#OnTheBigScreen: Joker, Late Show and NT Live's Fleabag

Joker

Directed, co-written and produced by Todd Phillips, Joker is the filmmaker’s original vision of the infamous DC villain – an origin story infused with, but distinctly outside, the character’s more traditional mythologies. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society.

It’s the early 1980s, and Gotham City is in turmoil. But there is no criminal underbelly at work, nor a mob overlord putting all at risk to serve his own interests. It’s a much more palpable concern for anyone living within the dystopian borders of this divided community of haves and have-nots growing ever further apart, the tensions only exacerbated by a weeks-long garbage strike.

Gotham is teetering on the edge of a fall; there are only the city and those who oversee it, and as in any municipality short of funding for the fundless, services designed to alleviate the difficulties of the disenfranchised are being cut. No, this is not the Gotham, nor the Joker, one would recognise from 80 years of established storytelling depicted on the page or screen.

Rather, this is an original, standalone origin of this infamous character, the tale of an atmosphere of unrest fostering a man on the brink who, like his city – and likely, because of it – grows closer to the precipice: Arthur Fleck.

Phillips (Borat, The Hangover trilogy) directed Joker from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oscar-nominated writer Scott Silver (The Fighter), based on characters from DC.

Late Show

An aspirational comedy exploring the positive aspects of diversity in the workplace.

After almost 30 years, a groundbreaking talk-show host suspects she may soon be losing her coveted seat on late-night television unless she manages a game-changing transformation. Legendary talk-show host Katherine Newbury (Oscar-winner Emma Thompson) is a pioneer in her field.

The only woman ever to have a long-running programme on late night, she keeps her writers’ room on a short leash – and all male. But when her ratings plummet and she is accused of being a “woman who hates women”, Katherine puts gender equality on her to-do list and impulsively hires Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a chemical plant efficiency expert from suburban Pennsylvania, as the first and only female on her writing staff.

With rumours swirling that Katherine is being replaced by a younger, hipper male host, she demands that the writers make her funny and relevant again. A lifelong fan, Molly is determined to prove she’s not just a diversity hire, but the one person who can turn her idol’s career around. Going against everything Katherine has staked her reputation on, she urges her to make the show more contemporary, authentic and personal, a move that could make Molly’s career – or send her back to the chemical plant for good.

Directed by Nisha Ganatra (Better Things, Transparent, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project), from a screenplay by actor, writer and producer Mindy Kaling.

Bottom Of The 9th

A tragic mistake lands 19-year-old baseball phenom Sonny Stano in jail before his burgeoning professional baseball career gets off the ground. Now at 39 and fresh out of prison, he (Joe Manganiello) works to win back his respect, his family, his lost love and his dream of being a professional baseball player.

“A meditation on the life of the artist; the frustration, the fear of commitment and most importantly the inability to suppress the talent that exists within, especially when that talent is at the core of the person’s soul,” says director Raymond De Felitta, who directed from a screenplay by Robert Bruzio.

NT Live: Fleabag

Dedicated to showing some of the brightest and best performances that contemporary theatre has to offer, Cinema Nouveau and National Theatre Live present Fleabag, a rip-roaring look at “some sort of woman living her sort of life”.

Written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Vicky Jones, the one-woman show inspired the runaway hit television series that won six 2019 Emmy Awards, claiming top honours for outstanding writing, best comedy series, best directing and best lead actress.

Fleabag may appear emotionally unfiltered and oversexed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

Fleabag won The Stage Best Solo Performer Award, plus the Off-West End Award for Most Promising New Playwright and Best Female Performance. It was adapted into a BBC Three television series in partnership with Amazon Prime Video in 2016 and earned Waller-Bridge a Bafta Award for Best Female Comedy Performance. The second season premiered on BBC Three and Amazon Prime Video earlier this year to universal acclaim.

Filmed live in London’s West End, Fleabag will screen at Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau theatres in Pretoria, Joburg and Cape Town and Gateway Commercial KZN on the 5, 6, 9 and 10 October 2019.

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