Kevin Sturton's Blog

Rumours of a remake of the cult British TV show The Prisoner have been around since the early 90’s, but now finally thanks to AMC it is upon us. American audiences have already seen the six-part series but UK viewers will have to wait a bit. The trailer certainly looks promising. As an admirer of the original I had my doubts whether this new version would be worth the effort, but from the footage included here it looks like The Prisoner 2009 will not disgrace to the memory of the late, great Patrick McGoohan.

The always excellent Jim Caviezel follows in McGoohan’s footsteps as Number Six, a man who awakens to find himself trapped in a mysterious place called The Village. There are no hints in the trailer to confirm whether or not Caviezel’s Number Six has a background as a secret agent, but the set-up is much the same. Number Six tries to escape, but finds there is no way out. In the original, Number Two was usually played by a different actor every week, though here it will apparently be Ian McKellen for the entire mini-series.

The new desert setting looks interesting. There was no way they could return to the remarkable Welsh village of Portmerion without The Prisoner 2009 being too familiar. Better to keep certain elements of the original and relocate. The villagers still smile like there is something wrong with them and say goodbye with the words “Be seeing you.” Best of all, Rover is still the same, an oddly terrifying giant white balloon. It may never match the groundbreaking originality of McGoohan's vision, but at the very least it should make for interesting viewing.

The London Film Festival 2009 begins on the 14^th October with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr Fox. Here are some of the screenings I’m particularly looking forward to.

Documentary about the great French director’s Henri-George Clouzot (Les Diaboliques) failed attempt at directing a pop-art inspired study of jealousy starring Romy Schneider. Clouzot apparently shot some remarkable test footage for Inferno, while some sequences have been recreated using contemporary actors, including Berenice Bejo (OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies).

For me Clare Denis is one of the finest directors working today. White Material is set in an African country during a political upheaval. Isabelle Huppert stars as the owner of a coffee plantation determined to hold on to her land. Cult star Christopher Lambert, or Christophe as he is always billed in French movies, plays her husband who fully intends to get them both out of the country before the trouble really starts.

John Hillcoat directs this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Hillcoat has impressed with his earlier features Ghosts of the Civil Dead (1988), To Have and to Hold (1997) and The Proposition (2005). The Road sees him working in Hollywood for the first time but the advance word is good.

Isaac De Bankole stars as a hitman killing time in Spain before carrying out his assignment. The trailer suggests this will be something special. Jim Jarmusch directs a starry cast which includes Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Nicolas Winding Refn reunites with his Pusher/Pusher 2 star Mads Mikkelson (Casino Royale) for this medieval epic about a mute warrior named One-Eye getting caught up in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Winding Refn has already delivered one great film this year in Bronson and Mikkelson is always watchable.

Julianne Moore stars as a suspicious wife who hires a younger woman to test her husband’s (Liam Neeson) fidelity. Director Atom Egoyan tends to make films about people who are dealing with loss in some way, whether it is through bereavement, or longing for a past event or happier times and Chloe seems to fall into this category.

Matt Damon gets fat and grows a moustache for this thriller from Steven Soderbergh. The Informant! is based on an true story but events seems to have been so bizarre that it appears to be a comedy and not the gritty thriller I was expecting.

Official website for the London Film Festival 2009.