Emerald Fennell’s starry Saltburn opens this year’s festival, with Daniel Kaluuya’s directorial debut The Kitchen closing – bookending a banner year for UK cinema
When the 67th London film festival opens on 4 October, it will be with the international premiere of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, featuring an all-star cast including Barry Keoghan, Carey Mulligan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant. The “tale of privilege and desire” is the second feature from the Promising Young Woman director and follows an un-monied Oxford University student who becomes drawn into the beautiful and sophisticated world of a charming aristocrat.
With its nods to writers such as Evelyn Waugh and Alan Hollinghurst, and its shots of sprawling country estates, Saltburn is a quintessentially British film. And its prominent inclusion in the festival programme highlights what festival officials say is a significant year for British cinema.
When the 67th London film festival opens on 4 October, it will be with the international premiere of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, featuring an all-star cast including Barry Keoghan, Carey Mulligan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant. The “tale of privilege and desire” is the second feature from the Promising Young Woman director and follows an un-monied Oxford University student who becomes drawn into the beautiful and sophisticated world of a charming aristocrat.
With its nods to writers such as Evelyn Waugh and Alan Hollinghurst, and its shots of sprawling country estates, Saltburn is a quintessentially British film. And its prominent inclusion in the festival programme highlights what festival officials say is a significant year for British cinema.
- 10/3/2023
- by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent
- The Guardian - Film News
“We are nothing but a pair of old queens,” Hugh Grant tells his dining companion in the House of Commons near the start of Amazon’s new limited series “A Very English Scandal.” The frankness is startling given what we know about Grant, the leading man in any number of straight romantic comedies. And it comes to seem yet more striking as Grant’s character, the real-life member of Parliament Jeremy Thorpe, obfuscates endlessly about his desire through the series’s three-hour running time. He’s rarely ever open about desire, treating it as an embarrassing biological fact to be sated on brief hiatuses from heterosexual life.
The series, which first aired overseas on BBC One in May and comes to Amazon June 29, comes by its title honestly. U.K. talent (including director Stephen Frears and stars Grant and Ben Whishaw) suffuse the proceedings with a curious reticence, an enigmatic...
The series, which first aired overseas on BBC One in May and comes to Amazon June 29, comes by its title honestly. U.K. talent (including director Stephen Frears and stars Grant and Ben Whishaw) suffuse the proceedings with a curious reticence, an enigmatic...
- 6/20/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
Pop culture comes to life in St. Louis next month! It’s the Wizard World Comic Con May 22nd through the 24th at America’s Center downtown (701 Convention Plaza – St. Louis, Mo 63101), and boy oh boy, do they have an amazing line-up of guests!
Sure, you got the comic artists and cosplayers, wrestlers, a St. Louis Ram, a Power Ranger, and of course the ubiquitous Walking Dead stars, but what We Are Movie Geeks is most excited about are the celebrities from movies that will be on hand: Horror legend George Romero, Sharknado legend Tara Reid, horror hostess with the mostest (if you know what I mean) Elvira, Guardians Of The Galaxy tough guy Dave Bautista, Henry the serial killer himself Michael Rooker, Do The Right Thing’s ‘Buggin Out’ Giancarlo Esposito. Lord of the Rings Trilogy’s Pippin Billy Boyd, Captain America squeeze Hayley Atwell, and Silent Bob’s buddy Jay aka Jason Mewes.
Sure, you got the comic artists and cosplayers, wrestlers, a St. Louis Ram, a Power Ranger, and of course the ubiquitous Walking Dead stars, but what We Are Movie Geeks is most excited about are the celebrities from movies that will be on hand: Horror legend George Romero, Sharknado legend Tara Reid, horror hostess with the mostest (if you know what I mean) Elvira, Guardians Of The Galaxy tough guy Dave Bautista, Henry the serial killer himself Michael Rooker, Do The Right Thing’s ‘Buggin Out’ Giancarlo Esposito. Lord of the Rings Trilogy’s Pippin Billy Boyd, Captain America squeeze Hayley Atwell, and Silent Bob’s buddy Jay aka Jason Mewes.
- 4/20/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This stunning psychological drama takes place in an atmosphere of frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo
Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu Du Lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a stunning, confrontationally explicit psychological drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. He creates an atmosphere of absolutely frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo. I was reminded of Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library or Thom Gunn's poem The Discovery of the Pacific. But when a single, terrible event takes place, the mood swings to that of classic Hollywood suspense, like John M Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945) or George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), movies in which a beautiful lake becomes the epicentre of danger.
Christophe Paou plays Michel, a handsome, well-built man who comes to the lake and is instantly enamoured of Michel, played by Pierre Deladonchamps, who has already struck up a tender,...
Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu Du Lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a stunning, confrontationally explicit psychological drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. He creates an atmosphere of absolutely frank homoeroticism, utterly without inhibition or taboo. I was reminded of Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library or Thom Gunn's poem The Discovery of the Pacific. But when a single, terrible event takes place, the mood swings to that of classic Hollywood suspense, like John M Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven (1945) or George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), movies in which a beautiful lake becomes the epicentre of danger.
Christophe Paou plays Michel, a handsome, well-built man who comes to the lake and is instantly enamoured of Michel, played by Pierre Deladonchamps, who has already struck up a tender,...
- 2/21/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
More than 100 prominent people from literature, the arts, science, academia, human rights and the law have signed a declaration urging newspaper and magazine publishers to embrace the royal charter system of press regulation.
They join people who have been victims of press misbehaviour in arguing that charter will give "vital protection to the vulnerable" from abuse of power by the press.
The signatories include broadcasters Stephen Fry, Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Rory Bremner. Actor Emma Thompson has signed, as have Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir Jonathan Miller.
Several film directors are on the list, such as Stephen Frears, Alan Parker, Mike Leigh, Beeban Kidron, Guy Ritchie, Stephen Daldry, Bill Forsyth, Peter Kosminsky, Terry Gilliam and Michael Apted.
Among the writers and playwrights are Alan Bennett, William Boyd, Alan Ayckbourn, Tom Stoppard, Monica Ali, Helen Fielding, Michael Frayn, Ian McEwan, A C Grayling, David Hare, Alan Hollinghurst, Jk Rowling, Salman Rushdie,...
They join people who have been victims of press misbehaviour in arguing that charter will give "vital protection to the vulnerable" from abuse of power by the press.
The signatories include broadcasters Stephen Fry, Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Rory Bremner. Actor Emma Thompson has signed, as have Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir Jonathan Miller.
Several film directors are on the list, such as Stephen Frears, Alan Parker, Mike Leigh, Beeban Kidron, Guy Ritchie, Stephen Daldry, Bill Forsyth, Peter Kosminsky, Terry Gilliam and Michael Apted.
Among the writers and playwrights are Alan Bennett, William Boyd, Alan Ayckbourn, Tom Stoppard, Monica Ali, Helen Fielding, Michael Frayn, Ian McEwan, A C Grayling, David Hare, Alan Hollinghurst, Jk Rowling, Salman Rushdie,...
- 11/29/2013
- by Roy Greenslade
- The Guardian - Film News
Gay sex meets murder mystery – without sensationalism – in this gripping and complex French film by Alain Guiraudie
• Video: why you should go to the London film festival
• Captain Phillips - Peter Bradshaw's Lff review
The tired old trope "erotic thriller" does no justice to how confrontationally and explicitly sexual this movie is — nor how thrilling, nor how menacing and complex. Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu du lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a psychological suspense drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. Throughout the summer, guys drive up; they park in some patchy clearing, then walk down to the pebbly lakeside in singles and couples. They sunbathe, but there are no books or magazines or Kindles: the name of the game is returning each other's glances. They go swimming, mostly naked, and then stroll back into the surrounding woodland, for casual sex, bareback or with condoms,...
• Video: why you should go to the London film festival
• Captain Phillips - Peter Bradshaw's Lff review
The tired old trope "erotic thriller" does no justice to how confrontationally and explicitly sexual this movie is — nor how thrilling, nor how menacing and complex. Alain Guiraudie's L'Inconnu du lac, or Stranger by the Lake, is a psychological suspense drama set at a French lakeside cruising spot for gay men. Throughout the summer, guys drive up; they park in some patchy clearing, then walk down to the pebbly lakeside in singles and couples. They sunbathe, but there are no books or magazines or Kindles: the name of the game is returning each other's glances. They go swimming, mostly naked, and then stroll back into the surrounding woodland, for casual sex, bareback or with condoms,...
- 10/10/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The novelist talks to Emma Brockes about friendship, rivalry and being a '30-year overnight success'
Fiction asks a lot of people, says Meg Wolitzer, "to tell them that you need to learn about these characters, to take time out in your day from being frightened for your livelihood and your children, to think about Susan and Bill, who don't exist. It's a nervy thing to ask." She asks it of herself every time she sits down to write – "What fiction ought to do" – and the answer had better be good. "The anxiety makes me a stronger writer."
The Interestings, Wolitzer's ninth novel, is more ambitious than any she has written so far, tracking a group of friends from the moment they meet, at summer camp, up through the decades of their lives. It has done very well in the Us, so that at 54, Wolitzer has become, as a friend joked to her recently,...
Fiction asks a lot of people, says Meg Wolitzer, "to tell them that you need to learn about these characters, to take time out in your day from being frightened for your livelihood and your children, to think about Susan and Bill, who don't exist. It's a nervy thing to ask." She asks it of herself every time she sits down to write – "What fiction ought to do" – and the answer had better be good. "The anxiety makes me a stronger writer."
The Interestings, Wolitzer's ninth novel, is more ambitious than any she has written so far, tracking a group of friends from the moment they meet, at summer camp, up through the decades of their lives. It has done very well in the Us, so that at 54, Wolitzer has become, as a friend joked to her recently,...
- 8/10/2013
- by Emma Brockes
- The Guardian - Film News
Epic and erotic yet intimate – Abdellatif Kechiche's uncompromising story of an affair makes other films look tame
There's a devastating mix of eroticism and sadness in Abdellatif Kechiche's new film, which returns to the style and setting of his 2003 movie Games Of Love and Chance. It's the epic but intimate story of a love affair between two young women, unfolding in what seems like real time. There's an interestingly open, almost unfinished quality to the narrative, although this could just be because the print shown here in Cannes was still without credits. The film is acted with honesty and power by Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos; the affair itself is a little idealised, and the film is flawed by one rather histrionic scene, though not, I think, by its expansive three-hour length. Nonetheless, this is still a blazingly emotional and explosively sexy film, which reminds you how timidly unsexy most films are,...
There's a devastating mix of eroticism and sadness in Abdellatif Kechiche's new film, which returns to the style and setting of his 2003 movie Games Of Love and Chance. It's the epic but intimate story of a love affair between two young women, unfolding in what seems like real time. There's an interestingly open, almost unfinished quality to the narrative, although this could just be because the print shown here in Cannes was still without credits. The film is acted with honesty and power by Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos; the affair itself is a little idealised, and the film is flawed by one rather histrionic scene, though not, I think, by its expansive three-hour length. Nonetheless, this is still a blazingly emotional and explosively sexy film, which reminds you how timidly unsexy most films are,...
- 5/23/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
London -- Margaret Thatcher was not just a political titan, she was a cultural icon – skewered by comedians, transformed into a puppet and played to Oscar-winning perfection by Meryl Streep.
With her uncompromising politics, ironclad certainty, bouffant hairstyle and ever-present handbag, the late British leader was grist for comedians, playwrights, novelists and songwriters whether they loved her or – as was more often the case – hated her.
Satirical Target
Thatcher's free-market policies transformed and divided Britain, unleashing an outpouring of creative anger from her opponents. A generation of British comedians, from Ben Elton to Alexei Sayle, honed their talents lampooning Thatcher.
To the satirical puppeteers of popular 1980s TV series "Spitting Image," Thatcher was a cigar-smoking bully, a butcher with a bloody cleaver, a domineering leader ruling over her docile Cabinet. One famous sketch showed Thatcher and her ministers gathered for dinner. Thatcher ordered steak. "And what about the vegetables?" the waitress asked.
With her uncompromising politics, ironclad certainty, bouffant hairstyle and ever-present handbag, the late British leader was grist for comedians, playwrights, novelists and songwriters whether they loved her or – as was more often the case – hated her.
Satirical Target
Thatcher's free-market policies transformed and divided Britain, unleashing an outpouring of creative anger from her opponents. A generation of British comedians, from Ben Elton to Alexei Sayle, honed their talents lampooning Thatcher.
To the satirical puppeteers of popular 1980s TV series "Spitting Image," Thatcher was a cigar-smoking bully, a butcher with a bloody cleaver, a domineering leader ruling over her docile Cabinet. One famous sketch showed Thatcher and her ministers gathered for dinner. Thatcher ordered steak. "And what about the vegetables?" the waitress asked.
- 4/8/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
During rush hour, the London Underground is as populous as Glasgow. What happens to us when we travel on the tube, and how is this linked to its strange absence from film, TV and novels? John Lanchester investigates
The first District line train out of Upminster in the morning is the first train anywhere on the underground network. It leaves the depot at 4.53, the only train anywhere in the system to set out from its base before 5am. That's a kind of record: if you catch that train, you might be tempted to say ta-dah! – except you probably wouldn't, because nobody is thinking ta-dah! at seven minutes to five in the morning; certainly nobody on this train. People look barely awake, barely even alive. They feel the same way they look; I know because, this morning, I'm one of them.
I've lived in London for more than quarter of a century now,...
The first District line train out of Upminster in the morning is the first train anywhere on the underground network. It leaves the depot at 4.53, the only train anywhere in the system to set out from its base before 5am. That's a kind of record: if you catch that train, you might be tempted to say ta-dah! – except you probably wouldn't, because nobody is thinking ta-dah! at seven minutes to five in the morning; certainly nobody on this train. People look barely awake, barely even alive. They feel the same way they look; I know because, this morning, I'm one of them.
I've lived in London for more than quarter of a century now,...
- 3/2/2013
- by John Lanchester
- The Guardian - Film News
The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst’s account of a fictional British poet martyred by World War I, initially approaches its subject with as much delicacy as if he were real. That’s to his detriment. When given enough space, Cecil Valance, the poet whose legacy is developed in Hollinghurst’s fifth novel, loses his heroic sheen. Instead, he reflects a world that went on without him. A young British aristocrat, Cecil visits his friend George Sawle over their summer break from college at the Sawles’ comparatively modest home, presided over by the Widow Sawle and her straitlaced oldest son ...
- 10/12/2011
- avclub.com
From stage-door duties for the RSC, to the village famous for Straw Dogs, Observer writers reveal their idea of a perfect summer, past and present
● What are your tips for summer culture? Join the discussion
Kitty Empire
Pop critic
Let's be honest – the notion of summer as an extended golden period of rest and re-stimulation really now only applies to the young, the retired, or those in the teaching professions. The rest of us slog on, hoping to catch the odd festival (or maybe just gig in a park), marking time until camping in Cornwall or fly-drive to France, where finally luxuriating in the latest Alan Hollinghurst will come a distant second to stopping the youngest weeing in the hotel pool.
Once, though, I was artfully feckless too, making the rent by working as an usher for the Royal Shakespeare Company. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the...
● What are your tips for summer culture? Join the discussion
Kitty Empire
Pop critic
Let's be honest – the notion of summer as an extended golden period of rest and re-stimulation really now only applies to the young, the retired, or those in the teaching professions. The rest of us slog on, hoping to catch the odd festival (or maybe just gig in a park), marking time until camping in Cornwall or fly-drive to France, where finally luxuriating in the latest Alan Hollinghurst will come a distant second to stopping the youngest weeing in the hotel pool.
Once, though, I was artfully feckless too, making the rent by working as an usher for the Royal Shakespeare Company. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the...
- 8/1/2011
- by Kitty Empire, Mark Kermode, Rowan Moore, Philip French, Susannah Clapp, Laura Cumming, Luke Jennings, Fiona Maddocks, Rachel Cooke, Robert McCrum
- The Guardian - Film News
Our critics pick the season's highlights: From Lady Gaga to Harry Potter, Coppélia to Tony Cragg, this summer has something for all
May
4 Film The Tree of Life
The much-delayed fifth feature from director Terrence Malick, snapped up by Icon for UK release ahead of its Cannes showing, is a multi-generational drama featuring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn – and, reportedly, dinosaurs.
5 Classical From the House of the Dead
Opera North's production of Janáek's final work, directed by John Fulljames and conducted by Richard Farnes. Stars Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Alan Oke and Roderick Williams. Leeds and touring
Dance By Singing Light/Romance Inverse
National Dance Company of Wales bring Stephen Petronio and Itzik Galili's arresting double bill to Dance City in Newcastle, with the former set to the poetry of Dylan Thomas.
6 Theatre Shrek
Nigel Lindsay plays the lime-coloured, lovelorn ogre, with Amanda Holden as Princess Fiona and Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad,...
May
4 Film The Tree of Life
The much-delayed fifth feature from director Terrence Malick, snapped up by Icon for UK release ahead of its Cannes showing, is a multi-generational drama featuring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn – and, reportedly, dinosaurs.
5 Classical From the House of the Dead
Opera North's production of Janáek's final work, directed by John Fulljames and conducted by Richard Farnes. Stars Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Alan Oke and Roderick Williams. Leeds and touring
Dance By Singing Light/Romance Inverse
National Dance Company of Wales bring Stephen Petronio and Itzik Galili's arresting double bill to Dance City in Newcastle, with the former set to the poetry of Dylan Thomas.
6 Theatre Shrek
Nigel Lindsay plays the lime-coloured, lovelorn ogre, with Amanda Holden as Princess Fiona and Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad,...
- 4/30/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Stepping out to support her designer pal, Sienna Miller was spotted out in London, England on Wednesday evening (May 26).
The "Factory Girl" actress proudly flaunted her stylish new bangy hairdo as she posed alongside Matthew Williamson for his new store opening.
In related news, Miss Miller is rumored to be pondering a role in the stage show "Birdsong," which is scheduled to open at the Comedy Theatre on September 29th with previews beginning on September 18th.
According to the report, "[Miller] is said to be pursuing the role of Isabelle after playing the part in an early read-through of the play in February...Dan Stevens, the actor who played the lead in the BBC's adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's novel, The Line of Beauty, is thought to be in the running for the role of Stephen."...
The "Factory Girl" actress proudly flaunted her stylish new bangy hairdo as she posed alongside Matthew Williamson for his new store opening.
In related news, Miss Miller is rumored to be pondering a role in the stage show "Birdsong," which is scheduled to open at the Comedy Theatre on September 29th with previews beginning on September 18th.
According to the report, "[Miller] is said to be pursuing the role of Isabelle after playing the part in an early read-through of the play in February...Dan Stevens, the actor who played the lead in the BBC's adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's novel, The Line of Beauty, is thought to be in the running for the role of Stephen."...
- 5/27/2010
- GossipCenter
Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to aftereltonflyingmonkey@yahoo.com! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)
Q: I can't help feeling a little tingle when watching George Clooney. He seems so gay even though he never played a gay role. It's the twinkle in his eyes. His male friends are all dreamy and the women he's been attached to seem like they could care less. Is he the big gay secret in Hollywood, like Rock Hudson was? – Price, West Palm Beach, Fl
George Clooney
A: That little tingle you feel is called “being alive.” That said, Clooney seems unbelievably straight to me – the kind of man we here in Seattle call a “Seattle Straight Guy.” That means he’s thoughtful, articulate, fit, liberal as hell, well-dressed and well-groomed, but thoroughly straight, even as he’s totally cool with gay people.
If you mistake a Seattle Straight Guy for gay,...
Q: I can't help feeling a little tingle when watching George Clooney. He seems so gay even though he never played a gay role. It's the twinkle in his eyes. His male friends are all dreamy and the women he's been attached to seem like they could care less. Is he the big gay secret in Hollywood, like Rock Hudson was? – Price, West Palm Beach, Fl
George Clooney
A: That little tingle you feel is called “being alive.” That said, Clooney seems unbelievably straight to me – the kind of man we here in Seattle call a “Seattle Straight Guy.” That means he’s thoughtful, articulate, fit, liberal as hell, well-dressed and well-groomed, but thoroughly straight, even as he’s totally cool with gay people.
If you mistake a Seattle Straight Guy for gay,...
- 1/11/2010
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
- ComingSoon.net premiered the new one-sheet earlier today for Kiera Knightley's latest pic, The Duchess. A very regal looking Knightley peers out with pouty lips and a wig that will send some drag queens running for their money, dressed to the nines as the notoriously fashionable Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire. Appearing alongside the starlet will be Ralph Fiennes as her husband the Duke as well as Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper and Charlotte Rampling. Check out the one-sheet below. Quite the fashionista herself, Knightley should have no problem filling these royal shoes. An ancestor of Princess Diana, Spencer has been described as the original "It Girl," a constant topic amongst the aristocracy of her time. Knightley is no stranger to the public's attention, garnering a name for herself as she frequently appears on various "hot lists" and magazine covers. Spencer and Knightley also share their penchant for controversy
- 7/15/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
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