Fast & Furious Six (2013)

Find their weaknesses and we’ll exploit them. After their successful heist in Brazil, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his professional criminal crew have fled around the world and are living peacefully. Dom shares his life with former Rio police officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky); his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) is living with former LAPD officer and FBI agent turned criminal Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and their infant son Jack; former Mossad agent Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) and professional street racer and Dom’s former business partner in the Dominican Republic, Han Seoul-Oh aka Han Lue (Sung Kang) are in a relationship; Brian’s childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) live in luxury. Meanwhile DSS agents Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Riley Hicks (Gina Carano) are investigating the destruction of a Russian military convoy by a crew led by former special ops soldier and former British SAS Major Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Hobbs persuades Dom to help capture Shaw by showing him a photo of his supposedly murdered wife Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) – who is in fact alive and well and working with Shaw and his crew. Dom and his crew accept the mission in exchange for an amnesty allowing them to return home to the United States. In London, Shaw’s hideout is found but revealed to be a distraction while Shaw’s crew performs a heist at an Interpol building. Shaw flees the scene by custom car, detonating his hideout and disabling most of the police, leaving Dom, Brian, Tej, Roman, Han, Gisele, Hobbs and Riley to pursue him. Letty Ortiz arrives to help Shaw, shooting Dom without hesitation before escaping. Back at HQ Hobbs tells Dom’s crew that Shaw is stealing parts to create a ‘Nightshade’ device that can shut down all power intending to sell it to the highest bidder. Shaw’s investigation into Dom’s crew reveals Letty’s past relationship with Dom but she is suffering from amnesia. Dom’s crew discovers that Shaw is connected to Arturo Braga (John Ortiz) a drug lord whom Dom and Brian imprisoned (in Fast & Furious). Ride or die. While Tej buys several cars from an auction for the mission, Brian returns to Los Angeles as a prisoner to question Braga, who informs him that Shaw helped him build his drug cartel and reveals that Letty survived the explosion that seemingly killed her; Shaw took her in after discovering her amnesia. With FBI assistance, Brian is released from prison, regrouping with the team in London. Dom challenges Letty in a street race; afterwards he returns her cross necklace but she chooses to remain with Shaw. After Letty leaves, Shaw arrives and offers Dom a chance to walk away, threatening to otherwise hurt his family, but Dom refuses. Tej tracks Shaw’s next attack to a Spanish NATO base. Shaw’s crew assaults a highway military convoy carrying a computer chip to complete Nightshade. Dom’s crew interferes while Shaw, accompanied by Letty, commandeers a tank, destroying a slew cars en route. Brian and Roman flip the tank before it causes further damage, resulting in Letty being thrown from the vehicle as Dom saves her. Shaw and his crew are captured, but reveal Mia has been kidnapped by Shaw’s henchmen Vegh (Clara Paget) and Klaus (Kim Kold) … It’s like we’re hunting our evil twins. The action series ratchets straight back into the heist groove it’s making its own. That convoy assault is brilliantly mounted. Just because you know how to ride doesn’t mean you know me. The return of Rodriguez to what was not established as an international heist genre franchise with car racing one small part of the original street racing impetus; the expansion of the cast to include mixed martial artist Carano creating the opportunity for an awesome catfight with Rodriquez in London’s Underground. With its happy-sad diad operating as Dom realises his happy home with Elena is challenged in the knowledge that Letty is alive there is real emotional heft to ground the fabulous action drama. The tension is sustained by how Dom and Letty will resolve what if anything is left of their relationship: that’s the real heart of the spectacular matter. Written by Chris Morgan based on Gary Scott Thompson’s characters. Directed by Justin Lin. This is who we are. MM#4175

Fast 5 (2011)

Aka Fast & Furious 5/Fast & Furious 5: Rio Heist. You’re mistaken thinking you’re in America. This is Brazil! As convicted felon Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is being transported by bus to Lompoc Prison, his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and friend and FBI agent and former LAPD officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) lead an assault on the bus and free Dom. While the authorities search for them, the trio escapes to Rio de Janeiro. Awaiting Dom’s arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince (Matt Schulze) and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. Brian and Mia learn that agents from the DEA are also on the train and that the cars are seized property. When Dom arrives with his accomplices, he realizes that their leader Zizi (Michael Irby) is only interested in stealing the Ford GT40. Dom has Mia steal the car herself before he and Brian fight Zizi and his henchmen, during which Zizi kills the DEA Agents. Brian and Dom are captured and brought to drug kingpin Hernan Reyes (Joaquim De Almeida) the owner of the cars and Zizi’s boss. Reyes orders the pair interrogated to discover the car’s location but they escape to their safehouse. Dom, Brian, and Mia are framed as the murderers of the DEA Agents and the U.S. government sends a team of Diplomatic Security Service Agents led by DSS Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) with assistance from local officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) to Rio to arrest them. While Brian, Dom and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is caught removing a computer chip from it. He admits he was planning on selling the chip to Reyes on his own and Dom angrily forces him to leave. Brian investigates the chip and discovers it contains financial details of Reyes’ criminal empire including the locations of US$100 million in cash. Hobbs and his team arrive at Dom’s safehouse only to find it under assault by Reyes’ men who are searching for the chip. Brian, Dom and Mia escape after a chase across the favelas. Dom suggests they split up and leave Rio but Mia announces she is pregnant with Brian’s child. Dom agrees to stick together, suggesting they steal Reyes’ money to start a new life. They organise a team to perform the heist: Han (Sung Kang), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges), Gisele (Gal Gadot), Leo (Tego Calderon) and Santos (Don Omar). To centralise the cash, Dom’s team attacks one of the locations and burns the money in front of Reyes’ staff. Afraid of further attacks, Reyes consolidates the remaining money in an evidence vault inside a police station. Dom’s team does surveillance, buys equipment then acquires Reyes’ handprint. After their fastest cars prove to be too slow for security cameras, they steal four 2010 Dodge Charger police cars to blend in. Vince rejoins Dom’s team after saving Mia from Reyes’ men. Hobbs’ team eventually finds and arrests Dom, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them for extradition to the United States in a Gurkha LAPV, the convoy is attacked by Reyes’ men … You can change your names but you can’t change your faces. The gang’s back again in the fifth entry in the series – the original crew, the barbecue, the Coronas, the cars, the girls, the issues of loyalty and family. Chris Morgan’s screenplay commences with an exciting prison bus breakout and then settles into the men and women on a mission story about heists that now guns the narrative engine with just one feature race. I hear your sister is beautiful. Wherever she hides I will find her. The ante is amped up when Mia comes under threat from a very persuasive villain. The locations – Rio, Puerto Rico and Atlanta – feed into the physical beauty on display both human and vehicular. Let’s go get some cars! Even if we are moving away from the street racing origins of the franchise it’s the evolving and widening group of family members and Diesel’s philosophy and his on-off friendship with Brian that is the solid heart of the action – and this is packed with action. Backed into a corner, the gang will do anything to get out. The addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to the cast seems left-field but adds an interesting and playful dimension – not to mention bringing more actual muscle to a muscle car franchise – as he tracks down the ensemble and finds they might be of use to him with a much bigger target in sight: good guys and bad guys, it’s hard to tell who’s who. He also adds to the colourful canvas for future episodes. The chase scenes are spectacular and the post-credits sequence gives us a tasty preview of coming attractions. This is a fun fast-moving charisma machine. Directed by Justin Lin. Look at our family now – I already lost my family once. I’m not going to go through that again

Succession TVS 2018 – 2023

Buckle up fuckleheads! It started shooting the day of the November 2016 US elections and ended a few hours ago. Four seasons of a media dynasty fighting each other and trying to take over the world, a weirdly compelling Shakespearean take on a family so recognisable to Rupert Murdoch that not leaking information to the show created by Jesse Armstrong was part of his divorce settlement with Jerry Hall (too late, we fear). Patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) was foul-mouthed and wholly lacking introspection. The first season focussed on the inadequate elder son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) of his second marriage who gets involved in a Chappaquiddick-like death; the second on Logan’s origins: the simple shedding of a shirt to go swimming revealed a back covered in scars inflicted in childhood. The third was all about Shiv (Sarah Snook) and her courtier husband, empty suit Tom Wambsgans (Matthew MacFadyean) whose hilariously toxic relationship with ambitious and very tall Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) has provided some of TV’s wittiest exchanges as they jostled for position. The son of Logan’s first marriage, the ludicrous Connor (Alan Ruck), squanders his fortune running for President and proposes starting a post-EU Habsburg Alliance from his next residence in Slovenia. The final season returns to Roman (Kieran Culkin), the younger, favoured son whose self-aware if masturbatory approach to everything leads to Logan accidentally receiving a dick pic in a meeting. Roman’s support of a fascistic US Presidential candidate marks him out for future success just as a cataclysm occurs and company takeover threatens. It began on a deathbed and ends in a boardroom. It’s been real. What a ride it has been. Fuck off!

Fast & Furious (2009)

Aka Fast and Furious 4. The Dominican Republic. Still on the run from the law, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew consisting of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Tego Leo (Tego Calderon), Rico Santos (Don Omar), Cara (Mirtha Michelle) and Han Lue (Sung Kang) are hijacking fuel tankers. After completing the heist, Han informs Dom that the police are on their trail, making him decide to disband the crew and leave Letty behind to protect them all from being caught. Months later, in Panama City, Dom gets a call from his sister Mia, who tells him Letty has been killed in a car crash. Dom heads back to Los Angeles to attend her funeral and finds traces of nitromethane at the crash site. Knowing there’s only one place in the area that sells the compound, he goes to visit the local shop. Once there, he coerces the mechanic into giving the name of the buyer, David Park (Ron Yuan). Dom is informed that the only car that uses nitromethane in the area is a green 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Meanwhile, FBI agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) is trying to track down Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga aka Ramon Campos (John Ortiz), whose identity to the public is unknown; his search also leads him to Park. Dom arrives at Park’s apartment and hangs him out of the window by his ankles before Brian arrives. Brian saves Park, who in turn becomes the FBI’s new informant and gets Brian into a street race. Brian selects a modified 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the impound lot; Dom also shows up, in his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Ramon Campos, Braga’s second-in-command, and Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot), Braga’s liaison, reveal that the winner will become the last driver on a team that traffics heroin between the Mexico and US border. Dom wins by bumping Brian’s car while in nitro, making him lose control. Brian uses his power as an FBI agent to arrest another driver, Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes) and takes his place on the team. The team meets up with Braga’s henchman Fenix Calderon (Laz Alonso) and Dom notices that Fenix drives the same Torino the mechanic described. They drive across the border using tunnels to avoid detection. Dom confronts Fenix and learns that he kills the drivers after their work is done and that he killed Letty when she tried to escape from him. A stand-off ensues: Dominic detonates his car with nitrous oxide to distract Braga’s men while Brian hijacks a 1999 Hummer H1 with $60 million worth of heroin in it. Brian and Dom drive back to Los Angeles and hide the heroin in a police impound lot, where they pick up a modified 2008 Subaru Imprez WRX STI hatchback. They reunite with Mia (Jordana Brewster) back at Dom’s house. Dom attacks Brian when he learns he was the last person in contact with Letty but Brian explains that Letty was working undercover, tracking Braga in exchange for clearing Dominic’s record. Brian tells his superiors that in exchange for Dominic’s pardon, he will lure Braga into a trap, forcing him to show up to exchange money for the heroin … Maybe you’re the bad guy pretending to be the good guy. The fourth entry in the series returns to the original formula and the gang reassembles for a direct sequel to the original following the standalone third Tokyo Drift entry and it’s also written by that film’s Chris Morgan from the characters by Gary Scott Thompson and directed by Justin Lin. This was the first in the franchise to be produced by Diesel and also to feature haptic motion technology created by Quebec-based D-Box. The original crew reappears with the suburban barbecue, the Coronas, the cars, the girls, the issues of belonging and family. You remember her face? I don’t. Last time I saw it, it was burning. The exotic globetrotting continues with plenty of local talent deployed to round out the ensemble, with the portents heavily hinted at in earlier outings ending in tragedy for a major character and loyalty seriously tested when Dom and Brian are forced to overcome their mutual distrust to to face a common enemy. At least we know you can’t beat me straight up. The core of identity and brotherhood under the skin (or the hood) that forms the series is at the centre of the story. In a sense, the occasionally rackety narrative is the template for all the planned future films with the opening hijack bringing us back to where it all began but also indicating the heist sub-genre to which it would turn. The tunnel chases on the Mexican border are quite thrilling if a little funky but there’s a true attempt to round out the characterisation’s essentials. Hold on to something tight

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

It’s not the ride, it’s the rider. Troubled high school student Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) and athlete Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan) race their cars, a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and a 2003 Dodge Viper. Sean cuts through a structure to catch up with Clay. Desperate to win, Clay hits Sean’s car repeatedly until they reach a high-speed turn, which causes both cars to crash; Clay’s Viper hits a cement pipe and Sean’s Monte Carlo rolls. Clay’s wealthy family helps him escape punishment but Sean is a repeat offender so to avoid being sent to jail his mother (Lynda Boyd) agrees he should be sent to live in Japan with his estranged father (Brian Goodman), a US Navy officer and strict disciplinarian stationed in Tokyo. Sean befriends army brat Twinkie (Bow Wow) who introduces him to the world of drift racing. After driving to an underground car show in Twinkie’s 2005 Hulk-themed Volkswagen Touran, Sean has a confrontation with Takashi aka ‘DK’ or Drift King (Brian Tee) who drives a 2003 Nissan 350Z over Sean chatting to Takashi’s girlfriend, Neela (Nathalie Kelley). Though barred from driving, Sean decides to race against Takashi,,who has family ties to the Japanese gangsters known as the Yakuza through his uncle, in a 1999 Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S loaned by a racer named Han (Sung Kang) but loses his first race with Takashi due to his unfamiliarity with drifting. To repay his debt for the car he destroyed, Sean agrees to work for Han, who drives a 1994 Veilside Fortune Mazda RX-7. They become friends and Han offers to teach Sean how to drift, explaining that he is helping Sean as he is the only person willing to stand up to Takashi. Sean soon masters drifting by practicing in a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, gaining respect after defeating DK’s right-hand man, Morimoto (Leonardo Nam). Sean asks Neela out on a date and learns that after her mother died, she moved in with Takashi’s grandmother, which led to their relationship. Enraged, Takashi beats Sean up the next day, warning him to stay away from Neela. Neela then leaves Takashi and moves in with Sean and Han. Takashi’s uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba), the head of the Yakuza, reprimands Takashi for allowing Han to steal from him. Takashi and Morimoto confront Han, Sean, and Neela about the thefts. Twinkie causes a distraction, allowing Han, Sean, and Neela to flee, who are then pursued by Takashi and Morimoto. During the chase, Morimoto crashes, leaving Takashi to pursue the trio on his own… You just can’t keep moving away every time you get in trouble. A change of scene to the Far East and culture shock give this some grit – that and a new cast led by Black who is practically Southern-fried with his unreconstructed thick as molasses accent. Written by Chris Morgan based on the characters created by Gary Scott Thompson, the fish out of water scenario is compounded by the high school setting and the confrontational Oedipal story between Sean and his father whose tiny shack home is a stark contrast with the kind of high-end locations more commonly in the series (#1327 aside, of course). Boys. All they care about is who’s got the biggest engine. There are touches of realism and issues with sleaze that make it quite a frank narrative. The neon-lit night-time shooting in the centre of Tokyo is superb and as usual the cars are the stars. This serves the purpose of introducing other facets to the series: tragedy, gangsterism and teenagers in lust, as well as giving the legendary Chiba a fun role. Directed by Justin Lin. Life’s simple. You make choices and you don’t look back

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Nobody said nothin’ ’bout raising the stakes. Miami. After assisting known felon Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), former LAPD officer Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) who is effectively a fugitive, makes a living taking part in illegal street races organized by his mechanic friend Tej Parker (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges). After winning a race, the police show up and Brian is arrested. He is given a deal by his former boss, FBI Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) and US Customs Agent Markham (James Remar) to go undercover and bring down Argentinian drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) in exchange for clearing his criminal record. Brian agrees, on the condition that he gets to choose his partner. Brian heads home to Barstow in California, where he enlists the help of estranged childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) who had served jail time and is currently under parole for stealing cars. Blaming Brian for his arrest due to his being a cop, the two engage in a brief scuffle after which Roman agrees to help in exchange for the same deal that Brian was offered. In Miami, Agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), who has been undercover with Verone for a year, assists them into his organisation. After acquiring confiscated vehicles and being hired by Verone as his drivers, the duo returns to a Customs/FBI hideout, where Roman confronts Markham over his interference with their mission. Brian informs Bilkins and Markham that Verone plans to smuggle the money into his private jet and fly off. To evade their GPS traces, Brian and Roman challenge a pair of muscle cars drivers they raced earlier for pink slips. Despite engine and power output handicaps, Brian and Roman manage to win the race and the other two cars. Roman confronts Brian about his attraction to Monica and the constant threat of Verone’s men, but they patch up their differences. At a nightclub, Brian and Roman witness Verone torturing Miami PD Detective Whitworth (Mark Boone Jr. ) into giving his men a window of opportunity to make their getaway. The next morning, Monica warns them that they will be killed once the drop is made. Despite this, Markham refuses to call off the job, claiming that it is their one chance to catch Verone. On the day of the mission, Brian and Roman begin transporting duffel bags of Verone’s money with two of Verone’s men – Enrique (Mo Gallini) and Roberto (Roberto Sanchez) – riding along to watch them. Before the 15-minute window is set, Whitworth, the detective in charge, decides to call in the police to move in for the arrest … I wouldn’t need a fresh start if it wasn’t for you. Written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas based on the characters created by Gary Scott Thompson, the second film in the franchise expands its bandwidth to Florida in the first instance, drafting in new personnel, a new cop friend in female form and a new villain (Hauser looking considerably less chunky than in TV’s current monster show Yellowstone) but the swerve loses the first film’s core of identity because it has no true connection with the original. Without Diesel (who didn’t like the screenplay) and his motto of family, this moves into more conventional thriller territory and his absence is keenly felt with the emotional connection between him and Brian sorely missing. However Tyrese and Ludacris make a decent double act and this has one girl driver, Devon Aoki as Suki, who drives a 2001 Honda S2000 AP1 and leads an all-female crew. The only way I’ll do this is if I get to pick the driver. The gorgeous movie star home location comes courtesy of Sylvester Stallone’s Coral Gables mansion which serves as Verone’s lair. It’s getting thick real quick. Walker drives a Nissan Skyline GT-R model R34 for the opening sequence while Tyrese has a convertible Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. I like you but I still got to kill you. It’s my job. Like a preview of coming attractions with alternative modes of transport meeting their maker, this has a superlative concluding scene-sequence that involves a boatwreck and very impressive it is too. End credits are played over a video game animation, the kind of car simulation most viewers experience as opposed to the stimulation of the fabulous cars on display here. The score is by David Arnold. Directed by John Singleton. Guns, murders and crooked cops? I was made for this!

Kenneth Anger 3rd February 1927 – 11th May 2023

The death has been announced at the age of 96 of Kenneth Anger, the trailblazing king of underground cinema who made more than 30 experimental short films. His technique of jump cuts and montages and his use of glaring colours and jangling soundtracks influenced everyone from David Lynch and Martin Scorsese to John Waters and Gus Van Sant. A pioneer of homoerotic classics like mythical biker movie Scorpio Rising with its girl-band songs and the mystical Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (starring Anais Nin), his association with witchcraft and occult arcana (he followed Aleister Crowley’s Thelemite philosophy) and avocation of Satanism made him something of an outcast. He collaborated with The Rolling Stones and while the mainstream media never gave him a job despite MTV’s clear stylistic debt, he got his own back in 1959 with the publication of the notorious Hollywood Babylon, that scandalous volume of everything the business would prefer was kept hidden, filled with terrible true tales and photographs of dead drug-addled movie stars. (It got a sequel in 1984 but the third volume remains unpublished due its content about Tom Cruise and Scientology. Frankly we’re tickled by the idea that a Satanist fears Scientologists: what did he know?). Yet he loved everything about Hollywood, fascinated as a young child by the stories told by his grandmother’s friend about her work at the studios. He may or may not have appeared in 1935’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He made his directing debut with the gay surrealist short Fireworks in 1947, shot at his parents’ Santa Monica home one weekend when they were away. It was the first gay narrative film made in the US and gained him a following in Europe through Jean Cocteau who introduced him to the avant garde set. He was a major cult celebrity but was never invited into the filmmaking mainstream. We saw him play Puck with an obtuse overreaching public interviewer twenty years ago when he deliberately swerved her query about the carnivalesque and instead went winking into a long amusing yarn about his experiences in Rio during Carnival. We were lucky enough to have a brief encounter with the man after that event and get our various Anger films and books signed. He was charming to a fault. He was very open about his friendship with Manson moron Bobby Beausoleil who composed the Lucifer Rising score in prison (the film starring Marianne Faithfull was finally completed in 1981) after Anger had a falling out with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. The Magick Lantern Cycle is the title attributed to nine of his kaleidoscopic films and constitutes his magnum opus. Rest in peace, Demon Brother Kenneth, wherever you are.

Through his kaleidoscopic films, which combine sumptuous visuals, popular music soundtracks, and a focus on queer themes and narratives, Anger laid the groundwork for the avant garde art scenes of the later 20th century, as well as for the visual languages of contemporary queer and youth culture. Anger considered cinematographic projection a psychosocial ritual capable of unleashing physical and emotional energies. The artist saw film as nothing less than a spiritual medium, a conveyer of spectacular alchemy that transforms the viewer: from the statement by Spruth and Magers, Anger’s gallery

Helmut Berger 29th May 1944 – 18th May 2023

The death has taken place of probably the most absurdly beautiful man to ever grace film and the first to appear on the cover of Vogue (July 1970) along with then-girlfriend Marisa Berenson. Austrian-born Helmut Berger was reportedly discovered when a film crew were staying at his family’s hotel. His excellence at portraying highly sexed narcissists invariably contributed to his association with cinematic decadence, a reputation sustained in his long personal and professional relationship with mentor Luchino Visconti, who directed him several times. Their first meeting is approximately memorialised in Voices in the Garden, Dirk Bogarde’s great roman a clef. Undoubtedly his flamboyant bisexuality was the basis for his casting as a playboy who seduces Elizabeth Taylor’s plastic surgery victim in Ash Wednesday and a gigolo in Joseph Losey’s humorous avant garde adaptation The Romantic Englishwoman. He prospered in roles that accentuated his essential ambiguity. When he turned up in the fabulous Dynasty in the Eighties to have an affair with Nancy Drew‘s Pamela Sue Martin (which they continued offscreen) you could have knocked us over with a feather: we were more familiar with him as the cross-dressing Nazi acolyte/victim in Visconti’s The Damned, where he was the effective embodiment of fascist perversion. He was unforgettable as a modern Dorian Gray and tragically tender as the infamous and allegedly mad King Ludwig. He returned to work with Visconti once again in Conversation Piece opposite Burt Lancaster. This was widely considered to be a version of his relationship with Visconti and Berger’s own favourite among his films. You don’t do 10-minute, five-minute takes but whole scenes, sometimes 20 minutes long, he told The Los Angeles Times in 1970. He uses three cameras so you never know which one is on you. You get really into it, the whole atmosphere. He doesn’t limit you, he wants you to be free. The director’s death caused a huge crisis for Berger who attempted suicide. A part of the era’s glamorous jet set, he was photographed by everyone who mattered, from Andy Warhol to Helmut Newton. He worked a lot in Italy and turned up in giallos for the likes of Jess Franco as well as maintaining a Hollywood presence in The Godfather III (ignore the naysayers and check out Coppola’s cut); as well as wartime thriller Codename: Emerald and planejack re-enactment Victory at Entebbe. He essayed a real-life infamous Milanese gangster in Mad Dog Killer and retained his sex god status in Tinto Brass’ perv fest Salon Kitty. His autobiography recalls his life as a pop culture icon and recounts his high flying affairs with men and women (including Mick and Bianca Jagger and Jerry Hall), Spanish singer/actor Miguel Bose, Ursula Andress and Rudolf Nureyev. A pair of recent biographical documentaries commemorated his life with his mother who he cared for in her final years and his acting career. Happily his final credit in 2019 is in Liberte, a film about debauchery which is an apposite flourish. In 1994 he married Francesca Guidato who survives him. Requiescat in pace.

I have lived three lives. And in four languages! Je ne regrette rien

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

I’m gonna win. Los Angeles. A spate of high-speed truckjackings brings street racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew under the LAPD scanner. FBI agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) goes undercover and befriends Toretto in a bid to investigate the matter. He begins his investigation at Toretto’s Market and flirts with its owner Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dominic’s sister, while Dominic sits in the back office reading a newspaper. Dominic’s crew Vince (Matt Schulze), Leon (Johnny Strong), Jesse (Chad Lindberg) and Dom’s girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) arrives. Vince, who has a crush on Mia, starts a fight with Brian until Dominic intervenes and then bans Brian from coming to the market again. That night, Brian brings a modified 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse to an illegal street race, hoping to get a lead on the thieves. Dominic arrives in his Mazda RX-7 and initiates a drag race between himself, Brian and two other drivers. Lacking credibility with the competition, Brian is forced to gamble his car. Dominic wins the race after Brian’s car malfunctions but the LAPD arrives before Dom can take the vehicle. Brian helps Dominic escape in the Eclipse but they accidentally venture into the territory of Dominic’s old racing rival, the gang leader Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) and his cousin Lance Nguyen (Reggie Lee) who destroy the Eclipse. After the guys return to safety, Dominic says Brian still owes him a 10 second car. Brian brings a damaged 1994 Toyota Supra to Dominic’s garage as a replacement. Dominic and his crew begin the long process of restoring the vehicle and Brian starts dating Mia. He also begins investigating Tran, convinced that he is the mastermind behind the hijackings. Investigating one garage at night, Brian is found by Dominic and Vince, but persuades them that he is researching his opponents’ vehicles for the upcoming desert Race Wars. Together, the trio investigate Tran’s garage, discovering a large quantity of electronic goods. Brian reports the discovery to his superiors and Tran and Lance are arrested. The electronics were purchased legally. Now Brian is forced to confront his suspicion that Dominic is the true mastermind … I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I’m free. Taking its title from a Roger Corman Fifties hot rod flick and a lot of plot from Point Break, this swerves into its own brand of high octane action with a bromance, a romance, hints of forthcoming tragedy and a slew of generative tropes that would be revisited in a long series: the importance of family, the barbecue, the Corona product placement, amazing street chases and great muscle cars. At the heart of it all is the moral choice Brian must make between loyalty to the Toretto family and his police family: That’s a choice you’re gonna have to make. Diesel gets to utter the kind of bromides and platitudes that wouldn’t look out of place to Paolo Coelho and it all screeches to a fabulous finale at Race Wars in the desert creating a stunning setpiece face-off. Aside from showcasing the astonishing Midcentury classic house that Eddie Fisher had built for Elizabeth Taylor, there’s lovely street racing at night, great action scenes and powerful female pulchritude aplenty (neither Rodriguez nor Brewster had driving permits prior to filming) that’s more than matched by the beautiful turbo-charged wheels. Twenty-two years on, this looks utterly cherishable: an action movie with a beating heart and nary a CGI effect in sight. Shot around Los Angeles including at Silver Lake, Echo Park, Angelino Heights and Dodger Stadium this was hugely influential not just as a teensploitation thriller but visually and tonally, the soundtrack alone boasting a variety of hip-hop and rap while the accompanying album includes nu metal and post-grunge. Directed by Rob Cohen who developed the project after reading Vibe article Racer X by Ken Li about New York’s street racers and appears here as a pizza delivery man. Written by Gary Scott Thompson and Erik Bergquist originally, it got another draft by David Ayer. Sleek, slick and classic, this adrenaline-fuelled prototype is the real deal. There’s all kinds of families

Happy 90th Birthday Joan Collins 23rd May 2023!

The glorious Joan Collins celebrates ninety years on the planet this very day. A fabulous film career followed by television superstardom have been accompanied by a prolific writing life and regular, uproarious interviews. Quippy, witty and thoughtful, she’s a staple of our entertainment life and we salute her on this great day. Happy birthday!