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Malory Towers, a Wise Children production (2019)

Starring: Izuka Hoyle (Darrell Rivers), Rose Shalloo (Mary Lou Askinson), Renee Lamb (Alicia Johns), Rebecca Collingwood (Gwendoline Lacey), Francesca Mills (Sally Hope), Vinnie Heaven (Bill Robinson) and, in this performance, Stephanie Hockley (Irene Dupont)
Adapted and directed by: Emma Rice.


This musical adaptation is to be found these summer holidays in ( Read more... )

I recommend both, although they’re very different – the main character of one is a five year old girl, and the other film strongly features a quartette of young women.

The Beasts of the Southern Wild (12A) is going to get award attention. If you can, try to see it. It’s a fable about climate change and how it affects one family, their bayou and the way of life that’s grown up about it. It is both arty (comparisons have been made to Terrence Malick’s work, although it’s not quite up there for me) and folk art, if that’s the right phrase. The lynch-pin is the mesmerising Hushpuppy, the little girl at the heart of it all. In some ways, this reminded me of Ponyo (similarly aged heroine, the threat of rising waters, the power and wonder of nature) although this is a much fiercer film than the Japanese one. There are some astounding scenes towards the end.

The Sapphires (PG) is F. U. N. Three Aboriginal sisters and a cousin in the sixties join with a hapless but passionate about soul Irishman (Chris O’Dowd, very funny) to create the titular girl group and perform for mainly African American soldiers in Vietnam. There’s a down-to-earth humour about it, you can’t help root for the girls to get over their rivalries and issues, for a few of them to find love and for all of them to stay safe. Although the tone is mainly light-hearted, it doesn’t shy away from racism and its heartbreaking effects. The audience that I saw it with laughed, cried and sung along with the numbers. Sometimes, it was let down by budgetary constraints, but you were always rooting for the sparky Sappires.

Hopefully, my next post will be a tale of folly, great drama and a faulty memory...