Notizie

Mirren won best actress at Cannes in 1984 for her role as Marcella, who forms a relationship with John Lynch’s Cal – a man complicit in her husband’s murder

Pat O’Connor’s Northern Irish movie from 1984, adapted by author Bernard MacLaverty from his own novel, holds up very well for its rerelease; better in fact than most of the movies and TV drama made about and during the Troubles. It has an unhurried, thoughtful and very human quality; Helen Mirren won the best actress award at Cannes for her performance here and in fact it is very well acted across the board by a blue-chip cast.

Mirren plays Marcella, a woman from a Catholic background, married across the sectarian divide to a reserve police officer murdered at his parents’ farmhouse by an Ira man who had bullied a bewildered local guy into being his getaway driver; this is Cal, played...

Fierce Irish rebels go head-to-head with Brit occupation forces, and James Cagney is first on the barricades. Michael Anderson’s thriller about terror violence in 1921 Dublin has suspense, beautiful cinematography in real Irish locations, and a standout cast: Don Murray, Glynis Johns, Dana Wynter, Michael Redgrave, Cyril Cusack and Sybil Thorndike — plus added-value players Richard Harris, Donal Donnelly and Niall MacGinness. Cagney’s surgeon-turned guerilla doesn’t yell “Top of the World!” but he’s as psychotic as Cody Jarrett: he wants to shoot both the leading ladies. Included is a good interview with Don Murray.

Shake Hands with the Devil

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1959 / Color B&w / 1:66 widescreen/ 111 min. / Street Date January 4, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: James Cagney, Don Murray, Dana Wynter, Glynis Johns, Michael Redgrave, Sybil Thorndike, Cyril Cusack, Marianne Benet, Robert Brown, John Cairney, Harry H. Corbett, Eileen Crowe, Allan Cuthbertson, Donal Donnelly, Richard Harris,...

Constance Cummings: Stage and film actress ca. early 1940s. Constance Cummings on stage: From Sacha Guitry to Clifford Odets (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Flawless 'Blithe Spirit,' Supporter of Political Refugees.”) In the post-World War II years, Constance Cummings' stage reputation continued to grow on the English stage, in plays as diverse as: Stephen Powys (pseudonym for P.G. Wodehouse) and Guy Bolton's English-language adaptation of Sacha Guitry's Don't Listen, Ladies! (1948), with Cummings as one of shop clerk Denholm Elliott's mistresses (the other one was Betty Marsden). “Miss Cummings and Miss Marsden act as fetchingly as they look,” commented The Spectator. Rodney Ackland's Before the Party (1949), delivering “a superb performance of controlled hysteria” according to theater director and Michael Redgrave biographer Alan Strachan, writing for The Independent at the time of Cummings' death. Clifford Odets' Winter Journey / The Country Girl (1952), as...

From Meryl Streep's Iron Lady to Spitting Image and the Spice Girls, Observer writers and critics pick the films, books, art, music and TV that show Thatcher's lasting influence

Art, chosen by Laura Cumming

Treatment Room (1983)

In Richard Hamilton's installation, Thatcher administered her own harsh medicine from a video above the operating table with the viewer as helpless patient: a case of kill or cure.

Taking Stock (1984)

Hans Haacke portrayed Thatcher enthroned, nose in the air like a gun-dog, surrounded by images of Queen Victoria, the Saatchi brothers and, ominously, Pandora. Caused national furore.

In the Sleep of Reason (1982)

Mark Wallinger edited Thatcher's 1982 Falklands speech from blink to blink, fading to black in between, emphasising her solipsistic tendency to close her eyes when speaking as if nobody else existed.

The Battle of Orgreave (2001)

Jeremy Deller's restaged the worst conflict of the miners' strike from multiple viewpoints, uniting...

Political thriller Secret State was stripped of ideology and a plot, while Dara O Briain had a decent stab at making science sexy

Secret State C4|4oD

Dara O Briain's Science Club BBC2 | iPlayer

Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature BBC1 | iPlayer

Imagine BBC1 | iPlayer

In an age when politics lacks any great thrills, it appears harder to make a great political thriller. The last one that comes readily to mind was Paul Abbott's State of Play, which was way back in 2003, during Tony Blair's eventful second term as prime minister. But since then the air has seeped out of the Westminster bubble and not even the prospect of global economic collapse has succeeded in reflating public interest or screenwriters' conspiratorial imagination. The Killing and Borgen suggest the Danes know how to breathe life into coalition politics but so far it's an art for which British TV...

Right from the apocalyptic opening sequence, we knew what waters this boat 'Secret State' was heading, straight into the seas of all those other elliptical political thrillers - 'State Of Play', 'House of Cards', 'Heart of Darkness', something of something else.

Deputy Prime Minister Tom Dawkins (Gabriel Byrne) is a man with a lot on his mind

As the Deputy Prime Minister, Gabriel Byrne was a man with a lot on his mind - capably portraying existential guilt ("you're thinking about Bosnia, you did the right thing"), the ambition ("what if I stand?") and fear of a deputy prime minister who can see that the disappearance of his boss carries with it opportunity, but also the burden of too many secrets. Hopes for a residence at Number 10 loom, but in the meantime, he had to clean up the mess of a...

The ninth annual Irish Film & Television Awards took place tonight at a Gala Awards Ceremony held at the Convention Centre Dublin.

In the field of film 'The Guard' was the big winner of the night receiving the Ifta for Best Film, with writer/director John Michael McDonagh named Best Director, Best Screenwriter and the Irish Film Board Rising Star for his feature directorial debut. Fionnula Flannagan who was honoured with a lifetime achievement award also won best supporting actress for her part in 'The Guard'.

Michael Fassbender picked up best actor for 'Shame' while Saoirse Ronan picked up best actress for her role in 'Hanna.' Ryan Gosling picked up the best international actor for 'Drive,' Chris O'Dowd picked up best supporting actor for 'Bridesmaids', and Glenn Close picked up best international actress for 'Albert Nobbs.'

'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...

Brendan Gleeson, The Guard The Guard, Glenn Close, Ryan Gosling Win: Irish Film Awards 2012 Film Categories Best Film Albert Nobbs, Alan Moloney, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn, Glenn Close Charlie Casanova, Terry McMahon Stella Days, Jackie Larkin, Leslie McKimm * The Guard, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chris Cark, Flora Fernandez Marengo Best Director Rebecca Daly, The Other Side of Sleep * John Michael McDonagh, The Guard Terry McMahon, Charlie Casanova Thaddeus O'Sullivan, Stella Days Best Screenplay John Banville, Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs * John Michael McDonagh, The Guard Terry McMahon, Charlie Casanova Antoine O'Flaherta, Stella Days Best Actor * Michael Fassbender, Shame Brendan Gleeson, The Guard Ciarán Hinds, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Martin Sheen, Stella Days Best Actress Aoife Duffin, Behold the Lamb Antonia Campbell Hughes, The Other Side of Sleep Marcella Plunkett, Stella Days * Saoirse Ronan, Hanna Best Supporting Actor Liam Cunningham, The Guard Brendan Gleeson, Albert Nobbs Ciarán Hinds, The Debt * Chris O'Dowd,...

Albert Nobbs and the other nominations for the 2012 Irish Film and Television Academy Awards have been announced. The 9th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) “sole aim is to celebrate Ireland’s notably talented film and television community. The ceremony is considered to be one of Ireland’s most prestigious awards event, and can be viewed as the Irish equivalent to the American Oscars.” The awards ceremony will be held on February 11, 2012 at the Convention Centre Dublin (Ccd).

The full listing of the 2012 Irish Film and Television Awards is below.

Film Categories

Best Film

Albert Nobbs – Alan Moloney, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn and Glenn Close (Parallel Film & TV Productions)

Charlie Casanova – Terry McMahon (Source Productions)

Stella Days – Jackie Larkin & Leslie McKimm (Newgrange Pictures)

The Guard – Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chris Larke, Flore Fernandez Marengo(Element Pictures)

Director Film

Rebecca Daly – The Other Side of Sleep (Fastnet Films)

John Michael McDonagh...

'Movie credits make me want to run away'

It may be wrong, but I just can't help myself. The moment a film fades to black and the end credits roll, I jump from my seat and I'm out of there. And so I have unwittingly cast my vote in a long-running debate: should film critics watch all the final credits, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, right to the bitter end? Some believe that avoiding this is a dereliction of professional responsibility. Others think it's a fetish, and that the full-credit list is in any case a vainglory of cinema that other artforms do without.

Either way, I almost physically can't do it. Sitting there until that awful moment when the lights are brought weakly back up induces in me a strange tristesse and exhaustion: the complete opposite of that eternal thrill when the lights go down. I feel like Woody Allen in Play It Again,...