Yes, No, Maybe So? 'Mrs Harris Goes to Paris'

by Nathaniel R

Lesley Manville stars as Mrs. Harris in director Tony Fabian’s MRS.HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, a Focus Features release. Credit: Dávid Lukács / © 2021 Ada Films Ltd - Harris Squared Kft

Rejoice. We now have the first poster, the first still, and the first trailer for Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, a rare chance to see Lesley Manville take a deserved spotlight rather than just livening up a show or film from the sidelines. Focus Features is releasing the film on July 15th. Can we have a round of applause for Focus which feels like its come roaring back of late between this, Downton Abbey A New Era, Licorice Pizza, The Northman, and Belfast of late? 

Let's look at the poster and the trailer after the jump...

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Phantom Thread: When bad fashion is good costume design

by Cláudio Alves

There are many ways to talk about Phantom Thread. My favorite Paul Thomas Anderson production is, among other things, one of the best films about romantic love I've ever seen, looking at the way that loving another person is to willingly become vulnerable to them. To love is, in essence, to open ourselves up to the possibility of mutually assured destruction. The picture is also a canny dissection of the muse/artist relationship, one that illuminates matters of obsession, dynamics between the sexes, the luxuriant pleasure of touching silk, and gazing upon that which is beautiful. It's all that and much more, a multifaceted jewel of cinema about which I could write endless rhapsodies of passionate praise.

Still, for this piece, let's look at the aspect of the movie that earned one of its makers an Oscar (and a jet ski). I invite you all to peruse the costumes Mark Bridges created for Phantom Thread, a film which proves that lackluster fashion can be masterful costume design…

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Mike Leigh on Criterion

by Cláudio Alves

One of the Criterion Channel's newest and most enticing additions is a Mike Leigh collection that includes 11 of the director's films. His is a cinema of compassionate observation that finds beauty in the bleakest settings, the wildest characters, and most complicated psyches. From Thatcher-era social realism to lavish period pieces, passing through farcical character studies, we can find much variety in this director's oeuvre, though some things remain constant. For one, we have Leigh's social preoccupations, a humanistic mindset that bleeds into every aspect of his productions. For another, there's his methodology when working with actors…

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Is this the end for "Harlots"?

by Nathaniel R

There wasn't enough interest to continue our lengthy "Harlots" write-ups but dayumn, y'all are missing out if you're still now watching. The show is absolutely a smorgasbord of actressing. Season 2 initially felt like the Lesley Manville show after Season 1's Samantha Morton flavor but everyone in the cast is vying for queen of this deliciously talented pool of fascinating women in season 2. Tomorrow night is the season finale.

I do wonder sometimes if the writers are writing this show into a corner, though. How can it continue for a third season  -- if renewed *bites nails* --  given what's happened to the characters? With hangings, stabbings, whippings, betrayals, and general abundance of emotional scarring it feels like there will soon be no one left intact? Or is the nihilism the end game and this is a series finale tomorrow? Season 2 isn't as much "fun" as Season 1, and given what's transpired the show has probably left "fun" behind for good, but it's still dynamite drama. Watch it. And bless Morton, Manville, Liv Tyler, Jessica Brown Findlay, and the rest of the cast for investigating the psyches of these bruised angry witty sexual women.