what wasbeing revealed had impact and I felt my
outrage growing. So the fact thatit's drawn from reality, as I say,
gives it extra bite. I thoughtit was a strong movie. What
did you think of The Sitting DugYes, I was very impressed by this
(35:37):
film. It reminded me a lotof the film's silk Wood. Yes,
yeah, that sort of background.It's interesting the title of the film,
Las Syndica Liste actually translates as thetrade Unionist, and I think to some
extent that might have been a bettertitle than The Sitting Duck. But nevertheless,
(36:02):
I like the thriller aspects of thefilm. She was a sitting duck
in terms of, you know,the position that she was in, and
you know she was she was inthe firing line. Yes, yeah,
but but yeah, I take yourpoint. Yeah. So look, it's
a really well developed thriller, andit's interesting. The original character, Maureen
(36:23):
Kearney, who is represented here,was Irish and and then lived in France
for many years and became a tradeunionist. But was there an Irish.
Am I wrong in thinking there wasone one character order that was Irish or
I can't remember now that I've seenit a while ago now, but I
(36:46):
for some reason that Irish stands outin my head. Was Yeah, I
think you're right. I think therewas an Irish character related to her background,
and yeah, hereticage and so on. So yes, absolutely, so
yes. This is a finely developedthriller with some twists and turns in the
(37:07):
story, and the question always iswhether to believe the central character and the
assault that was permeated on her.And I think it's because of that that
it's a quite uncompelling film. AndIsabelle who pair is as always superb in
the central role. Although I mustsay that whoever was behind her makeup made
(37:32):
her look very white and pasty,which I thought was about god. He
was flawless. Her skin was flawless. So I mean, I really noticed
she looked really young, So makeupcan do that. That's a nice thing.
Honestly, she like, I lookedat her skin and I'm thinking,
(37:53):
my golly, at a porcelain doll. So yes, yeah, yeah,
really did strike me. She isa wonderful actor. No, yes,
A question about it. I mean, it's such an amazing situation where you
don't leave DNA where you know frombeing somebody who know this is you know,
(38:15):
it's funny. Funny is the wrongword. It's very sad. I
spoke to an extended family member whohappens to be a policewoman in Victoria and
this is going back a couple ofyears, and it really stood out in
my mind, especially given what we'retalking about here about a woman who's sort
of hat a sexual assault and isnot believed. How few people actually go
(38:39):
through and we're talking specifically women here, but how few women actually want to
go through the process because they areseen as the accused rather than the person
who has had a crime perpetrated uponthem. And how difficult it is to
not in a circumstance like this,but generally to to get a conviction in
(39:01):
a sexual assault charge. I mean, this is something that we talked about
I remember at a particular event andit really stayed with me. And I
mean, obviously the burden of proofneeds to be there. I'm not suggesting
otherwise, but there are many peoplewho choose not to report it because if
(39:22):
you like, they have to relivethe trauma, and you know, it's
a question of what the lesser oftwo evils is. So all of those
things are brought up for me,Peter, and you can imagine how would
you feel. You know, you'dbe outraged and at some point you'd feel
battered and beaten down because the worldseems to be against you. I mean,
that's the whole point of the premise. Look, you're absolutely right the
(39:45):
victim as being accused of perpetrating evidencethat may or may not be true.
And yes, absolutely, and Ithink this film demonstrates that very well indeed,
And it's interesting. I think thereal life character in it was probably
(40:06):
around about seventy at the time thatall of this happened to her as the
trade unionist. And we mustn't forgetthat there is a big political conspiracy that
is behind this film, as shewas a whistleblower, and the whole aspect
of nuclear power and losing so manyjobs which she was trying to defend,
(40:32):
and of being sold out to China. Look, there are so many aspects
to the filler arch I thought werevery impressive. Greg. Off the top
and I haven't given you any sortof notice about this at all. There
are a couple of things that Peterhave spoke about that films about whistleblowers and
films about sexual assault where victims arenot believed. I'm just thinking over the
(40:58):
years, we've seen quite a fewmovies about whistleblowers. Inside the Insider with
Russ Ruppel crow As. That's theone I was thinking of when I mentioned
that. So, yeah, that'sthat's one. I mean, I suppose
that there must have been quite afew others, and then others about sexual
assault, any others that either ofany of us can think of that that
(41:21):
spring to mind, not necessarily parallelswith this just Australia one with Geberally Furnace
from the eighties. I don't recallwhat that was, but yeah, I
mean it's Peter Re probably know itoff. That's what we said, Peter,
do you, Yeah, I rememberit from the late eighties. I'm
trying to think of the title,and I'm quickly googling you as we speak.
(41:43):
No, that's right, we'll talkabout amongst ourselves while we do that.
But obviously these are topics that areripe and to be made into movies,
and it's because of the If you'relike almost the world needs whistleblowers because
otherwise things are sweat under the carpet. But if you don't film sorry,
shame, which the film Shame thatwas a brilliant movie. Brilliant film.
(42:07):
Yeah, exactly, But I mean, the world needs whistleblowers. And yet
the risk that a whistleblower takes isenormous, absolutely enormous, because you know
that again believed, you know,whether there's there's a reputation there. You
know, it's interesting when somebody issacked from a job or leaves under bad
(42:28):
circumstances or whatever, and then theyreveal all about their employment. It's seen
as sour grapes. And yet theremay be a lot behind. Not everybody
leaves, you know, they mayleave under sort of tenuous circumstances. But
it's fascinating that most of the time, many of many companies and so forth,
(42:50):
you're almost signing an agreement that youcan't speak to the media, you
can't speak badly about a company orwhatever. And yet bad practice is a
still rife in a large number oforganizations. Clearly, otherwise we wouldn't need
whistleblowers, and you know, thework practices and so forth. I want
to see more movies like that,Peter. Quite frankly, absolutely. There
(43:13):
is a film called The Whistleblower Iremember with Michael Caine, which dealt with
that. And there's another Isabelle Hohopairfilm called El where she was a victim
of an assault and not believed.Wow. Okay, well, look,
let's go to the scores for TheSitting Duck. I'm going to give it
(43:36):
a seven and a half out often. Peter, Yeah, I really
liked it seven out of ten forme. Fantastic and greek. Hopefully you
can catch up on it in time. Now let's talk about the Spanish Film
Festival. Have you seen any filmsin it? Greg or not yet?
Yeah? Not yet? Okay,So again one of the mini film festivals
(43:57):
that are out and about, andvirtually each week we have another one.
But you know, this is oneof the more dominant and common ones we
saw, Peter. The central filmin the festival, The Teacher who Promised
the Sea, and it turns backthe clock to the horrors of the murderous
Fraco regime. A highly personal searchinvolved in this one conducted in twenty ten,
(44:22):
again based on facts, so thatsearch involves a dying man's granddaughter who's
desperately looking for her granddad's father,so that's her great grandfather, and the
hunt will see the single mother playedby Leiah Costa, travel to a site
where mass graves have been uncovered,and there she meets in liaises with subsequently
(44:46):
an elderly man who knew her grandfather. So the movie The Teacher Who Promised
the Seat juxtaposes revelations from twenty tenwith a dramatization of events that occurred between
nineteen thirty five and nineteen thirty nine, right so World War two type territory.
(45:07):
Now the major focus is on agentle and caring teacher who dared to
defy the establishment. And his nameis Antony, and he's hired to teach
in a small isolated village in Spain, and it's there that he establishes a
delightful, intense and honorable relationship andI stress the word honorable with his students.
(45:30):
These are boys and girls aged fromsix to twelve. So he's an
atheist, and his first order ofbusiness is to remove the cross from the
wall of the schoolroom, which immediatelyputs him offside with the surly local parish
priest parents well, they are suspiciousof his unorthodox teaching methods which he has
(45:53):
brought with him from France, andhe creates magic with his students through the
use of a small printing press whichenables them to create and craft their own
little books, and to the children'swonderment and excitement, he promises to take
them on an end of year tripto quote C the C S SA C
(46:19):
the C for the first time intheir lives. So with the best will
in the world, expectation will turnto tragedy. So this one the audience
awarded this year's Goudy Awards, whichare celebrated annually in Barcelona, and it's
quite an emotionally drama. There isan archaeological dig where bones are uncovered and
that starts the film. It's thecut and me flesh and bones manifestation of
(46:45):
that which takes one back much laterin the movie, and its impact is
very strong. It's immense. Infact, the political undertones of the film
are apparent throughout, but the arrivalof Franco's forces in this sleepy village reveals
the depth of fear and hatred feltat the time. And I wonder that
(47:07):
my mind actually wandered back to theextraordinary Academy Wood winning film Life Is Beautiful
back in nineteen ninety seven, andso much promise is taken away with us
a brutality, which was the essenceof that movie as well. I reckon.
The actor Enrik Ulgier does a reallyfine job as the idealistic teacher who
(47:27):
offers so much. He brings thesympathetic edge to his portrayal, and a
paul hangs over Laia Costa's role asthe granddaughter as she uncovers clues to a
dastardly family story. The director PatriciaFont brings into sharp focus the shocking history
of a nation that lost so manyin appalling circumstances. I'm talking about the
(47:50):
Freco regime, one still dealing withits traumatic past. So the setupiece film
at the Spanish Film Festival. Itrequires a bit of concentration to follow,
but it's well worth a look,patter, isn't it. I was very
impressed by this film because it lookedat the issue that a lot of Spanish
filmmakers are still dealing with, whichis of course, the Spanish Civil War
(48:14):
and the anti communist approach that wastaken in the thirties to weed out the
Communists, which suffered so significantly,dislike German filmmakers are still dealing in many
of their films with the Nazi period. So yes, this one is a
(48:35):
really well framed story about the searchfor the past and for evidence of the
brutality and the deaths that occurred duringthe thirties under Franco. Really well developed
story. And I loved the fatherson relationship in the thirties where the father
(49:01):
didn't see any value in education atall for his son and blocked a lot
of that for the teacher, andthe teacher having to try to work around
that, and yet other children,other students were very keen to have this
(49:21):
opportunity to write their own stories,which of course would be anathema to the
Franco era because you have to submitto what was appropriate at the time,
and anyone who's tinged with the ideaof being a communist or questioning the regime
(49:42):
would come into a great deal oftrouble and eventually death in many respects.
So yes, very impressive film,certainly one of the highlights of this year's
Spanish Film Festival. Seven out often for Mine Better and You, I
actually gave it eight out of ten. Ah, very good. Indeed,
now look before we go, Iwanted to mention now this You'll only have
(50:04):
one more opportunity to see this.But I saw this was because of so
many other things on I wish I'dseen it earlier. It's Shrapnel, that's
the name of it. It's ashow at forty five downstairs, forty five
Flinder's Lane, and it's put onby Kadema Yiddish Theater. And fewer is
fearless in opening up their lives wartsand all, as is Namibian born Natalie
(50:24):
Gamsu who lives here in Melbourne,and she's a singer, she's an actor,
she's a cabaret performer. She movedto Australia in two thousand and three,
studied drama at the University of CapeTown and she's worked all over the
world. She lifts the lid onher experiences. She gives us her thoughts
and feelings in this particular one womanshow with a pianist in addition who fires
(50:51):
more than the old angry shot.And she's delightfully engaging. She's a really
entertaining artist who can do it all. She can sing beautifully with perfect diction.
She's got heart, she's got conviction. She can deliver evocative stories and
there's many of those, and shehas a seating out the palms of her
hands hanging on to her every word. And the opening number that she sings
(51:12):
actually highlights this litany of place names, many of which she's performed in and
the latter includes Chicago and La London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Johannesburg. For
more than a decade actually, beforemaking Australia home, she lived and worked
in New York City. This time, her stage is forty five downstairs,
which I mentioned at the outset,arranged cabaret style with patron seated at small
(51:35):
tables up front and on teared seatingbehind, and she's accompanied by the penist
and musical director Mark Jones. Shewrote the show with Ash Flanders. Direction
is from Stephen Nicolazo and Ash Flanders. So she regards us with her love
of all things Spanish, including thefire and passion in Flamenco dancing, and
that starts with her ugly crying asshe calls it alongside her husband Julia in
(51:59):
Barcelona, and she talks about herJewish roots, her immediate family, who
lived in a constant state at sourisand being forever fat shame by her mother.
For those who don't note, surusis sort of a word, a
Yiddish word for distress. That's onedefinition anyway. Now, among her most
memorable anecdotes is when she downed awhole plate of fudge, complete with red
(52:22):
syrup that she found in the fridge. Of course, there is a sting
in the tail, which I'm notabout to spoil. But humor and pathos
the comfortable bedfellows for gamsu her livelyofferings pouring out at pace, and she
worked at a intimate apparel in Manhattan, and she met celebrities like Patti Smith
and Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.And she also became acutely aware of the
(52:44):
feel good factor in sizing and theroles she was expected to play in terms
of fitting out her patrons in thatparticular role. And she earlier had attended
boarding school where there was a wastenot want attitude and her weight in inevitably
ballooned. And her mother, Judy, who like her father David, she
(53:05):
called by her first name, addressedthat addressed that each time she returned home
which she found exhausting because basically,you know, she was yo yelling in
terms of weight, and her motherwas constantly sort of telling her that less
is best. So looks she snubsplastic surgery, a trait that was adopted
(53:30):
by some of her nearest and dearest, while lunch with Granny was a bit
of an ordeal that left her withbad stomach aches. It's an amazing production.
It really is something mighty special.I just I thought it was fabulous,
absolutely fabulous, and I mean,you know, even dark thoughts that
were in her life, and she'dknown a number of people who had committed
suicide, one who even told herwhere to stab herself if she were to
(53:52):
follow suit. So she got marriedso she could stay in Australia her honeymoon.
They left her less than impressed.So working in customer cares so a
very full and diverse life thus far. She's not one to hold back,
nor would we ever want her to. And lots of mood changing lighting and
great sound design showcases what a supremetalent we have in our midst in Natalie
(54:15):
Gamsu. Really strong handful of songsin Yiddish, Spanish, in English,
and the show's a rare and fulfillingtreat, and tonight is your last opportunity
to see shrapnel, so please,folks, don't hesitate to do so.
Really really enjoyed it, Peter,thank you so much for your time.
Gregory King likewise, and I wishyou well and we will do it all
(54:38):
again very soon. You've been listeningto First On Film and Entertainment.
First on film and entertainment. Thewhole team is together. Peter Krauss,
delightful to have you back. JackieHamilton, where have you been? We
haven't seen or heard from you forwhat at least a year or two?
And Greg King the team. Absolutely, let's start with you. Peter.
You gave us a scare. Butyou're back, and you're firing and you're
fit. Correct pretty much? So, yes, fantastic. Well this is
(00:25):
really nice, Jackie. You've beena world traveler. Correct. Oh,
yes, but I've spoken with yousince then. Alex, So have I
forgotten that? You must? Yes, you've forgotten that I have? Okay,
Well you're old, Alex exactly.That's terrific, you know, it's
the mind sort of wanders in allsorts of directions. Gregory, Correct,
(00:46):
I would know that's not that old, not that old. Okay. Donald
Sutherland's passing, extremely sad. Onething. I just thought he carried himself
throughout his life remarkable, And Imean he was a very very well known
figure around the world for those whoare delighted by cinema like we are.
(01:10):
I don't know, it's again wetalk about age, et cetera. He
was eighty eight years of age.One thing that strikes me, and I
suppose this is somebody who has becomeenvious as I've become. What does one
say about losing the thatching up topchallenged in that area? He had a
fine head of air right throughout hislife and in fact, when I saw
(01:32):
a shot of him from about twoor three years ago, although he was
snow white, it was extremely elegant. Now why does that stand with me,
Jackie Hamerton, Well, because you'rejealous. But apart from that snowy
white, he also had a magnificentbeard from time to time when it was
called upon. So maybe that's whyit's prominent for you, because it really
(01:53):
stood out. The voice of hisHe often had that silky citizen andrew his
voice sometimes and played great villains.He did play great villains, and I
mean it was relatively late. Someof the roles have been relatively recent for
which he's known, and I thinkthat that's part of his allure, that
(02:14):
he spent one of the one ofthe first time you notice he was as
Oddball and Killer Zeroes way back then. Yes, but but I was in
math, yes, but I wasalso thinking about more recently, President snow
right, that that's the thing.The Hunger Games franchise, which was huge,
you know that that we're only talkingabout. You know that that ended
(02:35):
not even a decade ago, soyou know, this is a figure that
It's funny I was thinking about this. I can't remember which actor I was
hearing stories about, whether it wasSutherland or somebody else that young, younger
people used to go up to himand want him to sort of put on
a nasty face when they took aphotograph of him to reflect you know,
(02:57):
the nastier characters. Now that thatshows cut true. And I mean he
had such a prolific career, thenumber of movies that he made that really
stood out. And I mean,you know you're thinking about the Dirty Doesn't
and so on and mash and storieslike that, and then you know,
you work through this and you goto one of the movies that stood out
for me with six degrees of Separation. So a very prolific career, somebody
(03:23):
highly regarded. And of course aCanadian, wasn't he He was born in
Canada exactly. So you know whatstands out to you Peter Grause about Donald
Sutherland, Well, he's very mucha journeyman actor with two hundred credits to
his name, an incredible array offilms. He was in. Clute is
(03:44):
probably one of his best films.But I also want to mention a film
that's not that well known, afilm called Disclosure, which a film made
in the nineties with Michael Douglas andDemi Moore. And it was a film
well ahead of its time because itlooked at a computer organization with virtual reality,
(04:08):
which for nineteen ninety four was quiteamazing, and he was the head
of that organization. And the filmalso dealt with sexual harassment. So he
was very good at being cast insuch a wide range of roles, some
of which were quite unusual, veryelegant as well. Greg wasn't he a
(04:30):
really a statuesque elegant person that reallyhe stood out. You knew that he
was Donald Sutherland and that you paidattention. That's how I recall him with
a great deal of fonders and youYeah, I liked some of his more
villainous roles, like in nineteen hundredwhen he was a fascist leader who Bastiput
(04:50):
did this there in that film.I like that one I remember from the
yoty dozen and mash of course,Clue look now one of his best films.
I thought The Igle Has Landed.He had a great role in that
one as well. But he alsodid comedy like National Ampoons and Warhouse and
those kind of films. Everybody oftenplayed villains like I as a Noodle.
(05:15):
Was also in films like back Draft, JFK. JFK was the one that
again Oliver Stone movie that really Tryingto Kill and Space Cowboys, the remaking,
The Italian Job, a lot ofa lot of films and The Horrible
Bosses as well as in that,and lots of TV werek. But he
made a few TV yeares like Dirtysixty Money an Impearian Command in Chief as
well. So yeah, prolific career, memory, some memorable roles, but
(05:39):
a lot of shocking there as well. But as Peter said, he was
a journeyman actor just for god theroles and built up what he worked well
in terms of He's won a lotof awards, but I don't think he
ever won an Oscar. Did hehonore? Yeah, exactly what Time Achievement
Award? Yes? Yes, again, I mean I thought he was highly
(06:01):
deserving. You could have chosen anynumber of movies that could have won him
an Oscar. He's not unusual inthat regard. But Jackie, what are
your recollections of Donald Sutherland and howfondly did you regard him? Well,
not a lot of his films,to be honest, were really my favorite
kind of films, So he wouldn'tbe up there for me as one of
(06:28):
my you know, as being inmy favorite films. However he will.
He is an all time Hollywood,old school Hollywood gentleman, if you like.
I think it's the kind of personthat I liked. And I thought
that he could always almost physically dissolvehimself into a character very well, even
(06:51):
though he was he had quite physicallyhe had quite he was quite imposed,
you know, been having the heightand a very angular faith, so he
was easy. He could actually withquite a bit of makeup whatever, change
his hair all that. You know, he dissolved himself into a role very
(07:11):
much. And that's what I thinkof it. He has a very distinctive
voice. And the other thing thatwas really appealing about him was he smile.
He had a really nice, lopsidedsort of smile. He did.
And as you're rightly say, hewon the twenty eighteen Honore Award at the
Academy Awards. So it was terrificthat during his life at least, I
mean, I think he was veryhighly regarded by his peers. So that
(07:34):
speaks volumes as well. It's interestinghow friends of mine who are not really
the cinema were quite sort of theyexpressed their sadness about his passing, whereas
they perhaps wouldn't have commented on otherpeople. So I think he had a
strong impact on the world. Youknow. Also he was eighty eight,
(07:57):
Alex, so that's a good lifeand a good body of work, and
he'll be a you know, foreverlegend, really wanty of Hollywood of all
likely you think, I think that'sabsolutely true. I think he's one of
the names that will stand out andstand for all time and a number of
the movies. Of course. Youknow, when you've got such a prolific
career, Peter, with two hundred, as you say, credits to his
(08:18):
aim, there's going to be alot of people who are going to appreciate
his work long into the distance,aren't there. Similarly, Yes, there's
such a longevity and such a widerange of roles. And he also said
hed win an Emmy award, Imust say as well for a television production,
(08:39):
so apart from the honor are Oscar, he certainly was well recognized.
And his son Kiefer, who postedon X I thought his words were extremely
well chosen and you know, cutto the chase in a most effective manner
and very respectful. But it wasa very pointed message and poignant message at
(09:03):
that. So vallet Donald Sutherland andwe're talking about sort of franchise movies,
and we talked about the Hunger gamesthat have had real impact that that sort
of on j eighty eight FM.Let's turn our tension to which what I
would argue is the movie of theDespicable Me for now, what, oh
(09:26):
my, what a wonderful fourth moviein the franchise. I mean, okay,
you've got Minions movies, but tome, this shows that sometimes when
you have got a second to thirdor fourth movie, it can be just
as good as the original and howclever and creative and funny. And we
(09:46):
went along on opening opening like themedia Nite, and a lot of the
laughter came from adults who really appreciatedwhat was going on here. I think
that speaks volumes and you know,it may be the first film in the
collective, specifically the Despicable Me collective, for seven years, but it only
goes to show that in the interveningperiod the filmmakers have continued to own in
(10:09):
skills. So and wouldn't you loveto be a voice talent in a successful
series like this? That's that Iwas thinking about this when I was thinking
of Steve Carrell and Will Ferrell joinsthis one, so that's really sort of
it's a big thing. And becauseKristen Wig, they're the sort of three
that stood out for me. Butanyway, you've got grew the world's favorite
(10:33):
supervillain turned anti villain League Agent Avlattending his I think it's not an eighty
five high school reunion if I'm notwrong, And it's where his former nemesis,
a character called Maxine Lamau, thevoice of Will Ferrell, continues to
mock him and lord it all overhim, and much to his chagrin,
(10:54):
the principle of the school they attendedannounces Maxim Lamal as the most successful student
and he presents him with a trophy. But of course that's where the real
skullduggery begins, because in his victoryspeech, Lamel outlines an nefarious plan in
which he turns into this all powerfulmega cockroach. Who would have thunk it?
(11:16):
Yeah, but anyway, he's gota loyal cockroach following behind him,
and he's ready to take over theworld. Of course, he is until
Grew and members of the Anti VillainLeague jump upon him and capture him and
put him in jail. The problemis that he isn't going to be in
prison too long before he's sprung,and he's got vengeance in mind. So
(11:39):
to that end, the Anti VillainLeague has to act swiftly to keep Grew
and his family out of harm's way. So at short notice they moved to
the picturesque town of Mayflower, andI speak about Grew, about his partner
Lucy played by Kristen Wigg, theirdaughters Margo, Edith and Agnes, and
the baby Grew ju So they're givenfalse names that the parents adopt new fake
(12:03):
occupations, and with them are theirthree closest minions, who continue to get
into all sorts of trouble, andso too the army of Minions, who
are now all shifted to AVL headquarters, and among them five so called volunteers
are turned into mega millions at sortof larger versions of minions who can get
(12:24):
into even bigger mischief, and they'rethe ones who are called upon to help
recapture them out. So Gruel isalso prevailed upon to tone down his cranky
irrit his irritable ways, shall wecall them, and he tries to ingratiate
himself to his upperty car car dealerowner neighbor Perry Prescott, the voice of
(12:45):
Stephen Colbert and Perry's snooty daughter upPoppy, played with voice talent at least
by Joey King. In fact,it's the that's the daughter, that Poppy,
who dreams of becoming a super villain. She's obsessed with all things villainous,
and she blackmails Grew into helping herpull off a heist at his old
school. And while not all goesaccording to plan, Grew's real reckoning is
(13:11):
yet to come. That's going tohappen when, despite the anti villain League's
elaborate planning and with his fem fatalegirlfriend Valentina in tow, Valentino voiced by
Sophia Viagara lamal uncovers Grew's secret hideawaytheir home in this picturesque town, so
(13:31):
delightful, script, beautifully realized,with a surfeit of color and movement,
hijinks of plenty, characters really reallywell drawn, and there are laughs in
almost every scene, and many stemfrom Grew's awkward relationship with his new son,
who is a real well a realmischief maker. And equally, the
minions are frequently out of control,but continue to do their own thing with
(13:54):
some hilarious consequences. I reckon thisis the ultimate family film. You know,
You've got two really good family moviesout, both of which are Seat
A sequences or seat A series basedor franchise based at the moment, so
this is the second one, andto me, it's the ultimate family film.
As I mentioned, lots of mirthand merriment abound, perfect for children
(14:18):
and adults alike. It's one youcan really get your teeth into. And
I love a movie like this.I mean, I thought it would be
good, but I didn't think itwould be great. And I consider this
to be a great sequel, areally strong film that I would urge people
to go along and see. Imean, you know, it's it's an
important film in that regard, andyou know fabulous that you've got two really
(14:39):
good movies, the other one beingInside Out Too, playing at the cinemas
as we speak. What did youthink of it, Jacqueline, I loved
it too, Alex Me Despicable Mefor much. Yes, I have seen
them all. It's all a littlebit of a blurer over the years as
to you know wh what I thoughtof each one specifically, but certainly don't
(15:05):
have a memory of being disappointed inany of them. The only thing,
if I'm going to allow one criticismof this film, I didn't find it
quite as funny as you seem tohave. For me, it wasn't much
of a laugh out loud film.The dialogue, the scripting for me wasn't
actually witty or funny, so Ididn't burst out laughing, and I noticed
(15:28):
this because there were a couple oftimes when I did. However, on
the other side of the coin,it was endlessly entertaining and mildly amusing the
whole time, like I didn't wantto take my eyes off the screen and
some of that. Let's sort ofdig down a bit here. So you
said it was endlessly amusing, butyou didn't find it funny, saying on
(15:50):
how does that work? Okay,so there were splitting hairs here, perhaps,
but I didn't laugh out loud funny. I didn't out loud funny scroll
lines, witty lines, yes,And yet it was what was happening on
the screen was was visually very amusing. There was a lot of slap slapstick,
(16:15):
and of course the minions. Butyou went to opening night, didn't
you? You went to the media. No, I didn't, actually,
and I would like to say Irent along all by myself at a very
strange time for what could be,you know, a cartoonish young Nigle's film
at about six thirty PM, andin the cinema with me were several couples
(16:41):
in their twenties. And I thoughtthat was a fantastic audience for this film.
And yes, at the times thatit was funny, they were laughing
out loud. They obviously loved itas much as I did. And I
don't see who couldn't love this.You know, it's right, and it's
at and it's got fast action,and it's got minions. The other thing
(17:03):
I noted very much about this isthat the main plot that you gave in
a bit of detail, there actuallydidn't seem to me to be a dominating,
strong plot because there were so manylittle subplots to entertain this along the
way, and most of those subplotshad to do with emotion and family and
(17:27):
warmth. And you know, it'slike the youngest daughter worrying about her little
was it a go to little kid, yes, not remembering her when she
came home, and it's about it'sabout Grew trying to connect with Junior,
who obviously had a stranger danger thingwith his dad. And there were probably
(17:47):
you know, a good eight little, many subplots going along the way that
kept us amused. And so nothingabout it was too complicated, is what
I'm saying. They didn't have tohave a big plot that got complicated.
It was just a banny who wasobviously a baddie and he was a cockroach,
and you know, villain versus goodguy. So when you've done it,
(18:11):
I like that when you think aboutit, you think about the fact
that there's a cockroach at the centerof this, a mega cockroach or whatever.
You're thinking, oh, now,this could never work. And yet
you know, this is where Ireally admire the writing. And we talk
about this a lot Honestly, Idispute your claim there. I think a
villainous cockroach would totally work. Ithink it was a brilliant whoever came up
(18:34):
with that at the round table.When I think of a cockroach, I
think of a credit that I'm notparticularly fond of as such. Thankly,
we just want to step on itand squash it. Yes, but I
mean so fine. You hardly thinkabout it in the same way that you
you would something really puffed up andbowerful, though, do you. I'm
(18:56):
sorry, Well, this villain doesn'thave to be huffed up and powerful.
He's a he's a try hard thisvillain, right, you know. And
the other thing being a cockroach allowsfor is the gadgetry behind its movements and
its flight and it's you know,its body. So it brought there was
(19:17):
a lot of gadgets in this film, which is visually fantastic, and the
kids love that, so that workedreally well. Well. The other thing,
you know, we talk about thewriting my goalie to do it the
way that they do, and thenfor the animators to achieve what they have
done, and of course the minionsmake it. The minions are just mayhem.
(19:38):
The moment and they've got to comeup with smarter ways of doing it
and sort of blowing them up ifyou like. The Mega Minions thought that
was brilliant. So now I'm reallypleased you enjoyed it as much as I
did, Jaackie, because you know, we rarely agree totally on films,
but we seem to hear greg youdid see it at the media opening,
(20:00):
And what I was getting at isI think that the audience around me,
the sheer pleasure that I could seederived by them, sort of really also
catapulted the film in my eyes theway that I've expressed, did you were
you cognizant of how enjoyable the filmwas for those around you. Well,
when you're seeing a film with anaudience like that who are into it,
(20:22):
it does sort of build and makeit more enjoyable. But I had a
little problem with the film. Ithought it was a little too overcrowded blot
wise. There were so many subplotsrunning throughout the film there it was sort
of a little bit hard to keepup with them all. But as usual,
the Minians steal the show with theirzany and it's their slapsip humor,
all that sort of stuff, andI like the Metaminians who had to learn
how to harness their superpowers, whichprovided some big Lass as well as they
(20:47):
learned how to use them properly.The film's been written by Mike White,
who's better known for things like Schoolof Rock and the regular series writer Tendio.
But as I said, it's verybusy with subplots. It feels like
several short films thrown together to makea feature film there. I thought it
failed to mind that fish, mindthat fish out of water scenario big Lass.
(21:10):
There's a bit of a wasted opportunitythere. But the theme of family
and the subplat which Grew attempts tobond with his baby son I thought added
some emotional hests to the material there. But it's got a great vocal class.
As you said, a lot ofnew characters brought into the mix as
well, who are well brought tolife. There great vocal class there.
(21:30):
That's perfect entertainment for the whole family, especially with school always there. And
younger audiences certainly did love it withits color, its movement, and the
antics and minions, but I feelthat some older audiences may be a little
bit shaded by it all by now, probably not as fressally it was when
I first hit the screen, whatfourteen years to do? It's been a
long time, which but that's thebeauty of something like this that you get
(21:53):
a new generation can appreciate it,and those that saw the first one and
you sort of you clamor or togo along and see it because you know
it's going to be done good green, So I think that's important. Peter,
have you had the chance to catchup on it. I have,
yes. Look I'm not as impressedas all of you are about the film.
(22:15):
I think it's lost sight of itsoriginal franchise or its original plot line,
and it's become a sort of awatered down film trying to introduce this
version four as much as humor andover the top sort of slapstick. And
(22:36):
I don't know. It feels tome as if it might appealed to young
children. But I just don't feelthat it was a cohesive enough plot.
I agree with Greg that it threwin far too many characters and far too
many storyline threads, and I don'tthink all of them work particularly well or
In fact, the grou character hasbeen come a sort of a very much
(23:02):
as I mentioned, a watered down, sort of inverted Commas evil type character
who now has a family, andit's all very friendly and in fact,
we have to have a cock approachas a villain because there's not much further
that the that the writers have beenable to go. And I must say
(23:23):
the minions annoy me. They dominatethe film and look overall, I think
the writing is a bit of hiddenmiss and I would have liked a much
stronger, my cohesive story. Youare a Calcier treny individual. This is
(23:44):
a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful movie. It is. It is a joyful
production. I can't see how youcan't possibly see that. Look. I'm
just that can imagine that seesles plotsand then exactly exactly that's how I see
it. Correct. Oh my golly, wow, Jackie comment on Peter please,
(24:06):
oh, I'd be happy to.I think that the minions. The
one thing I thought about the Minionsin this was they dominated less than I
seem to remember. In two orthree, I think they suddenly everyone realized
how popular the Minions were, andin those at least one or two of
those previous in the sequel in theseries the minions did dominate too much,
(24:27):
but this I thought they had agreat role. There was a great balance
in the way that they were broughtout because because their little, if we
say, activities didn't impinge on themain story, they had their own were
They were like sidekicks the whole waythrough, doing their own little little bits
and pieces that were just mildly amusing. And I also think Peter that grew
(24:52):
had gone from evil and he turnedto good previously, so he's not a
villain anymore. He actually worked forthe anti villain Leak, which is why
they were being put into a safehouse and had to move away from their
home when they were being pursued bythe villains. So he isn't evil anymore.
He's got family and he loves themand he wants to be a good
(25:14):
guy now. So that's been thechange, the shift in the series in
his character. And if I couldjust also briefly to say with regards to
the number of subplots, I mentionedthat earlier as an example of something I
loved about it. Greg and Peterhave said there was too much of that,
(25:36):
but from my point of view,apart from the fact that I actually
really enjoyed it there because they wereall simple little snippets. Kids are going
to watch this over and over andover a hundred times, so it's not
too complicated or too busy or toomuch for them. They'll pick up on
the threads right the way through.So I didn't have a problem with that.
And it's interesting because Greg, yousaw the minions as dominating, whereas
(26:00):
Jackie didn't, so it's we allwere. It's fascinating. We've all seen
this same movie and we view itdifferently, so differently. That's not normal.
That's not normal on this show becausewe're viewing the same product. And
yet I suppose it's the way thatwe take to that product. Peter,
as you say, you know thisis not I mean, I get the
(26:22):
impression this isn't your cup of Titiwell, and that's disappointing because I enjoy
a lot of these animated franchises,and Inside Out Too is an excellent instance.
There's better than Inside Out Too.And I loved Inside Out Too Too,
Yes, two too. I gaveInside Out to a seven and a
half. I gave the original InsideOut an eight, and I'm going to
(26:47):
give this one, which is awonderful movie and one of my year's favorite.
I'm giving this an eight and ahalf out of dan Jackie. What
about you, Well, I wasgiving it between seven and a half and
eighteen. I think I'll go forthe full eight because I'm going to give
that last little bit to the minionwho gets stuck in the vending machine.
But that's a great little submage.And then yeah, it's clever, lovely
(27:12):
the pink part of that, ifyou know what I mean, where you
just see the eyes. Sorry aboutthe spoiler, folks, but that was
just just priceless, you know.And it's part of the trailer, and
I just think it's, Oh,it's gorgeous. There's all warm and mushy
stuff. Greg, what about youjust speak to what You're gonna only muster
(27:33):
a six? Yeah? Oh golly, PG rated ninety five, Peter,
Do I need a drum roll?Or not? Maybe not? But I
agree with Greg. Actually I gaveit six out of ten as well.
Oh where's your inner child, Peter? I left it at the cinema door
exactly. Well, it does appearthat way, so hang on one of
(27:55):
the Greg, do do the sumsplease? Six? Six? Eight?
Right? Secretion right, six,six, eight, twenty and then hang
on, is that twenty? Yesit is, and then eight and a
half, So twenty and a halfdivided by four or seven seven a bit?
Okad well is that the technical result? You? Yeah? That is
(28:18):
so well, seven and a bitis better than average, isn't it,
Jackie? Oh definitely, I reckonit's extraordinary. And I wouldn't be surprised
if this is in my top tenmovies of the year. That's how highly
I regarded Despicable Me for what aboutyou, Jackie? No, you no,
I don't. I don't think it'llbe in my top you know,
it could be there somewhere. Butwhat I think is it's going to be
(28:41):
one of those films that he kidswill just revisit for years. It's you
know, it's a it's going tobe a part of the childhood thing.
Despicable met the childhood thing exactly.Well, I know, Jackie, you're
going to push off and we hopefullywe'll catch up with you very very soon.
Thank you for your insight. Enjoyedfleet, and I want to move
(29:03):
on. JR eighty eight FM.By the way, if you want to
subscribe, fifty four bucks a yearjust go to jdash air dot com dot
au and you are supporting community radio, which we love. The other thing
I wanted to talk to you aboutis the Sitting Duck. Now, Peter,
you've seen that as well? Haveyou not? And did you when
did you see it? Did yousee it recently or also through the French
(29:26):
Film Festival? That's what I thoughtnow, So I never know, and
I suppose this is the case.Palace does wonderful job with its film festivals.
I never know which films are goingto be sort of make general release
thereafter and which ones are not.I wonder, how do you do you
have any insight into how they determinethat, because I mean, is it
(29:48):
on ticket sales? Is it onis it just lack of the draw any
insights? Not necessarily there are issuesrelated to who the distributor to her is,
and I think this might be aPalace film her and they bought quite
a few of the films from theFrench Film Festival. And also depends on
(30:08):
the star power, and of courseIsabelle Hupeer has a love star power.
In fact, we just received aninvite yesterday for another movie with Isabella and
Pair in Japan. Yes certainly inJapan, which also was part of the
French Film Festival. Ah was it? Indeed? Right? Got it?
Well? Okay, The Sitting Duckis a couple of hours. It's two
(30:29):
hours and two minutes. It's ratedM and it is a political thriller concerning
a trade union official and whistleblower.She was not believed after a violent personal
attack. Now I didn't know this, and I because I don't read about
movies until i've seen them and i'veactually written things up. But once I've
written up at my review and startedsort of talking about it, I realized
(30:55):
it was based on fact, andthat elevates it in my eyes, because
in a fact is often stranger thanfiction. And you can't quite believe this,
that this was actually based on areal situation, a court case,
and so on and so forth.Now, the central figure is Maureen Kearney
played by Hooper, who has wellhad a hood put over her head.
(31:22):
She was bound, she was raped, she was cut, and this was
the seventeenth of December twenty twelve.Now I don't imagine it's identical to the
real story, because I think thereal story occurred in Belgium. Didn't it
better? As well. That's myunderstanding. I'm not sure whether you're over
that or not, but I thinkthat's true. Yes, yeah, anyway,
Maureen Kearney worked for a company calledArriva are V, a French multinational
(31:48):
specializing in nuclear power. So achange of leadership at the firm ahead of
the twenty twelve French election brought withit extra pressure on this on Kerni,
and she vowed to stay on.And she was duly elected to represent Arreva's
then fifty thousand workers for a sixthterm, which is no mean feat.
(32:12):
And unfortunately she didn't trust the newArriva head, Luke Wi was sell played
by Vane Attal. Vindication of hersuspicions came quickly when she was presented with
a damning document that pointed to thisFrench conglomerate selling out to the Chinese,
so tens of thousands of Arriva jobswere on the line. When but when
(32:32):
she tried to raise this matter withpolitical heavyweights, and I'm talking about heavyweights
and politics in France, her overturesweren't welcomed and the Arriva head also also
made it clear that she should backoff. Whilst she was repeatedly threatened and
intimidated, and then came this physicalattack that I referenced at the start,
(32:57):
towards the end of twenty twelve,in which, among them other depravities,
she had the letter A carved intoher stomach, suggestive of Arriva. Now,
in a shocking turn of events,the upshot was that with no evidence,
no witnesses, no DNA, thiswoman, Maureen Kearney, went from
being a victim to a suspect,and her personal history was trailed over and
(33:22):
she took hit after hit nevertheless,over the ensuing six years. With her
husband Giles Hugo played by Gregory Gadabaybehind her, she fought an often difficult
campaign for justice so Ursy's and wasa most unusual case and it was ripe
to be made into a movie.When you hear that backstory sitting there watching
(33:44):
events unfold, I was incredulous.And it's been adapted from a twenty nineteen
book of the same name, TheSitting Duck, by an investigative journalist called
Caroline Michelle Igueri. It's directed byJean Paul Sali and he wrote the screenplay
along side for Debt Druard. Itreally is a film about power and control,
(34:07):
and at its core is skullduggery andmisogyny and sexual assault. I thought
Isabelle Hoper was a standout as Kenny, a woman of fierce determination and also
vulnerability. It's an interesting combination,and we learn more about that vulnerable side
as the movie progresses. Suffice tosay that Hoper carries herself with a lot
(34:29):
of dignity and poise, and Gatibebrings stoicism and warmth and good humor to
his representation of Kearney's husband now moreAttaquin or Mara Attaquin rather chip off the
old block paying Kenney's demonstrative and argumentativedaughter Fiona and He's a pair often don't
see eye to eye, but theyclearly care about each other. Ivanne tale
(34:51):
as fiery as the Arriva boss fedup with Kenne's meddling, and Pierre Della
I'll try to get this right.Dell champ portrays the policeman heading up the
investigation as a man copying pressure fromhis higher ups, pressure to get a
conviction. So that there are manythreads to this script, and the movie
does require concentration to take it allin. But if you do there is
(35:16):
payoff and there is satisfaction. Ireally appreciated the twist speed I was gripped
along to find out more what wasbeing revealed had impact and I felt my
outrage growing. So the fact thatit's drawn from reality, as I say,
gives it extra bite. I thoughtit was a strong movie. What
did you think of The Sitting DugYes, I was very impressed by this
(35:37):
film. It reminded me a lotof the film's silk Wood. Yes,
yeah, that sort of background.It's interesting the title of the film,
Las Syndica Liste actually translates as thetrade Unionist, and I think to some
extent that might have been a bettertitle than The Sitting Duck. But nevertheless,
(36:02):
I like the thriller aspects of thefilm. She was a sitting duck
in terms of, you know,the position that she was in, and
you know she was she was inthe firing line. Yes, yeah,
but but yeah, I take yourpoint. Yeah. So look, it's
a really well developed thriller, andit's interesting. The original character, Maureen
(36:23):
Kearney, who is represented here,was Irish and and then lived in France
for many years and became a tradeunionist. But was there an Irish.
Am I wrong in thinking there wasone one character order that was Irish or
I can't remember now that I've seenit a while ago now, but I
(36:46):
for some reason that Irish stands outin my head. Was Yeah, I
think you're right. I think therewas an Irish character related to her background,
and yeah, hereticage and so on. So yes, absolutely, so
yes. This is a finely developedthriller with some twists and turns in the
(37:07):
story, and the question always iswhether to believe the central character and the
assault that was permeated on her.And I think it's because of that that
it's a quite uncompelling film. AndIsabelle who pair is as always superb in
the central role. Although I mustsay that whoever was behind her makeup made
(37:32):
her look very white and pasty,which I thought was about god. He
was flawless. Her skin was flawless. So I mean, I really noticed
she looked really young, So makeupcan do that. That's a nice thing.
Honestly, she like, I lookedat her skin and I'm thinking,
(37:53):
my golly, at a porcelain doll. So yes, yeah, yeah,
really did strike me. She isa wonderful actor. No, yes,
A question about it. I mean, it's such an amazing situation where you
don't leave DNA where you know frombeing somebody who know this is you know,
(38:15):
it's funny. Funny is the wrongword. It's very sad. I
spoke to an extended family member whohappens to be a policewoman in Victoria and
this is going back a couple ofyears, and it really stood out in
my mind, especially given what we'retalking about here about a woman who's sort
of hat a sexual assault and isnot believed. How few people actually go
(38:39):
through and we're talking specifically women here, but how few women actually want to
go through the process because they areseen as the accused rather than the person
who has had a crime perpetrated uponthem. And how difficult it is to
not in a circumstance like this,but generally to to get a conviction in
(39:01):
a sexual assault charge. I mean, this is something that we talked about
I remember at a particular event andit really stayed with me. And I
mean, obviously the burden of proofneeds to be there. I'm not suggesting
otherwise, but there are many peoplewho choose not to report it because if
(39:22):
you like, they have to relivethe trauma, and you know, it's
a question of what the lesser oftwo evils is. So all of those
things are brought up for me,Peter, and you can imagine how would
you feel. You know, you'dbe outraged and at some point you'd feel
battered and beaten down because the worldseems to be against you. I mean,
that's the whole point of the premise. Look, you're absolutely right the
(39:45):
victim as being accused of perpetrating evidencethat may or may not be true.
And yes, absolutely, and Ithink this film demonstrates that very well indeed,
And it's interesting. I think thereal life character in it was probably
(40:06):
around about seventy at the time thatall of this happened to her as the
trade unionist. And we mustn't forgetthat there is a big political conspiracy that
is behind this film, as shewas a whistleblower, and the whole aspect
of nuclear power and losing so manyjobs which she was trying to defend,
(40:32):
and of being sold out to China. Look, there are so many aspects
to the filler arch I thought werevery impressive. Greg. Off the top
and I haven't given you any sortof notice about this at all. There
are a couple of things that Peterhave spoke about that films about whistleblowers and
films about sexual assault where victims arenot believed. I'm just thinking over the
(40:58):
years, we've seen quite a fewmovies about whistleblowers. Inside the Insider with
Russ Ruppel crow As. That's theone I was thinking of when I mentioned
that. So, yeah, that'sthat's one. I mean, I suppose
that there must have been quite afew others, and then others about sexual
assault, any others that either ofany of us can think of that that
(41:21):
spring to mind, not necessarily parallelswith this just Australia one with Geberally Furnace
from the eighties. I don't recallwhat that was, but yeah, I
mean it's Peter Re probably know itoff. That's what we said, Peter,
do you, Yeah, I rememberit from the late eighties. I'm
trying to think of the title,and I'm quickly googling you as we speak.
(41:43):
No, that's right, we'll talkabout amongst ourselves while we do that.
But obviously these are topics that areripe and to be made into movies,
and it's because of the If you'relike almost the world needs whistleblowers because
otherwise things are sweat under the carpet. But if you don't film sorry,
shame, which the film Shame thatwas a brilliant movie. Brilliant film.
(42:07):
Yeah, exactly, But I mean, the world needs whistleblowers. And yet
the risk that a whistleblower takes isenormous, absolutely enormous, because you know
that again believed, you know,whether there's there's a reputation there. You
know, it's interesting when somebody issacked from a job or leaves under bad
(42:28):
circumstances or whatever, and then theyreveal all about their employment. It's seen
as sour grapes. And yet theremay be a lot behind. Not everybody
leaves, you know, they mayleave under sort of tenuous circumstances. But
it's fascinating that most of the time, many of many companies and so forth,
(42:50):
you're almost signing an agreement that youcan't speak to the media, you
can't speak badly about a company orwhatever. And yet bad practice is a
still rife in a large number oforganizations. Clearly, otherwise we wouldn't need
whistleblowers, and you know, thework practices and so forth. I want
to see more movies like that,Peter. Quite frankly, absolutely. There
(43:13):
is a film called The Whistleblower Iremember with Michael Caine, which dealt with
that. And there's another Isabelle Hohopairfilm called El where she was a victim
of an assault and not believed.Wow. Okay, well, look,
let's go to the scores for TheSitting Duck. I'm going to give it
(43:36):
a seven and a half out often. Peter, Yeah, I really
liked it seven out of ten forme. Fantastic and greek. Hopefully you
can catch up on it in time. Now let's talk about the Spanish Film
Festival. Have you seen any filmsin it? Greg or not yet?
Yeah? Not yet? Okay,So again one of the mini film festivals
(43:57):
that are out and about, andvirtually each week we have another one.
But you know, this is oneof the more dominant and common ones we
saw, Peter. The central filmin the festival, The Teacher who Promised
the Sea, and it turns backthe clock to the horrors of the murderous
Fraco regime. A highly personal searchinvolved in this one conducted in twenty ten,
(44:22):
again based on facts, so thatsearch involves a dying man's granddaughter who's
desperately looking for her granddad's father,so that's her great grandfather, and the
hunt will see the single mother playedby Leiah Costa, travel to a site
where mass graves have been uncovered,and there she meets in liaises with subsequently
(44:46):
an elderly man who knew her grandfather. So the movie The Teacher Who Promised
the Seat juxtaposes revelations from twenty tenwith a dramatization of events that occurred between
nineteen thirty five and nineteen thirty nine, right so World War two type territory.
(45:07):
Now the major focus is on agentle and caring teacher who dared to
defy the establishment. And his nameis Antony, and he's hired to teach
in a small isolated village in Spain, and it's there that he establishes a
delightful, intense and honorable relationship andI stress the word honorable with his students.
(45:30):
These are boys and girls aged fromsix to twelve. So he's an
atheist, and his first order ofbusiness is to remove the cross from the
wall of the schoolroom, which immediatelyputs him offside with the surly local parish
priest parents well, they are suspiciousof his unorthodox teaching methods which he has
(45:53):
brought with him from France, andhe creates magic with his students through the
use of a small printing press whichenables them to create and craft their own
little books, and to the children'swonderment and excitement, he promises to take
them on an end of year tripto quote C the C S SA C
(46:19):
the C for the first time intheir lives. So with the best will
in the world, expectation will turnto tragedy. So this one the audience
awarded this year's Goudy Awards, whichare celebrated annually in Barcelona, and it's
quite an emotionally drama. There isan archaeological dig where bones are uncovered and
that starts the film. It's thecut and me flesh and bones manifestation of
(46:45):
that which takes one back much laterin the movie, and its impact is
very strong. It's immense. Infact, the political undertones of the film
are apparent throughout, but the arrivalof Franco's forces in this sleepy village reveals
the depth of fear and hatred feltat the time. And I wonder that
(47:07):
my mind actually wandered back to theextraordinary Academy Wood winning film Life Is Beautiful
back in nineteen ninety seven, andso much promise is taken away with us
a brutality, which was the essenceof that movie as well. I reckon.
The actor Enrik Ulgier does a reallyfine job as the idealistic teacher who
(47:27):
offers so much. He brings thesympathetic edge to his portrayal, and a
paul hangs over Laia Costa's role asthe granddaughter as she uncovers clues to a
dastardly family story. The director PatriciaFont brings into sharp focus the shocking history
of a nation that lost so manyin appalling circumstances. I'm talking about the
(47:50):
Freco regime, one still dealing withits traumatic past. So the setupiece film
at the Spanish Film Festival. Itrequires a bit of concentration to follow,
but it's well worth a look,patter, isn't it. I was very
impressed by this film because it lookedat the issue that a lot of Spanish
filmmakers are still dealing with, whichis of course, the Spanish Civil War
(48:14):
and the anti communist approach that wastaken in the thirties to weed out the
Communists, which suffered so significantly,dislike German filmmakers are still dealing in many
of their films with the Nazi period. So yes, this one is a
(48:35):
really well framed story about the searchfor the past and for evidence of the
brutality and the deaths that occurred duringthe thirties under Franco. Really well developed
story. And I loved the fatherson relationship in the thirties where the father
(49:01):
didn't see any value in education atall for his son and blocked a lot
of that for the teacher, andthe teacher having to try to work around
that, and yet other children,other students were very keen to have this
(49:21):
opportunity to write their own stories,which of course would be anathema to the
Franco era because you have to submitto what was appropriate at the time,
and anyone who's tinged with the ideaof being a communist or questioning the regime
(49:42):
would come into a great deal oftrouble and eventually death in many respects.
So yes, very impressive film,certainly one of the highlights of this year's
Spanish Film Festival. Seven out often for Mine Better and You, I
actually gave it eight out of ten. Ah, very good. Indeed,
now look before we go, Iwanted to mention now this You'll only have
(50:04):
one more opportunity to see this.But I saw this was because of so
many other things on I wish I'dseen it earlier. It's Shrapnel, that's
the name of it. It's ashow at forty five downstairs, forty five
Flinder's Lane, and it's put onby Kadema Yiddish Theater. And fewer is
fearless in opening up their lives wartsand all, as is Namibian born Natalie
(50:24):
Gamsu who lives here in Melbourne,and she's a singer, she's an actor,
she's a cabaret performer. She movedto Australia in two thousand and three,
studied drama at the University of CapeTown and she's worked all over the
world. She lifts the lid onher experiences. She gives us her thoughts
and feelings in this particular one womanshow with a pianist in addition who fires
(50:51):
more than the old angry shot.And she's delightfully engaging. She's a really
entertaining artist who can do it all. She can sing beautifully with perfect diction.
She's got heart, she's got conviction. She can deliver evocative stories and
there's many of those, and shehas a seating out the palms of her
hands hanging on to her every word. And the opening number that she sings
(51:12):
actually highlights this litany of place names, many of which she's performed in and
the latter includes Chicago and La London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Johannesburg. For
more than a decade actually, beforemaking Australia home, she lived and worked
in New York City. This time, her stage is forty five downstairs,
which I mentioned at the outset,arranged cabaret style with patron seated at small
(51:35):
tables up front and on teared seatingbehind, and she's accompanied by the penist
and musical director Mark Jones. Shewrote the show with Ash Flanders. Direction
is from Stephen Nicolazo and Ash Flanders. So she regards us with her love
of all things Spanish, including thefire and passion in Flamenco dancing, and
that starts with her ugly crying asshe calls it alongside her husband Julia in
(51:59):
Barcelona, and she talks about herJewish roots, her immediate family, who
lived in a constant state at sourisand being forever fat shame by her mother.
For those who don't note, surusis sort of a word, a
Yiddish word for distress. That's onedefinition anyway. Now, among her most
memorable anecdotes is when she downed awhole plate of fudge, complete with red
(52:22):
syrup that she found in the fridge. Of course, there is a sting
in the tail, which I'm notabout to spoil. But humor and pathos
the comfortable bedfellows for gamsu her livelyofferings pouring out at pace, and she
worked at a intimate apparel in Manhattan, and she met celebrities like Patti Smith
and Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.And she also became acutely aware of the
(52:44):
feel good factor in sizing and theroles she was expected to play in terms
of fitting out her patrons in thatparticular role. And she earlier had attended
boarding school where there was a wastenot want attitude and her weight in inevitably
ballooned. And her mother, Judy, who like her father David, she
(53:05):
called by her first name, addressedthat addressed that each time she returned home
which she found exhausting because basically,you know, she was yo yelling in
terms of weight, and her motherwas constantly sort of telling her that less
is best. So looks she snubsplastic surgery, a trait that was adopted
(53:30):
by some of her nearest and dearest, while lunch with Granny was a bit
of an ordeal that left her withbad stomach aches. It's an amazing production.
It really is something mighty special.I just I thought it was fabulous,
absolutely fabulous, and I mean,you know, even dark thoughts that
were in her life, and she'dknown a number of people who had committed
suicide, one who even told herwhere to stab herself if she were to
(53:52):
follow suit. So she got marriedso she could stay in Australia her honeymoon.
They left her less than impressed.So working in customer cares so a
very full and diverse life thus far. She's not one to hold back,
nor would we ever want her to. And lots of mood changing lighting and
great sound design showcases what a supremetalent we have in our midst in Natalie
(54:15):
Gamsu. Really strong handful of songsin Yiddish, Spanish, in English,
and the show's a rare and fulfillingtreat, and tonight is your last opportunity
to see shrapnel, so please,folks, don't hesitate to do so.
Really really enjoyed it, Peter,thank you so much for your time.
Gregory King likewise, and I wishyou well and we will do it all
(54:38):
again very soon. You've been listeningto First On Film and Entertainment.
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