Don’t Worry Darling and The Woman King: What’s coming to the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse
Sponsored feature | Our film critic, Mark Walsh, explores what’s coming to the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse.
The Woman King
Viola Davis has carved out a formidable career in powerful dramas, winning both a BAFTA and an Oscar for Denzel Washington’s adaptation of the play Fences, as well as three other Academy Award nominations.
She’s also graced the world of blockbusters with her role assembling two Suicide Squads, and made the transition to TV as Michelle Obama in The First Lady. Now she’s taking another varied step in her career as the lead of an action movie telling the story of a lesser known chapter of African history from the 19th century.
Dahomey was an area of Africa for 200 years that now forms part of southern Benin. King Ghezo (John Boyega) sees his rule of the country and the safety of his people threatened by the rise of colonialism and the slave trade. His country’s only hope of defence are the Agojie, female warriors who answer directly to him and who take on a batch of new recruits to fight the impending dangers.
Among them is Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), who’s trained by Davis’s leader Nansica and her right hand woman Izogie (No Time To Die’s Lashana Lynch).
The story was conceived by actress Maria Bello (Coyote Ugly, A History Of Violence) on a visit to Benin where she learned of the country’s history, and the group of warriors who provided the inspiration for the Marvel movie Black Panther’s Dora Milaje warriors.
She and Dana Stevens provided the story which Stevens then turned into a script, and that script – and the direction from Gina Prince-Bythewood and fight choreographer Daniel Fernandez – offer Davis and her strong supporting cast the opportunity to become an action movie lead, but to also show off their dramatic skills as well.
Following a member’s preview of The Woman King on September 20, The Woman King will be released on October 7.
Don’t Worry Darling
There’s an old maxim that states there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and no film has been putting this to the test this year more than the new film from Olivia Wilde.
Booksmart, Wilde’s previous film as director, is one of the best teen comedies of the last decade, showcasing two strong female performances from Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, and working from a sharply funny script from a team of female writers.
One of those writers, Katie Silberman, has returned to Wilde’s follow-up, adapting a screenplay from brothers Carey and Shane Van Dyke, grandsons of Dick Van Dyke.
That original screenplay had featured on the 2019 Black List, Hollywood’s list of the most anticipated and as yet unproduced scripts. Wilde also assembled a promising cast, including Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Chris Pine, making initial anticipation for the film very high indeed.
The film itself sees Pugh and Styles as Jack and Alice, a young couple moving to a seemingly perfect Californian town in the Fifties for his new job.
The town has been created for the employees of Jack’s new firm, but Alice begins to suspect that there’s more to the town than meets the eye.
While the men all go off to their mysterious jobs, the women stay at home, but when Alice begins to wonder if there’s more to their life than meets the eye – and crosses swords with the company boss Frank (Chris Pine) – it causes trouble for everyone around them.
That trouble seems to have seeped into the publicity circus surrounding the film, from the original decision to cast Shia LaBoeuf and the acrimonious fallout of his recasting to intense scrutiny over Florence Pugh’s relationship with her director, and the possible effects of Wilde’s real life relationship with Styles.
Wilde was even served custody papers by her ex Jason Sudeikis while presenting the film’s trailer onstage. The circus continued to the film’s premiere at Venice, featuring one of the most awkward cast photos in history and more unflattering column inches.
It’s always regrettable when a film’s production overshadows the movie itself, with enough off-screen drama to rival Hearts Of Darkness or Lost In La Mancha (and maybe someone will document it similarly one day), but hopefully audiences will be able to cut through the noise to find Wilde’s film at the heart, with its influences ranging from The Stepford Wives to The Truman Show.
Don’t Worry Darling opens on Friday, September 23.
