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| | | The King's Man to Bigbug: the seven best films to watch on TV this week | | by Stuart Heritage Feb 4, 2022 | | Zesty tongue-in-cheek humour from Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman prequel, plus Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s long-awaited comeback – which is like Tim Burton meets the Terminator The first of Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman movies was an unexpected treat; a big, fun, surprisingly moving Marvel-does-Bond rollercoaster. Interest waned, however, with 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, a film so incoherent it appeared to have been assembled at speed by idiots. The newest offering, The King’s Man, is something of a soft reset. It’s a prequel, charting Ralph Fiennes’ Zelig-style journey through the events that led to world war one. There’s a lot of fun to be had spotting all the real-life historical figures dotted throughout the mayhem – Rhys Ifans, for one, appears to be having the time of his life as Rasputin. A ridiculous Kingsman v Hitler sequel awaits.
Wednesday 9 February, Disney+ Continue reading... | | | | | Uncontrollable Women by Nan Sloane review – history's secret heroines | | by Kathryn Hughes Feb 4, 2022 | | A compelling study of celebrates the working class pioneers of female emancipation who have been overlooked In 1822 Susannah Wright stood before the Lord Chief Justice accused of blasphemy. Despite her limited education, she was determined to conduct her own defence and duly began to read out a carefully prepared statement. Her “blasphemy” had nothing to do with being a potty mouth. Rather, Susannah was found guilty of selling a pamphlet that challenged the right of the Established Church to meddle in secular matters. Infuriated by the effrontery of this young lacemaker from Nottingham, the judge attempted to cut her off. Sharply, she told him to be quiet: “You, sir, are paid to hear me.” It is a thrilling moment. It is also, suggests Nan Sloane, one that deserves to be far better known. The same goes for the many other occasions on which working-class women dared to speak truth to power during the first third of the 19th century, a time of bitter unrest when it looked as though Great Britain might follow France and America into revolution. There is, for instance, Mary Fildes, president of the Manchester Female Reform Society, who stood on the hustings alongside Henry Hunt at Peterloo in 1819 and only narrowly escaped death in the state-sanctioned carnage that followed. Or Jane Carlile who, like Susannah Wright, was found guilty of blasphemy for selling her husband’s newspaper The Republican, and was sentenced to two years inside Dorchester prison with her newborn baby. Continue reading... | | | | | 'I wanted to be on the side of women': Mahamat-Saleh Haroun on his abortion drama set in Chad | | by Cath Clarke Feb 4, 2022 | | The famed director and lead actor Achouackh Abakar Souleymane talk about the challenges of making a female-led movie in Chad, and being overwhelmed by audience responses As a young boy in Chad, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun grew up surrounded by women – mother, aunties, four sisters, one formidable grandmother. The day after he was beaten by a teacher at Koranic school, his grandmother marched up to give the man a piece of her mind: “My grandson will never come back to your school.” Haroun mimics her angry finger jabbing and smiles warmly. “She had a very strong personality. Normally, a woman would never do this. The shame!” Haroun’s boyhood instilled in him, he says, a respect for women. But in his career as Chad’s only prominent film-maker – and one of Africa’s best known cinematic exports – he has told stories about men and boys. His gorgeous film Abouna is about two young brothers searching for their father. A Screaming Man told the tale of a hotel pool attendant who packs his son off to war; after it won the jury prize at Cannes in 2010, the government in Chad rebuilt the country’s only cinema (it has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic). Continue reading... | | | | | |
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