41/29
A powerful London theatre critic is caught in a web of deceit and murder. Premiered at TIFF 2023 to mixed reviews and a dark ending that put audiences off. The film’s distributor has asked for a reshoot in March/April 2024 and a new version of the film with a new ending. At the beginning and later, a Union flag is displayed at Viscount Brooke’s house. In both cases, the situation is upside down. Nina Land: I grew up reading you. I wanted to act through you. I wanted to live up to your standards so badly, but you think I’m repulsive. Jimmy Erskine: There is art in you, Miss Land. My disappointment is that you don’t have access to it. Easy SpeakingWritten by Manuel Dante and Mathieu FaivrePublished by Bam Music Limited. If you have seen Sir Ian McKellen with fellow actor Sir Derek Jacobi in the TV series «Vicious»; from about ten years ago, you might have guessed the gist of his characterization as the caustic theater critic «Erskine»; who is far more famous for handing out bile than bouquets. His new boss (Mark Strong) wants the paper to appeal to a much healthier, family audience, so he wants him to show off a bit. «Yeah, right,» he thinks – and then his own behavior gets him into trouble with the police and a month’s notice. Faced with looming disgrace, he decides to find out the details of his apparently clean, snowy, aristocratic owner, and to that end recruits an aspiring actress, «Nina» (Gemma Arterton), whom he has not flattered in the past. She quite generously agrees to become a pawn in his manipulative game, which leads to a series of misfortunes and then to a tragedy that perhaps puts the role of the dogged curmudgeon into perspective. It starts off quite funny, with lots of content and star spookiness, but very quickly devolves into a completely far-fetched and rather disappointing romance (no pun intended) that conforms to almost every stereotype, which unfortunately tends to prove that the best bits are in the trailers. At best, the writing actually makes you smile and squirm a bit uncomfortably in your seat, but for the most part it’s just predictable, with characters that are pretty easy to dislike – except maybe Alfred Enoch’s «Tom» who at least starts out with a modicum of human decency to stand up to «Erskine»; and his selfishness. Ben Barnes shows that he’s aged well, but again he doesn’t have enough of a role to work with to develop his love interest, and Strong isn’t quite up to par. It looks good, but it’s too dependent on a shock factor that isn’t very original and that soon fades away.