Damon Albarn has released a new song, “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows,” the title track from his upcoming solo album out November 12th via Transgressive Records.
“The Nearer the Fountain…” is an expansive piece filled with lush orchestral elements and the steady pick of an acoustic guitar, although there’s no shortage of subtly strange synths and other textural sounds to give the tune an unsettling edge. “You were gone,” Albarn sings at the start of the song in a lonesome voice, “The dark journey that...
“The Nearer the Fountain…” is an expansive piece filled with lush orchestral elements and the steady pick of an acoustic guitar, although there’s no shortage of subtly strange synths and other textural sounds to give the tune an unsettling edge. “You were gone,” Albarn sings at the start of the song in a lonesome voice, “The dark journey that...
- 6/22/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Andrew Kötting's Edith Walks (2017) is playing June 29 - July 29, 2017 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.The faster we walk, the more ground we lose.—Iain Sinclair, Lights Out for the TerritoryIf there's a single date in English history that most of the country's population would know, it's 1066: the Battle of Hastings. They would hazily recall from wooden modular classrooms, stifling on a warm summer's afternoon, as they gazed out at heat rising from the tarmac playground, the tale of King Harold II, his cross-country march to war, and the Norman Conquest of the Anglo-Saxon realm. Perhaps the image of Harold as depicted on the Bayeux tapestry, an arrow protruding from his eye, would emerge from the palimpsest of history and linger on the fringes of their memory. The memories are much more immediate and painful for Edith Swan-Neck,...
- 6/27/2017
- MUBI
Louisa Mellor Apr 20, 2017
We chatted to actor Rory Kinnear about his roles in Sky Atlantic's Guerrilla, Bond, Penny Dreadful and more…
In Rory Kinnear’s first answer during our chat about his role in Sky Atlantic drama Guerrilla, he makes a wry joke at his own expense. He’s not a well-known actor, he says, and perhaps not one with “a particularly heroic face!” he laughs when we talk about the moral complexity of his roles. Give him an outright compliment and he deflects the praise elsewhere, onto writers and directors, John Logan for Penny Dreadful, John Ridley for Guerrilla. His role as Bill Tanner in the James Bond franchise is a “very, very small” part of an enormous machine, he stresses.
See related Line Of Duty series 4, and the clues hiding in series 1 Line Of Duty: creator Jed Mercurio interview Explaining the Line Of Duty series 2 finale...
We chatted to actor Rory Kinnear about his roles in Sky Atlantic's Guerrilla, Bond, Penny Dreadful and more…
In Rory Kinnear’s first answer during our chat about his role in Sky Atlantic drama Guerrilla, he makes a wry joke at his own expense. He’s not a well-known actor, he says, and perhaps not one with “a particularly heroic face!” he laughs when we talk about the moral complexity of his roles. Give him an outright compliment and he deflects the praise elsewhere, onto writers and directors, John Logan for Penny Dreadful, John Ridley for Guerrilla. His role as Bill Tanner in the James Bond franchise is a “very, very small” part of an enormous machine, he stresses.
See related Line Of Duty series 4, and the clues hiding in series 1 Line Of Duty: creator Jed Mercurio interview Explaining the Line Of Duty series 2 finale...
- 4/12/2017
- Den of Geek
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John Logan's tremendous Penny Dreadful concluded for good with a double-bill full of stand-out performances...
This review contains spoilers.
3.8 Perpetual Night & 3.9 The Blessed Dark
Following the announcement earlier this week that the third season would be Penny Dreadful’s last, the show closes on a double bill of Perpetual Night and The Blessed Dark. Dracula feeding on Vanessa has, as foretold, brought an unholy fog down on the world that is killing London’s residents. The night creatures are also on the prowl and it is into this city that Ethan, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay arrive to find Vanessa. They’re not alone in their efforts, joined by Catriona and Dr Seward. Frankenstein has to decide whether he will force the serum upon Lily whilst Dorian clears his house of her army. John Clare’s slice of domesticity proves to be all too brief and the...
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John Logan's tremendous Penny Dreadful concluded for good with a double-bill full of stand-out performances...
This review contains spoilers.
3.8 Perpetual Night & 3.9 The Blessed Dark
Following the announcement earlier this week that the third season would be Penny Dreadful’s last, the show closes on a double bill of Perpetual Night and The Blessed Dark. Dracula feeding on Vanessa has, as foretold, brought an unholy fog down on the world that is killing London’s residents. The night creatures are also on the prowl and it is into this city that Ethan, Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay arrive to find Vanessa. They’re not alone in their efforts, joined by Catriona and Dr Seward. Frankenstein has to decide whether he will force the serum upon Lily whilst Dorian clears his house of her army. John Clare’s slice of domesticity proves to be all too brief and the...
- 6/22/2016
- Den of Geek
“Penny Dreadful” creator John Logan is an expert at endings. From big, sweeping dramas like “Gladiator” and “The Last Samurai,” to ongoing stories like “Skyfall” and the first two seasons of “Penny Dreadful,” Logan is a writer who always seems to hit his mark in the end.
That’s why it comes as no surprise that Sunday night’s Season 3 finale of “Penny Dreadful,” “The Blessed Dark,” was a terrific episode of television – with one glaring exception.
What more could one ask for in a series finale? Simple: that we knew going in it was a series finale.
Read More: No More Excuses: Eva Green & ‘Penny Dreadful’ Need Emmys, Now
Building up to the final standoff between strangers-turned-allies, allies-turned-lovers, lovers-turned-enemies — Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), a werewolf living in exile because of his uncontrollable affliction, and Vanessa Ives, a medium with powers so great she’s been coveted by everyone from...
That’s why it comes as no surprise that Sunday night’s Season 3 finale of “Penny Dreadful,” “The Blessed Dark,” was a terrific episode of television – with one glaring exception.
What more could one ask for in a series finale? Simple: that we knew going in it was a series finale.
Read More: No More Excuses: Eva Green & ‘Penny Dreadful’ Need Emmys, Now
Building up to the final standoff between strangers-turned-allies, allies-turned-lovers, lovers-turned-enemies — Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), a werewolf living in exile because of his uncontrollable affliction, and Vanessa Ives, a medium with powers so great she’s been coveted by everyone from...
- 6/20/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Is this truly the end?
The title card reading "The End" would seem to indicate without a doubt that, yes, the two part finale event comprised of Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 8 and Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 9 was actually the series finale.
As disappointing and downright traumatizing as that would be, I have to admit that these two hours did nicely tie up nearly every plot point in the series. It felt very series finale-ish.
Watch Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 9 Online
First, the elephant in the room (review) – Vanessa died. Voluntarily. At Ethan's hand. It was heartbreaking and tear-jerking, but ultimately, it made sense.
We'd already seen Vanessa reckon with what she was. We'd already seen her come to terms with the fact that she could never be a "normal" woman. Nor did she want to be, any longer.
The Penny Dreadful Season 1 Finale and Penny Dreadful Season 2 Finale each encapsulated...
The title card reading "The End" would seem to indicate without a doubt that, yes, the two part finale event comprised of Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 8 and Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 9 was actually the series finale.
As disappointing and downright traumatizing as that would be, I have to admit that these two hours did nicely tie up nearly every plot point in the series. It felt very series finale-ish.
Watch Penny Dreadful Season 3 Episode 9 Online
First, the elephant in the room (review) – Vanessa died. Voluntarily. At Ethan's hand. It was heartbreaking and tear-jerking, but ultimately, it made sense.
We'd already seen Vanessa reckon with what she was. We'd already seen her come to terms with the fact that she could never be a "normal" woman. Nor did she want to be, any longer.
The Penny Dreadful Season 1 Finale and Penny Dreadful Season 2 Finale each encapsulated...
- 6/20/2016
- by Caralynn Lippo
- TVfanatic
Gaining speed as it hurtled toward its June 19th third season finale, Penny Dreadful this week armed Vanessa for battle with Dracula, set up the Creature to take a terrifying gamble and changed Lily and Dorian’s relationship forever — which is a hell of a long time when a couple is immortal. Which of their risks paid off in “Ebb Tide”? Read on…
PhotosDracula ‘Count’-down: Ranking the Good, the Vlad and the Funny from Penny Dreadful, Supernatural and More!
Lily’S Worst Nightmare | After visiting the grave of her 1-year-old daughter, Lily challenged her army of prostitutes to prove...
PhotosDracula ‘Count’-down: Ranking the Good, the Vlad and the Funny from Penny Dreadful, Supernatural and More!
Lily’S Worst Nightmare | After visiting the grave of her 1-year-old daughter, Lily challenged her army of prostitutes to prove...
- 6/13/2016
- TVLine.com
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Penny Dreadful delivers more sexy, Gothic melodrama in its latest episode, No Beast So Fierce...
This review contains spoilers.
3.6 No Beast So Fierce
Now that they have the first recruit to their cause, Dorian and Lily begin gathering more fallen women to battle against the men who abused them at Dorian’s home. He’s starting to feel a little outnumbered, however, and Justine is vying for his place in Lily’s affections as well as becoming a little too bloodthirsty where he is concerned. John Clare manages to visit his son, but in doing so, scares the poor child into hysterics as he watches what was once his father flee into the night.
Ethan continues to battle against his father as Hecate’s power over him grows. Sir Malcolm’s concern deepens in tandem as he battles to save his wayward sort-of adopted son from his actual father,...
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Penny Dreadful delivers more sexy, Gothic melodrama in its latest episode, No Beast So Fierce...
This review contains spoilers.
3.6 No Beast So Fierce
Now that they have the first recruit to their cause, Dorian and Lily begin gathering more fallen women to battle against the men who abused them at Dorian’s home. He’s starting to feel a little outnumbered, however, and Justine is vying for his place in Lily’s affections as well as becoming a little too bloodthirsty where he is concerned. John Clare manages to visit his son, but in doing so, scares the poor child into hysterics as he watches what was once his father flee into the night.
Ethan continues to battle against his father as Hecate’s power over him grows. Sir Malcolm’s concern deepens in tandem as he battles to save his wayward sort-of adopted son from his actual father,...
- 6/8/2016
- Den of Geek
In this week’s Penny Dreadful — a particularly eventful outing, wouldn’t you agree? — Victor set in motion his plan to “cure” Lily, the Creature was reunited with his son, Sir Malcolm helped Ethan resolve his issues with his father, and Vanessa took Dr. Seward’s advice to bring in reinforcements against Dracula. And it all went so spectacularly badly that, by the end of the hour, enough characters had been killed off that Dr. Frankenstein could be kept busy for an entire season just resurrecting them all. Who made it to the closing credits with a pulse? Read on and find out.
- 6/6/2016
- TVLine.com
Penny Dreadful Season 3 has kept many of its main characters separated from each other as they all try to discover (or in some cases, rediscover) who they are. The third season’s storylines have sent John Clare on a journey to help his former family and Ethan back to America to see his father again, while Vanessa and Victor remain at their respective homes, both of them searching for a way to fix past mistakes and rejuvenate their lives. And while this Sunday’s episode of Penny Dreadful, titled “No Beast So Fierce,” seems like it will continue this isolation trend, the following
Penny Dreadful Photos: Vanessa Reunites With [Spoiler], Dracula Remains Close...
Penny Dreadful Photos: Vanessa Reunites With [Spoiler], Dracula Remains Close...
- 6/3/2016
- by Chris King
- TVovermind.com
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Eva Green's performance is astonishing once again as Penny Dreadful flashes back to Vanessa's troubled past...
This review contains spoilers.
3.4 A Blade Of Grass
A Blade of Grass follows immediately on from the reveal of the last episode; John Clare was the orderly who worked at the Banning Clinic in which Vanessa was confined. The hypnosis with Dr Seward continues and it’s time for the traditional Vanessa flashback episode, here delivered through her therapy with the good doctor. During her hypnosis, she becomes trapped in her memories, unable to awaken from her state without first working through her trauma. The orderly is her only company and the pair form a past relationship that will have further consequences in Vanessa’s present.
There’s a nasty claustrophobia to A Blade of Grass, all close-ups and odd angles designed to disorientate and unsettle the audience. The score...
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Eva Green's performance is astonishing once again as Penny Dreadful flashes back to Vanessa's troubled past...
This review contains spoilers.
3.4 A Blade Of Grass
A Blade of Grass follows immediately on from the reveal of the last episode; John Clare was the orderly who worked at the Banning Clinic in which Vanessa was confined. The hypnosis with Dr Seward continues and it’s time for the traditional Vanessa flashback episode, here delivered through her therapy with the good doctor. During her hypnosis, she becomes trapped in her memories, unable to awaken from her state without first working through her trauma. The orderly is her only company and the pair form a past relationship that will have further consequences in Vanessa’s present.
There’s a nasty claustrophobia to A Blade of Grass, all close-ups and odd angles designed to disorientate and unsettle the audience. The score...
- 5/25/2016
- Den of Geek
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Penny Dreadful delivers another elegantly constructed episode that delights in weaving its own mythology around existing genre...
This review contains spoilers.
3.3 Good And Evil Braided Be
John Clare starts to retrace his memories through London to find where his family resides now and attempts to take care of them from afar. Vanessa continues her relationship with Dr Sweet, unaware of his true identity and his designs upon her and an encounter with a vampire offers her a dire warning. Ethan and Hecate’s uneasy alliance leaves a trail of bodies in their wake, but it makes for easy tracking for Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay. Elsewhere, Lily and Dorian’s plan starts off with their first recruit in their war against men. It’s decidedly… bloody.
Doubling remains at the heart of Penny Dreadful and once again, the title offers a quick glimpse into the episode’s ongoing...
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Penny Dreadful delivers another elegantly constructed episode that delights in weaving its own mythology around existing genre...
This review contains spoilers.
3.3 Good And Evil Braided Be
John Clare starts to retrace his memories through London to find where his family resides now and attempts to take care of them from afar. Vanessa continues her relationship with Dr Sweet, unaware of his true identity and his designs upon her and an encounter with a vampire offers her a dire warning. Ethan and Hecate’s uneasy alliance leaves a trail of bodies in their wake, but it makes for easy tracking for Sir Malcolm and Kaetenay. Elsewhere, Lily and Dorian’s plan starts off with their first recruit in their war against men. It’s decidedly… bloody.
Doubling remains at the heart of Penny Dreadful and once again, the title offers a quick glimpse into the episode’s ongoing...
- 5/18/2016
- Den of Geek
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With an appearance by Dracula on the horizon, Penny Dreadful's season three premiere prepares the ground for a thrilling run...
This review contains spoilers.
3.1 The Day Tennyson Died
The final episode of the second season found our heroes and potential villains scattered and ‘walking alone’ as they all fear they must. The Day Tennyson Died opens with Vanessa alone in the decaying London house, accepting Lyle’s offer of a new therapy to console her in her isolation. Chandler is on his way to his trial in the New Mexico territory, but a group of gunslingers have other ideas, whilst Sir Malcolm continues his African expedition before he becomes tied up in Chandler’s affairs. John Clare begins to remember his life before death. Frankenstein meets an old friend who promises to help him solve his Lily problem.
The necessary whistle-stop tour of the characters throughout...
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With an appearance by Dracula on the horizon, Penny Dreadful's season three premiere prepares the ground for a thrilling run...
This review contains spoilers.
3.1 The Day Tennyson Died
The final episode of the second season found our heroes and potential villains scattered and ‘walking alone’ as they all fear they must. The Day Tennyson Died opens with Vanessa alone in the decaying London house, accepting Lyle’s offer of a new therapy to console her in her isolation. Chandler is on his way to his trial in the New Mexico territory, but a group of gunslingers have other ideas, whilst Sir Malcolm continues his African expedition before he becomes tied up in Chandler’s affairs. John Clare begins to remember his life before death. Frankenstein meets an old friend who promises to help him solve his Lily problem.
The necessary whistle-stop tour of the characters throughout...
- 5/4/2016
- Den of Geek
Ready to embrace your dark side? Showtime has debuted the teaser trailer for Penny Dreadful season 3 ahead of its arrival on the small screen in early May.
Housed up in a padded cell and pushed to her wits’ end, Eva Green afflicted Vanessa is still warding off all kinds of personal demons off the back of season 2. In doing so, she’ll once again side with Patti LuPone’s astute Dr. Seward, and all signs point to the pair retaining the effortless chemistry glimpsed across previous episodes.
There’s also a fresh look at Rory Kinnear’s John Clare – who claims to have “conquered death” – while today’s Penny Dreadful snippet also features all-too-brief looks at the returning Ethan (Josh Hartnett), Kaetenay (Wes Studi), Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney) and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Penny Dreadful season 3 is slated to premiere on Sunday, May 1 at 10 Pm Est. Will you be tuning in?...
Housed up in a padded cell and pushed to her wits’ end, Eva Green afflicted Vanessa is still warding off all kinds of personal demons off the back of season 2. In doing so, she’ll once again side with Patti LuPone’s astute Dr. Seward, and all signs point to the pair retaining the effortless chemistry glimpsed across previous episodes.
There’s also a fresh look at Rory Kinnear’s John Clare – who claims to have “conquered death” – while today’s Penny Dreadful snippet also features all-too-brief looks at the returning Ethan (Josh Hartnett), Kaetenay (Wes Studi), Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney) and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Penny Dreadful season 3 is slated to premiere on Sunday, May 1 at 10 Pm Est. Will you be tuning in?...
- 3/14/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Frightened, touched by Satan, and unflinchingly dark are just some of the phrases one would use to describe the latest trailer and poster for Penny Dreadful season 3, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Retaining the stylish aesthetic and near perpetual sense of dread, today’s snippet features old and new faces alike, with the upcoming season anchored by Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett). Indeed, if last week’s pair of promos welcomed Dr. Henry Jekyll, then Showtime is shifting the focus to Penny Dreadful‘s broader ensemble of misfits, including Kaetenay (Wes Studi), Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), John Clare/The Creature (Rory Kinnear), and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Penny Dreadful returns to the small screen in a few months’ time when season 3 premieres on Sunday, May 1. Until then, you can peek from behind the sofa at today’s ghastly new poster for Showtime’s gothic series.
Retaining the stylish aesthetic and near perpetual sense of dread, today’s snippet features old and new faces alike, with the upcoming season anchored by Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett). Indeed, if last week’s pair of promos welcomed Dr. Henry Jekyll, then Showtime is shifting the focus to Penny Dreadful‘s broader ensemble of misfits, including Kaetenay (Wes Studi), Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), John Clare/The Creature (Rory Kinnear), and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Penny Dreadful returns to the small screen in a few months’ time when season 3 premieres on Sunday, May 1. Until then, you can peek from behind the sofa at today’s ghastly new poster for Showtime’s gothic series.
- 2/25/2016
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Everyone will be embracing their dark sides in Penny Dreadful Season 3, at least that’s it seems like in the latest trailer for the Showtime drama. While we continue to get more images of Vanessa in a psych ward in this new trailer, there’s plenty of never-before-seen footage that should get every Penny Dreadful out there excited. So what can viewers look forward to? Dorian and Lily’s continuing their reign of terror, Sir Malcolm taking a more active approach to life (that includes lots of guns and blood), and John Clare possibly finding love. Plus, there’s a much anticipated reunion between Vanessa and
Penny Dreadful Season 3 Trailer: Everyone Is Embracing Their Dark Sides...
Penny Dreadful Season 3 Trailer: Everyone Is Embracing Their Dark Sides...
- 2/25/2016
- by Chris King
- TVovermind.com
By far the most interesting and exciting new addition to the third season of Showtime’s brilliantly bonkers horror drama series, Penny Dreadful, is Shazad Latif (Spooks, Black Mirror) as yet another classic literary figure, Dr. Henry Jekyll – also known as the human alter ego of the monstrous Mr. Hyde.
These new promos (“Touched by Satan” and “Frightened”), seen below, give us out first glimpse of the character, and reveal that he’ll be associated with Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) in some way. The teasers also provide a look at some returning characters such as Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), John Clare/The Creature (Rory Kinnear), and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Plus, we catch a glimpse of an emotional reunion between Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett), which should please fans after the season 2 finale hinted at the possibility that these tortured kindred spirits would never see each other again.
These new promos (“Touched by Satan” and “Frightened”), seen below, give us out first glimpse of the character, and reveal that he’ll be associated with Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) in some way. The teasers also provide a look at some returning characters such as Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton), Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), John Clare/The Creature (Rory Kinnear), and Lilly (Billie Piper).
Plus, we catch a glimpse of an emotional reunion between Vanessa (Eva Green) and Ethan (Josh Hartnett), which should please fans after the season 2 finale hinted at the possibility that these tortured kindred spirits would never see each other again.
- 1/27/2016
- by Mark Cassidy
- We Got This Covered
We’re still months away from the start of Penny Dreadful Season 3, but the latest teaser for the Showtime drama’s upcoming season is filled with all of the tension, creepiness, and insanity that fans of the show have come to expect. However, whatever’s awaiting Penny Dreadful‘s character Season 3 doesn’t scare Vanessa Ives, as she proclaims in this teaser that she is “not frightened” by the evil that is coming. Penny Dreadful stars Eva Green as Vanessa Ives, Josh Hartnett as Ethan Chandler, Timothy Dalton as Sir Malcolm, Rory Kinnear as John Clare, Harry Treadaway as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Reeve Carney
Penny Dreadful Spoilers: Vanessa Is ‘Not Frightened’ in New Season 3 Teaser...
Penny Dreadful Spoilers: Vanessa Is ‘Not Frightened’ in New Season 3 Teaser...
- 1/19/2016
- by Chris King
- TVovermind.com
★★★☆☆ At the age of just 44, English poet John Clare began to suffer from a severe mental illness which ultimately resulted in him being institutionalised under private care for the rest of his life. He managed, however, one short spell of freedom by absconding from an asylum in Epping Forest and making his way home to Peterborough on an epic 80-mile walk through a rural landscape which, not long before, had ironically inspired some of his most celebrated poetry.
- 12/1/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The actor takes a role also played by his father, Freddie, for an occasionally exasperating drama-documentary
In 1970, Freddie Jones played the part of John Clare (“a minor nature poet who went mad… ”) in a BBC Omnibus broadcast. Forty five years later, his son Toby revisits the role, retreading Clare’s 80-mile walk from an asylum near Epping Forest to his Northborough home in search of lost love Mary Joyce. As Toby wanders, Freddie reads from a collection of Clare’s autobiographical writings, providing a quasi-commentary for this strange odyssey.
Part drama, part documentary, part enthralled (sh)amble, By Our Selves finds director Andrew Kötting and writer/collaborator Iain Sinclair indulging their passion for Clare without necessarily engaging ours. En route, we encounter celebrated graphic novelist Alan Moore, who describes the inescapable Northampton as “a cultural black hole with an incredible mass”, hear from Professor Simon Kövesi (dressed as a prizefighter,...
In 1970, Freddie Jones played the part of John Clare (“a minor nature poet who went mad… ”) in a BBC Omnibus broadcast. Forty five years later, his son Toby revisits the role, retreading Clare’s 80-mile walk from an asylum near Epping Forest to his Northborough home in search of lost love Mary Joyce. As Toby wanders, Freddie reads from a collection of Clare’s autobiographical writings, providing a quasi-commentary for this strange odyssey.
Part drama, part documentary, part enthralled (sh)amble, By Our Selves finds director Andrew Kötting and writer/collaborator Iain Sinclair indulging their passion for Clare without necessarily engaging ours. En route, we encounter celebrated graphic novelist Alan Moore, who describes the inescapable Northampton as “a cultural black hole with an incredible mass”, hear from Professor Simon Kövesi (dressed as a prizefighter,...
- 10/4/2015
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Andrew Kötting recreates scenes of the fascinating and melancholy 90-mile walk undertaken in 1841 by the nature poet John Clare, in a bizarre documentary
Film-maker Andrew Kötting again takes inspiration from that great psycho-geographer Iain Sinclair – with whom he recorded an unclassifiably strange journey by pedalo in the 2012 film Swandown. Now he has been inspired by Sinclair’s book Edge of the Orison, about the fascinating and melancholy 90-mile walk undertaken in 1841 by the nature poet John Clare, from a mental asylum in Epping to Northampton, on a pilgrimage to find Mary Joyce, the woman with whom he believed himself to be in love.
Kötting has Toby Jones recreate the scenes of Clare’s great journey or ordeal, often amid bizarrely alienating and alienated scenes of modern life. Jones recites some of Clare’s work in voiceover, and Kötting also asks Jones’s father Freddie Jones to recreate his performance as Clare from a 1970 Omnibus documentary,...
Film-maker Andrew Kötting again takes inspiration from that great psycho-geographer Iain Sinclair – with whom he recorded an unclassifiably strange journey by pedalo in the 2012 film Swandown. Now he has been inspired by Sinclair’s book Edge of the Orison, about the fascinating and melancholy 90-mile walk undertaken in 1841 by the nature poet John Clare, from a mental asylum in Epping to Northampton, on a pilgrimage to find Mary Joyce, the woman with whom he believed himself to be in love.
Kötting has Toby Jones recreate the scenes of Clare’s great journey or ordeal, often amid bizarrely alienating and alienated scenes of modern life. Jones recites some of Clare’s work in voiceover, and Kötting also asks Jones’s father Freddie Jones to recreate his performance as Clare from a 1970 Omnibus documentary,...
- 10/1/2015
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
★★☆☆☆ "John Clare was a minor nature poet, who went mad," voices repeat as a challenging refrain throughout Andrew Kötting's By Our Selves (2015), a barmy reconstruction of a four-day walk/escapade that Clare took from the asylum near Epping Forest, where he was confined, heading for Helpston in Northamptonshire. Toby Jones has the thankless task of portraying the escapee, wandering about looking befuddled while a variety of voices recite poetry and letters, or mutter against a soundtrack that mixes ambient noise and electronic fluttering.
- 10/1/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Penny Dreadful, Season 2, Episode 10, “And They Were Enemies”
Written by John Logan
Directed by Brian Kirk
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
Penny Dreadful concludes its second season with one of its most emotionally wrought episodes in memory. There is no victory here for our monstrous players and worst of all, they find themselves alone.
Last week, Vanessa (Eva Green) told Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) that he deserved to be loved, and love and acceptance have always been sought by these ghoulish characters. While they previously have been able to lean on each other to form their own twisted little family unit, by the time the end credits roll on “And They Were Enemies”, these characters find themselves scattered to the winds. In the end, it seems they must all walk alone, as Ethan (Josh Hartnett) writes to Vanessa near the ending.
Wrapping up the season’s overall plotline...
Written by John Logan
Directed by Brian Kirk
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
Penny Dreadful concludes its second season with one of its most emotionally wrought episodes in memory. There is no victory here for our monstrous players and worst of all, they find themselves alone.
Last week, Vanessa (Eva Green) told Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) that he deserved to be loved, and love and acceptance have always been sought by these ghoulish characters. While they previously have been able to lean on each other to form their own twisted little family unit, by the time the end credits roll on “And They Were Enemies”, these characters find themselves scattered to the winds. In the end, it seems they must all walk alone, as Ethan (Josh Hartnett) writes to Vanessa near the ending.
Wrapping up the season’s overall plotline...
- 7/6/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
Penny Dreadful, Season 2, Episode 9, “And Hell Itself My Only Foe”
Written by John Logan
Directed by Brian Kirk
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
An overarching theme of Penny Dreadful’s second season has involved its monstrous characters trying to find their place in the world. On their own, they are fearsome, damned things, but together they form an almost familial unit. The struggle of the characters coming to terms with their roles in the grand scheme of things can be seen as a mirror for creator and showrunner John Logan trying to make his rogues gallery fit together.
In season two’s penultimate episode, “And Hell Itself My Only Foe”, Logan has his players embark on paths that may very well lead to their demise. With Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) still captive in the castle of witch Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory), the Penny Dreadful gang rallies for rescue.
Written by John Logan
Directed by Brian Kirk
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
An overarching theme of Penny Dreadful’s second season has involved its monstrous characters trying to find their place in the world. On their own, they are fearsome, damned things, but together they form an almost familial unit. The struggle of the characters coming to terms with their roles in the grand scheme of things can be seen as a mirror for creator and showrunner John Logan trying to make his rogues gallery fit together.
In season two’s penultimate episode, “And Hell Itself My Only Foe”, Logan has his players embark on paths that may very well lead to their demise. With Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) still captive in the castle of witch Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory), the Penny Dreadful gang rallies for rescue.
- 6/29/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
Penny Dreadful, Season 2, Episode 8, “Memento Mori”
Written by John Logan
Directed by Kari Skogland
Airs Sundays at 10 pm Et on Showtime
As Penny Dreadful nears the end of its second season, it decides to acknowledge that it has characters beyond Vanessa and Ethan. The pair don’t even appear in this week’s episode, “Memento Mori,” but there’s enough going on to fill up the void.
Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) has become aware of his enchantment by Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory), and he doesn’t just mean in the romantic sense — he recalls how on the day of his wife’s funeral, he was at a ball waltzing. That’s simply not the kind of man he knows he is. Evelyn confirms his suspicions by possessing him and causing him to throw a tantrum, but Sir Malcolm is able to break the enchantment, and then unwisely goes off to...
Written by John Logan
Directed by Kari Skogland
Airs Sundays at 10 pm Et on Showtime
As Penny Dreadful nears the end of its second season, it decides to acknowledge that it has characters beyond Vanessa and Ethan. The pair don’t even appear in this week’s episode, “Memento Mori,” but there’s enough going on to fill up the void.
Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) has become aware of his enchantment by Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory), and he doesn’t just mean in the romantic sense — he recalls how on the day of his wife’s funeral, he was at a ball waltzing. That’s simply not the kind of man he knows he is. Evelyn confirms his suspicions by possessing him and causing him to throw a tantrum, but Sir Malcolm is able to break the enchantment, and then unwisely goes off to...
- 6/22/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
Madame Kali prepares to put her endgame in motion in the latest terrific episode of Penny Dreadful...
This review contains spoilers.
2.7 Little Scorpion
After the nightcomers breached Vanessa's defences at Dorian's ball, she and Chandler retreat to the relative safety of the Cut-Wife's cottage, abandoned since her death. Vanessa trusts only Frankenstein with their location as Malcolm falls more and more under the spell of Kali. Their relationship develops but Vanessa puts herself further into harm's way when she again meets the landowner responsible for the Cut-Wife's death. Meanwhile, Lyle and Frankenstein attempt to further decipher the possessed monk's ramblings whilst Lily spends more time with Dorian, witnessed by the shadow-dwelling John Clare.
The episode finds the company, who began this season united, scattered as the danger of the nightcomers begins to close in on them. Given the villains' ethereal nature, Little Scorpion focuses more on the effects that they...
This review contains spoilers.
2.7 Little Scorpion
After the nightcomers breached Vanessa's defences at Dorian's ball, she and Chandler retreat to the relative safety of the Cut-Wife's cottage, abandoned since her death. Vanessa trusts only Frankenstein with their location as Malcolm falls more and more under the spell of Kali. Their relationship develops but Vanessa puts herself further into harm's way when she again meets the landowner responsible for the Cut-Wife's death. Meanwhile, Lyle and Frankenstein attempt to further decipher the possessed monk's ramblings whilst Lily spends more time with Dorian, witnessed by the shadow-dwelling John Clare.
The episode finds the company, who began this season united, scattered as the danger of the nightcomers begins to close in on them. Given the villains' ethereal nature, Little Scorpion focuses more on the effects that they...
- 6/17/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
It's time for a ball in this week's Penny Dreadful. What could possibly go wrong? Becky reviews the inevitable yet genteel mayhem...
This review contains spoilers.
2.6: Glorious Horrors
One of the biggest strengths of this second season is how fluid the narrative has seemed from one episode to the next.
It's another connection back to its literary past; each episode is another chapter of the story, continuing directly from the climax of the previous episode and into the new one. Following last week's night of passion, we're treated to the morning after; Dorian's making plans for a ball, Lily's making eggs for Frankenstein and Kali is making a Malcolm doll as he treats his wife's death with little more thought than whether he should replace the carpet. Dorian invites everyone who is everyone to the ball whilst Sembene finally learns what Chandler has been hiding.
"It's a ball! What's the worst that could happen?...
This review contains spoilers.
2.6: Glorious Horrors
One of the biggest strengths of this second season is how fluid the narrative has seemed from one episode to the next.
It's another connection back to its literary past; each episode is another chapter of the story, continuing directly from the climax of the previous episode and into the new one. Following last week's night of passion, we're treated to the morning after; Dorian's making plans for a ball, Lily's making eggs for Frankenstein and Kali is making a Malcolm doll as he treats his wife's death with little more thought than whether he should replace the carpet. Dorian invites everyone who is everyone to the ball whilst Sembene finally learns what Chandler has been hiding.
"It's a ball! What's the worst that could happen?...
- 6/10/2015
- by rleane
- Den of Geek
Penny Dreadful reasserts the sexual half of its psychosexual horror label in this week's bonkers and bonk-filled episode...
This review contains spoilers.
2.5 Above The Vaulted Sky
Following the attack on their home, the gang batten down the hatches and use every weapon and piece of lore in their arsenal to prevent the nightcomers gaining further access to Vanessa. The investigation into the murders, that Chandler may or may not be responsible for, finally finds its way to the man himself and he is forced to sit down with a quizzical and suspicious Inspector Rusk. Lily's education continues at Victor's hands whilst she attempts to get to know John Clare better and Dorian's relationship with Angelique encounters some public difficulty. Finally, Madame Kali begins to make her move on Sir Malcolm, torturing his poor wife into mania and seducing him after a night at the opera.
Though the various narrative threads...
This review contains spoilers.
2.5 Above The Vaulted Sky
Following the attack on their home, the gang batten down the hatches and use every weapon and piece of lore in their arsenal to prevent the nightcomers gaining further access to Vanessa. The investigation into the murders, that Chandler may or may not be responsible for, finally finds its way to the man himself and he is forced to sit down with a quizzical and suspicious Inspector Rusk. Lily's education continues at Victor's hands whilst she attempts to get to know John Clare better and Dorian's relationship with Angelique encounters some public difficulty. Finally, Madame Kali begins to make her move on Sir Malcolm, torturing his poor wife into mania and seducing him after a night at the opera.
Though the various narrative threads...
- 6/4/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Penny Dreadful, Season 2, Episode 5, “Above the Vaulted Sky”
Written by John Logan
Directed by Damon Thomas
Airs Sundays at 10 pm Et on Showtime
John Clare (the English poet, not the Frankenstein’s monster character who has adopted his name on Penny Dreadful) was a working class writer who penned beautiful poems dripping with lush descriptions of nature and alienation. Clare was only five feet tall due to malnutrition as a child, and eventually became quite mad, insisting he was both William Shakespeare and Lord Byron.
Because of his small stature and failing mental health, Penny Dreadful’s “John Clare” postulates that the real Clare most likely “felt a singular affinity with the outcasts and the unloved. The ugly animals. The broken things.” Those ugly animals and the broken things are at the forefront of this week’s episode, “Above the Vaulted Sky.”
The bulk of “Above the Vaulted Sky” focuses...
Written by John Logan
Directed by Damon Thomas
Airs Sundays at 10 pm Et on Showtime
John Clare (the English poet, not the Frankenstein’s monster character who has adopted his name on Penny Dreadful) was a working class writer who penned beautiful poems dripping with lush descriptions of nature and alienation. Clare was only five feet tall due to malnutrition as a child, and eventually became quite mad, insisting he was both William Shakespeare and Lord Byron.
Because of his small stature and failing mental health, Penny Dreadful’s “John Clare” postulates that the real Clare most likely “felt a singular affinity with the outcasts and the unloved. The ugly animals. The broken things.” Those ugly animals and the broken things are at the forefront of this week’s episode, “Above the Vaulted Sky.”
The bulk of “Above the Vaulted Sky” focuses...
- 6/1/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
Penny Dreadful, Season 2, Episode 4, “Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places”
Written by John Logan
Directed by Damon Thomas
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
Everyone pairs up in the latest episode of Penny Dreadful, “Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places.” Penny Dreadful is obviously an ensemble show, but it’s always had a problem knowing quite what to do with its plethora of characters. After last week’s series highlight episode, which slowed things down and focused on a single coherent story, the show gets back to business, with “Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places,” attempting to cram in as much information as possible relevant to season two’s main plot.
Creator John Logan needs to find a new approach to his ever-growing cast of ghouls and werewolves and you can feel him sensing this here. His solution–pairing off almost every main character to move things along–gives the episode a fast,...
Written by John Logan
Directed by Damon Thomas
Airs Sundays at 10 pm (Et) on Showtime
Everyone pairs up in the latest episode of Penny Dreadful, “Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places.” Penny Dreadful is obviously an ensemble show, but it’s always had a problem knowing quite what to do with its plethora of characters. After last week’s series highlight episode, which slowed things down and focused on a single coherent story, the show gets back to business, with “Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places,” attempting to cram in as much information as possible relevant to season two’s main plot.
Creator John Logan needs to find a new approach to his ever-growing cast of ghouls and werewolves and you can feel him sensing this here. His solution–pairing off almost every main character to move things along–gives the episode a fast,...
- 5/25/2015
- by Chris Evangelista
- SoundOnSight
Penny Dreadful‘s redeeming qualities are its sense of shlocky fun and its partially incredible cast. Its weaknesses are its lousy pacing, its uncertain characterization of several core cast members, and its pursuit of tasteless thrills disguised as, to quote creator John Logan, “pushing the boundaries.” When the show finds the balance between spectacle and humanity it can overcome its flaws and attain actual power, but more often, as it did this week, it flubs the landing.
‘Verbis Diablo’ is so thematically broad that there’s really no reason for the characters to talk. Sir Malcolm assuages his conscience by tending to the sufferers of a cholera epidemic. Dorian is pining after Vanessa. Caliban/John Clare longs for love, life, and companionship. Also he’s…hanging out in one of London’s good-old-fashioned cholera cellars where he has a long, rambling talk with Vanessa about finding beauty amidst ugliness? I...
‘Verbis Diablo’ is so thematically broad that there’s really no reason for the characters to talk. Sir Malcolm assuages his conscience by tending to the sufferers of a cholera epidemic. Dorian is pining after Vanessa. Caliban/John Clare longs for love, life, and companionship. Also he’s…hanging out in one of London’s good-old-fashioned cholera cellars where he has a long, rambling talk with Vanessa about finding beauty amidst ugliness? I...
- 5/12/2015
- by Gretchen Felker-Martin
- Nerdly
Danny Boyle's Isles of Wonder celebrates the British countryside and is infused with literary references – and a British Library exhibition also explores this idea of pastoral paradise
Stratford, Newham, meets Stratford-upon-Avon this July, and a line spoken by Caliban in The Tempest has emerged as the guiding spirit of Danny Boyle's Olympics opening ceremony: "Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises."
After Boyle's launch event last week, we now know that the stadium in Stratford is also to be full of cows, geese, and ducks (to say nothing of the three sheep dogs). It may say a lot about the country's anxiety for the future that the opening ceremony (or what we currently know of it) references not the white heat of digitally enabled tomorrows, but harks back to the earthly paradise of rural dreams; a vision of an eternal Britain that endures in the cycles...
Stratford, Newham, meets Stratford-upon-Avon this July, and a line spoken by Caliban in The Tempest has emerged as the guiding spirit of Danny Boyle's Olympics opening ceremony: "Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises."
After Boyle's launch event last week, we now know that the stadium in Stratford is also to be full of cows, geese, and ducks (to say nothing of the three sheep dogs). It may say a lot about the country's anxiety for the future that the opening ceremony (or what we currently know of it) references not the white heat of digitally enabled tomorrows, but harks back to the earthly paradise of rural dreams; a vision of an eternal Britain that endures in the cycles...
- 6/20/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Second #893, 14:53
In the early days of silent cinema, text and image coexisted, as intertitles directed viewers how to read a film, literally. In the best of these films, intertitles not only conveyed narrative information, but suggested possibilities of reading that allowed for the viewer to construct her own meaning from the relationship between text and image. In Blue Velvet, the Lincoln street sign, which functions almost like an insert shot, is its own form of postmodern intertitle. [Christian Metz: “When approaching cinema from the linguistic point of view, it is difficult to avoid shuttling back and forth between two positions: the cinema as a language; the cinema as infinitely different from verbal language.”] Lincoln appears suddenly and to Angelo Badalamenti’s Shostakovich-like pounding air-raid siren music (lifted directly from the first four seconds of Symphony No. 5, movement 4, right before the drums) so over-determined that it practically splits the film in two. Read as an intertitle, Lincoln tells us something, but what? The name of a street. And the name of an assassinated president. And a bad part of the town where “the singer” lives. But...
In the early days of silent cinema, text and image coexisted, as intertitles directed viewers how to read a film, literally. In the best of these films, intertitles not only conveyed narrative information, but suggested possibilities of reading that allowed for the viewer to construct her own meaning from the relationship between text and image. In Blue Velvet, the Lincoln street sign, which functions almost like an insert shot, is its own form of postmodern intertitle. [Christian Metz: “When approaching cinema from the linguistic point of view, it is difficult to avoid shuttling back and forth between two positions: the cinema as a language; the cinema as infinitely different from verbal language.”] Lincoln appears suddenly and to Angelo Badalamenti’s Shostakovich-like pounding air-raid siren music (lifted directly from the first four seconds of Symphony No. 5, movement 4, right before the drums) so over-determined that it practically splits the film in two. Read as an intertitle, Lincoln tells us something, but what? The name of a street. And the name of an assassinated president. And a bad part of the town where “the singer” lives. But...
- 9/19/2011
- by Nicholas Rombes
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit's film installation, Flying Down to Rio, takes the viewer on a journey via a wall-to-wall simulated drive
An installation taking up four walls and 16 frames, simulating a car driving north from Dalston Junction, with cameras mounted left, right, fore and aft, Flying Down to Rio itself marks the convergence of two paths, reuniting Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit. Petit's fascination with the view from the dashboard dates back to the 1970s. "Music and speed, combined with the ratio of the windscreen, made for an experience that was often more cinematic than the films I had to review for Time Out," he has said; and his debut film Radio On (1979) contained a cherished driving sequence shot on the Westway, in tribute to Jg Ballard's Crash and Concrete Island, and soundtracked by David Bowie.
Over the decades, through London Orbital (2002), also made with Sinclair, and Content (2009), the windscreen shots have proliferated,...
An installation taking up four walls and 16 frames, simulating a car driving north from Dalston Junction, with cameras mounted left, right, fore and aft, Flying Down to Rio itself marks the convergence of two paths, reuniting Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit. Petit's fascination with the view from the dashboard dates back to the 1970s. "Music and speed, combined with the ratio of the windscreen, made for an experience that was often more cinematic than the films I had to review for Time Out," he has said; and his debut film Radio On (1979) contained a cherished driving sequence shot on the Westway, in tribute to Jg Ballard's Crash and Concrete Island, and soundtracked by David Bowie.
Over the decades, through London Orbital (2002), also made with Sinclair, and Content (2009), the windscreen shots have proliferated,...
- 7/20/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
From Oscar favourite The King's Speech to ex-Booker winner Wolf Hall, art that retells events is now the mainstay of films and books. But the concentration on reality stops writers using the imagination for storytelling
Throughout their history, movies have been talked about in terms of dreaming: studios are "dream factories"; Hollywood is "the land of dreams". But scanning the list of contenders for this year's Oscars, such descriptions feels misplaced. The most striking thing about the leading films of the last 12 months is how many draw their inspiration from fact.
The leading Oscar contenders, The King's Speech and The Social Network, both offer fictionalised portraits of familiar but enigmatic public figures – a monarch and a monumentally successful entrepreneur. But it's also true of other hotly tipped releases such as The Fighter (about boxer Micky Ward) and 127 Hours (about rock climber Aron Ralston), as well as films still to hit...
Throughout their history, movies have been talked about in terms of dreaming: studios are "dream factories"; Hollywood is "the land of dreams". But scanning the list of contenders for this year's Oscars, such descriptions feels misplaced. The most striking thing about the leading films of the last 12 months is how many draw their inspiration from fact.
The leading Oscar contenders, The King's Speech and The Social Network, both offer fictionalised portraits of familiar but enigmatic public figures – a monarch and a monumentally successful entrepreneur. But it's also true of other hotly tipped releases such as The Fighter (about boxer Micky Ward) and 127 Hours (about rock climber Aron Ralston), as well as films still to hit...
- 1/24/2011
- by William Skidelsky
- The Guardian - Film News
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