Mark Kermode Live in 3D | Show 32 | July 2018

First guest Kim Newman and Mark talk about the BBC4 series Secrets of Cinema which they co-wrote, and starts on television the next day.

Next Mark interviews Taiwanese writer-director Jenny Lu and actor-producer Chen Shiang-chyi about their film The Receptionist (2016), released in the UK this week. Inspired by a true story, this powerful film in English and Mandarin delves into the lives of five Asian migrant women who came to London with dreams of a better life but end up taking jobs in an illegal massage parlour to survive. It’s a rarely seen examination of the underbelly of British society which captures the individuality of each of its five strong female characters, and the strength of the bonds they forge.

Writer-director Deborah Haywood together with its star Lily Newmark come to talk about the dark fairytale Pin Cushion (2017). This colour-saturated film explores the travails of a teenage daughter and her out-of-step mother trying to fit in and make friends. This film about bullying and, less explicitly, about human frailty and mental health is another female-led film based on the experiences of the writer, is as unsettling as it is compelling.

This month’s List-O-Mania is inspired by the Blu-Ray release of Von Ryan’s Express (1965), and the imminent release of the Dodge Brothers’ new album Drive Train: Mark takes a twelve-stop journey past his favourite films Set on Trains, from Snowpiercer (2013) to Silver Streak (1976), from The Beggars of Life (1928) to Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993).

We close on a Sound & Vision celebrating the joy that is Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! (2008), as tonight is the eagerly-awaited premiere of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

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