Q+A ANDREW GARFIELD
Text Matt Bochenski
Image Rex Features
A round-up of the top films, music releases and books heading your way this month
Lions For Lambs
Director Robert Redford Starring Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Andrew Garfield
Lions For Lambs is a powerful political thriller starring Robert Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep that asks hard questions about the war in the Middle East and the state of the US. But despite its A-list cast, it’s newcomer Andrew Garfield who steals the show as disaffected student Todd Hayes. Hayes is the film’s conscience – a smart, young idealist who has to make a choice between engagement and cynicism. b.there! caught up with Andrew to ask him some questions.
Do you think it’s true that young people haven’t been politically active enough in the last few years?
Yes, I do, but then it’s difficult to say that because it’s like, “What’s enough?” There have been rallies – we tried to make a change but no changes were made. How can you say what’s enough? It’s never enough.
Would you be interested in getting into politics?
I could never do that job – taking a whole country into consideration. I don’t know how strong I’d be and if I’d be able to follow my own beliefs because power seems to corrupt. Once you reach a certain level it’s difficult to hold on to what you believe.
What was Robert Redford like to work with?
He’s a really great guy. He’s everything you hope for – open and generous and he makes you feel right at home. He cares a lot about his country, about the world and about people. He’s the best.
Silent Light
Director Carlos Reygadas Starring Cornelio Wall, Miriam Toews, Maria Pankratz
Mexican director Carlos Reygadas has taken a back seat while his more famous contemporaries – such as Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) – have conquered Hollywood. But with Silent Light he has produced a masterpiece.
The film, set in Mexico’s Mennonite community, follows the journey of Johan (Cornelio Wall) whose adulterous affair with a local woman is eating away at his wife, Esther (Miriam Toews). As Johan tries, and fails, to end the affair, Reygadas poses questions of loyalty and betrayal, aided by a commanding performance from the non-professional Wall.
But the real star is the camera work. Using only natural light, the film has the sweeping essence of visual poetry. The slow pace may not be to everyone’s liking, but the sense that you’re watching something momentous is inescapable.
Book club
Tell No Lies
by Julie Compton
It’s not easy to establish yourself in the crowded market of suspense fiction, but first-time author Julie Compton has given it a good shot.
Tell No Lies follows Jack Hilliard, an assistant DA who has spent years forgetting his past in a private law firm and establishing his reputation as one of the brightest prosecutors around. But that past comes back to haunt him in the shape of Jenny, a friend who becomes a little too close just as he’s in the running to become head honcho at the DA’s office. When her past comes back into play, it threatens to destroy them both.
One of the things that distinguishes Compton’s debut is its setting in St Louis, a refreshing change from the high rises of New York. The pacing is a little slow, with a lot of time spent on the politics of the DA’s office, but as it unfolds into a story of obsession rather than a legal pot boiler, the meticulousness of the narrative makes more sense. Some of the writing is a bit hammy, but all-inall there’s a lot of promise here.
Kylie Minogue
X
It’s hard to believe the diminutive Australian pop princess has been in the business 20 years, but it’s even harder to believe this new album – her 10th (hence the name) – is her first studio record for almost four years.
It has been a gradual return for Kylie after treatment for breast cancer, but it has been no less triumphant for it. X follows hard on the heels of the sell-out Showgirl tour and the behind-the-scenes documentary White Diamond, which is available to buy on DVD this month.
The album has already spawned the massive hit single ‘2 Hearts’, which saw an older, more mature Kylie vamping it up in classic Marlene Dietrich-inspired style. The single pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album.
Working with long-time collaborators including Guy Chambers (the man behind Robbie Williams), X is packed with tried-and-tested pop classics, jaunty rhythms and the odd flirtatiously modern electro-clash riff.
It may not be the year’s most innovative record, but Kylie fans are going to love every last perky minute of it. And so will the rest of us. After all, everybody loves Kylie.
Simon & Garfunkel
The Collection
Relive the 1960s with this mammoth collection of work by New York hipsters Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Sure, Garfunkel may have been a bit weird and Simon looked like Dudley Moore’s even shorter twin brother, but don’t let that detract from the ethereal quality of their folk tunes and poetic way with words. It’s all brought together here on five CDs and one DVD (a live performance from New York’s Central Park), from ‘Mrs Robinson’ and ‘The Boxer’ to ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. A guaranteed karaoke night just waiting to happen.
Book club
Protect & Defend
by Vince Flynn
It would be easy to dislike Vince Flynn. Ever since he introduced terrorist hunter Mitch Rapp in 1999’s Transfer of Power, he has been the high-concept, high-action voice of Republican America, imagining its worst nightmares and sending Rapp to deal with them.
But you can’t dislike Flynn. For all that his books may be morally and factually questionable (Saddam Hussein has nukes, terrorists are everywhere, etc), they’re brilliant fun to read.
In his latest, Protect & Defend, Rapp is back to guard against the threat of the US’s current bête noire, Iran. There’s a terror cell on the loose and, as ever, it’s up to Rapp to kill and torture in gleefully amoral style until it has been stopped.
For all the action, it’s Flynn’s attention to detail that impresses. The book is packed with information about the US Special Forces (or ‘warriors’, as Flynn calls them), which gives everything a ring of authenticity. If you love Jack Bauer and 24, you should check out Mitch Rapp.
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