Some things to watch tonight: Wednesday 21 January
Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger, Sinners and Workmates have all made the journey to home video.
Firstly, some of your feedback.
In response to the Housekeeping post last week (the first one back after the holiday and he one where I talked about shifting from Substack and how difficult it is), reader TH said:
I remember that pre-internet world of fanzines on cheap newsprint, newspapers all owned by National Party funders, and lovely glossy magazines like Premiere (which I admit I subscribed to for several years) that cost a small fortune in NZ$ and arrived a month after the movie featured had been and gone here. I dunno, we've lost a lot and gained a lot of different things at the same time.
After the Isiah Whitlock Jr. tribute last Wednesday (where I referred readers to an episode of the Rancho Notorious podcast), the very same TH wrote:
A plea to bring back Rancho Notorious, even just for a Christmas dinner episode, because we need all the cheer we can get right now. The local podcasts in my feed are all miserable as heck or understandably angry about the world and I need an occasional break. How about a podcast with Simon? The two of you arguing about all the movies you disagree on would be a treat.
I can report that there has been some discussion about reviving Rancho Notorious, if only for one episode. Just to see if we can.
More recently, reader JS of Mt. Victoria — something of an expert on this topic — replied to my review of Hamnet, thus:
I hear what you’re saying about HAMNET, Dan. I rationalise the end sequence as being how Agnes remembers it. It’s totally filtered through her mental and emotional state, rather than an objective view of how it plays out in ‘reality’. She feels the support of the people in the pit. She senses Will knowing she’s there and ‘getting it’ in her own way.
My only objective quibble is why is he taking his Ghost make-up off when he still has a scene coming up in Gertrude’s closet?
And reader SD of Onehunga made an excellent point about the Jimmys in The Bone Temple:
One quibble with your Bone Temple assessment, however, is that cleverly the Jimmys aren’t intentionally modelled on the gravest betrayer of human trust on British history - obviously in the world of the film Saville hadn’t yet become or rather been outed as that. I think it’s one of Garland’s cleverest flourishes that the audience feels sickened by something the screen Jimmys could have no idea of.
Back to business. I wanted to point out a handful of films from 2025 that are now available on subscription streaming. Firstly, Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger which originally played in the British & Irish Film Festival late in 2024 and then returned for seasons at select cinemas:
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to watch A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies – the great director’s epic contribution to the same ‘century of cinema’ series that brought us Sam Neill’s Cinema of Unease – you’ll already know how much pleasure and insight you can get from Scorsese talking about film.
In Made in England, he turns his attention to a different kind of ‘personal journey’, his unexpected relationship with the director Michael Powell and his appreciation for the ambitious and experimental movies Powell made with creative partner Emeric Pressburger in the 40s and 50s.
Lavishly illustrated, Scorsese’s history shows us what British cinema might have become if post-war cynicism, production austerity and kitchen sink drama hadn’t taken hold. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes are glorious but Scorsese also introduced me to two less well-known Powell/Pressburger films, A Canterbury Tale and I Know Where I’m Going! Both were considerably less colourful (visually) but just as emotionally vivid, perhaps even more so.
I love that Scorsese isn’t afraid to laud technical achievement as well as artistic vision – Technicolor and VistaVision get specific shout-outs – and I always feel like I’m a smarter film watcher after spending time with the great man.
If watching that documentary encourages you to seek out Powell & Pressburger’s work — and it should — you will be pleased to know that ViaVision/Imprint recently put out a handsome box of their films including Blimp, Life and Death, Black Narcissus and A Canterbury Tale (but not The Red Shoes or I Know Where I’m Going!). It is only “Collection One” however1.
I reviewed Ryan Coogler’s Sinners for the late and lamented At the Movies back in April last year:
Jordan’s star power makes Smoke and Stack the most exciting characters, but they aren’t the heart of the film, not really. Fantastic newcomer Miles Caton plays Sammie, a talented young singer and musician, ambitious to make his fortune in the recording studios and clubs of Chicago, going against the wishes of his preacher father. It’s Sammie’s talent that produces the music that can transcend everyday life but also attract the undead.
All the while, we are captivated by Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s stunning 65mm cinematography – so different from the gritty and grainy lens flares of The Last Showgirl earlier this year – Oscar-winner Ruth Carter’s costume design and Ludwig Göransson’s music.
But the real star of the show is the virtuosity of Coogler, the balancing act of the laugh-out-loud funny moments, followed by extraordinary fantasy sequences and then classic horror jump scares.
Local romcom Workmates has made the lucrative (I hope) leap to Netflix. I had some reservations when it played at the New Zealand International Film Festival but I couldn’t be happier to see it follow Tinā onto everyone’s streaming service:
Another film that relies on taking the mickey out of the performing arts for its comedy is Workmates, made by Fantail’s Sophie Henderson and Curtis Vowell. As a former theatrician myself, I could see how accurate this portrayal of a tiny, underfunded, theatre in central Auckland was but also the glaring moments when that accuracy was sacrificed for (too) cheap laughs.
Henderson plays Lucy, former playwright now dedicated theatre worker Lucy and Matt Whelan is former actor and now dedicated theatre co-worker Tom. It’s not entirely clear why there’s no real demarcation between their roles except that we need them to be thrown together in the madcap running of this venue. Except that Tom’s girlfriend is pregnant and he needs to find a “proper job”.
The chemistry between the two leads is the main pleasure in Workmates and that ease suggests that someone should give them all decent development time and production budget so they aren’t stuck in such a self-referential situation. Theatre is so rarely portrayed well in film – The Great Lillian Hall’s Cherry Orchard is a decent example even if the production details are nonsensical while the off-Broadway productions in Materialists and A Different Man are simply not serious – that it’s slightly disappointing to see the local version treated as a figure of fun, even by its own practitioners.
Workmates was developed and produced largely during (and as a result of) the Covid lockdowns and its limitations are a reflection of that restricted time, something I should have been a bit more forgiving of first time around.
Where to watch Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger
Aotearoa: Streaming on DocPlay or digital rental from AroVision
Australia: Streaming on DocPlay, FoxtelNow or SBS On Demand
Canada: Digital rental
Ireland & UK: Digital rental
India: Streaming on Mubi
USA: Streaming on Kanopy
Where to watch Sinners
Aotearoa: Streaming on Neon
Australia: Streaming on HBO Max
Canada: Streaming on Crave
Ireland & UK: Streaming on SkyGo
India: Streaming on HotStar
USA: Streaming on Prime Video or HBO Max
Where to watch Workmates
Aotearoa & Australia: Streaming on Netflix
Rest of the world: Not currently available
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