Mike Leigh

Silent Oscars: 10 Nonspeaking Roles Nominated At Academy Awards

by

Sally Hawkins is currently at the top of Gold Derby’s Best Actress Oscar predictions for her role in Guillermo Del Toro‘s film “The Shape of Water.” The movie from the director of “Pan’s Labyrinth” tells the story of a mute young woman working as a janitor. Should Hawkins succeed in getting a nomination for this film, it wouldn’t be the first time that an actor has been nominated or even in some cases won an Oscar for a role in which they didn’t speak, or spoke very little. In the above photo gallery, Gold Derby looks back on 10 actors who have earned Academy Awards attention for such roles. Will Hawkins join this list?

More at: Silent Oscars: 10 Nonspeaking Roles Nominated At Academy Awards – Goldderby

Thatcher’s Legacy In British Culture

by

As regular readers will know, I have been following the footsteps of British writer and director Bruce Robinson in recent weeks. His name is not well known, but he is the creative genius behind cult 80s movie Withnail & I, its ‘follow-up’ How To Get Ahead in Advertising and, more recently, Jennifer Eight and The Rum Diary. The latter saw him coming out of exile at the request of producer Johnny Depp, who remembered Withnail and wanted him for Hunter S. Thompson’s memorable story about a journalist in Puerto Rico. In fact, my Robinson journey began with the fabulous but long book about Jack The Ripper.

What I realised yesterday evening, while chuckling through How To Get Ahead In Advertising, is that Robinson belongs to a group of 70s and 80s British creatives which includes people like Roger Waters and Ken Loach. What they all share is an instinctive disdain or even hatred for Margaret Thatcher and her vision for Britain. As a child of the 80s, I can only say that Thatcher was a peripheral figure at home. Appearing on the news, invariably to cries of ‘that bloody woman’ from the men in whichever house I was watching TV in, she was our most popular leader, yet absolutely nobody admitted to ever voting for her. This is not a piece about Thatcher, but about Thatcherism. [ . . . ]

More: Thatcher’s Legacy In British Culture | The Z Review

DVD/Blu-ray: Life Is Sweet review – exudes positivity

by
Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet
Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet

 

Sweet isn’t the right word; in Mike Leigh’s 1990 film, life is unfair, frustrating and confusing by turns. Though, despite the darkness, Life Is Sweet exudes positivity and remains one of Leigh’s funniest, most quotable features.Many of the best lines are mumbled by Timothy Spall’s grotesque would-be restauranteur Aubrey, especially when he’s talking us through the menu for his Edith Piaf-themed restaurant. Anyone for prune quiche? Saveloy on a bed of lychees? Or liver in lager? Spall here is a brilliant physical comedian, whether he’s capsizing a caravan or tumbling off an expensive orthopaedic bed. And our final glimpse of him, semi-conscious on the restaurant floor clad in stripey-fronts, is difficult to forget [ . . . ]

Read Full Review: DVD/Blu-ray: Life Is Sweet review – exudes positivity

Getting Naked Again: Revisiting Mike Leigh’s Naked

by

Tom Jolliffe takes a look back at Mike Leigh’s 1993 film, Naked

The other day I attended a special screening at The Prince Charles Cinema in London.
It was part of a specially curated selection of films (from NFTS) devoted to the vile and unlikeable. The first film of the series was Mike Leigh’s 1993 masterpiece, Naked. Leigh was there himself to introduce the film. It was a passing gesture more than anything, as I always feel of the self-effacing Leigh, that blowing one’s own trumpet isn’t his bag.

Read Full Story: Getting Naked Again: Revisiting Mike Leigh’s Naked