20,000 Days on Earth On release from 19th Sept
Neither fly-on-the-wall documentary nor hagiography, this cinematic essay on the musician, writer and generally formidable presence Nick Cave is a beautifully crafted artefact in itself. For their first feature film, artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard worked with Cave on a conceit: 24 hours of his life, at a point in his fifties when the days—like his reputation—have stacked up. The narrative roams, as if inside Cave’s mind, from his Brighton home to his psychoanalyst’s study to concert performances. Along the way, there are encounters with collaborators from Ray Winstone to Kylie Minogue.
Forsyth and Pollard’s work often deals in re-enactment (they previously recreated David Bowie’s last Ziggy Stardust appearance). Here they employ all manner of artifice to immerse you as an unseen participant in an apparently naturalistic conversation. The effect is an immediacy impressive by the standards of either drama or documentary, an achievement that brought directing and editing awards at this year’s Sundance festival. Intimate yet sharp, the meditations on memory and creativity are genuinely revealing—and you don’t need to be a connoisseur of Cave’s work to appreciate the insights. Above all, 20,000 Days on Earth is bold, startling cinema. Forsyth and Pollard’s film builds to a finale of such emotion that I left a morning screening in tears, stumbling out into the daylight.
Pride On release from 12th September
A group of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) activists lend unlikely support to Welsh miners embroiled in the 1984 strike. Billy Elliott with a dash of Full Monty? Maybe. Still, it’s a hard film to resist. With a cast led by Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Paddy Considine, this is an antidote to elegiac memorials of the miners’ bitter protests. Pride celebrates solidarity instead. And it’s based on a true story, look you.
Ida On release from 26th September
Warsaw-born director Pawel Pawlikowski has worked in western Europe for decades, celebrated for films such as Last Resort and My Summer of Love. For this 1960s story of a young Catholic novitiate, he returned to Poland and shot in evocative black and white. On the brink of her vows, as she takes a few days to reflect outside the convent, the girl discovers an utterly unforeseen obstacle to her calling. The premise may sound austere but Ida proves a bizarre road trip and a revealing portrait of postwar Poland.
Neither fly-on-the-wall documentary nor hagiography, this cinematic essay on the musician, writer and generally formidable presence Nick Cave is a beautifully crafted artefact in itself. For their first feature film, artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard worked with Cave on a conceit: 24 hours of his life, at a point in his fifties when the days—like his reputation—have stacked up. The narrative roams, as if inside Cave’s mind, from his Brighton home to his psychoanalyst’s study to concert performances. Along the way, there are encounters with collaborators from Ray Winstone to Kylie Minogue.
Forsyth and Pollard’s work often deals in re-enactment (they previously recreated David Bowie’s last Ziggy Stardust appearance). Here they employ all manner of artifice to immerse you as an unseen participant in an apparently naturalistic conversation. The effect is an immediacy impressive by the standards of either drama or documentary, an achievement that brought directing and editing awards at this year’s Sundance festival. Intimate yet sharp, the meditations on memory and creativity are genuinely revealing—and you don’t need to be a connoisseur of Cave’s work to appreciate the insights. Above all, 20,000 Days on Earth is bold, startling cinema. Forsyth and Pollard’s film builds to a finale of such emotion that I left a morning screening in tears, stumbling out into the daylight.
Pride On release from 12th September
A group of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) activists lend unlikely support to Welsh miners embroiled in the 1984 strike. Billy Elliott with a dash of Full Monty? Maybe. Still, it’s a hard film to resist. With a cast led by Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Paddy Considine, this is an antidote to elegiac memorials of the miners’ bitter protests. Pride celebrates solidarity instead. And it’s based on a true story, look you.
Ida On release from 26th September
Warsaw-born director Pawel Pawlikowski has worked in western Europe for decades, celebrated for films such as Last Resort and My Summer of Love. For this 1960s story of a young Catholic novitiate, he returned to Poland and shot in evocative black and white. On the brink of her vows, as she takes a few days to reflect outside the convent, the girl discovers an utterly unforeseen obstacle to her calling. The premise may sound austere but Ida proves a bizarre road trip and a revealing portrait of postwar Poland.
