Paul McCartney used his extensive knowledge of literature, specifically William Shakespeare, to help him write the last lyric of The Beatles‘ “The End.” He wanted the final lyrics of the song to be poetic. Something memorable had to sign The Beatles off just as Shakespeare’s lines closed out his epic plays.
Paul McCartney | Tony Evans/Timelapse Library Ltd./Getty Images The Beatle loves literature because of his English teacher
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul speaks about every song he’s ever written. Those songs might not have come as easily or creatively if not for Paul’s literary heroes. In his book, Paul speaks of Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry, Eugene O’Neill, and Henrik Ibsen.
The book’s editor, Paul Muldoon, wrote in his introduction that Paul’s “capacity for textual analysis” comes from having a curious mind. “A young...
Paul McCartney | Tony Evans/Timelapse Library Ltd./Getty Images The Beatle loves literature because of his English teacher
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul speaks about every song he’s ever written. Those songs might not have come as easily or creatively if not for Paul’s literary heroes. In his book, Paul speaks of Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, French symbolist writer Alfred Jarry, Eugene O’Neill, and Henrik Ibsen.
The book’s editor, Paul Muldoon, wrote in his introduction that Paul’s “capacity for textual analysis” comes from having a curious mind. “A young...
- 1/25/2023
- by Hannah Wigandt
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
When Eddie Redmayne takes on a role, he's been known to go on a research deep dive to get into the proper headspace needed to fully embody the characters he portrays. Sometimes, this research has a significant impact on Redmayne that challenges and — ultimately — shapes his worldview.
Redmayne recently broke down his career in a new video for Vanity Fair, revealing just how long research has been integral to his creative process. During the video, he spoke about his experience prepping for the two-part serial "Birdsong," and how humbling of an experience it was in learning more about the miners of World War I.
"Birdsong" is an adaptation of the novel by Sebastian Faulks, though there are significant differences between the original novel and the serial. The serial takes place between the years 1910 and 1919 and follows the journey of Redmayne's Stephen Wraysford. Throughout the course of the serial, we see Wraysford's experiences in the war,...
Redmayne recently broke down his career in a new video for Vanity Fair, revealing just how long research has been integral to his creative process. During the video, he spoke about his experience prepping for the two-part serial "Birdsong," and how humbling of an experience it was in learning more about the miners of World War I.
"Birdsong" is an adaptation of the novel by Sebastian Faulks, though there are significant differences between the original novel and the serial. The serial takes place between the years 1910 and 1919 and follows the journey of Redmayne's Stephen Wraysford. Throughout the course of the serial, we see Wraysford's experiences in the war,...
- 11/14/2022
- by Sarah Musnicky
- Slash Film
Teenage boys quickly find themselves caught up in the ordeal of trench warfare in this German-language adaptation of the first world war novel
Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war classic gets its first German-language adaptation for the screen, after the Hollywood versions of 1930 and 1979; it’s a powerful, eloquent, conscientiously impassioned film from director and co-writer Edward Berger. Newcomer Felix Kammerer plays Paul, the German teenage boy who joins up with his schoolfriends in a naive patriotic fervour towards the end of the first world war, excitedly looking forward to an easy, swaggering march into Paris. Instead, he finds himself in a nightmare of bloodshed and chaos.
For generations of British readers, the story provided the symmetrical complement to similar agony behind the Allied lines, a book read in tandem with, say, Wilfred Owen’s poetry. It was that intertextual, mirror-image combination which in some ways established the dimension of absurdist...
Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war classic gets its first German-language adaptation for the screen, after the Hollywood versions of 1930 and 1979; it’s a powerful, eloquent, conscientiously impassioned film from director and co-writer Edward Berger. Newcomer Felix Kammerer plays Paul, the German teenage boy who joins up with his schoolfriends in a naive patriotic fervour towards the end of the first world war, excitedly looking forward to an easy, swaggering march into Paris. Instead, he finds himself in a nightmare of bloodshed and chaos.
For generations of British readers, the story provided the symmetrical complement to similar agony behind the Allied lines, a book read in tandem with, say, Wilfred Owen’s poetry. It was that intertextual, mirror-image combination which in some ways established the dimension of absurdist...
- 10/12/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “Benediction,” the biography film of Siegfried Sassoon, a prominent early 20th Century poet who lived his life as a closeted gay man … a somber kick-off to Pride Month. In select theaters, see local listings for theaters and show times.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is an unconventional bio as Sassoon became one of Britain’s leading poets in part due to his protest and honor poems after serving as a decorated soldier in World War One. He also was a closeted gay man, evolving through a number of influential relationships including Wilfred Owen (Matthew Tennyson) and Calam Lynch (Stephen Tennant). Later, he married Hester (Kate Phillips) and converted to the Catholic faith in his older age, while at the same time negotiating his relationship with son George (Richard Goulding).
”Benediction” is in select theaters beginning June 3rd. Featuring Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Kate Phillips,...
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is an unconventional bio as Sassoon became one of Britain’s leading poets in part due to his protest and honor poems after serving as a decorated soldier in World War One. He also was a closeted gay man, evolving through a number of influential relationships including Wilfred Owen (Matthew Tennyson) and Calam Lynch (Stephen Tennant). Later, he married Hester (Kate Phillips) and converted to the Catholic faith in his older age, while at the same time negotiating his relationship with son George (Richard Goulding).
”Benediction” is in select theaters beginning June 3rd. Featuring Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Kate Phillips,...
- 6/4/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Most biopics are thuddingly prosaic: There’s a lot of “this happened, then that happened,” performed by a famous person covering themselves in latex in an attempt to resemble another famous person.
In the hands of British auteur Terence Davies, however, biopics can be poetry, although his choice of subject matter probably helps in that department. On the heels of his gorgeous and contemplative “A Quiet Passion,” about the life of Emily Dickinson, he returns with another passionately quiet portrait, this time exploring Siegfried Sassoon in “Benediction.”
It’s an impressionistic collage, and Davies skillfully jumps from the 1910s to the 1960s and back again. “Benediction” fleetingly encapsulates the horrors of WWI — Sassoon went from being a decorated soldier to an outspoken critic against those who would prolong the conflict — the shadow-world of British gay men in the decades before homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK, and the bitterness of...
In the hands of British auteur Terence Davies, however, biopics can be poetry, although his choice of subject matter probably helps in that department. On the heels of his gorgeous and contemplative “A Quiet Passion,” about the life of Emily Dickinson, he returns with another passionately quiet portrait, this time exploring Siegfried Sassoon in “Benediction.”
It’s an impressionistic collage, and Davies skillfully jumps from the 1910s to the 1960s and back again. “Benediction” fleetingly encapsulates the horrors of WWI — Sassoon went from being a decorated soldier to an outspoken critic against those who would prolong the conflict — the shadow-world of British gay men in the decades before homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK, and the bitterness of...
- 6/3/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
(center, left-right) Kate Phillips as Hester Gatty and Jack Lowden as famed war poet Siegfried Sassoon in a scene from Terence Davies’ biopic Benediction. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions
A haunting biopic about a haunted man, Benediction is a masterful, visually dynamic film about a complex man famous for his writing about the horror of war. Decorated for bravery and beloved by the soldiers serving with him, Siegfried Sassoon was a WWI British officer who returned from that brutal conflict to vocally oppose the war, and became one of Britain’s acclaimed war poets.
Benediction is a brilliant feast of a film, written and directed by British auteur Terence Davies. Sassoon was among the renowned war poets who came out of WWI, a devastating conflict whose brutality virtually wiped out a generation, toppled monarchies, and prompted the Geneva Convention’s rules on warfare. Sassoon’s pointed yet lyrical war poetry struck...
A haunting biopic about a haunted man, Benediction is a masterful, visually dynamic film about a complex man famous for his writing about the horror of war. Decorated for bravery and beloved by the soldiers serving with him, Siegfried Sassoon was a WWI British officer who returned from that brutal conflict to vocally oppose the war, and became one of Britain’s acclaimed war poets.
Benediction is a brilliant feast of a film, written and directed by British auteur Terence Davies. Sassoon was among the renowned war poets who came out of WWI, a devastating conflict whose brutality virtually wiped out a generation, toppled monarchies, and prompted the Geneva Convention’s rules on warfare. Sassoon’s pointed yet lyrical war poetry struck...
- 6/3/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
English filmmaker Terence Davies, from painting working-class portraits to sketching urbane artistic figures like Emily Dickinson, has long been public about his discomfort with being gay and his feelings of banality toward life in general. He’s not an especially hopeful storyteller, from the closeted anguish of a Liverpool boy in “The Long Day Closes” to the suicidal Hester Collyer’s unquenchable thirst for passion in “The Deep Blue Sea.”
His pessimistic but searching sensibilities, always hungering for a redemption or answer that can’t be found and then resigning to that lack, find their purest expression in “Benediction.” The riotously well-penned but deeply despairing film is a portrait of World War I-era English poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived a comfortably gay shadow life on the fringes of the Bright Young Things, settled into marriage in middle age, and died a late-minted Catholic, bereft, in 1967. He outlived many of his peers,...
His pessimistic but searching sensibilities, always hungering for a redemption or answer that can’t be found and then resigning to that lack, find their purest expression in “Benediction.” The riotously well-penned but deeply despairing film is a portrait of World War I-era English poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived a comfortably gay shadow life on the fringes of the Bright Young Things, settled into marriage in middle age, and died a late-minted Catholic, bereft, in 1967. He outlived many of his peers,...
- 6/3/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Matthew Vaughn turns his reckless dad-humour energy to the first world war for a tongue-in-cheek history lesson with some surprising twists
Like a great big playful un-neutered pitbull, Matthew Vaughn’s new Kingsman movie comes crashing into our cinematic lives this Christmas, overturning the furniture and frantically humping everyone’s leg before rolling over on the carpet for you to tickle its tummy or anything else that comes to hand.
The third film in the Ott British spy romp franchise now gives us an epic origin myth, explaining how the Kingsman society came to be located in a posh tailor’s shop in London’s Savile Row, and how it was born in the first world war to battle a certain evil genius whom Vaughn cheerfully makes Scottish. This megalomaniac’s hidden hand is behind historical events you thought you knew all about – such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand...
Like a great big playful un-neutered pitbull, Matthew Vaughn’s new Kingsman movie comes crashing into our cinematic lives this Christmas, overturning the furniture and frantically humping everyone’s leg before rolling over on the carpet for you to tickle its tummy or anything else that comes to hand.
The third film in the Ott British spy romp franchise now gives us an epic origin myth, explaining how the Kingsman society came to be located in a posh tailor’s shop in London’s Savile Row, and how it was born in the first world war to battle a certain evil genius whom Vaughn cheerfully makes Scottish. This megalomaniac’s hidden hand is behind historical events you thought you knew all about – such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand...
- 12/14/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
In multiple interviews over the years, British filmmaker Terence Davies has baldly stated that being gay has ruined his life: “I hate it, I’ll go to my grave hating it … it has killed part of my soul,” he said in 2011, adding that his sexuality is the reason he remains single and celibate. Davies’ professed loneliness and sensitivity has bled through many of his films, wistfully entrenched as they often are in an unattainable past, most recently in a series of female-centered character studies: his swooningly melodramatic, cut-glass adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s “The Deep Blue Sea,” his amber-cast farm drama “Sunset Song” and his mannered, internalized Emily Dickinson portrait “A Quiet Passion.” Yet Davies has never directly addressed homosexuality in his oeuvre, for all its queer undercurrents; that it’s so openly and sensually a part of his intricate, intensely felt new film “Benediction” is the first of its many surprises.
- 9/19/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
From a pair of dreamy memoirs about his formative years, an archival documentary that excavated the city in which those years were spent (“Of Time and the City”), and swooning adaptations of the novels and plays that allowed him to make sense of his own wounded soul (“The Deep Blue Sea”), Liverpudlian auteur Terence Davies has established himself as one of the most achingly personal of master filmmakers; this despite his adamant belief that his personal life is “really boring.”
In a 2017 interview with IndieWire, the ever-confessional ex-Catholic insisted he’s “terrified of the world.” Davies spoke about his bitterness at being gay, conceded he’s “too self-conscious” for sex, and repeated a familiar line that any biography written about him would be a leaflet rather than a book. And yet the Emily Dickinson movie that Davies was there to promote is perhaps the most illuminating evidence that all of his films are ultimately self-portraits.
In a 2017 interview with IndieWire, the ever-confessional ex-Catholic insisted he’s “terrified of the world.” Davies spoke about his bitterness at being gay, conceded he’s “too self-conscious” for sex, and repeated a familiar line that any biography written about him would be a leaflet rather than a book. And yet the Emily Dickinson movie that Davies was there to promote is perhaps the most illuminating evidence that all of his films are ultimately self-portraits.
- 9/13/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Editors’ Note: With full acknowledgment of the big-picture implications of a pandemic that already has claimed thousands of lives, cratered global economies and closed international borders, Deadline’s Coping With Covid-19 Crisis series is a forum for those in the entertainment space grappling with myriad consequences of seeing a great industry screech to a halt. The hope is for an exchange of ideas and experiences, and suggestions on how businesses and individuals can best ride out a crisis that doesn’t look like it will abate any time soon. If you have a story, email mike@deadline.com.
Acclaimed Brit filmmaker Terence Davies, known for movies including Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House of Mirth and The Deep Blue Sea, was only three days from start of shoot on passion project Benediction when the film was shut down due to the coronavirus. Writer-director Davies, who is 74, had been in development...
Acclaimed Brit filmmaker Terence Davies, known for movies including Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House of Mirth and The Deep Blue Sea, was only three days from start of shoot on passion project Benediction when the film was shut down due to the coronavirus. Writer-director Davies, who is 74, had been in development...
- 3/27/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the town of Birkenhead, Merseyside, where they met a number of local organisations that support and empower groups within the community.
Duke and Duchess of Sussex Visit Birkenhead
Credit/Copyright: Royal.uk
Their Royal Highnesses first visited Hamilton Square to view a new sculpture erected in November to mark the 100th anniversary of Wilfred Owen’s death.
The statue, which is named after one of the Birkenhead war poet’s poems, ‘Futility’, is cast in bronze and represents an exhausted World War One solider.
The Duke and Duchess then traveled to Number 7, a Feeding Birkenhead citizen’s supermarket and community café, to official open the new premises.
Feeding Birkenhead is a coalition of churches, food banks, community groups, and other organisations working together to eliminate hunger in Birkenhead. The supermarket enables local families to buy their weekly shopping at a discounted price, and...
Duke and Duchess of Sussex Visit Birkenhead
Credit/Copyright: Royal.uk
Their Royal Highnesses first visited Hamilton Square to view a new sculpture erected in November to mark the 100th anniversary of Wilfred Owen’s death.
The statue, which is named after one of the Birkenhead war poet’s poems, ‘Futility’, is cast in bronze and represents an exhausted World War One solider.
The Duke and Duchess then traveled to Number 7, a Feeding Birkenhead citizen’s supermarket and community café, to official open the new premises.
Feeding Birkenhead is a coalition of churches, food banks, community groups, and other organisations working together to eliminate hunger in Birkenhead. The supermarket enables local families to buy their weekly shopping at a discounted price, and...
- 1/21/2019
- Look to the Stars
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are back in our lives, or at least back to their royal duties for 2019. Though Meghan has been busy with her patronages over the past few days, we couldn't be happier to get a glimpse of the adorable couple as they attended their first royal engagement of 2019 as a couple.
On Monday morning, Harry and Meghan took a trip to Birkenhead, England, to visit local organizations and projects within the community. First, they stopped by Hamilton Square to see a new sculpture by Jim Whelan titled "Futility" that marks the 100th anniversary of poet Wilfred Owen's death. From there, they will meet Tomorrow's Women Wirral, an organization that supports vulnerable women. Their final stop will be Hive Wirral Youth Zone, where they'll meet young people who take part in community projects.
Ahead, get a look at all the sweet moments from Harry and Meghan's outing.
On Monday morning, Harry and Meghan took a trip to Birkenhead, England, to visit local organizations and projects within the community. First, they stopped by Hamilton Square to see a new sculpture by Jim Whelan titled "Futility" that marks the 100th anniversary of poet Wilfred Owen's death. From there, they will meet Tomorrow's Women Wirral, an organization that supports vulnerable women. Their final stop will be Hive Wirral Youth Zone, where they'll meet young people who take part in community projects.
Ahead, get a look at all the sweet moments from Harry and Meghan's outing.
- 1/14/2019
- by Tori Crowther
- Popsugar.com
Jackson has restored, colourised and added voices to footage of the western front, bringing the soldiers unforgettably back to life
To mark the centenary of the first world war’s end, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering thought experiment; an immersive deep-dive into what it was like for ordinary British soldiers on the western front. This he has done using state-of-the-art digital technology to restore flickery old black-and-white archive footage of the servicemen’s life in training and in the trenches. He has colourised it, sharpened it, put it in 3D and, as well as using diaries and letters for narrative voiceover, he has used lip-readers to help dub in what the men are actually saying.
The effect is electrifying. The soldiers are returned to an eerie, hyperreal kind of life in front of our eyes, like ghosts or figures summoned up in a seance. The faces are unforgettable.
To mark the centenary of the first world war’s end, Peter Jackson has created a visually staggering thought experiment; an immersive deep-dive into what it was like for ordinary British soldiers on the western front. This he has done using state-of-the-art digital technology to restore flickery old black-and-white archive footage of the servicemen’s life in training and in the trenches. He has colourised it, sharpened it, put it in 3D and, as well as using diaries and letters for narrative voiceover, he has used lip-readers to help dub in what the men are actually saying.
The effect is electrifying. The soldiers are returned to an eerie, hyperreal kind of life in front of our eyes, like ghosts or figures summoned up in a seance. The faces are unforgettable.
- 10/16/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Music and Sex: Scenes from a life - A novel in progress (first chapter here). Warning: more highly graphic Tmi.
A weekend of fruitless fretting almost led Walter to agree that Martial had the right idea and the show should go on with no guitarist, and with just Walter on keyboards, but really all he'd come up with for sure was a new band name -- The Living Section, for the Wednesday arts portion of The New York Times. The other guys all agreed that was an improvement. However, he couldn't bring himself to propose to them what, in his head, he had dubbed the Martial Plan.
The thing about the band was, it had to be fit in between all the stuff that going to college was actually about, such as attending classes. So on Monday, it was back to the usual schedule, which meant one of his favorite...
A weekend of fruitless fretting almost led Walter to agree that Martial had the right idea and the show should go on with no guitarist, and with just Walter on keyboards, but really all he'd come up with for sure was a new band name -- The Living Section, for the Wednesday arts portion of The New York Times. The other guys all agreed that was an improvement. However, he couldn't bring himself to propose to them what, in his head, he had dubbed the Martial Plan.
The thing about the band was, it had to be fit in between all the stuff that going to college was actually about, such as attending classes. So on Monday, it was back to the usual schedule, which meant one of his favorite...
- 9/8/2015
- by RomanAkLeff
- www.culturecatch.com
John Hurt is to star in an upcoming WW1 drama on ITV.
The Doctor Who actor will play Siegfried Sassoon in The Pity of War: The Lives of Loves of the War Poets, a one-off 60-minute drama.
The drama will be centred on the relationship between Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves while they wrote about their war experiences.
It is part of a series of programmes marking the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.
Olivia Colman will narrate a four-part series titled The Great War: The People's Story, which tells the stories of personal accounts collected from archives and libraries.
Alison Steadman, Daniel Mays, Claire Foy and Brian Cox will also feature in the series, alongside others.
"This programme gives the stage to the authentic voice of the British people as they endured over four years of the greatest violence in human history," said Richard Klein,...
The Doctor Who actor will play Siegfried Sassoon in The Pity of War: The Lives of Loves of the War Poets, a one-off 60-minute drama.
The drama will be centred on the relationship between Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves while they wrote about their war experiences.
It is part of a series of programmes marking the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.
Olivia Colman will narrate a four-part series titled The Great War: The People's Story, which tells the stories of personal accounts collected from archives and libraries.
Alison Steadman, Daniel Mays, Claire Foy and Brian Cox will also feature in the series, alongside others.
"This programme gives the stage to the authentic voice of the British people as they endured over four years of the greatest violence in human history," said Richard Klein,...
- 6/25/2014
- Digital Spy
Sir Tony Robinson has hit out at Michael Gove MP over recent comments about Blackadder.
The actor and activist - who played Baldrick in the classic BBC comedy - responded to the education secretary's claims that the show used "left-wing academics" to "feed myths" about World War I.
Robinson stated that Gove was practically "slagging off teachers" with his remarks.
In response, the Conservative politician said that Robinson was "wrong" and that he was only attacking "myths", not teachers.
Gove told the Daily Mail that Blackadder had influenced people's understanding of the war by displaying "an unhappy compulsion on the part of some to denigrate virtues such as patriotism, honour and courage".
He wrote: "The war was, of course, an unspeakable tragedy, which robbed this nation of our bravest and best.
"But even as we recall that loss and commemorate the bravery of those who fought, it's important that we...
The actor and activist - who played Baldrick in the classic BBC comedy - responded to the education secretary's claims that the show used "left-wing academics" to "feed myths" about World War I.
Robinson stated that Gove was practically "slagging off teachers" with his remarks.
In response, the Conservative politician said that Robinson was "wrong" and that he was only attacking "myths", not teachers.
Gove told the Daily Mail that Blackadder had influenced people's understanding of the war by displaying "an unhappy compulsion on the part of some to denigrate virtues such as patriotism, honour and courage".
He wrote: "The war was, of course, an unspeakable tragedy, which robbed this nation of our bravest and best.
"But even as we recall that loss and commemorate the bravery of those who fought, it's important that we...
- 1/6/2014
- Digital Spy
Christopher Eccleston and Vicky McClure are among the actors who will read war poetry on More4 during Remembrance Weekend.
On November 9 and 10, More4 will mark Remembrance Sunday with a weekend of poetry and other programming.
This year's coverage will include material that focuses on conflicts from World War I to the present day.
Noel Clarke, McClure and Eccleston will read works by Seamus Heaney, John Agard, Carol Ann Duffy and Dunya Mikhail in short films to be broadcast between programmes.
Last year's poems about World War I will also be featured once again, with readings by Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean, Stephen Graham and Sophie Okonedo.
Other programming will include docudrama The Somme, World War I documentary War Horse: The Real Story, and a first-person retelling of the Falklands' Most Daring Raid.
More4 Commissioning Editor in Specialist Factual John Hay said: "It's easy for those of us who have never been...
On November 9 and 10, More4 will mark Remembrance Sunday with a weekend of poetry and other programming.
This year's coverage will include material that focuses on conflicts from World War I to the present day.
Noel Clarke, McClure and Eccleston will read works by Seamus Heaney, John Agard, Carol Ann Duffy and Dunya Mikhail in short films to be broadcast between programmes.
Last year's poems about World War I will also be featured once again, with readings by Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean, Stephen Graham and Sophie Okonedo.
Other programming will include docudrama The Somme, World War I documentary War Horse: The Real Story, and a first-person retelling of the Falklands' Most Daring Raid.
More4 Commissioning Editor in Specialist Factual John Hay said: "It's easy for those of us who have never been...
- 11/8/2013
- Digital Spy
When Jake Gyllenhaal isn't off filming a project, the 32-year-old can be found helping out those who really matter. The actor stopped by The Headstrong Project for the first ever Words of War event in New York City Wednesday night, donating $5,000 to aid Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
The Headstrong program is led by Zach Iscol, a former Marine officer, and helps to lead research in developing programs and curriculums for mental healthcare for veterans. Other famous faces in attendance included Veep's Anna Chlumsky, The Wire's Jamie Hector, ER's Anthony Edwards, and Adam Driver from Girls.
"I wanted to be a part of this program simply because I want to provide a service for those who have provided a service to me for my entire life," Hector told me. "If I was out of town I would probably make my way back just to provide this service just because it is very important.
The Headstrong program is led by Zach Iscol, a former Marine officer, and helps to lead research in developing programs and curriculums for mental healthcare for veterans. Other famous faces in attendance included Veep's Anna Chlumsky, The Wire's Jamie Hector, ER's Anthony Edwards, and Adam Driver from Girls.
"I wanted to be a part of this program simply because I want to provide a service for those who have provided a service to me for my entire life," Hector told me. "If I was out of town I would probably make my way back just to provide this service just because it is very important.
- 5/9/2013
- by Stephanie Webber
- Celebsology
Jake Gyllenhaal attended The Headstrong Project's first Words of War event in NYC last night. Along with his support, he lent his voice to the cause by reading the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. The Headstrong Project aims to improve mental health care for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and Jake also made a monetary donation by bidding $5,000 in the auction. He was joined by pregnant Veep star Anna Chlumsky, as well as the chairman of the Headstrong Project, Zach Iscol, for the charitable night. It's been a busy week for Jake in the Big Apple. On Sunday night, he stepped out for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards, where he was nominated for outstanding featured actor for his role in the off-Broadway play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet. Although he didn't take home an honor, he was able to present his costar Annie Funke with the award for featured actress.
- 5/9/2013
- by Meghan Rooney
- Popsugar.com
Jake Gyllenhaal is one heck of a guy. The Jarhead star both offered up his Great Gatsby-polished voice and opened up his wallet tonight at the Headstrong Project's Words of War event in New York City. Gyllenhaal read the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est," by Wilfred Owen, to the guests gathered to support improving comprehensive mental-health care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each of the evening's featured speakers shared a war-themed piece that touched on the hardships a family faces when a loved one enlists, enters combat and then returns home to uncertain circumstances or in poor physical or mental shape. And it wasn't just...
- 5/9/2013
- E! Online
Shortly after 9/11, and very definitely as a personal response to that event, I wrote an article about Requiems for Cdnow, where I worked at the time (just a few blocks away from Ground Zero; fortunately our workday started at 10 Am, so I wasn't there yet that day, but in the weeks that followed there were days where, if the wind came from the wrong direction, we would go home early, it made us so sick). In the years since, I have written about music composed in response to that tragedy, such as John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls. But now I find myself being drawn back to the Requiem idea. Here's a much-expanded take on it.
This roughly chronological list confines itself to works with a sacred basis, though the 20th century yielded secular Requiems, most notably Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom...
This roughly chronological list confines itself to works with a sacred basis, though the 20th century yielded secular Requiems, most notably Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom...
- 9/11/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
News Ltd chief executive Kim Williams has called on the government to strengthen legislation to stop rampant piracy.
Williams, speaking at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast, called on the government to revamp the existing copyright framework to reflect the industry's shift from analogue to digital.
"What the Australian production and distribution industry needs are renovated legal underpinnings that acknowledge the primary right of copyright owners to exploit their work in the certain knowledge that theft will be prevented and punished equally," Williams said.
"Without that core commercial underpinning the outlook for our industry . the digital entertainment industry . is grim indeed. Whilst there is endless talk about the Nbn there is yet to be any formal acknowledgement that the legislative and enforcement frameworks are disastrously outmoded and defective to sustain any relevance in confronting a modern high speed digital delivery world.
"Without immediate and wholesale makeover we...
Williams, speaking at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast, called on the government to revamp the existing copyright framework to reflect the industry's shift from analogue to digital.
"What the Australian production and distribution industry needs are renovated legal underpinnings that acknowledge the primary right of copyright owners to exploit their work in the certain knowledge that theft will be prevented and punished equally," Williams said.
"Without that core commercial underpinning the outlook for our industry . the digital entertainment industry . is grim indeed. Whilst there is endless talk about the Nbn there is yet to be any formal acknowledgement that the legislative and enforcement frameworks are disastrously outmoded and defective to sustain any relevance in confronting a modern high speed digital delivery world.
"Without immediate and wholesale makeover we...
- 8/21/2012
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
In a keynote address to the Australian International Movie Convention, News Limited CEO Kim Williams argued that download films, TV shows or music without paying for it is no better than looting
My subject today is copyright. It’s a topic as potentially dry as a pub with no beer. Its mere mention makes you think of lawyers. And fees. And trademarks. And fine print. So let’s put that all aside for a moment and talk about what copyright is really about. Let’s cut right to the chase. Copyright is about enabling the production of great art and great commercial work – hopefully both. It’s about nurturing the creative process. It’s about supporting business cases and employment. About getting the noblest imaginings of the human mind and human emotions into a form that the whole world can see and share.
If you want to know why you should care about copyright,...
My subject today is copyright. It’s a topic as potentially dry as a pub with no beer. Its mere mention makes you think of lawyers. And fees. And trademarks. And fine print. So let’s put that all aside for a moment and talk about what copyright is really about. Let’s cut right to the chase. Copyright is about enabling the production of great art and great commercial work – hopefully both. It’s about nurturing the creative process. It’s about supporting business cases and employment. About getting the noblest imaginings of the human mind and human emotions into a form that the whole world can see and share.
If you want to know why you should care about copyright,...
- 8/21/2012
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
The madness of war is exposed by a stallion in Spielberg's emotional, no-holds-barred moral epic
Steven Spielberg has been working in Britain off and on for 30 years now, long enough in fact to have been awarded an honorary knighthood. But a few days ago, he described War Horse, his movie based on Michael Morpurgo's children's novel about the madness of war, as his first truly British film. "After I heard the reaction last night at the Odeon, Leicester Square," he said, "I realised I'd made my first British film with War Horse. Through and through."
Actually, the tradition War Horse belongs to is the Hollywood celebration of British pastoral that reached its peak during the second world war with Lassie Come Home and National Velvet. Both were movie versions of novels about lonely, lovable, innocent, working-class children passionately attached to animals in an idealised provincial England.
The narrator of the novel is Joey,...
Steven Spielberg has been working in Britain off and on for 30 years now, long enough in fact to have been awarded an honorary knighthood. But a few days ago, he described War Horse, his movie based on Michael Morpurgo's children's novel about the madness of war, as his first truly British film. "After I heard the reaction last night at the Odeon, Leicester Square," he said, "I realised I'd made my first British film with War Horse. Through and through."
Actually, the tradition War Horse belongs to is the Hollywood celebration of British pastoral that reached its peak during the second world war with Lassie Come Home and National Velvet. Both were movie versions of novels about lonely, lovable, innocent, working-class children passionately attached to animals in an idealised provincial England.
The narrator of the novel is Joey,...
- 1/15/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The first world war epic filmed in Devon and Wiltshire could only have been made in the UK, according to the director
It was filmed in Devon and Wiltshire, is packed with the UK's top acting talent and saw the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at its royal premiere on Sunday night. Now director Steven Spielberg has said that he regards War Horse as his first truly British film.
"This could only have been shot in England," he told a press conference in London on Monday morning. "After I heard the reaction last night at the Odeon in Leicester Square, I realised that I'd made my first British film with War Horse. Through and through."
Spielberg said the epic had been inspired in part by John Ford's Welsh-set 1941 film How Green Was My Valley. Like his heroes Ford and David Lean, he had attempted to use the British countryside...
It was filmed in Devon and Wiltshire, is packed with the UK's top acting talent and saw the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at its royal premiere on Sunday night. Now director Steven Spielberg has said that he regards War Horse as his first truly British film.
"This could only have been shot in England," he told a press conference in London on Monday morning. "After I heard the reaction last night at the Odeon in Leicester Square, I realised that I'd made my first British film with War Horse. Through and through."
Spielberg said the epic had been inspired in part by John Ford's Welsh-set 1941 film How Green Was My Valley. Like his heroes Ford and David Lean, he had attempted to use the British countryside...
- 1/10/2012
- by Alex Needham
- The Guardian - Film News
The Great War seen through the eyes of a heroic nag from Devon. What could possibly go wrong? Lots, Michael writes, in his review of Spielberg’s War Horse...
While his films don’t come out with the clockwork reliability of those directed by Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg works to his own halting, arrhythmic beat. Years of silence often give way to flutters of wild activity, with the Hollywood superstar sometimes stuffing more than one of his new flicks into the cinema calendar.
This has been done to calculated effect on more than one occasion, where blockbusters have shared space with bids for dramatic respectability. Most successfully, in 1993 Spielberg ruled both the box office and the Academy with the one-two punch of Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. The twinning of popcorn adventure and super-serious historical drama continued with both The Lost World and Amistad, and War Of The Worlds and Munich,...
While his films don’t come out with the clockwork reliability of those directed by Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg works to his own halting, arrhythmic beat. Years of silence often give way to flutters of wild activity, with the Hollywood superstar sometimes stuffing more than one of his new flicks into the cinema calendar.
This has been done to calculated effect on more than one occasion, where blockbusters have shared space with bids for dramatic respectability. Most successfully, in 1993 Spielberg ruled both the box office and the Academy with the one-two punch of Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. The twinning of popcorn adventure and super-serious historical drama continued with both The Lost World and Amistad, and War Of The Worlds and Munich,...
- 12/20/2011
- Den of Geek
Versatile actor and writer best known as Wexford in the TV detective stories
Of all the television detectives of recent years, George Baker's Inspector Wexford, with his mature West Country burr, slight air of fallibility and occasional stubbornness, was the one who seemed to spring from real life rather than an author's fancy. Sometimes ponderous, sometimes wrong, always homely, Baker's Wexford had his affable ex-constable's feet firmly on the ground. The character had a solid, believable family life. The actor, also a family man, had a hand in some of the adaptations that went under the title of the Ruth Rendell Mysteries. Whatever the combination of factors, it gave Baker, who has died aged 80 of pneumonia, his greatest success.
Not that fame was unfamiliar to the actor, whose career had got off to such a promising start back in the 1950s. The British cinema spotted his handsome features almost...
Of all the television detectives of recent years, George Baker's Inspector Wexford, with his mature West Country burr, slight air of fallibility and occasional stubbornness, was the one who seemed to spring from real life rather than an author's fancy. Sometimes ponderous, sometimes wrong, always homely, Baker's Wexford had his affable ex-constable's feet firmly on the ground. The character had a solid, believable family life. The actor, also a family man, had a hand in some of the adaptations that went under the title of the Ruth Rendell Mysteries. Whatever the combination of factors, it gave Baker, who has died aged 80 of pneumonia, his greatest success.
Not that fame was unfamiliar to the actor, whose career had got off to such a promising start back in the 1950s. The British cinema spotted his handsome features almost...
- 10/9/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Our second review of Captain America: The First Avenger after Mark Zhuravsky’s original.
After Thor, Captain America looked destined to be the hardest sell for Marvel Studios as a major summer event movie. Not because he’s an American hero in an era where we are cynical about such things, but because, under cold analysis, his powers aren’t all that fun. Alongside some of the Silver Age heroes of the Marvel Universe, Captain America is really pretty boring. He’s super strong and agile, but then so is Spider-Man – and that guy can sling webs and scale tall buildings. He can throw his big metal shield around, but that’s not exactly much when put next to, say, Wolverine’s adamantium claws. Cap’s real claim to fame is that he once socked Adolf Hitler on the jaw and he’s very much mired in that past.
Our second review of Captain America: The First Avenger after Mark Zhuravsky’s original.
After Thor, Captain America looked destined to be the hardest sell for Marvel Studios as a major summer event movie. Not because he’s an American hero in an era where we are cynical about such things, but because, under cold analysis, his powers aren’t all that fun. Alongside some of the Silver Age heroes of the Marvel Universe, Captain America is really pretty boring. He’s super strong and agile, but then so is Spider-Man – and that guy can sling webs and scale tall buildings. He can throw his big metal shield around, but that’s not exactly much when put next to, say, Wolverine’s adamantium claws. Cap’s real claim to fame is that he once socked Adolf Hitler on the jaw and he’s very much mired in that past.
- 7/22/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
Overrated films are an interesting breed. They are essentially the type that everybody goes crazy for until consideration, time, thought and retrospect force us to reassess the situation. They are, by and large, the product of Hollywood: though by no means exclusive. However, Hollywood films are the most hyped; the most seen; the most heard. They are garnered with awards and flattery and the cycle begins again. Is it genius of deception or commerce?
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is often labelled as “the greatest film ever made”. It will not appear in this list. It is not an overrated film. Even now, in the sixty-plus years since its release, Welles’ masterpiece remains inimitable. Searching for something to dislike in it is pointless. Yes, critics go ga-ga for Orson, and so they should. He was a true maverick.
If one looks at the history of the Best Film award at the Oscars,...
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is often labelled as “the greatest film ever made”. It will not appear in this list. It is not an overrated film. Even now, in the sixty-plus years since its release, Welles’ masterpiece remains inimitable. Searching for something to dislike in it is pointless. Yes, critics go ga-ga for Orson, and so they should. He was a true maverick.
If one looks at the history of the Best Film award at the Oscars,...
- 12/3/2009
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
If you’re an "In Treatment” fan, you’re probably in a state of withdrawal right now. As it happens, last week, when the show aired its final three episodes, I read a book that reminded me a lot of the HBO drama.
Pat Barker’s “Regeneration” (Plume), which came out in Britain in 1991, may be set during World War I, but its parallels to “In Treatment” are remarkable.
This graceful and affecting novel tells the story of Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated British Army officer and poet who, in 1917, said he would no longer fight because he had no faith in the way the war was being conducted.
The military authorities diagnosed shell shock and sent Sassoon to Craiglockhart, a psychiatric hospital in Scotland. At the heart of the book are the encounters between Sassoon and W.H.R. Rivers, the empathic and unconventional doctor treating him.
As depicted in the novel,...
Pat Barker’s “Regeneration” (Plume), which came out in Britain in 1991, may be set during World War I, but its parallels to “In Treatment” are remarkable.
This graceful and affecting novel tells the story of Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated British Army officer and poet who, in 1917, said he would no longer fight because he had no faith in the way the war was being conducted.
The military authorities diagnosed shell shock and sent Sassoon to Craiglockhart, a psychiatric hospital in Scotland. At the heart of the book are the encounters between Sassoon and W.H.R. Rivers, the empathic and unconventional doctor treating him.
As depicted in the novel,...
- 3/31/2008
- by Tempo
- The Watcher
Based on English author Pat Barker's acclaimed 1991 novel, "Regeneration" is a searingly profound drama about shell-shocked soldiers in World War I receiving psychological treatment with the goal of returning them to the front.
Well-received in Palm Springs and eminently worthy of distribution, the English-Canadian production features outstanding performances by lead Jonathan Pryce and a trio of sterling supporting players -- James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller and Stuart Bunce -- as well as superb direction by Gillies MacKinnon and a terrific script by seasoned veteran Allan Scott ("Don't Look Now", "In Love and War" and many others).
For centuries, the rallying cry of soldiers in harm's way was "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country). But the apocalyptic conflict raging in 1917, when the movie takes place, is nothing but a massive slaughter that profoundly affects anyone who takes part in it -- even if they interact only with the wounded survivors.
Set mainly in the soggy climes of Scotland, where British officers and ordinary soldiers are brought to Edinburgh's Craiglockart Hospital to recover from the horrors of trench warfare, "Regeneration" opens with a stunning overhead shot of a muddy battlefield littered with the dead and dying.
The film is a stirring, mostly true anti-war story that leaves one moved and angered by the inhumanity of political and ideological forces that reduce individuals to so much cannon fodder.
A kind and empathetic professional, Dr. William Rivers (Pryce) pursues hypnosis as a cure for his patients, even if the method is not always successful. In a scene late in the film, he takes a much-needed break and observes the practices of a rival (David Hayman), who uses shock therapy. It's a vicious continuation of the cruelty, and Rivers is not converted. On the verge of his own nervous breakdown, he begins to seriously question the official practice of "regenerating" the poor souls in his care.
Wilby ("Howards End") is noble but aloof as the aristocratic poet Siegfried Sassoon, who refuses to acknowledge that he's a war hero and goes through with the unthinkable: a public denouncement of the war as a terrible crime perpetrated and prolonged by the European ruling classes. Rivers knows his duty, but he's sympathetic to some degree with Wilby and tries to dissuade him from going further with a protest that will most likely result in a court-martial.
As gentle poet Wilfred Owen, Bunce ("First Knight") draws one into the creative world his character shares with Sassoon, an unfriendly bloke who encourages the novice writer to create such masterpieces as "Anthem for Doomed Youth". Equally memorable, Miller ("Trainspotting") has potent screen presence as Prior.
Well-received in Palm Springs and eminently worthy of distribution, the English-Canadian production features outstanding performances by lead Jonathan Pryce and a trio of sterling supporting players -- James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller and Stuart Bunce -- as well as superb direction by Gillies MacKinnon and a terrific script by seasoned veteran Allan Scott ("Don't Look Now", "In Love and War" and many others).
For centuries, the rallying cry of soldiers in harm's way was "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country). But the apocalyptic conflict raging in 1917, when the movie takes place, is nothing but a massive slaughter that profoundly affects anyone who takes part in it -- even if they interact only with the wounded survivors.
Set mainly in the soggy climes of Scotland, where British officers and ordinary soldiers are brought to Edinburgh's Craiglockart Hospital to recover from the horrors of trench warfare, "Regeneration" opens with a stunning overhead shot of a muddy battlefield littered with the dead and dying.
The film is a stirring, mostly true anti-war story that leaves one moved and angered by the inhumanity of political and ideological forces that reduce individuals to so much cannon fodder.
A kind and empathetic professional, Dr. William Rivers (Pryce) pursues hypnosis as a cure for his patients, even if the method is not always successful. In a scene late in the film, he takes a much-needed break and observes the practices of a rival (David Hayman), who uses shock therapy. It's a vicious continuation of the cruelty, and Rivers is not converted. On the verge of his own nervous breakdown, he begins to seriously question the official practice of "regenerating" the poor souls in his care.
Wilby ("Howards End") is noble but aloof as the aristocratic poet Siegfried Sassoon, who refuses to acknowledge that he's a war hero and goes through with the unthinkable: a public denouncement of the war as a terrible crime perpetrated and prolonged by the European ruling classes. Rivers knows his duty, but he's sympathetic to some degree with Wilby and tries to dissuade him from going further with a protest that will most likely result in a court-martial.
As gentle poet Wilfred Owen, Bunce ("First Knight") draws one into the creative world his character shares with Sassoon, an unfriendly bloke who encourages the novice writer to create such masterpieces as "Anthem for Doomed Youth". Equally memorable, Miller ("Trainspotting") has potent screen presence as Prior.
- 8/14/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Based on English author Pat Barker's acclaimed 1991 novel, "Regeneration" is a searingly profound drama about shell-shocked soldiers in World War I receiving psychological treatment with the goal of returning them to the front.
Well-received at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival and eminently worthy of distribution, the English-Canadian production features outstanding performances by lead Jonathan Pryce and a trio of sterling supporting players -- James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller and Stuart Bunce -- as well as superb direction by Gillies MacKinnon and a terrific script by seasoned veteran Allan Scott ("Don't Look Now", "In Love and War" and many others).
For centuries, the rallying cry of soldiers in harm's way was "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country). But the apocalyptic conflict raging in 1917, when the movie takes place, is nothing but a massive slaughter that profoundly affects anyone who takes part in it -- even if they interact only with the wounded survivors.
Set mainly in the soggy climes of Scotland, where British officers and ordinary soldiers are brought to Edinburgh's Craiglockart Hospital to recover from the horrors of trench warfare, "Regeneration" opens with a stunning overhead shot of a muddy battlefield littered with the dead and dying.
The film is a stirring, mostly true anti-war story that leaves one moved and angered by the inhumanity of political and ideological forces that reduce individuals to so much cannon fodder.
A kind and empathetic professional, Dr. William Rivers (Pryce) pursues hypnosis as a cure for his patients, even if the method is not always successful. In a scene late in the film, he takes a much-needed break and observes the practices of a rival (David Hayman), who uses shock therapy. It's a vicious continuation of the cruelty, and Rivers is not converted. On the verge of his own nervous breakdown, he begins to seriously question the official practice of "regenerating" the poor souls in his care.
Wilby ("Howards End") is noble but aloof as the aristocratic poet Siegfried Sassoon, who refuses to acknowledge that he's a war hero and goes through with the unthinkable: a public denouncement of the war as a terrible crime perpetrated and prolonged by the European ruling classes. Rivers knows his duty, but he's sympathetic to some degree with Wilby and tries to dissuade him from going further with a protest that will most likely result in a court-martial.
As gentle poet Wilfred Owen, Bunce ("First Knight") draws one into the creative world his character shares with Sassoon, an unfriendly bloke who encourages the novice writer to create such masterpieces as "Anthem for Doomed Youth". Equally memorable, Miller ("Trainspotting") has potent screen presence as Prior.
REGENERATION
Rafford Films, Norstar Entertainment,
BBC Films, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Producers: Allan Scott, Peter R. Simpson
Screenwriter: Allan Scott
Based on the novel by: Pat Barker
Executive producers: Saskia Sutton, Mark Shivas
Director of photography: Glen Macpherson
Production designer: Andy Harris
Costume designer: Kate Carin
Casting: Sarah Trevis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dr. William Rivers: Jonathan Pryce
Siegfried Sassoon: James Wilby
Billy Prior: Jonny Lee Miller
Wilfred Owen: Stuart Bunce
Sarah: Tanya Allen
Dr. Bryce: David Hayman
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Well-received at the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival and eminently worthy of distribution, the English-Canadian production features outstanding performances by lead Jonathan Pryce and a trio of sterling supporting players -- James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller and Stuart Bunce -- as well as superb direction by Gillies MacKinnon and a terrific script by seasoned veteran Allan Scott ("Don't Look Now", "In Love and War" and many others).
For centuries, the rallying cry of soldiers in harm's way was "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country). But the apocalyptic conflict raging in 1917, when the movie takes place, is nothing but a massive slaughter that profoundly affects anyone who takes part in it -- even if they interact only with the wounded survivors.
Set mainly in the soggy climes of Scotland, where British officers and ordinary soldiers are brought to Edinburgh's Craiglockart Hospital to recover from the horrors of trench warfare, "Regeneration" opens with a stunning overhead shot of a muddy battlefield littered with the dead and dying.
The film is a stirring, mostly true anti-war story that leaves one moved and angered by the inhumanity of political and ideological forces that reduce individuals to so much cannon fodder.
A kind and empathetic professional, Dr. William Rivers (Pryce) pursues hypnosis as a cure for his patients, even if the method is not always successful. In a scene late in the film, he takes a much-needed break and observes the practices of a rival (David Hayman), who uses shock therapy. It's a vicious continuation of the cruelty, and Rivers is not converted. On the verge of his own nervous breakdown, he begins to seriously question the official practice of "regenerating" the poor souls in his care.
Wilby ("Howards End") is noble but aloof as the aristocratic poet Siegfried Sassoon, who refuses to acknowledge that he's a war hero and goes through with the unthinkable: a public denouncement of the war as a terrible crime perpetrated and prolonged by the European ruling classes. Rivers knows his duty, but he's sympathetic to some degree with Wilby and tries to dissuade him from going further with a protest that will most likely result in a court-martial.
As gentle poet Wilfred Owen, Bunce ("First Knight") draws one into the creative world his character shares with Sassoon, an unfriendly bloke who encourages the novice writer to create such masterpieces as "Anthem for Doomed Youth". Equally memorable, Miller ("Trainspotting") has potent screen presence as Prior.
REGENERATION
Rafford Films, Norstar Entertainment,
BBC Films, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Producers: Allan Scott, Peter R. Simpson
Screenwriter: Allan Scott
Based on the novel by: Pat Barker
Executive producers: Saskia Sutton, Mark Shivas
Director of photography: Glen Macpherson
Production designer: Andy Harris
Costume designer: Kate Carin
Casting: Sarah Trevis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dr. William Rivers: Jonathan Pryce
Siegfried Sassoon: James Wilby
Billy Prior: Jonny Lee Miller
Wilfred Owen: Stuart Bunce
Sarah: Tanya Allen
Dr. Bryce: David Hayman
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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