The Kilkenny Observer Friday 18 February 2022
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In From The Cold is gem among a genre
5
movies to watch now on Netflix
Andrew Garfield takes the spotlight for this biographical musical drama about Jonathan Larson, the late composer behind Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom! The movie, helmed by LinManuel Miranda in his directorial debut, follows Larson’s career and the time pressure he feels to leave a lasting impression. With joy-inducing music, a meaningful narrative about the creative process and a passionate performance from Garfield as Larson, Tick, Tick... Boom! is a graceful and feel-good tribute.
THE Netflix spy thriller In From The Cold stands out in a crowded genre for plenty of good reasons, not the least of which is its willingness to give audiences a badass, butt-kicking protagonist who also happens to be a single mother in her 40s simply trying to be a good parent to her teenage daughter. At a time when Hollywood’s big-screen spy game often relies on older men and young women free from the shackles of typical adult responsibilities, In From The Cold has lead character Jenny Franklin juggling an angsty teen, a looming divorce, and a nonexistent social life long before her hidden past as a Soviet secret agent comes back to haunt her. As if that wasn’t enough to handle, she also has a superhuman — but medically risky — ability to shape-shift she’ll need to tap into to stop a terrorist group’s sinister plans, too.
Sure, it might seem farfetched, but most working parents will probably find a lot in common with the extreme level of multitasking required of Jenny, a character portrayed by Margarita Levieva (pictured) across the show’s eight-episode first season. Whether Jenny’s fighting her way through a cadre of lethal assassins or counselLing her daughter through the latest teenage drama, Levieva’s performance grounds the role in something refreshingly familiar despite all of the high-stakes espionage and sci-fi twists of the surrounding story. “There are so many aspects of Jenny that were so exciting for me to play,” Levieva told Digital Trends of what initially attracted her to the role. “There’s obviously the mother, and there is also this kickass spy who’s still alive and who’s still hungry for that. As women, and as
human beings, part of life sometimes is forgetting or putting away certain parts of ourselves and saying that part no longer exists. But Jenny eventually realiSes she’s still hungry for that part of her life, and [as the story goes on] she understands, ‘Wait, I can do this better than I ever did it before, even though I’m terrified of it.’” Series creator and writer Adam Glass indicated that the decision to put a woman in her 40s — and a mother, for that matter — at the heart of the story was, in some ways, a refutation of Hollywood norms when it comes to leading ladies and the sort of characters they typically portray. “We live in a society where women seemingly have an expiration date on them, and [with In From The Cold] we’re saying that’s bullshit,” he told Digital Trends. “They’re only getting better and stronger with age.
[Jenny] is a seasoned woman who has lived a life and has had all of these experiences, and now has to come back into this world she thought she left behind.” “[Jenny] has a great line in the pilot that I love, when they set her up to seduce someone, and she doesn’t think she can do it, saying, ‘I have cracked nipples and a C-section scar,’” continued Glass. “Her handler responds, ‘You’re giving too much credit to men,’ and she says, ‘I’m not talking about men. I’m talking about me, and who I am, and what I’ve been through. I’m a mother.’ You don’t see that in spy shows. She has a daughter and she’s working on that relationship like millions of other mothers out there trying to do. These are the things that make the show stand out.” Season 1 of In From The Cold is available now on Netflix.
More Tolkien coming to Amazon THE next big Tolkien project on the horizon after the highly anticipated Amazon Prime series is an anime movie. The Lord of the Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim will be released on April 12, 2024. War Of The Rohirrim was first announced in June last year, and will focus on Helm Hammerhand, the ninth King of Rohan. The movie is set in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth uni-
verse, and will go into the history of Helm’s Deep, the famous site of the later Battle of the Hornburg during the War of the Ring, shown in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie. Animation work began last year, with the voice cast to be announced “imminently.” The movie is being made by New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation. Philippa Boyens, who worked on
the Lord of the Rings trilogy 20 years ago with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, is serving as executive producer, and it’s being made by Kenji Kamiyama, the director behind Ghost in the Shell. “I’m in awe of the creative talent who have come together to bring this epic, heart-pounding story to life, from the mastery of Kenji Kamiyama to a truly stellar cast,” Boyens said. “I cannot wait to share this adventure
with fans of cinema everywhere.” The announcement follows the release of the first trailer for Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series. The Rings of Power is scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime on September 2 and will explore the 20 rings Sauron made for the races of men, dwarves and elves, along with the one ring for himself.
This fine British drama excavates a whole lot of buried treasure with a distinguished cast in Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn. It’s based on the true events around the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, yielding a priceless trove of Anglo-Saxon artifacts hidden in a burial ship. Romantic, intellectual and moving, The Dig is a full sweep of elegance.
The Boys In The Band sets a new stage for an ensemble cast who all performed the classic play-by-thesame-name’s 2018 Broadway revival. Among them, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer. The movie brings new perspectives to a birthday party celebrated by a group of gay men in 1968 New York City. The party takes an unexpected turn when a visitor from the host’s past calls in. With a cast that knows how to play off each other and compelling themes such as self-loathing and internalised homophobia, The Boys In The Band is a thought-provoking, engaging drama.
A black-and-white David Fincher tale about the unsung screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz who helped Orson Welles write Citizen Kane. Step back into Old Hollywood, with beautiful cinematography and take in the behind-the-scenes of how studio systems functioned in a different time. Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried are among the exceptional cast of this biographical drama filled with the lightness and darkness of its hero’s life.
An Aaron Sorkin drama based on a true story? The Trial Of The Chicago 7 lives up to its pedigree, following the real-life trial of a group of antiVietnam War protestors charged with conspiracy to incite riots. With a stellar ensemble cast, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen and Yahya AbdulMateen II, The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is both topical and full of compelling theatrical energy.
