Loving, Gold, Toni Erdmann The Film Review

in particular Chelsea v Arsenal in the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow.

Now though on BBC News, it's time for The Film Review.

Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.

To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.

Well, we are in awards season. We have Loving, and Oscar-nominated

drama. We have Gold starring Matthew McConnell may, and Toni Erdmann,

with a two and three quarters hour German comedy. I look forward to

hearing what you say about that. Loving is a true story about a

couple who helped to change America. It is about the pregnant bride of

Richard Loving. The couple get married in Washington, DC because

there is less paperwork. They come back only to be arrested, imprisoned

and forced to leave the state, which does not agree with their marriage.

You are not allowed to be married. They have to move away. They write a

letter to Bobby Kennedy. Despite the fact they are very private people

and the film is a keen to point out how much they wanted to keep

themselves to themselves. They find themselves in the middle of a battle

which is going from court to court and apparently all the way to the

Supreme Court. Here is a clip. You goo to the Virginia

State Court next, right? The lawyers told us

not to expect much. We may lose the small battles

but when the big war. What really love about this film is

it is basically a love story between these two people, ordinary people

finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. They did not want to

be part of this huge nationwide case. What the director does is he

resists any form of grandstanding. As the story goes on, this is a

really important case. It will have a significant effect. It keeps us

focused on them and their relationship. The opportunities for

grandstanding, in the courtroom, banging tables, there are so many.

He does not do that he keeps his focus on them the central couple. He

keeps it small scale. As the larger machinations happen when you stay

focused on the central couple and their relationship. You believe in

them, care in them -- about them and invest in them. The story tells a

much wider message but does not feel the need to waive the measure. There

is a scene in which they hold hands. He talks about his dream for

building the home and think it was very well played very well made and

admirably understated. That is a rarity nowadays. Let's move on to

Gold. Not understated. It has been compared to Waltz Of Wall Street.

You have basically done the review. Matthew plays a central character

who runs a mining company. They strike gold. The next thing you know

champagne corks are popping. This can only end one way. There are

particularly to referred to Wolf of particularly to referred to Wolf of

Wall Street. It does not seem to Wall Street. It does not seem to

put on a lot of weight and lost a put on a lot of weight and lost a

lot of hair. He looks bedraggled. That is not enough for the film. You

need to be involved in the character and not thinking I have seen this

done before and better elsewhere. I did spend a lot of it thinking, this

is a showcase for that performance. That is not enough to build a film

on. You keep expecting it to kick in and engage your sympathies, it never

does. It has all the potential but, in the end it, it is just a bit...

And I confess, a little bit boring. He was in Dallas Buyers Club.

Originally the script was pitched as Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. In its

dreams. Let's move on to Toni Erdmann and the German comedy.

Convince us. The star is absolutely brilliant. A career woman with a

soul crushing job of working for a consultancy firm, an oil company for

that she is on business in Bucharest. She is very distant from

her father. He turns up on her doorstep to give her a present. She

humours him and sympathises with him about the death of the dog. He does

not leave. He puts on a wig and false teeth and turns up as Toni

Erdmann at business meetings, insisting to her colleagues that he

is a life coach, a businessman, an ambassador. Whatever he is he is an

embarrassment to her. Here is the clip.

You can see from that it is a very painful form of comedy. You think

about a vintage episode of The Office or Abigail ??Nospace 'S

Party. It is a warning about globalisation and a warning about

60s hippy idealism and 21st-century cynicism. It is an entrenched comedy

about an estrangement between father about an estrangement between father

and daughter. Doing so in a way that is inappropriate and really awkward.

At times you laugh, at times you want to cry. At times he wants to

bury your face in your jumper. One scene involves a rendition of the

song, The Greatest Love Of All. It was written and directed by someone

who does the job of getting exactly the right moment. She is superbly

aided by these great performances. You sit there marvelling at the

changes of tone, the way in which it is melancholic and poignant for the

bid is awkward and painful but also funny and cruel and yet tender and

loving. Nothing you would expect from when you hear the description

of it. It is nearly three-hour comedy about a bloke with a wig and

false teeth annoying his daughter. It is a really fine piece of work.

Not for everybody but I just loved it. Sold. Thank you very much. Let's

go to best out and Trainspotting. There was talk about how

Trainspotting had become an institution and they had a lot to

live up to with the sequel. I think they have done it brilliantly put it

catches up with the characters 20 years later. As a middle-aged

malaise to it. It is very well directed. A very good script by John

Hodge. The lovely thing about the film is coming it seems to be

designed for people who grew up with Trainspotting. I don't know what it

would be like had he not seem Trainspotting first time around. Is

it one for the kids? What do I know about teenagers. I am 78. How do you

not seen the first one it would not make any sense. Why would you not

want to have not seen the first one? Test DVD. De Palma. What is

interesting is he is the sole interview. He is accused of being a

misogynist, ripping off Hitchcock. He is a terrific speaker. He is very

irascible. People say I rip of Hitchcock but I am the only drifter

who properly ripped off Hitchcock. It is a really interesting piece of

work, made with great authority. No one knows Brian De Palma's work

better than him. Whatever you think about his films, it is a really

interesting time in his company with someone who, for better or worse, is

very singular and has cut their own path regardless of what anyone else

has said. He is not a household name to many people. I think he is not a

name that is recognisable. People like Stephen Spielberg and Stanley

Kubrick. He has an extraordinary career. He has made massive movies

and they have gone to DVD. A quick reminder before we go that

you'll find more film news and reviews from across the BBC

online at bbc.co.uk/film. And you can catch up

with our previous programmes Evening. Not nice at them at the

moment with the wind and the rain. The combination making things quite