Venice Review: Georgia Oakley’s ‘Blue Jean’

Father John Misty has added new dates to his 2023 UK and European tour – tickets are available here.The singer-songwriter announced the run of shows earlier this year, but he’s now an extra three UK gigs at Brighton Dome on March 10, Portsmouth Guildhall (11) and Leeds University (12).Misty (real name Joshua Tillman) has also confirmed an additional concert at Oslo Sentrum Scene on February 26, and a new date at Gothenburg Pustervik the following night (27).You can see FJM’s revised UK/European schedule for 2023 below.FEBRUARY 202325 – Oslo, Sentrum Scene26 – Oslo, Sentrum Scene 27 – Gothenburg Pustervik 28 – Stockholm, CirkusMARCH 20232 – Denmark, KB Hallen3 – Berlin, Columbiahalle4 – Amsterdam, AFAS Live6 – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique7 – Paris, Salle Pleyel9 – London, O2 Academy Brixton 10 – Brighton Dome11 – Portsmouth Guildhall12 – Leeds University13 – Gateshead, Sage Gateshead15 – Glasgow, Barrowlands17 – Manchester, O2 Apollo ManchesterMeanwhile, Father John Misty has released a new live EP called ‘Live At Electric Lady’ which features a cover of Stevie Wonder‘s ‘I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)’.Recorded at the iconic Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village, New York City back in May, the special collection also contains live versions of five songs from FJM’s latest album ‘Chloë And The Next 20th Century’.Tillman is currently out on the road in North America, with his next show scheduled for tomorrow (September 22) at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Guy Lodge Film Critic In the little-remembered 1950 noir “The Damned Don’t Cry,” Joan Crawford plays a Texan housewife whose grief for her late son spurs her to make a new life for herself in the urban underworld. Fyzal Boulifa’s exquisite new film of the same title is named expressly for that Crawford vehicle, but is neither a remake nor a direct homage. Rather, it remixes the narrative components of that film and others of its ilk into the kind of new-school-old-school heart-tugger — one might say tearjerker if its characters weren’t, true to its title, stoically dry-eyed throughout — that might have been designed for the shoulder-padded diva were she alive in 2022 and, perhaps more crucially, of Moroccan heritage. 

Greg Shepherd has said he feels like he’s “made it” as his famous wife Billie, 32, was asked to “step aside” on the red carpet so snappers could get photos of the dad-of-two on his own. During this evening’s episode of Billie & Greg: The Family Diaries, the married pair are seen making their way to the British Soap Awards 2022, where they presented an award. Ahead of their presenting duties, Billie and Greg hit the red carpet for photos.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Neon has acquired the North American rights to the thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” out of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it world premiered in the auteur-driven Platform section. Based on Andreas Malm’s manifesto tackling the climate crisis, the film is directed by Daniel Goldhaber (“CAM”); produced, co-written and stars Ariela Barer (“Runaways”, “Atypical”); co-written by Jordan Sjol and edited by Daniel Garber (“CAM,” “Some Kind of Heaven”). “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” follows a group of young environmental activists who set out to sabotage an oil pipeline in a timely thriller that’s described as “part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of direct action as climate activism.”

A reformed criminal goes on the run in The Hanging Sun, an adaptation of Jo Nesbo’s novel Midnight Sun. The author also co-writes the screenplay of this fiction feature debut from Francesco Carrozzini, the photographer who helmed the documentary Franca: Chaos and Creation. The closing film of Venice Film Festival, it’s well performed and gripping enough, though geographically confusing.

After the 2021 discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves on school grounds in British Columbia, the dark history of Canada’s residential school system and its traumatic impact on generations of Indigenous families once again became international news. Outrage and sorrow poured out from survivors across the country.

Radio 1 DJ Greg James has been hailed for his "compassionate" speech during his morning show following the tragic death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Many listeners have praised Greg for his "honest" show, with the host explaining how society in the UK can often struggle to talk about grief and death.

Ana de Armas is a proud actress. The 2022 Venice Film Festival comes to an end tomorrow and Thursday saw the world premiere of the highly anticipated film about Marilyn Monroe’s life, Blonde. Once the movie ended, there was a 14-minute long standing ovation.According to Variety, the Cuban-Spanish actress was glowing as tears ran down her face.

Guy Lodge Film Critic At the 1987 Conservative Party Conference in Britain, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher issued one of the most grimly memorable quotes of her career: “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.” For many of us, it’s a line that now sounds so archaically out of step with contemporary life as to be comical — that “inalienable right” wording ironically appropriated by many a queer-rights cause — though you need only look at Florida’s recent Don’t Say Gay bill to know that Thatcher’s sentiments live among us still. A frank, piercing debut from British writer-director Georgia Oakley, “Blue Jean” is a Thatcher-era period piece that crisply evokes that climate of politically propagated homophobia without preserving it in amber: It effectively puts the past in tacit dialogue with the present.

Paul McCartney, Elton John and Robbie Williams, has started to recirculate following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.The UK’s longest-reigning monarch passed away yesterday (September 8) at her Balmoral estate in Scotland, aged 96.As tributes continue to be paid to the Queen, footage of memorable moments from across her reign are being broadcast on TV networks and online.Footage of the star-studded Diamond Jubilee Concert, which took place outside Buckingham Palace in central London on June 4, 2012 to mark the Queen’s 60th year on the throne, is one such moment being remembered.Organised by Take That‘s Gary Barlow, the concert featured performances from the likes of John, Williams, Grace Jones, Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue, Tom Jones, Stevie Wonder and Madness.McCartney closed the show with a short set that included ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘Let It Be’, ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’.You can see official BBC footage of the concert-ending firework display below.McCartney was among a host of famous names to pay tribute to the Queen following the news of her death yesterday, writing: “God bless Queen Elizabeth II[.] May she rest in peace[.] Long live The King.”Elton John, meanwhile, spoke about the monarch during his show in Toronto, Canada last night.“She was an inspiring presence to be around — I’ve been around her and she was fantastic,” John told the crowd.

EXCLUSIVE: UK sales firm 101 Films International has acquired worldwide sales rights (excluding North America) for drama feature Marlene, and will launch sales in Toronto this week.

Star Wars series The Acolyte.The British actor, known for roles in Queen & Slim and 2021’s Without Remorse, is finalising a deal to star in the Disney+ series, according to Deadline.The only confirmed cast member is Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, Dear Evan Hansen), whose involvement in the series was announced in July this year.This comes ahead of Disney’s annual D23 fan event, which features a Lucasfilm presentation this Saturday (September 10) alongside other announcements from Marvel and 20th Century Studios.Join us in welcoming Amandla Stenberg to the the Star Wars galaxy. #TheAcolyte https://t.co/PhriTUdZcv pic.twitter.com/LJp9LeZQik— Star Wars | Andor Premieres Sept 21 on Disney+ (@starwars) July 22, 2022The Acolyte, led by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland, is described as a mystery-thriller set in the final days of the High Republic era – a period set roughly 200 years before events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.A synopsis reads: “The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.”The show is expected to begin production in London later this year.Turner-Smith’s next film is director Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, where she stars alongside Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Raffey Cassidy and Don Cheadle.

With its abundance of flickery grain, exceedingly credible period production, and eminently authentic ensemble, UK filmmaker Georgia Oakley’s astonishing debut feature “Blue Jean” — which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week, no doubt primed to pick up a swath of gongs and laurels — could well be a relic exhumed from the back cupboards of a dusty film archive.  READ MORE: Venice Film Festival Preview: 16 Must-See Films To Watch Set amid Margaret Thatcher’s reign of terror in the late ‘80s, the little-known Rosy McEwen puts in a calling card performance for the ages as Jean, a closeted lesbian gym teacher torn asunder by the emergence of Section 28: barbaric British legislation that, until 2003, prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” across the country.

Following the premiere of Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, one piece of footage prompted fierce online debate. The clip in question, however, wasn’t from the film itself but from its screening’s aftermath, and it depicts what many are convinced is Harry Styles spitting on his co-star, American actor Chris Pine.

The phrase “Joanna Hogg’s Shutter Island” is not a line that many critics expect to bust out in their lifetimes, but with her sixth feature the British director has made a fascinating foray into genre cinema that, while firmly in keeping with the rest of her quasi-autobiographical works, makes a surprising departure from the upper-middle-class realism of her signature film The Souvenir.

Who would have thought that, of all the top-shelf auteurs in Venice’s big comeback year, the most constrained would be Darren Aronofsky? His new competition film The Whale opens with that very intent — the screen is cropped to 1:33 — which turns out to be most appropriate for a small and intimate movie about a very big man.