The Lowdown #1
You’ve heard it before but it’s still worth repeating: there are simply too many movies. It’s a good problem to have, but seven days a week and 24 hours a day do not offer enough time to celebrate everything on offer: which is why I am here to help.
Every two weeks, The Lowdown will catch you up on everything worth remembering. I’m talking big trailers, great writing, favourite faces, mad tweets. All in one place so you don’t have to worry about where to find what’s worth talking about.
I can’t make any promises that every fortnight will be quite as lively as this one, but what a way to kick off: I’ve got your Paul Thomas Andersons, your Pirates, your favourite pals Sam Fender and Stephen Graham, and so many more. Let’s jump right in with all the good stuff.
Pirates trailer: Reggie Yates makes an entrance
From airwaves to cinema screens, actor/presenter/DJ extraordinaire Reggie Yates has never stayed away for very long, but is taking us on a major new chapter in his career with his feature debut as a filmmaker, Pirates.
It promises to be “the party of the year” as we follow three friends at the turn of the century trying to make their mark on the world with Pirate radio. Winter days might be coming, but things are only just heating up with this one. November 26, mark your calendar – but maybe keep a day free beforehand too…
London Film Festival: all the stars come to shine
Have I talked about this year’s London Film Festival enough yet? It’s the busiest and brightest fortnight in the film industry in the UK – particularly since the BFI has painstakingly made sure that everyone feels invited across the country with more satellite and remote events than ever – and I was right in the thick of it.
Me going to my silly little film festivals pic.twitter.com/1S6OIH0sWz
— Ella Kemp (@ella_kemp) October 18, 2021
Festival faves include Boiling Point (more on that in a minute), Titane (that’s coming too), Spencer (check in with us in two weeks) and Sundown (Tim Roth gets angry, that’s the review). It’s made us feel grateful for all the wildly weird and talented filmmakers working today, nourished by so much good cinéma, desperate for a little rest after all of it. But first…
Titane: Storyboard gets set on fire
The major event you might have missed on Storyboard in the last two weeks is, without a doubt, Xuanlin Tham’s incendiary feature about Julia Ducournau’s new film Titane. It’s a queer odyssey about metamorphosis, human connection, cyborg affection and so many other slippery and intangible things, and we’re so lucky to have this kind of razor-sharp writing to break it all down.
Spit of You: Sam Fender finds his dad in Stephen Graham
I’ve always been a huge fan of Sam Fender, but couldn’t really believe our luck when he invited Stephen Graham to play his less-than-perfect dad in the video for his new song ‘Spit Of You’.
I mean, it’s not like there would have ever been any doubt that Graham would be the man for the job, but after seeing him brush shoulders with every Scorsese regular and fully break out hearts opposite Jodie Comer in COVID-19 drama Help, this just feels like the final straw. The man can do no wrong. The only option is to stan. Will just have to play this on a loop until we see him again in Boiling Point next month.
Timmy Time: Dune and The French Dispatch hit cinemas
As previously mentioned, we are well aware that there is Too Much Good Cinema. Never more so than right now, since Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson’s tenth feature as director. You could argue that these films have nothing in common – one a sprawling sci-fi epic, the other a very chic very intricate love letter to New Yorker journalists in France in the 20th century – but I am here to tell you that they are wonderfully compatible siblings.
I don’t have time to get into all of this, but quite simply: both star Timothée Chalamet, who is simply on a mission to prove he can and will be in every single major movie released now until the end of forever, and both are pretty dense, pretty elaborate, and pretty pleased about that. And whether you’re a big fan of sand or of beautiful French little sandwiches, I’m sure you’ll find them both very pretty. In cinemas everywhere now.
Licorice Pizza: Paul Thomas Anderson wins the rest of the year
Look, it might have been technically three weeks ago but there was no way I was just going to ignore this one, right? Paul Thomas Anderson has finished shooting his coming-of-ager in the San Fernando Valley, starring Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana Haim (sister of Este and Danielle Haim and member of, well, Haim). Lucky audiences around the world got a glimpse of the trailer on the big screen in select cinemas (we love you Prince Charles London) but it’s finally here in all its glory online.
There’s no specific word on a release date just yet, but hopefully it’ll be this side of Christmas – this, in all its romantic ‘70s glory, is certainly enough to keep us excited until then. Alexa, play ‘Life on Mars’ on repeat until somebody injects this into my veins.
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