BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL

Susan and I enjoy taking random punts on films in the various Film Festivals that Palace Cinemas put on. Although I miss the comfort of Palace Pentridge (as I’ve whinged before), the Luna on Essex art house cinema isn’t too far away. The most recent collection of films has been the British Film Festival but just in case you have a chance to see them, here’s one to recommend and one to avoid.

I love Brian Cox and valued his work long before the extraordinary portrayal of the patriarch in Succession. The first time I saw him perform was in a BBC series called The Devil’s Crown about the first three Plantagenet kings. It’s never been released on DVD so I’ll just have to live off the memory of how powerful he was as Henry II.
I’ve only had the chance to see him perform live once – in a Conor McPherson play, St Nicholas, in New York in 1998. If you want to check the precursor to his work in Succession, check out his performance in The Straits on ABC iview, set in Far North Queensland.

All of which is a way of excusing the fact that I’m now going to rather rude about Cox. A brilliant actor but a terrible film director. His first directorial work, Glenrothan, as an utterly tedious story set in Scotland. Even the landscape looks dull in this unimaginative piece of work. Avoid at all costs.

On the other hand Fackham Hall (try saying it with a working class English accent) is a delight of slapstick humour. It’s a spoof on all Downton Abbey-style movies with lots of physical humour. It’s even slightly smutty which is not usually my taste but it’s got every comedic trope you can think off – upstairs/downstairs, the missing heir, love at first sight, hunting accidents, inheritance, murder. Lots of fun.



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