Month: February 2025

What I have seen at the Cinema in 2025… so far

Hi Readers,

2025 has been a great year for cinema thus far. I have been to see a wide range of films in just the six weeks since the year began and rather than cherry pick one to review, I thought I would combine them all into this post. I am not including A Complete Unknown as I have already dedicated a post to the music biopic.

I try not to read too much into a film before watching which may be ironic considering where you are reading this but I like to form my own opinions and then sometimes share them here. I have picked films that I have heard good things about; I am interested in the story, cast or general vibe or I liked the trailer/teaser.

I was late to the party watching Queer (2023) starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. I saw it at a small chain in London at a popular cinema for those who enjoy art films. Discussing with a friend afterwards, we both agreed that the beginning was the stronger half and when the plot began to get more abstract, it started to lose us as audience members. Daniel Craig gave a lifetime best performance as William Lee. For me, it was more in tune with his performances pre-James Bond, gathering what I can from reviews but I plan to dive more into his roles in a future post. I saw Drew Starkey in his breakout role as Rafe Cameron in Outer Banks on Netflix and it was a real change of character for his role in Queer. As the younger character, I related to him more and he seemed the more grounded of the two male leads.

Changing the genre to a pacy, suspense film, September 5 (2024), set during the Olympics in Munich where a hostage situation quickly developed in the village. The quick thinking of the ABC crew nearby ensured that this was the first terrorist act broadcast live on television. It gathered more viewers than the moon landing did. I thought that the film fit really well with its time period, 1970s as there were a lot of analogue noises from the old technology such as switchboards, rotary phones and camera film cases.

I liked that the cast were not as well known. There were a few heavy hitters like Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro among the lesser known cast. A standout for me was the actress playing Marianne (Leonie Benesch) as her role in the film developed quickly culminating in going to the scene of the hostage taking when it migrated to the airport. The events of the film are told over a single day and most of the cast spend their time at the television centre so it feels like a bottle episode. This could be as we are focusing on the TV crew but I think could also be because large areas would have to be dressed to look like 1970s Munich and there were already many extras used in the scenes at the village. It really added to the film as it kept you focused on the characters and dialled into the action.

The weakest film of all for me so far was Saturday Night. I went in thinking it would be something else and felt almost disappointed with the result. I think the filming and camera work was done well but the acting and humour could have been stronger and there were sections that didn’t quite hit for me. I have been a huge fan of SNL sketches for a long time and I think I expected the film to be more in that vein rather than a more dramatic take of real events. I thought the ensemble worked well together and Gabriel LaBelle was a good choice for showrunner Lorne Michaels but I think more could have been done with it.

A good new slasher film arrived in the form of Companion. This had a great young rising cast; Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén and Lukas Gage. It was cleverly done but I already knew some information about the plot so it tainted some of the reveals. However, I did not know everything so there were still plot twists. Jack Quaid was the stronger lead for me and I don’t know if this was just the script or the fact that she is playing a submissive robot but I felt that Thatcher’s performance was not as strong. I enjoy a tame thriller so the light gore did not bother me and it was not very graphic in other areas.

I was behind the times on Academy Award nominated, The Apprentice but it certainly did not disappoint. I have to start by saying to enjoy this film you have to separate the character that Sebastian Stan portrays on screen from his real life persona. The trajectory shows a relatively normal guy from Queens who does anything it takes to get ahead in business and life by breaking the law and becoming a monster. I am talking about Donald Trump, who was known for his ruthlessness in the boardroom and courtroom before becoming President of America. Setting aside the real world version of the protagonist, I really enjoyed the pace and setting of the film. It had a cool 1970s New York atmosphere with a lot of cut-throat characters and surprising diverseness in the people Trump chose to surround himself with. Jeremy Strong gave a good performance as Roy Cohen who shapes Donald into the person he became but did not understand the error of his ways until it was too late.

It goes without saying that I am not a fan of Trump or any of his policies/ideas but the character he was portrayed as in the film seemed normal at first with a tolerance for a range of people and a level of dorkiness that one would definitely not associate with him today. By the end of the film, he has morphed both physically and mentally into the person he is now but it was strange seeing him as almost normal. Whether these characteristics were exaggerated to give the plot somewhere to go, I couldn’t say but I believe there was a lot of artistic license used. This however worked to their favour to give you an interesting film.

Since starting this post, I have added a couple more films to my list so perhaps they will be coming in a future post.

Happy Watching,

Robyn

Like a Rolling Stone, Timothée Chalamet brings charisma and charm to A Complete Unknown

Hello Readers,

I am back from my holiday hiatus with a review for a film that has created a lot of buzz this awards season. Timothée Chalamet, the king of the December box office is starring in his first musical biopic as the notoriously private and exceptional musician, Bob Dylan. I have heard that Timothée spent six years perfecting his accent and musical talents to play Dylan and it really showed in the film.

I thought the film had an essence similar to the Bob Dylan we see on screen. There was structure but also some mystery and free-wheeling parts where the audience has to go along with the ride in terms of the story. I am always a fan of plot and dates being used so this pleased me but also I do not mind a different narrative structure.

There was a lot of emotion in the film, in part enhanced by Bob Dylan’s relationship with women. He had one long-standing girlfriend, Sylvie played by Elle Fanning and a number of other dalliances including with singer-songwriter, Joan Baez. He does not have many female figures in his life apart from his relationships. He performed with Joan after their relationship which ends poorly. We see some of his mentor to mentee connection with Pete Seeger and his wife, Toshi but none of his family make an appearance in the film.

One part that was dialled back were his views on ending segregation and fighting for racial equality. We see Sylvie watching him at a protest on television and he plays music with people of many different backgrounds but after reading more about him later, I think this portion of his work was sanitised.

A Complete Unknown (2024) Directed by James Mangold

Before watching the film, I did not know much about the early career of Bob Dylan. Throughout his life, he has been private about certain elements but I was even unaware of many public facts. His music has never been one that my family listened to, leaning more towards Queen, David Bowie and 70s rock bands such as Santana, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. It seemed so outdated for the backlash he received when wanting to try other genres as in the 2020s, many artists move from country to pop to rock with each new album or even in the same one. Look at Taylor Swift who had her start writing country songs on her guitar in Nashville and has just finished a two year tour spanning her entire musical catalogue featuring pop, singer-songwriter, pop rock and many other sub-genres.

These days, Bob Dylan plays to sold-out stadiums filled with fans who love any song he writes and plays but it was a different time in the 1960s when society was at a moment of tension and rebirth. In America, men were being sent to the front line in Vietnam to fight a war they had no stake in whereas black and brown people still could not attend the same schools or even use the same bathroom as white people. It was a time when people started fighting for social change and equality harder than ever before with previous movements such as the Suffragettes only being fought for a small segment of the population and by a small group.

Dylan moves to New York City with little more than a guitar on his back at the young age of 19 to see one of his musical heroes, Woody Guthrie. Upon finding his idol being looked after by Pete Seeger, another famous face in the folk scene, Bob plays his song to them and forms attachments that help project him into stardom. Throughout the film, he becomes more and more famous for his folk songs but yearns to write and perform his own music that is more of a rock nature featuring electric instruments.

Timothée has the perfect nature to play Dylan as you can see his soul through his eyes and Dylan’s quiet persona is a popular trope that Timothée has played many times in films such as Call Me By Your Name, Miss Stevens and Wonka. As Dylan becomes more famous, you can tell the effect it has on him by the strain in his relationships, his wardrobe and his songs. He becomes almost fervent with making music as it is what the record companies and his fans demand of him and the only part of himself that he wants to give.

His up-and-down relationship with fellow folk singer, Joan Baez is a main feature of his early career. Bob can behave in a selfish way in his relationships with women, often coming to them with his problems but reluctant to offer the same in return. Joan fell under his spell, hearing him sing at a small underground bar and despite his current relationship with Sylvie, Bob falls for her too. They are billed to America as the folk prince and princess but after Bob refuses to sing Joan’s song on stage with her, a rift is opened between them.

Sylvie is a young woman that Bob met at church and studies in the city. Bob ends up living with her but during a trip away, his attention goes elsewhere. Sylvie moves on, determined not to be the girl who trails around after a rising star but always has space for him when he drops by including going to the Newport Folk Festival with him, the very same place that she realised Bob was now lost to Baez.

After Dylan’s relationships with Joan and Sylvie, we see him make more male connections, starting to play and record with a band including someone he met at a bar shortly before being punched in the face. He also has male role models in Pete and Johnny Cash to whom he writes often and plays with in Newport.

I think that this film was produced well and while some elements such as protesting for equality were toned down, I think it gave the audience an overview of who Bob Dylan was in the early 1960s before his long-lasting career. We never learn anything about his family or backstory other than his real name is Robert Zimmerman and he lived in the Mid-West. He tells Sylvie stories about living with a travelling circus but she is always skeptical of this. He has one scrapbook of his childhood that is shown briefly but Sylvie chooses to take Bob at his word and not delve too deeply into his past.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and seeing it in a boutique cinema added a class and atmosphere to the film that wouldn’t have happened watching it on a standard screen. I would be interested in watching the film again just to absorb the world that was created and see the talent of the cast. The film has been nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globes and other awards this season and I think it is deserving but there is a lot of competition and other films with more obvious social commentary or diversity may have more of a shot.

I give it 5/5.

Happy Watching,

Robyn