RICHARD’S BLOG

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I became a playwright in 1996, having been an avid theatregoer throughout my life (averaging around 120 plays a year – watching, not writing!) I semi-retired from my day job shortly thereafter and for the next 25 years I worked only part-time, allowing me time to write. I ventured briefly into the world of television and wrote a couple of screenplays, although this pretty much came to nothing, except for TAPS making a short film of one of my scripts starring (a virtually unknown) Benedict Cumberbatch and Georgia Mackenzie, which was cool, and sufficient to get me BAFTA membership. Since the pandemic, theatre in the UK has never really found its way back to what it used to be, and so my attention has drifted more towards film. I am now fully retired from my day job and whilst I still visit the theatre two or three times a month, I now watch upwards of 500 films a year (crazy, but true!) Since I watch so many films and can write, I decided to create a blog – it seemed a very 21st-Century thing to do.
  • REVIEW: Stand By Me (re-release) ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: Stand By Me (re-release) ★★★★☆

    Stand By Me is a 1986 American coming-of-age drama film, directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body. It has recently been re-released in the UK to mark its 40th anniversary, and perhaps to celebrate the life and work of Reiner who, tragically, was murdered last December.

    The film is set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959, and tells the story of a defining event in the lives of four 12-year-old boys: Gordie (Wil Wheaton), Chris (River Phoenix), Teddy (Corey Feldman) and Vern (Jerry O’Connell). A young boy has gone missing in the State, and Vern overhears a conversation concerning his demise and his whereabouts. So he informs his friends, and together they go off in search of ‘the dead body’. However, whilst there is a clearly-defined plot to the film, that is not actually what it is about; it is really about the boys pushing back the limits of their everyday lived experience, and about how characters are formed and friendships are forged in such extreme situations.

    I should also say that this is very much a period piece. I am sure that any 12-year-old now would recognise little of themselves in the four boys on the screen, given the exposure to the real world that young people have these days. There is an innocence within Stand By Me that will never be found again and whilst in some ways that is progress, I think the film highlights that something important has been lost through the advent of the internet and social media.

    The story is very much an autobiographical one; King, who was himself 12-years-old in 1959, is represented by Gordie, and indeed the story is framed as Gordie looking back a quarter of a century later, remembering the incidents that occurred that weekend. Whilst the events themselves do not exactly mirror King’s experiences, they are close enough. King stated at the time of its release that it was his favourite of the various adaptations of his stories and, more recently, he has said that it sits alongside The Shawshank Redemption as the two best films based on his work.

    If you are able to catch Stand By Me at a cinema during its (probably brief) re-release, you will find it a rewarding experience.

  • REVIEW: Midwinter Break ★★★☆☆

    REVIEW: Midwinter Break ★★★☆☆

    Midwinter Break is a 2026 drama film directed by Polly Findlay, from a screenplay by Bernard MacLaverty and Nick Payne, based on MacLaverty’s 2017 novel of the same name. It was released in the UK on Friday, 20 March.

    One Christmas Eve, Stella (Lesley Manville) books a mini-break to Amsterdam as a surprise joint-present for her architect husband Gerry (Ciarán Hinds) and herself. There is an early suggestion that this may be an attempt to shore up an ailing marriage, although this seems to be belied by how affectionate and loving they are together.

    However, all is not as rosy as it seems. We learn that Stella, suffering somewhat from empty-nester syndrome, a sense of loneliness fuelled by her husband’s excessive drinking, and from a feeling of guilt relating to an incident when she was pregnant many years previously, plans to leave her Glasgow home and live a devout solitary life in a women-only religious retreat in Amsterdam.

    We also learn that the couple moved to Glasgow to escape the troubles in Northern Ireland back in the 1970s, following the incident which I have already mentioned and another where a building development designed by Gerry had been burned down, effectively sapping all of his architectural ambition, and driving him to waste his talent and turn to drink.

    I think all this was interesting enough, and could have worked well, however the writing was very workmanlike and, perhaps it is the playwright in me, but I could not help thinking ‘show, don’t tell’: the key moments of the plot were far too dialogue heavy. I cannot fault the acting: both Hinds and Manville were excellent in the leading roles and there was an interesting cameo from Niamh Cusack as Kathy, an Irish expatriate already living in the city. However, it fell a long way short of the film it could have been.

    Ultimately, I find it difficult to recommend Midwinter Break, but I also cannot condemn it out of hand. I suggest that you wait until it is streamed in the comfort of your own sitting room, then watch it and make up your own mind.

  • REVIEW: Father Mother Sister Brother ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: Father Mother Sister Brother ★★★★☆

    Father Mother Sister Brother is a 2025 anthology drama written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in August, where it won the Golden Lion, and was released in the UK on Friday, 10 April.

    There are three apparently unrelated vignettes in Father Mother Sister Brother, though there are several recurring motifs which provide a link between the pieces (watch out for Rolex, skateboarders and Bob’s your Uncle!) The film is a meditation on the relationships between adult children and their parents; do not come to this expecting plot – Jarmusch is at his best when there is little or no plot; and do not expect the characters to say what is on their minds – let’s face it, few of us do that very often. Just enjoy getting to know the characters and understanding where they are and what must have / might have happened over the years to get them there. Remember, as Philip Larkin put it: “They fuck you up, your Mum and Dad, they may not mean to, but they do.”

    The first part of the triptych is Father, played by Tom Waits, whose two almost-middle-aged children, Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) pay him a visit in his small rural New Jersey home. The film begins with ‘Father’ apparently tidying the house in preparation for the visit, as the ‘children’ drive down, discussing how their aging father manages to survive on little or no income. It quickly becomes apparent that while Emily has been estranged from her father for quite some time, Jeff has been providing him with considerable financial support over the years.

    The second part is Mother, an elderly successful novelist played by Charlotte Rampling, who prepares for her annual tea-party visit from her two daughters, the uptight Timothea (Cate Blanchett) and wild-child Lilith (Vicky Krieps). The daughters are somewhat competitive in their desperation for their mother’s attention/affection; however, they are united in their mocking of her complete lack of maternal instinct. To meet their mother for just a couple of hours a year when they all live in the same small city (Dublin) might seem insufficient contact, however it quickly becomes apparent that any more would be torture for all of them.

    At this stage, two thirds of the way in, dare I suggest that the parents are not earning too much of our sympathy and respect.

    The final part of the triptych is Sister Brother: Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat), a pair of recently orphaned twins, who pay one last visit to their parents’ apartment in Paris. Here the parents come off a little better, as it becomes clear that however good or bad they may have been as parents, there was a love for and a pride in their children seen through the possessions they left behind. However, there are also items within those possessions which lead the twins to wonder how much they really knew their parents, feelings strengthened by their financial position and the nature of their ultimate demise. There is an wonderful cameo as the housekeeper from veteran French actress Françoise Lebrun, whose filmography reads like a Who’s Who of post-new-wave French cinema.

    Whilst I cannot fault any of the acting in the film – they were all extremely good – I have to single out Vicki Krieps, who for me stole the show as Lilith. Whilst the piece has no real plot, Jarmusch’s direction is extremely tight: there is not a slack moment in the whole film; the 111-minute running time seemed to flash by.

    I honestly recommend that, if you are either a parent or were once the children of parents yourself(!), then you should see Father Mother Sister Brother. It is great entertainment and perhaps leaves you ruefully contemplating your own relationships.

  • REVIEW: A Pale View of Hills ★★☆☆☆

    REVIEW: A Pale View of Hills ★★☆☆☆

    A Pale View of Hills is a 2025 drama film written and directed by Kei Ishikawa, based on the 1982 debut novel of Kazuo Ishiguro. The film is a UK/Japanese/Polish co-production and is part in Japanese and part in English. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in the UK on Friday, 13 March.

    I should start by saying that I am not familiar with the novel. Consequently, I do not know how faithful this adaptation is, either in terms of structure or content.

    The film is structured in two interwoven strands: one in English, set in England in the early 1980s (when the novel was written); and one in Japanese, set in Nagasaki in the 1950s (when the key elements of the story take place). It takes the form of a confessional, with Niki (Camilla Aiko) asking her mother Etsuko (Yō Yoshida) to tell her about her life in Japan and about how she came to move to England. The second strand is thus, effectively a series of flashbacks. Here Etsuko (now played by Suzu Hirose) tells of her unsatisfying marriage and of how she met and became friends with an unmarried mother, Sachiko (Fumi Nikaido). There is also a sub-plot concerning her father-in-law and the somewhat gung-ho attitude of the Japanese patriarchy to the Second World War.

    My first problem with the film is that the English section feels very stagey. Perhaps that is because, as it is set in the 1980s, it is already in the past, therefore does not feel like the ‘now’ it must have been in Ishiguro’s novel. However, it felt somehow sanitised to the point of being rather twee: when the mother and daughter bumped into other people, they seemed like characters from an Agatha Christie TV adaptation. I found myself waiting for the 1980s bits to end so that we could get back to the real story.

    The second thread was much more interesting. The characters were beautifully portrayed by the two lead actresses, and the cinematography was quite wonderful. The stories were much more human and alive. I was particularly taken with the father-in-law, whose relationship with his son brought with it echoes of Yasujirō Ozu’s take on the family.

    However, that said, the overall plot did not really work for me. The twist was neither clear nor satisfying and I was left with the feeling that whilst this was a revelation to us, it couldn’t have been to Niki who must have been able to do the maths all along. I understand that the novel is somewhat ambiguous, with Etsuko being an unreliable narrator, however this unreliability did not really come out in the film until the dénouement; I think it would have benefitted from making this more apparent earlier on.

    A Pale View of Hills is a curate’s egg of a film – good in parts. The second thread much more real and interesting than the first, but still the ambiguities left me disappointed with the end result. I cannot honestly recommend it, but when it turns up free to watch on your television, maybe take a look.

  • REVIEW: La Grazia ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: La Grazia ★★★★☆

    La Grazia is a 2025 Italian drama film produced, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August, was shown at the London Festival in October, and went on general release in the UK on Friday, 20 March.

    ‘La Grazia’ is a pun: in translation to English, it could mean Divine Grace or Legal Pardon or Elegance – and Sorrentino uses it to mean all three in this remarkable return to form following the rather ’marmite’ Parthenope just under a year ago.

    Mariano De Santis (Toni Servillo), a staunch Catholic and experienced lawyer, enters his final six-month period as president of Italy (known as his Semestre Bianco or white semester). He is conflicted about whether or not he should sign into law a bill legalising euthanasia: “if I sign I am a murderer, if I do not, I am a torturer”. He is under great pressure to sign, not least from his daughter Dorotea (Anna Ferzetti), a government lawyer and principal presidential advisor who has drafted much of the bill. At the same time, he must consider the pardon petitions of two individuals who are in prison for murdering their spouses.

    De Santis is clearly a deep thinker, indeed his nickname is reinforced concrete, suggesting a certain permanence or, perhaps, intransigence. The film is gently-paced, allowing us to get to know the President properly: we are able to follow his thought processes as he considers the bill and the two pardons, as well as dealing with his own personal demons.

    This is a film about one man, and yet all the supporting roles are so well written and performed that they leave you feeling you have spent much more time with these characters than you really have. I was particularly taken with head-of-security Colonel Massimo Labaro (Orlando Cinque), lifelong friend Coco Valori (Milvia Marigliano), and army chief General Lanfranco Mare (Giuseppe Gaiani). However, this is about one man, and Servillo is wonderful in the role (he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor in Venice): he is every inch the ‘elegance’ in the film’s title.

    La Grazia is a very good film indeed – thoughtful and full of the style and grace that have been a trademark of Sorrentino’s films over the years. I have no hesitation in commending this film to the house.

  • REVIEW: The Love that Remains ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: The Love that Remains ★★★★☆

    The Love that Remains is a 2025 Icelandic comedy-drama film, written and directed by Hlynur Pálmason. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May (where the family dog, Panda, won the Palm Dog award) and was released in the UK last Friday, 13 March.

    It is a gentle comedy-drama, exploring a year in the life of a family as the parents separate. Anna (Saga Garðarsdóttir) is an artist working with natural materials and particularly their decomposition in the harsh Icelandic climate. She has decided that she no longer wishes to be married to Magnús (Sverrir Guðnason), a trawlerman who must constantly fight this unforgiving climate to make his living. He does not wish the marriage to end and spends whatever time he can with Anna and their three children (played by Pálmason’s own children).

    We do not witness much conflict between the parents, and the film does not try to show us where the marriage went wrong. So perhaps this different approach to the climate, one working with the natural environment, one working against, is the best indication of the differences between them. This difference is also reflected in their approach to discipline, and we see that Magnús’s absence has a direct effect on the children’s approach to play, and on an accident that happens as a result of the less stringent discipline imposed by Anna.

    Pálmason has said that he is more interested in “the narrative style and flow of films” than actual plotlines, and that is much in evidence here. Indeed, the plot is barely discernible; it is delivered as a collage of vignettes, focussing on mundane daily routines, awkward interactions, and surreal moments, much in the manner of Roy Andersson, whose influence is clear.

    Ruben Östlund appears to be another strong Nordic influence on Pálmason: embarrassing, uncomfortable moments of family life are explored with a dry, observational eye, similar to Östlund’s Force Majeure, though less cynically, with Pálmason treating heavier topics with a light, observational touch.

    The stark, but beautiful, landscape is an additional character within the film: Pálmason uses nature and the changing seasons to reflect the changing internal states within the family.

    The Love That Remains is a unique blend of formal, almost painterly cinema with a heartwarming exploration of “love after love”. If you look for a strong clearly-defined plotline in your films, this one is not for you. If you are happy to spend time involving yourself in this family’s world, then you will not regret it.

  • REVIEW: Sounds of Falling ★★★★☆

    REVIEW: Sounds of Falling ★★★★☆

    Sounds of Falling is a 2025 German drama film, directed and co-written by Mascha Schilinski (with Louise Peter). It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May (where it won the Jury Prize) and was released in the UK on 6 March (although disappointingly it took a week to get as far north as Yorkshire).

    The film is set across four time periods, some thirty to forty years apart: the 1910s, 1940s, 1980s and 2020s. It follows four generations of girls connected through their occupation of the same farmstead in the Altmark in Germany. The narrative is non-linear, continually flipping between the four time periods in order to bring out the similarities and the differences between life in rural Germany across those various times, spanning the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

    Whilst time moves forward and the political situation changes dramatically in the country, within the family home (and it is the same family for the first three time periods) we witness a continual preoccupation with austerity, cruelty, sexual abuse and death.

    In the 1910s the focus is on seven-year-old Alma (Hanna Heckt) and her brother and sister Fritz and Lia. In the 1940s we have moved down a generation to Erika (Lea Drinda) and her sister Irm, whilst Fritz, now Uncle Fritz, remains in the farm, but bedridden. Forty years on, and the focus has passed to Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky), Irm’s daughter, and her brother Uwe. In the 2020s the principal protagonist is now Lenka (Laeni Geiseler), who lives in the farm with her sister Nelly. They do not seem on the face of it to be connected to the family from the earlier periods, other than by occupation of the same property.

    I have mentioned the children rather than the adults because this is a film seen from the perspective of the children, often quite literally so, through the use of lower camera angles representing the viewpoint of the children. I mention the various siblings because sibling relationships within the family are an important part of the film. Whilst the children are the focus, the adults are also important because everything that happens, happens on their watch, and so there must be a certain level of culpability.

    There is no doubt that at 155 minutes of non-linear, black & white, storytelling, in German with sub-titles, Sounds of Falling is a challenging watch. However, that said, it is a tremendously rewarding experience and, just as I did with The Secret Agent a few weeks ago, I will be going a second time later this week to let the story soak in a little more and to pick up (some of) what I may have missed the first time around. If you have the time and are prepared to make the effort to let this film under your skin, you will not regret it.

  • The Oscars are Coming

    The Oscars are Coming

    As the big night looms ever closer, now only two sleeps’ away, I thought I should set out my predictions in the major categories, which to me are the writing, directing, acting, Best Picture, and, of course the most important, Best International Feature! So below are my suggestions for what will win and what should win:

    Best adapted screenplay

    This should go to Train Dreams but I fear it won’t – it will go to One Battle After Another. Still, as long as it doesn’t go to Hamnet, I am not too bothered.

    Best original screenplay

    I think this should go to Sentimental Value, but I suspect it will go to Marty Supreme.

    Best director

    This should definitely go toJoachim Trier for Sentimental Value, but it will almost certainly end up with Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another.

    Best actor

    I am a bit torn here – I would like to see Ethan Hawke rewarded for Blue Moon, but I think the Oscar will go to Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme, which was also a great performance.

    Best actress

    I know this is going to Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, but it really should go to Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

    Best supporting actor

    I think this belongs with Stellan Skarsgård  for Sentimental Value (although I did think it was a main role, rather than a supporting role). Realistically, it could go to any of the other nominees, probably Benicio del Toro for One Battle After Another … but please not Sean Penn!

    Best supporting actress

    I would like to see it go to Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, but realistically Wunmi Mosaku from Sinners seems to be the clear front runner.

    Best picture:

    The big one! For me it is a clear choice between Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent with Train Dreams trailing in third place. However, we all know it is going to end up with One Battle After Another – still, as long as it isn’t Hamnet!

    Best international feature

    This should be a straight choice between Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent. I think Sentimental Value will win out, but quite honestly, I would be more than happy with either – they are the two stand out films of the Oscar season for me.

    There are far too many other categories for me to comment upon, and I don’t really have the knowledge to make informed choices when it comes down to the likes of editing, cinematography and production design, so I will leave that to the experts.

    I suspect it will be another disappointing night as my predictions romp home one after another, whilst my selections fail to make an impact. But hey, that’s show-business!

  • REVIEW: Sirat    ★★☆☆☆

    REVIEW: Sirat    ★★☆☆☆

    Sirat is a 2025 Spanish road film, directed and co-written by Óliver Laxe (with Santiago Fillol). Its many co-producers included Pedro and Agustin Almodóvar, which may be what drew me to it in the first place. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in the UK on 27 February.

    Luis (Sergi López) and his son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona) travel to a rave held in a Moroccan desert in search of his missing daughter. To begin with we spend about fifteen minutes at the rave, where our protagonists hand out pictures of the missing girl to ravers who, whilst mildly sympathetic, would clearly rather be getting on with their raving. There is a lot of noisy drum and bass music and, whilst I can’t help thinking that both drummers and bassists can be summarised as ‘people who like to hang out with musicians’, I have to admit it is quite atmospheric. However, Luis and son have no luck with their quest until a group of ravers tell them that another rave will be taking place deeper in the desert in a few day’s time, and that she could be there.

    Then the army turn up and turn the music off and tell everyone to go home because there is a state of emergency and so this is now a restricted area – I know, we’ve all had parties like that … It later turns out that it is (might be) the beginning of World War III – I kid you not!

    Anyway, Luis and son take off in their tiny van following the small group of ravers who told them about the next rave, because they are clearly not the types to be put off by a load of blokes in uniform pointing guns at them when there is the chance of a drive across the desert, for which they are magnificently ill-equipped, in search of more bangin’ music (literally).

    So why did the girl run off in the first place – she didn’t – she is an adult and she just left, but she will be pleased to see us. Really???

    I should say that about three-quarters of the way in, the film stops being as predictable as it had been up to that point: lots of surprising stuff happens, which make it a bit more interesting. However, the film’s problems are too big for the late twists to save it. There is a very sketchy plot, little or no depth of character, and very little to believe in or care about. Arjona, as Esteban, is a bit of a find – I thought he was really good – but apart from that, the acting is nothing to write home about either.

    Is Sirat worth seeing? Unfortunately, not really.

    Wait a minute, do I hear you say? But it has 91% on Rotten Tomatoes! Yes, but the audience score is way down at 67%. I have a theory about that – where the critics percentage and the audience percentage are a long way adrift, there is an issue. For art-house films such as this, the critics’ reviews will likely inform potential audience of whether or not it is their sort of thing. Consequently, where the audience figure is a long way below the critics, one should be a little wary, since that is the opinion of the audience who decided it was their sort of thing. Sadly, I did not heed this invisible warning.

  • REVIEW: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ★★★☆☆

    REVIEW: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ★★★☆☆

    If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a 2025 American drama film, written and directed by Mary Bronstein (her second directorial feature following a seventeen-year gap). It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025 and was released in the UK in February 2026.

    Linda (Rose Byrne) is stretched to breaking point. She holds down a challenging job as a psychotherapist whilst acting as sole-carer for her young daughter, who has a serious eating disorder that necessitates feeding through a tube and daily hospital attendance. And then her ceiling collapses. This necessitates a (protracted) temporary move to a motel, while her landlord fails to make the necessary repairs. She is not a single-parent, but she might as well be – her husband Charles works as some kind of ship’s captain. His primary role seems to be to shout at Linda over the telephone at regular intervals, adding significantly to her stress.

    Having just read that paragraph back, it sounds like I didn’t really like the film, but that is not the case. I enjoyed it. I particularly admired Byrne’s performance, which perfectly demonstrated life on the edge, continually having to respond to the escalating needs of her daughter and her somewhat difficult clients, whilst getting little or no support from her husband or indeed her own therapist, a colleague (Conan O’Brien), who somehow fails to notice her desperation. The only respite comes in the form of drugs and alcohol, supplied with the help of motel superintendent James (A$AP Rocky), who shows Linda some sympathy, although he seems to have ulterior motives.

    I think what I needed was some light and shade. The problem with any film about a relentless situation for me is, well, basically, its relentlessness. There seemed to be too much too soon – I wanted time to absorb some of it. For example, there seemed to be some kind of link (probably in Linda’s head) between the hole in the ceiling and the feeding hole in her daughter’s stomach – but I never really worked that one out. But maybe that is just me – I like a slow-burn, and this was definitely a ‘fast-Byrne’. Having said all that, Byrne deserves her best actress nomination, and, in my opinion, she deserves to win the Oscar.

    One final issue. The very last shot of the film left me thinking I had misunderstood something – did I now have to re-evaluate everything I had seen from a newly perceived viewpoint? But having now read the Director’s comments in an interview, it seems this was not the case – I just have to question what in my opinion is an utterly bizarre piece of casting (which probably irritated me enough to turn three-and-a-half stars into three rather than four).

    Is If I Had Legs I’d Kick You worth seeing? Yes, for sure – it is worth seeing for Rose Byrne’s performance alone. Is it a great film? Unfortunately, not quite.