0:00:00 > 0:00:02this hour. Thank you to you both. Coming up next, the Film Review.
0:00:19 > 0:00:25Hello and welcome to the Film Review on BBC News.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27To take us through this week's cinema releases,
0:00:27 > 0:00:28as ever, Mark Kermode.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29Hello, Mark.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30What have you been watching?
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Very interesting, we have The Disaster Artist,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35which is the story of the making of the best worst movie ever.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Happy End, the new film by Michael Haneke.
0:00:40 > 0:00:47And Wonder, a very touching drama starring Jacob Tremblay.
0:00:47 > 0:00:48The Disaster Artist.
0:00:48 > 0:00:49Yes.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Even watching the trailer as many times as I have now,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54even the trailer, you're sitting there like this.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Have you seen The Room?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is part of my question, you need to explain all this.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Basically, it's the dramatised retelling of the making of The Room
0:01:02 > 0:01:04which Tommy Wiseau made in 2003.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08It's a film that was so bad that it spawned a whole cult following.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11People go along to join in the screenings, much in sort
0:01:11 > 0:01:12of Rocky Horror Show style.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Tommy Wiseau basically wrote, directed, and starred in it
0:01:14 > 0:01:15and financed it.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Now we have James Franco, who plays Tommy in the film,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22directing and producing this film based on a book by Greg Sestero,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26who was a co-star in The Room, who is now played by
0:01:26 > 0:01:28James Franco's brother, Dave.
0:01:28 > 0:01:29We're keeping up.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30You're keeping up so far?
0:01:30 > 0:01:31We're keeping up.
0:01:31 > 0:01:31OK.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35So essentially, Greg is a model and an actor and we first meet him
0:01:35 > 0:01:38in a theatre studies thing - he's doing a terrible version
0:01:38 > 0:01:41of waiting for Godot - and then suddenly, Tommy comes up
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and takes one word from a Streetcar Named Desire,
0:01:43 > 0:01:44"Stella!"
0:01:44 > 0:01:45And does this writhing piece.
0:01:45 > 0:01:46Greg is completely entranced.
0:01:46 > 0:01:47He said, "This is amazing.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50You've got so much talent, you're so uninhibited,
0:01:50 > 0:01:51how do you do it?"
0:01:51 > 0:01:53And Tommy says, "Well, I just believe in myself."
0:01:54 > 0:01:57And together, they go to Los Angeles and they decide they'll make it
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and become stars but Hollywood rejects them, and so Tommy,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04who appears to have A, no fixed age, B, no fixed accent and C,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06untold wealth, no-one knows where he comes from,
0:02:06 > 0:02:07writes his own movie.
0:02:07 > 0:02:14Here's a clip.
0:02:14 > 0:02:15The Room.
0:02:15 > 0:02:16The Room.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Nobody writes it yet.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21So today, you will be the first one.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24I can't believe it, man, you did this.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26And, of course, you play Mark.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29You want me to play Mark?
0:02:29 > 0:02:30It's a big role.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31Second lead.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32Yeah, it's a huge role.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33Are you sure?
0:02:33 > 0:02:37If you don't want to do it, fine, I'm having Johnny Depp available.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41No, no, I want it, I want the role, I'll take it.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44It's like you say, Hollywood rejects us, then we do it on our own.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47And you have the money to make this?
0:02:47 > 0:02:48I have, it's no problem.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53You're really going to make this thing?
0:02:53 > 0:02:56No, Greg, we are going to make it.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59Mark has just laughed about 20 times during that clip.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01I've seen that film twice and both times...
0:03:01 > 0:03:05But here's the key to it - firstly the fact that Tommy's such
0:03:05 > 0:03:06a strange character.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09He says he's from New Orleans and his accent sounds like he's
0:03:09 > 0:03:10from outer space.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13But what I like about it, there's a film made by Tim Burton
0:03:13 > 0:03:17called Ed Wood about Edward D Wood Jr, who made Plan 9
0:03:17 > 0:03:20from Outer Space, which was previously thought of as the worst
0:03:20 > 0:03:20film ever made.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24And the reason that film worked was you didn't just think Ed
0:03:24 > 0:03:27was a terrible film-maker, you thought he was a visionary -
0:03:27 > 0:03:29you believed in the film even though it was terrible.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Now, in the case of this, Tommy appears to actually believe
0:03:33 > 0:03:35that the film he's making is a Tennessee Williams-level drama
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and he really thinks that he's making some incredible piece of art,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and the reason The Disaster Artist works is yes, the film-making
0:03:41 > 0:03:45is terrible, yes, the endless takes of the same lines and the awful
0:03:45 > 0:03:48script and the bad acting and the awful direction that's
0:03:48 > 0:03:51in The Room, yes, all those things are there, but it only works
0:03:51 > 0:03:54because you also believe that beyond it, there is something
0:03:54 > 0:03:57of pathos, there is something of tragedy, there is something
0:03:57 > 0:03:59of the dream about Tommy that makes him acceptable.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01We see him behaving appallingly on set.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The film doesn't shy away from the fact that on set he did
0:04:05 > 0:04:06behave, you know, really, really badly.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Do you need to have seen The Room to get the joke?
0:04:09 > 0:04:11I don't think so because I think...
0:04:11 > 0:04:15I mean, for a start, you see The Room, it makes no sense
0:04:15 > 0:04:18anyway and when you see the individual scenes that they're
0:04:18 > 0:04:20recreating, I mean, it makes sense because you understand
0:04:20 > 0:04:21that basically Tommy...
0:04:21 > 0:04:24At one point Seth Rogen, who is playing the script
0:04:24 > 0:04:27supervisor, says it's not to do with whether he's made a movie,
0:04:27 > 0:04:28has he even seen a movie?
0:04:28 > 0:04:31He genuinely has no idea how to do this.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32I thought it was really funny.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36I thought it was dark when it needed to be dark.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I thought it had a strange sort of dreaming charm about it but,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42in the end, it's a story of triumph over adversity,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44by making something that's so catastrophically terrible that it
0:04:44 > 0:04:45ends up getting celebrated.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49And it made me laugh twice all the way through.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50OK.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Well, I'm intrigued.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55You done that for me, I'm definitely intrigued.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Happy End - is that an ironic title?
0:04:58 > 0:04:59It's a Michael Haneke film.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01It's the closest he'll get to making a farce.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04This is a Michael Haneke film about a bourgeois family who,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07behind the facade, there are foul lurking secrets and the cast
0:05:08 > 0:05:09includes Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and Toby Jones - our very own Toby Jones.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15As with all Haneke's work, it's engrossing, it's creepy,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18it's unsettling, but there's also a very strange sense of deja vu.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22There's a thing early on with video phone footage that reminds me
0:05:22 > 0:05:25of Benny's Video, a very early film of Haneke's.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28There's some other stuff which has got surveillance-type footage
0:05:28 > 0:05:30which makes you think of Cache, of Hidden.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33There's also a strange kind of left-turn referral back to Amour
0:05:33 > 0:05:36and the weird thing about all those films I've just cited,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38when we first saw them they were startling,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40they were original, they were surprisingly.
0:05:40 > 0:05:40This isn't.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44It's well-made...
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Haneke knows how to get brilliant performances out of actors,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50he knows how to make something feel creepy and strange without quite
0:05:50 > 0:05:51telling you what it is.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54But it did feel like we were retreading old ground.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57I think he's a great film-maker but this is that weird thing.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58To me this felt like...
0:05:58 > 0:06:01And I never thought I'd use it, an incidental Haneke film.
0:06:01 > 0:06:07It just felt like, "OK, there we go, that's the new Haneke film."
0:06:07 > 0:06:08That's it, that's it.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10And we'll move on.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11And it lacked that element...
0:06:11 > 0:06:14I remember when I saw Amour, just thinking, "I can't believe
0:06:14 > 0:06:17he just made that movie because it's just so breathtaking"
0:06:17 > 0:06:17and this isn't.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Wonder - what did you make of this?
0:06:21 > 0:06:22I've read such divided things about this.
0:06:22 > 0:06:23Have you?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26I haven't read other reviews so I'll tell you up front,
0:06:26 > 0:06:27I liked it.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29It's adapted from RJ Palacio's novel by Stephen Chbosky,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32who's best known for Perks of Being a Wallflower.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Story is Jacob Tremblay is a young kid, Augie,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37who is really interested in science, really interested in space,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and has spent most of his childhood being home schooled because he's had
0:06:41 > 0:06:44a series of facial operations as a result of a rare genetic
0:06:44 > 0:06:48condition.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Now, as he becomes a fifth grader, he's going to school for the first
0:06:51 > 0:06:54time, so it's a thing about going to school,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57which is difficult enough, also made more difficult by the fact
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Augie understands that he is different to the people
0:06:59 > 0:07:02with whom he's going to have to interact, and it's about,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04at the beginning, that journey.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Here's a clip.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Now, I gotta stop here because past this point is a no-dads zone
0:07:13 > 0:07:15and you don't want to walk up with your parents
0:07:16 > 0:07:17because it's not cool.
0:07:17 > 0:07:17But you're cool.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22I know I am, but technically most dads aren't, so...
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Neither are these helmets.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Hey, two rules - First, only raise your hand once in class,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32no matter how many answers you know, except for science -
0:07:32 > 0:07:36crush them all.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Check.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Second, you're going to feel like you're all alone,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Augie, but you're not.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Check.
0:07:46 > 0:07:47Shall we lose this?
0:07:47 > 0:07:48Come on.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Costumes are for Halloween.
0:07:50 > 0:08:01Prepare for blast-off.
0:08:01 > 0:08:02I love you.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03I love you, too.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Have fun.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Bye.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10So Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts and of course, Jacob Tremblay.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14You can see from that, lots of laughs in that clip and it's
0:08:14 > 0:08:16also something that tugs at the heartstrings.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18It's also more complicated than it looks like.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22At the beginning, you think you're going to see from his point of view
0:08:22 > 0:08:24but actually what happens is the narrative fractures
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and you see the story from lots of different characters'
0:08:27 > 0:08:28point of view.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31From the point of view of his sister, who feels that she's
0:08:31 > 0:08:33been neglected because all her parents' attention have gone
0:08:33 > 0:08:34to her brother.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37You see the sister's friend, who is no longer a friend,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39and you find out her backstory.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Even boys in the film are given context for their bullying.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45So I thought for a start it's a much more complex narrative than people
0:08:46 > 0:08:49have perhaps given it credit for - it has perhaps a kaleidoscopic
0:08:49 > 0:08:49structure.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53The other thing is the film made me laugh and the film made me cry,
0:08:53 > 0:08:59and those are difficult things to do.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02People take them very much for granted and think it's very
0:09:02 > 0:09:03easy to do.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06It's not easy and it works because the performances are good,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10the script is well honed, and it felt like to me a film
0:09:10 > 0:09:13that was made with heart, with care, by people who were telling this
0:09:13 > 0:09:16story and they really cared about the way the story was...
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Yes, there is sentimentality in it but I think it is sentimentality
0:09:19 > 0:09:20that it turns.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I mean, I cried a lot, I laughed a lot, I was really
0:09:24 > 0:09:26engaged with the story, and I went in slightly suspicious
0:09:26 > 0:09:29because I'd seen the trailer, which was a little bit...
0:09:29 > 0:09:33You didn't know quite which way it was going to go but I thought
0:09:33 > 0:09:35it was a pretty terrific piece of work.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And Jacob Tremblay, he's a really, really talented young actor
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and I thought that the director handled it with exactly the right
0:09:41 > 0:09:42degree of schmaltz and seriousness.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44I laughed, I cried, it worked.
0:09:44 > 0:09:44OK.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45Best out this week?
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Battle of the Sexes.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49This came out last week and this is the fictionalised
0:09:49 > 0:09:51or the dramatised story of the tennis match
0:09:52 > 0:09:53between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56It became called the Battle of the Sexes.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58There was a documentary about this almost exactly the same
0:09:58 > 0:09:59name in 2013.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Again, going in to see the drama, the documentary was so great,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04will they be able to capture that spirit?
0:10:05 > 0:10:06And they do, they really, really do.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09Emma Stone is great as Billie Jean King.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Steve Carell absolutely inhabits this clown,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15you know, male chauvinist buffoon role of Bobby Riggs.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19The texture of the film is great - it feels like a film that was made
0:10:19 > 0:10:20in the 1970s.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23It's got an important LGBT story at the centre of it,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25it's got political relevance, it's very, very personal.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26Again, it's funny.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28It is a comedic drama and it's all true.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32The weird thing is you're looking at it and you think,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"They must be making this stuff up" and then you see the documentary
0:10:35 > 0:10:36and it's absolutely true.
0:10:36 > 0:10:37Yes, fantastic.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Quick thought about DVDs for anyone who wants to stay in?
0:10:40 > 0:10:43My Feral Heart came out last week - we weren't on last week -
0:10:44 > 0:10:46but this is a really, really great indie pic.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49One of my favourites of the year, directed by Jane Gull.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Steven Brandon is a young man trying to find his place in the world.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56It's a film that did brilliantly with the Our Screen programme
0:10:56 > 0:10:58in which people put on screenings in their own cinemas.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00It really found its audience.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02It was a film with a very, very low-budget.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Again made with an enormous amount of heart and it is terrific.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09It's called My Feral Heart and I defy anyone not to be won
0:11:09 > 0:11:10over by it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:10Excellent.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12I am looking forward to that one.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13Thank you very much, Mark.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14Thank you.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15A really interesting week.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16Thank you.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Just a reminder, of course you can find all film news and reviews
0:11:19 > 0:11:20from across the BBC online.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And all our previous programmes are on the iPlayer
0:11:23 > 0:11:24as well of course.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25And that is it for this week.