Cast: Simon Haycock, Lucy Drive, Julie Hoult, Danny Steele, Sophie Anderson, Ian Brooker, Ian Reddington, Koral Neil, Paul Lincoln, Celine Abrahams, Holly Jacobson, Michael Bott, Katie Davies-Speak, Julian Boote, Jon Campling (voice) with Ben Shockley and Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox: Doll House, Lies We Tell, Aaaaaaaah!, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (TV), Teletubbies (voice)(TV), The Most Fertile Man In Ireland, Julie & The Cadillacs, Anchoress, The Tempest, Quadrophenia, The Quatermass Conclusion, Jubilee
Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Fatma Mohamed, Leo Bill, Hayley Squires, Richard Bremmer, Jaygann Ayeh and Gwendoline Christie with Barry Adamson, Anthony Adjekum, Caroline Catz, Terry Bird, Simon Manyonda, Gavin Brocker, Karl Farrer with Steve Oram and Julian Barratt
Marianne Jean-Baptiste: Peter Rabbit, Broadchurch (TV), The Edge of Tomorrow, Robocop (2014), 360, Takers, Without a Trace (TV), City Of Ember, Spy Game, The Cell, 28 Days, Secrets and Lies
Leo Bill:Peterloo, Taboo (TV), Alice Through The Looking Glass, Mr Turner, A Long Way Down, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011), Alice In Wonderland (2010), The Fall, Kinky Boots, 28 Days Later
Hayley Squires: Happy New Year Colin Burstead, Away, I Daniel Blake, Blood Cells
Richard Bremmer: Swallows and Amazons (2016), Mr Turner, 13th Warrior, The Girl With Brains In Her Feet
Gwendoline Christie: The Personal History of David Copperfield, Game of Thrones (TV), Welcome to Marwen, The Darkest Minds, Star Wars – The Last Jedi, Top of the Lake (TV), Absolutely Fabulous – The Movie, Star Wars – The Force Awakens, Hunger Games – Mockingjay 2
Anthony Adjekum: Youngers (TV)
Caroline Catz: Doc Martin (TV), DCI Banks (TV), ChickLit
Cast: Conleth Hill, Alex Hassell, Tori Butler-Hart, Alix Wilton Regan, Dickon Tyrrell, Graham Butler, Emma King, Joe Bannister, Ben Lee and Fisayo Akinade
Conleth Hill: Official Secrets, Dublin Murders (TV), Game of Thrones (TV), Dave Allen at Peace, Serana, Suits (TV), Shooting For Socrates, Fishing In The Yemen, Perrier’s Bounty, Whatever Works
Alex Hassell: The Boys (TV), Suburbicon, Anonymous, Bonkers (TV)
Natalie Dormer: Penny Dreadful – City of Angels (TV), The Dark Crystal – Age of Resistance (voice)(TV), Pets United (voice), The Professor and the Madman, Patient Zero, Picnic at Hanging Rock (TV), Game of Thrones (TV), The Forest, Hunger Games- Mockingjay 2, Hunger Games- Mockingjay, The Riot Club, The Counsellor, Rush (2013), W/E, The Tudors (TV)
Joely Richardson: The Turning (2020), Colour Out of Space, Surviving Christmas, Red Sparrow, The Hatton Garden Job, The Time Of Their Lives, Snowden, The Messenger (2015), Maggie, Endless Love (2014), Vampire Academy, Red Lights, The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (2011), Anonymous, The Tudors (TV), Nip / Tuck (TV), The Last Mimzy, Shoreditch, The Patriot, Maybe Baby, Return To Me, Event Horizon, 101 Dalmatians (1997), Hollow Reed, Loch Ness, Sister My Sister, I’ll Do Anything, Lady Chatterley (TV), Rebecca’s Daughters, Shining Through, King Ralph, Drowning By Numbers
That’s one of those ambiguous titles. Is ‘The Incident’ the thing which happens to the film’s heroine halfway through the film, or is it what the hero does near the start? Or does it refer to Tom Hughes buying the world’s most expensive pizzas? Which, seeing as he’s bought them in a backstreet in Huddersfield, is quite an achievement.
We open with Joe arriving at a pizza place on the mean streets of Kirklees. Although he gets some pizzas, the fool also manages to inadvertently make use of the services of Lily, a semi-random pizza-waitressing underage prostitute. We’re meant to believe (I think) that this error of judgement / gross stupidity spirals into an inevitable sequence of events leading to disaster, but that’s not really the case as (a) the film-makers have to fashion a series of (in)convenient coincidences to keep the plot going, and (b) divorcing this drip is probably the best thing his wife could ever have done.
Joe returns with cold pizzas to one of those improbably swish residences that are usually the preserve (in films) of media types, millionaires and (bizarrely) alcoholic police officers. Joe is an architect, his wife I’m sure does something equally middle class but I can’t remember, the point is they’ve got a nice big house seemingly constructed entirely of glass. Some desultory scenes follow, largely designed to show that these two are not long for each other. Then the coincidences begin to pile up. In a desperate attempt to discover whether she’s pregnant our heroine dives into a public toilet, but the next cubicle is soon occupied by Lily and a potential customer. A little later, the two women have a brief altercation on a railway platform, which Joe fails to notice despite being about three metres away. And so it goes on. (By the way, she is pregnant! Obviously. Women aren’t allowed in British films without the promise of a pregnancy and the peril that entails). Subsequently Lily winds up at the house and the really rather very good bit of the film happens, which I won’t reveal, but if this middle bit had been a short film then it might have been a much more worthwhile exercise.
After that things unspool in a standard fashion leading in leisurely fashion to the final possible incident which is based on the sort of reveal you get in TV crime dramas.
The central image of the film, with the two women, one in an alien environment, the other whose safety is being violated, is a strong one. But the film doesn’t know how to surround it. There are some incredibly, almost embarrassingly, lame attempts at showing the bleak side of life for the have-nots. Meanwhile the depiction of the better off couple feels even more fake, like the film-makers are trying to echo unhappy French characters from intense arthouse films like UN COEUR EN HIVER, just without the intensity or Frenchness.
I’ve rarely encountered a drearier set of protagonists. Even the supporting players (Noma Dumezweni criminally misused as a kind of general purpose social working medical police lawyer and religious counsellor) and extras exude boredom. Hughes, last seen by me in some godawful would-be army recruiting film, in which he portrayed a block of wood, is considerably improved. Up to a point. He conveys his character’s middle-class anguish by whispering. Alas, whispering is also his way of conveying joy, misery, frustration, confusion, boredom, and apprehensiveness. And although he does the ‘I’m lying through my teeth’ and ‘oh no I’m about to get found out’ physical actions well, his face is sadly less animated than his arms. Curiously the film doesn’t seem that interested in Joe’s predicament, which is fair enough – there must be more than enough stories about unwise prostitute-usage from the clients’ perspectives without adding dreary Joe’s tale to them.
This leaves Ruta Gedmintas to do all the heavy lifting and she’s pretty good at all the basic stuff: looking concerned, pensive, scared, ill, but she is unable to make us care about her dreary character. Similarly, Tasha Connor (as Lily) can do bored, vulnerable and sneaky (she’s clearly a good actress), but you just wish she’d go away and pester someone else.
Being a basically arty film, it’s all very slow, which looked at first like a good thing: it seemed to be building slowly and steadily to a crisis point, but then it just loped along after the incident at much the same pace, leaving the pedants in the audience (i.e. me) enough time to wonder at a few things. How does Annabel (as she’s eventually named well over an hour in) recognise Lily when it’s dark? How do the police catch her? Why does Lily refer to travelling to ‘the city’? (If the film’s set near Huddersfield, that means Bradford, Leeds or Wakefield, none of which are ever referred to as ‘the city’ by locals.) How speedy is British justice? At the start of the film our dreary duo are preparing for a party which still hasn’t happened by the time the British justice system has apprehended the miscreant and a victim/perpetrator meeting has happened. This film, like its main protagonists, seems to live in a protective cocoon, a world where criminals are caught, social workers aren’t over-worked, and the law works with maximum efficiency. This is a film which wallows in its own middle-classness and its middle-class-guilt, without ever bothering to actually consider any of the relevant issues.
True, if this had been some gritty vérité-style slice-of-life misery-fest, I’d probably be annoyed it wasn’t chirpier. But this really is the most cursory way of dealing with an issue, to the point where it feels like the whole child prostitute thing was tacked on simply to make the film more controversial/edgy/resonant/whatever. Instead of being a film about the ways an affluent society treats people at the bottom of the scale, THE INCIDENT is just a tourist’s eye view of poverty, a middle class guilt-tripping divorce drama with pretensions.
Review by Matt ‘eat the rich’ Pesci
WHAT HAVE I SEEN THAT ACTOR IN BEFORE?
Ruta Gedmintas: A Street Cat Named Bob, The Borgias (TV), Prowl, You Instead
Tom Hughes: London Town, Dare To Be Wild, 8 Minutes Idle, I Am Soldier, About Time, Cemetery Junction, Sex & Drugs & Rock-N-Roll
Tasha Connor: When The Lights Went Out
Noma Dumezweni: Dr Who (TV), Silent Witness (TV), Dirty Pretty Things
Cast: Aneurin Barnard, Morfydd Clark, James Purefoy, Samantha Barks, Edmund Kingsley, Ruby Bentall, Klara Issova, Voitech Sedivy, Ian Bonar, Nickolas Grace, Anna Rust, Jiri Made with Dervla Kirwan and Adrian Edmondson
Hidden fictionalised drama about what may or may have happened to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (ANEURIN BARNARD – DEAD IN A MONTH) on a sojourn to Prague where he wrote Don Giovanni. Patronised by a rich family of an opera singer, Zuzana Lubtak (MORFYDD CLARK – THE FALLING) and also invited to stay with them, Mozart promptly falls under the spell of her beauty and talent. The trouble is she’s been betrothed to the cruel and violent Baron Saloka (JAMES PUREFOY – RESIDENT EVIL) who is also the producer and benefactor of the latest opera. The pair plot to meet in secret and become lovers despite pressure on all sides to give up. Are the lovers destined to be together forever or will tragedy befall them?
This is a very well-presented and well-mounted costume drama which has been unjustly ignored on release. I’m not even sure if it was afforded a cinema release anywhere in the world and this is a shame as it is damn sight better than a lot of British movies that do get a cinematic showcase. Although, the plot offers few surprises the attention to detail of the period production and the wonderful cast make this infinitely watchable and enjoyable. Aneurin Barnard is superb as the sensitive and lively Mozart, and Morfydd Clark is matches him aptly in an enchanting and yet ghostly role of a girl torn between true love and family honour. In supporting ranks Adrian Edmondson (BOTTOM) impresses the most as Zuzana’s naive and proud father; a rare dramatic role that shows him in a new light.
If you are looking for a moving, yet slight film with lots of good opera and intrigue in, then Interlude in Prague may be for you. It’s not a groundbreaker but it deserved a better fate than to be buried without trace in DTV hell.
6.5 out of 10 – Above average costume drama that sells its central love story sucessfully and has a really good sense of period, a dedicated mid-weight cast and tasty script. Recommended.
Adrian Edmondson: The Rizen 2 – Possession, Star Wars – The Last Jedi, The Rizen, War and Peace (TV), The Comic Strip (TV), Blood (2013), Holby City (TV), Guest House Paradiso, Bottom (TV), The Pope Must Die, Filty Rich & Catflap (TV), Eat The Rich, The Supergrass, The Young Ones (TV)
Release date: 20th March 2017 (DVD Premiere) Director: Andy Edwards
Cast: Cara Theobold, Emily Atack, Jordan Coulson, Ed Kear, Homer Todiwala, Algina Lipkis, Michael Wagg, Matt Kennard, Chris Simmons, Alex Felton, Seb Castang, Alex Zane with Marcia Do Vales and Matt King
Director: Ken Loach (Jimmy’s Hall / The Angel’s Share / Route Irish / Looking for Eric / The Wind That Shakes The Barley / Tickets / Ae Fond Kiss / Sweet Sixteen / Bread and Roses / My Name Is Joe / Carla’s Song / Land and Freedom / Ladybird Ladybird / Raining Stones / Riff Raff / Hidden Agenda / Kes / Poor Cow)
Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Brianna Shann, Dylan McKiernan, Kate Rutter, Kima Sikazwe, Stephen Clegg, Sharon Percy, Micky McGregor and Malcolm Shields
At last, here is the Ken Loach film that everybody in the UK must see. We’ve long read about Ken Loach being the political watchdog of British cinema, but whilst he does put out interesting movies its been a long time since he’s put his finger on the pulse and made a film that is for vital viewing. Perhaps this is the first film since Ladybird Ladybird and Raining Stones that tackles the problem of everyday people fighting to stay above the poverty line and speaks to us rather than gives us a history lesson to learn from.
This time Loach and his long time collaborator Paul Laverty take a good look at our ridiculous benefits system that makes signing on a labyrinth for those who grew up without use of the internet. Daniel Blake (DAVE JOHNS) is one such citizen who is recovering from a heart attack. A talented carpenter, he’s assessed by a bureaucrat inspite of presenting medical evidence and told that he must actively seek work. He must sign on the internet because Job Centre Plus is ‘online by default’. Faced with a a largely unsympathetic wall of apathy he edges closer and closer to the poverty line. He befriends a single mother, Katie (HAYLEY SQUIRES – BLOOD CELLS) and her two young children (BRIANNA SHANN and DYLAN MCKIERNAN) who are similar victims of the labyrinth and nonsensical benefits system. Having been relocated to Newcastle (where the film is set) from London in order to have reasonable housing for her kids, she also struggles valiantly to make impossible ends meet. The processes are so long and difficult to follow the weeks pass and the money runs out.
The film highlights how the state is largely failing the older generation and a whole swathe of the population with exclusive systems and no access to appropriate help where and when needed. Dave Johns and Hayley Squires put in note-perfect, gripping performances giving heart and soul to their fight to (basically) live, they are supported by a large and excellent cast of unknowns too. Their story shows that if you can’t play the game there are few good options available as an alternative. Even those with work struggle to live – the zero hours contracts are briefly covered when Daniel’s neighbour, Kima Sikazwe complains about only being needed for 45 minutes at his job in a depot and earning a sum less than £4.00.
The plot certainly goes for the big moments but like Boyz N The Hood, another film calling for social change on a national scale, there’s no room for subtleties. The story takes the characters on a journey through job centres, pointless career workshops, hospitals, food banks, police stations and more. It really needs to be seen, but then what can we do? Art as protest is crucial but how can it impact a change when there are so many that live this struggle. They don’t want to watch films like this, they live it. A film like I, Daniel Blake is a fictionalised window through which the chattering classes can peer and shake their heads in disgust. But its existence is still needed as it raises a much needed awareness. You can help in a small way, if you don’t already, pitch in a few bits to the food bank during your weekly shop. That’s what I’ll be continuing to do and making sure I never go within a million miles of a dole office. Because that’s the scary part, we don’t know when we’ll be dependent on the state. Scarier than any horror. See it ASAP.
8.5 out of 10 – As cinematic as most of Ken Loach’s other films (not very) BUT this one’s vital viewing. Relevant to everybody, old and young. Find a way to see this today.
RISE OF THE ZOMBIE HOOLIGAN FILMS 