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This week Chris Deacy is joined in the studio by Maisy Walker to discuss the films; Dead Poets Society, Thunderbolts*, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Holiday.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Film Club. I'm Chris Deesey and each week I'll be joined by a guest
00:18to dive deep into the impact certain films have had on their life. Each guest will reflect on
00:23the films which have meant the most to them over the years. And every week there will be a Kent
00:28Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that has a connection to the county.
00:33And now let me introduce you to my guest for this week. Earlier this year she joined our news team
00:38as one of the youngest reporters we have ever had. It's Maisie Walker. Great to have you on the show
00:44Maisie. Thank you. Well I don't know your films in advance but oh this is a classic. Yeah. Dead
00:49Poets Society. Yes. One of my favourites of all time. I'll tell you a little bit about it. So it
00:56follows these characters that have just joined this very prestigious boarding school. It follows
01:02these mainly these three characters. We have Neil who's played by Robert Seen-Lenard and then we
01:09have Todd who's played by Ethan Hawke and then John Keating. Oh captain my captain the one and only
01:15Robin Williams. So it mainly follows Neil and his hardships and his struggles and he deals with a
01:21lot of you know things surrounding his father the expectations that his father has for him and
01:27it's this conflict between going into this career that's you know very prestigious you know very
01:33certain like law or something very artsy like a film and going into plays and it's kind of a story
01:42about how these boys through this club that's established and finds you know a deeper meaning
01:47of life. And it's really empowering isn't it because I suppose we all have that experience
01:54of teachers who've inspired us but also teachers who perhaps haven't and this is a school very
01:59conservative 1950s and some of them obviously sort of you know we do it by the road we learn poetry in
02:05terms of the metrics and you know and it's all done in this way that doesn't feel particularly
02:11emancipating and then John Keating comes in and he's a breath of fresh air but also we sort of just
02:17know that it's not necessarily going to have a happy ending. Yeah no I mean he was a phenomenal
02:21teacher I know my English teacher was actually inspired by this movie and John Keating and that's
02:27what inspired her to become a teacher but obviously his teaching in his ways it's not very conventional
02:32you know the school do often reject it and I think in many ways you know it can be argued that
02:37it is the result of why what happened to Neil happened to Neil and it inspired him so much a bit
02:43like you know like the tale of Icarus you know he flew too close to the sun and got burnt from it
02:47but ultimately I think not overly I think he found a freedom in Keating's teachings and it inspired him
02:54to go on to do what he wanted to do. It makes you think as well indeed what education is but also the
02:59way in which these lives these are people who are you know young children in some cases they've got
03:04parents who are saying to them we expect the best from you and if you slip up in any way there'll be
03:09penalties then they have the teacher who says literally rip up the rule book and literally tells
03:15them to rip up the pages and and then they form this sort of secret club and they start reading
03:20poetry and you're watching it and you're thinking now that there's a glimmer of light there but it
03:25would be many decades before that kind of teaching could really be accommodated within the mainstream.
03:32Yeah yeah yeah no definitely.
03:34Yeah so are there any particular scenes Maisie that you think stand out?
03:37Yes so obviously Oh Captain My Captain just the cynical structure of that how it's then you know
03:43it comes back to the sort of see the end of the movie when obviously Keating is then fired because
03:48of his teaching the consequences of it and when all of them get on their desks and they and they say
03:53it they recite that phrase and just that look of just almost pride in Keating's face that you know
03:59what like I may have just lost my job you know something terrible has just happened but I have made this
04:04significant positive impact in these boys lives and and also the snowball scene I think it's called
04:11and that might have been my psychology teacher actually we we played that scene in when I was
04:15studying psychology because it was about a social influence about when they were out in the courtyard
04:20walking told them to walk in the line I believe and they all followed each other and it was playing
04:25psychology because it's about the influence that you just go with what you think is right rather than what
04:31you want to actually do and that's a scene that always stood out to me you know rather than going
04:34for uh you know by what you think or you expect you should be doing going for what you believe
04:40and this is what Robin Williams is really good at I think of a film like Good Will Hunting as well
04:44almost that relationship between the teacher and the pupil here of course he's one of the teachers
04:50but at the end you know he's the one who's then told off he's reprimanded by the other teachers
04:55but you kind of know that his time will come but just not in that time not in that place it's
05:00really powerful yeah absolutely yeah and um tell me a little bit as well about you mentioned Ethan
05:07Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard and so on but is there do you sort of watch this film and you think
05:11what's going to become of them are they going to turn into like men like them their fathers because
05:15that the expectation is they just they go to the school and they just turn out to be people who make
05:19lots of money and do like ordinary jobs but but actually the poetry suggests that there's a creative
05:24side that they can tap into yeah I think you know a lot of you know this group of boys that we see
05:29in this movie I think they're very like you know it's kind of been you know forced into them that
05:34they must become something great they must do something great they have to go into this you know
05:37strong certain prestigious career and it's only when Keating is brought in they they do realize oh
05:43there's actually another side to this from what I've been taught and I think we see that with Neil
05:48um but then obviously with what happens to him I feel like they do kind of shy away from it obviously when
05:54I can't remember quite quant can't quite remember the character's name and but when he um obviously
05:59grasped everyone up about the club you know we do see this uh slight dismay and and this divide
06:05between them towards the end yeah brilliant well it is time now to move on to your second chosen film
06:12oh you've gone for Thunderbolts tell me about this film Maisie oh it's genuinely one of my favorites not
06:20because it's so fun but because of like just the story in it obviously it it starts off when they're
06:26all kind of forced into this mission but it's actually you know a death sentence really they're
06:31they're all there to kind of uh kill each other basically yeah you know she's sent uh to this place
06:37to kill somebody and then they're sent to kill somebody else and it's just like one major blood
06:41bath really um so it's unconventional you know anti-heroes that then kind of realize what's happening
06:48they're like this isn't right um but in kind of trying to uh you know rectify what's happened
06:54they have to confront some of the deepest parts of themselves yeah so so now this is one of the
06:58Avengers movies and also um with a bit of a twist because and I did see this at the cinema but you have
07:04to remind me of what happens here because as you say they that they're kind of more sort of peripheral
07:11figures or they're people sort of almost like anti-establishment is would that would that be a fair way of
07:15saying it yeah yeah no definitely I mean all the characters here aren't you know they don't really
07:19come from all that you know happy backgrounds they're all very you know anti-heroes let's say
07:25you know they're they're they're flawed and I think that's what makes them so perfect you know because
07:30it's when you see you know the likes of you know Captain America for example you know he's put on such
07:35a pedestal and he's you know so amazing so when you do get characters like these that it's more
07:39human it brings the human back into these movies because it's like they are flawed they do have their
07:44own struggles and do you think that this is all about ways of perhaps reinventing the superhero
07:50genre because there have been many films not necessarily like this but but you know that
07:54conform to the same kind of elements that they're saving the world ultimately but they're like a rag
08:02bag of people but they all win out at the end yeah because they bring their individual strengths but
08:06do you think that you know is this perhaps the way forward or are we seeing the end of this type of
08:11filmmaking no I think absolutely it's the way forward you know it's bringing individual perspective
08:16and individual characters you know instead of this just constant you know this is good this is bad
08:22we see that divide and that conflict you know everyone in this movie has a different perception
08:26of what good is and what bad is and that's what makes it so interesting the dynamic so interesting
08:31because it's not clear you know this divide something isn't just good and something isn't just bad
08:36and that's what we see these characters navigate throughout this movie
08:39and at the end of course that they they save the world yes but for me you see I always think it's
08:44like journeys and destinations in a way by the end I'll be honest I was thinking oh this is like the
08:48sort of thing you expect in all the marvel superhero films but the way there I thought no this is
08:53actually genuinely different it's almost like not what you'd expect a superhero movie to be like
08:58no exactly I mean just uh he's not on here but there's another character called Bob who's kind of set
09:03out to be the uh the um antagonist of this story um but just the metaphor behind his superpower in this
09:10movie really like the darkness you know it's it's one of the I would argue one of the most dark
09:15psychological movies that marvel has ever produced you know just the the metaphors that are behind it
09:21you know some I heard some people saying that obviously Bob was a a manifestation of things like
09:26uh disorder like um bipolar disorder um especially when they go to that when they when they step into
09:33the darkness and they're forced to go into this kind of prison of their minds and confront all
09:36their trauma and we see with Bob everything that he's gone through and it does kind of align with
09:41the symptoms of certain disorders which one do you most identify with oh gosh um oh gosh it's got to
09:49be a mix between Yelena and Bob I believe yeah definitely and do you sort of as you're watching this
09:55because it's almost like there's always an external threat in these films but there's also the threat
10:00between them it's almost like unless they work together they're not going to achieve the common
10:04aim so I always find it really interesting because you've got these characters who in some ways they
10:08seem to hate or fall out with each other like any family and that's what works but ultimately they're a
10:14force to be reckoned with but but that I think is what for me was more interesting than what you get in
10:20the last 20 minutes yeah no definitely I mean just the journey that they all go uh go through on this
10:24movie just I think what makes this such a good movie is that you see this journey they you see
10:30them going through this hardship from going to absolutely hating each other to then you know
10:34what he's all right um but it's ultimately only because that they grow to like each other that they
10:39that they are able to overcome obviously the uh the the uh enemy of this movie which is the darkness
10:44because it's only when they all come together to Bob to Bob to like hold him that ultimately like
10:50they can destroy the darkness so it is important and is this a big screen movie did you see this
10:55on the big screen what's the best way to watch it I did watch this in the cinema um I thought it was
11:00amazing it was very loud in the way that it's filmed you know uh like there was one scene with
11:05Yelena when she's in that kind of matrix um and there's a loud gunshot and it genuinely like makes you
11:11fearful and I think in a way that's fantastic because it really immerses you in the experience
11:16you can see what Yelena has been through and the trauma that she's experienced um in the cinema
11:22where it is so loud like you are feeling what she is feeling in that moment yeah brilliant well that's
11:28about all the time we have for this first half of the show however before we go to the break we have
11:33a Kent film trivia question for you at home in the 2025 film the woman in cabin 10 what Kent location was
11:41used for filming was it a Canterbury town centre b Whitstable beach or c Fairbourn reservoir east
11:48we'll reveal the answer right after this break don't go away
11:53hello and welcome back to Kent film club just before the ad break we asked you at home a Kent film
12:10trivia question in the 2025 film the woman in cabin 10 what Kent location was used for filming I asked
12:17was it a Canterbury town centre b Whitstable beach or c Fairbourn reservoir east now I can reveal to
12:23you that the answer was in fact c Fairbourn reservoir east Fairbourn reservoir east is a modern mansion
12:28located in the village of Harrietsham just outside Maidstone as a private house it doubled for the
12:33Bulmers house in Norway within the film did you get the answer right well it is time now Maisie to move on
12:39to your next chosen film and you've gone for the perks of being a wallflower yes what made you go
12:47for this well I remember watching it when I was 16 I think and I was just absolutely blown away but
12:54not just the way that it was filmed and the intimacy of the of the camera work but also just the twists
13:00and the turns especially towards the end it just it honestly is so shocking and I think with a movie
13:06ultimately what you hope for is is for a movie to move you or to make you feel something and this
13:11definitely did Tamsa I'm not sure I've seen this so so give me the context of this film so the
13:15purpose being a wallflower is basically about this boy Charlie he's navigating I believe it's his first
13:21year of high school I think um but he's navigating that and then also you know again the hardships of
13:27everything that he's gone through in his past um and so it's a really hard time for him and but
13:32ultimately like he does find friendship and and love um before obviously the end of the movie which
13:38doesn't doesn't go too greatly for him but um it does force him to kind of become it forces him to
13:45to come out of his shell and to become you know more sociable and to develop these connections which
13:50is something that he was quite against in the beginning and do you think that when you watch this
13:54you mentioned you were about 16 did it sort of resonate with you particularly at that stage in
13:58your life did you think yeah that that's either me or a version of me yeah definitely I mean I think
14:03you know Charlie's slightly more awkward than me I can usually yap for days but um definitely in that
14:08sense of alienation and not belonging you know that was something that that I did really resonate
14:12with in this movie um and it was kind of just like oh you you see me you get me um with this movie
14:17which was just moving for me and a common thread maybe with the with the two other films as well in
14:22that sense of somebody almost feeling a little bit sort of ostracized not necessarily fitting in but but
14:27finding a way maybe a less conventional way of fitting in yeah absolutely I mean you know these
14:34movies that I have picked aren't the most conventional ones I'm sure but just the sense
14:37you know just this movie explores so many different themes you know a sense of identity alienation
14:43friendship love trauma everything this movie has everything what's it how would you categorize
14:48it like as a genre where would you say it fits if anybody hasn't watched this oh no um well maybe
14:54it's got many oh yeah the best films do say coming of age probably possibly yeah yeah and do you think
15:03that this and it's based on a book isn't it yes yeah is that one that you've read I have yeah yeah
15:08now which one did you read did you read the book first or watch the film I watched the movie first
15:12and then I read the book which is not usually that's the way I do it really yeah oh that's not
15:17usually the way I do it I know um before I you know this tv show but before I watched normal people
15:23I read the book first and so I'm usually a book reader then I go into the movie but I just went in
15:28blind with the movie and I became completely obsessed with it then read the book and so there's not much
15:34differences to be honest um other than obviously it's completely in Charlie's perspective and which
15:39in a way makes it more harrowing because you get to see the world through his eyes more than what you do
15:44with the movie if you've done it the other way around do you think it would have changed your
15:48apprehension of the film because I've done that sometimes when you you read the novel and there
15:53might be a lot that's taken out in the film and you think oh you know the the film doesn't have as
15:58much sort of completeness should we say but there are parts missing but if you do it the other way
16:02around you can read the book and then almost in your mind you can imagine a different version of the
16:06film yeah no I'm glad I watched the movie first definitely um because it kind of it really set the scene
16:11and and sometimes you know especially if you like lack imagination when you're reading books I know
16:16sometimes I zone out then have to go back to the to the to when I started reading and it definitely
16:21helped in visualizing everything and you know just just the color of it and everything else you know
16:26I'm glad that I watched it and then went back because it kind of solidified all those details about
16:31Charlie and everything that he was going through his perceptions of things so and what does the title
16:37mean so about the perks of being a wallflower what does a wallflower mean in this context
16:41you know what I don't really I can't really remember I'm pretty sure uh it's their last name
16:47these uh two I think their brother and sister and it's like their last name so it's kind of like the
16:52the assets of being friends with these people and I asked you earlier about watching films on the big
16:57screen or the small screen can you remember the first time you watched this and where it was
17:01yes I mean I can't give you date and time obviously but it was in my room uh before I moved out you
17:08know dinosaur wallpaper that flew in the dark which was fantastic um and I think I had yes it must
17:14have been Saturday because I had a takeaway it was chicken lovely beautiful um but yeah no it's a
17:20movie that's always stuck with me and whenever I do need a little bit of a cry it's always one that I
17:23return to well you've answered my next question because is this a film that you can return to is
17:28it one of those go-to movies that when you're looking for a bit of uplift this is what you tend to
17:33I wouldn't say uplift definitely not uplift I'd say like the first you know maybe hour or so if
17:38you want uplift fantastic if not turn it off after that um it's mainly the ending that will get you
17:43sometimes I just get right to that bit funny to get it all out you know all the emotions like I
17:48straight to that part um because it always always gets me every time just because it's it's so
17:52cathartic and everything it kind of you know just the way it reveals everything about Charlie's past
17:57and why he is the way that he is it's just so heartbreaking and devastating brilliant stuff
18:01well it is time now to move on to your final chosen film which I saw very recently on the big
18:08screen The Holiday yes I mean again one that I watched when I was quite young um and I just loved
18:15it I think I mainly loved it because my mum loved it but I think my mum mainly loved it because Jude
18:19Law um so you know um yeah I remember watching it when I was a kid and not really understanding it but
18:25it was a feel-good movie it's about love just absolutely adored it but obviously as I've re-watched
18:30it as I've grown up you know you've had all the experiences you do kind of go oh okay I understand
18:35this now especially um the character that is played by Kate Winslet you know she falls in love
18:40I believe with her co-worker and it's unrequited but she's so completely devastated by it and she's
18:45hung up by it and as a kid you're kind of like you don't really understand you're like like why
18:48what's wrong with you why are you still upset about this person and then obviously you go through
18:52everything and you're like you know what you watch your back and you're like yeah I see you queen I
18:56understand why you felt that way there are a lot of people you're right in in workplace politics and
19:02there's something that really resonates now I saw this when it came out it was something like 9th of
19:06December 2006 remember the reviews were not amazing but I watched it since then it's become a total
19:12classic and it's a lovely if anybody hasn't seen this you've got Kate Winslet who gets out of this
19:19horrible relationship mess and she goes to California and Cameron Diaz who's having a relationship
19:25breakup of her own moves to her house in Surrey and of course falls in love with Kate Winslet's
19:32brother played by Jude Law I remember when I watched it I think it was one of the first times I watched
19:39it where I could actually understand it and then just the twist of that of it being her brother was
19:43just so hilarious because in a previous scene you know she was messaging her and was like are there any
19:49men in your town and she was like none and then falls in love with her brother but it would make sense
19:53because obviously she wouldn't classify her brother as a you know potential love interest would she
19:57and also because we start to think is he a bit of a cad like her you know like Kate Winslet's character
20:03the man that she's fallen in love with in the office who's engaged to somebody else
20:07and when you're watching this you're thinking hold on is he married he has children and then for me
20:13there was a moment when the truth I won't give it away for anyone but and he gives the letters and
20:18he explains yeah what's happened yeah yeah you know what that gets me every time yeah I remember
20:23when you know when he that scene when he opens the door and the kids are there and Cameron you
20:28know Cameron Diaz is just kind of like what is going on here and you know it's one of them one
20:34of those scenes that make you go oh no she's getting she's getting into affair with a married
20:38man and then obviously uh when the letters come in explains everything and then she's running to
20:42him you know in the snow Johnny Johnny gets the where is it was it his yes because she was going
20:47to the airport and then came back through the snow it was just so she does that more than one she
20:51never seems to be quite able to leave and for me actually with the older man Eli Wallach who's the
20:57older actor who plays Arthur the composer who well if Jack Black makes the score but he's the film
21:02writer and he you know he's been in Hollywood for every new Cary Grant and so on and also Kate
21:07Winslet becomes a friend of hers and I thought that was a really tender because she really looks
21:13after him and and finally gives him the impetus to you know effectively stand up in front of an
21:19audience and accept a lifetime achievement award yeah I think that's what's so beautiful about this
21:25movie you know because it's about love sure but it's about all these different kinds of love obviously
21:29we very clearly have the romantic side but then we have you know the platonic side you know you
21:34know just that that friendship and that community it's so beautiful because it covers all of these
21:39areas and there is there is something there isn't there because in a way love actually was made three
21:44years beforehand but it's very similar because you've got different variations or manifestations of
21:49love which can also be the sort of love for somebody who just needs help yeah just somebody just needs
21:55almost the encouragement to say you can do this and and effectively facilitate you know a life-changing
22:03experience in somebody yeah no absolutely yeah so who do you relate to most in this relate to oh gosh
22:10um you know what me two years ago would have said uh Kate Winslet's character you know the old
22:17unrequited love oh um yeah definitely but now I feel like I'm definitely more of a definitely more of a
22:25Cameron Diaz's character 100% because it's it's one of those great things in films when you've got
22:32characters who go into situations outside their comfort zone different countries in this place
22:39different sort of way of life but then suddenly they own it completely yeah and she's something
22:45like a Hollywood she makes movie trailers doesn't she and then she sees her life all the way through
22:49even on the plane yeah it's like a voiceover of her life as she makes this journey into a small English
22:54village yeah I mean just the journeys that they all go on in this movie is just incredible you know even the
22:59characters that we don't really think about like um obviously the uh individual that Kate Winslet's
23:04character befriended it was just so beautiful yeah and is this a film that you watch every
23:09sounds like your mum does as well every Christmas yes absolutely yeah 100% it's one of my favorite the
23:14my most favorite Christmas movie and have you ever seen it on the big screen because it is one of those
23:20that get shown I saw it just a few days ago yeah no I've never had the opportunity to but I would love to
23:25I feel like I would absolutely love it brilliant well I'm afraid that's all the time we have for
23:30today but before we go if you live in Kent and want the chance to share four films of your choice
23:35reach out to us at KMTV and you might be invited in to be my next guest but for now many thanks to
23:40Maisie Walker for joining us and being such a brilliant guest and many thanks to you all for
23:45tuning in until then that's all from us goodbye
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