- 7 months ago
This week Chris Deacy is joined in the studio by Nailah Mahomed to discuss the films; Interstellar, Primal Fear, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Mummy.
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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
00:17to 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
00:27Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that has a connection to the county.
00:32And now let me introduce you to my guest for this week. You may recognise her as one of the latest
00:37additions to our news team here at KMTV, joining us after completing a master's degree in international
00:43journalism at City, University of London. She is Nayla Mohamed. Welcome to the show Nayla. Thank you
00:50Chris. Great to have you on. Well I don't know your films in advance but oh I saw this, I think I saw
00:56this in 4DX once, Interstellar. Why have you gone for this? I think it's just a beautiful film.
01:03Everything about it is amazing from the cinematography to the actors that were casted in the movie,
01:09the soundtrack as well. And I think it's just one of those movies that makes you stop and think.
01:14Like it's a complicated movie to understand at any watch. But for someone who's an avid lover of space
01:20and all things kind of, what's the word, galactic and all, you know, sci-fi. I'm a massive fan of
01:25sci-fi as well. I really enjoyed it. I think it kind of, it guided you through the story really
01:30nicely. It was emotional. I love movies that make me feel some sort of way. And again it made me
01:35really think and I like movies that make me think and makes me question things. Like I watched the
01:40movie and I went away. I remember going away and wanting to learn more about, you know, black holes and
01:45this and that. And I thought it was brilliant. Because it's the sort of film, because it deals
01:49with time travel in a manner of speaking, but with a Christopher Nolan twist and about characters
01:55who may age differently to how their characters might age on earth. And it's like a puzzle, isn't
02:01it? And I think it goes on for somewhere close to three hours. But all the way through it you feel
02:06that you have to wait to the end in order to understand. And of course you then come away
02:10with more questions than answers, but in a good way. Absolutely. It's exactly that. And it's
02:15one of those things where you just feel so in awe of the movie. Like you watch the movie
02:19and you come away and you go away and you Google it. Like you want to learn the little bits of
02:24facts. So there's a scene in the movie where the astronauts are sent into space and they
02:29land on this one planet made entirely of water. But I think it's every, like every few, every
02:36hour there is like seven years on earth. And no, sorry, every minute there is seven years
02:42on earth. So every minute you can hear a tick. After another minute, there's another tick
02:47just to signify another seven years has gone. So it's little details like that that can just
02:53just show you the amount of thought that's gone into the movie. I just think it's incredible.
02:57And it made me think, and I think Ad Astra did something fairly similar, which came out about
03:01four or five years ago. That whole question of, yes, if we did have space travel, what would
03:08it do to us? It's not just a case of, hey, let's go into space and come back. Here it's
03:12dealing with the question that our whole humanity, our whole sense of self would be fragmented.
03:18Exactly. And it humanizes it because it shows you the story of it's a father and daughter.
03:23Daughters left on earth, fathers up in space. And while he's up there, his daughter is sending
03:28him videos and it's showing her progression through life. So when he left her, she was a teenager
03:34like preteen. And then she's sending videos of, you know, going to school and she'd met
03:38someone. She's had a child. And I think he, he ends like the final video is when they, she
03:46is now the same age on earth that he was when he'd left. And I think that was kind of like
03:51a really big breaking point for him. And he just started crying because it really touched
03:56him. He's like, this is how old I was when I left. And my daughter's now this age, but I
04:00didn't get to see all of that. And then at the end, like you said, it's the difference
04:03between, um, the aging of being up in space and being down on earth. When he comes back
04:09to earth, his daughter is older than he is. He has this entire new family that he doesn't
04:14know existed because she's married, her kids have had kids, her kids, kids have had kids.
04:19And so it really humanizes it. As much as we think, I think, um, time travel is this really
04:24big thing and really interesting. Oh, we'd love to do it. We'd love to see and kind of do this.
04:29I think it just kind of make you think, okay, maybe time travel isn't as glamorous as we
04:34may want it to be or may think it is. Because it's that same thing, like with photographs,
04:38when you sometimes think, gosh, I was the same age or I'm the same age now that my parents
04:42were dot, dot, dot. But this film puts it into a different perspective. It also shows
04:46the loss, the mourning, the idea that you can have a parent and a child, but they may not
04:51even cross over. They may not meet or they may meet at a point where one of them or the child
04:56is a much older age than the parent. And the film does it in a way that has its own internal
05:01logic. So it makes sense within the contours of the film.
05:04Absolutely. It's exactly that. And it's not just time travel. They kind of go into different,
05:09they talk about different dimensions as well and how through different dimensions, you can
05:13kind of communicate with your past selves or like your previous life and their present
05:17moment. So there's a scene in the movie where his daughter is, like I said, preteen and books
05:23are getting knocked off her shelf and she has no idea what's going on. But it's only
05:28later on in the movie that we realise what's going on. And we know it's because the dad's
05:32gone up and is sending her a message through the books, knowing that she knows Morse code.
05:35So I think there's a bit of that as well. It's a bit of deepening the relationship.
05:39And again, you learn more as you watch through the film and it just makes things flow so much
05:44better. You can really see the thought that's gone into the movie. Absolutely.
05:48Absolutely. Well, great. Well, let's move on to your second chosen film. Oh, I love this
05:54film. Primal Fear. What a, I love the twists in this movie. Edward Norton, I think blew everybody
06:00away, got an Oscar nomination for this. Absolutely. Well, this movie introduced me
06:05to Edward Norton. And I can't, I can't remember how old I was when I watched it for the first
06:09time, but I was in absolute awe of the movie because I also like psychological thrillers
06:15like a lot. I love plot twists. And I'm also really big on murder investigations and crime
06:21and true crime and all that kind of stuff. So watching this, I was like, okay, this is
06:25quite interesting, but where's the plot twist? What's coming on? What's coming up? And then
06:29the plot twist happens. And I don't want to spoil what happens in case anyone hasn't seen
06:32it, but it happened. And I was like, Oh my God. And then you think back in the movie and
06:36you can kind of see how it led up to that plot twist. And there are little things that
06:40you've missed that in Heinz, when you look back, you've realized you've missed and it's
06:43actually a really big thing. I never thought that actually it's not that different from
06:47Interstellar in that sense about how you have to wait for it and then go back over all the
06:51different motivations that we've seen. Because in a way it starts off as a fairly straightforward
06:56legal thriller. And, you know, the question is, is the person guilty or innocent? But of
07:01course the film goes into far more complex territory than that. And the sort of twist
07:05that in the wrong hands, I think it was Gregory Hoblet who directed this, but in the wrong
07:09hands, it could have been really awful because that twist, if you buy the twist, it's an
07:15amazing film. If you don't, then it might really make the film come across as a bit cheap
07:20and a bit silly. Exactly. But I also do think it is the quality of the acting as well. Like
07:25Edward Norton pulled it off so well. It was so realistic. It was so believable. And then
07:31also his co-star, I can't pronounce his last name, Richard Gere. Richard Gere. Again, also
07:38unbelievable just when he realised what had happened. And it was just a fascinating thing
07:43to witness. I saw this when it came out with a large audience. And it was way back in 1996. And I
07:51love a film like this where you put all the different pieces together. But also, of course,
07:54you have to watch it again in order to really understand all the different, if you like, the
07:59building blocks that make it up. Have you done that? Have you watched this film multiple
08:02times? I've watched it so many times, so many times. I remember watching it once and I immediately
08:07wanted to watch it again. But my dad was like, no, you can't watch it again. You need to go
08:10to bed. You've got school tomorrow. I was like, no, I don't. I don't want to. But then I think
08:15it was the week after I watched it again. And when you're watching it through, you're like,
08:18okay, this is important now. And you're going through and you're trying to overthink things a little
08:23bit. Like, is this something that led up to this? Or am I overthinking this now? But no, you definitely
08:30do go back and you try to catch things that you may have missed before, for sure. And in a way,
08:35and perhaps like Interstellar, it's a microcosm of life. I mean, anyone who, for example, keeps a
08:39diary, you go back over your own life sometimes. And you think, oh, at the time, I didn't think it
08:44was significant. But then you start to see that something that maybe have seemed quite innocent at
08:48the time means something else. And I think it's also what makes cinema so great. Because it's that
08:54sense that you might think it's generic, but it's almost like saying, if you miss something really
09:01important, and you've been had, then it shows that cinema is always going to be there as the capacity
09:07to surprise and entertain. Absolutely. And I think it's the way it was executed, both by director and
09:13the cast really does a test for what you've just said. And I do think Primal Fear is one of those
09:18movies where it's just different when you're going into a cinema, into a movie theatre, compared to
09:22watching it at home. Because at home, there were so many distractions. And it's like you said, blink
09:26and you miss it. Blink and it's gone. You've missed something that could have been important for a
09:30reveal later on. Whereas you're going to the cinema and you're watching these kind of things, it's no
09:34distractions at all, just a black screen. You can barely even see the people in front of you. It's just
09:38you and the screen, which is why I do prefer going to see movies in a cinema compared to our home.
09:43And I think this and Interstellar, actually, are both movies, I think should be witnessed on a big screen.
09:50Now, I remember watching this, and perhaps unlike, say, The Sixth Sense, which has a big twist in it,
09:55a different twist, but one, if you know that there's a twist, you're looking out for it. I don't think I
09:59saw a twist in this. And I thought, oh, the films were coming to an end. And then suddenly, it's almost
10:04like the rug has been pulled out from under you. Because suddenly I thought, hang on, this movie that I've just
10:10been watching isn't the movie that actually I was watching.
10:15It's a very subtle twist. Again, you don't expect it. And if you're not paying attention, you don't
10:21notice what happens at the end. Because it's just a change in the actor and the way that they speak,
10:28their tone. You can clearly see them make the switch. And so, yeah, you don't notice that it's
10:37a big plot twist coming. It's, like you said, it gets pulled out between you. And then it happens
10:41and you're like, what just happened? Oh, my God. What? And you start to question everything. And
10:47it's just not the movie that you thought it was going to be going into it. You thought it was going
10:50to be a legal, a straightforward legal case. And it's just not that.
10:54And did you find, on subsequent viewings, that even though you knew the twist was coming,
10:59did you still enjoy the film? Did it almost enhance your enjoyment that you knew that you were
11:05going to be had all over again? Yeah, I loved it. I was looking forward to it. If anything,
11:09I was telling people to come and watch with me. That's my favorite thing. It's like, I think on
11:13the second watch, I got my brother to come and watch with me as well. And so he would sit and
11:17he'd go off and get distracted. I'm like, no, come here. You need to see this bit, this one scene you
11:21need to see. So, yeah, even though I very much enjoyed the rewatch and seeing the scene, I still do.
11:27But I also enjoy watching other people's reactions to that scene because you don't know how they're
11:31going to react, if they're going to notice the twist anyway. Well, that's about all the time we
11:35have for this first half of the show. However, before we go to the break, we have a Kent Film
11:40Trivia question for you at home. Which film transformed the historic Chatham Dockyard into
11:46Giza Port using CGI and a 600-foot-long set? Was it The Mummy, Jumper or The Bucket List?
11:54We'll reveal the answer right after this break. Don't go away.
12:01Hello and welcome back to Kent Film Club. Just before the ad break, we asked you at home
12:10a Kent Film Trivia question. Which film transformed the historic Chatham Dockyard into Giza Port
12:16using CGI and a 600-foot-long set? Was it The Mummy, Jumper or The Bucket List? And now I can reveal
12:23to you that the answer was in fact A, The Mummy. The transformation was completed with a steamship
12:29and hundreds of extras to truly transport the audience to an authentic 1920s Egyptian port.
12:36Did you get the answer right? Well, it is time now to move on to your next chosen film
12:41and you've gone four. It is How to Train Your Dragon.
12:46Absolutely, yeah. I think I always love watching animation. I mean, even to this age, I will still
12:53go and watch animation in cinemas or at home. If I just want a chill evening, I will put something on.
12:58And this is one of my absolute favourites. I mean, I love everything about it. I love how it was animated,
13:05like the style of animation. Again, the soundtrack, it's also on my playlist of soundtracks that I like.
13:11And then I just have this big attachment to the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless,
13:17because quite frankly, Toothless just reminds me of my cat, if I'm being entirely honest.
13:22But I just love everything about it. And it's just, it's such a good,
13:26comforting, feel-good movie that you just want to watch over and over again.
13:30I was going to say, it must be a very cool cat then.
13:31Oh, absolutely.
13:33Now, tell me about this, because I'm not sure I've seen this,
13:36but I know that How to Train Your Dragon, another version, a live-action version, has been out in more
13:41recent times. So is this like something that you saw when you were much younger,
13:45and that it's carried with you in the years since?
13:48No, for sure. It is a movie that I saw when I was quite young.
13:51And I just loved it, because I loved the kind of the path that the narrative went through.
13:57It was kind of, you've mentioned you not said it, and what it is, is Hiccup, the guy, lives on an island
14:03where the dragons are pests, essentially, and they're Vikings, and they try to get rid of the dragons,
14:09essentially. But then he doesn't have it in him to kill them, so he befriends Toothless,
14:14who happens to be one of the most dangerous dragons. And it's kind of, the development of
14:19their relationship is just so heartwarming and so lovely to feel that. As a kid, it just, you just
14:24really enjoyed it and seeing kind of the arc that a person can take and kind of self-development or
14:30self-acknowledgement and that kind of thing. And then there are two other animated films that came
14:35after this one, not as good as the first as always. But yeah, you're right, I think it was last year.
14:41In June, yeah. Yeah, in June, live action came out of this first movie. I did go and see it,
14:47and I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the first one. I think it just has that nostalgic
14:52feel to it. Do you think that the animated element, the animation element, helps? Because often,
14:58films that have an animation element can do things, like Inside Out, Toy Story, they can do things that
15:04live action films cannot. Do you think that might be part of the appeal? I think so. I think it does,
15:10it does definitely help. I mean, I just, when I was watching the live action,
15:14I just couldn't help but compare to the animated version. And even though, credit to the live
15:19action, they did try and do it kind of scene for scene, essentially, almost word for word.
15:24But it's like, it's the characteristics, it's the way hiccup moves, it's the way toothless moves. You
15:29can't imitate that in real life sometimes. Like, I feel like animation is kind of sometimes over
15:35dramatized or over exaggerated, like facial features or body movements. But that adds to the charm of the
15:40the animation. And that's just something you can't replicate in real life. So again,
15:44it's just a movie that you just want to keep on watching and will be happy to watch over and again.
15:48And is that what you've done? Is it the sort of thing that, almost like as a ritual,
15:52that you watch it when you're in a certain mood? Or do you think it's the sort of film that works in
15:58a particular context or a time in your life? Oh no, it's definitely a movie I will watch. I tend to
16:03usually watch it when I'm in a lower mood. If I'm a bit, I don't know, anxious or in a bit of a
16:08depressive state or anything like that. I just know watching this movie will always pick me up
16:13without a doubt. Again, it's just the combination of the narrative, the narrative arc and the soundtrack
16:19and all of that kind of stuff. It just makes you feel so much better about yourself and kind of a
16:23bit about humanity because his dad and the rest of the Vikings are adamant, no dragons, no dragons.
16:30And it's kind of showing you how this relationship between the both of them changes an entire island's
16:35mind about this different species. So as heartwarming as it is, it also kind of makes
16:40you want to have a bit of hope for people and humanity. And I think it's just a kind of movie
16:45that makes you feel good. And I can imagine you watching this with your cat. It's like, come on,
16:49this is the mood. This is the moment we have to watch this. Absolutely. Yeah. But it's like,
16:53when I'm watching it again, if I was watching it with my mum, I was, I watched it with, I introduced
16:57one of my friends because she's not from the UK. So I introduced her to this movie and I was like,
17:02my cat does this. My cat acts in this exact way. So when I'm watching this as well, I'm also thinking
17:07of him and kind of my relationship with him because it's, it's quite similar and kind of the
17:12love hate relationship between us and between Hiccup and Tuflo. So it's quite nostalgic in that sense
17:18as well. We were talking a moment ago about watching films on the big screen as opposed to
17:22the small screen. So you've seen the live action version from last year on the big screen. Have you
17:27ever seen this on the big screen? No, I've not seen this on the big screen. I've only ever seen this on TV at home.
17:32Or now because of streaming on my laptop, on things like that. But I do quite like having
17:37this on a smaller screen. It completely contradicts everything I said earlier, but I do like having
17:43this movie on a smaller screen because it just means I can, I can tuck up in bed and watch it on
17:46my laptop or I can just get myself comfortable in a way that I can't be comfortable in a cinema.
17:51You know, I can have snacks, I can laze out on the sofa or however I want to watch the movie.
17:55I can watch it in a way that I know I'm going to enjoy it.
17:58Well, it is time now to move on to your final chosen film. And you've gone for The Mummy.
18:05Yes. And it is the Brendan Fraser version.
18:07Oh yeah, I had not the Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe one.
18:10No, no, definitely the Brendan Fraser version. I watched the Tom Cruise version and it just
18:15didn't feel the same, just did not hit the same. But no, again, I am a, I feel like I keep saying I'm
18:21a massive fan of, but I am a huge fan of ancient Egypt. Um, since I was a little girl, everything
18:28about ancient Egypt, the history, the mythology, going into school and studying, um, studying the
18:33history of it. I loved it. And then I watched, um, this movie with my, with my dad and I was just,
18:40I just loved it. I loved everything about it. It was, it was the mystery. It was the adventure,
18:45mainly the adventure. Again, the, the dynamic between them and then Brendan Fraser as well.
18:50I think he's such a phenomenal actor and I know they're making a fourth one with the original cast.
18:55So I'm extremely excited to see kind of how that will turn out. Also quite wary of how that will
19:00turn out knowing the original. Because when I saw this, when it came out in 99, I think the CGI was
19:07perhaps more in its infancy, but I saw it again on the big screen only about a year ago. And I really
19:11was blown away. It really stood up. And I think it's because the story is there. And I, and I
19:16know that he was really good. There may have been like a green screen behind him, but he treated it
19:20as if he really was in ancient Egypt. And there was an authenticity to that performance that I think,
19:26well, brought him to, um, international attention. No, absolutely. And I think with CGI is for movies
19:32like this, it just adds to it adds to the charm. It doesn't make it look overdone or kind of trying a
19:37bit too hard to make it look authentic. We know they probably didn't go to Egypt and film in Egypt.
19:43Like you have that knowledge going into the movie, but it's the fact they try to kind of keep it as
19:47accurate as they probably could for the time using what they had available. I'm not sure what the budget
19:52was for the movie, but I can't complain. I think the way it was done and again, the casting for the movie,
19:58I couldn't, I couldn't think of a better cast for it. And there is this throwback isn't there to this,
20:03you know, we always say the films that they don't make any more like they used to. But when The Mummy
20:08came out right at the end of the millennium, it really was the sort of film that people, perhaps
20:14of an older generation would say, oh, if only they made these films today. And they did. And of course,
20:20there were two sequels as well. I'm not sure if you've seen them and whether you think they stand up.
20:25Again, um, I can only really remember the second one as well as the first one. But again,
20:31I always prefer the first one. I think the first one kind of set the standard for the series.
20:36And I think, um, not even just that, when I went to go watch the Tom Cruise version,
20:42you do kind of have in your head this preempt comparison to the original. Like,
20:47how is it going to compare? What are they going to do? Obviously budget was bigger for the Tom Cruise one,
20:52CGI was better. But it didn't, for me, it didn't kind of have that same feel that I had when I was
20:58watching the original version. And so, yeah, I think I just, I don't know, I just really, I can't,
21:03I can't really explain why I just really loved everything about this movie.
21:06But it's the sort of film that if you like Indiana Jones, for example, it has something here. And I
21:12think the difference with the Tom Cruise version is, which I saw on my birthday back in 2017, and it just
21:17felt really flat. This film, in contrast, really feels as though there's an energy which propels all the
21:24way through it. And you've got the superstition, you've got all the, the sort of things that just
21:29make this a thrill ride. And you also feel the chemistry between Rachel Weisz and Brandon Fraser.
21:35And it's exactly that. But then also, there's the humour of all the other characters involved as well.
21:40I can't remember the name of the character, but they have a guy with them who is, who is a native to,
21:44to the area. And it, I think he was like a rival kind of adventurer coming, coming in. And his humour is just so
21:50funny as well. And it just, it just adds to the whole dynamic. And it's the kind of humour that
21:54I don't really think we get much in TV now anyways. Maybe it is that, that late 90s kind of
22:00charm of cinema. But I just think it's one of those movies that can't be repeated or untouched. I think
22:07it should just be left alone. No, and if it isn't John Hanna, it's almost certainly, you know,
22:11someone like John Hanna. That sort of, you know, and he plays a very, I think, English character.
22:15And it's all that sort of duplicity and that sense of, you know, people like some of the other films we've
22:19been talking about on the surface, they're one thing, but in reality, there's something else behind.
22:23So there's an interesting parallel with some of the other films that you chose. Is this something
22:27that you have ever seen on the big screen? I'm guessing that obviously you wouldn't have seen it
22:31when it came out, but I got to see it. I think it was the 25th anniversary a couple of years ago.
22:36But is this a film that you've only seen on the small screen? No, I have seen it on the big screen.
22:41I actually saw it at the Royal Albert and they had an orchestra playing at the bottom, playing the soundtrack live.
22:46And that just brought another dimension to it, because you're watching the movie
22:50and you know the movie quite well, you know what's coming, you know what the soundtrack is,
22:53but then to have them playing in front of you is just another experience entirely.
22:57That sounds amazing. So did you feel completely absorbed? Did it make the film
23:02seem even more real and more visceral to you? Absolutely. I mean, sound is a massive part of film
23:09and having it played in front of you, it just, the sound just surrounds you in a way that's different to a cinema.
23:14Here, it's in front of you, you can see them. Again, it adds that more human touch to it.
23:18So it's really nice to see that as well, because I hadn't really seen that before for me to witness
23:23that. It's just, it adds another element. It's just another memory I have of The Mummy.
23:27Well, I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. But before we go, if you live in Kent and
23:32want the chance to share four films of your choice, reach out to us at KMTV and you might be invited in to
23:38be my next guest. But for now, many thanks to Nayla Mohamid for joining us and being such a brilliant guest.
23:44And many thanks to you all for tuning in. Until then, that's all from us. Goodbye.
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