:00:00. > :00:00.will look forward to the Grand Prix, and the NFL's LA Rams and New York
:00:00. > :00:10.Giants meet at Twickenham. That is all to come on Sportsday.
:00:11. > :00:19.But now on BBC News it is time for The Film Review.
:00:20. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.
:00:23. > :00:24.To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.
:00:25. > :00:29.So, Mark, what do we have this week?
:00:30. > :00:33.We have I, Daniel Blake, which as you know is the new film by Ken
:00:34. > :00:42.Loach which I know you have seen before. Ouija: Origin of Evil, does
:00:43. > :00:47.what it says on the packet. And Queen of Katwe, a very interesting
:00:48. > :00:53.family film. Like they just do not make any more. Who are you talking
:00:54. > :00:58.to? Spirit, can you hear me? I will lay my cards on the table. I think
:00:59. > :01:04.Loach is a genius. Yes, I think he has proved once again he is an
:01:05. > :01:10.incomparable talent. The Wind That Shakes The Barley in 2006. This one
:01:11. > :01:14.star is a 15 a new joiner who has had a heart attack at work, played
:01:15. > :01:19.by Johns, who is told he cannot go back to work by his doctor. At the
:01:20. > :01:23.start of the film see him taking a questionnaire asking if he can walk,
:01:24. > :01:28.move his arm to hold something in his top pocket, and he then scored
:01:29. > :01:31.12 points which means he is not eligible for employment but to get
:01:32. > :01:35.his Jobseeker's Allowance he has to slip in his CV around town, looking
:01:36. > :01:40.for jobs that do not exist and which he cannot take any way because his
:01:41. > :01:45.doctor has told him he cannot work. He cannot manage computers, so he
:01:46. > :01:49.gives up, and he sees single mother, played by Hayley Squires, who has
:01:50. > :01:53.been homeless for two years, giving a home hundreds of miles from anyone
:01:54. > :01:57.she knows and as a result she turns up late and is not being treated,
:01:58. > :02:02.shall we say, compassionately? Here is a clip from the film. I tried to
:02:03. > :02:07.explain to the woman, I have never been to Newcastle before. We just
:02:08. > :02:11.moved up from London, I don't know where I am going. The boss went the
:02:12. > :02:17.wrong way. She just doesn't want to know. What I want you to do is
:02:18. > :02:21.listen carefully. The lady has told you what is right. There are rules
:02:22. > :02:27.here we have to stick to. It is not against you... You have a duty to be
:02:28. > :02:33.here on time. And I am explaining why I wasn't here on time. I got
:02:34. > :02:36.lost. I understand but what I gather is the decision maker will send you
:02:37. > :02:41.a letter through the post. You will have to wait for that... I have
:02:42. > :02:43.about 12 times in my purse all because you cannot down come and
:02:44. > :02:49.listen to people when they talk. Your role -- about 12 quid in my
:02:50. > :02:55.purse. If I was going to create a scene you would know about it. This
:02:56. > :02:59.is ridiculous. Jesus Christ, who is first in this queue? Do you mind if
:03:00. > :03:04.this young lass signs on first? There you go, go back to your desk,
:03:05. > :03:10.let her sign on and do the job the taxpayer pays you for. He is the
:03:11. > :03:16.decision maker! Yes, that phrase, it is terrifying. This is brilliantly
:03:17. > :03:20.written by Paul Laverty, one of my favourite screenwriters. Ken Loach
:03:21. > :03:23.said this is partly about the deliberate use of bureaucratic
:03:24. > :03:28.inefficiency as a political weapon, to basically punish people and stop
:03:29. > :03:31.them from claiming benefits by making things ridiculous. On the one
:03:32. > :03:35.hand it is a very angry film about people at the sharp end of
:03:36. > :03:40.austerity, however it is also and this is overlooked a film which
:03:41. > :03:44.celebrates unbreakable bonds between people at the sharp end. What
:03:45. > :03:52.happens is Daniel Blake takes her under his wing, he is a carpenter,
:03:53. > :03:55.starts to do up her flat, is impressed that she wants to go back
:03:56. > :03:57.to the open University to make something of herself. I think the
:03:58. > :04:01.film is a brilliant balancing act of Kent opposing that compassion with
:04:02. > :04:04.the lack of compassion of the system which demands somebody fills out a
:04:05. > :04:09.form online when they do not have any idea how to use a computer. He
:04:10. > :04:12.has never seen a mouse and when someone says Ron the cursor up the
:04:13. > :04:16.screen, he literally runs at up the side of the screen. It works on a
:04:17. > :04:20.personal level. I have seen it a couple of times now. There is one
:04:21. > :04:27.scene in a food bank which is one of the most profoundly moving things I
:04:28. > :04:30.have ever seen on screen. The great thing about Loach and Paul Laverty
:04:31. > :04:36.together, because they are a great double act, is the find a way of
:04:37. > :04:40.humanising people on the margins of society which goes right back to
:04:41. > :04:45.Cathy Come Home and so on, which makes people who may not be
:04:46. > :04:49.sympathetic, sympathetic. It lets you see the world through their
:04:50. > :04:56.eyes. As I said, the thing that sometimes gets overlooked, it is a
:04:57. > :05:00.kind of absurdist tragic situation, like Kafka, but the bond between
:05:01. > :05:04.them and the way that contrasts with the faithlessness of the situation
:05:05. > :05:09.they are dealing with. You're right. It is a personal story, like all of
:05:10. > :05:13.Loach's stuff, but it is also very political. You come out feeling
:05:14. > :05:18.enraged but saddened. It is also very human. The performances are
:05:19. > :05:22.terrific and you believe in the characters. I think it is a really
:05:23. > :05:27.important film. Any decision makers in Ouija: Origin of Evil? If there
:05:28. > :05:32.are, they are on the other side. A step up from its predecessor. Period
:05:33. > :05:40.setting, 1960s. The story is there is a woman two kids, running a fake
:05:41. > :05:43.seance session, and she is surprised when she gets double-mac Ouija board
:05:44. > :05:51.and is surprised that her daughter is speaking to spirits -- gets a
:05:52. > :05:54.Ouija board. The funny thing about it is although it was digitally
:05:55. > :06:01.projected when I saw it, it has these blemishes built in. Making it
:06:02. > :06:03.look like an old film, this kind of nostalgic retro thing going, which
:06:04. > :06:07.is quite charming and seems to behave quite well in the first half
:06:08. > :06:14.of the film. It loses its nerve in the second half, turning into all
:06:15. > :06:19.that silliness from Poltergeist, Exercised numerically, and also a
:06:20. > :06:26.film called Screamers which nobody remembers any more, I think it owes
:06:27. > :06:33.a debt to that -- Exercised numerically. I wished it could stay
:06:34. > :06:40.that drama from the beginning. You heard the shrieks of enjoyment
:06:41. > :06:44.watching it. The moral is, if you are interested, don't mess around
:06:45. > :06:48.with the spirits. Do not mess around with Ouija board under any
:06:49. > :06:56.circumstance! And Ouija: Origin of Evil? Yes, Phiona Mutesi who grew up
:06:57. > :07:01.in an impoverished area of Kampala was discovered to have a great skill
:07:02. > :07:05.at chess. David Oyelowo things are and thinks this is fantastic and
:07:06. > :07:14.wants to take her away the competition is about which she is
:07:15. > :07:25.very worried. He was a clip. -- away to competitions. Never tip your king
:07:26. > :07:30.so quick. Why not? When you're going to be beaten anyway? Focus on what
:07:31. > :07:38.you have. I do not think you come from here. When I was a child my
:07:39. > :07:42.mother left me. In that moment, I wanted to die. But it was a good
:07:43. > :07:48.thing I did not take my life then, otherwise I would not have seen my
:07:49. > :07:54.daughter, I would not have met them or due. Me?
:07:55. > :08:06.Do not be quick to take your king, Phiona? You must never surrender. A
:08:07. > :08:10.Disney film in mainstream cinemas. Telling a story perhaps you may
:08:11. > :08:14.never have seen before and it does that thing old family films used to
:08:15. > :08:19.do, suitable for everyone, PG rated movie. I think the whole family can
:08:20. > :08:21.get something out of it. Really uplifting, a true story which
:08:22. > :08:26.apparently sticks pretty close to the original story. It has a real
:08:27. > :08:30.sense of location. You feel they are with those characters. It is clearly
:08:31. > :08:35.made with passion, very well directed by Mira Nair who made
:08:36. > :08:38.Salaam Bombay!. I went in with very little expectations and did not know
:08:39. > :08:45.much about the story. And when everyone mentions chess on film, you
:08:46. > :08:49.think... Yes, I can imagine. There have been a few good chess movies
:08:50. > :08:54.but it is a harder sell. This was really vibrant, engaging, and as I
:08:55. > :09:01.said, it is that rarest of things, a family film. From Rocky the Slum Dog
:09:02. > :09:06.Millionaire, will of the underdog. Someone who does really well. Any
:09:07. > :09:10.story of aspiration, very cinematic, but also very easy to make that
:09:11. > :09:18.stuff cheesy, and the real clemency is it is not cheesy but really
:09:19. > :09:27.moving. Your best is American Honey? Yes, her best work I think since Red
:09:28. > :09:31.Road. She is 18, on the road, shot in the old square Academy ratio, and
:09:32. > :09:36.it is the most perfect use of that ratio. It is long, two hours and 40
:09:37. > :09:39.minutes, and I tend to be really picky about long films but it did
:09:40. > :09:49.not feel wrong to me. I think it is a really engaging film. -- did not
:09:50. > :09:53.feel long to me. She makes a certain type of film I think nobody else can
:09:54. > :10:02.make. A fine piece of work. And you were the world's biggest fan of this
:10:03. > :10:06.DVD, Notes On Blindness. Had he seen it? It is based on the audio tape
:10:07. > :10:14.diaries of his compassionate account of losing his sight. -- have you
:10:15. > :10:18.seen it? No. It also develops this kind of soundscape world. I think it
:10:19. > :10:22.is genuinely spiritual, I think it has transcended quality to it. On
:10:23. > :10:27.the one hand it is a love story. On the other, it is a real sort of
:10:28. > :10:30.voyage of exploration, and the greatest compliment to give it is
:10:31. > :10:35.that I cannot think of another film that does what it does in the way it
:10:36. > :10:45.does it. Again, if it is not on my list of top ten films at the end of
:10:46. > :10:47.the year I would very surprised. And he is theologian having to deal
:10:48. > :10:51.with, why does God do this? Why have I gone blind? Yes, and he raises
:10:52. > :10:54.that sort of question and the conclusion he comes to... There are
:10:55. > :11:01.moments of genuine revelation and you hear this on the audio tape. It
:11:02. > :11:07.is superb, Gavin. Believe me. OK, I have to do it. So much good stuff
:11:08. > :11:14.out. Yes, and the weather is getting cold saw a good time to get DVDs!
:11:15. > :11:18.You can see all of The Film Review online including all of our previous
:11:19. > :11:22.shows. That is it from The Film Review and Mark Kermode. Enjoy the
:11:23. > :11:31.movies. Thanks for watching. Goodbye.