February film and TV

 Film

Grand Theft Hamlet   I have never played a video game properly but I do love Hamlet and the idea of a mashup grabbed me.  This film is ridiculous and often had me laughing out loud, but it is somehow beautiful and even moving in places.  During lockdown, actors Sam and Mark had been playing Grand Theft Auto and came up with the idea of staging Hamlet within the GTA world.  The result of the 16th century smashed into the 21st century virtual world is full of shocking violence but also great intelligence, wit and charm.  The film documents the process using only footage from the game; they hold auditions, rehearse and then finally run a live performance.  Moments of sublime beauty play out, whilst in the background, (or sometimes in the foreground) people are shot, or fight, or crash a blimp or a car.  In the same way as Staged seemed sometimes to capture something profound in amongst the messiness and stupidity of humanity, this does a similar thing. Silly, strange but also wonderous too. (streaming on Mubi)

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person Sweet, funny and original take on a vampire story.  Sasha needs blood to survive but has PTSD and doesn't want to kill humans, to the frustration of her family who just want her to live like a normal vampire. Luckily along comes Paul who doesn’t want to live and is happy to volunteer, but has some dying wishes to complete.   Stylish comedy-slash-coming of age-slash-romance complete with a meet cute, I really enjoyed this. (Streaming on Mubi)

Matt and Mara  Mara is a writer and lecturer, married to a musician and with a young child. Matt is a free spirited writer friend from the past. They reconnect over their shared interest in writing and the question is whether this is, or should be, something more than a friendship? Gentle but intense and deliberately understated, we see the careful dance that plays out between them as they test out what this is. What does Matt really want? What about the love she has for her husband and child? No overwrought dramatics here, we just watch this play out with deliberate understated realism.  Great performances from the central cast, who manage to catch all of the ambiguities and subtleties of what is going on between the protagonists, often without a word being spoken. You have to pay attention to this one but it’s worth it. As a side dish, it’s also quite funny about pretentions vs reality in academia. (Streaming on Mubi)

September 5  The story of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics from the perspective of the ABC sports live broadcast crew who provided the footage that,according to the little fact check at the end, was seen by 900 million people, more than watched the moon landings.  Given what is currently going on in the Middle East it was slightly odd to see how context free they tried to make this, and instead they framed it in terms of the leftover viewpoints from WW2, which to be fair were still live and kicking from what I remember of my childhood in the seventies.  The main theme was how to decide what to show, the editorial decisions that get made with little information or time, and what impact that has not only perceptions but also on the real world in a strange sort of feedback loop.  As this was the first of its kind they were making it up as they went along as non-news specialists although they were at least trying to apply basic journalistic standards to a new situation.  Not earth shattering but certainly interesting in a ‘post truth’ time where most people are getting their news from sources which have no governance or standards to apply, and verifiable nonsense is published and ‘debated’ anyway. (At the cinema)

Television 

Big Boys This semi-autobiographical story from Jack Rooke, following his university years has come to a satisfying close.  I had watched season 1 and thought it was great but hadn’t got around to more.  So, I binged season 2 and 3 over a weekend.  What fabulous writing to mix comedy and proper heartfelt tragedy side by side.  The episode in the hospital takes us to both grief and joy in a way that somehow doesn’t jar at all.  Some of the comedy is just sitcom staple, but even then it is forgiven because of the real heart which underpins it all.  The real Jack Rooke as narrator really hits home in the final series as we start to hit the tougher reality which was always there in this memoir from his own life.  And the final episode had me properly blubbing.  So beautifully done, honouring real life while turning into fiction. Just wonderful.  No notes. (Streaming on C4)

Prime Target Leo Woodall and Sidse Babette Knudsen (of Borgen fame) with Quintessa Swindell in a nonsense but exciting plot, involving geeky mathematicians, archeology, cyberspying and lots of probably dodgy mathematical formulas being written up on whiteboards.  The central plot revolves around the fact that prime numbers and their unpredictability are the basis for all cybersecurity, so when a mathematician finds a way to predict them, the nature of all world digital security is put in jeopardy.  The main point of this plot though is to give us lots of opportunity for intrigue and running around in great locations, and it is done with style.  At the moment of writing the series still isn't finished, although I predict a way will be found to avoid cyber-apocalypse.  This is fun (streaming on AppleTV+)

Miss Austen Good quality period drama built around the rumours about the Austen sisters and Jane Austen’s letters that were destroyed by Cassandra after Jane's death. The first twist is that the main Miss Austen here is Cassandra, rather than her more famous sister, although in flashbacks we get lots of Jane too.  Well put together but (whispers) maybe a bit predictable? (Streaming on iplayer)

Day Zero It has Robert de Niro leading, and that's enough to capture my interest to start.  De Niro does film a lot of crap too though, so it's always a bit of a risk. This though is enjoyable hokum with the usual Black woman President in charge, something that instantly tells us they are not going for realism here!  Another little treat is Dan Stevens as a conspiracy theorist broadcaster.  The premise is a cyber attack in the US and de Niro is a retired President called back to investigate and find the bad guys. Cue political and family intrigue, but actually some great proper acting from de Niro as a man who may or may not be starting to develop dementia. (Streaming on Netflix)