Naomi Watts and a Great Dane co-star in a film that you won't forget
(M) 119 minutes
In The Friend, Naomi Watts' canine co-star, Apollo, looks as if he's descended direct from Olympus. Such is his air of gravitas.
He's an extraordinarily poised Great Dane who Watts' Iris, a writer and teacher, has inherited from Walter, her literary mentor and best friend.
Walter (Bill Murray) died by suicide for unknown reasons, and Iris and Apollo are both grieving. There is another problem, however. Iris is finding it impossible to contain the dog, a commanding presence, in her tiny, rent-controlled Manhattan apartment where animals are banned. She's on the verge of being evicted.
The film is an adaptation of a novel by New Yorker Sigrid Nunez. A winner of the National Book Award, it was both a meditation on the way the narrator and the Dane bond over their memories and a trenchant comment on the writing and teaching life. For the film, co-directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee, who collaborated on the screenplay, have broadened the book's canvas, enlivening it with a cast of supporting characters who make you feel as if you've become embedded in an intimate corner of literary New York.
The narrative is slow-going, but the mood is nostalgic and pleasingly melancholy and Walter appears in enough flashbacks to give you an insight into what he and Iris saw in one another. In this age of podcasts, sound bites and short reads, it's refreshing to find yourself among people who have spent their lives dedicated to the written word.
The group also has a caustically witty fondness for gossip, and Iris finds a kindred spirit when she re-connects with Walter's first wife, Elaine (Carla Gugino). They share tart opinions of Walter's other two wives – Elaine's successor, Tuesday (Constance Wu), who routinely irritates everybody they know, and number three, Barbara (Noma Dumezweni), the official widow. She's the one who virtually orders Iris to take Apollo on. Summoning her to the Brooklyn brownstone she had shared with Walter, she tells Iris that Apollo is wasting away from grief and will die if he stays where he is. She also makes him sound more biddable than he really is. When Iris gets him home, he colonises her bed and refuses to shift, forcing her to sleep on the floor.
A solution seems possible when Tuesday offers to take him, but Iris' worst fears are confirmed within five minutes of delivery when he outrages his new host by making an unwelcome impression on her soft furnishings. Once again, it's back home to Iris' apartment.
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The Advertiser
16 hours ago
- The Advertiser
For my money, this second chapter lacks the requisite interest
Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger (M, 104 minutes) 2 stars The original Bank of Dave film has picked up a lot of likes on Netflix since becoming a surprise hit a couple of years ago. It wasn't an in-house production initially, but the streaming platform has stepped in and quickly landed a sequel with a new chapter on the businessman in Burnley, UK, who took it to the banking establishment when he applied for a banking licence. As it has been well over a hundred years since a new licence was granted, there may still be quite a wait, but Dave Fishwick has set up a savings and loans office that operates to all intents and purposes as a community bank. Love it. Moreover, good guy Dave Fishwick, social activist and community hero, exists. He is based on a real-life character, a self-made millionaire businessman, who set up a lending service offering low interest rates that don't capitalise excessively on the customers who need to turn to its services. Rory Kinnear returns to the role. 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There are parent companies stateside that have established loan shark businesses outside the UK and through a loophole, managed to charge their British customers interest rates that risk sending them broke. Jessica tracks the boss, Carlo Mancini (Rob Delaney), to his lair deep in Paterson, New Jersey. He's the kind of guy from whom you either "take the silver, or the lead". The character's enormous black moustache and villainous music hall presence gives the game away. By this and other obvious cues in Bank of Dave 2, including plangent strings in an over-emphatic musical score where there should have been a bit of drama, we find we don't need to work very hard at all. Occasionally, the film is playful. With the occasional wink-and-a nod to folks outside the frame as a character addresses us directly, breaking the fourth wall for a brief moment. Some 'what are you looking?' moments that may catch you off guard are a bit of fun. The whole project could have done with more of this. 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Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger (M, 104 minutes) 2 stars The original Bank of Dave film has picked up a lot of likes on Netflix since becoming a surprise hit a couple of years ago. It wasn't an in-house production initially, but the streaming platform has stepped in and quickly landed a sequel with a new chapter on the businessman in Burnley, UK, who took it to the banking establishment when he applied for a banking licence. As it has been well over a hundred years since a new licence was granted, there may still be quite a wait, but Dave Fishwick has set up a savings and loans office that operates to all intents and purposes as a community bank. Love it. Moreover, good guy Dave Fishwick, social activist and community hero, exists. He is based on a real-life character, a self-made millionaire businessman, who set up a lending service offering low interest rates that don't capitalise excessively on the customers who need to turn to its services. Rory Kinnear returns to the role. The actor has been a plummy-accented baddie in the Bond franchise, and we wait to see more of his menacing Prime Minister in the latest television series of The Diplomat. He is an intriguing casting choice for this Lancashire businessman who loves his wife and a bit of karaoke with friends at the pub. An Olivier award-winning actor, Kinnear is very versatile and can easily muster the requisite swagger for someone who is both a success in business and committed local hero. There is a bit of playful casting against type here, but the most endearing character for my money is a struggling contract writer, Jessica, played by a chill Chrissy Metz. A large lady with a New Yorker sensibility and a great singing voice, this endearing character is played by an actor who understands when less is more. Dave commissions this New Yorker from afar to do some research. There are parent companies stateside that have established loan shark businesses outside the UK and through a loophole, managed to charge their British customers interest rates that risk sending them broke. Jessica tracks the boss, Carlo Mancini (Rob Delaney), to his lair deep in Paterson, New Jersey. He's the kind of guy from whom you either "take the silver, or the lead". The character's enormous black moustache and villainous music hall presence gives the game away. By this and other obvious cues in Bank of Dave 2, including plangent strings in an over-emphatic musical score where there should have been a bit of drama, we find we don't need to work very hard at all. Occasionally, the film is playful. With the occasional wink-and-a nod to folks outside the frame as a character addresses us directly, breaking the fourth wall for a brief moment. Some 'what are you looking?' moments that may catch you off guard are a bit of fun. The whole project could have done with more of this. So, this second chapter, loosely based on real-life events that were brought to light widely in a Channel 4 documentary in 2014, is a slight one. There are a few laughs and heart-warming moments, there is pub karaoke as well as unexpected live music treats, and an entertaining performance from Chrissy Metz. But under-investment in the writing has let Bank of Dave 2 down. Of course we want to cheer this modern-day Robin Hood on. Taking on the banking establishment to get a better deal for his community, then taking multiple loan shark operators to court, is incredibly plucky and a story worth telling. Although the latest true-ish story from director Chris Foggin and screenwriter Piers Ashworth offers another drama inspired by real life that battlers everywhere can respond to, the Bank of Dave sequel is rather weak rather than robust, even though the original story probably had just as much going for it. Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger (M, 104 minutes) 2 stars The original Bank of Dave film has picked up a lot of likes on Netflix since becoming a surprise hit a couple of years ago. It wasn't an in-house production initially, but the streaming platform has stepped in and quickly landed a sequel with a new chapter on the businessman in Burnley, UK, who took it to the banking establishment when he applied for a banking licence. As it has been well over a hundred years since a new licence was granted, there may still be quite a wait, but Dave Fishwick has set up a savings and loans office that operates to all intents and purposes as a community bank. Love it. Moreover, good guy Dave Fishwick, social activist and community hero, exists. He is based on a real-life character, a self-made millionaire businessman, who set up a lending service offering low interest rates that don't capitalise excessively on the customers who need to turn to its services. Rory Kinnear returns to the role. The actor has been a plummy-accented baddie in the Bond franchise, and we wait to see more of his menacing Prime Minister in the latest television series of The Diplomat. He is an intriguing casting choice for this Lancashire businessman who loves his wife and a bit of karaoke with friends at the pub. An Olivier award-winning actor, Kinnear is very versatile and can easily muster the requisite swagger for someone who is both a success in business and committed local hero. There is a bit of playful casting against type here, but the most endearing character for my money is a struggling contract writer, Jessica, played by a chill Chrissy Metz. A large lady with a New Yorker sensibility and a great singing voice, this endearing character is played by an actor who understands when less is more. Dave commissions this New Yorker from afar to do some research. There are parent companies stateside that have established loan shark businesses outside the UK and through a loophole, managed to charge their British customers interest rates that risk sending them broke. Jessica tracks the boss, Carlo Mancini (Rob Delaney), to his lair deep in Paterson, New Jersey. He's the kind of guy from whom you either "take the silver, or the lead". The character's enormous black moustache and villainous music hall presence gives the game away. By this and other obvious cues in Bank of Dave 2, including plangent strings in an over-emphatic musical score where there should have been a bit of drama, we find we don't need to work very hard at all. Occasionally, the film is playful. With the occasional wink-and-a nod to folks outside the frame as a character addresses us directly, breaking the fourth wall for a brief moment. Some 'what are you looking?' moments that may catch you off guard are a bit of fun. The whole project could have done with more of this. So, this second chapter, loosely based on real-life events that were brought to light widely in a Channel 4 documentary in 2014, is a slight one. There are a few laughs and heart-warming moments, there is pub karaoke as well as unexpected live music treats, and an entertaining performance from Chrissy Metz. But under-investment in the writing has let Bank of Dave 2 down. Of course we want to cheer this modern-day Robin Hood on. Taking on the banking establishment to get a better deal for his community, then taking multiple loan shark operators to court, is incredibly plucky and a story worth telling. Although the latest true-ish story from director Chris Foggin and screenwriter Piers Ashworth offers another drama inspired by real life that battlers everywhere can respond to, the Bank of Dave sequel is rather weak rather than robust, even though the original story probably had just as much going for it.
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
‘She knows the younger version of me': When two friends reunite after 50 years
Workmates in the 1960s, centenarian Iris Palmington and Moira Scully, 95, reunited when they moved into the same aged-care home in Melbourne. Now they lunch together, happy to have a friend they knew before they were 'old ladies'. Moira: My husband, Frank, and I had a newsagency in Sandringham and Iris came to work with us in the 1960s. She was in circulation and TattsLotto; I was in books and stationery. Iris was always charming and got on well with the customers. The Age was huge, especially with the weekend classifieds, and we had to deliver it to people's homes before seven in the morning. Some people would say, 'Where's my paper?' if it was just one minute past. Iris used to handle that. She always stood up for the paper boys. She worked with us for six years, but I lost track of her after that. Then, in 2018, she turns up here [at Mercy Place Fernhill]. I was so pleased! We sit together at lunchtime. She tells me I eat anything and everything. I've always been big, whereas she's tiny. I get hungry – I'm terrible! We love the same films, which is important here. We want good, frothy musicals of our era – South Pacific and High Society. We do the grizzles if there's something on that's on the more serious side. Iris chose Waterloo Bridge; it was so sad, I carried it around with me for a week. We love Friday night movies here; we're like little kids, with an interval and our plates of lollies. Iris still loves dressing up. If it's a special day, she'll have a tiara on. She always wears beads and a bit of lippie. She used to do ballet – I think she was on one of the trucks once at the Moomba Parade – and she's always spotlessly clean. Not me, I dribble a bit. But if she does dribble, she knows about it. She has a standard and wants that kept up. 'It's nice that she knows the younger version of me, that I haven't always been an old lady.' Moira Scully Iris is a passionate Carlton supporter; I barrack for Richmond. I used to watch the games but now I've got so much reading to do – I like Irish and Australian history – and I didn't anticipate the macular degeneration. I just have the football on silent so I can see the results, but Iris can tell you every jolly kick in the game. She has a little Carlton garden gnome outside her room and if he's happy, he looks outwards with his little glasses on, but if Carlton has lost, he's turned with his nose to the wall in disgrace. Carlton hasn't been doing well lately, so Iris is very cross with them. She's a goer, always ready to have fun. I'm not a talker like Iris; I'm more of a listener. We don't have the number of visitors we used to because a lot of them have gone to heaven if they're our age, and when they're gone, they're not replaced. Frank died a short time after I moved here, which was a very, very big loss. When Iris arrived, I was just pleased to have a friend here, somebody from the past. And Iris sometimes has funny stories to tell me about Frank. It's nice that she knows the younger version of me, that I haven't always been an old lady.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘She knows the younger version of me': When two friends reunite after 50 years
Workmates in the 1960s, centenarian Iris Palmington and Moira Scully, 95, reunited when they moved into the same aged-care home in Melbourne. Now they lunch together, happy to have a friend they knew before they were 'old ladies'. Moira: My husband, Frank, and I had a newsagency in Sandringham and Iris came to work with us in the 1960s. She was in circulation and TattsLotto; I was in books and stationery. Iris was always charming and got on well with the customers. The Age was huge, especially with the weekend classifieds, and we had to deliver it to people's homes before seven in the morning. Some people would say, 'Where's my paper?' if it was just one minute past. Iris used to handle that. She always stood up for the paper boys. She worked with us for six years, but I lost track of her after that. Then, in 2018, she turns up here [at Mercy Place Fernhill]. I was so pleased! We sit together at lunchtime. She tells me I eat anything and everything. I've always been big, whereas she's tiny. I get hungry – I'm terrible! We love the same films, which is important here. We want good, frothy musicals of our era – South Pacific and High Society. We do the grizzles if there's something on that's on the more serious side. Iris chose Waterloo Bridge; it was so sad, I carried it around with me for a week. We love Friday night movies here; we're like little kids, with an interval and our plates of lollies. Iris still loves dressing up. If it's a special day, she'll have a tiara on. She always wears beads and a bit of lippie. She used to do ballet – I think she was on one of the trucks once at the Moomba Parade – and she's always spotlessly clean. Not me, I dribble a bit. But if she does dribble, she knows about it. She has a standard and wants that kept up. 'It's nice that she knows the younger version of me, that I haven't always been an old lady.' Moira Scully Iris is a passionate Carlton supporter; I barrack for Richmond. I used to watch the games but now I've got so much reading to do – I like Irish and Australian history – and I didn't anticipate the macular degeneration. I just have the football on silent so I can see the results, but Iris can tell you every jolly kick in the game. She has a little Carlton garden gnome outside her room and if he's happy, he looks outwards with his little glasses on, but if Carlton has lost, he's turned with his nose to the wall in disgrace. Carlton hasn't been doing well lately, so Iris is very cross with them. She's a goer, always ready to have fun. I'm not a talker like Iris; I'm more of a listener. We don't have the number of visitors we used to because a lot of them have gone to heaven if they're our age, and when they're gone, they're not replaced. Frank died a short time after I moved here, which was a very, very big loss. When Iris arrived, I was just pleased to have a friend here, somebody from the past. And Iris sometimes has funny stories to tell me about Frank. It's nice that she knows the younger version of me, that I haven't always been an old lady.
