Five out of five very bright shining stars, shining almost as bright as the man himself! The film Rebel Dread tells the story of a video producer, DJ, broadcaster, filmmaker, songwriter, musician, author and as the title suggests…Rebel. All of this can only point to one man, the super-talented and incredibly likable Mr Don Letts.

Rebel Dread documents Letts’ life growing up in 1960s/70s London where it all began and beyond, from his schooldays where he was subjected to racial abuse, which was all too commonplace at the time, to his first rock concert and his first act of rebellion. It talks about his teenage years and the point when his life direction would change forever, right up to the present day. It looks at how music, fashion, cultural difference, police harassment and unrest had a massive impact on his life and how he embraced what was happening and how he ‘turned problems into assets’.

Letts posed a striking figure, he had the good looks, the charisma, the attitude and the balls to go out and get what he wanted. He trod his own path, a path that would lead him right to the epicentre of a newly emerging and exciting London scene that he would so quickly become a major part of. Rubbing shoulders with up and coming entrepreneurs Vivienne Westwood  and Malcolm McLaren and meeting and eventually working with some of the biggest names of the punk rock scene at the time including The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Slits, which he would manage, to name just a few. Oh yes, he also met and became friends with Bob Marley!

At the time it was initially seen as strange for a dread to be mixing in the punk scene,a scene that was predominantly white and Bob Marley told Letts this when he turned up wearing bondage trousers. But Letts viewed the punks as being very much like some of the black community, disenchanted with the politics of the time, oppressed & harassed, a minority looked down upon by others, a minority that weren’t afraid to speak out and to rebel against the system. Letts embraced the Punk scene and through his love of reggae music enticed the punks into his world with the throbbing baselines of heavy dub.  Letts was like some kind of social honey bee, mixing with different cultures, pollinating and fertilizing to create the perfect hybrid. 

Being a child of the 1960s myself and a punk and reggae lover of the 1970s and beyond I found it very easy to relate to Letts’ story even though our lives were poles apart and I hadn’t even heard of him at the time. It doesn’t matter as our love for the fashion and the music was the same, our burning desire for change was the same and our willingness to rebel was the same. What I didn’t realise at the time was the influence Letts was having on me without me even knowing it!

Letts has led an exciting and varied life, he’s had his share of woes and personal problems, highs and lows, he has traveled and worked with some of the biggest names in music and at 66 years of age it doesn’t look like he has any intentions of stopping just yet. 

After the screening we were invited to stay on for a Q&A with the man himself and what a lovely, sociable, grounded man he is. Letts answered the questions put to him by the interviewer, local reggae artist Aleighcia Scott and also found time to answer questions from the audience. After the Q&A Letts stood around chatting and posed for numerous photographs.

If you want to hear the rest, and there is a lot more to hear! Watch the film Rebel Dread and read the book There And Black Again.

(3 / 5) The Worst Person In The World

(5 / 5) Cries and Whispers

A recent Time Out article caught my eye concerning a brand spankingly new cinema that has opened in the heart of London. To my delight, the discovery of The Garden Cinema holds up as a triumph for my most recent London visitation. If you like all things Art Deco then you have to look no further. The reds and golds are all here, the angular designs and the glamour of Hollywood’s yesteryear are all present. Sitting in Cinema 1 for two features, these held up as the most polished, comfortable seats I’ve sat on, quite similar to the ones in Cardiff’s Cinema 2 at Chapter Arts Centre…you won’t want to leave them.

I was greeted with great friendliness by staff, I found myself having gin (a rarity for me) and cups of dried pineapple and cashews. It’s amazing to see a cinema that will allow you to take glasses into the cinema and also maintain a no noise policy by having snack in quiet tubs. I did hear the odd rustle in the back row and some chatting in the first film, but thankfully that died down. Having a naughty look in Cinema 2, it was an even more intimate space, very welcoming and warming. It’s the touches here and there that sell this arthouse cinema. The posters, prints and the like all add a elegance not seen in today’s cinema. There is also an ethos on no trailers, instead short films to prelude the feature presentations. There is talk of having local film maker night as well. I will take to court any Londoner who will not support this pristine new enterprise and make it a regular for film and drinks.

The Worst Person in the World
Dir: Joachim Trier. 128 mins, 15

With Oscar nominations to boot, this fresh film sees a young protagonist Julie go around Oslo, lost in one relationship thinking of having another. Renate Reinsve compels the role of a woman who doesn’t really know what she wants, very relatable in today’s age of Me Too, social media and the general angst of living. The film pops with some flowery cinematography. Two scenes stand out: when Julie offers the blow back of her cigarette to new lover Elvind (a solid Herbert Nordrum) and when time stands still for Julie to sneak off to meet him. Poor Askel played by Anders Danielsen Lie goes through a lot in the film, an artist who creates the Norwegian equivalent of Fritz the Cat.

A scene in a radio interview speaks volumes about today’s cancel culture, both sides with fair points here. A fine performance form this sweet actor, sadly the third act leads to little in a Cancer diagnosis for the character and no where for the story to go other than having Julie spoil once again the new relationship she was in (perhaps that’s an assumption? ). There are predictable elements as well, a scene involving a shot of her legs in the shower could only lead to a miscarriage. The father sub plot could have also been tackled a bit more considering the run time. See for the camera work and decent, amusing acting.

I also caught the tail end of the short Single concerning romantic with people with physical disabilities. This appeared highly skilled, with a nice touch of romance. Will try and find a link to watch fully.

Cries and Whispers
Dir: Ingmar Bergman. 91 mins, 15

Death, regret and family resentments permeate Cries and Whispers. This is top quality Bergman, well regarded as Sweden’s finest master. His Persona is a personal favourite, yet this is up there for me. A quiet opening, the stillness with ticking clocks will soon fade away as two sisters come to term with their other dying sister. A chilling film by any standard, the psychology of the women remains fascinating, the maid Anna also a ground breaking exploration as care giver and loyal friend. Biblical sights also frequent the period setting, some very obvious. “A tissue of lies” said in the film seem to capture the aspect of the story well and whether Agnes did actually die at the end. Martha and Karen has hate for each other for no real reason and as the film goes on they appear to reconcile if only for a while. Each woman get’s their back stories fairly portrayed, helping us understand their plight much more. Most scenes fade to crimson red, a motif in the scene with plenty of blood seen later in a disbursing moment involving a broken shard from a wine glass. Of course, we have the famous expressionist close up, pure chiaroscuro every time.

This is devastating cinema.

Cries and Whispers runs at The Garden Cinema till 7 April 2022.
The Worst Person In The World runs at The Garden Cinema till 21 April 2022

(4.5 / 5)

In the midst of storm Dudley, a group of strangers take refuge from the calamity outside. Remaining hidden in the darkness of the cinema auditorium seems like the most sensible thing to do. Settle back and escape into the world of others. To a place that couldn’t contrast more with the climate we currently found ourselves in. Egypt.

Of course, it wasn’t just seeking shelter that took me to the cinema. I had been eagerly anticipating this new remake of Death on the Nile. Although, if I’m honest, having seen repeatedly the 1978 production starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot, (which I loved) I did wonder if I might get bored, convinced as I was that I knew the story so well that there would be no surprises. One review described this remake as a ‘dumb, lumbering adaptation…’. Not very promising. Yet, how wrong could I be.

Death on the Nile is one in a series of crime novels written by Agatha Christie, featuring her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Naturally, then we will expect a murder mystery; a simple set up of victim, a line up on suspects and to be taken through the means, motive, and opportunity to the conclusion of whodunnit. The plot remains the same. A young, wealthy newlywed, Linnet Ridgeway, is murdered while honeymooning in Egypt. She is surrounded by friends and family along with her new husband, each, we discover with some reason to kill. Add to this the arrival of her husband’s scorned betrothed, and the set up for murder to ensue is complete.

Director and star, Kenneth Branagh, it seems to me, had two problems to overcome for this film to work. The first, how can suspense and intrigue be maintained when Death on the Nile is such a well-known story. The second, when even his own creator, Agatha Christie, eventually described Hercule Poirot as a ‘detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep’ how do you make the main character who will drive the narrative, likeable enough, not to be irksome, fully rounded enough not to be a stilted caricature, and risk losing the audience midway.

This remake begins, not in Egypt but in the trenches of the First World War, the commanding officer reading out the orders that have been received. The fate of the soldiers is sealed. Death hangs over each man. A young Poirot, though, suggests a brilliant but risky strategy. Hope rises once more. His plan is executed. I could hear the muffled gasps in the audience, a moment of tension. The outcome made me flinch with horror. Our first mini rollercoaster. So, the dye was cast, just as much as this vignette gave an insight into how Poirot evolved it made sure the audience understood that we were not going to be on firm ground. We had to be ready to feel uncomfortable at times and be caught off guard.

Fast forward and Poirot looks as he was described by Agatha Christie, enjoying the hospitality of a jazz club, and observing intently the lives of others play out. This is our first introduction to the main characters in this detective story.  Already there are tensions so when the same people congregate in the luxury of Egypt, we know something sinister is going to happen, we’re just not quite sure when.

Life for these people is lavish, sumptuous. These are the rich, surrounded by beauty, able to have anything they desire, and here they display a carefree decadence and gaiety. But in a moment, this can all too quickly be dampened with a sense of foreboding and trouble walks in. It’s dangerous to be complacent.

Deftly handled by Branagh, his sleight of hand, does solve those two problems. What is delivered is the suspense and drama you hope for from a murder mystery.

What those early added scenes do is create a feeling of being destabilised which is the pattern threading through the entire film.  The audience is moved moment to moment from a sense of doom, to calm and to a sense of horror. I, for example, came very quickly undone. Convinced as I was that I knew the killer from the off, as the jazz club scene played out, I became less convinced of this certainty until I was just as intrigued to find out what was going to unfold as if I was coming to the story anew.

As the film progresses, it feels to me that the timeline changes slightly from the earlier makes of this film. The characteristics, life stories and actions of a couple of the characters from previous films are subsumed into different characters. The effect is that you never have one of those moments when you’re able to say, ‘oh here it comes, I know what’s going to happen now’ because nothing maps exactly onto what has gone before.

The film is also beautifully shot. The cinematography is sublime, with glimpses of beautiful vistas of the Nile and the banks of the Nile. And yet, with all its beauty, the effect of seeing the boat, as big as it is, on which the characters reside being dwarfed by the vastness of the landscape adds as a metaphor for no longer being grounded or anything being certain. So easily life can be capsized. The small world in which the action is unfolding looks suddenly isolated and vulnerable, much as we begin to see the remaining potential victims with a killer on the loose.

There are moments when I and the rest of the audience gasp aloud. As you will know if you are familiar with Death on the Nile, or expect if you are not, there is more than one murder. Committed most shockingly. There is a grotesque reality about the way the bodies are seen stored in the most undignified of ways amongst the cold meats. But that is a reality of death in these most horrendous of circumstances. It is cruel.

Much is made of the idea of love in this film. Finding love, losing love. Seizing every opportunity to hold onto it when, living in an era of societal expectations, everything can be lost in a moment, and any survivor left forever heartbroken, no longer the person they were. In this lies motivation. If the audience already know the who, the means and the opportunity, then motivation can remain a seam to explore. The ongoing theme of life and loss, of how everything can be transitory is another way the audience is kept engaged.

There have been some reviews which have suggested Branagh is over dramatic in his portrayal of Poirot. For me though, I loved his portrayal. Of course, Poirot will have moments of melodrama – he’s ‘ego-centric’. Far from hiding his flaws, they are pointed out by one of the characters in the film, and fully acknowledged. With some regret, Poirot acknowledges he is not the man he wanted to be – he wanted to be a farmer – but the man he was turned into and remained as.

We do see a softer, more human side to Poirot. With the sultry, sassy, Salome Otterbourne, played by Sophie Okenedo, Poirot just might fall in love. It would be wonderful to think Branagh would consider a third Poirot film and for that story to unfold. Bringing to life the work of Agatha Christie for a whole new generation.