On May’s MK3D we had a sparkling array of film guests.
First up, brilliant film music composer Nainita Desai and documentarian Nick Hardie came to talk about their award winning film ‘The Wall: Climb for Gold’ about the first four female Olympian athletes to compete in Tokyo. They talked about the four different temperaments of the women and the decision to give each their own musical theme using different instrumentation. Nainita brought a hang drum to illustrate – and gave her very first performance in front of a live audience on this beautiful instrument, accompanying her soundtrack live on stage.
Next up Mark welcomed Audrey Rumsby, the actor and director who has just made her first feature doc ‘Barry and Joan’, about the nonagenarian couple who are keeping vaudeville and Commedia del’Arte alive through performance and workshops. Californian Audrey also talked about her influences, which included Cyd Charisse in ‘Singing’ in the Rain’ and Meg Ryan in ‘You’ve Got Mail’. Both she and Mark teared up when they talked about the themes in the film.
Next, actor Saskia Reeves, currently in ‘Slow Horses’, came to talk about the Apple TV + spy series in which she shines in the ensemble cast, alongside Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. She also talked about her earliest film influences, which include Mel Brooks’ ‘The Producers’ and Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria starring Giulietta Masina, who first inspired her to become and actress.
Lastly, Mark was joined by Jack Lowden, also part of the ‘Slow Horses’ cast as a young, dynamic spy – and star of Terence Davies’ latest feature ‘Benediction’, in which he plays war poet Siegfried Sassoon, out in cinemas this week. Mark and Jack talked about working with Terence, about actors miming musical instruments, and about working in an accent. Jack’s Scottish brogue is rarely brought to the screen, and in ‘Benediction’ he speaks a clipped upper class English and in ‘Fighting with my Family’ he had a broad Norwich accent. Jack also talked about the film that changed his life: ‘Master and Commander’ starring Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe, and about ‘The Mighty Ducks’, his guilty pleasure featuring Emilio Estevez and a children’s ice hockey team. We ended the show on a brilliantly climactic scene from ‘Brassed Off’, the 1996 comedy-drama starring Tara Fitzgerald, Pete Postlethwaite, Jim Carter and Ewan McGregor. The film can be seen in the Royal Albert Hall on 25 May 2022 with live accompaniment by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, with a Q&A with Mark Kermode and the cast. A rousing end to a riveting show.
