0:00:00 > 0:00:00Manchester City on Sunday, all coming up in Six Nations Sportsday
0:00:00 > 0:00:04at 6:30pm on BBC News with meat Olly Foster but now it is time for The
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Film Review.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33What have you been watching? Interesting week, we have Finding
0:00:33 > 0:00:40Your Feet, which I think is a British drama comedy. We have I time
0:00:40 > 0:00:45you with an astonishing performance by Margot Robbie who also produces.
0:00:45 > 0:00:52-- -ite Tonia. And the River, a new film by Banyard.Finding Your Feet,
0:00:52 > 0:00:58even the poster looks like it quintessential British gathering --
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Dark River.The poster doesn't do a daughter favours, it's aimed at the
0:01:01 > 0:01:05same audience that did best exotic marigold hotel, a huge hit. The
0:01:05 > 0:01:09story begins with Imelda Staunton as Lady Sandra Abbott on the eve of her
0:01:09 > 0:01:13retirement. She has her refinement planned out, she leads a very posh
0:01:13 > 0:01:16life and discovers suddenly that her husband has been having an affair.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21Here is a clip.
0:01:39 > 0:01:40What the hell's going on?
0:01:40 > 0:01:41We were just...
0:01:41 > 0:01:43It's not what it looks like, Sandra.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44Sandra.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Sandra.
0:01:45 > 0:01:46Sandra!
0:01:46 > 0:01:47Sandra, wait.
0:01:47 > 0:01:48Get off me.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49How long's it's been going on?
0:01:49 > 0:01:50Let's not do this here.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51How long, Mike?
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Since we all went to Sorrento.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Oh, bloody hell.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55That's nearly five years ago!
0:01:55 > 0:01:58I've had enough of all this hide and seek, Mike.
0:01:58 > 0:01:59How could you do this to me?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01You're supposed to be my friend.
0:02:01 > 0:02:02We even took you to the palace.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I didn't mean for this to happen, Sandra.
0:02:04 > 0:02:05Oh, really?
0:02:05 > 0:02:07You knew precisely what you are doing!
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Now, please calm down, Sandra.
0:02:08 > 0:02:09Remember where you are.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12I know exactly where I am, in my own bloody home!
0:02:12 > 0:02:14I have spent my entire married life putting you
0:02:14 > 0:02:17and your career first, and what got me through was knowing
0:02:17 > 0:02:19that when you retired we would share our golden
0:02:19 > 0:02:20years together.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24But instead, you've traded me in for a newer model.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26And let me tell you, Mike.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28She's had more than one previous owner.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32And all her bodywork is mainly filler!
0:02:32 > 0:02:37You laughed at least twice. Exactly, because it's funny. She walks out
0:02:37 > 0:02:42and goes to stay with her sister with whom she is like chalk and
0:02:42 > 0:02:45cheese and her sister basically tells her, this life you have been
0:02:45 > 0:02:48leading is an artificial life and you have to learn to enjoy things
0:02:48 > 0:02:52more, she goes swimming in the Hampstead pond and ghost dance
0:02:52 > 0:02:55lessons where she meets characters like Joanna Lumley and a character
0:02:55 > 0:03:01called Charlie named Timothy Spall. Ends, Finding Your Feet. Yuna from
0:03:01 > 0:03:04the outset that that character is going to soften and discover more to
0:03:04 > 0:03:07life than material possessions and the dream of her husband's
0:03:07 > 0:03:11retirement. You know from the outset when she meets Timothy Spall and she
0:03:11 > 0:03:14finds him abrasive and difficult she will warm to him and you know from
0:03:14 > 0:03:18the outset amongst the comedy there will be tragedy and tears amongst
0:03:18 > 0:03:23laughs. The question is how well this all plays out. I have to say
0:03:23 > 0:03:26rather better-than-expected. It was charming and funny, not least
0:03:26 > 0:03:29because it's a great cast. They are throwing themselves into it and
0:03:29 > 0:03:34having a very good time. It is well directed by Richard Flanagan. No
0:03:34 > 0:03:40cliche goes unturned. It owes a certain structural debt to Nativity,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44the Debbie is it film, and in fact, funnily enough, it would've made
0:03:44 > 0:03:47more sense to release this in the run-up to Christmas because there is
0:03:47 > 0:03:53slight Christmas theme to it so it is odd coming out now. Despite your
0:03:53 > 0:03:56reservations about the poster which I understand I thought it was funny
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and charming and unlike the performances and my heart went with
0:03:59 > 0:04:03it enough that when my head kept going hang on, my heart went just
0:04:03 > 0:04:12let it be and I did and I enjoyed it.All right. OK.You have seen I
0:04:12 > 0:04:18Tonia as well.Margot Robbie stars and also produces.She was
0:04:18 > 0:04:22implicated in an attack and her career fell apart. It's been
0:04:22 > 0:04:25nominated for awards. The film takes the structure of telling
0:04:25 > 0:04:28contradictory stories. Based on the totally true and utterly
0:04:28 > 0:04:31contradictory testimonies of its central characters and during the
0:04:31 > 0:04:34narrative we see each of the central characters talking to the audience
0:04:34 > 0:04:37either through fake interviews or breaking the fourth wall, turning to
0:04:37 > 0:04:42the audience and going, this didn't happen. But essentially it is a
0:04:42 > 0:04:46story of somebody who has come through and abusive background. She
0:04:46 > 0:04:50was beaten by her husband. She was also attacked by her mother although
0:04:50 > 0:04:55the mother who is an award winner Allison Janney, says for heaven's
0:04:55 > 0:04:59sake, show me a family that don't have their ups and downs. It manages
0:04:59 > 0:05:02to balance, in my opinion, the serious subject matter of domestic
0:05:02 > 0:05:05abuse, which it is about, with also being filmed playing with post
0:05:05 > 0:05:10modern conventions in a way that reminded me of the film 24-hour
0:05:10 > 0:05:13party people in which characters will turn up and this didn't happen.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17It's a film about a story being told from lots of different perspectives
0:05:17 > 0:05:21with a brilliant central performance.I found it hugely
0:05:21 > 0:05:25watchable, I'm not going to lie, and the story is fascinating. It was
0:05:25 > 0:05:29that thing of turning to the camera and being very jokey about something
0:05:29 > 0:05:32precisely at the moment when they are talking about domestic abuse and
0:05:32 > 0:05:35he has just punched her. She marries the first man who comes along and he
0:05:35 > 0:05:39beats her up for years. Unfortunately that is not a subject
0:05:39 > 0:05:43for comedy.Her mother says to her at one point, you think you deserve
0:05:43 > 0:05:49to be beaten and she said I would never be with a man who beat me and
0:05:49 > 0:05:54she says you beat up dad and she says that's different. There is a
0:05:54 > 0:05:57scene when Tonya Harding had a shotgun and she says this never
0:05:57 > 0:06:00happened. The triumph is it deals with the serious issues were also
0:06:00 > 0:06:05being entertaining and funny and sharp. Essentially it gives you a
0:06:05 > 0:06:08kaleidoscopic portrait and says, you decide. Everyone watching it would
0:06:08 > 0:06:12come out with the same opinion that she is a survivor. Whatever else you
0:06:12 > 0:06:17think she is a survivor.Absolutely and Allison Janney is a genius, that
0:06:17 > 0:06:21is the other thing you would come out saying.She eats that role for
0:06:21 > 0:06:27breakfast.She is just fantastic. The Shape of Water. Wonderful..
0:06:27 > 0:06:36River. -- Dark River. Easily confused. It deals with abuse and if
0:06:36 > 0:06:42different way. Ruth Wilson plays a character who returns to the tenant
0:06:42 > 0:06:46farm on which she grew up, she's been away 15 years and her abusive
0:06:46 > 0:06:50father has died and she comes back to the farm which she feels she has
0:06:50 > 0:06:54a right to take on the tenancy. Her brother, however, is there
0:06:54 > 0:07:05disagrees. Here is a clip.
0:07:11 > 0:07:12I'm here now.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13What good is that?
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Really, I mean it's too late now, isn't it?
0:07:16 > 0:07:17He's gone.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18I've been driving all night...
0:07:18 > 0:07:19Where's she gone?
0:07:19 > 0:07:21I've got to get my head down.
0:07:21 > 0:07:22I can't do this now.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23She broke her leg.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24She needs culling.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Well, I'm not giving it mine.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Well, you'd better get up there, hadn't you?
0:07:29 > 0:07:38I haven't seen you for 15 years.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47I'll wait with her.
0:07:49 > 0:07:55Now, I am a huge fan of Clio Barnard, it takes its title from a
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Ted Hughes poem and has a surface similarity to the levelling, and yet
0:07:59 > 0:08:05it is absolutely Barnard's film. It's about the way that trauma
0:08:05 > 0:08:08affects people's memories, about the way trauma affects people's
0:08:08 > 0:08:12perceptions and it's about people living with the ghost of an abusive
0:08:12 > 0:08:15past. It's very powerful not least because the performances are very
0:08:15 > 0:08:18good which is something you expect from Clio Barnard and also because
0:08:18 > 0:08:23it is a film located very much in the landscape, like The Levelling
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Centres Like It Has The Feeling Of Buried Family Secrets Coming Up From
0:08:27 > 0:08:32The Ground. It Is Very Atmospheric. Although The Subject Matter Is Very
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Dark, The Tone Is Totally An Exploitative, It Feels Like A Film
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Which Wants To Understand The Psychology Of Its Characters, It Is
0:08:40 > 0:08:44A Very Sympathetic Film And Takes This Complicated Situation Apart. I
0:08:44 > 0:08:48Saw It Twice, First On A Small Screen A Second Time Projected And I
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Have To Say It Is A Film You Have To See In The Cinema Because So Much Of
0:08:51 > 0:08:56It Is To Do With The Immersive atmosphere of it. This is not a film
0:08:56 > 0:08:59you want to wait until it comes out on DVD, you want to see it in the
0:08:59 > 0:09:03cinema, it is a cinematic experience and she is a really brilliant
0:09:03 > 0:09:06film-maker and I thought it was a very powerful piece dealing with
0:09:06 > 0:09:10difficult subject matter but dealing with it very intelligently.I can't
0:09:10 > 0:09:15wait and I love The Levelling and God's Own Country. There is a whole
0:09:15 > 0:09:19theme going on.The message seems to be not to be a farmer can because it
0:09:19 > 0:09:23will be really tough. The Shape of Water. This is my favourite film in
0:09:23 > 0:09:28the cinema at the moment. I love this film, Guillermo del Toro's Best
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Film since pans Labyrinth, and I think pans Labyrinth is the Best
0:09:31 > 0:09:36Film of the 21st century so far. The Shape of Water is on one level the
0:09:36 > 0:09:40creature of the Black Lagoon meets Splash, which sounds like it should
0:09:40 > 0:09:44work, and yet it does.There is something magical about it.Super
0:09:44 > 0:09:49performance by Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones brilliant as the creature, and
0:09:49 > 0:09:52the thing Guillermo del Toro always does is he has this great love of
0:09:52 > 0:09:57what other people think of as monsters. The real monster in this
0:09:57 > 0:10:03film is in the amphibious man, it's a very human character, set against
0:10:03 > 0:10:06the backdrop of cold War paranoia and the space race, there are
0:10:06 > 0:10:09moments when it bursts into song and there is a song and dance routines
0:10:09 > 0:10:13suddenly in the middle of this. I just loved it, it made me laugh, it
0:10:13 > 0:10:18made me cry, I thought it was beautiful. I think Guillermo del
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Toro is a modern-day Orson Welles and I love this film to pieces.And
0:10:22 > 0:10:26to look at as well it is stunning. You should see it on a big screen
0:10:26 > 0:10:30because it is such a treat visually. How amazing that you could take a
0:10:30 > 0:10:34story that is apparently so bizarre and strange, and yet give it such
0:10:34 > 0:10:38mainstream appeal. It is a film that will work for pretty much everyone
0:10:38 > 0:10:43because it's a fairy tale but also grounded in a strange reality. Sally
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Hawkins's performance is wonderful. Terratec. Curious but fabulous. --
0:10:48 > 0:10:58terrific.I will accept that.I liked your choice of DVD.The Party.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01The party from hell, it has a political backdrop, a group of
0:11:01 > 0:11:06people together where this political thing is happening and they have
0:11:06 > 0:11:10secrets that suddenly get revealed. What I love about it, it is a Sally
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Potter film, black and white, stripped to the bone, it is 71
0:11:14 > 0:11:19minutes long, there isn't an ounce of fat on it but it is sharp, the
0:11:19 > 0:11:22dialogue is very acerbic. Timothy Spall who is in Finding Your Feet
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and terrific in all most everything. It has a real brittle humour to it.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29I thought at the beginning I would find it a bit insular and
0:11:29 > 0:11:33claustrophobic because it's pretty much in one location. But it really
0:11:33 > 0:11:37made me laugh. I thought it found its darkly comic tone.Yes, it is a
0:11:37 > 0:11:45good watch. It is like a play for today.And so brief, literally,
0:11:45 > 0:11:485-star running time.Thank you, Mark. It is a cracking week. A
0:11:48 > 0:11:52reminder that before you go you will find the film News and reviews on
0:11:52 > 0:11:56the BBC online and all of our previous programmes are on the
0:11:56 > 0:12:02iPlayer of course. It's a great week. Enjoy your cinema going. Bye
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Bayer.