David R. Walker

Archive for September, 2026

The Uprising

Director: Paul Greengrass

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Donal Finn, Cosmo Jarvis, Woody Norman

Running Time: 2 hours and 8 minutes.

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

When Edward III’s son, Edward the Black Prince died before his father leaving a young son Richard to inherit the throne, Richard II become King of England in 1377. In 1381 there was a widespread peasant’s revolt in which the commoners decided to rise up against the throne and demand better working conditions with minimal taxes. This was medieval England in the 14^th century during the plague when nearly a third of the nation’s population was killed.

Within this historical context, Captain Philips and News of the World director Paul Greengrass tackles the peasants revolt in his new film The Uprising starring Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge, Tick, Tick…Boom!) as a lowly ploughman whose entire family is wiped out in the plague.

Ploughman as he is referred to in the film stops a local taxman from taxing the poor villagers even harder and an uprising develops fuelled by the formation and encouragement of local churchman John Ball played by Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott, The Eagle, All of Us Strangers). The pair are soon joined by groups of disgruntled villagers from Kent and other counties in England as they decide to march to London to gain the King’s attention.

King Richard II played by Woody Norman is portrayed in this film as older than he historically was during the civil unrest but it does show a boy controlled by villainous old men Archbishop of Sudbury played by Stephen Dillane (The Hours) and Tom Hollander (Gosford Park, Pride and Prejudice) as Treasurer Hales.

All through the unrest, King Richard II is watched by his beautiful and regal mother played by the fabulous Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) resplendent in ermine fur and intricate hairstyles, representing her status as mother of the king and countess of Kent. As the most powerful woman in medieval England all she wants is for King Richard II to reign benevolently.

When the peasants led by the ploughman and John Ball eventually meet the king on a barge outside London, their demands are not initially met as Sudbury and Treasurer Hales wrongly advise the king to retreat to the Tower of London while hoping the peasants anger will dissipate.

While screenwriter and director Paul Greengrass does take historical liberties, he does craft a screen narrative which is both fascinating and compelling as the King sees the peasants’ revolt as an opportunity to rid himself of these tired old advisers and establish himself as a monarch whose power must be restored ruthlessly.

The Uprising is a clever tale of worker grievances and the vanity of those in power who take their position for granted. Rebellions never just disappear but fester to haunt those that seek to quell them.

Aesthetically, with costumes by Toth Andrias Daniel and production design by Nikolaj Danielsen, The Uprising is incredibly well imagined assisted by brilliant music by Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front).

With the exception of Katherine Waterston who is brilliant as the Countess, the acting is not fantastic but the film itself is interesting especially for history buffs and includes a surprising plot twist.

The peasants are portrayed as illiterate people trying to survive in a land in which all odds are stacked against them. The royalty are portrayed as wealthy scheming rulers who will sacrifice anybody to retain their power.

The Uprising gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for film fans of Medieval English History. It’s violent, bloody and unrelenting.

Christy

Director: Brendan Canty

Cast: Danny Power, Diamuid Noyes, Emma Willis

Running Time: 1 hour 34 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Film Festival: European Film Festival

Language: English

Irish director Brendan Canty’s directorial debut feature film Christy is a gritty, realist film about brotherly love or lack thereof as it follows the coming of age story of foster kid Christy, a 17 year old who gets kicked out of foster care and rescued by his older brother Shane wonderfully played by Diamuid Noyes.

Set in contemporary Cork, the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland, Christy played by Danny Power is a typically non-communicative boy trying to find his feet in a hostile world. His older brother resents having to look after him while also dealing with a new wife and young baby girl.

Christy helps Shane in his painting business but these characters are grappling on the fringe of success not quite making it. Christy desperately tries to escape his brother’s commanding shadow and finds his dodgy cousins, while hanging out with a group foul mouthed Cork youngsters.

Shane is trying to get his younger brother back into foster care for the remainder of his time under age, but his 18^th birthday is fast approaching.

Christy well played by newcomer Danny Power finds a talent for being a really good barber, a trait he inherited from his deceased mother who perished from a drug overdose. The salt of the earth young lad gets a job helping a local hairdresser with cutting all the gents’ hair.

What director Brendan Canty and screenwriter Alan O’Gorman do correctly is capture the atmosphere of working class Cork as he navigates a feel good coming of age story about a young man who is tempted to go down the wrong path with his conniving cousins but instead gets saved by common sense and a desire to earn a decent living.

While Alan O’Gorman did need to write more of a backstory surrounding these characters, he does manage to capture the inherit anger and resentment felt between the two brothers, Shane and Christy with the older feeling the responsibility for the younger, while the latter is tempted to rebel but has to find his own independence in order to survive.

There is no explicit conflict in Christy, but the temptation and anger is hinted at, it does make for an interesting coming of age story if viewers can look past the swearing. While this Irish drama does thematically hint at such issues as drug abuse, youth unemployment and foster care, the film chooses to dwell on the overwhelming power of brotherly love and inherent protection, rather than drove home social issues.

Christy gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended viewing as a gritty street style coming of age story in which fraternity triumphs over strife. Worth seeing.

Practical Magic 2

Director: Susanne Bier

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing, Maisie Williams, Joey King, Xolo Mariduena, Lee Pace, Solly Macleod

Running time: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Danish director Susanne Bier (Things We Lost in the Fire, In a Better World) takes on the long awaited sequel of the 1998 film Practical Magic reuniting the talented cast in Practical Magic 2 twenty eight years later.

Practical Magic 2 focuses again on the sisters of sorcery, Sally and Gillian Owens played respectively by Oscar winners Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) and Nicole Kidman (The Hours). This time Sally Owens has two daughter with whom she has not confided the curse past down to them of the female family legacy. Any man that falls in love with the Owens women will die soon after declaring his undying love for any of the lovely ladies.

The daughters Antonia and Kylie wonderfully played respectively by Game of Thrones break out star Maisie Williams and Joey King (Bullet Train).

When the mysterious aunt Jet played by double Oscar winner Dianne Weist (Hannah and her Sisters, Bullets over Broadway) steals the book of ravens from Sally’s library, doom approaches the quaint Owen’s household set on the coast of a peachy Massachusetts Bay.

Firstly Kylie’s naïve boyfriend Gideon played by Blue Beetle star Xolo Mariduena is involved in an almost fatal accident while attempting an early morning romantic gesture.

Secondly Kylie leaves Boston for London in an attempt to find a way of breaking the centuries old curse that have befallen the Owen’s women dating back to an English ancestor who was burned at the stake for being a witch after finding out that she was the illegitimate child of a English Lord.

It’s difficult to gauge whether a sequel made so long after the original film will be successful and Practical Magic 2 does to a certain extent succeed but does battle to sustain a fascinating narrative despite using all the cinematic symbols associated with a remake of The Crucible.

Sure the sisters fly to London and meet the mysteriously muscled and tattooed Ian Wright wonderfully played by Lee Pace (The Running Man) in a bid to save Kylie from a malicious groundskeeper Tom Lockland played by Solly Macleod (Brothers under Fire).

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman both look absolutely gorgeous as the Owen sisters and perfectly capture that sisterly affection, quirkiness and intimacy that female siblings possess.  

Joey King is wonderful as the young Kylie desperate to change a generations old curse as she tries to save her boyfriend.

Aesthetically, Practical Magic 2 is on point with costumes designed by Oscar winner Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and production design by Tom Burton. In terms of witches’ folklore, Practical Magic 2 does create a visual distinction between the New World – Boston, Massachusetts and the old world – The English countryside with its abandoned castles and gothic estates.

Despite a limited back story, Practical Magic 2 will find an audience and is enjoyable especially to see such formidable actresses back together on screen again especially the legendary Grease actress Stockard Channing as Frannie.

Sisters do it for themselves in Practical Magic 2 and this sequel gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is a tantalizing tale of witchcraft, woe and wonder.

Recommended viewing for those that enjoyed the original film.

My Father’s Shadow

Director: Akinola Davies Jr

Cast: Sope Dirisu, Godwin Egbo, Chibuke Marvellous Egbo

Running Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Film Festival: European Film Festival 2026

Language: English

After premiering in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, British Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr’s impressive debut film My Father’s Shadow is a touching and poignant story of a journey a father takes with his two sons through Lagos, Nigeria in the summer of 1993 on the eve of the announcement that the presidential elections had been nullified resulting in catastrophic political unrest in the country.

What makes My Father’s Shadow unique, is that it is told through the eyes of two young brothers aged 8 and 11, Remi and Akin played respectively by Chibuke Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo.

As the film begins the boys are playing in an impoverished yard with cut out paper action figures, imagining a world of superhero’s and villains. The sudden arrival of their big strong father Folarin expertly played by Sope Dirisu (Mothering Sunday), who decides on a whim to take his sons with him on an arduous journey into downtown Lagos to collect some back pay owed to him.

As Folarin and his sons travel from the Yoruba village into Lagos, their transport is communal, getting rides in taxis with fuel shortages and then with motorbikes until their final arrival in the bustling and vibrant centre of the biggest city in Nigeria.

Remi and Akin are oblivious to the simmering political unrest that is about to occur. The brothers relish the time with their father who visits his work colleague and even eats at a café where he sees his city mistress.

Akinola Davies Jr’s film is filled with foreshadowing images of vultures circling over the city as his camera pans across Lagos encompassing the diversity of religion both Christian and Muslim and also the vibrancy of the city with an authentic African energy.

My Father’s Shadow does employ non-European film techniques whereby every frame is filled with the community and how they relate to each other, avoiding making the individual the focus. However the narrative is slow and the ending of this film will leave viewers pondering whether the journey was imaginary or remembered.

The best scene in the film is on the beach in Lagos when Folarin tells his sons how much he loves them as they recover from swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a beautifully shot scene which specifically highlights masculine vulnerability and that sometimes tenuous connection between a father and his sons, bordering on honour, humour and hero worship.

A prime example of vital African cinema and made history as the first Nigerian film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival, My Father’s Shadow is a surreal and significant achievement although the film’s narrative which was co-written with the director’s brother Wale Davies could have been stronger and more specific.

My Father’s Shadow gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is enjoyable.  Recommended viewing.

Franz

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Cast: Idan Weiss, Peter Kurth, Aaron Friesz, Katharina Stark, Sebastian Schwarz

Running Time: 2 hour and 7 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Film Festival: European Film Festival 2026 – check out website for full details – https://www.eurofilmfest.co.za/

Languages: French, German, Czech

PLEASE NOTE THIS FILM HAS ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Warning this film has a torture scene and graphic nudity.

Europa Europa, Washington Square and Chalatan director Agnieszka Holland’s new film simply titled Franz takes an unconventional and self-reflexive look at the strange life of famed Czech writer Franz Kafka who penned such extraordinary books as the infamous Metamorphosis, Amerika and The Trial.

Kafka was brought up in a wealthy Jewish family in Prague at the beginning of the 20^th century. He was the only son with two sisters and had a very strict and abusive textile merchant father Hermann Kafka expertly played by Peter Kurth.

Franz is played by Idan Weiss who encapsulates the awkwardness of Kafka as a character, not physically strong but clever and questioning. Kafka was hard working and employed in a large insurance company in Prague before and during World War I.

Following his lifelong friendship with Max Brod played by German actor Sebastian Schwarz (I am Your Man), Franz is encouraged in his writing which he finds quite difficult in between dealing with his overbearing family and his demands at the insurance company.

Eventually Franz breaks free from this restrictive environment when he meets Max’s cousin the beautiful Felice played by Carol Schuler and they move to Berlin where finally as a writer he has a room of his own. Here and in later years he penned his famous works while retaining the charm of a martyr.

Polish director Agnieszka Holland doesn’t offer the viewer a packaged conventional biography but instead a unique self-reflexive non-linear storyline in which several key figures in Franz’s life break the fourth wall of the screen and talk directly to the audience offering enticing insights into the complex character of Kafka.

Holland goes a step further as she also reflects on his cultural impact on European literature and how in the 21^st century the Franz Kafka museum in Prague has commodified the writer in the same vein that America has commodified their most famous artists and writers.

The commodification of famous writers is an ideal form of attracting tourists and for a beautiful city like Prague, the Kafka museum is a huge commercial attraction, something which Agnieszka Holland emphasizes in Franz.

As a film, Franz is an unconventional strongly European portrait of a writer that made the character Gregor Samsa famous as he transformed into a monstrous insect.

As World War I changed Europe, Kafka’s fame grew but his health declined.

Franz will appeal to literary enthusiasts and is a fascinating and strange portrait of a unique writer whose unconventionality changed the face of European literature just as the modernist writers were beginning to flourish in England and America in the 1920’s.

With lavish production values, Agnieszka Holland serves up an intellectually challenging film filled with some bizarre scenes especially at the treatment spa in Vienna, while commenting on the relevancy of Kafka in the 21^st century.

Franz gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is a unique and challenging film retaining its Bohemian quality and will appeal to lovers of Kafka and literary biographies. Highly recommended viewing for lovers of genuine European content.

Mutiny

Director: Jean-Francois Richet

Cast: Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Adrian Lester, Steven Blades, Chaneil Kular, Roland Muller, Ramon Tikaram

Running Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

Action tough guy Jason Statham follows up his marginally better spy film Shelter with Mutiny directed by French director Jean-Francois Richet.

Mutiny follows the story of bodyguard Cole Reed who is protection detail for Thai shipping tycoon Tibu Campallo played by Ramon Tikaram who is about to hand over the reins of his shipping business to his slippery son Kameron played by Chaeil Kular.

When a lavish night out in Bangkok goes horribly wrong, Cole boards the Artemis container ship leaving the port and along with Angie Ellis played by Annabelle Wallis (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), they both discover human cargo on board the ship. The crew of the Artemis are gangsters lead by the vicious captain Marko Madsen played by Roland Moller.

The brawny Cole Reed is not deterred by the amount of men on board but more about how to free the kidnapped people on board. Teaming up with Angie, Cole take on the crew while a nearby American naval vessel in international waters suspect foul play after receiving a distress call.

Captain Adam Spencer suspects that there is a problem on board the Artemis. Spencer is played by British actor Adrian Lester (The Day After Tomorrow, Mary Queen of Scots) but Reed has the action in hand as he attempts to find out who Madsen is really working for.

Mutiny is a standard action film, thin on dialogue and character development but the film does expertly make use of the location, a container ship with it’s vast spaces and labyrinthine interior. The poster does show Statham hanging off the edge of the ship with a gun. There is definitely danger being promised and it is delivered.

The gorgeous and gritty Annabelle Wallis makes a lovely compliment to all the tough guy action which is often gory and relentless. Unfortunately there is no love interest between Angie and Cole Reed which does not create an urgency for their predicament. Always sexualize your characters just a little.

Mostly set in Bangkok and on the Artemis container ship, Mutiny is an average Jason Statham action thriller which gets a film rating of 6 out of 10.

It’s an enjoyable action film which definitely attracted an audience on a Sunday afternoon at the cinema. Recommended viewing.