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Interview - 11-year-old Jude Hill on 'Belfast'
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
There’s been much hype about Kenneth Branagh’s new film, Belfast, since it won the Audience Award at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. I recently had the chance to speak with the film’s 11-year-old star, Jude Hill, about his first movie role…
Matt: I believe this is your first ever movie. How did you find out about it and get the chance to audition?
Jude: I do speech and drama lessons on Wednesdays and my teacher saw it somewhere and decided to put me forward for it. I sent through the initial self-tape and then did about 6-7 call backs after that. The casting process was quite intense at times but I’m glad I waited.
Matt: Do you have an acting coach you work with as part of the movie?
Jude: No, I didn’t. I think my acting coach was my mum because every night, she’d go over the lines with me and that really helped me learn them.
Matt: What was the hardest part of making the movie? Was it memorising the lines or was there other stuff which was difficult too?
Jude: I think the hardest part of the movie was saying so many good things about Tottenham Hotspur. It was very hard saying those lines.
Matt: (laughs) So who do you support then?
Jude: I’m a massive Liverpool supporter.
Matt: The film is set in 1969 – a major part of Ireland’s history in the early years of The Troubles. Was it something you needed to learn about as part of the movie?
Jude: I decided to go onto YouTube and search up documentaries about the time. I wanted to get in the head of someone during The Troubles. I also watched TV shows. It was a very hard time for Ireland but the film Belfast gives The Troubles the justice it deserves.
Matt: You’re working alongside some great actors and I particularly loved the scenes you shared with Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds. Did they each you a few things?
Jude: Oh, definitely. Every single day I’d ask them questions and they always gave the answers. The thing about Ciaran and Judi… as soon as they walk into the room, the entire room starts smiling. They’re like a beacon of happiness and I’m glad I got to work with them.
Matt: And you get to work with Kenneth Branagh as well who is a terrific director. What was he like?
Jude: Kenneth Branagh was probably the nicest man you’ll ever meet. He sat me down during the audition process and talked about his childhood and what he would have done in all of those scenes and what happened to him as a child. Belfast is seen through Kenneth Branagh’s 9-year-old self’s eyes and I think it’s portrayed beautifully and the script writing is on point.
Matt: Did you go off the script the whole time or did you get to do a little bit of improv and have a little bit of fun with what you might have wanted to say?
Jude: With a lot of the bigger scenes, there was more room for improv. Ken loved it when we all did improv because it was quite funny at times. One of the funniest lines that wasn’t in the script was done by Judi Dench when Buddy and Granny are watching A Christmas Carol play and she says “who wears jeans that size” and we had to do a couple of takes because we all couldn’t stop laughing.
Matt: The film was shot over a year ago. What’s it like looking back and watching yourself on screen?
Jude: Every time I see the trailer, I remember seeing it through my own eyes when filming each scene. I find that really cool but it’s also kind of weird seeing myself on the TV and on posters. I’m just going with the flow and taking it all in my strides.
Matt: What was it like when you got to show the film to your family and friends?
Jude: My friends are going to see it tonight with each other. My family saw it at the Belfast International Film Festival and wow, that night… there were no words to describe it. Everyone was just happy and it was so heartfelt and emotional. I think we needed that little bit of reassurance from all the Belfast people that we were doing it right.
Matt: Awards season is coming up in the United States with Belfast already nominated at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Will you be travelling there for some of the awards?
Jude: Hopefully but as I’m a kid, I can’t be vaccinated yet. It’s very iffy but I really do hope I get to go over.
Matt: How are you finding the PR side of things? Do you enjoy doing interviews and talking about the film?
Jude: I love it. I love talking to people like you and spreading the story of Belfast around. I just enjoy talking. Full stop. I like making people smile.
Matt: What’s the plan going forward? More acting?
Jude: Definitely. No doubt about it.
Matt: Any projects you’re looking at?
Jude: I’m done two projects since Belfast actually. One was a film called Mandrake and I was playing the main character’s son. The second was Magpie Murders where I play a murder victim.
Matt: (laughs) Well you’ve got a lot of experience already with a wide variety of roles from the sounds of it. For the moment, we can enjoy your wonderful performance in Belfast. Jude, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Jude: Thank you very much.
Brisbane Film Critics Select 'Nine Days' As Best Of 2021
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
Since 2011, I have been pulling together a list of the best movies of the year according to the Brisbane-based critics who I run into regularly at preview screenings. Films to have topped prior year lists have been Drive in 2011, Argo in 2012, Gravity in 2013, Boyhood in 2014, Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, La La Land in 2016, Get Out in 2017, The Favourite in 2018, Parasite in 2019 and Nomadland in 2020.
To come up with an overall top 10, I’ve used a simple points system and applied it to the list of each critic. It is as follows:
- 3 points for the top film on each list.
- 2 points for the films ranked between 2nd and 5th on each list.
- 1 point for the films ranked between 6th and 10th on each list.
If two films finished on the same score, the film that appeared on the greater number of top 10 lists is ranked higher (as an indication of wider approval). If that's the same, it goes to an average of the individual rankings of each film.
The 10 list includes movies released in Australian cinemas and also those made available on streaming platforms.
We often see a clear stand out but that wasn't the case this year. Votes were spread evenly around. Edging out the competiton to claim the top spot was Edson Oda's drama Nine Days, It's nominated for best first feature at the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards.
Three films, covering a mix of genres, finished just two votes behind and featured on at least 50% of the lists - Jane Campion's moving drama The Power of the Dog, Paul Thomas Anderson's coming-of-age romantic comedy Licorice Pizza, and Denis Villeneuve's blockbuster sci-fi epic Dune. The highest ranked non-English language film, The Worst Person in the World, was just one vote further behind.
Australia was represented on the list with the AACTA Award winning Nitram. It's been a big year for documentaries with The Sparks Brothers proving popular. Other films to round out the list this year were The Father, The French Dispatch, The Green Knight and French Exit.
It’s another terrific list of films and all are worth hunting down on streaming services if you missed them in cinemas.
On that note, here are the top 10 movies of 2021 according to Brisbane critics…
Brisbane Film Critics - Top 10 of 2021
1. Nine Days
2. The Power of the Dog
3. Dune
4. Licorice Pizza
5. The Worst Person in the World
6. Nitram
7. The Father
8 The French Dispatch
9. The Sparks Brothers
10 (tie). The Green Knight
10 (tie). French Exit
You can view a table of all the votes and final scores by clicking here.
A big thanks to all who submitted their lists. If you're a Brisbane critic would like to contribute in future years, please reach out to me on social media.
You can check out information on all the Brisbane critics (along with their choices for the best and worst of 2021) below.
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Matthew Toomey | Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Riders of Justice |
| 2. | West Side Story |
| 3. | The Father |
| 4. | The Sparks Brothers |
| 5. | Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn |
| 6. | Collective |
| 7. | The Truffle Hunters |
| 8. | The Dry |
| 9. | The Worst Person in the World |
| 10. | The Power of the Dog |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| The Dry | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Dreambuilders | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Sparks Brothers | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Music | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Mortal Kombat | |
 |
|
|
Sarah Ward | Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | The Power of the Dog |
| 2. | First Cow |
| 3. | Licorice Pizza |
| 4. | Promising Young Woman |
| 5. | The Green Knight |
| 6. | Annette |
| 7. | Nitram |
| 8. | The Worst Person in the World |
| 9. | Titane |
| 10. | The Sparks Brothers |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Nitram | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Raya and the Last Dragon | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Sparks Brothers | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Music | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Wrath of Man | |
 |
|
|
Garry Williams| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Don't Look Up |
| 2. | A Hero |
| 3. | Judas and the Black Messiah |
| 4. | Promising Young Woman |
| 5. | The Sparks Brothers |
| 6. | The French Dispatch |
| 7. | The Power of the Dog |
| 8. | No Time to Die |
| 9. | Dune |
| 10. | Collective |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| High Ground | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Sing 2 | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Sparks Brothers | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Love You Like That | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Fast and Furious 9 | |
 |
|
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Peter Gray| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Nine Days |
| 2. | The Worst Person in the World |
| 3. | Titane |
| 4. | French Exit |
| 5. | Summer of Soul |
| 6. | Licorice Pizza |
| 7. | The Power of the Dog |
| 8. | The Father |
| 9. | Nitram |
| 10. | Shiva Baby |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Nitram | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Luca | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| Summer of Soul | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Home Sweet Home Alone | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar | |
 |
|
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Ella Donald| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | The World to Come |
| 2. | Shiva Baby |
| 3. | Passing |
| 4. | The Worst Person in the World |
| 5. | West Side Story |
| 6. | Beanpole |
| 7. | Dune |
| 8. | The Matrix Resurrections |
| 9. | Venom: Let There Be Carnage |
| 10. | Another Round |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Tall Poppy: A Skater's Story | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| The Mitchells vs the Machines | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Witches of the Orient | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Don't Look Up | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Tick.... Tick... Boom! | |
 |
|
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David Edwards| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | The French Dispatch |
| 2. | Licorice Pizza |
| 3. | Dune |
| 4. | First Cow |
| 5. | High Ground |
| 6. | Ammonite |
| 7. | French Exit |
| 8. | Lapsis |
| 9. | Black Widow |
| 10. | The Truffle Hunters |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| High Ground | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Encanto | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Truffle Hunters | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Rebecca Ferguson (Dune) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Cranston Academy: Monster Zone | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| News of the World | |
 |
|
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Rob Hudson| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Nine Days |
| 2. | Riders of Justice |
| 3. | Coda |
| 4. | Nitram |
| 5. | Summer of Soul |
| 6. | The Mitchells vs the Machines |
| 7. | The Dry |
| 8. | The Power of the Dog |
| 9. | The French Dispatch |
| 10. | Judas and the Black Messiah |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| The Dry | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Mitchells vs the Machines | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| Summer of Soul | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Tom and Jerry | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Cruella | |
 |
|
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Baz McAlister| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Pig |
| 2. | The Suicide Squad |
| 3. | Last Night in Soho |
| 4. | In the Heights |
| 5. | The Green Knight |
| 6. | Malignant |
| 7. | Werewolves Within |
| 8. | The Dig |
| 9. | No Time to Die |
| 10. | Riders of Justice |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Nitram | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Luca | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Sparks Brothers | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Nicolas Cage (Pig) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Old | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Gunpowder Milkshake | |
 |
|
|
Nick L'Barrow| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Nine Days |
| 2. | A Quiet Place: Part II |
| 3. | Titane |
| 4. | Nitram |
| 5. | The Worst Person in the World |
| 6. | CODA |
| 7. | Last Night in Soho |
| 8. | The Power of the Dog |
| 9. | The Sparks Brothers |
| 10. | The Mitchells vs the Machines |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Nitram | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| The Mitchells vs the Machines | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| The Sparks Brothers | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Caleb Landry Jones (Nitram) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Cosmic Sin | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Jungle Cruise | |
 |
|
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Shayne Grieve| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | Dune |
| 2. | The Green Knight |
| 3. | Minari |
| 4. | Licorice Pizza |
| 5. | Inside |
| 6. | Spider-Man: No Way Home |
| 7. | The Father |
| 8. | The French Dispatch |
| 9. | Nitram |
| 10. | The Power of the Dog |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| Nitram | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Raya and the Last Dragon | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| n/a | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) and Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| Space Jam 2: A New Legacy | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Zach Snyder's Justice League | |
 |
|
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Jacob Richardson| Top 10 Films: | |
| 1. | French Exit |
| 2. | Licorice Pizza |
| 3. | Dune |
| 4. | Nine Days |
| 5. | The Father |
| 6. | Judas and the Black Messiah |
| 7. | In the Heights |
| 8. | Ron's Gone Wrong |
| 9. | Zola |
| 10. | Pig |
| Best Australian Film: | |
| The Dry | |
| Best Animated Film: | |
| Ron's Gone Wrong | |
| Best Documentary: | |
| Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain | |
| Best Performance: | |
| Anthony Hopkins (The Father) | |
| Worst Film: | |
| My Salinger Year | |
| Most Surprised To Enjoy: | |
| Free Guy and The Dig | |
 |
Matt's Top 10 Movies of 2021
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
I’ve put together a top 10 movies list for every year since 1996 and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. I had the chance to see 222 cinema releases over the past 12 months – the most since 2009. This is largely due to the unusually high number of new releases. With blockbusters absent for the most part due to COVID-19, it allowed a lot of smaller films (with an emphasis on documentaries and foreign-language films) to get a run.
It’s always tough narrowing the list down and so here’s a list of the movies which get honourable mentions (gradings of A-) which I couldn’t quite squeeze into my top 10 – The Dig, Dune, Titane, First Cow, A Quiet Place: Part II, News of the World, Girls Can’t Surf, A Family, Two of Us, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Suicide Squad, The Killing of Two Lovers, Supernova, The Lost Leonardo, Mortal Kombat, Lapsis, Summer of Soul, The Dissident, Assassins, The Lost Daughter and The Scary of Sixty-First.
On that note, here are my top 10 movies of 2021…
10. The Power of the Dog (out Nov 11) is a Western set in Montana, 1925 and revolves around two brothers - one is softly-spoken and recently married, the other is a domineering figure with a chip on his shoulder. It needed a touch more tempo but it's still an interesting, performance-driven character study from director Jane Campion. The more I reflect on it, the more I like it.
9. The Worst Person in the World (out Dec 26) offers an interesting, insightful look into the world of a 30-year-old Norwegian woman who is still unsure about what she wants in terms of career and love. Great conversations are shared by all the characters.
8. The Dry (out Jan 1) is a wonderful addition to Australian cinema. It's the story of an AFP officer returning to a small country town to look into a murder-suicide perpetrated by a close childhood friend. Eric Bana is terrific in the lead role (love his placid demeanour) and the film is loaded with memorable, distinctive supporting performances. Writer-director Robert Connolly, drawing from Jane Harper's award-winning book, deserves praise for creating a credible whodunit.
7. The Truffle Hunters (out Feb 18) is a riveting documentary that fills your brain and lifts your spirits. It's about the elderly Italian men who search for one of the rarest foods in the world - the white Alba truffle (often selling for more than $10,000 AUD per kg). There’s no unnecessary narration and no talking heads. It's a simple, beautiful film that takes us deep inside this fascinating world and its curious characters.
6. Collective (out Apr 8) is a Romanian documentary that's riveting from start to finish. It reminds us of the importance of quality investigative journalism. It demonstrates how tainted one can become when driven by money above all else. It shows how difficult it can be to change “the system” when so many have a vested interest in quietly maintaining the status quo. No surprise to see this nominated for two Academy Awards.
5. Back Luck Banging or Loony Porn (out Nov 25) is probably the most bizarre film I’ve seen this year. Parents at a Romanian school try to have a teacher removed when a sex tape involving her appears online. Split into three very different chapters and framed as a dark comedy, it’s a wild, memorable ride.
4. The Sparks Brothers (out Jul 8) is terrific. While most music documentaries tend to focus on artists with massive highs and massive lows, this one looks at a gifted duo who have spent over 50 years in the business with middling success. Director Edgar Wright extracts oodles of humour from the many interviewees.
3. The Father (out Apr 1) has been nominated at the Oscars for best picture and it tackles the subject of dementia through the eyes of the sufferer. You're never quite sure what's real and what's not. Actors change. Storylines change. Small details within the apartment change. With the wrong actors, this could have come across as a gimmicky exercise but the two leads, Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, are extraordinary.
2. West Side Story (out Dec 26) is an invigorating remake, with a few small changes, of the successful stage musical (and 1961 film) from director Stephen Spielberg. The amazing cast, the quality production values, and the iconic music make this a film to celebrate and remember.
1. Riders of Justice (out Sep 30) is a Danish dark comedy about an army man, a computer hacker, and two mathematicians who take on a powerful gang after a suspicious train crash. This is a brilliant, original, funny, surprising movie that flips the action hero genre on its head. The year’s best.
Interview - Director Stephen Chbosky on 'Dear Evan Hansen'
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
Dear Evan Hansen is one of two big musicals to be released in Australia in December 2021 (the other being West Side Story). I recently spoke with director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) about his new film…
Matt: I was fortunate enough to see the Broadway musical back in 2017 and there was such energy and emotion sitting there in the Music Box Theatre. What was your mindset in trying to recreate that for the 2D format of cinema?
Stephen: Like you, I was a fan of the show. I saw it at the Music Box and loved it. As a lover of theatre, and I have been for decades, I’ve always been fascinated by capturing that tone. How do you turn a 1,000-seat theatre into a dining room with 4 people in it?
Between the live singing and, in some cases, the extended takes, we used the power of cinema. When he’s signing “For Forever” on stage, Cynthia Murphy is 50-feet away and you can’t really see her up close. Man, when you have Ben Platt singing “For Forever” and you can cut to a close-up of Amy Adams or Danny Pino or Kaitlyn Dever, it’s a completely different animal and becomes more intimate in a way.
Whatever we lost in terms of the live performance and communal aspect of it, we gained in the intimacy.
Matt: Hollywood musicals are often elaborate in terms of big, colourful, loud, well-choreographed musical numbers with huge ensembles. Dear Evan Hansen is kind of the opposite. How did you approach that as a director in shooting the music scenes?
Stephen: Mark Platt was very helpful with this and he’s great at musicals. We were talking about each song and the aesthetic and grammar of each one. Basically, we looked at the songs as an extension of the scenes. To us, it was a drama with songs or a musical with a little “m”. We weren’t trying to be flashy. We were trying to be authentic and true.
Let’s say a character is talking and suddenly they break into song, it’s not like we switch microphones between the talking and the singing. It was all the same thing. It was an extension of the dialogue and that’s how we looked at every single piece. The exception was where it was an internal song like “The Anonymous Ones” or “Waving Through a Window” – that was slightly different.
The only time we did a “number” was “Sincerely, Me” which, by the way, was the most fun I had. Doing that number was a genuine blast. We got to be big and loud and funny and I loved doing it. But otherwise, like you said, it was a very intimate show and that’s how we designed it from the beginning.
Matt: It’s a great cast but I want to focus specifically on Kaitlyn Dever because I saw and appreciated her character a lot clearer than what I did in the original stage musical. What made her stand out for you?
Stephen: She’s a great, one-in-a-generation talent. I’m glad that you said that because I love Zoe. She might be my favourite character in the whole piece. I relate to her very much because my wife had some struggles similar to her growing up. When there’s a child in the family who requires extra attention, sometimes the person who’s handling it gets overlooked. I really relate to that and I know Kaitlyn did as well with the way she approached the performance.
You’ve seen in the stage play… there’s a lot more kissing and a lot more other things. For me, we strengthened Zoe, and make her tougher, and more difficult to win over, and stronger, and not suffer fools, and be that amazing person that Evan sees. We get to see her at the dance and see her doing these amazing things. We had more room to do it.
On stage, you can’t flash back to her going to a homecoming dance with Evan looking at her and going “my God, look at her, she’s just so free.” We had every trick at our disposal and what was most fun for me was turning the beginning part of “Only Us” into a statement. It becomes a love song in the end but at first, it’s a statement of strength and purpose from Zoe. I love that song and I love what she brought to it.