Posts Tagged ‘Ed Sheeran’

Fosta

Director: Eldon van Aswegen

Cast: Thulani Headman, Valentino Barrioseta, Black Coffee, Richie Hawtin, Ed Sheeran, Skrillex, Themba Fassie, Siphe Fassie

Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Languages: English and Xhosa

Country of Origin: South Africa

Festival: Durban International Film Festival

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Please note this film is a documentary.

South African cinematographer and film maker Eldon van Aswegen makes his feature film directorial debut with his film Fosta which had its world premiere at the 47^th Durban International Film Festival on Friday 24^th July 2026 and is a superb documentary about Cape Town based DJ Thulani “Fosta” Headman, who was a former gang member who effectively turns to electronic dance music as a means of transforming his life.

Expertly directed by Eldon van Aswegen, Fosta is a fascinating and relevant documentary about the successful trajectory of a former ex-convict as it traces his journey from his township roots in Langa, Cape Town to his chance meeting with Barcelona based events promoter Valentino Barrioseta who visits Cape Town to take a break from the hectic dance scene on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza.

While Barrioseta is in Cape Town he takes a tour to Langa where he meets Thulani and recognizes Thulani’s talent as an electronic music DJ. Before long the Spanish events promoter invites other international DJs including American DJ Skrillex and British Canadian DJ Richie Hawtin to Cape Town to meet Thulani “Fosta” Headman and witness his talent.

After revitalising the dance scene in Langa, Fosta recognizes the possibilities of working with an international promoter but is reluctant to just disappear overseas and not bring anything back to the community.

Fosta as a documentary has high production values and features great interviews with Fosta and the other international DJ’s as the non-fiction film follows him as he travels first to Amsterdam and then London and Glastonbury, whereby Barrioseta introduces him to some influential music festivals and exposes him to the international DJ scene.

Together with some international fundraising, Fosta, Skrillex and Valentino Barrioseta give something back to the community of Langa by building the Bridges for Music academy – https://bridgesformusic.org/ and registering the DJ and Talent music development school in the UK as a charity.

Eldon van Aswegen choses to make a vibrant documentary about Fosta combining elements of taped interviews with touches of bright yellow animation and tells a compelling story about positive transformation and skills development and the potential for the South African electronic dance music scene to shine on the international stage.

Fosta is a fantastic documentary, uplifting and innovative and is highly recommended viewing.

Fosta gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and will interest 21^st century contemporary DJ and dance music lovers. Worth seeing.

Yesterday

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Joel Fry, Ellise Chappell, Ed Sheeran, Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kate McKinnon, James Corden 

Thanks to a preview screening organized by United International Pictures at Suncoast Cinecentre, Durban, I was fortunate enough to see Oscar winning director Danny Boyle’s latest film Yesterday with a screenplay by Love Actually writer Richard Curtis.

Imagine a world without The Beatles Songs? Or a world without Coca-Cola and Cigarettes? Or Even Harry Potter?

This is the premise of screenwriter Richard Curtis’s latest romantic musical comedy Yesterday directed by Oscar winning director of Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle and starring Himesh Patel as Jack Malik a struggling musician and Lily James (The Darkest Hour, Cinderella) as his long suffering manager Ellie Appleton set mainly in Suffolk, England.

After an inexplicable worldwide blackout, Jack gets hit by a bus and wakes up missing two teeth and in a sort of alternative reality whereby he soon realizes that this world does not know any of The Beatles songs including Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, All You Need is Love and Back in the U.S.S. R.

As Jack played with a sort of goofy naivety by East Enders star Himesh Patel starts initially playing a Beatles song to his parents Sheila and Jed played by Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar (London Boulevard, The Kumars at No. 42), he is astonished that they have never heard of the most influential and greatest pop band in the world, The Beatles. Then Jack has to remind himself that he is living in an alternative universe which distracts him from the real love of his life Ellie who has constantly supported him throughout his struggling music career. 

Lily James is brilliant as Suffolk maths teacher Ellie and she lifts the film from being a completely contrived musical fantasy into a semi-believable cinematic offering which allows director Danny Boyle to use all his artistic embellishments to make Yesterday more invigorating than what it really is.

Yesterday is a 21^st century slightly contrived musical tribute to The Beatles set in the Instagram age of political correctness and diversity where even the likes of singer Ed Sheeran cannot lift the humour in this film with the exception of one funny scene when Sheeran visits Jack late at night at his family home and encounters his irritating yet lovable dad Jed, wonderfully played with comic timing by Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Ultimately, Yesterday is about a lingering love affair between Ellie and Jack as he is seduced by the fame and fortune associated with lucrative streaming contracts in California in the form of a vampish American music manager Debra Hammer played by Kate McKinnon.

Despite the musical tribute to the Beatles and the quirky plot, Yesterday didn’t quite resolve itself as a satisfying film even with some comic moments. Yesterday gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. Recommended viewing for those that enjoy a light romantic musical comedy.

Bridget Jones’ Baby

Director: Sharon Maguire

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Joanna Scanlan, Sarah Solemani, Celia Imrie

Oscar winner Renee Zellweger (Cold Mountain) after a six year screen absence reprises her role of Bridget Jones in the third instalment of the hit film franchise, simply entitled Bridget Jones’ Baby. The first two films were based on the bestselling novels by Helen Fielding. Zellweger tackles her role of Bridget Jones with familiar vigour and she is joined onscreen for continuity purposes by Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) as uptight London lawyer Mark Darcy and new comer Patrick Dempsey as dating expert Jack Qwaint.

Zellweger and Firth have matured as actors which is evident onscreen, for the best scenes in Bridget Jones’ Baby is shared between them.

Bridget Jones finds herself at 43, working as a TV assistant producer for a zany London talk show which is being threatened by a group millennials. She begins to question whether she will ever have a baby, because let’s face it her biological clock is ticking. Never fear!

With the help of her new best friend the naughty TV host Miranda, wonderfully played by Sarah Solemani, Bridget Jones soon lands up having amorous relationships first with Jack at a music festival which strongly resembles Glastonbury, shorty followed by a similar sexy scene where Jones and Darcy rekindle their much repressed love for each other at a Christening of a mutual friends baby.

As per the film’s title, Bridget Jones soon finds herself knocked up but not quite sure who the father is. Enter a delightful cameo by Emma Thompson as her droll doctor who plays along for the sake of decency.

Bridget Jones also has to break the news of her pregnancy to her parents. Her mother who is running for some minor political office is superbly played by Gemma Jones and her father once again played by Oscar winner Jim Broadbent (Iris) is naturally supportive of his daughter carrying their first grandchild despite her not quite knowing who the father is.

I would be lying if Bridget Jones’ Baby is not aimed at a female audience, as the primary narrative in the film is about the main characters pregnancy and her impending birth, as well as trying to survive the pregnancy with the help of two potential fathers who naturally see themselves as rivals. There is a hilarious scene when Bridget Jones has to be rushed to the hospital only to eventually be carried by both of them, Mark Darcy and Jack Qwaint.

With the help of a delightfully witty script, director Sharon Maguire does justice to the Bridget Jones franchise even leaving the possibility open for a fourth film since Jones’ other main suitor the devilishly handsome Daniel Cleaver who was played by Hugh Grant in the first two films is feared dead, but body yet to be recovered…

Whilst the first half of Bridget Jones’ Baby is fun and quirky, with lots of hilarious moments, the second half does drag a bit, which was done intentionally so that the audiences could appreciate the baby when he finally arrives. Essentially, Bridget Jones’ Baby is highly recommended viewing, and should be a hit with the gang of book club ladies both young and old who seemed to pack the cinemas, shifting the film to number one at the box office.