Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir (2011 Laurent Bousereau)

Polanski interviewed by his old friend and producer Andrew Braunsberg about his whole life and the highs and lows.

A useful corrective on his legal problems. He had in fact served 42 days in prison undergoing a psychiatric report, and the prison discharged him as a free man. But the Judge then decided to change his mind and said Polanski would go back to prison until he decided, which is of course illegal. So Polanski fled. He did not 'skip bail' because at that point he was a free man.

He was then also held under house arrest in Switzerland for nine months pending a US extradition request. 

Photographed in Gstaad by Pawel Edelman, music by Alexandre Desplat.

King Rat (1965 Bryan Forbes)

Elizabethtown

Little Miss Sunshine (2006 Jonathna Dayton, Valerie Faris)

Written by Michael Arndt (also A Walk in the Woods). He and Alan Arkin won Oscars and BAFTAs. Arkin's great but so is whole cast: Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear.

A fabulous film.

The Banker (2020 George Nolfi)

Anthony Mackie is a property wizard who in the 1950s comes up with the brilliant plan to buy the building that houses several LA banks head offices. In conjunction with Samuel L Jackson he does so, then makes the mistake of buying a bank in Texas, using Nicholas Hoult as a front, and making loans to black people. And from there things go steadily downhill and end up in jail. And it's all Nicholas Hoult's fault.

And all these things are mad, of course, and the laws did change.

And it's a true story, written by Niceole Levy & George Nolfi and David Lewis Smith & Stan Younger.

You want Nolfi to be a black director, really, don't you? He isn't, unfortunately. But the film is pretty successful and enjoyable. Mae for Apple.

I got onto it because it's another film photographed but the steadily good Charlotte Bruus Christensen, still one of the few female feature film cinematographers.

The music comes dangerously close to Tom Newman at one point.

Cape Fear (1962 J Lee Thompson)

We thought really the only thing Peck could have done was get Mitchum rubbed out. Lori Martin was 14/15 at the time. According to IMDB, Lee had wanted Hayley Mills as the girl (who he had directed in her debut Tiger Bay) but she was under contract to Disney and wouldn't be released.

Molly's Game (2017 Aaron Sorkin & scr)

True story of Molly Bloom ("I always assumed you were Irish"), who's something of a smart woman. Features two really despicable characters, played well by Jeremy Strong and Michael Cera. Latter's involvement in demise of gambler Bill Camp is one of the dramatic highlights, as is reconciliation with hard father Kevin Costner, and nasty assault by mafia.

With Idris Elba, J.C. MacKenzie, Brian D'Arcy James, Chris O'Dpwd, Justin Kirk, Angela Gots.

Snappily edited by Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham and Josh Schaeffer. Photographed by Charlotte Bruus Christensen.(The Girl on the Train, A Quiet Place, The Banker, and the new Claire Foy picture H Is For Hawk.)

You Were Never Really Here (2017 Lynne Ramsay & scr)

A somewhat trippy film which paints dark pictures in jagged little bursts. The sound design is fantastic and Jonny Greenwood's score is rather aggressive. It's nice and short but not an easy watch, and ultimately leads nowhere. IT's based on Jonathan Ames' similarly concise novel.

Photographed by Tom Townend, editor Joe Bini,