Pressure – starring andrew scott
I remember seeing the trailer for Pressure quite a long while ago. It did not appeal – stiff upper lips versus Shouty McShoutface. I couldn’t quite believe a film had been made about weather forecasting. Subsequent viewings of the trailer saw my position harden, if anything. That first appearance of the trailer seems ages ago, I had thought the film had kind of been buried: a short release and then straight to streaming.
However, some decent reviews and a quiet week saw my wife and I venture forth to see the film.
Well, don’t judge this film by its trailer, as it’s really rather good.
Pressure tells the story of the critical role accurate weather forecasting in the planning running up to D Day. Andrew Scott excels as the uptight, data driven Group Captain James Stagg. He is juxtaposed against his more the flamboyant American counterpart, Irving Krick (played ably by Chris Messina), who uses historical charts and patterns. Krick is adamant that the invasion can go ahead, as planned, on the 5th June, whereas Stagg insists a storm too big for the successful execution of the invasion is due that day.
Damian Lewis chews quite a bit of scenery as Montgomery, constantly snapping for the 5th; Kerry Condon oils the wheels as Eisenhower’s right hand woman, Kay Summersby. Scott deserves the plaudits coming his way for his excellent performance, but for me it’s Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower who steals the show. It is a performance of measure and restraint, both of which break as the pressure (geddit) overwhelms him at times. How he has matured as an actor – those big, bulging eyes working so hard as he weighs up his options. It is a superb portrayal of leadership – knowing when to rouse the crowd, when to close the door and go one to one, when to let loose and when to pull someone in.
The film is clearly about a contrast of styles between Stagg and Krick, with Eisenhower, Summersby and Monty pushing and pulling around the edge of this clash of personalities. For all that, I feel the film is ultimately about truth and facts. In age when it seems increasingly difficult to locate the truth, and in which so many of our leaders seem to pay so little heed to it (or make it up), this film asks us to consider if we are prepared to allow the truth and facts overrule our instincts and will.
Which is ironic, as the film has completely ignored the Norwegian meteorologist Sverre Petterssen, who was apparently instrumental (more so than Stagg according to some sources) in getting Eisenhower to face the facts and delay the invasion. Never let the truth stand in the way of good story, so they say, but this omission does bely the film’s opening claim to be a “True story” (as opposed to being based on one).
That aside, this is a solid, compelling drama with top drawer performances from Condon, Scott and, above all, Fraser.
But is it any good? The film defies my forecast and is a ray of light!
pulp: what do you do for an encore?
Apparently some Britpop era pub – rock band from Manchester have a documentary on cinematic release at the moment. Why would want to see that when they could see a documentary about the more original, wittier, more literate and more visually stimulating Pulp?
Garth Jennings (a contemporary of Jarvis Cocker at Central St. Martin’s) has long been a Pulp collaborator and in this charming documentary he pieces together archive footage with present time interviews with the band (principally Jarvis, of course) and footage from the band’s June 2025 mini tour.
The format works well, with good – humoured dives into the band’s early days and Jarvis’ marginalia as he plotted the band’s look and future. We also get to see the Dalek Jarvis’ grandad made him – take that, Oasis! There are nods to John Peel who first played the band on national radio and Steve Mackey, the band’s bassist, who sadly passed away in 2023.
We also get the band’s take on their aesthetic – that they wanted to be a pop band, not a rock band; their interest in that which society and culture discards (pulp, in other words) and the sifting of time and the role music plays in that. As Cocker says, songs contain ‘pockets of energy from your past life that’s released again when you perform them.” As I say, take that, Oasis.
But it’s the concert footage which stands out. I saw them in Manchester on the tour filmed for this doc (the footage here is of a London show). Whilst the sound at the Co – Op arena was the best I’ve ever heard, I was sitting so far away, it felt like I was watching a Subbuteo player on a stage in Manchester whilst I sat in Rochdale. As such, I fell into a scenario I hate – watching a live gig on a big screen far away.
The view from Rochdale
So I loved this film as I got to see Jarvis on a big screen in a small cinema (the wonderful Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds) and thus the expressions, wiggles, gestures and a ha ha’s were there to see and enjoy.
What a wonderful love letter to a band who, along with Blur, wrote Britpop songs which actually articulated what Britain was like at the end of the last century, from wood chip on walls to fields somewhere in Hampshire, by way of smoking fags and playing some pool. As the great man says – pockets of energy released from the past.
Pulp: What do you do for an Encore? is on limited release and then available to stream on Mubi.
But is it any good? Mad for it!
david byrne – american utopia, the film
Is it a gig? Is it a film? No! It’s a Spike Lee directed film of a theatrical performance of David Byrne’s American Utopia show, screened for one night only in the UK.
With American Utopia, Byrne had the brilliant idea of making his fellow musicians mobile and more participative. In basic terms, instead of having a drummer stuck behind a drum kit, the drum kit is deconstructed, and we are treated to up to six percussionists carrying various parts of a drum kit/percussion instruments and so they can move, dance, synchronise with other performers. Similarly, the keyboard player carries his keyboard. It works brilliantly.
As the screening was for one night only (although I’m sure it will be repeated), it’s rather pointless to review the film. That said, it’s hard to fault the show: Byrne’s voice has held up remarkably well; the show is superbly lit and choreographed; the musicians play faultlessly and the songs (despite a lull two thirds of the way through the performance) are some of the best and most iconic of the last 50 years. Byrne talks between most of the songs, giving them context and texture, which I found to be really enjoyable and interesting.
But is any good? Yes, it’s brilliant.
So, that being said, it perhaps makes more sense to review going to the cinema to see a film of a gig. I’ll preface this by saying I love going to gigs (and I saw American Utopia live in Manchester in 2018) and I’m a big fan of the NT Live films, where there’s a performance of a play is shown at the cinema.
So, what’s it like sitting in a cinema watching a gig?
A bit odd, in my opinion.
Look, my wife loved it – comfortable seat, clear view, no pushing and barging. A friend of mine also went to that Manchester performance of American Utopia – he and his kids spent half of the night standing up/sitting down to let people pass them to go to the lavatories. This paled into insignificance compared by the unease caused by the drugged – up middle aged couple in front of them who spent the evening turning around and gurning at them and telling them that although Byrne was good, he was “No Lionel Ritchie”. Quite.
So there was none of that nonsense and we were home and hosed by 9:30pm. There’s a lot to like about that.
But I like gigs, I like to look where I want to look, not where the camera points me. I want to sing along a bit. I want to dance (well, sway rhythmically from time to time) and this was so odd as no one danced in the cinema. I want to get a bit sweaty. Above all, what I got last night was sound which had been cleaned and digitised and that was the biggest shortcoming for me – at a gig the sound is around you, there’s a richness but a dirtiness to it. The guitar crashed on “Once in a Lifetime” last night but it’s a bit like it came with subtitles – *Sound of guitar crashing* – rather than it being, well, a guitar crashing 20 feet away.
Eight years on, I can still remember American Utopia live; I doubt I will really remember the film version eight weeks on.
But is it any good? Having slept on it, I have concluded that the trick is not to regard a film of a gig as a substitute for a gig. It’s its own thing, its own artistic entity. As such, yes it’s good.