Episode 22 The Culture Show

Hello and welcome to the The Culture Show. This week we have

Pablo Picasso, political pamphlets and pagan rituals. All that, plus

inspiring interiors, and happy birthday to cabaret., not, Penrose

and Picasso. The informative relationship between the Spanish

master and the English Surrealist. Pagan and pageantry, the new

production of the Wicker man. Proliferating pamphlets, Toby Young

on the surprising spin-off of the digital age. And Charlie Luxton

meets Gary Gard, creator of London's most dazzling contemporary

interior, the late night chameleon cafe. A new book inspires me to go

wild in the country, and Mark Kermode dishes out the only film

awards that really matter - his own. First, Picasso And Modern British

Art, the exhibition of the moment in sport -- explores Picasso's

influence on painters from Francis Bacon to Henry Moore. The great

British public was rather slow to warm to Picasso, the turning point

came in 1960 when Penrose staged fish usually popular exhibition

which changed the way modern art was perceived in this country.

Alastair Sooke went to meet Anthony Penrose, Roland's son to find out

more about his father's relationship with the maestro. In

November 1950, Pablo Picasso found himself alone in England in a state

of profound anxiety. His appearance at the Communist Party's peace

conference in Sheffield had triggered a political storm. The

British government were terrified that the Communists were coming, so

they shut down the conference after one day. Picasso was hounded by the

press, and he sought refuge here in the Sussex hamlet where his friend

Roland Penrose lived in a beautiful farmhouse. Roland Penrose is often

just a postscript, a walk-on part in surrealism. His contribution to

art history is far wider, he gave us Picasso. Hello, do come on in.

Antony Penrose is Roland's son and grow up at Farley Farm, which is

open to visitors today. There is art work on the walls, these are

works by your father? Men need of them, yes. Picasso painted his

mother six times. This is the moment when my mother decided to do

a family photo, you can see I am fed-up. The both look rather fed

up! So oh then he whispered something in my ear. I have no idea

what it was. The result was instant connection, we jump to these shots

here, and you can see straight away we have made that bombed. The is

moment when your face lights up, that is stunning. Your father and

mother had known Picasso for 14 years - how important was this

visit in cementing that friendship? It showed Picasso that Rowland

could be there for him. Actually take care of him, look after him

and his interests. Their friendship would be crucial in building

Picasso's reputation in Britain. Rowland became one of his most

ardent champions. Picasso needed all the help he could get. By 1950,

Picasso's dark brooding work had alienated several critics. Most of

the country simply hadn't heard of him. All that many people saw was

darkness, ugliness, violence, the desecration of the beautiful ideal,

but Roland sensed something more profound lay beneath, and he became

consumed by the urge to transform the way people understood Picasso's

art, in fact that became his life's work. Rowland had grown up amongst

art. His father was an artist, but Victorian, figurative. As a student,

Rowland set eyes on Picasso's work and suddenly the Shia possibility

seemed their -- of the possibilities seemed endless. He

bought this art work, a move that would bring him closer to his hero.

One of the rude symbols in it is this very luscious pair of spread

far raised. You've can see the high heels of the feet. You can follow

the legs backwards. The you can also read a lot into the shape of

the sun in the sky as well. imagine him that the fact your

father wanted to buy this painting that Picasso's Delo was refusing to

show and sell probably made a good impression. It certainly singled

Rowland out in Picasso's mind as a person who understood and bought

the difficult pictures. That set him apart. By 1937, Rowland had

developed one of the most important collections of Picasso's in the

country. In 1938, he bought Picasso's masterpiece Guernica to

Britain. In 1965 he persuaded the artists to sell The Three Dancers.

His biggest achievement was a book, the first of a biography of Picasso.

Picasso made this drawing of Roland in the front cover. We knew say a

drawing of Rowland, where is he? here is his thin lips, stubbly chin.

And a very big nose. There is another aspect of this book which

is touchingly intimate, just here. We find a flower pressed in the

pages. It is a bird's nest orchid and this is Picasso's writing

saying 26th April 1959. Do you think the buyer can be changed

people's perceptions of Picasso? certainly introduced him to a lot

of people who would never have taken him seriously before, but it

also reached people who were perhaps not interested in modern

art, and it gave them a start point. Mr Penrose, I have heard it said

there was no such thing as a typical Picasso. How far do you

think you have managed to represent the enormous variety of styles in

this exhibition? We have done our best. There are some very well

known among them, remarkable in their style. This is the catalogue

from the exhibition in the Tate Gallery in 1960, which was curated

by my dad. This was how Picasso dedicated the front inside cover.

With the face! Indeed, yes. Some people say it was the show of the

last century, and it was probably the first occasion when modern-art

attracted queues that went way back. This was a massive step in the

evolution of the Tate, as well as in the evolution of modern art in

Britain. The new show looked at Picasso's influence on modern

British artists. Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, David Hockney. They

all saw Picasso's work and recognised him as the most

inventive artist of his age. Invite a lysed people. Picasso was giving

encouragement and permission for people to go off in different

directions, and that is the exciting thing. You are a bit

biased, OK, but I will ask you anyway. If it hadn't been for your

father, do you think Picasso would not have had such a big influence

on British art? I think it is fair to say that. I find it very curious

the way moment is my grow fonder acknowledged. He gave way of his

desire to work as an artist to help other people. He gave them shows,

he wrote books about them. In a way, they're owed Rowland for the way

they promoted their work. exhibition continues until the 15th

July. If you want to see Farley Farm for yourself, that opens to

the general public from April. Almost half a millennium ago, the

invention of the printing press made it possible for people with

radical views to reach a mass audience by publishing pamphlets.

It seemed that what goes around comes around. The writer Toby Young

believes new means of digital distribution have given birth to a

new-age of pamphleteering. We asked him to explain why. The global

financial crisis of 2008 and its continuing economic repercussions

has led to a growing scepticism about the long-term viability of

free-market capitalism. This has led to a resurgence of the

ideological battles that most people thought had ended with the

fall of the Berlin Wall. One of the manifestations of this intellectual

ferment has been the re-emergence of a literary form more closely

associated with the 20th century, the pamphlet. We have witnessed the

rebirth of the political tract in digital form, an explosion of

electronic books in which a new generation of writers have put

forward arguments. In fact, we might just be entering a new golden

age for this oldest of literary forms. According to George Orwell,

between 1640 and 1661, there were 22,000 political tracts circulating

in London. Back then, pamphlets were one of the few platforms

available to people who wanted to challenge the status quo, but it

wasn't long before they became a respectable literary genre. A new

pamphlet could be hailed as a literary event. They nearly all had

a radical political bent, often using violent language to attack

the moral failings of the ruling class. I'm fascinated by this

tradition and recently wrote a pamphlet for Penguin about setting

up a free school. My hope is it will become the manifesto of the

movement. My father, a Labour peer, was also a pamphleteer. But just

how influential are pamphlets today? You recently co-authored a

pamphlet urging the leaders of the Labour Party to be more fiscally

prudent, and in a matter of weeks they became more fiscally prudent.

How influential do you think your pamphlet wars? It was one of the

range of factors. The pamphlet came at the right moment in the middle

of the debate that was already happening inside the party. It

meant people were willing to push the debate further internally and

externally. Why choose a pamphlet, and why not an article? We didn't

have anyone who wanted to publish it, we didn't know any

commissioning editors, we didn't have any particular access to the

world of publishing, and it was long enough to have some real

strength to the argument, but short enough to allow you to focus on a

few key points. We also deliberately chose to be

provocative in the language we used. A do you think we are seeing a

resurgence in pamphleteering? huge. The debate on Labour's

economic policy is almost being conducted in pamphlets, but it

means you have an intellectually driven policy debate conducted

aggressively and forcibly, but about ideas and not personalities.

One of the virtues of pamphlets is that they provide a soapbox for a

new generation of political activists who might not otherwise

have an outlet in mainstream media. Kieran Yates is the author of this

pamphlet written after last summer's riots. It is exciting how

the worlds of literature and activism have found a place where

they can come together and be instantaneous. We talk about the

riots, about young people and representation in the media and

beyond, and I think there other pamphlets talking about student

protests and the Arab Spring. I see it as a contribution to a wider

activist movement. Did you think of this as a pamphlet in this great

pamphleteering tradition when you were writing it, or is that an

interpretation of people like me after the event? I think we would

be honoured to be thought of in the same tradition as people like

Jonathan Swift, but at the same time people have been seen as

passive observers and we need things like social media, pamphlets,

and we need to say look, people are active, they are critical, and we

are lucky to have those voices. For pamphlets don't just provide a

forum for new voices. They also enable established political

journalists to get their teeth into subject they can only touched upon

in their columns. Peter has recently written this that

campaigns for people to join the euro. Why is the palm for such a

There are too many books for wupbg thing. Most books don't need to be

written. There is a kernel inside them that can be expressed in a

much shorter form. So a pamphlet enables you to articulate an idea,

to express it, to provide evidence and then get it out there in the

public domain. I want to prove a point actually. Let's look at this

Guilty Men, this was an act of revenge in ways, I wanted to remind

them of how very wrong they were and I can't tell you what a

rewarding process it was. It seems one of the common themes of your

pamphlets is that they're all quite contraryian, you take a piece of

conventional wisdom and shoot it down. You want to take something on.

Conventional wisdom is almost always wrong. There is something

about political discourse, the way it's constructed which means that

it's false, and I think that if you can hammer it, you can change the

way things are understood. Of course you write it for a purpose.

There's no point in just rambling on about something which everybody

agrees, and that does give an opportunity to come at political

discourse in a different direction and I think pamphlets are a useful

way of doing that. In an age of ever shortening

attention spans in which the dominant form of communication is

the 140-character tweet, it's heartening to see the political

pamphlets stage a comeback and paradoxically it's largely thanks

to the internet F there is some modern day equivalent of Karl Marx

out there working away on the 21st century version of the communist

manifesto, we will probably read it first on something like this.

Next tonight, it's a cult classic of British horror, but now The

Wicker Man is being adapted for the stage. There's no need to fear too

much, because the National Theatre of Scotland's appointment with The

Wicker Man Contains a a dose of music and even some laughs. Michael

Smith went to rehearsals to Ponder The Wicker Man is a truly curious

beast. Part musical.

Part hammer-esque horror, part pagan, hippie fantasy.

There's nothing quite like it in British cinema history. It long ago

became a cult classic. An uptight Christian policeman, played

wonderfully by Edward Woodward visits a remote Scottish island to

investigate the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl. His routine

inquiries quickly descend into a pagan nightmare, ending with his

own ritual sacrifice. 40 years later, the film's legacy

lives on. So far, we have had a low budget sequel, a multimillion

dollar Hollywood remark, a music festival named after it, and even

Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden has written a song about the film.

It's a strange and rich thing to watch, there's moments of real

mystery and eerieness. There's also moments, particularly all the

singing and dancing ones, that just seem so silly it almost makes you

cringe in embarrassment but it adds up to an engrossing watch. So much

so, that the film's become part of the law of alternative pop culture.

The latest adaptation is a play. In rehearsals under way are in an old

glue factory in Glasgow. Produced by The National Theatre of Scotland,

and directed by Vicky FeatherStone,'s the play's co-

written by comedian Gregg Hemphill who also stars in it.

Are you the landLord? That's me. You will be the police officer from

the mainland. That's right. script cleverly spruced the

original plot. In the play the group are in the midst of an Wicker

Man production when the lead actor goes AWOL. With the production

under threat, a TV detective from the mainland is asked to replace

the missing actor. Welcome to the company. Everyone, this is the cop

that's going to save us when the show opens tomorrow night! What was

it that attracted you to the project, was it a love for the

film? First and foremost, this was an NTS production and Vicky had an

idea to stage this film because it was not only was it a Scottish

horror classic, but a sort of cinema classic. Worldwide classic,

you know. I certainly got it in my top ten films of all time. I think

Vicky knew I was a horror fan, she contacted myself and co-writer and

asked if we would be interested. When we were asked we said yes

rightaway, what would be daunting and awful would be for somebody

else to do it and for us to go oh, you fools, you should have done it

this way!. We thought if anybody is going to mess it up we wanted it to

be us. Let me ask you this, have you ever

seen The Wicker Man. I have, I am obsessed with it. How many times

have you seen it? Twice. I am a huge Nicholas Nicholas -- Cage fan.

The rest of you? I have seen most of it, bar the last ten minutes.

have not seen it, but I am a pig fan of The -- big fan of The Equal

equaliser. How does it feel jumping into

Christopher Lee's role. It would have been daunting if I was just

doing a straight adaptation. I have this get-out clause, because I am

playing a useless actor called Finley, who is playing Christopher

Lee, so if anybody says that guy is nothing like Christopher Lee I can

say yeah! I wasn't meant to be good at him. Were you approaching the

play as a kind of comedy? The most important thing was to capture the

spirit of the film. Rather than do a pastiche, we would have been the

wrong writers if we had been asked to pastiche The Wicker Man. We

wanted to do something in its spirit and our production hopefully

is, I guess you could call it a sell Briggs of -- celebration of

We haven't seen the ending yet, obviously. Is it going to be a big

wooden man on fire on the end of a cliff? With our tongue placed

firmly in our cheeks, we put on the poster, someone's going to burn for

this along the bottom and thought that's funny because there will be

certain people that will want to burn the writers. Also what we are

saying to the audience is it wouldn't be The Wicker Man if there

wasn't a wicker man that at some point had a flame waved near it. I

guess you will have to come and see it, if it actually does get close

The play pwraoets new life in this curiosity by a by-gone era and

highlights the unsettling and odd qualities of the original. It's

done with such affection and it's really, really funny.

On a appointment with The Wicker Man opens in Aberdeen next week.

Still to come, Mark Kermode reveals his favourite films of the past

year. But first, if you haven't yet heard of a multitalented man called

Gary Gard then pay attention. His blog modestly mentioned he makes

sets, props, illustrations and a few paintings, when in fact, he has

a truly enviable client list and his admirers range from lady Gaga

to the New York times. The latest buzz is about his work on the spwor

kwroer -- interior of London's cafe. Charlie Luxton has been finding out

more. A trip to the late night - LMCC,

means taking a magical mystery tour to deepest Dalston.

The store is the physical presentation of something that

started out as an online empor ium, and you can't just turn up, you

The low-key entrance leads to a subterranean world, crafted by set

designer Gary Gard. It's a world away from the busy east London

street that I have just come from, it feels rather like stepping in to

a fairytale. And then into a sort of low budget

sci-fi movie. I don't mean that in a derogatory sense. It's simply put

together. It's about raw ideas and making you feel in a certain way

and it's a very powerful space. I think you get a strong sense of

Gary's stage set training. It really has that feeling. It gives

you strong emotions. It's about the emotional feeling, I think, and not

the kind of slick architectural detail.

It feels like Gary's taken the principle of the shop window, and

stretched it, so you are able to actually inhabit the display. Three

different rooms, each with an individual character, house an

eelectic collection of over 100 designers, some big names, some

emerging talents. What makes Gary's designs stand out for me is the

Jekyll and Hyde way these vastly different spaces rub up against

each other. This one feels like some sort of

industrial cooling facility. You get a real sense of Gary's

theatrical heritage. This place is all about the theatre, the fashion.

This room feels warm and welcoming. That's partly because of the wood,

but also some simple stuff like the lighting. Lighting. Very simple,

but actually very emotionally powerful. It's really nice to see

these materials that are used so freely. This makes me smile,

because this is - we use this every day on building sites just to

connect things that you don't see. It's just very strong metal and

this is the cheapest sort of timber that you wouldn't even use to make

joinery from. That's not what it's about. It's the way you are putting

a �it00 -- �200 scarf next to cheapest material. It's about the

ideas, not the materials. I really like that. They're quite nice,

actually. LNCC is about creating a space that

is in many ways everything the internet can't be.

It's about community. It's about talking face-to-face. And

experiencing things with all your senses. You come here to meet the

brand, not just people who are going to sell you stuff.

For me the strongest thing is that it's done on a very small budget.

Like good ideas have trumped budget. And this simple, inexpensive little

fitout has been nominated for a really prestigious design award and

that is fantastic. I am intrigued to meet the man

behind this daring design. It's just a short trip across town

to Gary's Hackney studio. The first thing you notice is there's no

white cube minimalism. It's stuffed full of models and ideas and the

tools of his trade. You almost feel like you're stepping inside his

head. Gary's got an impressive portfolio, ranging from

illustration to costume and set design. I wondered where he felt

his real strength lay. There's so much different stuff, what do you

feel is closest to your heart? Definitely my illustration stuff.

It was my first love as a kid, I was constantly drawing. It's how I

approach everything. It always starts with the drawing. There

seems to be a big craft element, the act of making important to you

s that a fair comment? Absolutely. It's because I can't, a certain

amount of megaloman ia. I can't let go which is why assistants find me

I am lucky enough that I get to choose what I want, so this is a

perfect example where I knew what I would not come out of it a

millionaire but it was too exciting not to do. He worked with your dad

to build this. How did that work? Is he an ongoing part of your

creative work? The us, he has been making my stuff since I was a kid.

Nobody else would push them self for me like my dad so I go to him

whenever I have an insane project that I can't ask anybody else to

help with. He is a builder by trade. One of my main influences,

particularly when you look at LN-CC is House deconstructed it is. It

almost looks like a construction site, and that comes from my dad

and the jobs I used to do with him. How important has the nomination

for the design award been? It is amazing. I've been up against

Alexander McQueen in the Metropolitan Museum, which is

incredible, and we are in the same category as the wedding dress,

which is insane. To be amongst this, with something which was an

experiment, pretty much, is incredible for me.

Risque razzmatazz, the rise of the Nazi party, and a ravishing Liza

Melly combined to make A cabaret. This month marked the 40th

anniversary of its first release, and for Noddy Holder there is no

finer film. He has been telling us I absolutely love Cabaret. It has

everything - lies him in early on form as a singer, sleazy hedonistic

behaviour, and evil Nazis. I saw it way back in a cinema in the West

End of London. I was dragged by an Austrian girl friend of mine who

knew I didn't like musicals in the vein of the Sound of Music and Mary

Poppins, but she knew I was interested in 19 20s European

history. I knew nothing about the film and I was not looking forward

to it but it was a revelation. I loved it so much I went back to see

it the next night and I have probably seen it a hundred times

since then. # You have to understand the way I arm. The tiger

is a tiger, not alarm. # You will never turn the vinegar to jam.

# So I do what I do, when I'm through, then I'm through.

# And I'm through. It was issued hit, along with its seven BAFTAs,

it was also nominated for Oscars. It only lost out on the best

picture and best screenplay statuette because it was up against

a little-known film about the mafia called the Godfather. Cabaret is

set in 1930s pre-war Berlin against the backdrop of mass social

discontent and the rise of fascism. At that point, Berlin was the most

decadent city in the world. It was a mecca for had missed and

Bohemians, and those wishing to push the boundaries of

individualism. I find it incredible that out of this tolerant

permissive society came such horror. The Nazi scourge which swept away

the joy and freedom shown in Cabaret and replaced it with

violence and racism, and ultimately genocide. Cabaret has been a big

part of my life. I remember seeing it once in Berlin when I was on

tour. I watched it in a seedy cinema, very much like the club in

the film, and that made the Fillmore, -- the film more

compelling. The projector kept breaking down and have the curtains

over the screen didn't open properly. My tour manager with

Slade also loved the movie, and renew the songs and the dialogue.

When we were touring, we would get some drinks down us in the bar, get

drunk, and end up acting out the scenes, singing the songs. I am not

sure everybody else enjoyed it, but we certainly did!

# Come here the music play. # Life is a cabaret, come to the

cabaret. It is not just a musical, it's a comedy, a drama, a social

commentary. Liza gives the performance of a

lifetime, a guest at -- against a backdrop of one of the most

difficult times in history. How she life is a cabaret, come to

the cabaret. Next tonight, how February can be

truly horrible what with repression, greyness, and biting cold, but her

new book is urging us to put those negative thoughts aside and

reconnect with nature, rediscovering the pleasures of life

that cost nothing. I went to meet the writers to find out more.

City life. The hustle and bustle, the constant throng of activity.

90% of Britain lives in an urban area. Many never seen to leave the

concrete jungle. Two-thirds of children play outside less than

once a week, and 50% of adults visit the natural environment less

than once a week. As a nation, we seem to have become detached from

the great outdoors. The natural world is and alien and scary place,

best avoided. I know I spend too much time indoors. In art Galleries,

in front of the TV, in front of the computer. When I do get out to

somewhere like this, I instantly feel better. In their new book,

these writers go further and that. They argue that getting into nature

is totally essential to your health. At the centre of it, they placed a

greater amount of importance on play. For them, it is, if we can

shed our adult selves and become children again, we can enjoy the

grandeur and beauty of this. Something I have not done since

childhood. Skimming stones on a beach. Lovely! What was your

motivation for writing this book? You are both living in the City,

was it a desire to escape in a sense? It started with that, didn't

it? You are could fairly say that, it was a philosophy borne out of

escapism, in that our need to escape from the urban environment

led to us thinking more deeply about why humans have this longing

to be within nature. What is it you feel we lose if we spend our time

in cities? What comes across from the book is a feeling of alienation.

The areas that cure real reversal. Because so much in the City is

demanding your attention, whether it is the noise, the lights, the

stimulus, and the only way to deal with it is disengage. The few are

in the City, you are in a room where everyone is shouting, and in

the countryside it is almost like no one is shouting. In an art

gallery your senses change from the street outside, it has a

transformative effect. The there is a serious agenda behind the stone

skimming. They are beguilingly simple, but they are a doorway to

something else. We wanted to investigate the philosophical side

of that. We said this was born of escapism, but to some extent if you

take the time to slow down, you can bottle some of that and bring it

back with you. And escaped to reality. Yes, and you come back

stronger. So certainly colder. Tougher! Key in to avoid frostbite,

we head for some shelter in a nearby forest. What is next on the

menu? No we are going to make an elder whistle. Inside, the pith is

extremely soft. We can push that right out. What do I do? Take-off

the top layer, down to what looks like the bones of the ward. What

drew you to whistle making? Is that because you guys get lost a lot?

Something like that! The whole process of carving is about

reordering wood and it is a therapeutic thing to do. Why a

whistle? Whistles co-ordinate people over distance, and

reconnecting with history was a part of it. Elder is a tree with

cultural significance. It is known as all ward. It is part of a lot of

classical myth. So that is the mouth, is it? Yes, you can see that

grinning away. The next part is the plug. You slot that into the top of

the whistle. And and that means I am good to go? Here goes. It sounds

like the woodland expressed! This outdoors activity is fine, as long

as you have a comfortable bed to go home to, but Rob and Leo had other

ideas. They are proposing I spend a night sleeping outdoors inside a

dent made from scavenged bits of wood and loose leaves. You have

built a few of these, haven't you? Yes, we have. I am not entirely

convinced. This is my wilderness hotel room. Is this a one star?

given the speed we built it in, but in terms of the room with a view,

it is the best. He looks more inviting than when we started, I

will give you that. They promised to put me in touch with nature. I

am certainly in touch with nature. Without being cynical, my senses

have come alive. I can smell the leaves, I have been tuning into the

river rolling along at the bottom of the hill, and there is something

therapeutic about stopping and letting that, over you. If I do

panic and I need help, I have got Skimming stones and other ways of

being in the wild was published earlier this week.

Aggrieved by the BAFTA, she's off by the Oscars? Don't worry because

you are about to watch the only award ceremony that really counts.

Here is Mark Kermode with his own Hello, good evening, and twobg the

Kermodes, the most prestigious and sought after prize on the awards

calendar. The Kermodes were set up as an antidote to the Oscars

honouring those who have been ludicrously overlooked. The rules

are simple, you can't win a Kermode for a category in which you have

been nominated for an Oscar. Amongst the winners who will be

receiving one of these glittering and frankly flattering statueets

are my choice of Best Director, Best Actor and actress, all of whom

have passed under Oscars' radar. Also an award for Best Documentary.

We start with a new category tonight, Best Musical.

The Oscars don't have an award for Best Musical and on the evidence of

the annual embarrassment that is the Golden Globes, frankly, I don't

blame them. But my first award goes to a film which deserves to have

turned up in several Oscar categories, including Best Foreign

language film, Best Documentary, Best Original score, even Best Film.

The fact that this enthralling account of street musicians

overcoming odds to bring their unique brand of skiffle to the

world showed up in any category. It It's the funniest award ever.

Because we know this guy and you know, it's really resembling.

Looking like that. Except for the whiskers, I guess. Something Elvis-

ish. And maybe here. That's beautiful. Seriously, that's a

great honour and privilege to get that award for Best Musical from

you guys. Thank you for that award. It's the last we will have, I guess.

Yes, thank you very much. Next up, Best Documentary. The

category which every year has people declaring that the academy

should be closed down for overlooking the Best Films on offer.

Howling ephoeugss this year include into the abyss, a examination of

the the awful realities of death row. But this year's Kermode award

goes to a film deserves to have turned up in more than one Oscar

category, despite appearing in none. Tracing the life and times of Senna

this gem became a hit when it struck a chord with audience who is

care nothing about Formula One racing, but everything about great

film-making. The award for Best Documentary goes to the superb

Wow, fantastic. Thank you, Mark. Thank you to The Culture Show. The

whole team behind Senna was so proud of the movie and win this

prize. This has been an amazing journey making Senna, so this means

a lot. It's going to be pride of place on a mantelpiece. Thank you.

One of the most hotly contested categories in London and LA is that

of Best Actor. This year the Oscars have finally recognised that Gary

oldman exists, having previously overlooked his work in JFK, Sid and

Nancy, or any of the other many movies in which he starred. Now

Gary has broken his Oscar duck and got a nomination for his role in

Tinker Tailor. Better late than never, but well done to the academy.

But ignoring another actor, surely one of the finest and fearless of

his generation. It gives me particularly smug pleasure to say

that my Best Actor is a previous Kermode award winner. He took home

the statueet in 2009 for his outstanding role in Hunger, now he

is reunited with Steve McQueen for an equally revealing performance in

Shame. The Kermode award for Best Actor goes, for the second time, to

Michael Fassbender. One person for the rest of your life, I mean,

it's... You know, you come to restaurants, you see couples

sitting together and they don't even speak to one another. They

probably don't have to speak because they're connected.

they're just bored with one another. What's your longest relationship?

Exactly. You can pour. Four months. To commit you have to actually give

it a shot. I did. For four months. Thank you very much. Here we go.

Still checking out the resemblance to Richard nicksen -- Nixon.

Fantastic. Thank you so much, mark. You are the man. Your knowledge is

the best out there. Obviously you are very perceptive. Seriously,

thanks a million. It really is - means a lot to me to get it off you,

as I say, you really love film. You know a lot about film. Yeah,

hopefully we will see each other soon and I can buy you a pint.

Thank you so much, cheers. Now, things are really heating up

as we turn our attention to Best Actress. The Iron Lady may have

divided critical opinion here, because it has the political

insight and clout would you expect from the director of Mamma Mia but

straoep straoep straoe -- straoep straoep's perform -- Meryl Streep's

performance has united critics. She goes head to head with Rooney Mara.

As for The Artist's Berego Bero. As for the awards, it's time for

another first, hard though this may be to believe, I can't make up my

mind between the two most brilliant actress performances I saw last

year. Neither of which has troubled the Oscar nominations. So, since

these are my awards and frankly, I am making up the rules as I go

along, this year's award for Best Actress goes to not one, but two

outstanding talents. Tilda Swinton for We need to talk about Kevin and

Olivia Coleman for Tyrannosaur. Hello.

Are you all right in there? Are you hiding from somebody?

Can I move this rail? Thank you very much for this

Kermode award. I don't know what to say. It's an honour to be sharing

it with Tilda Swinton, that's pretty cool. I have been told this

is my own and she's not going to come around and take this one. She

can have her own. Thank you so much. It's a big honour and it's much

better than getting an Oscar. Yeah, You are kidding. That is fantastic.

Has he got chocolate inside? I want to unpeel it. That is for real. I

am so stoked by this, I can't tell you. This is the one. This is the

one, as far as I am concerned. I am so pleased. And I am so honoured to

be honoured alongside Olivia who I just think was, you know, streets

ahead of pretty much any work that was done this year. I am so proud,

I don't know what to say. And Mark, you know, just spreading the love,

and thank you very, very much. For my big chocolate Kermode.

Now we come to our final award of the evening, Best Director and Best

Film. The Oscars have managed to come up with nine contenders for

Best Film in a list which loves Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,

whilst overlooking the ultra stylish guilty pleasures of Drive

which has has proven a commercial and critical hit worldwide.

There are some great films in Oscars list, most notably Hugo in

which Martin Scorsese does something interesting with 3-D and

of course The Artist, the black and white joys of cinema are still

thriving in 21st century. Surprise, surprise, my favourite director and

film of the year have both been completely overlooked by the Oscar

voters, the same people who, let us not forget, once decided that the

Best Film of the year was Driving Miss Daisy. Still, their loss is my

gain and it gives me great pleasure to announce that the award for Best

Director and Film go to Lyn Ramsey for We Need to Talk about Kevin.

Kev, mom had something she wanted to tell you.

I wanted to thank you for calling the ambulance. And. And, I was

concerned that you might be feeling responsible. Why is that? Because

you were supposed to be looking after her. We just don't want you

to blame yourself. I don't. I never said I did. She's going to need a

glass eye, Kevin. So we would appreciate you looking out for her

and any name calling. You don't really remember being a kid much,

do you dad? You're just going to have to suck it up. Thanks for this,

Mark, what an honour. I am so pleased and you are much more

handsome than Mr Oscar, so I think I will give you a kiss. There you

go. There you have it, all the Kermodes awarded and order restored

to the universe. Of course, we await the results of the Oscars,

but there's not much point in them now, is there? Until this time time

next year, thank you and good night. And you can hear Mark Kermode and

Simon Mayo talking to den stkel Washington on next week's Edition

of the film review on Radio 5 Live. We will be back in two weeks, but

until then you can see two culture show specials. On Friday 24th

February, and then David Hockney on Monday 27th, both at 7.00pm on BBC2.

Finally, found is an Edinburgh- based art collective and sometimes

experimental pop band. You can see their latest multimedia

installation at the Glasgow International Festival in April and