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Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Romería' Review: Carla Simón Dives Deep Into Painful Family History in an Act of Reclamation That's Equal Parts Shimmering and Meandering
Three years after taking top honors in Berlin with her elegiac tribute to the generations of peach farmers in her family, Alcarràs, Carla Simón returns to territory more directly connected to her own past, a companion piece to her debut, Summer 1993. That 2018 film explored a transitional period in the life of a six-year-old girl — a fictionalized version of the director — sent to live with an uncle's family in the Catalonia countryside after losing both her parents to AIDS. Simón's third feature, Romería, centers on another semi-autobiographical stand-in, this time a budding filmmaker fresh out of high school, who travels to meet the family of her late father. Her journey, while essentially planned to complete bureaucratic requirements on a film school scholarship, becomes an exhumation of the parents she was too young to know, their histories veiled in secrecy, shame and the blurry lens of time. That lens is filtered through the curious gaze of accomplished French cinematographer Hélène Louvart (Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Lost Daughter, La Chimera), whose work remains alluring, even when Simón's storytelling risks seeming rudderless. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Wave' Review: Sebastián Lelio's Rousing but Elementary Feminist Musical 'Magellan' Review: Gael Garcia Bernal Plays the Famous Explorer in Lav Diaz's Exquisitely Shot Challenge of an Arthouse Epic Cannes: Oliver Laxe's 'Sirat' Sells Wide Internationally While the director has mostly switched here from the nonprofessional cast of Alcarràs to more seasoned actors, she entrusts the central role of her fictional counterpart Marina to impressive discovery Llúcia Garcia, who had no significant prior acting experience and was chosen after an exhaustive casting search. When Marina goes to the records office to get a copy of her father's death certificate for her scholarship paperwork, she finds that it lists no children. To have her name added, she will need to obtain notarized signatures from the paternal grandparents she has never met, on the other side of the country. Armed with her camcorder, she travels in 2004 from Barcelona to the Atlantic coast, where her relatives live, in and around the port city of Vigo in Galicia. That area was also the playground of her birth parents before she was born, and the underlying purpose of Marina's visit is evident in the film's title, the Spanish word for 'pilgrimage.' She is met on arrival by her affable uncle Lois (Tristán Ulloa), who turns out to be among her more forthcoming relatives even if his recollections don't always correspond to what she was told as a child. There's also a rowdy bunch of cousins with whom she goes swimming off her uncle's sailing boat, yielding beautiful shots of bodies darting through the water over coral reefs around the Cíes Islands. Marina's video footage of the coastal waters is accompanied by intermittent voiceovers from her mother's journal entries in the mid-'80s, and by chapter headings that can be a bit prosaic. (Those passages were adapted from letters that Simón's mother wrote to friends during her travels.) But while almost every distant relative she meets summons vague memories of her parents, either first-hand or gleaned from others, the timeline of where they lived at various points in the relationship remains vague. There's even some uncertainty about Marina's exact place of birth. Any volunteering of information about her biological mother and father is instantly cut off when she meets her grandparents. Marina's imperious grandmother (Marina Troncoso) is a disagreeable snob, more concerned with getting a mani-pedi or keeping leaves out of her precious swimming pool than getting to know her granddaughter. (This later provokes a fabulously petty act of FU defiance from Marina.) Her grandfather (José Ángel Egido) is ostensibly warmer, though Marina is dismayed to learn that he offered her father, Alfonso, a large sum of money as an incentive to stop seeing her mother. When Marina finds out her parents were using and possibly dealing heroin, her questions become more pointed. She's even more disturbed to learn that the family hid her father away when he got sick, allowing him no visitors. The stigma of drug use and AIDS makes both grandparents prickly when pushed for information about Alfonso. This is especially apparent when her grandfather sits like a Mafia don while nephews, nieces and grandchildren line up to pay their respects. When Marina's turn comes, he hands her an envelope with a fat wad of cash, supposedly to cover her film school expenses but implicitly intended to make her stop asking uncomfortable questions. All this becomes a bit discursive, and frankly, dull — almost like a coastal Carlos Saura family portrait without the politics and without the clean lines and character definition to make the sprawl of relatives especially interesting. There's a hint of flirtation and mutual attraction between Marina and an older cousin, Nuno (mononymous actor Mitch), but that remains more of a tease than a promise. Things get more intriguing when Marina starts interacting with her parents, creating pictures and memories of them in her head. She first encounters them lounging on deck chairs on a terrace in blazing sunlight, like an apparition. By way of an introduction, they tell her, 'You see we're not dead. They just hid us away.' She pictures them wandering naked over rocks on the shoreline, embracing in the sand in a tangle of seaweed or lazing on a boat, watching dolphins. In a departure from Simón's signature naturalistic approach, she drops in a fantasy sequence in which Marina and Nuno drift into a druggy nightclub, where they slide into a cool formation dance routine to Spanish pop. That segues for Marina into images of her parents both sensual and sad, shooting up or strung out in need of a fix. As disturbing as those pictures are, they at least provide Marina with some kind of access to the parents she was too young to remember. (Having Garcia double as Marina's mother and Nuno as her father was a nice touch.) The final developments, specifically the circumstances by which Marina — and not her grandparents — gets to dictate the wording on her father's updated death certificate, are too rushed to be entirely clear. But as the outcome of a journey in which Marina fortifies her connection to two of the most important people in her life, it works well enough. Romería is an elegant, visually poetic film, if slightly less lucid than the director's previous work. But it's an odd fit for the main competition in Cannes; its intimate investigation of family history and mystery likely would have played better in the eclectic Un Certain Regard sidebar. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dakota Johnson Talks Romantic Experiments In Cannes Comedy ‘Splitsville', Upcoming ‘Materialists' And 'Juicy' Colleen Hoover Adaptation ‘Verity'
Dakota Johnson has never been to Cannes before. 'Somebody told me that people wear gowns and flip-flops and run into hotels,' she laughs, 'That sounds like something I'd love to do.' In the past, she's been more of a Venice person, she says, with The Lost Daughter, Black Mass, A Bigger Splash and Suspiria premiering at the Italian fest, rather than the French one. 'I feel like I was branded as Italian cinema-only and I'm so excited,' she says. Splitsville, screening in Cannes Premiere, is also the first time Johnson's production company TeaTime Pictures has had a film at Cannes. Directed by Michael Angelo Covino and co-written and produced with his longtime The Climb collaborator Kyle Marvin, Splitsville follows two couples in a friendship group. When Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce from Carey (Marvin), Carey seeks solace in his happily coupled friends Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino). But when he realizes they are in an open marriage, he crosses a line, and things become more complicated. More from Deadline Scarlett Johansson On Why The Script For Her Directorial Debut 'Eleanor The Great' Made Her Cry: 'It's About Forgiveness' – Cannes Cover Story 'Bono: Stories Of Surrender': On Irish Fathers & Sons, Processing Family Tragedy & How A Need To Be Heard Propelled A Dublin Kid To Become One Of The World's Biggest Rock Stars Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme' Scores 7½-Minute Ovation After Cannes Premiere, Leaving One Star In Tears Johnson recently directed Loser Baby, her first short, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, and she's also appearing in Celine Song's June release Materialists as a matchmaker caught in a love triangle with an affluent businessman (Pedro Pascal) and an old flame (Chris Evans). She describes Song's film as 'really reminiscent of rom-coms that were my jam growing up. Very Jim Brooks, Nora Ephron.' And she's just wrapped shooting on Verity, the latest Colleen Hoover (It Ends with Us) novel adaptation. Directed by Michael Showalter, Johnson stars as a ghostwriter hired by Josh Hartnett's character to finish his writer wife Verity (Anne Hathaway)'s novels. 'I'm basically the bad guy I think,' Johnson says. 'It's so fun.' RELATED: Neon's Palme D'Or Whisperer Tom Quinn Reveals Keys To Cannes And Oscar Success: 'I'm Happy To Share A Playbook' DEADLINE: How would you describe the premise of ? DAKOTA JOHNSON: Gosh, it's an interesting tone because I guess, off the bat, it reads as a comedy, but it's a very soulful, unique comedy about two couples and the challenging dynamics of their relationships individually, and then their relationships intertwined with each other. It's about the complexities of love. DEADLINE: So, Carey starts hanging out with your character Julie and her partner Paul who are in an open relationship. Are we talking a love triangle? JOHNSON: It's less of a love triangle and more of a love experiment. it's enmeshed, codependent, incestuous, and all the while really deeply loving ultimately, but pretty f*cked up a lot of the time. DEADLINE: I know a lot of people believe that non-monogamy is the future and that's the evolution of where we're going in terms of how human relationships will survive. What were your thoughts about the themes of this film? JOHNSON: I think it's such an interesting topic because I don't feel like there's one right way to love, or one right way to live your life, and I think human beings are being allowed to evolve. I think it's rare that we hear of people being in a partnership or a relationship that's like, 'Yeah, and then we grow together and separately, and it's super healthy and fun.' It's rare that that happens. I don't think there's any right way. I feel like, if you want to have multiple relationships in your life, great. If you want to go really deep with one person, great. If you want to have both of those at the same time, great. Why not, really? But also scary, you know? RELATED: Ooh-La-La Land: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (*And The Cannes Film Festival) DEADLINE: I think people are trying to find a new way and it's a very interesting subject. JOHNSON: But is it a new way? Because I feel like we could look at that in a really positive way, or say someone says they want to explore every version of themselves and they want to have as many experiences as possible, and whatever that is in this short life we have. Or, is it that, as humanity, we are starting to evolve into people who don't tolerate each other and don't tolerate each other's flaws and don't heal and don't grow? A lot of times I see relationships break up when it's either or both people in a phase of immense challenge, which leads to immense growth. But if you just split up all the time, or if you're like, 'You're sucking right now, so I'm going to go and be with my other boyfriend.' How am I growing and how am I actually loving you? But I don't know. I don't know the answer. I think everything works, or it can. DEADLINE: As my mother would say, 'It's horses for courses,' meaning each to their own and whatever works for you. How did you come to the film and why was it also the right producing project for TeaTime? JOHNSON: So it came around actually quite a while before I signed on to do it. It was brought to TeaTime and I was really busy. I don't remember what was happening, but maybe we were releasing Daddio and it was just a really crazy time. And then it came back around for me to play Julie. First of all, I met with Mike and Kyle ages ago, and it was not a fully fleshed-out idea, and then they went away and did a lot of work. They just are such amazing partners and so brilliant together at being extremely funny, but also weird and soulful at the same time. And Adria was signing on as well, and it just made sense. And we really like to work with filmmakers that have a really fresh interesting voice. I don't know if you saw their movie, The Climb? I was like, 'How is this movie not massive?' It's so good. And Mike, he has such a director's mind. He really has artistry in that way, coupled with understanding comedic beats, and those things don't always come together. Really it just felt very right, and I like being really in the trenches with the people I work with. So being able to sit with them for a few weeks before, and go through the script and write jokes and make Julia a strange person, and give her a different kind of a character, I don't know, it was very TeaTime, I think. RELATED: Brazilian Comeback: How The Cannes 2025 Country Of Honor Is Following The Success Of 'I'm Still Here' DEADLINE: What does it mean to you to be at Cannes? JOHNSON: Well, truly, I honestly thought I would never go to Cannes. I was like, 'There must be some weird curse on me where I'll just never get to do it.' DEADLINE: It's a scene for sure. A lot of crowds waiting outside of hotels. JOHNSON: So, I won't be just strolling along in my bikini? That's really what I was picturing. DEADLINE: It's going to be a bit crazier than that I'm afraid. JOHNSON: There is something so magical about… I remember the first time I went to Venice. Every time I have gone to Venice, it's like the most magical time because I just think there's something ineffable in the air around film festivals where it's the artistry and the excitement about what the movies have made people feel, and you can really feel that there. And then of course, the glamour and it's so beautiful and opulent. But for me, it's really being around all of those other artists and being around people who are like, 'Oh, I've just seen this.' That to me is so fun. It's so exciting. DEADLINE: With Michael and Kyle, it sounds like you had a great collaboration on building your character. What was the process like? JOHNSON: Yes, we did, and then it was really funnily combative on set. I think they are so used to working with each other that they have a very specific cadence. It's a very specific dance they do. And I would butt heads with both of them a lot, but in a healthy way, I think. DEADLINE: Just from the creative process, you mean? JOHNSON: Yeah. At least I'm honest about it. DEADLINE: Yes. Not everyone tells you the nitty gritty of those combative moments, but that can often be a part of the creative process. JOHNSON: Yeah. I've been on sets where the nitty gritty leads to a great movie and then I've been on sets where it doesn't and that sucks a lot more. DEADLINE: Where did you shoot the film and for how long? JOHNSON: We shot it in Montreal and I want to say it was 25 days. It was pretty short. DEADLINE: I'm also so excited about . How was working with Celine Song on that? JOHNSON: Oh, God, that was really a magical, magical, magical time. Talk about not combative at all. We were of one mind. It was so beautiful, really, really beautiful. I think, because of her background as a playwright, she is really in the space with you, and it almost felt like she was in the scenes with me. If this was the shot, she'd be down here on the floor right next to me, just out of frame. So, it was very, very close. And she's so poetic in her writing and in her filmmaking. She's really a true real deal filmmaker and it's just an amazing to see that. It's rare and I think it's amazing to be like, 'Oh, you're going to make a lot of really incredible things in this life.' I just felt so lucky to be there. And filming in New York in the spring was just magical. And yeah, I'm excited for people to see that movie. RELATED: 'Eddington' Cannes Film Festival Premiere Photos: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler & More DEADLINE: How was working with Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans? JOHNSON: Chris and Pedro were wonderful. They're both pretty funny dudes. They both really make me laugh. I really make Chris laugh, which I like a lot. And Pedro and I were friends before, so just being able to hang out all day was really fun. Because when you're on set, you're just like, 'Oh, I'm in movie prison and I can't do anything, and I can't see anybody and I live on set.' So, it was just so fun to have a friend there. But they're both, I think, really wonderful in this movie. DEADLINE: And then next year we'll see that you're also executive producing. JOHNSON: Yes, we just finished filming. I didn't know what Verity was before I was sent the script, and it's based on a Colleen Hoover novel that I guess is quite popular. People are really into it. DEADLINE: It's very big. She has such a huge following. JOHNSON: I know. And she's such a funny person as well. She's a really cool person. But yeah, it's Josh Hartnett, Anne Hathaway and me. I mean, obviously, everyone knows what it's about from the book, but it's about a ghostwriter or a writer who goes to finish the novels of this very established writer because she had been in an accident. So, she moves into the house with her and her husband and their kid and then all of these really weird twists and turns take place. It's juicy. Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far
Metro
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Normal People 5 years on: Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones' rise to fame
In those hollow moments after bingeing a spectacular TV show, I often find myself scouring the internet, desperate to find a cast interview or behind-the-scenes look that makes it feel like the series isn't over. When it came to Normal People starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, which was adapted from Sally Rooney's equally brilliant novel, it was certainly no exception. To come to terms with the fact that I was never going to enjoy one of Connell and Marianne's awkward little silences again, or see them FINALLY be happy in a relationship, was too great a weight to bear. So, during the umpteenth cast interview I had sat through, Mescal – via Zoom during a Covid lockdown – responded to a fan question by saying it was 'probably unhealthy' to watch the show more than once considering its heart-wrenching ending. Today marks five years since it was first released and as someone who has watched the show many, many times, I'm inclined to strongly disagree. The BBC/Hulu limited series contains something that many shows have failed to capture since, and in the process it's delivered two of Hollywood's biggest stars today in Mescal and Edgar-Jones. In a world today where Instagram snippets and five-second TikTok dance routines reign supreme, what's so impressive about Normal People is how enjoyable its silences are. A tender look between Connell and Marianne or a subtle glance down the school corridors carries with it so much more weight than heavy, expositional dialogue can ever achieve. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, the series doesn't rely on gimmicks or cheap melodramatic subplots. It stays completely grounded in reality and through such painstakingly honest and simple dialogue turns what would seem like the most mundane school relationship into what feels like a life or death situation. But despite that rare balance, the performances of Edgar-Jones, 26, and Mescal, 29, continue to receive praise today. It seems bizarre now to think how both Mescal and Edgar-Jones became overnight celebrities while the world was still under strict orders to quarantine. Testament to the show's prowess, it managed find a place in people's hearts when they had nothing else to do but sit inside and watch the TV. But since then, Mescal has embarked on what appears to be a juggernaut Hollywood career, with him recently being announced to star in the latest Beatles biopic as Paul McCartney. After his stint as Connell, Mescal has made astute career decisions, not opting for high-budget projects and instead focusing on roles he is passionate about. After starring in The Lost Daughter, he was nominated for an Oscar for his turn in Aftersun before he appeared in All of Us Strangers, Foe and Gladiator II. Edgar-Jones has similarly not jumped at rash projects and has instead found critical acclaim in both film and television. After appearing in Normal People, she went on to star in Under the Banner of Heaven, which featured Andrew Garfield. Edgar-Jones has also played Noa in Fresh, with Sebastian Stan. Following that, she was in the smash hit Twisters with Glen Powell. Excuse the incoming (yawn) cliché, but it honestly feels like yesterday when the world was first introduced to Connell and Marianne during lockdown. The hold it had on our lives then, and still has on mine today, is truly spectacular when you sit back and think about it. More Trending There have been whispers of a second season and even Edgar-Jones teasing that she would like to revisit the role of Marianne, according to the BBC. But whatever the future holds for these two, I'm certain that the next five years will be even more prosperous. The next film for Edgar-Jones will be Swift Horses, starring Jacob Elordi, meanwhile Mescal will star in The History of Sound, which features Challengers star Josh O'Connor. View More » Normal People is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Gregg Wallace 'thought about suicide all the time' after scandal MORE: 'After 30 years on BBC Newsnight, I managed to avoid the biggest mistake' MORE: BBC soap stars protest at Parliament following show's axe after 23 years
