Films: The Good, The Bad And The Thinkers

Last week I watched Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion and to be honest, I wasn’t going in to the cinema with high expectations. I’d heard the Twitter review rumbles and listened to thoughts from friends, but it was an Orange Wednesday, so the runtime-for-your-money value alone was worth the discounted gamble.

Half way through, I was definitely starting to fear a LOTR moment (when a film is so unnecessarily prolonged, you really need to pop to the toilet but don’t want to get up for fear of falling over in the dark or never being able to find the same seat again on the way back so you sit and hold, uncomfortably tight).

How to stylishly #SeeFilmDifferently

Last night I was treated to a taste of movie-star magic.

The foyer of Brighton’s Duke of York’s Picturehouse glowed invitingly, on an otherwise inclemently wan British Tuesday evening. It didn’t take long to spot the red carpet and the dapper venue staff milling around, anticipating the opening doors to their exclusive one-off screening of the 1959 classic comedy, Some Like It Hot. Starring none other than blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, I am a very lucky gal to have had a ticket to the most smouldering event in town.

INTERVIEW: The Imposter Director Bart Layton at the British Independent Film Awards 2012

Director Bart Layton's film The Imposter picked up two awards, plus received nominations for Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Achievement In Production and Best Technical Achievement.

The Imposter centres on a Texas family whose teenage son who has been missing for three years, turns up, in Spain and can now only speak with a Spanish accent. This true story gives accounts from the family, the authorities and the young Frenchman Frederic Bourdin who was found to be an imposter during investigations, exploring just how and why the family opened him into their family, despite worryingly massive missing pieces in the puzzle.

The following interview took place at the Moet British Independent Film Awards in London on 9th December 2012. 

INTERVIEW: Broken Director Rufus Norris and Cast at the British Independent Film Awards 2012

The Moët British Independent Film Award for Best British Independent Film goes to... Broken! At the 15th year of celebrating all that is incredible in the world of British independent film-making, I was treated to the cavalcade of Broken cast and crew who were in visibly high spirits (one or two who also may have taken advantage of the copious amounts of champers being handed out by the evenings sponsors, quite rightly so) to discuss their win.

In front of me, just about, sat Broken Director Rufus Norris, Editor Victoria Boydell, Producers Nick Marston and Dixie Linder and actors Eloise Laurence, Robert Emms, Clare Burt and Bill Milner, squeezed in and ready to celebrate at the after-party about to commence.

This was Rufus' debut film, an impressive way to make an entrance on the film-making scene.

INTERVIEW: Berberian Sound Studio Director Peter Strickland - British Independent Film Awards 2012

Berberian Sound Studio picked up no less that four awards for the coveted title of Best Director, Best Actor (for Tony Jones' performance as Gilderoy), Best Achievement In Production and Best Technical Achievement for the sound design (also nominated again in this category but for Cinematography) plus a host of nominations including Best Screenplay and Best British Independent Film. Impressive, frankly.

Elated as you can imagine, I met award winning Berberian Sound Studio Director Peter Strickland after he had just been handed one of his many awards. Amusingly, fighting the constant rapturous applause and live music happening in the awards hall next door, the following interview with Peter reveals his unique passion and observation for the seemingly mundane everyday sound and how it resulted in the winning film of the night.

INTERVIEW: Sightseers Alice Lowe & Steve Oram at the British Independent Film Awards 2012

Alice Lowe and Steve Oram get ushered in to our little press room in a whirlwind of PR reps and a constant hum of best-friend banter between the two. They sit, still jesting with each other, without barely even noticing the interview has begun; a constant level of laughter is the stand-out feature throughout. In fine fettle after their minutes-ago win for the BIFA 2012 Best Screenplay award, Alice answers most of the questions, constantly looking to Steve for reference and amusing back-up. Behind that particularly impressive home-grown beard, Steve's face lights up when conversation of it and his heritage are discussed,  along with illegalities of dog bottom-licking. (You really need to see this film.)

Sightseers is easily summed up as a 'pitch black comedy' death-trip which focuses on the developing relationship between the two leads, Tina [Alice Lowe] and Chris [Steve Oram]. Throw in some scenes of Cumbria hills, cute dog and a caravan, you have a quintessentially perfect English film that you can see America attempting to remake in the not-too-distant future.

INTERVIEW: James Floyd at the British Independent Film Awards 2012

James Floyd won Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards this year for his role in My Brother The Devil, a film about gangland London from the perspective of two young British Arab brothers. 

The following interview took place at the Moet British Independent Film Awards in London on 9th December 2012.

GG: You gave a very heartfelt speech about your award win, directing many thanks to your family. So how important is family to you as a new actor? Are you still getting to grips with the industry?

James: Yes, I’m still getting to grips with the lights [this interview took place after a red carpet stint with the paparazzi and his win on stage] and people asking me questions and press conferences – this is all new to me, but nice. It’s taken about six, seven years to get here – that’s why family is so important. During the tough years you need that support system to keep you going. It’s not easy being an actor who is working but has no money. For that reason and many others, an emotionally supportive family is the most important thing – and that’s not just your blood family, but people who are close; your loved ones.