Episode 14 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. Baggins is back! Martin Freeman leads the cast of The Hobbit

Part 2. Good. You will need it. Robert Redford is all at sea in All

Is Lost. SOS call, over. And love hurts in Israeli drama Fill

The Void. Plus, Sir Alan Parker talks about his classic film Angel

Heart. And we take a look at the fully restored Cinema Paradiso.

Danny is here, and we're joined by guest critic Catherine Bray. First

up is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. In the second film in Peter

Jackson's trilogy, Bilbo Baggins continues on his quest to reclaim

the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. Where does your journey end? You seek that

which would bestowdown the right to rule.

The quest to reclaim a home land, and slay a dragon.

The great thing with a middle movie, in a trilogy is after the first

movie, you say, OK, everybody knows everything they need to know, we

have two more, let us slam on the gas, and go for it.

When we pick it up, they are still on their way to the Lonely Mountain,

as they get fur into the journey, Bilbo's usefulness increases. You

must trust me. He saves the company more than once. What do we do now?

Hold your breath. Hold my breath? S the main characters in the stories

develop and they literally don't end up being the same people at the end

as they were at the beginning. I found something in the golden

temple. The journey is one of self revelation. What did you find? My

courage. Billow, he has developed a bit more of a backbone and he has

developed a bit more confidence, you know. You are not the same hobbit as

the one that left the shire. Playing the wide eyed thing, is great. But

not after a while, you know, you want to, express something else.

He has a bit of cockiness in his step, and tries his hand with a fire

breathing monster the size of the Empire State Building and something

of an atomic bomb. Yes. It happens. Was that an

earthquake? That my lad was a dragon.

Everything we kind of, it has been a long time devising and Benedict

walked in and he knew. It was sensational, while it is my voice

and my movement, it is such a huge leap on from that they they did

impose. I sat there marvelling at it. Come now, don't be shy. Step

into the light. It is not just about hobbits and it

is not just about elves. Don't think I won't kill you dwarf. There is

enough universal stuff in Tolkeins work, loyalty and love and bravery

and trust. It is about us, it is about now.

It is not our fight. It is our fight.

I fieg find the second and third movies to be exciting, I know the

gauntlet has been thrown down. Now we have to deliver.

Dragon fire and ruin. That is what you will bring on us. He cannot see

beyond his own desire. Danny. It has ban year since the

first hobbit. You spend six month watching that film and six months

regretting you have. This is a better hobbit. There is a lack for a

start of half hour scenes of washing up. There is the hedgehog who was a

low for me and you have an action romp. It is spectacular and I think,

at last there is a sense of energy and momentum and the story getting

somewhere. There is supposed to be a journey. Last time it felt like you

were stuck on a hard should we are in a minibus with a tribute band.

The first has its fan, you look at the second film if two way, you can

say it is better than the first hobbit or it is much less terrible.

OK. There is that. Catherine? I mean I am totally with Danny on the whole

Christmas fun spectacular take the kids, there is brilliant scenes with

giant spiders and barrels and all this stuff going on. I am a big

Tolkein nerd and I I think there will be a lot of people with me

thinking this is Peter Jackson's film not Tolkein's whereas the Lord

of the ring, which I love. I went to see the first one eight times and I

wish I could say the same of this. It doesn't compare, I mean those

films were epic and brilliant. This is just a kind of fun trip out for

the kids. Can I tell you what I thought it

was, and I never use this word. Tremendous. I do. It pop into my

head. I am happy for you, I want to dry I didn't have that. I watched

the first one and I had to go twice. The first time I had two naps. When

I woke up from the second they were still washing up and they had broken

into song. They were never leaving the shire. In this one they go down

barrels. It like the love story, I mean... You like the love story. Did

you not? It is terrible. Peter Jackson is best when he is

tasteless, when he allows himself on this tasteless. There is some bad

taste where you have arrows going through orbings heads, but I am with

Catherine in terms of the romance, maybe a bit of sex, because it feels

very adolescent. It feels like they are going to nip off to the park and

give each other love bites. That is why I loved it. There is a bit of a

double entendre, about what a dwarf has down his trousers, I don't think

many of us read The Hobbit and thought it needs more knob gags. It

is not Tolkein. I don't know it nearly as well as I do. I look at

this as $200 million fan fiction. If you o are going to make something

Tolkein would love, I am not sure you would make a movie with 50,000

people slaving away. My understanding is it was about, you

know, pining for pre-Industrial Revolution England. So what you

would do for a proper adaptation is take 17 blokes out in the same

minibus, take them to Stroud and stage something in a field. I am not

against fan fiction. You loved the Lord of the Rings films. If you were

going to write alert to Mr Jackson with here are my issues. Number one,

what would the problem be? Was it the love story? Number one maybe the

knob gag and the love triangle lean Legolas and an elf lady you have

made up and one of the dwarves. OK, so we have this dragon who is one of

the greatest villains in children's literature, he is supposed to be

smart and in this he is kind of like one of nose bond villains who sits

round making chatty threats and never killing anybody. Anot

criticising Benedict couple batch. But he doesn't seem to be able to

detect 13 dwarves clattering about where they shouldn't be. They are

only little That is my problem. The orcs are inept and can't kill the

dwarf who has the ginger beard, the dwarves are greedy, I would eat the

gaver, the elves are kind of, I don't know, the awful Ocado delivery

kind of people. But I am going to put my hand in the air for the set

pieces. It is about the set piece, it is like raiders of the lost lath

ark. That is what he is aiming for I think. You are supposed to come out

and say I love the built when, you may love the bit where Gandalf meets

the necromancer. I love Martin Freeman as well. He is gorgeous in

this. I want more of him on his own, doing Bilbo stuff. It is called The

Hobbit. Less titting about in the wood with random elves and more of

Martin Freeman. But more titting about with the giant spider, they

present a convincing case why every movie should have giant spiders in.

I am accept my converted. They are as good as anything in the Lord of

the Rings. We have to move on otherwise I will get fired.

Next, Director JC Chandor follows up Margin Call with All Is Lost. Robert

Redford stars as a man stranded alone in the Indian Ocean, after his

boat collides with a shipping container.

All is lost is a film where you join the main character what we in script

writing called the initiating incident. That normally happens

quarter of the way through the film, but here it just begins with this

accident. The next hour-and-a-half you are

watching this guy deal with this series of events and hoping he can

make it through. I like the challenge it gave me as

an actor, to occupy a character alone, with just his own thinking

and behaviour was all you could be with.

. Like the fact there was no dialogue. Those are all reasons why

it was exciting for me, because that doesn't exist much, there is not

much opportunity like this in a film. Where it is such a pure

cinematic Mr Eed for is a pretty -- Redford is

a non-verbal storyteller, he is able to do complex emotional transition

fear to performances veer rans or happiness to tragedy.

The film feels exciting and is a thriller, kind of almost a horror

movie in a way, as it is happens and feels tense and exciting. SOS call.

Over. This is Virginia Gene. This is an

SOS call. When you are shooting in water like that everything takes

longer than it should. Since I did my own fiscal stuff, I think it

speaks for itself. It was very challenging.

And action. The fact you knew you were going to be wet for 12 hours,

sort of every day for two-and-a-half months while it was kind of slowly

happening, with a 75, 76-year-old man, doing it, it was a terrible

concern, you know, I am glad we made it through.

He could quit but he doesn't, he keeps moving, that because that the

only thing he has left to do, is to keep moving.

Help! Help! Catherine? I love this film. And I wasn't necessarily

expecting to, you hear, OK, it is a film with no dialogue and it is

going to be very sort of compelling and you think OK, is that is a bit

of beard stroking way of saying I am board, but it is well made. It is

properly edge of your seat stuff, is he going to survive. It is an

incredible performance from Robert Redford, I was expecting also he

might be a big show off performance but it is so subtle, you can see the

cogs turning the whole time, you can see what he is thinking and what he

is going to try and try to get out of yet. I'm not often left

speechless but I was by this film. The comparison I would reach for.

Gravity. It is an old-fashioned story. All is lost has got the

oldest trick in the movies, less is more. It is all about showing and

not telling. Because you just have Robert Redford you think it is like

a party piece. After a couple of minutes you forget that aspect of

the movie even exists. You're just absorbed. And the last few minutes,

it is one of the most indelible things I have ever seen. That is

high praise. We should talk about the direct. -- director. It is tense

to watch it. It is not stressful perhaps but it is tense. It is like

watching gravity. I cannot wait to see what he does next. We have

already had the out of space epic. It is just talking. We have two talk

about Robert Redford. It is such a stunning performance. He has to

carry every second of the movie. In a way it is almost a risk casting

him. He has been so underplayed throughout his whole career. Ryan

Gosling, younger viewers would think he invented staring into space. But

this is genuinely a career defining performance. You could not imagine

any other actor doing this. It is his movie. If he does not get

nominated for an Oscar that would be criminal. A lovely role for an older

actor as well. You would not often get the lead. It is a good season

for it with Nebraska as well. Older guys exploring their mortality. He

is a man of 77. There is a kind of gravity and wait that comes with

that. You would not have that with someone younger. Gravity I think

needed Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, for their familiarity which

makes the movie stronger. And we have that history with Robert

Redford, perfect casting. Please go and see it. All is Lost will be in

cinemas on Boxing Day. Now Alan Parker relives the making of what

remains a 1980s classic - his dark movie Angel Heart. The film caused a

stir with the American censors before its release, due to an

extended, graphic, blood-drenched sex scene which had to be cut in

order to secure an R rating. I remember the dust cover, falling

Angel was the title. And at the back it had raiment chanter meets the

excesses. I thought, it sounds right up my street. To make it accurate

for 1955 we repainted almost 50 different buildings along the

street. People go and say it does not look like it does in the film.

It is almost like a film set. I wrote most of it sitting in a corner

cafes and bars. Then you go to look at locations and I would adapt the

script almost to what I found. That whole descent into hell, it took on

graphic imagery. I went to see Jack Nicholson first. He was interested

but not interested enough! And at the same time I met with Robert De

Niro. He was the hottest actor at that moment in time. He surprised us

all by saying he did not want to play that role, he would like to

play the part of the devil. Allow me to introduce my client, Louis

Cyphre. The physicality is hugely important. He has long hair in the

film. He wanted to have false nails. And they grow a millimetre

every time you see him. That was his idea. And in the film they do

imperceptibly get longer. But it was so important to him. The opposite to

Mickey who did not really care too much! Between the two of them there

is a wonderful electricity that you can see on screen. They wanted to

score points of one another. Mickey was so determined to do better than

the master. Robert De Niro at the end is almost cracking every bone in

Mickey's body. Almost reminding him the actor that he is compared to the

actor that Mickey might think he might be. No thank you. I have got a

thing about chickens. I think Mickey loved being naughty. In one scene it

is a horse race and he is watching these horses come towards him. He

had written all these lines originally. He was looking at the

polls because he had written them down there. Then we moved him so his

lines were about two feet away and he could not even see them! When

you're writing a scene, normally it is to people talking. But I try to

give it layers, other things that the curve. I tend to put in animals.

In one scene he is running through a stable with horses. The first time

it was incredibly impressive. When you have done it 20 times, the

stuntman is then wafer thin! And you wonder why you ever wrote that. No

animal was ever harmed in the making of the film! Only people! The scene

that I love is the lovemaking scene when it is raining. It is hard to do

any kind of sex scene. The bearer -- I remember saying, I am there to

help you. But it turned out that Isabel Bonnie was much more

confident. There is a piece of music that goes with the scene which is a

beautiful soul number. I played that very loud which I found to be

helpful. It is one of the most powerful scenes I have ever filmed

and I am proud of that. I think you can look back on your work and of

course you improve on everything that you have done. But looking at

Angel heart, it has affected a lot of people. Depending on which

country I go to, it is the one film which people particularly in Europe

have liked. And I am still proud of it.

Thank you so much for chatting to us. Next up, Fill The Void - a film

from Israel which is set amongst its ultra-orthodox Jewish community.

When her sister dies, an 18-year-old girl is strongly encouraged to marry

her widowed brother-in-law. You expect Fill The Void to be a

slightly different movie. You have this 18-year-old girl in this movie.

In coming-of-age movies that character would rebel and run away.

But the director is from the Hasidic Jewish community herself. So making

a film about her religion. It is not propaganda, not an Expose but

something in between. It is one that I would recommend to Mel Gibson!

Technically it is a very accomplished film. She has coaxed

incredible performances from her actors. I would like to see her next

thing being something not necessarily about Orthodox Judaism.

I think she is so within that world it would be nice to see her talent

brought to bear on something outside of that. It was incredibly

claustrophobic to watch. You felt, just run. It was that horrible sense

of being in this character's very enclosed worlds. It is like a Jane

Austen character. Living in this rigid society. Not as funny as Jane

Austen! It is all about tradition. This ancient tradition yet at the

same time shot in this European contemporary setting. The

director's background is fascinating. In the Hasidic

community you cannot have men and women in the same frame together. So

that is interesting. Jane Austen is a decent comparison. Birth,

weddings, death. So a romantic comedy is the next thing that she

should do! Your favourite? All Is Lost by a long margin. It is a

future classic. I wish it was the Hobbit but it is always lost. I

would say All Is Lost. But for the barrel ride, the Hobbit. That's all

from us. We'll be back next week on Tuesday at 11:15pm when we review

Anchorman two and Ben Stiller in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. To

celebrate its 25th anniversary, Cinema Paradiso has been beautifully

restored and is back in cinemas this weekend. Thank you very much for

watching. Here's a glimpse. Good night.