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The Review - Edition 102

January 28, 2014·54 min·4 clips

Film critic Alex Godfrey calls Cate Blanchett's performance in Blue Jasmine phenomenal and predicts an Oscar win.

1. The Review, Monocle 24's weekly arts programme, broadcasts Edition 102 from Studio One at Midori House in London on September 28, 2013. 2. Hosts Andrew Muller and Gillian Tobias open the show, with Tobias mentioning upcoming live Midori House sessions — Slaid Cleaves from Austin, Texas on Monday and Laura Cantrell on Wednesday for the Culture Show. 3. The episode covers film, music, global cultural picks, and a Montreal weekend guide, reflecting the show's magazine format across international arts coverage. 4. Film critic Alex Godfrey reviews three films: Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, the director's cut of the 1973 British cult horror The Wicker Man, and John S. Baird's adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel Filth. 5. Godfrey calls Blue Jasmine 'a great film' regardless of Woody Allen's erratic recent output, praising Cate Blanchett as 'absolutely phenomenal' — 'she disintegrates before your eyes' — and predicting she will receive an Oscar nomination and could win. 6. Godfrey singles out the scene where Blanchett's character Jasmine babysits two children who stare at the camera while she gives them advice and simultaneously falls apart, calling it 'brilliant' and 'spellbinding.' 7. On The Wicker Man director's cut, Godfrey says the new scenes — retrieved from an old American cut — add nothing significant; the best outcome of the release is getting the 1973 classic back into cinemas, where it 'absolutely stands up.' 8. Godfrey is alone among his critical colleagues in disliking Filth, calling it 'a horrible thing with horrible people doing horrible things' that revels in its own naughtiness without the humanity that made Trainspotting work; James McAvoy is praised as 'electric' despite the overall verdict. 9. International cultural picks from Monocle Toronto's Nelly Gotcheva include Tokyo Photo — the largest photography fair in Asia — the Treadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries London, James Crone's solo show at a new Milan gallery, and Jenny Holzer's LED installation 'Light Stream' at Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong. 10. Crispin Parry from British Underground reports from the Americana Music Association festival in Nashville, where he brought British acts and staged the Bootleg Barbecue showcase. 11. Parry describes the scale contrast between Taylor Swift's production — about a dozen enormous trucks around the Ryman Auditorium — and the boutique Americana festival happening alongside, and argues this is a precise moment when Americana could tip into mainstream UK hipness. 12. Ed Sheeran is mentioned as writing with Taylor Swift in Nashville as part of a larger influx of young English songwriters working in the city. 13. Parry's first recommendation is the Milk Carton Kids, nominated for best new artist at the Americana awards — two musicians from Los Angeles performing close to two vintage microphones in a style Parry compares to Simon and Garfunkel and the Louvin Brothers. 14. Parry's second recommendation is Sturgill Simpson — a former railroad worker in his early 30s who plays Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings-style outlaw country with what Parry calls a 'hippest looking, coolest young Kings of Leon-style band'; Parry calls him 'my new hero' after going for drinks with him post-show. 15. Parry argues Simpson's sound, emerging from the east Nashville underground at the Basement venue beneath Grimey's record store, could cross over to east and south London audiences who would relate to his attitude and clothing. 16. Holly Williams — Hank Williams' granddaughter, Hank Jr.'s daughter — is Parry's third selection; Parry describes her performing to a Nashville hometown crowd who were 'genuinely crying' during her songs, and says she can 'stand up on her own' independent of the Williams name. 17. The hosts note that Holly Williams and Hank III are uncanny echoes of their grandfather, and compare Nashville's relaxed attitude toward celebrity — where Jack White and Kings of Leon can go to restaurants without being mobbed — to a creative culture that allows artists to develop without constant public scrutiny. 18. Montreal correspondent Patrick Pittman recommends Pop Montreal, Loft Jazz, and the 42nd Festival du Nouveau Cinema, which opens with Alejandro Jodorowsky's first film in 23 years, The Dance of Reality, and closes with Robert Lepage's adaptation of his nine-hour play Lip Sync condensed to 90 minutes. 19. The episode's tone is conversational and culturally literate, with hosts who are genuinely opinionated rather than promotional — Godfrey says 'I couldn't stand it' of a film most critics loved, and Tobias teases Muller about his Woody Allen skepticism. 20. Arts and culture enthusiasts who enjoy broad-spectrum international coverage across film, music, and visual arts will find the episode useful; listeners wanting deep dives on any single topic will find the format too wide-ranging.

As heard by us

A brisk Monocle arts hour linking autumn film, Nashville Americana, new US TV and a Montreal weekend note.

Monocle 24's September 2013 edition of The Review has the brisk, well-filed feel of an arts desk clearing its weekend pile. Andrew Muller and Gillian Tobias open from Studio One at Midori House with cinema on the slate, including Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine and a look toward The…

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Woody Allen gets dissected, Nashville gets its due, and US autumn TV gets a roundup.

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