10/01/2014 The Film Review

cricket as well. Better news for England's women. All on 6:30 but now

it is time for the film review. Hello and welcome to the programme.

To take us through this week's releases is Mark Kermode. But to be

held this week. I would season is with us so we have 12 years a slave

which is being widely tipped as best picture. We have delivery man, it

perhaps unnecessary American remake of a French-Canadian original. We

have the railwayman, another retelling of the story of Eric

Lomax. 12 Years A Slave, doesn't deserve the plaudits? Is good ten

nominations. Verity was eligible in the British best film category. It

is extraordinary, based on the 19th-century memoir. He was a

carpenter, musician and family man who was kidnapped and sold into

slavery and as the title tells you, it is 12 years of slavery and it is

an extraordinary story from within the belly of the beast. Centrally to

his survival, once Solomon has found himself in this particular and, he

has been given a new name, he is not allowed to have any human rights, he

realises in order to survive you must withdraw -- withhold his rage

and his knowledge from the people who own him. Here is a clip. Eliza,

stopped! Stop! You have let yourself been overcome from sorrow. Have you

stopped crying for your children, will you ever let them go from your

heart? They are as my flesh. Then who is distressed? I upset the

master and mistress? He is a good man. He is a clever. You luxuriate

in his presence. I survived! I will keep myself hardly until freedom is

opportune. You think he does not know that you are more than he

suggests that he does nothing for you, nothing! You're no better than

prized livestock. Lupita Nyongo is fantastic. When

offered this role, he was uncertain whether to take it on but he has

done it bluntly. It is a very controlled performance. We saw him

there in full flight but many of the scenes are wordless. Steve

McQueen's camera lingers on his face. The way in which he physically

hold themselves during the scenes and a lot of people have pointed out

that much of the scene is harrowing, as it ought to be. This

is a film in which we see this extraordinary story of someone

living an ordinary life, kidnapped and found in these barbaric

circumstances and in order to betray that properly, you have to go on a

journey with him and you do have to see some genuinely terrible things.

I think is completed just five. I also think that Steve McQueen has

done a brilliant job of telling the story. In that have some of his

films have been stylish more than narrative. Critics say he has these

distinctive shots, he has this visual style. Here, the most

important thing about this is that it is good, solid storytelling. The

best I have seen in a long time. Amongst those BAFTA nominations,

there was a supporting actress nomination for the Mac. It is

something -- Lupita Nyongo. The film is beautifully captured. Wonderful

use of music. Interesting use of song, the way it is used to help the

narrative. You think, the film is important and is worthy but the key

thing about it is that it is clear storytelling. It is cinema being

used for its highest purpose. To give the viewer an electrifying play

real experience. I predict a clean sweep as far as the awards are

concerned and it deserves it. I suspect the next film, delivery man,

not so many. Vince Vaughn is back which is always something that plays

with a heavy heart. There was a French-Canadian movie about a man

child who discovers his wife is pregnant and he discovers he is the

biological father of over 500 children because he used to be a

sperm donor. 500 of them have joined a lawsuit to find out who his father

is. Is Vince Vaughn busy because we need a feckless man child! I find

him quite an annoying screen presence. He has rained it in a

little in this movie and because it is so close to the original, there

is not so much scope for him to completely mess it up. Very little

is lost in translation. Almost nothing is gained and there still is

the problem in that the guy does heroic speeches about only I have

the right to do fatherhood. I will see worse Vince Vaughn movies, I am

not sure it wanted a remake. It is not as funny as it ought to be. The

railwayman? This is the story of Eric Lomax which has been told

several times before. We meet at the beginning: first, a prisoner of war

who severed terribly. -- Colin Firth. Whilst on a brief -- will be

journey, he has a brief encounter with Nicole is a clip.

I have never been to the Highlands before so finding myself single

again, so to speak, I thought, I would like to see them. So I am

going by train and then I am catching the coach to Inverness and

coming down the other side. What do you think? West Coast is

extraordinarily beautiful, you may fall in love with it. If I were to

fall in love, what then? Instead of a coach to Inverness, you might

change at Oban and from there you can get any number of but trips. It

is very romantic. -- boat trips. Are you romantic? I have to be in

Edinburgh by Wednesday. That is a great answer! Those

sequences work in a very old-fashioned way. Then we see

Jeremy Irving playing the younger version of Eric Lomax. He is very

good and gets the mannerisms of Colin Firth's character down pat but

the strange thing is, the story is a story of suffering and redemption.

The strange thing for me is the story he writes is models. The

junctions between the past and future don't work quite as well as

they ought to. Sometimes he goes into odd little sidings. It is OK,

it is just that considering how clear the real life narrative is, it

is strange to have modelled it is. Colin Firth is on home territory

here. The repressed pain but actually, Jeremy Irving is the

standout star. There are too many strange little narratives here. It

is however a very hard hearted person who would not be moved by the

ending. That is talk about the best one out there in your opinion? There

is a release of beauty and the beast which is part of the British film

industry's Gothic season. It is a terrific piece of work. It is

beautifully rendered and no matter how many times you see it, you

always see something new in it. Special effects are very clever and

inventive and it has an ending very tail charm. -- fairy tale charm. The

best DVD? A little light relief is your next which is a horror movie.

It was one of those movies that if a home invasion movie with a twist. It

is mean-spirited and fast and kinetic and genuinely quite nasty

and I enjoyed it because it grabs you by the throat and doesn't let

go. I'm not sure I would relax on the sober but that! That depends, I

love a really nice nasty horror movie! You will find more film news

and reviews from Mark Kermode on his blog.

As it for this week, goodbye. -- that's it for this week.

Some frosty evening is coming up so the perfect weather to be getting

comfortable on the sofa. If you're heading out onto the roads, bear in

mind, we have some rain moving in across the British