Come back Woody! All is forgiven!

Hollywood is welcoming one of its favourite sons back into the fold

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris is steadily picking up nominations in the awards season, including a Best Ensemble Cast SAG nomination, and four at the Golden Globes. In all honesty, the warmth of this reception is in part down to the fact that Hollywood has never fallen out of love with Woody. He remains one of America’s most enduringly popular directors, despite that fact that he often turns out disappointing films. His back catalogue has earned him a lot of leeway.

It is also down to the high enjoyment factor of Midnight in Paris. To those that have not seen it, I highly recommend it, but to read any more of this article may ruin it for, as there is a central conceit which has to be revealed in order to discuss it. I would suggest that the film is seen before this is read.

Review: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights reaches new lows

Director: Andrea Arnold

Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold, Olivia Hetreed, based on the novel by Emily Brontë

Cast: Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Shannon Beer, Solomon Glave and Oliver Milburn

New adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel about frustrated love. When Heathcliffe (Solomon Glave/James Howson) is adopted by the Earnshaw family, he falls into a troubled romance between himself and his foster sister, Cathy (Kaya Scodelario/Shannon Beer).

Running Time: 128m 46s

Certificate: 15 - Contains strong language, once very strong, racist terms & animal killings

One wonders whether great stories can be adapted too much; if there is a point where the tale is so deeply ingrained in the public consciousness that it simply cannot survive another retelling. On the other hand, perhaps a story can survive endless tellings and retellings, or that a mark of a truly great narrative is that it does so.

Whatever one’s thoughts on those questions, Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights is a clear attempt to inject new life into the classic Emily Brontë story. More overt racial tensions have been thrown into the storyline with a black Heathcliffe (though given recent events, it may have been more relevant to keep him as a gypsy), and there is a greater emphasis on violence and brutality to both humans and animals than in many other versions of this work. Unfortunately, none of this serves to make a compelling watch.