Episode 10 Film 2013

Hello and welcome to Film 2013. We're live and if you want to get in

touch the details are on the screen now.

Coming up on tonight's show: Ridley Scott directs the A-list cast

of The Counselor. You should be careful what you wish for. The

shipment, it's gone! Jude Law and Richard E Grant star in

crime-spree caper Dom Hemingway. And Joseph Gordon Levitt writes,

directs and stars in rom-com gone wrong, Don Jon. Baby, what are you

doing? I was just reading e-mails. No, you weren't!

And we'll be reviewing Palme d'Or winner Blue Is The Warmest Color.

I'm joined in the studio by Danny Leigh, as ever, and guest critic,

Antonia Quirke. U thank you for coming in. -- thank you for coming

in. First up is Ridley Scott and Cormac

McCarthy's The Counselor. A dark tale of a lawyer who gets caught up

in drug trafficking. It's a classic tragedy tale. There's also a love

story in there. Will you? Yes, I will. I intend to love you until I

die. Me first. It is a thriller at times. Counsellor... My back is

against the wall. It is a complex drama. It is about the consequences

of your own action. 65 kilos - -- 625 kilos - probably 20 million. My

character is a nightclub business owner, the counsellor is my lawyer,

but also I am the one who is helping him be in touch with something he

shouldn't be in touch with. I know why I'm in it. Do you? Same as you,

greed. No, you got in trouble. I tried to appeal to your greed two

years ago. No deal. Now, it is too late. It is too late. What do you

think I should do? I don't know. He's been seduced by the people

around him. I am really worried. He wants a piece of it. That is

unfortunately his unravelling. We have a problem. The shipment, it's

gone! I had a call from my business partners. These people are out 20

mill. Just you. They don't believe in coincidences. It is not a movie

about a very normal plot. You have to make some work. That is one of

the values of the movie itself. The writing is very powerful. He throws

some jewels out there that are very powerful statements, about life

itself. Do I remind you of someone else? Yes, you do. Someone you miss?

Someone who is dead. I don't think I miss things. To miss something is to

hope it will come back. It is not coming back. You don't think that is

a bit cold? I think truth has no temperature. The movie is very dark.

I know there is a responsibility that comes with making a movie about

something like this because it is something that unfortunately is

real. When the axe comes through the door, I'll already be gone. What do

you think I should do? How bad is it? We are all done here. It has to

hurt to watch it. If not, it is not dealing with the subject in a

responsible way. The slaughter to come. It is probably beyond our

imagining. If anyone is worried, Cameron Diaz was wearing a hood at

lunch in that scene. The whole thing left me speechless. Shall I speak

for you? Please. You think it is going to be star-studded. The real

star is the script. The scriptwriter. It is possibly the

world's finest living novelist. This thing that he's written, it is so

extraordinary. You can't put an 80-year-old dude on the poster. This

film is a Cormac audio book. It is engrossing. It is masterful. Maybe

the only person on Earth who thinks that. Ridley Scott is watching right

now going, "It's fine, I've made better." Maybe it is the visuals

that are the problem. Should I have closed my eyes? Well, this is a

famously a flop. None of the cast, crew, nobody wants to talk about it.

I think the problem with this movie is the director. You are right, he

is an incredible writer. Here he is, it is an original screenplay. Maybe

it is useful to think about it like this. Imagine No Country For Old Men

- imagine if that had been directed by Ridley Scott in this frame of

mind that he appears to be in. He would have ended up a movie like The

Counselor. He is the wrong director for this material. It needs someone

with a lot more soul. It is about massive drug dealing and Ridley

Scott is the perfect director. It is demRitsy and -- glitzy and

tasteless. It is like Ashley Cole's cheese dream. Once you have too much

money, the world goes mad! This is what happens. This movie is filled

with cheetah in diamond-studded collars. It is a style section...

They wish! What I would say is, didn't you get - I know it sounds

weird - bored with all the characters? I was hoping they were

all going to get blown up. Michael Fassbender's character, nothing

makes sense. Isn't it great to be left guessing? I don't like

guessing. I'm a woman! Can you please tell me how does Michael

Fassbender, who is a legal aid lawyer, how does he afford to get

involved in a 22 million dollar drugs heist? Maybe his grandmother

died. What is so great is it is written as if Cormac has never seen

the film before. Present company excepted, it is a flop. I feel

uneasy about that. Cormac McCarthy is a magician. Most film critics

couldn't write bum on a wall. Some of the lines are wonderful. The one

that she says about truth has no temperature... That line you could

imagine Barbara Stanwick. Cameron Diaz is terrific in this film. What

is up with this woman? We don't know the backstory. I don't want a

backstory. She gets the best lines. That is one of the reasons perhaps

people have taken against this movie. Brad Pitt is brilliant?

Javier Bardem is dressed like a deranged children's entertainer. It

is like taking George Clooney and putting him upside-down in a skip!

It is an insult to the actor. I love you for sticking up for it! Movie

history - look, in reality, Friday night, if people hated Prometheus,

they will hate this! OK. We will see.

Next, actor Joseph Gordon Levitt writes, directs and stars in Don

Jon. There are a few things I care about - my body, my ride, my family.

My church. My boys. My girls. It is a story about how people treat each

other more like things than people. And how the media can contribute to

that. You have a boyfriend and a girlfriend. That's played by me and

Scarlett. He watches too much pornography and she watches too many

romantic Hollywood movies. I love movies like that. They have both

developed these unrealistic expectations of what love and sex

are spolzed to be. Why did you say yes to me? You will have to wait to

find out. I have time. You are cute. I like you. I do think it is a

romantic movie. It's certainly funny. But in many ways it does go

against the rules of your standard rom-com, that's for sure. Baby, what

are you doing? I was reading e-mails. You weren't. I don't think

there is anything inherently wrong with pornography or a romantic

movie. The problem is if we start expecting our real lives to be the

same as what we see on a screen. Real life is not the same as what

you see on a screen. How do you watch that? How do you watch the

stupid movies you watch? They give awards for movies. They give awards

for porn, too! If you talk about a PT Anderson movie, or a Woody Allen

movie, some people love them and some people just don't get it. I

think if you are going to do something bold and provocative and

try to start a conversation, you will end up alienating some people

and no offence meant. # It's just a

# Good vibration. # Nothing to see here. Antonia? This

movie is no good. I admire him for trying to make a film about this

subject. I was in New Jersey where this movie is set, in fact. Every

magazine, every radio station, this is the topic they are discussing,

this tidal wave of porn. It was dropped on our heads. Then, two

minutes later, there will be an ad for Viagara. Why are you looking at

me? What is it doing to us? It's riddled with cliche and what have

you. As he says himself, such a sweet boy, I'm trying to start a

conversation. That is what he is doing and I admire him for it. You

like the fact that it exists? I like the fact it exists. I don't want to

see it again. Right. Is that enough? It is never good when the best part

of the movie is the ten-second clip from a fake film. It is interesting,

it is nice that he is trying to convey a positive message. It seems

so sheltered and grannyish. It is as if he's only discovered the internet

and people are doing rude things out there. He gets annoyed when he turns

it on. Where is he looking for the porn from? He must have been trying

to get this thing off the ground five years ago. I still think he is

on the money. People weren't talking about this. It all seems motivated

by this idea that he's discovered, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is a very

talented boy, who has discovered one or two men might be using internet

pornography. I have terrible news for him! At least it has something

to say. It is about something. It is like a terrible advert for

masturbation. As a director, he comes out as a good actor. He seems

terrible here because he is playing this character. I don't think

Scarlett Johansson... Don't you think she is great in it? My problem

is it is so repetitive. He goes back to the same porn site. There are too

many - the sister who is on her phone endlessly. I get it, after the

eighth time! On the 15th time, there's got to be something else.

That is his big idea. Sure, he will go on and make fantastic movies.

This is a film school film that somebody has given him $25 million

to make. Julianne Moore, I breathe a sigh - I thought that's brilliant.

It changed the film. What is her character? She is a pair of clogs...

No, no, she is much more than that in the film. I think the movie does

have this lovely bit of sadness running through it. He does get

involved with Julianne Moore, it is so obvious that that is what is

going to happen. She's a widow and is in a bad way. You know, he's had

a break-up. So you kind of get a sense that people are drawn to each

other for all sorts of reasons. They know the relationship isn't going to

last. They are clinging... Yes. I kind of bought that. I do get where

you are coming from. It is so judgmental. He has a real problem

with hair gel. So a character has a huge transformation because he stops

wearing hair gel. We have all been through those moments. Thank you.

Next, Jude Law and Richard E Grant buddy up in London crime romp Dom

Hemingway. Mr Fontaine, you only use a gun to hold up a place, but no

hunting. Dom Hemingway has just come out of prison and I have been his

mentor and best buddy outside. They go on a crime revenge spree and

everything that can go wrong does go wrong with hilarious consequences.

Dad? You have to be kidding me. Dom is a petty criminal. He is a car

crash of a man, really. He's trying to project something that he's not.

And really the film is about getting beneath all those layers and seeing

the shambles that he really is and what he really wants.

Jesus Christ. You have to get control of yourself! I didn't bring

the right shoes. Even with 30 pounds gained in weight, Jude Law makes

people weak at the knees, which I saw in real life on a daily basis.

It was obvious I had to let everything go because Dom had

spiritually and physically to a point, so it was taking my face and

maybe adding four or five unforgettable fights to it and years

of booze - I didn't have to try too hard!

I have a glorious tale to be passed down from generation to generation.

Jude is playing somebody who is so out of control, but in order to play

that part, he had to be so disciplined. He has huge long

speeches that he had to keep repeating and we worried that his

voice would give up because he had to shout so much. It was a big

challenge for him. I'm stating what I'm stating. Stop stating what you

are stating. State it again and I'll knock your teeth out! Can I state

that I don't want you to be rude about it. Continue. That is quite a

challenge. All of us grow up wanting to be something. I grew up wanting

to be Mr T. This film wants to be Sexy Beast. It kind of almost gets

there. There are moments when you think it is like a Pot Noodle and

Haribo version of Sexy Beast. There is something to be said for any film

that starts with an endless monologue of Jude Law. I'm going to

say "penis" - it does set itself a high standard. OK. Antonia? In its

dreams is it Sexy Beast! In its dreams it's Pipbter. -- Pinter. It

ends up like that nice barman in Minder, you know. That is about as

hard and dangerous as it gets. It is an extremely wet film and it has

this incredible crisis of confidence about 40 minutes in. It is quite

entertaining up till that point. Suddenly, it collapses and it has

this sub-plot with the daughter. I found that very moving. It is

interesting, isn't it, about villains and they seem to come in

two types, the type that never says anything, the man with no name and

the type that never shuts up, which is the kind of character we have

here. It is a really difficult thing to keep up, that hyper articulate

battering ram, lines like, "In my head, it's a disco in Manila full of

transvestites suckling pigs." I'm a bit more charitable with it. There

is enough ridiculous absurdity that you roll with it. Jude Law is from

London, so I couldn't work out his action. Then there are moments when

the film pauses. It does droop very badly after 40 minutes and Antonia

is right. It turns into this weird, there is no-one kind like granddad

type of thing. You have to give Jude Law lots of credit for the

performance. You rate Law? I rate Law in it and Richard E Grant. He is

interesting casting. What is quite funny is if you go into disreputable

pubs in West London, you will see characters who look like Richard E

Grant with fake hands. The thing about Law, you don't buy him as a

killer, you don't buy him as a guy that is going to bite somebody's ear

off. It is not that Jude Law can't be sinister. Think of him in The

Talented Mr Ripley? Yes. He can do sinister. He can do that. Just

not... I liked him in this. He was loyal. He was loyal to his boss so

he stayed inside and he came out and he wanted his due. Can he go back

inside? Next, is French love story Blue Is

The Warmest Color and there is some very strong language.

It's a common story, a meeting, a crush between these two girls. It is

like a passion story. Everything involving that.

You start from a script, but before the shoot, Abdellatif Kechiche told

us we can improvise a lot. I could watch her for weeks - I

could watch them both - but especially the young girl, Adele.

Antonia? This is what the movie is about. It is about fixing a camera

on a human being of tremendous wattage and allowing them to walk,

talk, move, eat spaghetti, fall asleep. This is some of our greatest

movies. Look at Goddard. Isn't she amazing? This is what the movie

does. The movie - I can honestly say when I came out of this film, I

wasn't sure where it was set - Paris? Who cares. All that matters

is this incredible way in which it seemed to demonstrate perfectly what

it feels like to be in love, the first flush of love, that utter

concentration, the camera trying to puzzle her face out, the way it does

that. There you are, three hours later, as you said, he could have

carried on filming for another four hours and we would have sat there

for another week. It is exceptional. One of the tell-tale moments in the

film is there is a party scene and they have a movie screen up and the

old silent movie icon, Louise Brooks is there. This is almost like a

silent movie. It's a panoramic story which is told on the faces of the

actresses and sometimes that is a tiny little glance and sometimes it

is this huge explosion of emotion. It is all there. It is strange. We

are going to end up talking about the sex scenes, but it is so funny.

The sex scenes aren't that relevant in a funny kind of way. The real

excitement in Blue Is The Warmest Color all happens from the neck up.

There's been all kinds of controversies because the actresses

won't talk about it. Martin Sheen barely survived Apocalypse Now. This

is the movies. Of course, both of these actresses have said very

publicly that they felt exploited that the whole experience was a

nightmare, the director was exploitative. It is a strange that

they didn't look unhappy when they were walking the red carpet at

Cannes. Nevertheless, these things... It can sometimes come

late? It can. They are probably right. It is super-exploitative in

as much as these girls are perfect. These are perfect bodies. If he was

going to be really brave, let's two ordinary-looking people. It is about

young love and young bodies are always magnificent. You have these

romances and the role of sex, when you get together with someone, that

is when sex is amazing and that is glossed over in romances. I do think

the sex scenes are a bit of a problem. The film's weakness is it

all feels a bit self-conscious and a bit pompous. These are pompous sex

scenes and I don't know, I almost found it is a strange thing to say

sitting here on live TV with two women, after the first five or six

minutes of watching the beautiful actresses having sex with each

other, I found my mind wandering to the Cannes Festival. That shouldn't

be what happened. It does make you uncomfortable. It is seven minutes

of a three-hour film. You are right that the grandstanding makes you

uncomfortable. It is Levined by the naturalness -- leavened by the

naturalness. Lea Seydoux is the girl with the blue hair. Adele

Exarchopoulos is exceptional. Didn't you think it was interesting how

this is an actress who doesn't wear any make-up in the movie and it

physically slides off her face in front of you without a snot or a

tear. It does. Very quickly, film of the week? Antonia should go first.

Blue Is The Warmest Color. Are you going to go The Counselor? I might

just. And Blue Is The Warmest Color will

be in cinemas on 22nd November. That's all from us. We'll be back at

the same time next week. We're going to leave you tonight with a look at

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, which will be in cinemas in January - and

it's a bit violent. Goodnight. Somebody tried to kill me.

Jack? Jack? Was work OK? Yeah. You sold this as an office job. Sit

down. Talk me through your scary scenario. It is going to be a wipe

out. We will never see it coming. You are not just an analyst anymore.

You are operational now. You think this is game, Jack? They won't bring

us to our knees without firing a shot. There is a real scenario here

where we don't get out of this alive. We have been compromised. If

you find the truth, will you believe it?