Home//Total Film/December 2023/In This Issue
Total Film|December 2023TOTAL FILM THE SMARTER MOVIE MAGAZINEThis month we celebrate the rebels, the mavericks, the renegades – those who rage against the machine and look cool doing it. Bikers on film have always been dudes, from The Wild One to Easy Rider, and Jeff Nichols’ ode to the open road and the thrill of a Harley rev, The Bikeriders, taps into all those feels. Find out which of the actors actually bought a vintage hog after falling in love with biker culture on page 30. I loved talking to Nichols, especially when I told him about my obsession with accents and he whipped out his phone to play me Danny Lyon's original interviews with Kathy and the bikeriders! We're also celebrating celluloid's disruptors and the crew fighting back in Zack Snyder's long-gestating space opera, Rebel Moon.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023HOT RIGHT NOWBefore Callum Turner embraced acting, he wanted to be a footballer. In a sense, he still does. On screen, the 33-year-old British actor's team spirit, humble charisma and physicality have proved vital assets, as they surely will again in two major incoming projects.Turner will soon be seen slicing through the water in The Boys in the Boat, George Clooney's Depression-era film about a university rowing crew. Shortly after, he'll be found joining forces with exec producer Steven Spielberg for Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air, the high-flying sibling show to Band of Brothers and The Pacific.He certainly put in the training to get here. Raised on a Chelsea council estate by his mum, a nightclub promoter, Turner has steadily amassed a body of work that showcases his sporting attributes and…2 min
Total Film|December 2023YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?You talkin’ to me?I am. It's part of the job really if you choose this kind of work. You have to open yourself up to people coming up to you on the street and try not to let it get on top of you and be cool. It always seems to happen when you're in the middle of a massive argument, though. Somebody will come up and say ‘Can we get a picture?’ and you're like, ‘Erm, not right now.’ Obviously, people don't know what's going on in your life so it's not their fault. You just have to deal with it as kindly as possible!What will you be drinking, sir?Right now, a coffee. I wouldn't mind a negroni after work as I'm in Rome. A cheeky negroni goes a…4 min
Total Film|December 2023THE RESCUERIn 1988, a special edition of the BBC programme That's Life! told the story of Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a British stockbroker who helped evacuate 669 predominantly Jewish children from Prague in the lead-up to World War Two. Winton, then almost 80, thought the show was a chance for him to share his experience with the nation, but it was really a surprise reunion, where dozens of those he helped save 50 years prior were waiting in the audience.Director James Hawes says watching the moment where the real Winton realises what is happening makes him weep every time, and always left him wondering: ‘What's the story that leads up to that moment in the That's Life! studio?’ One Life, he tells Teasers, is an attempt to work this out.‘The key thing…2 min
Total Film|December 2023FEATHER REPORTThere's a Bond-esque scale to Dawn of the Nugget,’ says director Sam Fell (Paranorman). No eggs-aggeration here, for this long-awaited sequel to the beloved Aardman animation has blockbuster ambitions. Switching a break-out for a break-in, chicken Ginger (Thandiwe Newton), rooster Rocky (Zachary Levi) and their fine-feathered friends find they must leave the safety of their idyllic island chicken sanctuary to rescue one of their flock from a hi-tech nugget factory about to usher in the fast-food era. ‘What could be a more apocalyptic event than the dawn of the nugget for chickenkind?’ Fell says.BEAK TRADINGIn the 23 years since ChickenRun, technology has advanced exponentially, but Aardman remains reassuringly committed to tradition. ‘It's very directly handmade,’ says Fell. ‘There's a warmth to that.’ But that doesn't mean the stop-motion masters haven't…3 min
Total Film|December 2023MAGIC NUMBERSAre you sitting comfortably? Then Russell T. Davies will begin. ‘There are two people who were once friends [a man and a woman]. One of them, he's now forgotten. And it's like a spell has been cast over her. If she remembers her friend, she might die.’For more details, take a TARDIS jaunt to 2008. When Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) absorbed a potentially fatal dose of Time Lord knowledge, David Tennant's 10th Doctor wiped her overloaded memory to save her life. And if her memory returns… Ignore the High Gallifreyan bafflegab of ‘humanTime Lord meta-crisis'; simplicity is the key here, suggests Davies, alert to those viewers who ‘weren't even born’ 15 years ago. ‘It's like a fairy tale, a classic, mythic story to step into. For the fans, there's great…4 min
Total Film|December 2023RIDEOR DIEJeff Nichols has never been a biker. Or interested in motorbikes. Hell, he doesn't even own one. But the Mud and Take Shelter writer-director knows what cool looks like. He knew it when he saw Danny Lyon's book of photos on his brother's bedroom floor decades ago: ‘It was the most complete view of a subculture I'd ever seen – it honestly felt like ingredients or instructions to go and make a movie’. And he knew it when he met Austin Butler pre-Elvis accolades: ‘There is a real thing to being a movie star, and he has it. The temperature in this room would change if he walked into it.’Marrying the two – with Butler playing wildcard Benny, a man who fights first and asks questions later – Nichols’ latest…14 min
Total Film|December 2023ROAD TOREBELLION1922-PRESENT ROBIN HOODDouglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Kevin CostnerREBELLING AGAINST? The legendary outlaw in Lincoln green who stole from the rich to give to the poor has been a staple of English folklore since the 14th century. The film Robin, though, takes his cue from Douglas Fairbanks’ portrayal in 1922, his debonair earl turned arrow-slinging brigand establishing a cast-iron template that would be subsequently recycled by Errol Flynn in 1938, Kevin Costner in 1991, and countless other imitators.ICONIC MOMENT Kev firing that slow-motion flaming arrow in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.1933 WILD BOYS OF THE ROADEddie (Frankie Darro), Tommy (Edwin Phillips), Sally (Dorothy Coonan)REBELLING AGAINST? Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 2013 alongside Pulp Fiction and Mary Poppins, William Wellman's tale of teenage dropouts who become railroading hobos was…13 min
Total Film|December 2023The Spider Dance‘That's not motion capture. It's Jena [Malone] in 80-85% of the scenes. It's one of the sequences that kept me up the most, but one of the creatures that I'm really proud of. So we had Jena. She was in full make-up effects, and we basically seamed her with a digital creature at the hips. Sometimes up to the naval, depending on what action was happening.‘What was really cool with that sequence was we had, depending on the shot, anywhere from three to six stunt performers that would have pool noodles acting as her legs, that [Bae] Doona could react to, and dodge.‘We had this rig that would go up and down. It was called the swivel rig, but we could also move it. So that was where the stunt…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ALEXANDER PAYNE‘TODAY WHEN YOU MAKE A HUMAN MOVIE WHERE SOMEBODY DOESN'T FLY, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SHRINK-WRAPPED BUDGET.’Alexander Payne is back, not a moment too soon. When Total Film meets the writerdirector of About Schmidt, Election and Nebraska, ensconced in a first-floor suite in the Soho Hotel, he's on the London leg of his festival tour for The Holdovers, the eighth film of his career. Now 62, he's only here briefly before jetting off to Lyon and Paris to spread the word on this hugely satisfying comedy-drama. It marks a long overdue reunion with Paul Giamatti, his star from 2004's Sideways, the film that truly put Payne on the map, winning him and co-writer Jim Taylor an Oscar each for Best Adapted Screenplay.At that point, Payne had already established himself…19 min
Total Film|December 2023MAY DECEMBER 15 An actor prepares…OUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMAS8 DECEMBER SKY CINEMA/NOWLoosely inspired by a true story (search Mary Kay Letourneau if you want to know more), Todd Haynes’ latest catches up with a married couple – Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) – whose age-gap relationship sparked a tabloid storm two decades earlier. Their seemingly happy relationship starts to buckle when Hollywood actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film she's making about their lives.On the one hand, May December's sensitive subject matter makes for an uncomfortable watch at times; on the other, it's vastly entertaining. Haynes’ attention to detail is typically superb: check out his canny use of mirrors, highlighting just how much Elizabeth is trying to imitate Gracie.Both Moore and Portman are sensational, fully committing to the almost…1 min
Total Film|December 2023THE MISSION TBCOUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMASThe fine line between faith and folly is vividly explored in this documentary account of 20something US missionary John Allen Chau. In 2018, Chau illegally travelled to the Indian island of North Sentinel, with the aim of converting its indigenous people to Christianity. Co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Boys State) reconstruct Chau's story via interviews with friends and colleagues, animations, clips from feature films and footage from an earlier anthropological visit to the same location. The end result is a rigorous interrogation of the ethical basis of missionary projects.A24, ALTITUDE, ENTERTAINMENT, KALEIDOS COPE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, NETFLIX, ROCKET SCIENCE, SKY, WARNER BROS.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023DURAN DURAN: A HOLLYWOOD HIGH PGOUT NOW DIGITALThe New Romantic veterans’ links to LA provide a flimsy premise for this hybrid of docu-concert movie and album puff piece. While the four band members are engaged interviewees – on/off guitarist Andy Taylor is only mentioned – the positing of ‘fame… star culture’ as the motifs that tie Duran to Hollywood offer a tenuous cue for a rooftop gig, plugging 2021 album Future Past alongside a few hits. Simon Le Bon is in decent voice on Come Undone and Ordinary World, but the smallscale event whiffs of exclusivity and corporate ties, with the nearby Capitol Records tower in full view.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023GIRL 12AOUT 24 NOVEMBER CINEMASAdura Onashile's Glasgow-set immigrant drama explores the fine line between mothering and smothering. Struggling to suppress past trauma, highly strung Grace (Déborah Lukumuena) finds her close bond with daughter Ama (an auspicious debut for newcomer Le'Shantey Bonsu) strained when adolescence blooms. For Ama, the boundaries Grace has imposed to keep them safe are becoming ever more constrictive. Onashile's spare script arguably leaves a little too much unspoken, but her disarmingly tender tale is elevated by vibrant lensing from DoP Tasha Back and Ré Olunuga's ear-catching score.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023GIVE ME PITY! TBCOUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMAS, DIGITALFramed as a ‘Saturday night television special’, director Amanda Kramer's garish take on celebrity and derangement is a slender but exuberant curio. Bette Midler's daughter Sophie von Haselberg brings gusto to her role as Sissy St. Claire, a variety-esque performer staging a camppsychedelic one-woman show. But among her pep talks and paeans to Jesus – now he could self-promote! – shadows lurk. Kramer's saying nothing deep about the desire for fame, but it's how she says it that counts: if John Waters reimagined Joker under a mirrorball, the result might look like this trippy fancy.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023WELCOME TO THE DARKNESS 15OUT 9 NOVEMBER CINEMASPower chords, puerile humour and hints of poignancy propel this amiable portrait of Lowestoft pomp-rockers The Darkness. Director Simon Emmett plots the band's small-venues reunion tour intimately, before flashing back to trace their short, sharp initial rise/ fall. While he doesn't quite define the Marmite band's appeal, Emmett does explore singer Justin Hawkins’ personality and polyps crises. Most crucially, a tale of two brothers emerges: gradually, Justin's touching bond with sibling Dan (guitars) comes to dominate a story told with wit, warmth and willy gags to spare.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023EILEEN 15 Jail bonding…OUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASNext to Last Night in Soho, Thomasin McKenzie's previous foray into psychosexual thriller territory, Eileen might at first be dubbed Drab Days in Massachusetts. Until, that is, exotic Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) flutters into the title character's life: a startling femme fatale in fire-engine red who offers McKenzie's timid prison staffer both a Carol-esque whiff of temptation and the chance to escape the grim juvenile-detention facility she works at when not pandering to her drunken ex-cop of a father (Shea Whigham).Seven years on from Lady Macbeth, British director William Oldroyd – here working from Ottessa Moshfegh's 60s-set 2015 novel – brings us another female-led story about a young woman kicking against her restricted circ*mstances, this time in a literal prison. But halfway through, a neat reversal deftly diverts…1 min
Total Film|December 2023DESPERATION ROAD 18OUT 20 NOVEMBER DIGITALAn ex-convict and a struggling single mother struggle to keep their heads above water in this blood-and-whiskey-soaked Southern noir, set in small-town Mississippi. Stars Garrett Hedlund and Willa Fitzgerald (the Scream TV series) simmer with intensity as director Nadine Crocker turns up the heat, building a tightening sense of dread. The atmosphere can feel oppressively bleak, but a grizzled Mel Gibson (as Hedlund's estranged dad) brings unexpected warmth amid all the trauma and bloodshed. What really keeps you invested, though, is the palpable chemistry between the two leads.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023QUEENDOM TBCOUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASAgniia Galdanova's harrowing but impactful documentary follows 21-year-old non-binary Russian performance artist Gena Marvin, who dresses in otherworldly costumes to protest against the regressive regime. Shot in an intimate, unflashy style, it shows first-hand the harassment they face, from abuse in the street, to being escorted from shops and enduring shocking bursts of violence. It's a tough watch, particularly when Russia invades Ukraine and increases its oppression of LGBTQ+ people, but as Marvin puts it, ‘I take all that pain and I use it in my art.’…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ANATOMY OF A FALL 15 Hüller crunch time…OUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMASA man lies dead in the Alpine snow below the chalet he shared with writer wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller) and their 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). Did he fall? Did he jump? Or was Samuel (Samuel Theis) the victim of some fatal foul play? Suspecting the latter, the authorities try Sandra for his murder.So far, so courtroom drama. But in Justine Triet's riveting Palme d'Or winner, the trial is only the beginning of a forensic exploration of a complicated defendant, a couple at odds and a mother's relationship with her son. Before an implacable judge (Anne Rotger) and a relentless prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz), Sandra is forced to account for every action, fiction and extramarital liaison that might be used to refute her protestations of innocence. Visually…1 min
Total Film|December 2023THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER 12A Swin-Swin situation…OUT 24 NOVEMBER CINEMASA tale of grief that's slight but armed with two Tilda Swintons, The Eternal Daughter is Joanna Hogg's take on 40s psychological mystery. Think Rebecca, but with more hot-water bottles. The plot sees the elderly Rosalind (an aged-up Swinton) whisked away to a fusty manor-house hotel by her ‘fusspot’ filmmaker daughter Julie (Swinton again). As fog curls around the grounds and windows shimmer with possible spectres, Julie attempts to write a screenplay about her mother, trying to tease information out of someone clearly hiding fissures of emotional pain.That explorative screenplay is the one we're watching play out in front of us, which may feel self-indulgently meta from the off for some viewers. Still, there's the pleasure of Hogg's knack for capturing recognisable human interaction. On the surface…1 min
Total Film|December 2023SCARFACE 18 Say hello again to De Palma's classic…1983OUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASThe World Is Yours’ blinks the message on a Goodyear blimp, inspiring Cuban immigrant Tony Montana (Al Pacino) to rise to the top in a hail of bullets and a cloud of cocaine. Brian De Palma's flash, brash crime movie enjoyed the same trajectory. Beloved by cinephiles and gangsta rappers alike, it flooded popular culture like Montana's white powder floods the streets of Miami.Back in cinemas for its 40th anniversary, the film that became so many people's little friend on VHS, DVD and streaming can now be viewed big, its gaudy sets, bravura camerawork and extreme violence (for the time, normalised since) sensationally supersized. Largest of all is Pacino, mumbling vowels, munching furniture. Montana is impulsive and reckless and succeeds by sheer force of will. Subtlety doesn't…1 min
Total Film|December 2023CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY PG1951OUT NOW BD, DVD, DIGITALEXTRASFeaturettes, Premiere footage, Stills galleryA Black priest (Canada Lee) and a white landowner (Charles Carson) are thrown together by an act of violence in Zoltan Korda's adaptation of Alan Paton's book, shot with some guile in apartheidera South Africa. Best remembered for Sidney Poitier's charismatic turn as an indignant reverend, the film (here with a 4K restoration) tells an affecting story with too much decorum. Yet decent extras make it worth discovering, not least by those who've seen the 1995 James Earl Jones/Richard Harris version…1 min
Total Film|December 2023HIGH TENSION 182003OUT 27 NOVEMBERBD, 4K UHD, DUAL FORMATEXTRASCommentary, Making of, Featurettes, Booklet, Art cardsShocking violence is twinned with uncompromising storytelling in Alexandre Aja's breakthrough horror (aka Switchblade Romance), back to turn heads anew with an extras-packed reissue. As student Marie (Cécile de France) pursues a relentless sad*st who kidnapped her best friend (Maïwenn), the director-co-writer meshes slasher/exploitation tropes with avant-garde bravura. Its ruthless efficiency is overshadowed by the jarring final act, but this remains a pivotal work of extreme cinema. Dual-format edition comes with a 70-page booklet.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023TARGETS 15 Horror gets real…1968OUT NOW BDEXTRASCommentaries, Documentary, Featurettes, Stills gallery, BookletNo one's afraid of a painted monster,’ sighs retiring horror icon Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff, essentially playing himself) as he views rushes of his latest Victorian horror film. Little does he realise that he'll soon be confronting the modern terror of a young sniper whose random killing spree takes in the drive-in theatre where Orlok is making a personal appearance.This excellent BFI Blu-ray features a gorgeous restoration overseen by director Peter Bogdanovich (who died in January 2022), docs, interviews, a Bogdanovich commentary and a brand-new chat track by film historian Peter Tonguette. The making-of story is repeated numerous times, but it's a cracker: Karloff owed Roger Corman two days of filming, so the spendthrift producer asked Bogdanovich to capture 20 minutes’ worth of…1 min
Total Film|December 2023PLAYING IT YULE Let the gaming begin…MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN 2RRP FROM £62.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSInsomniac Games’ sequel serves up two webslingers for the price of one. Peter Parker and Miles Morales join forces to save New York from Kraven the Hunter, a fearsome foe seeking to test himself against the Big Apple's myriad supervillains. New gadgets offer even smoother and more versatile combat and traversal in this wonderfully sleek, nimble-footed blockbuster.01 META QUEST 3RRP £479.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSThe latest virtual-reality headset from Zuckerberg and co offers a significant improvement in fidelity, power and storage over its predecessor. And that's not all: gazumping Apple's costly Vision Pro (due out in early 2024), it comes with two cameras and a depth projector, supporting full-colour passthrough so your VR experiences can blend with the room you're playing in.MUST HAVE02 SUPER MARIO BROS.…2 min
Total Film|December 2023IS IT BOLLOCKS?THIS MONTH BLUE BEETLEQ Does Blue Beetle's animated TV show really exist?In Blue Beetle, George Lopez's Uncle Rudy helps Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) break into the villainous Kord facility by obscuring the security guards’ computer screens with a cartoon titled CH. The cartoon, which also serves as the final post-credits scene, does exist in reality, but not quite as we see it in the DC universe. Blue Beetle's CH is a claymation version of the live-action series El Chapulín Colorado, a popular superhero spoof that's rife with uniquely Mexican and Latino humour. The title translates to either ‘The Red Grasshopper’ or ‘The Cherry Cricket’, and, in the original, the eponymous hero was played by Ramón Valdés, a comedian best known for the sitcom El Chavo del Ocho. There is no…1 min
Total Film|December 2023HINDSIGHT CORNER IAN McKELLAN1987Patrick Stewart: ‘When I told [Ian McKellan] I was going to sign the contract [for Star Trek: The Next Generation], he almost bodily prevented me from doing so. ‘‘No!” he said. “No, you must not do that. You must not. You have too much important theatre work to do. You can't throw that away to do TV. You can't. No!”’Years later‘In the years since, we have become dear pals and X-Men colleagues, and Ian has acknowledged that he was wrong and I was right. More than once, in fact – primarily because I like making him say those words.’…1 min
Total Film|December 2023LAST TIME IS THIS THE GREATEST ERA FOR ANIMATION?KIEREN McSWEENEYThe recent Spider-Verse and Turtles movies look sloppy. It's good to see today's generation has found a style, but it doesn't measure up to the classics (Disney or not).JUSSI KANGAModern animation offers much more personality and diversity than what was available when I was a kid. I'm kinda jealous of my children.THOMAS J. PARSONSIf it ain't done by Don Bluth [The Secret of NIMH] or Ralph Bakshi [1978's The Lord of the Rings], I don't give a sh*t. A lot of today's animated films look and feel the same.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023TERENCE DAVIESAll my films are about outsiders because I'm an outsider,’ said Terence Davies, who died on 7 October aged 77. The Liverpool-raised director was a filmmaker with a voice entirely his own: at once ascetic and warm, austere and fully felt, his eight-film legacy brooks few comparisons.Any exploration of Davies’ work begins at home. Raised Catholic, the youngest of a working-class family with 10 children, he was subjected to abuse from his ‘psychotic’ father and bullied for his hom*osexuality at school. Comfort came from his mother and movies: classic Hollywood musicals and melodramas.In the ‘Terence Davies Trilogy’ of shorts – Children, Madonna and Child, and Death and Transfiguration (1976-83) – he tapped into these formative experiences deeply. His first feature proper, the diptych Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), explores his…2 min
Total Film|December 2023MICHAEL GAMBONROUGH DIAMOND‘I like being rough round the edges,’ the late Michael Gambon said. ‘A big, interesting old bugger.’ Born in Dublin, 1940, he was a trained toolmaker and set builder but untrained actor, who brought light-footed instinct and craft to his roles. His career started when he blagged a role in Othello (1962) in Dublin and then joined Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company, auditioning – cheekily - with a Richard III soliloquy.THE GREAT GAMBON(D)His film debut was Othello (1965), courtesy of Olivier, before a role in swashbuckling TV show The Borderers (1968-70) banked him an invitation to audition for James Bond. Gambon refused, but screen service continued in Nothing but the Night (1973) and The Beast Must Die (1974). Meanwhile, he chalked up stage turns of great presence and precision…2 min
Total Film|December 2023EROTIC THRILLERSEASY1 Live Flesh marked the first of many collaborations between Pedro Almodóvar and which actor? 2 Lust, Caution (2007) was Ang Lee's follow-up to which romantic drama? 3 Eyes Wide Shut earned a Guinness World Record for what reason? 4 Which classic 40s noir is often cited as a major influence on 1981's Body Heat? 5 Name the chart-topping single by UB40 that featured on the soundtrack to Sliver.MEDIUM1 Which 1994 erotic thriller ‘won’ the Razzie for Worst Picture? 2 Bridget Gregory is the name of the anti-heroine in which movie? 3 What's the name of the rock-star character slain at the start of Basic Instinct? 4 Which 1993 erotic thriller features an appearance by Billy Connolly? 5 Which of these was not directed by Brian De Palma? a) Passion;…1 min
Total Film|December 2023CALL SHEET THIS ISSUE'S EXTRASNEWS EDITORJORDAN FARLEY@JORDANFARLEYDuring my chat with Zack Snyder, he casually pulled an unassuming notebook off the shelf, which turned out to be his original sketches and storyboards for 300. I resisted the urge to bellow, ‘This is art-a!’CONTRIBUTING EDITORNEIL SMITH@TOTALFILMI flew to Rome this month to spend a day on a film set with what felt like every fly in Italy. Can't tell you more at this stage, but will reveal all soon…CONTRIBUTING EDITORLEILA LATIF@LEILA_LATIFAt Martin Scorsese's incredible LFF screen talk, I was sitting behind his daughter Francesca. A reference to their TikToks together got as big a cheer as Goodfellas. Rightly so!REVIEWS EDITORMATTHEW LEYLAND@TOTALFILM_MATTLI was Loki enough to explore the TVA Experience pop-up in London, solving time puzzles, interviewing ‘prisoners’ and eating key lime pie. By the end, I…1 min
Total Film|December 2023BRIEF ENCOUNTERSI wasn't interested in telling a traditional ghost story,’ says Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years). Unlike the 1987 Japanese novel that it adapts, Haigh's latest film, All of Us Strangers, is anything but traditional. Instead, it takes the novel's central conceit – what if you could meet your deceased parents again? – as the inspiration for a tender tale about love, acceptance and the lingering effects of grief.‘I'd been looking to tell a story that balanced familial love and romantic love, and showed how intertwined they were,’ Haigh tells Teasers. ‘This offered that chance because there could be conversations between characters that, in a regular drama, you would not be able to have.’Andrew Scott stars as Adam, a lonely screenwriter living in an almost empty London tower block with only…2 min
Total Film|December 2023WATER TORTUREThe latest spook-'em-up from producer Jason Blum and the horrormovie magnates of Blumhouse is their haunted swimming-pool movie. Based on a celebrated 2014 short, this extrapolated feature follows an all-American family who discover their pool is home to a malignant spirit.Night Swim's journey to feature length came after Blumhouse director and producer James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring) found himself profoundly unsettled by its original iteration: ‘He was swimming in his pool that night afterwards and thought he saw a figure from the short film standing there,’ writer-director Bryce McGuire tells Teasers. ‘The next day when I met with him, [he said] “Dude, your short scared me. We have to talk.”’Stars Kerry Condon and Wyatt Russell play the parents beset by their pool spook: an athlete, battling careerending injuries, and his…2 min
Total Film|December 2023WILD ONEPerverse is a word that critics have applied to both of William Oldroyd's feature films. His first, 2016's Lady Macbeth – the movie that flung Florence Pugh to fame – depicted a young woman sold into marriage to an older man. Oppressed, suffocated and abused, she finds a way to fight back and gain a sense of freedom – also the basis for Oldroyd's latest, Eileen.Both films are period pieces based on novels; Eileen on Ottessa Moshfegh's acclaimed 2015 debut of the same name. We're invited to empathise with the protagonists of both films, but each is complex with aspects we might condemn or dislike.‘[Eileen] was just a character I thought was exceptional,’ Oldroyd tells Teasers. ‘Only afterwards did I realise that I'd made two films back-to-back about young women…2 min
Total Film|December 2023DE WINTER IS COMINGYou wait decades for a French-language version of Alexandre Dumas’ sprawling classic The Three Musketeers, and along comes director Martin Bourboulon to deliver his lavish two-part adaptation in the space of just eight months. This spring saw the release of the rollicking D'Artagnan, in which the handsome youngster (François Civil, right) travels to Paris in 1627 to enlist in the King's Guard, where he teams up with swordsmen Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmaï) and Aramis (Romain Duris) as the country teeters on the brink of civil war. This December sees the arrival of the second instalment, Milady, where Eva Green, hitherto playing a supporting character in the story, takes centre stage as a treacherous spy in the pay of Cardinal Richelieu.D'Artagnan proved a resounding success at the French box…2 min
Total Film|December 2023HIDDEN DEPTHSFrom the music of the Buena Vista Social Club to the dance rhythms of Pina Bausch, director Wim Wenders has crafted a fine sideline in documentaries about some of the world's most idiosyncratic creatives. To which he now adds Anselm, a stunning 3D look at the work of fellow German Anselm Kiefer. The painter and sculptor, famed for such works as The Hierarchy of Angels and The Secret Life of Plants, has long fascinated Wenders, who at 78 is exactly the same age as his subject.‘Right now I feel his work is utterly contemporary,’ says the director, when Total Film catches up with Wenders at the Zurich Film Festival. ‘There's a presence of war in his work, there's a presence of crime in his work. There's a presence of crime…2 min
Total Film|December 2023LIVE FREE OR DYEDid you stick to the hair the real characters had in the book?Most of the characters, we really tried to stick with their look in the book. Some, we went away from, like [Tom Hardy's] Johnny. We wanted him to have more of a sort of 50s feel to his hair, because he was an older guy. For [Jodie Comer's] Kathy, I didn't feel like that really dark hair was going to look good on Jodie. I went darker than she is normally, but not as dark as what Kathy was. She had two wigs. One wig for the 60s, and one wig for the 70s. Austin looks remarkably like [his character] Benny so I cut his hair in kind of a square, pompadour style and then cut his hair…2 min
Total Film|December 2023SNYDER-VERSEI n a roundabout way, you could say Rebel Moon was Zack Snyder's first film. Yes, it's about to release, in two parts, some 20 years into Snyder's feature filmmakingcareer. But Snyder first had the idea for Rebel Moon almost four decades ago, when Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and the DCEU were distant dreams. And it hasn't been far from his thoughts ever since.‘It came from a pitch class I had at college,’ the director recalls over Zoom from his home office, where Total Film eyes Snyder-related paraphernalia dotted around the room, including a pile of books with King Leonidas’ helmet perched on top. ‘I said it was like a cross between The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven set in space. Part of the conversation was: “Why would…10 min
Total Film|December 2023SNYDER signatures#1 SUBVERSIVE INSTINCTS‘The thing that is deceiving about my movies is that I'm always trying to give the audience the movie they think they want to see, but also give them the subverted version of it at the exact same time. For someone who doesn't want a deep dive into the mass consumerism subtext in Dawn of the Dead, they can have a fun zombie movie, and not worry about that stuff. That notion has always been really cool and fascinating: that as filmmakers, we're trying to sneak in the subversive thing without breaking the illusion. That's the trick.‘Sucker Punch is probably the most obvious example of straightforward, pure satire that I've made. And I still think I didn't go far enough, because a lot of people thought that it…6 min
Total Film|December 2023FIVE STAR TURNSELECTION 1999‘Hell, Chaplin played a homeless guy,’ said Payne of how Election's saddest moments are its funniest. But then this satirical highschool movie also clashes venom and heart, innocence and ambition.ABOUT SCHMIDT 2002Jack Nicholson scored a 12th Oscar nom as the repressed, lonely title character in Payne's profound and painfully funny road movie. Observer critic Philip French compared the film to Kurosawa's masterpiece Ikiru.SIDEWAYS 2004Talking of masterpieces, this ‘jaunt’ across California's wine country by two disappointed middle-aged men (Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church) is the standout of Payne's bittersweet filmography.THE DESCENDANTS 2011Payne complained that ‘How did you get George Clooney to run funny down the street?’ was all he was ever asked about this study of loss, estrangement and reconnection. That scene is hilarious…NEBRASKA 2013Shot for under $14m in black…1 min
Total Film|December 2023RUSTIN 15 Colman of the hour…OUT NOW CINEMAS 17 NOVEMBER NETFLIXThis somewhat safe biopic is supercharged by a fantastic performance from Colman Domingo. A valuable supporting player in recent years (If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Candyman, Zola), he gets the lead turn he deserves as Bayard Rustin, a real-life civil-rights organiser who rallied largescale non-violent protests, most famously 1963's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.Rustin has his work cut out, facing prejudice and logistical challenges as he attempts to stage that protest at the Lincoln Memorial safely. Scandal around his sexuality adds to the complications, as rumours spread about his relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen).The film doesn't reinvent the biopic wheel, but it's impossible not to be moved by Rustin's cause and his unwavering devotion to it.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023DREAM SCENARIO TBC Overnight fame…OUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMASWhat happens when an unremarkable man starts popping up in the dreams of thousands? That's the delicious premise of this English-language debut from Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself). Nicolas Cage, in one of his more restrained, vanity-free performances (à la Adaptation or Joe), plays college prof Paul Matthews. Married to Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and a father of two daughters (Lily Bird and Jessica Clement), he's a real Mr. Average – until he becomes a shining star at night…Although he can't witness others’ dreams, Paul initially revels in his new-found notoriety. Borgli craftily replicates some of these fantasias (classroom earthquakes, jungle raids), and wisely makes no attempt to explain this phenomenon. Instead, the writer/director has Paul courted by a slick ad agency led by Michael Cera's unctuous CEO,…1 min
Total Film|December 2023SALTBURN TBC Comedy of manors…OUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMASSEE THIS IF YOU LIKEDTHEOREM 1968 Houseguestfrom-hell Terence Stamp hots up Pasolini's elegant tale of seductive family secrets.THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY 1999 Don't get in the boat, Dickie! Matt Damon's social climber stalks the Italian Riviera.BRIDESHEAD REVISITED 2008 A palatial estate and an aristo family ensnare an Oxford student in Julian Jarrold's romantic remake.For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilmWriter-director Emerald Fennell's hotly awaited follow-up to the Oscarwinning Promising Young Woman is another darkly comic revenge thriller, soaked in sex and devious doings. It's a fiercely funny watch, albeit one that doesn't deliver on its promise quite as well as Fennell's debut.Taking aim this time at England's ruling class rather than American misogyny, it's a glossy, wildly OTT satire about a working-class student's fatal attraction to an aristo family.…2 min
Total Film|December 2023PETER DOHERTY: STRANGER IN MY OWN SKIN 15OUT 9 NOVEMBER CINEMASIf nothing else, this uneven documentary proves how hard it is to get a grip on a talent as slippery as Libertines star Pete(r) Doherty, the controversial rock poet whose widely reported addiction issues have at times overshadowed the music. Directed by Doherty's wife Katia deVidas, this intimate portrait doesn't shy away from the drug use, but does leave out vital parts (Kate Moss, the death of Mark Blanco). Instead, it pursues a kind of myth-making that ultimately hinders any deeper insight into what makes Doherty tick.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023DANCE FIRST 12AOUT NOW CINEMASFrom the moment Samuel Beckett (Gabriel Byrne) escapes the Nobel Prize ceremony to converse with another version of himself (also Byrne), this take on the Waiting for Godot dramatist abandons biopic conventions. It offers up snapshots of the Irishman's life, from working for James Joyce (Aidan Gillen) to his fractious relationships with wife Suzanne (Sandrine Bonnaire) and mistress Barbara (Maxine Peake). It's ragged at times, but Byrne and Gillan capture the essence of their literary-titan characters, while James Marsh's (Man on Wire) direction smartly tips its hat to Beckett's revolutionary modernism.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ANOTHER BODY TBCOUT 24 NOVEMBER CINEMAS, DIGITALBeginning with a still from a sex video, reflected in an eye, then moving closer until all is black, Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn's documentary explores a troubling new phenomenon. An American student is horrified to discover her face has been used to make deepfake p*rn – but who is responsible, and how can she stop them? Cleverly, Compton and Hamlyn use the same digital trickery as the perpetrator to expose the terrible things men do to women, simply because they can. Executed with the discretion and sensitivity its subject matter calls for, this is unsettling buturgent viewing.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE BARN 15OUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASThe promise of the Northern Lights gives way to goofy frights in this culture-clash comic horror from TV's Magnus Martens (Fear the Walking Dead). An American family moves to Norway for Christmas, expecting twinkly fairy-tale magic. Yet the resident barn elves have rules, Gremlinsstyle, and they get pissy when they're broken. Martens fumbles the tonal balance initially, the laughs/scares muffling each other. But as the siege-like mood develops, the blood taps are opened: between impaled elves and explosive baubles, there's seasonal slaughter with glee.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023THE ETERNAL MEMORY TBCOUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMASWinner of the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, this intimate story focuses on a couple coping with Alzheimer's disease. Paulina Urrutia, an actor and former Chilean culture minister, and Augusto Góngora, a retired journalist, have been together for 25 years, but now he often doesn't recognise her and needs reminding of their love. Director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent) teases out parallels with the importance of remembering Pinochet's dictatorship – Góngora reported on the crimes in the 70s and 80s – without forcing or overreaching.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023FINGERNAILS TBC Compatibility issues…OUT NOW CINEMAS, APPLE TV+Sweet and distinctly surreal, this quirkily dystopian satire from Greek Weird Wave writer/director Christos Nikou (Apples) takes aim at society's obsession with using tech to find your soulmate. Set in the near future, this tender but torpid romcom centres on Anna (a deliciously intense Jessie Buckley), who can't quite believe the revolutionary medical-test result that proves she and her couch-potato boyfriend, Ryan (a rather under-utilised Jeremy Allen White), are 100% compatible. Why, then, is she so drawn to her kindly new colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed) as they instruct hopeful couples seeking to pass the same test at the Love Institute?Nikou's deadpan comedy can't resist overstretching its nifty premise with drawn-out whimsy, as Anna and Amir plunge intimacy-seekers into electroshock therapy, skin-sniffing and underwater eye contact (‘Let's…1 min
Total Film|December 2023THE JESTER 15OUT 10 NOVEMBER CINEMASWriter-director Colin Krawchuk takes a stab at adding a new monster to the Halloween cheapie market with his promising but slow feature debut. A suited mime weirdo with lethal powers, the Jester haunts a small town on Halloween, stalking estranged half-sisters (Lelia Symington, Delaney White) tenuously united for their dad's funeral. Krawchuk mixes fun-house splatter (mind the eyes!) with themes of sorrow and regret, but neither is developed fully: the Terrifier-ish Jester is more mask than menace, while the siblings’ traumas are too rote to register emotionally.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING 15OUT 15 NOVEMBER CINEMAS 20 NOVEMBER NETFLIXAdapted from Dr Ibram X. Kendi's bestselling book, Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams’ film explores the history of anti-Black racism in America, to eye-opening effect. Employing talking-head interviews (with academics including Dr Angela Davis and Kendi himself), archive materials and inventive animation, Williams unpicks the centuries-old trajectory of racist views, exposing how shockingly prevalent and damaging they have become across US culture. An accessible introduction to a tough subject that also poses a vital challenge to racial prejudice.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ELF PG2003OUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASNo Christmas movie of the past 20 years has had the annual rewatchability of Jon Favreau's seasonal staple, marking its anniversary with a big-screen re-release. Will Ferrell is at his endearing best as Buddy, the human raised by elves who journeys to New York to meet his birth father. The loss of two stars in recent years adds poignancy: James Caan is wonderful as the unsuspecting pa, his frostiness slowly thawing, and a cantankerous Ed Asner is one of the great screen Santas. Sweet, wholesome and as moreish as candy-and-syrup spaghetti.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023PANDORA'S BOX PG1929OUT NOW BDEXTRAS Commentary, Featurette, Video essays, BookletA perfect pairing of actor and material, director G.W. Pabst's scandalous psychosexual melodrama captures Louise Brooks – sporting that renowned bob – at her most alluring and effervescent. Ahead of its time (not least in its depictions of hom*osexuality and promiscuity), this silent classic was hacked about by censors around the world. Happily, it's presented here on Blu-ray in a beautiful restoration that makes it easier than ever to fall under the spell of the carefree Lulu and the Jazz Age icon who brought her to life. Includes critic's commentary and 60-page booklet.BFI, CRITERION, EUREKA, PARK CIRCUS, SECOND SIGHT, SPIRIT, STUDIO CANAL, UNIVERSAL, WARNER BROS.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023CHRISTMASGIFT GUIDEBARBIE THE MOVIE TOYS/GAMESRRP £11.99-£129.99VARIOUS RETAILERSDo you guys ever think about buying? Good, because there's enough Mattel merch to fill a Dreamhouse, including a buildable replica of Barbie's poolside pad. There are also multiple versions of the living doll's convertible Corvette, a card game (featuring a ‘Played with Too Much’ rule), Little People collectibles… and even a range of dolls! In different outfits! This could be big. Bigger than beach.MUST HAVE01 ELECTRONIC SUIT UP SPIDEYRRP £34.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSInspired by Spidey and His Amazing Friends, this 10-inch figure comes with two web-projectile accessories, an array of Spider-phrases/sounds and more adorability than you can possibly handle. Also comes with a Green Goblin target kids'll love to batter.02 LEGO MILLENNIUM FALCON HOLIDAY DIORAMARRP £25.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSRecreate a (Holiday) Special moment, complete with turkey,…3 min
Total Film|December 2023WELCOME PAGESMUST HAVEVANITY FAIR OSCAR NIGHT SESSIONSRRP £60 VARIOUS RETAILERSAmerican photographer Mark Seliger presents a decade's worth of after-party portraits. In other words, big pics of beautiful people in their best togs. Golden statuette not included, alas.01 THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: AN OFFICIAL TIMELINERRP £35 VARIOUS RETAILERSOr timelines, if you will, in a hardback covering every major Marvel event. Though there is a Blip in the middle.02 STEVEN SPIELBERG: ALL THE FILMSRRP £50 VARIOUS RETAILERSFor those who Always enjoy Amblin through movie history. Some Amazing Stories here…03 THE SCREEN TRAVELLER'S GUIDERRP £25 VARIOUS RETAILERSThe real-life locations behind your fave films and telly shows, from Game of Thrones’ King's Landing (Croatia, obvs) to Paddington (haven't the foggiest).04 AN ALIENS SEARCH -AND-FIND BOOK: FIND THE XENOMORPHRRP £14.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSMore terrifying than having to…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ON LOCATION REEL SPOTS BEHIND THE CAMERAWHAT? Clem and Joel run to it in their memories in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Craigslist girlfriend Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) meets her BF's former nanny at this picture-postcard lighthouse in No Hard Feelings?WHERE? Montauk Point Lighthouse, NYGO? At the end of Long Island on Turtle Hill, this landmark is the fourth-oldest active lighthouse in the US and has sweeping views of the Sound? A ‘grammable spot?Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks or snapped yourself at a film location? Contact us at totalfilm@futurenet.com…1 min
Total Film|December 2023FLOP CULTUREBRAZILWhy it was a good idea (on paper)No one needed to tell Terry Gilliam to dream bigger. After the joyous adventure film Time Bandits, Gilliam combined his own vaulting fancies with the influences of Kafka/Orwell for a retro-futurist paean to the dreams of the little man. Call it 1984½: Terry did.What went wrong?Modestly budgeted, immoderately imagined, Gilliam's lavish alt-universe – handmade, ambitious – would always be tough to realise. He spent five years on the script, aided by co-writers Charles Alverson, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown. George Gibbs (effects) claimed the shoot was harder than Raiders of the Lost Ark; co-producer Patrick Cassavetti called it ‘a nightmare’. But Gilliam, who brought the film in on budget and schedule even over a tough nine months, faced his ‘worst nightmare’ after production.Universal…2 min
Total Film|December 2023DREAD RECKONING@JORDANFARLEYThe disaster movie is a tried-and-true cinematic genre, from the sublime (Titanic, Gravity) to the, well, disastrous (Geostorm, Meteor). But what they all have in common is that the cause of the cataclysm is never in doubt – usually it's in the title. This is definitively not the case in Leave the World Behind, Sam Esmail's adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 bestseller in which society as we know it crumbles with an unsettling question mark.‘That fear of the unknown was something that really excited me,’ Esmail (Mr Robot) tells Teasers. ‘In this story, we never tell you, really, what the disaster is. It's a mystery. It's ambiguous. It's something that the characters have to debate over and analyse. Even towards the end, you're still not quite sure what's happening.’There are…5 min
Total Film|December 2023THE LLWORDA lot has changed since the 90s: our phones are much smaller, and the threat of them turning against us in an AI apocalypse is much greater. But while we can debate if that is technically progress, thankfully the current culture is unlikely to have reacted to the case of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, who inspired Todd Haynes’ masterful May December, in quite the same way. For those who haven't heard of them… brace yourself.Letourneau was a 34-year-old teacher who was charged with the second-degree rape of a 12-yearold student called Vili Fualaau. Their first child was born while she was awaiting sentencing in 1997. Released after just three months in prison, she violated her probation with 14-year-old Fualaau and subsequently had their second child in prison. When…3 min
Total Film|December 2023SOUND BY TES‘#EMBARRASSING’ WARWICK DAVIS ON THE DECISION TO REMOVE WILLOW FROM DISNEY+.‘The release date was tough — I saw Barbie coming from miles away.’ JUSTIN SIMIEN WAS DISAPPOINTED BY THE DECISION TO RELEASE HAUNTED MANSION IN CINEMAS ONE WEEK AFTER BARBENHEIMER.$92mTHE OPENINGWEEKEND BOX-OFFICE TOTAL FOR TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR – THE SIXTH BIGGEST OF THE YEAR DESPITE NOT BEING RELEASED BY A STUDIO.THE 45 PERCENTAGE OF INDEPENDENT CINEMAS IN THE UK THAT WILL BE OPERATING AT A LOSS BY THE END OF THE 2023/24 FINANCIAL YEAR, ACCORDING TO AN INDEPENDENT CINEMA OFFICE SURVEY.‘I'M IN THE W R ITING PRO CE S S, AND IT ‘S HAR D BECAUSE I'M HAVING RECU RRING NIGHT MARES.’ GRETA GERWIG IS HAVING SLEEPLESS NIGHTS OVER HER NEXT PROJECT.GOOD THINGBORN AGAINMarvel Studios is restructuring its…1 min
Total Film|December 2023CAN WE TALK ABOUT?In recent years a fresh beast has crawled out of the crypt and onto cinema screens: the legacy sequel. Differing from reboots or remakes – which completely reset an IP and start again from scratch – legacy sequels (or requels) build directly on the original entry in a series, frequently ignoring other sequels while capitalising on classic characters.It's a phenomenon often (though not exclusively) associated with horror – such as David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy – and it appears to be gaining traction: this year alone we've had Evil Dead Rise, Scream VI, Saw X and The Exorcist: Believer, all of which, in various ways, sought to resurrect their respective franchises.But is it working? The box-office numbers seem to indicate yes. Horror is a notoriously bankable genre, and there are…2 min
Total Film|December 2023THE HEROIt's always hard to make a movie,’ says director Mary Harron. ‘It's just having to be enormously persistent.’ In her case, it has paid off – with an eclectic CV boasting indie classics I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page. Now back with Dalíland, starring Ben Kingsley as the surrealist painter, Harron is ready to unpack her career in broad strokes…What led you to casting Ben Kingsley as Salvador Dalí?I remember when his agent suggested that, I said, ‘But he's so powerful!’ I was thinking of Sexy Beast and Gandhi. And Dalí was a tremendous coward! Like a child in a lot of ways and a hypochondriac. Also, we were watching Iron Man 3, where he's the scary character [the Mandarin] and then he's playing this…3 min
Total Film|December 2023ROAD WEARWhere did you start looking for pieces for this cast?For a very long time, I was just really trying to understand how exactly these jeans fit for these guys, and this group, at this time. I know what it takes to make leather look real and broken in; and to make denim look real and broken in. So I had to pick my battles a little bit – and I decided I wanted to try to find actual vintage leather jackets for as many of my leads as I could. There was a biker jacket from this time with a deep pocket. And then I looked for multiples for that.How did you break in the denim and boots to make them look lived in?Hollywood secrets! There is a person that…3 min
Total Film|December 2023Army of RebelsInitially expected to release soon after Army of the Dead, Lost Vegas was to be an anime-inspired series chronicling the early days of the undead outbreak. Much work on the show has already been completed, including animatics and full voiceover recordings, and for the first time Snyder reveals a surprise Rebel Moon crossover:‘Army of the Dead has a pretty vast mythology that never made it into the movie. We did do the work. There's actually a character from Rebel Moon in the Army of the Dead animated series that we never did, but we did all the scripts and the animatics, and all the voices are recorded. So you could watch it, even in its crazy animatic form – you can watch the whole run.‘At one point in the show,…1 min
Total Film|December 2023Burning LOVEThe well-worn adage about buses is true of Presley films – wait ages for one and then two turn up together. Just as Baz Luhrmann's dazzling take on Elvis the showman (featuring his wife as a supporting character) was collecting awards, Sofia Coppola announced she would begin filming an adaptation of Mrs. P.'s 1985 tell-all. Filming during the autumn and winter of 2022 as Elvis headed for the Oscars, Coppola built a full-scale Graceland in Toronto and, during a 30-day shoot she calls ‘scrappy’, mapped out an alternative version of the Presleys. This time with Elvis as a secondary character in the tale of a 14-year-old girl's complicated romance, marriage and, ultimately, emancipation at the age of 28.The dreams, shattered and otherwise, of young women is a theme Coppola repeatedly…11 min
Total Film|December 2023HUMANNATUREfew days before Society of the Snow closed the Venice Film Festival in September, a private screening was held in Uruguay. Tears, hugs, thunderous applause… the response was overwhelming. ‘It's one of those moments that you realise the power of film, because for the first time, the families of both sides gathered together,’ says director J.A. Bayona. ‘The first time in 50 years.’ By ‘sides’ he means those who survived and those who didn't. For Society of the Snow tells of the infamous Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crash-landed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972.Of the 45 passengers and crew on board, 33 survived. After 72 horrifying days, during which those left were forced to eat the remains of their dead companions, 16 were rescued.Taking on the…8 min
Total Film|December 2023MAESTRO 15 TBC Prime conductor…OUT 24 NOVEMBER CINEMAS20 DECEMBER NETFLIXSEE THIS IF YOU LIKEDWEST SIDE STORY 1961 A snippet of Bernstein's earworm score for this seminal musical – perhaps his best-known work – appears in Maestro.A STAR IS BORN 2018 Tackling partnerships and music, Cooper's directorial debut was an awardsseason smash. Maestro will surely repeat the gong-bothering.TÁR 2022 Problematic, unfaithful, brilliant conductor brought to life with a full-throttle turn. Same, same.For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilmThe latter half of 2022 saw Cate Blanchett roar into awards contention with her towering performance as a misanthropic conductor in Tár. A year on, it's time for her to pass the baton – in more than one sense – to Bradley Cooper, who disappears inside his performance as Leonard Bernstein.As well as starring in this study of the legendary…4 min
Total Film|December 2023BOTTOMS 15OUT NOW CINEMASIt's nearly Booksmart, but not quite. Nevertheless, this queer take on high-school cliques is a heightened-reality hoot with a banging Charli XCX soundtrack. Set in a timeless universe (Discmans, non-era specific costumes, no contextual info), it follows ‘gay, ugly, untalented’ P.J. (Rachel Sennott, who co-wrote) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) as they set up a girls-only fight club to seduce hot cheerleaders. Potty-mouthed and daft, Emma Seligman's (Shiva Baby) film is nominally feminist but diverting fun with tonal glitches and a gag reel that suggests a saltier cut might have been in the offing.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023NYAD 15OUT NOW NETFLIXHow do you sustain a story about long-distance swimming? By building it around a fabulous character: restless but resolute real-life athlete Diana Nyad (played by Annette Bening) who, at the age of 60, attempts her life-long dream of completing a 110-mile, open-ocean swim. Steeped in grit, guts and glory, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's (Free Solo) sporting drama is also about friendship; the key driving force is the bond between Diana and coach Bonnie (Jodie Foster). Rhys Ifans delivers a soulful turn as Team Nyad's navigator, but it's the leading ladies who are most likely to make an awards splash.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S 15OUT NOW CINEMAS‘This is going to be so much fun!’ cackles a baddie in this big-screen adap of the popular video game. Alas, Emma Tammi's ploddingly predictable puppet show rarely delivers on that promise. Josh Hutcherson is the security guard who discovers that the eponymous restaurant's quartet of bestial mascots has the power to come alive. With robot heads containing flesh-mangling chainsaws, faces resembling battle-scarred Terminators and the lumbering gait of Romero zombies, Freddy Fazbear and pals would seem precision-tooled for terror. Sadly, they're about as scary as Barney the dinosaur.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023FALLEN LEAVES 12AOUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASTragicomic auteur Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre) returns with another sly and distinctive look at Finnish life, this time centred on two lost Helsinki souls. Supermarket employee Asna (Alma Pöysti) and construction worker Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) aren't exactly love's young dream, but that doesn't stop romance blossoming, despite Holappa's alcoholic proclivities. The gloomy backdrop, including radio news of the nearby Russian invasion of Ukraine, isn't enough to dampen the spirits of this deftly deadpan piece. Sneaking in a nod to Jim Jarmusch, this is Kaurismäki at his most playful.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023TISH TBCOUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMASAn intimate and compelling portrait of Tyneside-born photographer Tish Murtha, who died penniless in her mid-50s, leaving behind an unsung body of work. Her adult daughter Ella acts as a guide here, interviewing her late mother's siblings, friends and tutors, while Maxine Peake voices diary entries and letters that affirm Tish's socialist convictions. Director Paul Sng's (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche) film reveals how Murtha's shots captured the defiance of those living in north-eastern working-class communities that had been devastated by deindustrialisation. Moving and illuminating.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023RETRIBUTION 12AOUT NOWSKY CINEMA/NOWA dilemma for you, high-powered bank exec Liam Neeson: there's a bomb under your seat as you're driving your kids to school. If you get out, it blows. If you don't obey the mystery person calling the shots, it blows. What do you do?! Well, you could consult the Spanish (2015), German (2018) and South Korean (2021) movies that have already been coined from this Speed-indebted scenario. Or you could just sit back and enjoy the ride, safe in the knowledge that your Takenhoned smarts will overcome any problem Nimród Antal's (Vacancy, Predators) generic thriller throws in your way.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? 12AOUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMAS, DIGITALNorfolk-raised filmmaker Ella Glendining goes on a journey of self-discovery in this moving documentary. Born with an extremely rare disability – she has no hip joints and extremely short femurs – she resolves to find out if there are others out there with her condition. Though her quest is hampered by the pandemic, Glendining offers insights into living with a disability, highlighting the everyday prejudices she has faced from prospective employers. Weaving together interviews, home movies and video diaries, this is a body-positive, lifeaffirming film.APPLE, CONIC, DOGWOOF, MODERN FILMS, PARK LAND, SIGNATURE, SKY, UNIVERSAL, VERTIGO.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023DRIVING MADELEINE 15OUT 17 NOVEMBER CINEMASCareworn cabbie Charles (Dany Boon; Welcome to the Sticks, Micmacs) gets an unexpected trip down memory lane when hired to chauffeur a 92-year-old lady (Line Renaud) from the Paris suburbs to an old people's home. The journey that follows takes in sites from her youth that prompt a series of conveniently chronological flashbacks, all revealing Madeleine (played in the past by Alice Isaaz) to be rather more steely than she initially seems. Effectively Driving Miss Daisy meets Night on Earth, Christian Carion's (My Son, Joyeux Noel) heartwarmer gets its fuel from its winning central double act.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023FEMME TBC Revenge served bold…OUT 1 DECEMBER CINEMASCrumbling identities are at the core of Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping's impressive debut, which channels Scorsese, Shame and the Safdie brothers to craft a queer revenge thriller that feels genuinely fresh.Based on the writer-director duo's BAFTA-nominated short, it introduces Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Misfits), a drag artist who suffers a hom*ophobic attack. Three months later, he spots the perpetrator, an in-denial thug called Preston (George MacKay), in a gay sauna, and they begin a relationship that moves from rough sex towards cautious tenderness. But can a dressed-down Jules really pass in Preston's hyper-masculine world? And is he out for revenge? Falling in love? Or a toxic co*cktail of the two?All this plays out in a neon-flecked night-time London, expertly rendered by James Rhodes’ crepuscular cinematography…1 min
Total Film|December 2023WHEN EVIL LURKS 15OUT NOW SHUDDERHaving caused a stir with 2017's aptly titled Terrified, Argentinian writer-director Demián Rugna brings bursts of the same feverish imagination to this more expansive follow-up. When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimi (Demián Salomón) discover a – repulsively oozy – possessed person (or ‘rotten') in their rural backwater, they decide the best course of action is to dump them elsewhere, causing the problem to spread… Bound by an over-complicated mythos, the film's best moments are its simplest: eruptions of shocking violence that may floor even the most seasoned gorehound's jaw.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023MAFIA MAMMA 15OUT 17 NOVEMBER PRIME VIDEOMiddle-aged doormat Kristen (Toni Collette) gets a surprising new lease of life following the death of her estranged grandfather, whose Mafia empire she inherits. Journeying to Italy, she's tutored in the niceties of Mob management by stern consigliere Bianca (Monica Bellucci). The effervescent Collette gives the role her all, even if a good deal of the material is beneath her. Meanwhile, director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Miss Bala) offsets this comedy drama's more predictable beats with an unexpected level of gore. An unlikely cross between Breaking Bad and Eat Pray Love that proves oddly satisfying.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023ONE FALSE MOVE 181992OUT NOW BD, 4K UHDEXTRASCommentary, Featurette, EssayDirector Carl Franklin now helms high-end TV (The Leftovers, Mindhunter). This feature debut, whose critical success enabled it to dodge a straight-to-video release, established his talent. Starring and co-written by Billy Bob Thornton, it tracks three LA criminals who hightail it to Arkansas to hide out… but Bill Paxton's sheriff lies in wait. This crackerjack neo-noir is full of surprises - plot twists, sudden violence and thrillingly unpredictable behaviour. Criterion extras include an archival Franklin commentary and a new director/ Thornton chat.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023TOD BROWNING'S SIDESHOW SHOCKERS TBC1925-32OUT NOW BDEXTRASCommentaries, Intros, Documentary, Featurettes, Short story, Video gallery, EssayIf a new restoration of Browning's macabre masterpiece Freaks is the star attraction of this Criterion release, the two silent ‘shockers’ that accompany it prove no less enthralling. Never before available on home video, The Mystic features a phoney psychic, while The Unknown casts Lon Chaney (opposite a young Joan Crawford) as an amputee knife-thrower who isn't quite as, ahem, ‘armless as he first appears. Scholar David J. Skal provides insights across various extras…1 min
Total Film|December 2023GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI 151999OUT NOWDVD, BD, 4K UHD, DIGITALEXTRASFeaturette, Deleted scenes‘I hope [it's] the kind of film that you see and two days later some little things revisit your brain,’ says writer-director Jim Jarmusch of his cult hit, here making its UHD debut. Never mind two days; his tale of a Don Quixote-like hitman (Forest Whitaker) going to war with a dysfunctional Mob family has stuck in our brains for more than two decades, thanks to its effortlessly cool mix of richly drawn characters, hip-hop beats and deadpan humour. Some new extras would have been nice, though.…1 min
Total Film|December 2023HOUSE POINTS Baby, it's cool inside…COUNTDOWN CHARACTERSRRP FROM £59.99VARIOUS RETAILERSBehold the advent of a new type of Christmas calendar: a big box containing 24 smaller boxes, each one containing a piece of a character. Come Christmas Eve, you've built your own icon, from Shrek to Sonic. No glue required; the bits are all push-fit, leaving them free from sticky stuff (until your nieces and nephews get their paws on them).MUST HAVE01 ADVENT CALENDARSRRP £29.99-£55 VARIOUS RETAILERSFor Lego lovers there's Marvel's Avengers (Chrimbo-jumper Spidey!) and Star Wars (eggnog Emperor!), while Funko fans can go for DC Super Heroes (and villains – we don't buy Joker's ‘Santa’ act) and 24 days of Five Nights at Freddy's.02 FUNKO POCKET POP!RRP £16-£18 FUNKOEUROPE.COMLittle figures (3.8-4.8cm) that could make a big difference to your decorations. The Elf four-pack contains Buddy,…1 min
Total Film|December 2023TAKE NOTENIGHT AFTER NIGHTRRP £TBC VARIOUS RETAILERSIt's a good season for James Newton Howard, who's also revisiting the Hunger Games saga. Let it Snow, indeed, but leave stocking space for this lovely, wintry thing: an album of piano-centred rerecordings from Howard's M. Night Shyamalan scores, with soloists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Besides the classics (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable), fine cues for misfires (Lady in the Water) affirm Howard's delicate alchemy.MUST HAVEWONKARRP £TBC VARIOUS RETAILERS‘Let's go see a movie show,’ sang The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon in a tribute to Euro-cinema back in 1994. Elsewhere, Hannon's screen love has sired songs for Gangster No. 1, Doctor Who, Hitchhiker's Guide…, Lola and more. A land of pure imagination now beckons as he reunites with his old composer pal Joby Talbot for Paul King's golden…2 min
Total Film|December 2023BLU STREAKWARNER BROS. 100TH ANNIVERSARY STUDIO COLLECTIONRRP £299.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSThirty of the studio's key movies, 10 of which are new to 4K (including The Exorcist and Training Day). Plus eight pin badges charting the evolution of the iconic shield (the WB logo, not Wonder Woman's).MUST HAVE01 GLADIATOR: SUPREME EDITIONRRP £100 AMAZONCollectible pin, metal poster, art cards… anyone not entertained by this Titans of Cult release can regift it our way.02 UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS£100 RRP VARIOUS RETAILERSEight classic horrors on 4K discs housed in book-style packaging. Our coffee table bids you velcome…03 MOONAGE DAYDREAM COLLECTOR'S EDITIONRRP £29.99 VARIOUS RETAILERSRay gun to our head, this would be the music doc we'd want most on the big day. First time on 4K UHD, with bonus Jack Black.04 BARBIERRP FROM £24.99VARIOUS RETAILERSThe present most likely…1 min
Total Film|December 2023NOSES IN MOVIESBest beaks1 MAESTROWhile Bradley Cooper didn't strictly need a larger schnozz to play larger-than-life musical impresario Leonard Bernstein, extra conk added by nose expert and facialprosthetics master Kazu Hiro lent a more Lenny vibe. The family approved but social media didn't.2 THE HOURSNicole Kidman played acclaimed author Virginia Woolf as she struggled with depression while writing Mrs Dalloway. The transformative face augmentation contributed to an Oscar (Kidman won by a, er, nose) and even stayed put after a steaming mug of tea.3 THE WIZARD OF OZFormer teacher Margaret Hamilton had been told the bump on her nose would preclude her from a great movie career. Not so. Her iconic turn as the Wicked Witch of the West built on her noticeable natural nose by adding green paint and a crook.…2 min
Total Film|December 2023IS IT JUST ME OR SHOULD CLOWNS NOT BE ALLOWED IN HORROR MOVIES?‘What's the matter, kid, don't you like clowns?’ snarls Sid Haig's Captain Spaulding as he terrorises a child in Rob Zombie's grindhouse sequel The Devil's Rejects. ‘Ain't we f*ckin’ funny?’ It's this aggressive try-hard energy that characterises the modern horror clown, and a well that Zombie would return to in his 31, in which a crew of carnival workers is kidnapped and brutalised by homicidal clowns, led by the sad*stic Doom-Head (Richard Brake). But there's nothing funny about any of these greasepaint ghouls.Ditto Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker, Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, and Terrifier's Art the Clown. The horror clown's appeal traditionally lay in the distance between its friendly countenance and the brutalities that generally followed. But lately, there is no contrast. Once a chilling subversion of a colourful sideshow personality,…2 min
Total Film|December 2023TOTAL FILM CASSICTOTAL FILM CLASSICI don't think any of us were aware of how crazy it would be – in fact, we definitely weren't,’ says filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke, reflecting on the whirlwind aftermath of her 2008 megahit Twilight and the impact it had on her and her young leads. ‘Before we shot, I went to a book reading with author Stephenie Meyer and there was a big crowd. When she said the name “Edward” people started screaming at the top of their lungs like they'd seen the Beatles,’ she laughs. ‘I thought, “Oh, my God. She just said the character's name. Wait until these fans actually see a person playing this guy. It's going to be out of control.”’She's not far off the mark. Released 15 years ago, Hardwicke's fourth film not…8 min
Total Film|December 2023GOLDEN GRAHAMSTHIS MONTH SpontaneousIn the age of streaming, so many movies are dumped straight online with little or no fanfare. Most are average or rubbish, but some are good or even great. When the latter is the case, one of two things happen: 1) absolutely nothing, the film sinking in a sea of content; or 2) a buzz begins on social media, with excitable word of mouth swivelling eyeballs in the movie's direction. It happened with romcom Set It Up on Netflix, and sciencefiction mystery The Vast of Night on Prime Video. And as I write this, it's happening with writer/director Brian Duffield's sophom*ore feature No One Will Save You on Disney+.I'm delighted to see it, for this low-budget sci-fi horror movie overcomes its limited resources and recycled ideas with plenty…3 min
Total Film|December 2023INTERMISSION@_ANN_LEEWhenever anyone asks who my favourite actor is, I don't need any time to deliberate. It's Daniel Day-Lewis each and every time. My answer has never wavered since I watched In the Name of the Father as a teenager. The actor's thundering performance as Gerry Conlon, an Irishman who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted as an IRA bomber, floored me. It was so raw and affecting; he turned himself inside out with rage and grief as someone railing against injustice.Ever since then, I've been hooked on watching him unravel like some magnificent tornado blowing through my screen, leaving a beautiful wreckage in his wake. And while he's won three Oscars for his performances in My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln, the films of…4 min
