13/06/2014 The Film Review

That is all the sport, now it is time for the film review. Hall hello

and welcome to the film review on BBC News. To take us through the

cinema releases, Mark Kermode. What we have? We have Belle, which the

critics have been raving about. We have Devils not, the new film from

Atom Egoyan, every creation of a real life crime. And we have The

Young and Prodigious TS Spivet, a title that does not trip off the

tongue, from Jean`Pierre Jeunet. Belle, the critics loved it?

Directed by Amma Asante, who has done a terrific job. The film is a

mixture of fact and fiction about a character who grew up in Kenwood

house. She was the daughter of a naval captain and an African woman,

taken under the care of her uncle, who happened to be Lord Chief

Justice. Lord Mansfield. She grew up in Kenwood house and that was a

famous painting of her and her half cousin. The painting is remarkable

because they appear to be on an equal social status. The writer and

director have looked at this painting and have delved back in

time and examined her life. Very little was known about her although

we know a lot about Lord Mansfield and what was going on at the time,

with the abolitionist movement was strong at the end of the slave

trade. And they have created a fictional story around the bare

bones of that. About this woman's extraordinary circumstance,

imagining what life must have been like, trying to find a place in a

society very much like a character in a Jane Austen novel but with a

great historical twist. Here is a clip. We are to finally come out?

Elizabeth is to come out. Dido is not. Why? You understand the ways of

the world for a female, Dido? Elizabeth has no income. You are to

meet as many gentlemen as possible before we make the match. When all

this has gone to her father, there will be nothing left for her. And

me? Any gentleman of good breeding would be unlikely to form a serious

attachment to Dido and a man without would lower her position in society.

But she is not merely my cousin, she is my sister. These are the keys of

the house. Cannot attend London without her. They have hung to your

aunt's waste for the last few years. I am not an unwonted made. Lady Mary

is too old to continue in charge of the house. You may pick up your

duties on your return. I will need you to keep each other out of

trouble. Class and race. A rising star there,

with a terrific performance as Dido. And Tom Wilkinson as Lord Mansfield.

And what it manages to do is to say OK, let's take an important story

about class and race and gender and let's dress it up like a costume

drama. Let's treat it as a Jane Austen narrative, about social

position and the choice of a husband, is it possible to marry

under these circumstances, and let's wed it together with social

history. And I'd think it does it marvellously. Some critics have been

sniffy and have said that it is a little bit saccharine. I'd disagree

entirely. I was swept away and a lot of the characters. I thought the

performances were traffic in the direction was precise. The director

has managed to say, I want to address the widest possible audience

and I want this to play to a mainstream audience. I want this to

work for the people who would enjoy Denton `` Downton Abbey. I want to

give them are subversive story without it appearing so. I'd think

it is a terrific piece. I will like the characters and it was vibrant

and lively. I cried on more than one occasion. I think it is one of the

highest purposes of cinema, to move you to tears. What was interesting

was like a moat of the screening and another critic said, I think I have

something in my eye and a third critic said, it was just like a

costume drama. Just a costume drama? What does that mean two it means

that people will like it. Not a bad idea for a director. It is an

enjoyable and well played movie and really intelligent. Devils not is

based on quite a notorious case from 20 years ago. A celebrated case

about which there have already been four documentaries and several

books. It is a terrible, terrible murder case. Three young boys were

murdered in 1993 and subsequently their work convictions of three

people caught up in what looked like a witchhunt about Satanism. This

film follows the aftermath of the crime, in which there is a court

case and it is apparent that the police's job has not been done

properly. Leeds have not been followed up and witnesses have not

been properly questioned. People have confessed and then retracted

confessions. The film is intelligently rectify at Omega Ryan,

has addressed at this difficult subject matter before. ``

intelligently directed by Atom Egoyan. But do not know what it

brings to the subject that the documentaries did not. The

documentary brought to our attention what an appalling case it was. I do

not know what the dramatisation brings to it. The case is so well

known and has been the subject of such public interest, and people

have delved into it so far. In the end, the film says we don't know

what happened but let's look at the aftermath. Fine, but the

documentaries did this better. Gugu Mbatha`Raw, the new film by

John PL Jenny `` ?Devil Knot, the new film by Jean`Pierre Jeunet. The

title character is a young boy who lives with his mother and father, a

cowboy. He is about to invent a perpetual motion machine and the

Colts to Washington. It is OK, it is a fantasy. That would be quite a big

deal! It is not meant to be real. Here is a clip.

The human had life `` is head lice beyond... When you're drunk legs,

make sure to observe not just how many there are but the exact

distance between them. The exact distance between them. Beware of

mediocrity, the fungus of the mind. We must constantly fight against it.

Dina! It got away. Here, Nicola Su to catch him. `` make a last Su. He

turns everything that is beyond his mental grasp into one big joke. This

is described as a 3D adventure. You know how I'd feel about 3D. One of

my few exceptions, Hugo, the Martin Scorsese film, which was about the

workings of clocks and automatons, this is very similar. The use the

same stereo prefer. As with so much of Jean`Pierre Jeunet's staff, he

made one of the Alien films and Amelie. It is a thumb about

mechanics in which diagrams flow at the screen and you are being asked

to look at the workings of any particular situation. The 3D works

well because, as with Hugo, it does not attempt to draw you into the

picture so much as remind you that what you are doing is watching a

mechanical invention. It is like opening up a Swiss watch and looking

at the workings. It is not particularly profound. I love the

colour palette. I thought it was well cast and the young star is

really to refer it. But the real star of the film is Jean`Pierre

Jeunet's I for the study of B. What he has done, remember those few

masters? He had one when he was eight and he took it apart. This is

basically a grown man who has an 8`year`old used to take them apart,

doing it on a big screen with a kind of fantastical children's story

about a kid who invents a perpetual motion machine. I kind of liked it.

It is flimsy, in an entertaining way. And a great cast. Helena Bonham

Carter. She has not been banned in anything for a very long time. We

have talked about Jimmy is hole before but it is terrific. If you

have not seen it, Ken Loach's latest. He has had some spats with

critics lately where he said he thought the critics should be placed

by real people but you cannot argue with Jimmy Saul. It is a great film

about a great place in Ireland, a crew `` a free space. It has singing

and dancing and you like the characters. It is fun! Grief! It is

funny that people portray Ken Loach's movies as publicity is but

it is lively and vibrant. And it is good fun with a serious point. The

invisible woman, a lot of people might have missed it when it was in

the cinema. It is a film with a historical back`up, about Charles

Dickens. It is about his relationship with his mistress. And

I think what liked about it once it is very underplayed, a film of tiny

gestures and tiny movements. At no point does it feel the need to be

brash or military mattock. It sees significance in the smallest

gestures. Very well played and well directed. And again, an interesting

story about what it means to be someone's mistress, in a society in

which you do not have marital privileges. It does have a solid

underpinning but in the end, it is a human drama about people that you

come to care about. And also, Dickens' life story is a great

story. The secret mistress, there was that wonderful book on which

this is based. It has taken liberties with what we know but it

is very believable. Everyone plays a very believably. And I love the

direction is so restrained. It does not overstate anything. And Ray

finds is a fine director as well as an actor. `` Ralph Fiennes. A quick

reminder that you will find more film news and reviews from Mark on

his BBC blog. That is it from us for this week. Thank you for watching

and goodbye. Good evening. The weekend is almost

upon us. And it has been sunny and warm in the South recently. Is it

going to last? Do not think so. It will turn cooler but it is not a

write off by any means. A lot of dry weather in spite of a fair bit of

cloud. You can see the cloud across the North but also you can see that

it is making progress southwards. Turning lumpy across the