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The More You Ignore Me (2018)
Really Disappointing.
I love Jo Brand. No one can make me laugh as much. A few years ago she wrote a comedy set in the NHS called Getting On. It detailed the interaction between the staff and patients on a geriatric ward. It was shown quite late on BBC4 and it never received the recognition that it deserved. The funniest episode had to be when a memory stick containing photographs of many different examples of vaginal atrophy was mixed up with photographs for the hospital's Christmas Card competition. Brand's written some great autobiographies as well as her latest book Born Lippy: a sort of life guide for those who like their advice with plenty of wit and satire. One of the funniest jokes is, 'Just brought my husband home from hospital where he had to have fifteen stitches removed. That'll teach him to buy me a sewing kit for Christmas!'
I was really looking forward to this film. In her early life, Jo Brand worked as a psychiatric nurse and this film is evidently based on her dealings with people who had bipolar or manic depression, as it used to be known. Her experiences working in the NHS are detailed in her first autobiography, with plenty of Jo's unique self-deprecating comedy and pathos. No one does comedy as well as Jo Brand but the main issue with this film was that there was very little comedy.
The story itself has no similarities with Brand's own upbringing, which by all accounts was pretty nice and middle class. The film tells the story of a girl named Alice and her relationship with a mother who has severe mental health issues. The film claims that it tells the story of Gina, played by Sheridan Smith, who is unable to be a good wife and mother because of her declining mental health. I failed to see that the mother had ever attempted to be either of these because she seemed so self-absorbed and incapable of thinking of anyone else but herself. Sheridan Smith is usually a great actress but for some reason in this film, she descends into ham-acting. It probably doesn't help that she is forced to wear a wig that seems to be moving more than she does. She plays this part like an amateur in a church hall attempting to play drunk rather than suffering from mental illness. Most of her attacks descend into farce rather than the terrifying nature of psychosis and mania.
I hardly ever mention this, but I grew up with a parent, who for a variety of reasons, had a lot of mental health issues. When you are a child, you tend to normalise everything. I thought for years that everybody's mother hid in the wardrobe crying and had little pill bottles with cotton wool in the top. As difficult as my parent could be, it wasn't always that way. There were intense moments of happiness and I did believe that I was loved. In this film, all we ever see are the moments of anger, rage and lack of inhibition or the times when Gina is so drugged up and spaced out that she can barely notice anyone or communicate. That is why you simply can not believe that the characters are a strong family unit. In this way the film seems very one-dimensional. Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that the teenage Alice seeks solace with her boyfriend Mark, as well as developing a crush on Morrissey. The Morrissey link appears as though it has been tagged along just for the element of nostalgia. The plot seems to go in a direction that seems neither credible nor realistic.
There is no doubt that Ella Hunt who plays Alice is a fine actress and had she been given more of a chance to interact in a positive way with her Mum, then we might have understood her frustrations more. Without giving away any spoilers, I found the ending incredibly rushed and I just couldn't see it happening.Jo Brand has a brief cameo role in the film as a local shopkeeper. Again she is let down by a very overbearing wig which is far too distracting and more akin to something Joan Collins might have worn in Dynasty.
This is not the worst film I have seen recently, but as my Dad always says, 'I'm glad I didn't pay to see that at the cinema.' Jo Brand is a great comedian and her one liners are the best. Sadly, this film didn't feature either and that was its downfall.
Two stars: For trying to tackle a difficult subject.
Frank (2014)
Frank But Not As We Know Him
Frank is a 2014 film directed by Lenny Abrahamson, produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee and written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. Starring Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, and François Civil. Frank is a story told through the eyes of Jon, a young keyboard player, portrayed by the affable Domhnall Gleeson, who becomes immersed in the world of a papier-mâché-headed musician Frank - Michael Fassbender - and a supporting cast of equally weird band members: Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays Clara, the quirky and highly temperamental Theremin player, as well as Don, Baraque and Nana. The film is very loosely based on Jon Ronson's own experience of playing keyboard in Frank Sidebottom's Cor Blimey Big Band. I say loosely based; I expected this film to be a biography of Sidebottom. I should have known better. For these that are uninitiated, he was the creation of former one-hit wonder, Chris Sievey (1955-2010), an aspiring pop star who had enjoyed brief success in the 70s as part of the band The Freshies and their catchy hit 'I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk'. In essence, 'Frank' was a quasi-cartoon character with a giant papier mâché head, who was still living with his Mum and staying with his Auntie at the seaside in Blackpool at the age of thirty-five. A larger than life creation, half-tormented and half-supported by cardboard characters, Frank would sing cover versions of songs on a plinkety-plonk Bontempi keyboard. The main lyrics would always be changed to accommodate his home town of Timperley, such as Bruce Springsteen's Born in Timperley; the Kinks's Timperley Sunset and Eddie Cochran's Timperley Blues. Frank's use of song lyrics was one of a kind. Only he could think of rhyming visa with pepperoni pizza and lama with Bananarama. Act I of Frank follows the band to an isolated cabin in Ireland as they prepare to record their debut album. Spurred on by a tiny whiff of success, they are then invited to a music festival to perform in Austin, Texas. The plot appears simplistic, in that the central character goes on a journey of discovery over who Frank is, but the themes explored in the film are anything but. Jon the character and Jon Ronson are both obsessed with the change which occurs when Frank puts the head on and assumes the character of 'Frank'. For much of the film we only see Frank with his head on. This leads to some great comic moments such as seeing Frank shower with a plastic bag on his head, Frank describing his facial expressions out loud and Frank boxing and being interviewed at the South by Southwest Music Festival. Chris Sievey was ahead of his time. He predated the ethics of Punk by starting his own label in 1974 and he produced the first ever multi-media single in 1983 by incorporating a ZX Spectrum game. We see this in the film, when he devises his own system of music notation and pushes the boundaries over what can be used as an instrument.
The one anecdote in the film, which does have a grain of truth, is how Ronson ended up playing in Frank's band. Sidebottom was booked to play at London Poly and his usual keyboard player was indisposed. He asked Ronson, the ENTS officer, if he knew how to play the chords, C, D, E, to which Ronson replied that yes, he did. So began his long and somewhat surreal stint in Frank's band. I met Jon Ronson many times in the late eighties when my mate used to stalk his band, The Man from Del Monte. A gentle soul with a kind of ethereal quality about him, he always struck me as being one of life's great thinkers, something that is evident throughout the film. The idea had come from his frustration that the genius behind Frank Sidebottom seemed to delight in producing childlike nonsense. Whenever the chance came along for real fame and exposure, Chris Sievey would self-destruct. One such example is when Frank was asked to support the band Bros in 1989 and ended up being booed off stage as no one understood the irony of his music. Ronson remained mystified by this and wanted to write a film based on the premise that there are some people who are just too 'fantastically strange' to make it in the mainstream. He wanted to touch upon elements from other performers such as Captain Beefheart and Daniel Johnston. Ronson must have known that a straight-forward biopic would have run the risk that the audience simply would not 'get' Frank Sidebottom and his childlike simplicity. This was the reason that Frank's television career bombed, as for some inexplicable reason, his humour did not translate to the small screen. Furthermore, Ronson felt aggrieved that Frank had nurtured so much genuine talent of artists such as Mark Radcliffe, Chris Evans and Caroline Aherne. These people had risen to the stratospheres of success, whilst Frank Sidebottom remained very much rooted in the mediocre; doing small gigs and pub pop quizzes. This film proved more of a chance for Ronson to vocalise his frustrations out loud rather than a straight forward biopic. He had discussed the idea with Chris Sievey prior to his premature death in 2010 and received his blessing. I spent a considerable time during my student days, following Frank Sidebottom around the Northern circuit. I was one of the few, who met him once without his head on, when he was Chris Sievey. "You're Frank Sidebottom" I teased him, "I can tell it's you by the voice and the mannerisms." "Frank Sidebottom?" He questioned. "Who's he? I know nothing about a Frank Sidebottom. I'm Chris. I'm just here with my mates." He then proceeded to delight in playing this charade for a good twenty minutes, blurring the lines of reality, that Frank was a real person. His parting shot to me had been to tell me to try and stand at the front of the hall by the stage. It was one of the best nights of my life, as Frank sang Fireball XL5 to me. My mate and I also once bumped into him in a chip shop on the Wirral before a gig, when he was Frank Sidebottom. He'd gone in the chippy to buy some chips, still with the head on and stood chatting away to us as though it was the most normal thing in the world to wear a giant head - and attempt to eat a bag of chips! It was the pretence that Chris loved most about being Frank and it is this element that Ronson brings in repeatedly throughout the film. The insightful, first-person voiceover allows the
audience to wonder with Jon, 'What goes on inside that head...?' Similarly, one starts to contemplate if Frank is different without his head and what has prompted him to mask his true persona? Perhaps it is only in wearing a mask that one can truly express oneself: thus, in deception lies the truth? For Chris Sievey, it was all part of the game of being Frank Sidebottom and the comedy of maintaining the charade. Yet in the film, these questions are only answered in the light of mental illness and such details are presented as irrelevant to the fact that these characters are also outsiders to society. That is what makes a true genius: being an outsider and dealing with the underlying difficulties this presents. To me, this film is more Jon Ronson than Frank Sidebottom. It is Jon Ronson's gift to Chris Sievey. Frank's view of life was childlike. Much of that is lost in the film because its need to incorporate elements of mental health issues. I wanted more of the simplicity, of humour that Frank encapsulated; the jokes about Queen's Freddie Mer-curie, the ending of every song with, 'You know it is, it really is.", his wicked put-downs to his puppet nemesis Little Frank, the puns on language and the obsession with being in 'showbusiness' but it just wasn't there. At times the film appeared far too serious to be linked to Frank Sidebottom. I almost wanted the real Frank to enter the stage and declare in one of his well-used catch-phrases, "Can't we have a few laughs? Have a bit of light-heartedness." Therefore, when judged from the point of view of a Frank Sidebottom fan, sadly, it doesn't work. Yet, judging from the point of view of a film lover, it is a gentle and at times poignant and thoughtful movie. It could have become quite farcical or slapstick, but the director, Lenny Abrahamson is experienced in blending comedy and pathos and turns the film more into a modern fairy-tale or fable, in a way that recalls Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, and even to an extent in its treatment of outsiders, Truffaut's Antoinelle Doinel films or Guillermo del Toro's, The Shape of Water. I didn't come out of seeing this movie laughing out loud in the way that I used to laugh during and after a Frank Sidebottom gig. I came out feeling moved by the story and understanding more the reasons why Chris Sievey never gained the acclaim that he richly deserved in his all too brief a lifetime. If this film makes more people discover the unadulterated joy that was Frank Sidebottom's comedy then so much the better. A documentary, 'Being Frank - the Chris Sievey Story' has recently been shown at the BFI London Film Festival and a Manchester premier is scheduled for next year. These two films should be shown side by side as a tribute to Frank Sidebottom because they enable us to understand the man and his creation more and as Frank himself would have concluded, "You know they do. They really do.
The Happy Prince (2018)
A Poignant And Important Lesson From History
I've always loved the actor Rupert Everett. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde is also one of my favourite children's books. I knew that this film was not about the story of The Happy Prince but instead was about the last days of Oscar Wilde. Rupert Everett has directed, as well as starred as Wilde in this film and it has been very much a labour of love for him, as he is a great admirer of the playwright and author.
This film recalls in various flash backs, the days when Oscar Wilde was released from prison, after serving two years hard labour for the crime of gross indecency with men. It shows how Oscar spiralled into a hellish life of alcoholism, drug dependency and poverty, as he went into exile in France and Italy. The tale shows us how disgustingly men were rejected and treated as social outcasts for no other reason than their sexuality. Oscar Wilde was a great wit and much of his work exhibits his belief in aestheticism; the theory of beauty in art and literature over social-economic or political values. Literature had to be beautiful and provide sensuous pleasure rather than moralistic messages. Even today, Wilde's wit is admired for its sublime intelligence and uniqueness. Anyone typing in Oscar Wilde quotes to Google, will be met with a plethora of well-cited examples such as "Women are made to be loved, not understood." And the great, "We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars."
I have seen Oscar Wilde portrayed in films and television series and frequently actors portray him as something of a larger than life caricature of himself, who seems to be one-dimensional and continually spout out one-liners and speak in clichés. Fortunately, this is not the case with Everett's portrayal. Oscar Wilde the performer, is rarely on screen. Everett's portrayal makes much of the kindness and gentleness of Wilde, and his love for his children. Wilde is shown in parallel to the Happy Prince, once magnificent and feted, and now tarnished by social injustice and rejection. When Wilde is released from prison, Everett shows the full extent of the impact on him by his physical appearance. He is now irretrievably damaged and appears bloated and aged beyond his forty-five years. He moves from one prison to another, when he is forced to live in exile on the Continent. Supported by only a handful of loyal friends, he manages to ostracise them further when he restarts his destructive relationship with the petulant Bosie, who caused his incarceration in the first place.
As a gay man, Everett could have made much of the sheer injustice of what happened to Wilde at a time when homosexuality was perceived as a perversion against God and religion, and in all honesty, Everett would have been justified. However, Everett prefers to show rather than tell, and this is one of the strengths of the movie. We see such scenes as Wilde's treatment in prison and his transference from one prison to another when he is ridiculed like an exhibit at a fair. We see Expats jeering and provoking him in France. It is uncomfortable viewing, but it needs to be seen.
This movie is intelligent and poignant. Everett was born to play and direct this role and he is nothing less than magnificent. I challenge anyone not to be moved by this film. As I was watching this, I was reminded of my childhood and my father making me watch The Naked Civil Servant in the mid-seventies. A retelling of the early life of Quentin Crisp with John Hurt in the title role. At the end of the play, my father asked me what I thought about it. I was only about eight but even then. I felt strongly that it was wrong to discriminate against someone who just wanted to live their life in the way that they chose. No one has a right to judge anyone else. At the end of The Happy Prince, we are told that along with Alan Turing, in 2017, Oscar Wilde received a formal pardon for his 'crime'. I think that it's the family of Oscar Wilde who should be doing the pardoning for how Wilde was treated. As a society we should hang our heads in shame, ashamed at how such a gifted, creative genius was tortured into an early grave.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
FEARLESS REALLY DOES LIVE FOREVER!
I don't think I have ever been to the cinema to see a film where the entire audience stands and applauds at the end. In fact it's been an age since I went to the cinema and didn't look at my watch once. But this is exactly what happened when I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody last week. It was a fast roller coaster ride with loud hair, loud personalities and loud music a-plenty. Like Queen, it was tongue-in-cheek and at times comedic, occasionally the characters appeared like Freddie's teeth, to be larger than life. But one thing it never did was disappoint. This was the best film I have seen in a long time.
Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of the genesis of the band Queen and culminates in their monumental performance at Live Aid in 1985. This film has been beset with problems and has taken over ten years to produce. The lead role of Freddie was originally cast with Sacha Baron Cohen until artistic differences with the remaining Queen members, Brian May and Roger Taylor, led them to recast Ben Whilshaw before finally settling on Rami Malek, known for playing Elliott in the American network show, Mr Robot. It was first directed by Bryan Singer, who was eventually sacked and replaced with the brilliant Dexter Fletcher. The remaining members of Queen didn't want the film to be simply a Freddie Mercury biopic. However, Freddie Mercury was such a natural front man with a talent for showing off and performing, that it is impossible not to set him centre stage. One would have thought that with such problems the film would lack cohesion This is definitely not the case as the movie's continuity is fast-paced and much like a fairground ride, there is no time to stop and pause or get off.
The film sets as it frame, Queen's performance at Live Aid. It begins with Freddie Mercury nervously warming up as he waits to appear on one of the largest Worldwide stages ever. We then return to the seventies where we see the emergence of Freddie from Farrokh Bulsara, the poet and dreamer-son of Persian immigrants who is little more than a baggage handler at Heathrow, where he is the target of racism. There is the typical 'my family doesn't understand me' scene where his father sees him as a disappointment before we see Freddie joining Brian May and Roger Taylor in the band Smile and forming a relationship with the beautiful, Biba-bedecked Mary Austin. Freddie appears to be the ambitious one, pushing the band to make an album and break free from their mediocre performances in pubs and students unions.
As the band finally settles on its identity of Queen, we see the group horrified by the idea of lip-synching on Top of The Pops with 'Killer Queen' and watch their slow rise to success with an early tour of America. Their fame begins to grow, and we see brief glimpses of Freddie's battle with his sexuality. As much as he adores Mary, he feels strongly attracted to the thrill of casual homosexual encounters. He writes,' Love of my Life' for Mary and their relationship is far deeper than any definition. It transcends sex and shows that despite his fondness for picking up men, Freddie had an overwhelming need to love and be loved. When he becomes famous, Freddie still keeps Mary near to him.One of the most dynamic sections of the film concerns the 1975 production of Queen's third album, 'A Night At the Opera' and in particular the song Bohemian Rhapsody, which at the time was twice as long as most popular songs played on the radio. Now it is perceived as one of Queen's greatest songs, but we see the opposition Queen faced from record companies and management because it was against the norm. Enter Mike Myers as Ray Foster with the very witty joke, 'It goes on forever, six bloody minutes!" To which Freddie retorts,'I pity your wife if you think six minutes is forever.'
Myers took this role as he is a huge Queen fan and the sing-a-long to Bohemian Rhapsody used in Wayne's World, led to a resurgence of Queen's hit in the nineties. However, of all the characters in the film, I found this the least convincing. Myers has a tendency towards ham acting and with his penchant for prosthetics, his character seemed out of place in a film with the right blend of seriousness and frivolity. I was relieved when Tom Hollander appeared as Queen's lawyer and eventual manager, Jim Beach, to restore the gravitas of the film.
As Freddie's fame ascends then so too does his recklessness and promiscuity. We see the Court of King Freddie, complete with arch villain and procurer Paul Prenter, and a cast of larger than life characters such as dwarves, transexuals and shady, self-serving characters. Freddie begins to believe his hype too much and his demise is inevitable as he descends into a wilderness of hedonism and endless partying in Munich. The message is simple but clear. In trying to discover who he is, Freddie has ostracised the only people that genuinely cared for him. We see Freddie return to Queen with his tail between his legs, desperate to atone for his sins by performing at Live Aid. In a plot twist that in reality occured much later, Freddie is diagnosed as being HIV Positive. Tragedy leads to revelation and as Freddie forces himself to live with this death sentence then his family learn to accept his homosexuality. We must never forget the impact of AIDS on the gay community. It took so many bright stars too soon from us and it is a legacy that must be taught to each new generation.
The film ends with Queen's spell-binding performance at Live Aid. Rami Malek used a movement coach rather than a choreographer to make his performance more genuine.It is impossible not to believe that he is Freddie Mercury with his suggestive moves and commanding presence. It is this segment of the film that is most emotionally moving, for as an audience we see the deep tragedy of a life cut short far too soon for one of our greatest showmen. My only criticism of this section is that I would have liked there to have been a merging between the film and the original performance to underline the magnitude of Queen. Yet it was impossible not to willingly spend my disbelief in order to believe that I was witnessing Queen at Live Aid. I found myself singing along and moving with the rest of the audience and when it ended, there were huge tears of emotion running down my cheeks and for once it wasn't caused by my hormones.
This really is a must-see move with a stellar cast, excellent direction and a fast-moving script. Brian May, played by Gwilym Lee is so real in his performance, that I wondered if the real Brian May with his love of astrophysics, hadn't somehow managed to invent a time machine to go back in time to play himself. There have been criticisms that the film, with its certificate of 12, anaesthetised the extent of Freddie's lifestyle. Yet I believe that this was handled appropriately. When we think of Freddie Mercury and Queen, it is their music and performance that is most admired. A 12 rating also enables the film to be more accessible to a new generation of Queen fans. 'Who wants to live forever?' Freddie once famously sang. Now because of this film, we get to see the real magic and legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen. The message of the film in the tagline 'Fearless lives Forever' has never been more apt.