#Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool

[citizenscreen]

Annette Bening as Gloria Grahame in Paul McGuigan’s FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL (2017)

[daily-coloring]

Best of 2023 - Movies

Seems like I did run into more than one almost perfect movie this year, but the number one, definitely one of the most brilliant film I ever watched. And no, it's not the new Basic Instinct but I can see a little bit of resemblance.

01. Anatomy of a Fall - Dir: Justine Triet - 2023 - "Marriage, the film suggests, is like a mosaic. One or two highly coloured tiles might catch the eye but they can’t, on their own, show the whole picture. The reports we get of Sandra and Samuel’s life together (there is only one flashback in the film; most of what we learn comes from the evidence presented in the court) suggest a relationship that gets chillier and spikier by the minute. But then the prosecution’s case relies on cherrypicking the trauma and the deep-seated unhappiness in the marriage, and foregrounding the character traits in Sandra that might make her capable of murder. A choice of other, sunnier moments, as Sandra reasonably points out, would paint an entirely different picture of her relationship with her husband." - The Guardian

02. Saltburn - Dir: Emerald Fennell - 2023

03. Aftersun - Dir: Charlotte Wells - 2022

04. Past Lives - Dir: Celine Song - 2023 = "Towards the end of Celine Song’s Past Lives, two old friends wait for a cab in front of a bright blue garage door. In the two minutes it takes for a car to arrive, both everything, and nothing happens. Writer and director Song is perhaps more attuned to rhythm of dialogue than most: like Nora Moon (Greta Lee), the protagonist of this feature debut, she made her name as a playwright. But Song is also sharply aware of the power of the unsaid, of what can be articulated through pauses and gestures. As the film swells to its emotional climax, not a word is spoken." - British Film Institute

05. Tár - Dir: Todd Field - 2022

06. Leave the World Behind - Dir: Sam Esmail - 2023

07. Bros - Dir: Nicholas Stoller - 2022

08. Rurangi - Dir: Max Currie - 2020 - "Director Max Currie lets the bleak landscape and the conflicted characters tell the story, and the plot resolution, when it comes, is incomplete but full of hope. There are some terrific lines of dialogue: Jem tells Caz: “you’re like the same, but you’re not”, and he adds: “ gender-it’s complicated; you were never exactly girly”. In a sickbed reconciliation, father Gerald tells Caz:” It’s not my world… I want you here”. Anahera has the final word on this: “ most people are just idiots about other people’s sexuality. You just do you”." - Scene Magazine

09. Spoiler Alert - Dir: Michael Showalter - 2022

10. Saint Maud - Dir: Rose Glass - 2019

11. The Innocents - Dir: Eskil Vogt - 2021

12. Lamb - Dir: Valdimar Jóhannsson - 2021

13. The Whale - Dir: Darren Aronofsky - 2022

14. Athena - Dir: Romain Gavras - 2022

15. Possessor - Dir: Brandon Cronenberg - 2020 - "It’s all very compelling, well-acted and presented, although there’s a chilliness and a clinical edge that is very Cronenberg-ian, but might keep audiences at arm’s length. Ditto the violence. Stabbings, shootings, pokerings (use your imagination) — it’s all here, bar exploding heads. A strong stomach is required. If you don’t have one, just use someone else’s." - Empire

16. What's Love Got To Do With It - Dir: Shekhar Kapur - 2022

17. Nuovo Olimpo - Dir: Ferzan Özpetek - 2023

18. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret - Dir: Kelly Fremon Craig - 2023

19. Joy Ride - Dir: Adele Lim - 2023

20. Earthquake Bird - Dir: Wash Westmoreland - 2019

21. Cruella - Dir: Craig Gillespie - 2021

22. The Daughter - Dir: Simon Stone - 2015

23. Nope - Dir: Jordan Peele - 2022

24. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Dir: Paul McGuigan - 2017

25. Don't Worry Darling - Dir: Olivia Wilde - 2022

26. A Hero - Dir: Asghar Farhadi - 2021

27. You Hurt My Feelings - Dir: Nicole Holofcener - 2023

28. Anaïs in Love - Dir: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet - 2021 - "The pleasures of Anaïs in Love largely derive from the nuanced performances by Demoustier and Bruni Tedeschi. The latter, for once, is not required to be tearful or neurotic, and the growing attraction between her and Anaïs is convincingly handled – even if one could quibble at a couple of cliché moments, such as the two women’s encounter under an apple tree (in which Anaïs gives Émilie an apple) and the nowadays seemingly obligatory sea-shore setting for the lesbian love scene. The excellent Demoustier sustains the entire film, indeed named after her. Her choice was not accidental: Bourgeois-Tacquet had already cast her as the lead in her 2018 short Pauline asservie. (Both the short and Anaïs in Love were shown at Cannes in 2021 – quite an accolade.) Ebullient and ‘cute’ especially when seducing Daniel or Émilie, Demoustier is equally believable as an aggrieved daughter when she finds out that her mother’s lethal illness has returned. Her irrepressible energy and artless beauty underline her precise rendition of a modern young woman bent on following her own desire, straight or queer – at times to the point of insensitivity. Indeed, it’s hard to think of another actress who could have made Anais’s exasperating unreliability, egocentricity and excessive volubility forgivable, let alone endearing, as they are evidently supposed to be. Fans of Eric Rohmer may be reminded of some of the young heroines in his ‘Comedies and Proverbs’ (1980–1990) and ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’ (1990 – 1998) series, a filmic heritage also suggested by the literary references and cultured dialogue. This is marivaudage with an intellectual bent – Anaïs and Émilie share a love of Duras’s 1964 novel The Ravishing of Lol Stein – and a feminist twist: “I don’t want to meet interesting people,” Anaïs says, “I want to be interesting.” Thanks in large part to Demoustier, she is." - British Film Institute

29. Flora + Son - Dir: John Carney - 2023

30. Explanation of Everything - Dir: Gábor Reisz - 2023

[viewerace]

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool ~ 2017

[pablolf]

Film Journal

"Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool" by Paul McGuigan

[denimbex1986]

'A compelling exploration of love, family and grief, this unique film from director Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Weekend) will be available on DVD and Blu-ray from 17th June, with bonus content and including a limited edition, exclusive A3 poster with the Blu-ray

One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (played by Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbour Harry (played by Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.

ALL OF US STRANGERS is Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes™ (96%) and has been described as “a flawless film” (Alex Godfrey, Empire Magazine) and “beautiful and haunting” (Matt Glasby, Radio Times). Written and directed by Andrew Haigh, and inspired by the novel “Strangers” by Taichi Yamada, the film stars Andrew Scott (Pride, TV’s “Ripley”), Paul Mescal (Aftersun, TV’s “Normal People”), with Jamie Bell (Rocketman, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool) and Claire Foy (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, TV’s “The Crown”).

Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Features*

Roots of the Story

Building Adam’s World'

[70s80sandbeyond]

Annette Bening as Gloria Grahame in Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (2017)

[hallambell]

Babes

[booksandrainyyfilms]

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017) director Paul McGuigan

[cinefiloamador]

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[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Elvis Costello - “You Shouldn’t Look at Me that Way”

If you’re looking to bridge the generation gap between you and your grandparents, toss on the new Elvis Costello track.

Trust Sound Bites on this, as Costello goes full-bore crooner on “You Shouldn’t Look at Me that Way,” a jazzy, piano-driven ballad from the soundtrack for “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.”

It finds Costello sounding more like Bing Crosby than the man who led “Oliver’s Army” decades ago. But Costello’s voice betrays his musical mask, even as the song and its lyrics sound of post-World War II vintage.

Am I fine, am I pleasin’?/are you pitying, are you teasin’?/you shouldn’t look at me/you shouldn’t look at me that way, Costello sings over swelling orchestration and brushed drums.

It’s martini music for the Pabst Blue Ribbon age.

Grade card: Elvis Costello - “You Shouldn’t Look at Me that Way” - B+

11/20/17

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday, Filmmaker Paul McGuigan, born in Bellshill September 19th in 1963.

Paul spent ten years working as a professional photographer for the fashion and music press before becoming a film and television director. His first feature, the television adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s The Acid House won him many admirers and awards followed. His most notable work is the popular TV Conan Doyle version of Sherlock, other TV work includes Monroe, starring James Nesbit, American thriller series, The Family and more recently Marvel’s Luke Cage, and Designated Survivor: both for ABC/Netflix.

His films include Push, Lucky Number Slevin and Gangster No.1 and Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, stars Annette Bening and Jamie Bell.

More recently Paul has been directing stuff for the small screen with the mini-series Dracula, the American mystery-themed thriller Emergence and one of my favourites, the US crime drama Big Sky. His last big production was the mini-series Inside Man, which has David Tennant in the lead role, which had it's moments, but I wasn't overly impressed with it..

Next up for Paul is another S drama series called Judgement which is described as a high-stakes legal soap.

[saltyfilmreviews]

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

You’ll notice all the reviews talk about how great Bening is, and nothing else, and that’s because there’s little else to talk about. Jamie Bell is also very good, especially considering they don’t give him a lot to work with. I like him a lot and would like to see him in more roles like this, but it’s not really enough to make it a compelling movie.

Admittedly, this film suffered from the fact that I saw it the day after Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. That is a tough act to follow. 

However, this just felt really flat. Bening and Bell are trying, bless them, and the fleeting silent bits of emotion they manage are the best part by far, because the emotion sure isn’t written into it. 

It might be worth it just to see the two of them do the hustle. 

[ladyofanothergalaxy]

Annette Bening has been delivering some of the best performances of the past five years and I can’t handle the fact that I keep sleeping on them until no one is talking about those films anymore.

[ablogthatishenceforthmine]

Movies Seen in 2021

* 2021 releases are bolded

Black Orpheus

The Assistant

Black Hawk Down

One Night in Miami

Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always

Blackmail

The Half of It

News of the World

Derek DelGaudio’s In and Of Itself

The White Tiger

The Dig

Hotel Rwanda

Blazing Saddles

Judas and the Black Messiah

Nomadland

 Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Babyteeth

Minari

Coming to America

Coming 2 America

Raya and the Last Dragon

Unpregnant

Promising Young Woman

Another Round

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Pieces of a Woman

Onward

Over the Moon

Godzilla vs. Kong

Wolfwalkers

Collective

Concrete Cowboy

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Crip Camp

The Mole Agent

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the World

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Bird Boy: The Forgotten Children

The Rocketeer

The Ballad of Lefty Brown

Stowaway

I’m Your Woman

The Elephant Man

All the Money in the World

Phantom Lady

Riders of Justice

Bo Burnham: Inside

Antonia’s Line

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Tomboy

In the Heights

Luca

 Molly’s Game

The Blue Angel

No Sudden Move

Black Widow

The Quiet Place Part II

Platnium Blonde

Thoroughbreds

The Green Knight

Jungle Cruise

The Suicide Squad

Love, Simon

Pig

Coda

Blue is the Warmest Color

Unsane

The Fast and the Furious

Malignant

All The President’s Men

Gemini

Fast Times at Ridgemount High

Come From Away

Battle Royale

Candyman (1992)

Candyman (2021)

You Were Never Really Here

Dear Evan Hanson

The Many Saints of Newark

Titane

High Fidelity

Disobedience

Blue Velvet

The Good Dinosaur

Nightmare Before Christmas

Let the Sunshine In

Velvet Goldmine

Aguirre, Wrath of God

The Eternals

The Last Duel

Tully

Bob Le Flambeur

The French Dispatch

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Dune

Revenge

Obvious Child

Last Night in Soho

John Carter

Tick,Tick…Boom!

The Goonies

Shiva Baby

Spencer

Barton Fink

Drive My Car

Passing

The Power of The Dog

West Side Story (1961)

Saint Maud

Licorice Pizza

[sesiondemadrugada]

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan, 2017).

[ucflibrary]

A love story and tribute to one of Hollywood’s great movie stars in this edition of Weekend Watching.

~

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Paul McGuigan, 2017)

The film star of the title is actress Gloria Grahame. Though a star in the 40s and 50s, the movie begins at the twilight of her career in 1981 with Grahame in England, acting in The Glass Menagerie and follows the brief romance with a local and much younger fellow actor, Peter Turner, who she had broken up with a couple of years prior (the movie was based on his memoir of the same name.) But after collapsing due to illness backstage and seemingly having few people to trust, she turns to Peter and becomes bedridden at his family home, where he still lives with his parents.

Very quickly, the movie flashes back to 1979, when the two first met, showing their courtship and eventual break up. I think the structure works really well here. The "current," protracted timeline of their reunion and reconciliation is contextualized by the full arc of their initial relationship as we jump back-and-forth between the two segments. We also see a key scene from their breakup twice, once from each of their perspectives, giving full depth to why their relationship disintegrated in the first place.

Grahame is played by Annette Benning and what's nice about her performance is that she isn't simply doing an impression. She puts on a similar voice to Grahame's and at best bears only a passing physical resemblance. Instead, she's playing a fully realized character, a deeply insecure and tragic one. One that, despite having been in a handful of legitimately great movies and being as glamorous a star as there was during her peak, never really achieved the stardom (nor respect within the industry) as some of her peers. When Peter meets her in the first flashback, he's surprised to hear she was a star, and their landlord laments the fall from grace that would lead her to performing in a repertory theater in a relatively sleepy English town.

I think part of why many (including myself) find standard biopics so tedious is that they force an arc onto the whole of a person's life, when most people's lives don't fit that kind of narrative mold. That's why this sort of memoir approach tends to be more satisfying. Smaller, more self-contained stories follow a more reasonable beginning, middle, and end in addition to being less likely to suffer from the bloat of having to fit the entirety of a person's life into a neat, cohesive package. To Turner, this memoir and film may have been nothing more than a reminiscing of a deeply personal and touching anecdote in each of their lives. But it also exists as a loving tribute to one of Hollywood's most fascinating stars.

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) is available through Alexander Street Press.