The Storms of Jeremy Thomas. (15.)
Directed by Mark Cousins.
Featuring Jeremy Thomas, Mark Cousins, Debra Winger and Tilda Swinton. In cinemas or streaming from Curzon Home Cinema. 90 mins.
Jeremy Thomas is one of the world's leading independent film producers. He's worked with Roeg, Cronenberg, Linklater, overseen some remarkable films (Bad Timing, Eureka, Crash, Sexy Beast, The Sheltering Sky) and picked up an Oscar for Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. His reward for this is to get the Mark Cousins treatment, spending five days in his Alfa Romeo with The Whispering Death, driving from London to Cannes and another five at the Festival for the world premiere of Takeshi Miike's First Love and various meetings to try and sell Pinocchio.
Cousins divides the film into six parts - Cars, Sex, Death, Politics, Cannes, Endings – and the title comes from Cousin's notion that his films are kinds of storms. Though his films are often controversial and a bit fruity Thomas and his story seem anything but stormy. Born into wealth and privilege - his father Ralph directed the Doctor films, uncle Gerald the Carry Ons – he parleyed that into a privileged and glamorous life travelling the world and working with interesting people. He comes across as a very British bohemian.
He seems to be a decent sort, and that's about all you learn about him from this film. Cousins will never take the boring, obvious route but the boring obvious route does occasionally take you to a few helpful destinations. Perhaps Thomas wasn't the most chatty of subjects, but you really do learn next to nothing about him and what he actually does on a film. Instead, he gets to react to Cousins enthusing about his favourite scenes in his films, which are usually the early ones.
Thomas films
High Rise
Dogman
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Tales of Tales
Only Lovers Left Alive.
Directed by Mark Cousins.
Featuring Jeremy Thomas, Mark Cousins, Debra Winger and Tilda Swinton. In cinemas or streaming from Curzon Home Cinema. 90 mins.
Jeremy Thomas is one of the world's leading independent film producers. He's worked with Roeg, Cronenberg, Linklater, overseen some remarkable films (Bad Timing, Eureka, Crash, Sexy Beast, The Sheltering Sky) and picked up an Oscar for Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. His reward for this is to get the Mark Cousins treatment, spending five days in his Alfa Romeo with The Whispering Death, driving from London to Cannes and another five at the Festival for the world premiere of Takeshi Miike's First Love and various meetings to try and sell Pinocchio.
Cousins divides the film into six parts - Cars, Sex, Death, Politics, Cannes, Endings – and the title comes from Cousin's notion that his films are kinds of storms. Though his films are often controversial and a bit fruity Thomas and his story seem anything but stormy. Born into wealth and privilege - his father Ralph directed the Doctor films, uncle Gerald the Carry Ons – he parleyed that into a privileged and glamorous life travelling the world and working with interesting people. He comes across as a very British bohemian.
He seems to be a decent sort, and that's about all you learn about him from this film. Cousins will never take the boring, obvious route but the boring obvious route does occasionally take you to a few helpful destinations. Perhaps Thomas wasn't the most chatty of subjects, but you really do learn next to nothing about him and what he actually does on a film. Instead, he gets to react to Cousins enthusing about his favourite scenes in his films, which are usually the early ones.
Thomas films
High Rise
Dogman
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Tales of Tales
Only Lovers Left Alive.
