Cinema in One Take

Who needs film critics? We're asking for Taika Waititi. After critics gave Klara and the Sun a drubbing but audiences gave it a warmer reception, Waititi posted on Instagram that critics are “Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.” In this week's Cinema in One Take Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab ask why an adaptation of the beloved Kazuo Ishiguro novel bombed at the box office. Is it really all on the critics? We also discuss You Can See Everything, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary that uses reconstructions to play with what we’re seeing. The Directors Guild of America is considering it for its documentary award only. Why?  Plus The British Independent Film Awards and the Gotham nominations give a hint of what  critics are thinking in awards season. They include Andrew Scott’s Elsinore to Welsh-language contender Effi o Blaenau at the BIFAs, to Clarissa, Club Kid, The Debut and Josephine which are up for Best Feature at the Gothams, while All of a Sudden, La Gradiva and Tender Loving Care are up for Best International Feature. Finally, Emma and Kaleem pick through a crowded week at international cinemas, from Queen at Sea and Ghost Song to I Play Rocky, Wild Horse Nine and La Bola Negra. And after the US midterms, does everyone owe Alex Garland an apology for Civil War? Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1 Full BIFA nominations · Full Gotham nominations

Can you believe the evidence of your own eyes? This week on Cinema in One Take, film experts Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab discuss You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. What begins as an intimate portrait becomes something far stranger,but who is manipulating whom? Plus,could it be a Best Picture contender? And, from Alex Gibney’s Musk to The Social Reckoning and Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, why is cinema so fascinated by Silicon Valley—and do audiences share that fascination? We also round up the BFI London Film Festival, discuss Mahershala Ali’s performance in Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and hear Kaleem’s verdict on Chris Rock’s Misty Green. Spoiler warning: Our discussion of You Can See Everything (on release in North America) includes major revelations, with an audible warning before we get into them. You might prefer to skip to 11.33 if you want to avoid them. Clarifications: Theranos was Holmes’s company, which claimed its technology could perform numerous blood tests using a tiny sample. The documentary box-office opening record discussed refers to non-concert documentaries. No scripts, no second takes: just two film professionals talking world cinema. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

Can a film change a country’s conversation, and then conquer the Oscars? This week on Cinema in One Take, Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab discuss La Bola Negra, the Cannes prize winner and Spanish box-office hit sparking fresh interest in poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, as well as the country’s painful Civil War history. After becoming a phenomenal hit in Spain, could this intertwined story of four gay men find Oscar success beyond the international film category? Plus, Brazilian filmmakers fear another Bolsonaro presidency and what it could mean for film funding: drawing on director Gabe Klinger’s perspective, we explore the fragile relationship between cinema, public funding and political power. And, as the BFI London Film Festival remains in full swing, could a newly announced London venue dedicated to African and Black cinema help overlooked films find their audiences? Finally, John Malkovich in Wild Horse Nine or Andrew Scott in Elsinore? We compare two performances confronting mortality, while Emma champions the Montenegro-set documentary To Hold a Mountain,all through a decidedly croaky voice. No scripts, no second takes—just two film professionals talking world cinema. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

Can Tom Cruise dig his way out of scathing reviews and into another Oscar nomination? In this week’s episode of Cinema in One Take, Kaleem Aftab and Emma Jones weigh up Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger: a star-studded satire with plenty of ambition, but a twist that leaves them both unconvinced. Plus, as the documentary NAZA prepares to stream for free, could giving political documentaries away help them reach wider audiences: and how then would their makers make a living? As the festival’s former Director of International Programming, Kaleem brings an insider’s perspective to the cancellation of this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, and the deeper question of how film festivals serve local audiences. And in what we’ve watched: Emma champions Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky as one of her films of the year, while Kaleem finds plenty to love in South Korean monster movie Hope. Emma… needs more persuading. No scripts, no second takes—just two film professionals talking world cinema. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

In this week's Cinema in One Take, Kaleem Aftab is excited about Elsinore after its critical acclaim at Toronto, and  convinced Andrew Scott will win an Oscar. Emma Jones  has another Best Actor contender in mind: John Malkovich from Wild Horse Nine. They also disagree over the TIFF audience prize winner La Bola Negra, before Kaleem reviews the Oasis reunion documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger and Emma finds two centuries of familiar dating behaviour in the new Sense and Sensibility film adaptation of the Jane Austen classic. Plus, Kaleem reveals how he's ended up appearing in Cunk on Cinema. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab discuss the big winners from Venice, including Golden Lion winner by Mai El-Toukhy, Woman Unknown, and its newly crowned Best Actress, Mathilde Arcel. In this week's episode of Cinema in One Take, they explore the film’s gripping portrait of the treatment of women accused of sleeping with the enemy in WW2, as well as the Special Jury Prize winner NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s documentary from Israel. Emma also reviews Alex Gibney’s four-hour portrait of Elon Musk, while Kaleem enjoys a victory lap over Spider-Man’s record-breaking box office. Update since recording: Universal has now said it is working on an international theatrical release for Musk, after media reports that the studio was reconsidering its plans. Elon Musk has called the documentary a “hit piece” and disputes its account. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

Journalists Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab finally record together in person for a special mini-edition of Cinema in One Take  from the Venice Film Festival. They discuss Martin McDonagh’s awards contender Wild Horse Nine, Florian Zeller’s divisive marital drama Bunker, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and Ellen Burstyn and Taika Waititi’s unlikely friendship in Kornél Mundruczó’s Place to Be. Emma champions the Danish Competition movie Woman Unknown and two striking French competition titles, while Kaleem nervously awaits her verdict on Guria—the Georgian Oscar entry he's co-produced. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1  

Thirty years after Trainspotting introduced a generation to the worst toilet in Scotland, does Danny Boyle’s era-defining film still hold up — or do we simply miss being young? Kaleem recalls seeing it at one of its earliest Edinburgh screenings (for £1!) and winning a 25-word review competition, while Emma argues that civilisation peaked in the 1990s and has been deteriorating ever since. They also discuss the extraordinary French success of the lavish wartime epic De Gaulle: Résistance; the gloriously unlikely, visibly handmade animated film Niu Lai challenging Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey at the Chinese box office; and why audiences may finally be turning against AI slop. Plus, could documentaries steal the show at the Venice Film Festival? With the controversial Gaza film NAZA, Alex Gibney’s Musk and an Oasis reunion documentary all heading to the Lido, reality might prove more interesting than fiction. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1

This week, Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab look at Hollywood’s troubling history with child stars following the death of Hayden Panettiere at just 36. Why has the industry struggled for decades to protect young performers — and how much can we really connect the pressures of childhood fame with what happens later in life? They also discuss new developments in the real-life case behind Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab, and debate whether the film’s international success and campaigning helped bring pressure for action. Then, a change of gear: why might the hugely successful Barbie never get a sequel? Are studios simply wary of trying to catch lightning twice — or are Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie still being underestimated? Plus: Stand By Me, Trainspotting at 30, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma — and why, apparently, even dinosaurs can’t save The End of Oak Street. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1  

Cinema is having a blockbuster summer. The Odyssey and Spider-Man are smashing records, surprise hits such as Backrooms and Obsession are pulling younger audiences into cinemas, and the box office comeback we've been predicting finally seems to have arrived. So why is it still so difficult to make money from independent film? After producer Marco Perego — behind some of this year's most acclaimed indie films like Fjord — said at Locarno that you shouldn't get into independent cinema for the money, we ask whether the traditional routes for discovering and selling indie films are still working. Emma Jones and Kaleem Aftab look at what's driving audiences back to the big screen, whether a new generation of young movie stars is emerging, and what the blockbuster boom really means for the rest of the film industry. Plus, Emma recommends watching Maite Alberdi's extraordinary documentary A Child of My Own, while Kaleem discusses Hyper: The Stevie Hyper D Story — and his unexpected personal connection to the film. Join the conversation on our Substack and social channels. cinemainonetake.substack.com Follow us on Instagram: @aftabamon @emmapjones1