Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Silence, A Monster Calls, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea Film 2016

Hello and welcome to the Christmas edition of Film 2016. I am Antonia

Quirke and I'm glad you could stay up to join us. Coming up on To

night's show: No sign of Princess Leia or Han Solo but you know who is

back in action packed Star Wars spin off Rogue One. This is a rebellion,

isn't it? I rebelled. Plus we take a look at what is coming up over

Christmas and the New Year including... Crooners rejoice, Ryan

Gosling in a modern musical, La La Land. Martin Scorsese returns with

religious epic, Silence. Praying for your glory is their suffering. And

Casey Affleck stars in family tragedy, Manchester by the Sea. They

will do anything to get rid of me. That is not true. Plus we will be

looking at contemporary fairy tale, A Monster Calls. Joining me in our

moderately festive layer is Christmas cracker Ashley Clark and

all I ever wanted for Christmas, Danny Leigh. Three wise men in one.

You are going to make me blush! First up, Rogue One: A Star Wars

Story is the latest addition to the Star Wars franchise following on

from last year's 2,000,000,000-dollar crossing The

Force Awakens. Gareth Edwards directs Felicity Jones and Ben

revealing how the Rebel Alliance crack to the enigma of the Death

Star. -- cracked the enigma. State your name for the record. Jyn Ursa.

Forgery of imperial documents, possession of stolen property,

aggravating assault and resisting arrest. This is a rebellion, isn't

it? I rebel. Rogue One is the film that takes us

into A New Hope, so if you are a fan of A New Hope, you will be very

pleased because you will know this is an origin story described in the

opening crawl of A New Hope. We have a mission for you. A major weapons

test is imminent and we need to know what it is and how to destroy it. I

think we wanted to be very true to those earlier films, the reverence

and spontaneity that they have, but equally I feel like we wanted it to

have a modernity to it and I think there is a serious mess to it that

is true to the age that we are living in. When was the last time

you were in contact with your father? What is this. It appears he

is critical to the development of a super weapon. We tried to give the

war photography in the film this feeling like the Crewe is also

trying to survive, embedded with the troops. The ambiguity of everybody's

character, there is no like, these guys are good and these guys are

bad, everyone is a little grey. The bad guys do good things sometimes

and the good guys do bad things. It is not quite as black and white as

it was in the 70s. What we are dealing with here is immeasurable.

Once the Empire has this kind of power, what chance do we have? I am

a massive, massive Star Wars fan. I watched it every day as a kid,

probably about 300 times. When I was 30 I went to visit Luke skywalker's

house in Tunisia. I saw the sunset on the salt flats, and I thought

that was about as extreme as you could get. It was my 30th birthday

and my girlfriend said, you will never be able to beat this for your

40th birthday. For my 40th, I was directing Rogue One. So I am screwed

for my 50th. I will have to work on that. We will take the next chance.

And the next. You are rebels, are due? -- Ireland you?

Danny, the thrill and the height of Star Wars films. Your thoughts? This

time last year we had The Force Awakens, which was the first of the

new Star Wars movies and this was a great reunion and a celebration, but

this is a different time and this is a different sort of movie. It is

heavier, physically darker, murkier and cold and wet. And it is Star

Wars as a war movie. But in another sense, it is lighter, because it

feels like a stand-alone movie, outside of the Star Wars canon.

Felicity Jones says that you can connect this with A New Hope if you

want, and that is right. But you can also look at it as a stand-alone

action movie. I saw this last night at Leicester Square, just across

from where I saw the first Star Wars movie and the reason the kids fell

in love with star was back then was not because it was the foundation of

a saga, it was because it was a great tale. It started and ended. I

forgot how much I loved that. He said crackling and spunky, I am not

sure if I can beat that. Do you think this has the water into wine

quality of the movies that Danny is talking about seeing? As a norm Star

Wars diehards, it's ticked the boxes for me. I did not need to know much.

It proceeds with a real clarity and speed. The storytelling is good and

the cast is fantastic, arguably as good as there has been assembled for

a Star Wars movie. Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker,

Felicity Jones, they do a lot with not a great deal. I was hooked by

it. It took me to intergalactic places and I was with it all the

way. And there is a freedom to those characters because they do not have

to be thinking, is every line of dialogue going to link into

something in 2019. I disagree. I think the movie chases that sends

all the time. There is a sense that it is trying to give that this is

bigger than this movie. There were spontaneous eruptions of applause in

the screening we were in. It was obviously connecting with Star Wars

diehards in some way but I choose to ignore that. There are place names

of planets popping up and I thought, I am not fussed about the

intricacies of the world. I am interested in the quality of the

storytelling. But the sense of the expanding universe is incredible. We

are in planets, labour camps, deserts, canyons, amongst all sorts

of different groups. It is dizzying. Ashley is right, you can tune it out

if you do not wanted. The film can exist unto itself. Do you not think

that what is so terrific about the original films, and it is annoying

to go on about the original films but it still stands that they

clearly come from the mind of one idiosyncratic man. He was a showman,

a marketeer, and also a movie brats. And this is now a talented John

MacGregor who has got his hands on it. This feels less burdened by

pressure than The Force Awakens, which adds so much more weight on

its shoulders. It is good, enjoyable, but it felt glib, like it

was taking too many boxes. This feels, and I guess I am repeating

myself, like solid genre film-making. Gareth Edwards comes

from spectacle and Fx. But that makes room for funny little

curlicues and great characters. For its Whitaker channelling the spirit

of Frank Booth from blue Velvet. And the best role goes to android, the

anti-C3PO, this seventh at bachelor. Does it have the cross general

relation appeal -- crossgenerational appeal of the originals? Your son,

if this was his first film, would he be a fan? I have mixed feelings as

to whether or not he will be a die-hard Star Wars fan. At the final

moment of the film, there was a child who are rotted in applause. In

many sense, is he a better judge than I? I think it is great but it

does not quite cast that spell. The first of our Christmas treats,

Damien Chazelle's follow-up to Whiplash, La La Land. Nominated for

seven golden globes, a contemporary musical starring Ryan Gosling and

Emma Stone as two dreamers shooting for the stars. I just heard you

play. And I want it. It is pretty strange that we keep running into

each other. I doubt it. You can just write your own rules, write

something as interesting as you are. I could have my own club. Is that

going to happen every time? I don't think so. How are you going to be a

revolutionary if you are such a traditionalist? You hold onto the

past but jazz is about the future. Maybe I'm not good enough for you.

Yes, you are. I'm not. It's like a pipe dream. This is the dream,

conflict, compromised, and very exciting.

Ashley, here we have a grown-up musical with an original score that

channels the umbrellas of Cherbourg. Is this a movie that by definition

we should be applauding and congratulating? To paraphrase Harvey

Keitel in Reservoir dogs, this film dreams of comparing itself to the

umbrellas of Cherbourg, it better wake up and apologise. You cannot

fault the ambition and technical quality, as anyone who has seen

Whiplash will know. But I find it would be lacking in heart and soul.

Completely lacking! It felt very plasticky. It might be on purpose,

because of the LA environment but crucially, it lacked chemistry

between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. And I think it lacked memorable

songs, and great dancing. So the complete opposite to what a lot of

people are saying. Danny, I bumped into some reviewers over the last

couple of weeks he said have you seen La La Land and they said, they

have seen it twice or three times, clearly the result hungered for this

and now seven golden Globes. Why? Film fans and film journalists have

a professional interest in people seeing movies like this. It is in

their interests to talk it up. I like it more than Ashley does. It

has moments of funniness and loveliness. But it has big wontons

of melancholy floating in it. It is a film that wants to be, for various

reasons, telling an audience, reminding them that if you have this

big gorgeous experience, you have all human life and experience. The

audiences watching Netflix with one hand and looking at their phones

with the other. How could it fail to be melancholy. Do you think it

suffers from being too charming? There is a self-consciousness that

comes with the charm, and a smugness. No. I don't think it

suffers from an overburdening of charm. I find it quite tiresome, to

be jazzplained from Ryan Gosling, who seems like an 81-year-old guy. I

know this is not Jazz Club from the fast show but it did grind me down.

It is trying to be won from the heart. We spoke about how neo-noir

came back in the 90s, psychological westerns. I hope that La La Land,

and I am being a bit harsh, it is not a terrible film, but I hope it

kick-starts a real interest in musicals and we get a lot of young

directors riffing on it in more interesting ways. I hope it kicks

something off. I have more time for Damien Chazelle but I think the

contrast between this and Whiplash is interesting. Because that tapped

into Damien Chazelle's darkness. He is a great young man, but he's only

31. You do not get his career at 31 without being able to channel

ambition. Whiplash admitted to that, it was all about ambition. You did

not want to get stuck in. Myles Teller and you did not want to get

stuck in a lift with him, he was consumed by ambition. And this film

is about people in LA, desperate to perform. And actually this is a film

about failed ambition, empty cinemas. This is about careers that

wither on the vine. If you turn it to one side, it is Mulholland drive.

For all the moments, there are scenes when the camera trains on a

roof that is sagging with damp, and the noise... I just want good songs.

This a memorable song? I think go with me on this, the I think there

are a couple of memorable tunes and the tunes are steering away from

jazz-hands and from the show tunes. It is the same with the dance moves,

I think it is supposed to be charming and scuffed and Ryan

Gosling is a graduate of the Micky Mouse club. He is great when he gets

to be funny. I prefer the early stages of film to writ ends up.

Released on new year's day is Martin Scorsese's Silence about ridgeous

persecution in 17th century Japan. He is lost to us. He denounced God

in public and surrendered the faith. That is not possible. It seems our

mission is more urgent than ever. We must find him. Silence is set in the

1,600s in Japan, Christianity was banned and ruthlessly put down.

Christians, Japanese Christians were brutally tortured. And we have two

young Jesuits who go there to try and find me, a priest who Mentored

them years before. The two priests who have never gone on a mission

before have to travel outside of Portugal, travel to Japan to find

their kind of mentor. And along the way their faith is being tested. The

prayers for your glory is their suffering. It is too dangerous. We

asked for this mission. There is a handful of great film directors. I

have made about 70 films, Martin is one of the great directors. He is

the tip of the pyramid of film makers. Our Lord said to them, go

into the whole world and preach the gospel to every living creature.

Will this be seen as a Scorsese high point? I think it is better than The

Departed. I get it is not good fellas, but nobody could have made

his film but him. You still have the incredible violence bubbling, the

horror of it and the vision and precision. In good fellas, it is 60s

New York and here is Japan. Where the geography may seem unlikely. You

realise you have a classic loner character like Charlie from Mean

Streets. It is territory he has trod before. It is very punishing and it

is a gruel film, a long film, but it is necessary. Do you think it is a

film about the impossibility of religious fundamentalism and it

maybe one reason why he now wants to make it. It is about crisis of faith

and spirituality, I say that as somebody who is Godless. So this is

foreign territory to me. But he brings it alive. The conversations

about spirituality, they played like verbal fight scenes. It goes on for

so long. You don't see scenes like that going on the, long

conversations and faith and God that you know is coming from Scorsese. He

was famously born and raised Catholic. It is strange to say it is

refreshing. But it is to see difficult art about an unfashionable

subject. I wouldn't say it was difficult. For the first half, I

don't want to sell the movie to people under false pretences. It wis

out in January -- it is out in January, I don't want to say go and

see it, but it is like Apocalypse Now. And to find this character.

Autumn that stuff is going on. The first half the film maker is so

beautiful and there is stuff I haven't seen for a long time. Let's

talk about the film making. There is a scene in a prison court yard,

where the way the films Orkney strapted -- orchestrated you are

watching the work of a master film maker and you should see it on the

big screen. Do you think this is Scorsese's Joan of Ark. This seems

to be that type. Yes it is such a personal thing. It is not just about

Catholicism, but he was 78 before he made Raging Bull. He was bleeding

from the cocaine and you talk about the moments of spiritual crisis,

that is what he has lived through. Wonderfully performed as well. Next

is Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea. This is Lee. What happened

to my brother? Sorry you couldn't get here in time. I got to get up

there before school lets out. That is Lee? Manchester by the Sea it set

in a town in Massachusetts called Manchester by the Sea. Lee is

returning home, because his brother has passed and he has been charged

with looking after his nephew who has no parents and he is reluctant

to do. So It thought you had spent a lot of time here? Your brother has

provided for Patrick's upkeep. I can't be the Guardian. I assumed Joe

had discussed this with you. He didn't. He suffers a loss and it is

a part of life and it doesn't mean life is all bleak. I did some

terrible things. My heart was broken. I know yours is broken. I

don't understand why it is such an off limits subject. There is a fear

they won't sell tickets if everything doesn't work out in the

end and there is no longer a belief that a good cry can be just as

enjoyable as a good laugh. The truth is it can be and hopefully provide a

bit of both in this film. Do you want me to call your friends. What

do you want me to do? Many of the scenes sound like conversations you

would overhear in a store or something. But those scenes sort of

by the end really add up to something quite moving. You feel

like you have learned a lot about these people. I won't bother you. I

will sit till you calm down. . A film about grief that Isola Connick

too. -- that is laconic. Rvegts Yes it is at its best in quiet rooms

that move between comedy and tragedy. Comedy is there. Yes, but

it is rooted in tragedy and sadness. The scenes that work are the ones

that nail that. Lonergan is a great playwright and this is a very good

playwright's idea of a good film. It films, I'm grateful to be

complaining, but every line of dialogue is pristine and it sits

within a dramatic framework and you have fine actors, I think I have

described a good night out at the theatre that. . I found it

cinematic. The section in the middle with an eight minute sequence that

we can't discus, but it is like a stations of the cross and it is

super filming. That we can't go into it is a problem. The extent that a

film is trying to go for the gut. But it is structurally very

contrived. That is an issue. Because it is not, it feels stagey, the film

has the mood, every extra in the movie, he was talking about Casey

Affleck said you see characters in shots, every run is a trained actor.

He will bring in trained actors and everything is rehearsed. So it feels

like a theatre writers idea of a film. I couldn't disagree more. It

is, there is a rawness, the characters feel alive and at the

last seen, Casey Affleck could have had done one of ten things. Don't

say it was predictable. He gives an internalised psychological

performance. But at times the subtlety can almost go overboard.

Maybe I'm picking. He is fantastic in the film. He is going to win a

Golden Globe and an Oscar. His style is very unique. He is good and the

film is the kind of film we should hope for more. It is an awkward

adult, not that kind of adult move you, blue a film for adults about

emotions. This some magnificent things in it. I think in other weeks

I would be falling over it. There is a problem, about the fact that we

can't talk about the moment that the film pivots on because it is a

spoiler and this huge tragedy and unveiling it like a plot point, that

feels a little cheap and exploitive. It is a powerful film. Do you think

it understands grief? No. I disagree it is the most vivid film. I think

it is a beautifully written drama about grief. Now Christmas comes in

many forms. This is A Monster Calls, a fantasy about a boy facing his

mother's death. How does it begin? With a boy who is too old to be a

kid. You're coming to live with me. Don't touch anything. Too young to

be a man. I no longer see you. It is about a 12-year-old boy who is

struggling with dealing with the sickness of his mother and the only

help he will find will be in the shape of a 40 feet tall monster that

comes every night at 12.07. He called. The monster. I play Carter

in the film. He is confused a lot in the film. He has a lot of things

going on in his head and sees this tree, this monster. It is grown up

and in his backyard. The tree comes and helps him formulate what he is

thinking. It is OK that you're angry. I'm angry too. If you need to

break things by God you break them. We all need support. That what is

the film says. Unfortunately Connor in the film has nobody to share it

with except this fantasy monster he has created. If there is a message,

it is trust your family, trust your friends. Open up. I'm afraid. Of

course you are. But you will make it through. Can I just say that I think

this movie is a classic. It is the best children's film I have seen in

English in years. It has elements of Pan's labyrinth and the best part of

Ted Hughes The Iron Man and it is heart rending, I was surrounded by

people weeping. It is a tremendous film.

I couldn't agree more. My only worry is it says it is a story of a boy

who is too old to be a kid and too young to be a man. The concern is

that will apply to the audience. There will be kids at the other end

to find it is an emotionally gruelling film, and at the same time

anyone over the age of 13 or 14 is going to think it is a kids movie.

In fact I think it is one of the most beautiful films I have seen for

a long time, wrecking the beautiful. It tells the truth more than films

aimed at adults. Naming no names. I think it talks on about how messy

and complex that stuff is. It is a wonderful coming-of-age story and I

am not sure who I am supposed to recommend it to but I want to

recommended to everyone. I think Liam Neeson is well cast. As a tree

that will find you and kill you. I wonder whether I am completely

heartless. We were wondering that too. But I don't respond well to

films that really try to jerk the tears out of me. And this setup is

sad enough. They've only bullied boy whose mother is dying. I did not

need the emotional heavy lifting and swelling strings but it is a

powerful movie. It is well performed, particularly Lewis

MacDougall, the boy, who reminded me of David Bradley from Kes, he has

that vulnerable quality to him. But I think it is a powerful movie. We

should say that visually it is highly unusual. There are moments,

because it disappears into different animation styles, and there are

moments where the screen seems like a piece of blotting paper that is

just dissolving. It is a beautiful film. Visually very imaginative. And

outlandish visually. I do not agree that it is manipulative. I disagree

with the critics that said it was too big. I think that is how it will

year rolled sees the world. It is interesting to see the thing, which

is English and Gothic and suburban. My memory of being 12 is that when

you were wondering around the cul-de-sacs, you always had a

suspicion something else was going on, something weird and dark. It

taps into that. It is how a 12-year-old sees the world, that it

is opening up underneath them. Don't you think it is an unusual

commendation of things, a Spanish British American co-production? --

combination of things. It is set in Devon, and suddenly Sigourney Weaver

turns up and the guy who played Rob Bratton in 24 hour party people. We

are very lucky this week in all five films, which are very ambitious and

do different things. It is a good week for cinema. A Monster Calls, I

have not seen anything like it. Even though I did not fall in love of it,

I appreciate that it is trying to do something different. And this is all

very subjective and there will be people who will follow the feet of

Manchester by the Sea and whom are -- and you are moved deeply. It did

not work for me but A Monster Calls, hot tears were flowing down my face

and I almost sobbed. I was surrounded by sobbing. And we should

say that this is based on an award winning children's book by Patrick

Ness which is spectacular. How many children's books open with the line,

you are only young once, they say, but doesn't it go on for a long

time? More years than you can bear. A great line from a great book and a

great film. And I hope the movie taps into the same audience that the

book did. It was deservedly very successful. Film of the year, guys?

A film that has taken a lot of flak. Everybody wants some by Richard Link

later. I am going to go for American Honey but with Creed in for

distinction. Forget the other one. I will go for Victoria. Nick Browne

also says that. Victoria, logistically mind-boggling. As it is

to me. That is it for this week and this year. The show will be back in

January but last week we asked you for your favourite Christmas film

and there were lots of inventive suggestions including a film about a

horse race across the Saudi Arabian desert. But the winner, no surprise.

Take a guess. Happy Christmas and good night. Good idea, Ernie, toast,

to my big brother George, the richest man in town. # May old

acquaintance be forgot. # And never come to pass. Should old

acquaintance be forgot, for the sake of auld lang syne. What that? It's a

Christmas present from a very dear friend of mine. Look, daddy, teacher

says every time a bell rings and Angel gets his wings. That's right,

that's right. Atta boy, Clarence. This is it, the mission we've been

preparing for our entire lives.