3 posts tagged with uk by mediareport.
Displaying 1 through 3 of 3.
Movie: All Night Long
British director Basil Dearden followed his gay blackmail thriller Victim with 1962’s All Night Long, which re-imagines Shakespeare's Othello at a late night London jazz jam. Patrick McGoohan is drummer Johnny Cousins, the scheming, pot-smoking Iago who prowls the party stirring up jealousy and fear to tear the interracial couple of bandleader Aurelius Rex and his wife Delia apart so Delia will sing with Johnny when he leaves Othello's band. An excellent score helps drive the tightening downward spiral, with Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck showing up as themselves throughout the party. [more inside]
Movie: Victim
Basil Dearden's landmark 1961 noir about gay men in London victimized by a blackmail ring is credited with helping shift British attitudes about homosexuality. Closeted actor Dirk Bogarde plays the guilt-ridden lawyer who decides to fight back. Surprisingly thrilling, and sympathetic to a range of gay characters who are presented with minimal stereotyping (for the time). Banned from wide release in the US because Dearden refused to make concessions. 100/87 at Rotten Tomatoes, on HBO and the Criterion Channel. [more inside]
Movie: 21 Up
3rd in the series of Michael Apted's "Up Series" documentaries, this episode tracks our more mature and insightful protagonists as they enter adulthood, exploring both their lives and their thoughts about the two earlier films. Lynn is married and running a bookmobile, Simon works as a meatpacker, Sue seems happy as a travel agent, Paul the same as a bricklayer, Bruce studies advanced math and calls himself a Socialist, wealthy Suzy smokes and seems quite world-weary, Charles (making his last appearance) waxes philosophic, no-longer-so-shy Nick studies physics at Oxford, Neil squats in poverty, Peter lives in a dump with college roommates and taxi driver Tony and posh John argue about who came off worst in the earlier films. Spoilers for the entire series allowed as we continue weekly every 7 years to 56 Up. [more inside]
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