RICHARD’S BLOG

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I became a playwright in 1996, having been an avid theatregoer throughout my life (averaging around 120 plays a year – watching, not writing!) I semi-retired from my day job shortly thereafter and for the next 25 years I worked only part-time, allowing me time to write. I ventured briefly into the world of television and wrote a couple of screenplays, although this pretty much came to nothing, except for TAPS making a short film of one of my scripts starring (a virtually unknown) Benedict Cumberbatch and Georgia Mackenzie, which was cool, and sufficient to get me BAFTA membership. Since the pandemic, theatre in the UK has never really found its way back to what it used to be, and so my attention has drifted more towards film. I am now fully retired from my day job and whilst I still visit the theatre two or three times a month, I now watch upwards of 500 films a year (crazy, but true!) Since I watch so many films and can write, I decided to create a blog – it seemed a very 21st-Century thing to do.
  • REVIEW: Sounds of Falling ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: Sounds of Falling ★★★★☆

    Sounds of Falling is a 2025 German drama film, directed and co-written by Mascha Schilinski (with Louise Peter). It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May (where it won the Jury Prize) and was released in the UK on 6 March (although disappointingly it took a week to get as far north as Yorkshire).

    The film is set across four time periods, some thirty to forty years apart: the 1910s, 1940s, 1980s and 2020s. It follows four generations of girls connected through their occupation of the same farmstead in the Altmark in Germany. The narrative is non-linear, continually flipping between the four time periods in order to bring out the similarities and the differences between life in rural Germany across those various times, spanning the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

    Whilst time moves forward and the political situation changes dramatically in the country, within the family home (and it is the same family for the first three time periods) we witness a continual preoccupation with austerity, cruelty, sexual abuse and death.

    In the 1910s the focus is on seven-year-old Alma (Hanna Heckt) and her brother and sister Fritz and Lia. In the 1940s we have moved down a generation to Erika (Lea Drinda) and her sister Irm, whilst Fritz, now Uncle Fritz, remains in the farm, but bedridden. Forty years on, and the focus has passed to Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky), Irm’s daughter, and her brother Uwe. In the 2020s the principal protagonist is now Lenka (Laeni Geiseler), who lives in the farm with her sister Nelly. They do not seem on the face of it to be connected to the family from the earlier periods, other than by occupation of the same property.

    I have mentioned the children rather than the adults because this is a film seen from the perspective of the children, often quite literally so, through the use of lower camera angles representing the viewpoint of the children. I mention the various siblings because sibling relationships within the family are an important part of the film. Whilst the children are the focus, the adults are also important because everything that happens, happens on their watch, and so there must be a certain level of culpability.

    There is no doubt that at 155 minutes of non-linear, black & white, storytelling, in German with sub-titles, Sounds of Falling is a challenging watch. However, that said, it is a tremendously rewarding experience and, just as I did with The Secret Agent a few weeks ago, I will be going a second time later this week to let the story soak in a little more and to pick up (some of) what I may have missed the first time around. If you have the time and are prepared to make the effort to let this film under your skin, you will not regret it.

  • The Oscars are Coming

    The Oscars are Coming

    As the big night looms ever closer, now only two sleeps’ away, I thought I should set out my predictions in the major categories, which to me are the writing, directing, acting, Best Picture, and, of course the most important, Best International Feature! So below are my suggestions for what will win and what should win:

    Best adapted screenplay

    This should go to Train Dreams but I fear it won’t – it will go to One Battle After Another. Still, as long as it doesn’t go to Hamnet, I am not too bothered.

    Best original screenplay

    I think this should go to Sentimental Value, but I suspect it will go to Marty Supreme.

    Best director

    This should definitely go toJoachim Trier for Sentimental Value, but it will almost certainly end up with Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another.

    Best actor

    I am a bit torn here – I would like to see Ethan Hawke rewarded for Blue Moon, but I think the Oscar will go to Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme, which was also a great performance.

    Best actress

    I know this is going to Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, but it really should go to Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

    Best supporting actor

    I think this belongs with Stellan Skarsgård  for Sentimental Value (although I did think it was a main role, rather than a supporting role). Realistically, it could go to any of the other nominees, probably Benicio del Toro for One Battle After Another … but please not Sean Penn!

    Best supporting actress

    I would like to see it go to Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, but realistically Wunmi Mosaku from Sinners seems to be the clear front runner.

    Best picture:

    The big one! For me it is a clear choice between Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent with Train Dreams trailing in third place. However, we all know it is going to end up with One Battle After Another – still, as long as it isn’t Hamnet!

    Best international feature

    This should be a straight choice between Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent. I think Sentimental Value will win out, but quite honestly, I would be more than happy with either – they are the two stand out films of the Oscar season for me.

    There are far too many other categories for me to comment upon, and I don’t really have the knowledge to make informed choices when it comes down to the likes of editing, cinematography and production design, so I will leave that to the experts.

    I suspect it will be another disappointing night as my predictions romp home one after another, whilst my selections fail to make an impact. But hey, that’s show-business!

  • REVIEW: Sirat    ★★☆☆☆

    REVIEW: Sirat    ★★☆☆☆

    Sirat is a 2025 Spanish road film, directed and co-written by Óliver Laxe (with Santiago Fillol). Its many co-producers included Pedro and Agustin Almodóvar, which may be what drew me to it in the first place. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in the UK on 27 February.

    Luis (Sergi López) and his son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona) travel to a rave held in a Moroccan desert in search of his missing daughter. To begin with we spend about fifteen minutes at the rave, where our protagonists hand out pictures of the missing girl to ravers who, whilst mildly sympathetic, would clearly rather be getting on with their raving. There is a lot of noisy drum and bass music and, whilst I can’t help thinking that both drummers and bassists can be summarised as ‘people who like to hang out with musicians’, I have to admit it is quite atmospheric. However, Luis and son have no luck with their quest until a group of ravers tell them that another rave will be taking place deeper in the desert in a few day’s time, and that she could be there.

    Then the army turn up and turn the music off and tell everyone to go home because there is a state of emergency and so this is now a restricted area – I know, we’ve all had parties like that … It later turns out that it is (might be) the beginning of World War III – I kid you not!

    Anyway, Luis and son take off in their tiny van following the small group of ravers who told them about the next rave, because they are clearly not the types to be put off by a load of blokes in uniform pointing guns at them when there is the chance of a drive across the desert, for which they are magnificently ill-equipped, in search of more bangin’ music (literally).

    So why did the girl run off in the first place – she didn’t – she is an adult and she just left, but she will be pleased to see us. Really???

    I should say that about three-quarters of the way in, the film stops being as predictable as it had been up to that point: lots of surprising stuff happens, which make it a bit more interesting. However, the film’s problems are too big for the late twists to save it. There is a very sketchy plot, little or no depth of character, and very little to believe in or care about. Arjona, as Esteban, is a bit of a find – I thought he was really good – but apart from that, the acting is nothing to write home about either.

    Is Sirat worth seeing? Unfortunately, not really.

    Wait a minute, do I hear you say? But it has 91% on Rotten Tomatoes! Yes, but the audience score is way down at 67%. I have a theory about that – where the critics percentage and the audience percentage are a long way adrift, there is an issue. For art-house films such as this, the critics’ reviews will likely inform potential audience of whether or not it is their sort of thing. Consequently, where the audience figure is a long way below the critics, one should be a little wary, since that is the opinion of the audience who decided it was their sort of thing. Sadly, I did not heed this invisible warning.

  • REVIEW: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ★★★☆☆

    REVIEW: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ★★★☆☆

    If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a 2025 American drama film, written and directed by Mary Bronstein (her second directorial feature following a seventeen-year gap). It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025 and was released in the UK in February 2026.

    Linda (Rose Byrne) is stretched to breaking point. She holds down a challenging job as a psychotherapist whilst acting as sole-carer for her young daughter, who has a serious eating disorder that necessitates feeding through a tube and daily hospital attendance. And then her ceiling collapses. This necessitates a (protracted) temporary move to a motel, while her landlord fails to make the necessary repairs. She is not a single-parent, but she might as well be – her husband Charles works as some kind of ship’s captain. His primary role seems to be to shout at Linda over the telephone at regular intervals, adding significantly to her stress.

    Having just read that paragraph back, it sounds like I didn’t really like the film, but that is not the case. I enjoyed it. I particularly admired Byrne’s performance, which perfectly demonstrated life on the edge, continually having to respond to the escalating needs of her daughter and her somewhat difficult clients, whilst getting little or no support from her husband or indeed her own therapist, a colleague (Conan O’Brien), who somehow fails to notice her desperation. The only respite comes in the form of drugs and alcohol, supplied with the help of motel superintendent James (A$AP Rocky), who shows Linda some sympathy, although he seems to have ulterior motives.

    I think what I needed was some light and shade. The problem with any film about a relentless situation for me is, well, basically, its relentlessness. There seemed to be too much too soon – I wanted time to absorb some of it. For example, there seemed to be some kind of link (probably in Linda’s head) between the hole in the ceiling and the feeding hole in her daughter’s stomach – but I never really worked that one out. But maybe that is just me – I like a slow-burn, and this was definitely a ‘fast-Byrne’. Having said all that, Byrne deserves her best actress nomination, and, in my opinion, she deserves to win the Oscar.

    One final issue. The very last shot of the film left me thinking I had misunderstood something – did I now have to re-evaluate everything I had seen from a newly perceived viewpoint? But having now read the Director’s comments in an interview, it seems this was not the case – I just have to question what in my opinion is an utterly bizarre piece of casting (which probably irritated me enough to turn three-and-a-half stars into three rather than four).

    Is If I Had Legs I’d Kick You worth seeing? Yes, for sure – it is worth seeing for Rose Byrne’s performance alone. Is it a great film? Unfortunately, not quite.

  • REVIEW: The President’s Cake ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: The President’s Cake ★★★★☆

    The President’s Cake is a 2025 Iraqi drama, written and directed by Hasan Hadi (his directorial feature debut). It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and was released in the UK last Friday, 27 February.

    The film is set in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the early 1990s, following the invasion of Kuwait and the American led liberation of that country some seven months later. Immediately following the invasion, economic sanctions had been imposed by a number of western countries and these stayed in place for over a decade. The action takes place over a three-day period from 26 April to 28 April, although the precise year is not specified. So how do we know the exact dates, I hear you say? 28 April was Saddam Hussein’s birthday, and in order to celebrate this, each school was required to select one pupil to bake a birthday cake.

    The film follows nine-year-old Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) who on 26 April, two days before the President’s birthday, is unlucky enough to have her name drawn out of the hat as the pupil responsible for baking the cake for her tiny school. She lives in abject poverty in the Mesopotamian Marshes with her grandmother, Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreiba). Their poverty would have meant that the price of the ingredients would have been unaffordable at the best of times but, at the height of sanctions when food is scarce and prices exorbitant, the task is nigh on impossible.

    However, failure if not an option and so, the following day, Lamia and Bibi set out for Baghdad with their few possessions, a watch and a transistor radio, to attempt to barter them to rustle up the money for the cake ingredients.

    I would like to report that this is a beautiful story about triumph over adversity, and in some ways, it is just that; it is a story about good people in difficult circumstances. However, it is also a story about evil: the evil that is ever present in Hussein’s regime, the specific evil of sexual predators, and the potential for casual evils present within ordinary people. It is also a stark reminder that imposing economic sanctions hurts the poor people of a country much more than its rulers.

    Nayyef’s performance is wonderful and Hadi’s down-to-earth unsentimental storytelling works extremely well. I look forward to his next film.

    The President’s Cake at times makes for uncomfortable viewing but is a warm and generous piece of filmmaking that will stay in the memory for a long time.

  • REVIEW: The Secret Agent ★★★★★

    REVIEW: The Secret Agent ★★★★★

    The Secret Agent is a 2025 Brazilian political drama, written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. For the avoidance of doubt, it is nothing to do with Joseph Conrad’s novel of the same name. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and was released in the UK last Friday, 20 February.

    The film is set in 1977, during the political turmoil of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Corruption is everywhere and life is certainly cheap: under the cover of the annual carnival in Recife, a city about the size of Birmingham, the death toll approaches three figures. Former professor and widower Armando Solimões (Wagner Moura) arrives in the city where his young son, Fernando, has been living with his dead wife’s parents. Whilst by no means a political activist, he has crossed swords with the dictatorship in the form of corrupt Government Minister Henrique Castro Ghirotti (Luciano Chirolli) and there is now a price on his head.

    Despite the film’s title, Solimões is no James Bond; he is an ‘ordinary’ academic in an impossible situation; consequently, he is a character to whom we can relate. Informed by former anarcho-communist Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria) that his life is in danger and that his name is on a banned-from-travel list, he adopts an alias, Marcelo, and sets about obtaining the necessary false papers to allow him and Fernando to flee the country.

    The film is peopled with a colourful cast of characters, beautifully realised, many of whom are crying out to be the heroes of their own films, in particular: the aforementioned Dona Sebastiana, local police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes), hit-man Augusto Borba (Roney Villela) and his sidekick Bobbi Borba (Gabriel Leone), who happens to be his son. There are numerous subplots, if that is the correct word, including a man-eating shark, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who is mistakenly assumed to be a Nazi fugitive (Udo Kier in his last role), and a murder at a petrol station during a memorable opening sequence. These characters and events are woven together skilfully by Filho to form a picture of life in Brazil in the 1970s and to set the scene for Solimões’ story.

    The film has been nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Leading Actor for Wagner Moura. However, it has somehow not been nominated for either Best Director or Best Original Screenplay – very strange – one would have thought at least one of those two would be necessary for a Best Picture nomination.

    The Secret Agent is a rich, complex, multi-layered film which makes the viewer work hard to understand what is happening and, perhaps more importantly, why it is happening. It runs 161 minutes, although it never drags – it is compulsive viewing: however difficult it is to fathom, one finds oneself desperate to work it out. I think I am just about there, however I plan to go again later this week, because I think I have more to understand, and it is certainly worth the effort.

  • REVIEW: The Chronology of Water ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: The Chronology of Water ★★★★☆

    The Chronology of Water is a 2025 biographical psychological drama, directed by Kristen Stewart (her directorial feature debut), based on the 2011 memoir of the same name by Lidia Yuknavitch. Sources seem to vary as to whether the screenplay was wholly written by Stewart or co-written with Yuknavitch’s ex-husband Andy Mingo. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and was released in the UK last Friday, 6 February.

    Edvard Munch famously set out to capture in his paintings the memory, emotional atmosphere, and psychological state of a moment rather than its realistic likeness; it felt to me that this is how Stewart had approached making this film. She does not simply document the abuse Lidia (Imogen Poots) suffered at the hands of her father and the effect this had on her life but somehow manages to show Lidia’s resulting emotional journey.

    I am not going to try to sum up the plot myself, but rather quote Yuknavitch’s own words, from an essay she wrote about her personal response to reading Kathy Acker’s novel Blood and Guts in High School: 

    “The decade during which I most wanted to kill myself contained coming to terms with my father’s transgressions by embarking on a sexually frenzied odyssey, a drug-induced epic world tour of counter-cultures, free-flowing abortions and aberrations and unending altered states, an abysmally failed marriage, flunking out of college, a self-loathing crescendo culminating in a daughter who died the day she was born. For this reason, Kathy Acker’s book saved my life.”

    I confess that I had not come across Yuknavitch before seeing this film and am thus unfamiliar with her writing – I will try to put that right.

    Imogen Poots performance in the role of Lidia is raw and brutal, heartbreaking and at times almost unbearable to watch. It is a tremendous achievement.

    The Chronology of Water makes for very uncomfortable viewing but is a remarkable piece of filmmaking and will stay in the memory for a long time.

  • REVIEW: Saipan              ★★★☆☆

    REVIEW: Saipan              ★★★☆☆

    Saipan is a 2025 Irish fact-based sports drama, directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, from a screenplay by Paul Fraser. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, was released in Ireland on Boxing Day, and in the UK on Friday 23 January.

    The film is about the personality clash in the Republic of Ireland national football team between captain Roy Keane (Éanna Hardwicke) and manager Mick McCarthy (Steve Coogan) which led to the notorious Saipan incident in the build up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

    My memory of the incident is limited – after all it was almost a quarter of a century ago and, although a football fan, I am not Irish. In my recollection of events, Keane had behaved in some way inappropriately and McCarthy had sent him home before the tournament began. However, the film tells a very different story.

    Summarising what I saw, Keane wanted the Irish to take the tournament seriously, rather than be treated as loveable also-rans. He was an accomplished footballer and athlete and expected his team-mates to be the same. The Irish FA had completely failed to prepare properly and consequently the facilities on the island of Saipan, where they were to train and acclimatise prior to the finals in Japan, were hopelessly inadequate. Keane blamed McCarthy for this, and this led to an escalating series of clashes between the two egos culminating in Keane leaving. But did he jump or was he pushed?

    The problem I have is that this is not a piece of objective journalism but a drama, which seemed to be presented very much from Keane’s perspective. Therefore, if I were to say that I kind of get Keane’s point now, I would have to admit that this may well be that I was simply taken in by the drama.

    Hardwicke is excellent as Keane: he looks the part and plays the part with the right level of single-minded aggression that the role requires. Coogan, however seems poorly cast: the problem being that however hard he tries to leave Alan Partridge behind him, traces still remain; he plays McCarthy as a hapless chump who would rather be back home in Barnsley painting a fence.

    I felt that this portrayal of McCarthy weakened the drama, however, the failure to flesh out any of the other characters involved (and there was a whole squad present in the background) was more of a problem. It left me with the distinct impression that the film wanted to make a point rather than present the situation.

    The subject matter is interesting to football fans and, if you remember the incident and wish to know a little more about it, go along, but whatever you do, do not believe everything you see. If you are looking for a film that stands up as a piece of pure entertainment in its own right, this may not be for you.

  • REVIEW: Nouvelle Vague ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: Nouvelle Vague ★★★★☆

    Nouvelle Vague is a 2025 comedy drama, directed by Richard Linklater, from a screenplay by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in the UK today, Friday 30 January.

    The film is something of a celebration of, perhaps even a love letter to, the spirit of the Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave of filmmakers in the late 1950s/early 1960s. We begin with a gentle wander around the movement: the Cahiers du Cinema offices, Truffaut’s standing ovation at Cannes for The 400 Blows, sundry trendy Paris parties, etc. We are introduced to all the major players, and get a vague, as opposed to Vague, idea of who they all are. Then we get down to the business proper: a recreation of the making of Godard’s debut film, Breathless (À Bout de Souffle).

    We begin with Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) arranging the finer details of finance and script with his producer, Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst). We then move onto the casting: First Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin), then Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch). And the weird thing is they both look the part; and sound the part; in fact, everybody looks and sounds just right. So, onto the rather chaotic process of the filming itself, all in the masterful hands of cameraman-extraordinaire Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat).

    This film is an absolute delight from start to finish. It somehow manages to capture the spirit of the age, the genius that was Godard (and though I am a Truffaut man to the core, I can still see the genius in Godard), and the huge sense of fun that the cast and crew had when making it. And that sense of fun is infectious.

    I strongly recommend you fit this into your busy lives – you will not regret it – you will leave the cinema shouting ‘Moteur Raoul’, and you will even understand what I am talking about. Incidentally, if you do not know Breathless, you will be watching a different film to those that do. I would recommend that you find it and watch it before you see Nouvelle Vague, although I am sure the film will stand alone if you are unable to do that.

  • REVIEW: No Other Choice ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: No Other Choice ★★★★☆

    No Other Choice is a 2025 South Korean satirical black comedy thriller, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook, based on the 1997 American novel The Ax by Donald Westlake. It had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in August and was released in the UK today, Friday 23 January.

    Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) is a senior papermaker of 25 years standing, working for Solar Paper. He has purchased his childhood home, where he Lives in relative luxury with his beautiful homemaker wife Lee Mi-ri, (Son Ye-jin), their two children, and their two dogs. However, this ideal life is brought to an abrupt end when Solar Paper is bought-out by an American conglomerate, and Man-su is made redundant. He sets himself the target of finding new employment in the paper industry within three months, however thirteen months have gone by, and he is box-shifting in a warehouse for peanuts. When appropriate jobs are advertised, which is rare, there are always other unemployed ex-papermakers who seem better qualified for the positions.

    Man-su needs to change the structure of this small specialist labour market to put himself in pole position when the next job comes along. He needs a plan. And what a plan he comes up with! You see the precise moment when the idea comes together in his head – it is a rather wonderful moment! And so this macabre, though often hilarious, satire on the state of the corporate world begins.

    What makes this such a great film is that Man-su is entirely unequipped to put into action his own plan, but is determined to do so, regardless. This leads to the most outrageous situations, sometimes farcical, often verging on slapstick, but always fuelled by the desperation of his situation, as he sees it.

    I should come clean here – I also worked in the paper industry for (almost) 25 years, although not as a papermaker – my job was to count the profits (FD) – so even looking at the papermaking machinery brings back memories for me.

    No Other Choice is very dark, very violent, and very, very funny. I have no hesitation in recommending it, unless dark and violent puts you off, in which case Director Park’s work is probably not for you anyway.