Michael Winterbottom

Party Like It’s 1999: WONDERLAND is a forgotten gem featuring working class actors

by

by Fiona Underhill

1999 deserves its reputation as one of the strongest years in movie history–with even the biggest blockbusters, such as The Matrix and The Phantom Menace, being groundbreaking in their own ways. And if you go to the total opposite end of the budget spectrum, you will find the equally innovative The Blair Witch Project which changed the horror genre forever. But not every smaller, independent film released in 1999 managed to break through to the wider zeitgeist as impressively as the movie that launched the found-footage horror genre. So, I’m here to put a spotlight on one of the least-seen and most underrated films released that year: Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland.

British director Michael Winterbottom is best-known for one of the best (and funniest) movie franchises of all time – The Trip (which had four entries released between 2010 and 2020). He has frequently collaborated with Steve Coogan outside of The Trip, in the likes of 24 Hour Party People and Tristram Shandy. Other notable works include the excellent (but exceedingly bleak) Thomas Hardy adaptation Jude (starring Christopher Eccleston and Kate Winslet), A Mighty Heart (starring Angelina Jolie) and Dev Patel’s heart-pumping Bond audition The Wedding Guest.

In 1999’s modern, South London-set Wonderland, Winterbottom assembled some of the best of British acting talent of the time, a strong ensemble of mostly working class actors, which we unfortunately rarely see in the British cinema of today. Wonderland centers around three sisters–Nadia (played by Gina McKee, born in Durham in the north of England to a coal miner), Debbie (played by Scottish actress Shirley Henderson), and Molly (played by Canadian actress Molly Parker). Ian Hart (from Liverpool) plays Dan, the father of Debbie’s son, John Simm (from Leeds) plays Eddie, Molly’s husband and father of her unborn child, and Irish actor Stuart Townsend plays Tim, someone that Nadia meets through her active dating life. Bradford-born actor Enzo Cilenti plays the sisters’ estranged brother Darren. Kika Markham and Jack Shepherd (who are also both from the North of England) play their parents–Eileen and Bill. It’s notable that the ensemble cast is almost entirely made up of actors who are either Scottish, Irish or from the North of England, when British acting is unfortunately now so massively dominated by those who are privately-educated and mainly from London and the home counties.

If there is one main character in Wonderland, it is probably McKee’s Nadia, and she embodies the film’s central theme of loneliness within a big city. Despite still being married, her parents are also desperately unhappy and lonely, and share an unspoken grief over the loss of their son Darren, who no longer talks to them. Eddie is anxious about the impending birth of his first child, and unhappy in his job, which leads Molly to also be stressed and worried. The most optimistic and happy-go-lucky character is Debbie, a hairdresser who has fun casual one-night-stands with various different men. Her 11-year-old son Jack appears to have absorbed some of the loneliness and anxiety from his wider family, as he is quieter and more morose than his mother.

Although there is a sadness permeating much of Wonderland, there are also plenty of moments of hope and optimism, and it builds to a heart-warming finale. The family end up coming together for the birth of Molly’s baby, who Eddie is determined to name Alice from the Wonderland of the title. It’s implied that Wonderland is London, and this really is one of the best London-set films of all time, and certainly of the 1990s. It holds up alongside Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette, Mike Leigh’s Naked or Patrice Chereau’s Intimacy in depicting poorer characters struggling with modern life and relationships, and feeling lost within a vast city that doesn’t treat them with kindness.

The biggest strength of Wonderland which prevents the film from becoming too filled with despair is Michael Nyman’s absolutely beautiful, heart-shattering score. Wonderland is Nyman’s favorite of his own scores, and Winterbottom loved it so much, he has re-used some of the tracks for The Trip. Each character gets their own motif, with husband-and-wife Molly and Eddie’s tracks being especially wistful and full of longing. Dan and Jack (who are father-and-son) have paired tracks, with Dan’s a more upbeat, faster-paced and propulsive version of Jack’s, which is more melancholy at the start. Jack’s track is longer and more complex than his father’s, which definitely fits their characters.

Wonderland is unfortunately hard to come by now and it’s fortunate that I still have my DVD copy (all hail physical media), but if you have to way to seek it out, I strongly urge you to do so. Michael Winterbottom unfortunately doesn’t get the accolades he should do, even in the UK, and he deserves them for the masterpiece that is The Trip at the very least. His lesser-known work, such as Jude and Wonderland from the ‘90s, and The Wedding Guest more recently, are all well worth your time. I clearly highly regard his work across the board, but Wonderland is my favorite Winterbottom because the Nyman score really elevates it to something singularly special, and the ensemble of working class character actors are such a joy to spend time with. It’s a shame that it now seems like a relic of a different era, when so many working class actors had the opportunity to collaborate in something of this quality. The characters are flawed and complex, the script gives them depth and humanity, and is extremely empathetic to these recognizable, real people. Wonderland truly is a wonder.

Source: Party Like It’s 1999: WONDERLAND is a forgotten gem featuring working class actors — Moviejawn

Are we living in a ‘Golden Age’ of offbeat British cinema?

by

British cinema has delivered us many iconic movies with a quirky edge, from ‘Trainspotting’ to ‘Submarine’, but are we currently in a golden age?

By Aimee Ferrier

British cinema has thrived in periods where it has produced memorable movies that have defined the country’s creativity and periods that we’d rather just forget. One thing is for certain, though: British filmmakers know how to make something a little offbeat. This is likely due to our emphasis on humour in almost every aspect of life and our never-too-serious attitude.

Thus, the comedy genre has always championed, even when the topics explored within these films are heavy-hitting and intense. As a result, many British films have blended serious drama and humour with an expert sensibility, resulting in some rather quirky and charming films.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, kitchen sink dramas emerged as a form of British social realism, with characters experiencing issues ranging from social discontent to interracial relationships. While there were certain movies from this era that were quite offbeat, like Billy Liar, the more lighthearted movies of the period, such as Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and Joanna, reflected the eccentricity at the heart of British culture.

Read more

Michael Winterbottom: ‘Studying English at Oxford University was a mistake’

by

The director, 62, tells Michael Segalov about vertigo, risk aversion, shouting to get attention and how Steve Coogan makes things easy

By Michael Segalov
I grew up in a small bungalow on a big housing estate on the edge of Blackburn. My mum was a teacher; my dad was a draftsman in a factory that made television sets. Everything about my childhood was ordinary.

Blackburn’s Unit Four cinema was a scruffy place. In my teens, I went to its fortnightly foreign-language film screenings religiously. I was always desperate to escape, and these films briefly transported me all over the world.

During a childhood swimming lesson, Mum noticed I was lying on the bottom of the pool. A teacher pulled me out of the water. I don’t remember anything, but after that, Mum obsessed about me never venturing deep. I still don’t find swimming in the sea relaxing.

Constant pacing is an awful habit of mine, so my family says. I regularly march around the house while dragging my fingers through my hair and talking to myself.

I left school at 17 and travelled abroad for the first time – I went to pick grapes in the south of France. One night I went to a concert with a German colleague who rode a massive motorbike. Driving us back, I realised he was off his face at 100mph. I clung on for dear life, and haven’t been on a motorbike since.

Steve Coogan makes directing far too easy. We’ve worked together a lot. Naturally, he’s constantly doing things that are both funny and interesting. You can just point a camera at him and leave him to it. I’ve never had more fun than working together on 24 Hour Party People.

Studying English at Oxford University was a mistake. I loved reading, but I wasn’t committed to the rigour of it. Halfway through my studies, I came across a cinema workshop in the city. There and then, I knew what I wanted to do.

I suffer from a particular type of vertigo. I’m fine on planes, or whenever someone else is in charge. But if I’m in control? Even short ladders make me feel vulnerable.

Don’t make a short film, make a long one. That’s the advice I give to young filmmakers. Go out there and shoot something yourself. Not lots of 10 minute things, but a proper one. The only way to learn is to do it.

Generally speaking, I’m risk averse, my mum was over-protective of me as a child. I was the same with my kids in the playground. Caution was bred into me, and it’s far too late to change.

If you get a chance to eat, then you should eat: you never know when the next meal is coming in my business.

People say I have a temper. I certainly do shout a lot. It’s not out of anger, just a way of trying to get attention.

Political extremism pushes people to the edge, and violence sees opposing sides become further polarised. My new film, Shoshana, explores this in Palestine under British colonial rule, but it’s still true in the region today, and around the world. In the past 10 years, those divides have deepened.

The film industry wasn’t accessible when I started out, and it’s still not today. Back then it was a union closed shop. Your career hinged on knowing people. Of course, that remains helpful. Now the best way to start is to go out and start shooting yourself, or to work a lot for free. Either way, that requires big money.

I’m entirely unsurprising as a man. Everything about me is, I think, rather obvious and straightforward.

Shoshana + Michael Winterbottom Q&A plays as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival 2023 which takes place in London cinemas from 9-19 November, with a national tour taking place from 9-30 November and a selection of films available online from 20-27 November

 

Source: Michael Winterbottom: ‘Studying English at Oxford University was a mistake’

The Trip to Greece Is the Final, Most Despairing Film Yet

by

Amid all the decadent food and Michael Caine impressions, the four-part series has always had a darker edge.

By Bilge Eberi  / Vulture

My grandfather, who died several years ago at the age of 98, was a Turkish archeologist who specialized in ancient Hellenic ruins. He spent almost half a lifetime digging up a long-forgotten Greek town on the Aegean coast of Turkey, a site that happened to be right next to a coal-mining facility. It both tickled and saddened him to see the old world juxtaposed with the new, timeless Greek columns and graves framed against huge piles of black, black coal. He wasn’t much of a romantic, but he did love the poetry and majesty of myth. When I was a child he’d glance out over the horizon, at the ships and sailboats passing in the blue distance, and tell me about how through these very Aegean waters had sailed the navies of Paris and Menelaus. He loved to enliven the everyday with evocations of the ancient world.
(He was obsessed with Troy, and spent years writing a book about it.) I, a snot-nosed kid for much of this time, paid only scant attention to his stories.
Only later did I realize what a gift he was giving me.

So, weirdly, I was reminded of my grandfather as I watched The Trip to Greece, the fourth and final installment of the film and TV series following Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they make their way around the hotels and tourist spots and fine-dining establishments of the world. This film (which actually begins in Turkey, in the area around Troy) opens and ends with words from The Odyssey, and at various points evokes the stories of Odysseus and Aeneas as Coogan and Brydon eat, joke, imitate, and niggle their way through Greece. The parallels are inexact and rough, and to director Michael Winterbottom’s credit, the film doesn’t try too hard to adhere to any kind of mythic structure. But what does remain at the end of this final and most despairing of the Trip entries is a sense that the past is never quite done with us, that today’s heartbreaks and passions and tragedies are merely variations on ancient patterns.

Read more