Some people ‘possess the screen’ when they act. Some simply ‘own it’. Not because of any perception of beauty. Otherwise they’d never have given the Oscar to Frances McDormand, and will probably give her another this year too. But go see Fargo, or Four Billboards, and you’ll know what ‘star presence’ really is. In such a beautifully understated way. Robert de Niro has it. Dustin Hoffman. Brando, obvs, Saoirse Ronan had it as a kid in ‘Hannah’ and it grew and grew. It’s a type of ‘magic’ that can’t be taught.

In the 70s I went to see a lot of movies. And the 80’s, 90’s… But I was ‘young’ and you’d think had different criteria. Yet certain actors would have us rushing to Leicester Square, where movies always ‘started’ in the UK back then. Because you simply couldn’t wait for the next Bruce Lee movie and the thought of it being out and waiting even longer, as it took about 4 weeks to get from Leicester Square to the Gants Hill Odeon, presumably by a blind man with one leg walking unaided, was unacceptable. And even though there is a very strong case that the early ‘Kung fu’ movies of his, like Fist of Fury and The Big Boss were just complete shite, over-dubbed tragically into English with contemptible storylines, only there only to create a framework in which Bruce could kick the shit out of hundreds of Oriental people, we simply loved them.

But back to proper acting, we would also rush to the West End for anything starring Gene Hackman or Charles Bronson. Gene because he is magical on the screen, and Bronson because he was made of wood. Hardened somewhere in the Slavic region. Just before they permanently removed his smiling gland. But Bronson starred in many films. He was a scriptwriter’s dream. Because they only needed to script him one word at a time. The fewer syllables the better. And the epitome of a Bronson movie was Death Wish. The ultimate revenge flick. And it was brilliant. I never bothered with versions 2, 3, 4, ‘with a vengeance’, ‘in Tokyo’, 7, 8 or ‘the ballet’.

And now they’ve remade it. Reversed it, gender-wise, and made the avenger a gel. Carey Mulligan, to be precise. It’s called Promising Young Woman and the protagonist sets up ‘rapist’ type students/men/boys and does bad things to them. Effectively making it Death Wish goes #metoo with PC values, women-in-charge, gender-irrelevant, choose your own pronouns. Part 1.

I’m gonna watch it. And so should YOU!

Happy Saturday

A xxxx