Coffee Corner Issue 18

Welcome back readers.

It is mad to think we are now in darker nights and with the festive season just around the corner.

October was as always a very busy cultural month with a string of new releases and festival season winding up and as always one of its final stops was LFF.

First up we have my review from LFF of Dreamworks’ latest animation The Wild Robot which has won the hearts of fans the world over. It was one of the strongest festivals I can remember for animation.

BFI London Film Festival 2024 Review – The Wild Robot

The Wild Robot, 2024.

Written and Directed by Chris Sanders.
Featuring the voice talents of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Ving Rhames, Matt Berry, Boone Storm, Alexandra Novelle, Raphael Alejandro, Paul-Mikél Williams, and Eddie Park.

SYNOPSIS:

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island’s animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Dreamworks Animation recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, having become one of the pioneering voices in mainstream animation with the likes of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon among many others. Their latest animation The Wild Robot has been garnering huge acclaim on the festival circuit and delivered a strong US box office performance, so much so that a sequel is already in development.

The film is an adaptation of Peter Brown’s best-selling novel about a robot nicknamed Roz who finds herself alone on an island full of wild creatures, struggling to make light of how she can fit her programming and skill set to this situation. Initially a fish out of water situation, it becomes something deeper when Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) encounters a fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) and is tasked with raising Brightbill (Kit Connor) an orphaned Canada Goose. Roz and Fink have to make sure Brightbill is able to fly in time for the coming migration.

What might seem like a simplistic premise is lifted by the direction of animation legend Chris Sanders, who brings the source material to life in breathtaking fashion. This is one of the most visually unique Hollywood animations in some time and proves Dreamworks is still more than a force to be reckoned with on the animation scene. There are shades of his work on How To Train Your Dragon with Toothless and Hiccup’s relationship not dissimilar to Roz and Fink’s or even Roz and Brightbill’s. As with those films Sanders imbues The Wild Robot with a huge amount of warmth and tenderness, it is a film about finding one’s family and can make for an emotional watch as with many of the best animations. 

The voice cast feels like one of the best in recent memory, the two leads perfectly cast with Nyong’o showing Roz’s evolution as emotion gradually comes into view and she moves away from her programming. Bill Nighy’s small but impactful part as the wise leader of the geese Longneck, while Matt Berry’s cantankerous beaver Paddler steals every scene he is in. The score from Kris Bowers has come in for high praise and helps the film to really soar in its key moments.

The Wild Robot feels like a tonic in a time when so many of the highest-grossing animated films are from the sequel factory (ironic given this is soon to become a franchise), yet beyond this there is a huge amount to salute from its stunning animation and taking its story of finding family and making something that feels universal. It looks set to be a prime contender for the Best Animated Feature at the next awards season and may well fit into other categories beyond this. It offers plenty of encouragement for not just Dreamworks but animation’s future and cements Sanders’ as a titan of animation.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★★    / Movie: ★ ★ ★★

One of the highlights of my Film/TV work to date has been speaking with five cast members from Slow Horses. So below is my chat with James Callis (Claude Whelan). All interviews for Flickering Myth.

Exclusive Interview – James Callis on Slow Horses Season 4

Claude Whelan has been one of the most intriguing new additions to the Slow Horses ensemble. He at times seems completely out of his depth, especially when up against Kristin Scott Thomas’ Diana Taverner. We sat down with Whelan himself, actor James Callis, to discuss how he found acting opposite Scott Thomas and what Claude brings to the show.

How do you think Claude differs from Ingrid, who was the previous first desk?

Well, there’s night and there’s day. There’s cold and there’s hot. My idea about Claude is, it’s not what you know, evidently, but maybe who you know. I think he’s quite urbane, Claude, and there’s this idea that he’s going to be a safe pair of hands after after Ingrid. We’re not going to have somebody going absolutely rogue, and this is in the interest of the service. It does differ from the books what we’re doing on the show; he’s not quite the man for the gig, like, you know, some people are born to it, and some people aren’t. I don’t think that this is something that you can really learn on the job. You can obviously learn. You’ll learn all the time, but there are certain things that you’ve got to come to the party with and without them it’s pretty obvious. I think we’ve all been around at some point thinking okay well, it’s,  10 o’clock on Monday. Let’s see where we are on 10 o’clock on Wednesday. Let’s take a view.

You share a lot of your scenes with Kristin Scott Thomas; how was she to go up against?

Wonderful, absolutely, just wonderful. The scenes we did, I loved doing them so much. I sometimes, actually a lot of times, wanted it to be a play that we would do again and again, and find different inflexions and different points.  I think some part of the mischief as well in me, I would have loved to have seen her crack up, but that’s a very hard thing to do on camera when she’s in character. We certainly have a lot of laughs, you know, in between the takes. But yes, formidable, brilliant and like an acting master class. I didn’t totally realise, but watching it now, I love that Claude enjoys being in a double act with Diana. He does that’s part of the thing. She’s second desk, operational running. He’s long-range strategy, But Diana doesn’t want to be in a double act with anybody, let alone Claude. So, there’s this  push and pull. If somebody got you to sign paperwork that you didn’t know what it was, how are you going to view your professional relationship with that person going forward?

Claude grows more self-assured as the show goes on, becoming more assertive as it progresses. How have you found his arc?

Fans of the books will know stuff that people who are just watching the show don’t know, but there’s a real dialectic that Claude Whelan is on, and I found that really fascinating. I just really enjoyed how the character changes. He’s getting more assured, not entirely, but he changes and you know, he’s slightly different from one book to the next because he’s, I suppose you know learning and learning painfully.

You mentioned the books. Did you talk to Mick Herron about how to approach the character?

I haven’t spoken to Mick, only to Will Smith and Adam Randall, the director. It comes as written on the page. Claude feels as well that he knows what he’s come into. He knows he’s replaced Ingrid, but he also wants to be deferential, in some fashion, to Diana and doesn’t want to do the kind of like, no, listen here. He’s just not that kind of a person. What’s interesting is that it’s not a great way to be in charge, let’s put it that way,

The show has taken off recently. Is there anything for you that makes it such a hit?

The writing is just wonderful. It’s very grounded and obviously, the performances by Kristin, Gary, Jack, Jonathan Pryce, is just riveting. There’s nothing really like it. It takes a very serious situation, national security, and kind of shows you that, you know, the whole, the whole thing is a bit MacGyvered. It’s all like, you know, throw this stuff together at the last minute, and it’snot quite the polish that you would think with MI5. I’m a fan of the show and a fan of the people in it. The thing I would say is that you know you’re a fan of the show, but when you’re making the show, when you lucky enough to have the opportunity to be involved in this thing, you’re kind of making it for each other. You’re there on the day. Me for Kristin. Kristin for me, and for the crew who are filming it, but also watching it. There’s a real joy in it.

Is there anything you particularly want to touch on when it comes to Claude?

There’s more Claude to come. It’s been a lot of fun to play somebody who is slightly out of place. I think that has its own energy in the show. It’s been a wonderful opportunity.

In terms of what’s next for you, are you back for the next Bridget Jones?

Yes, I am. That’s also been awesome. Unexpected just in the sense of doing a job 20 years ago and then doing the same job 20 years later with the same people is exceptional, and also exceptional how you know, so many people, they have taken the fountain of youth. They haven’t changed in 20 years. Renée is quite wonderful. This next one is going to be something else. If you like Bridget Jones, then I think you are going to love this next movie. It is pretty special. It really is. 

Finally another LFF review the hotly anticipated follow-up to All Quiet on The Western Front from Edward Berger, Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes. This was for Movie Marker.

Featured Review

London Film Festival 2024 – Conclave ★★★★

Released: 29 November 2024

Director: Edward Berger

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini

Robert Harris’ papal thriller Conclave, proved a smash hit in 2016 and is now the subject of a major film from All Quiet on The Western Front’s Director Edward Berger. As in its source material, the film begins with the death of the Pope setting in motion the process of choosing a new Holy Father, the titular conclave. This is to be led by the Dean of The Vatican Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), a long-serving and well-regarded Cardinal.

The process of electing a new pope is kept under wraps in reality, so it is intriguing to get a glimpse of what it might look like behind the curtain. Here as in Harris’ novel, the candidates to become the most powerful man in the Catholic church are conniving, self-centred figures with many of the leading players concealing secrets both large and small, that could jeopardise their position.

The Vatican might seem an unusual place to see a thriller but Berger keeps the suspense high with a faithful adaptation of Harris’ page-turner, bringing the thrills and twists aplenty to the big screen in fine fashion, showing why is now such a sought-after director. One of the biggest strengths of Conclave is its tightness at around the two-hour mark, with the audience rarely afforded a moment to breathe before we are plunged into the next masterful twist.

Ralph Fiennes’ inquisitive and doubtful Lawrence is a voice of reason in a sea of dissent and uncertainty with many of his fellow cardinals unsure which direction the church should move in for its next pope. His main ally is Stanley Tucci’s Bellini and it is a delight to see these two veterans on screen together, up against John Lithgow’s slimy Cardinal Tremblay, a figure who has plenty lurking under the surface. Isabella Rossellini is also a delight in the small but impactful role of Sister Agnes, an all-seeing, all-hearing Nun who has a huge bearing on uncovering some of the truth.

Conclave is a well-balanced, thrilling adaptation that builds on the qualities of its source material and packs in twists and turns aplenty, anchored by Berger’s direction and Ralph Fiennes’ terrific performance, already being marked out for awards attention. With a cast of this calibre, it is hard not to be swept along in the drama unfolding behind closed doors.

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