H IS FOR HAWK No sooner have we been applauding one movie that tackles grief , another comes along and blows you away Just like 'Hamnet,' Philippa Lowthorpe's 'H is for Hawk' is a gripping watch. An adaptation of naturalist Helen MacDonald's prizewinning 2014 memoir about how training a goshawk helped her process the shocking death of her father, it's a piercingly honest meditation on life and loss and the wonder of nature. Adapted for the screen by the Irish novelist Emma Donoghue, it stars Claire Foy as the Cambridge academic whose love of birds was instilled at an early age by her dad, Brendan Gleason's Alisdair, an accomplished press photographer. Plunged into grief when Alisdair dies from a heart attack at the age of 71, Helen rapidly becomes obsessed with the notion of raising a goshawk despite never having trained a bird of that size. With the help of Sam Spruell's falconer Stuart, she sources a bird and drives to Stranraer with her Austra...
It's every film buff's favourite bloodsport and this year's Oscar nominations certainly didn't disappoint. This year has given us a film that has broken the Academy's nominations record. There were at least two surprising acting snubs. There was also a good smattering of international films in the major categories. But what do this year's nominations say about the races in the main categories? Pomona gives you its penny's worth. BEST PICTURE Bugonia F1 Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners Train Dreams The ten films on this shortlist include one summer blockbuster, two movies not fully in the English language and a record breaking vampire film. However only three of the ten have emerged as frontrunners in this contest. The movie out in front at this stage is undoubtedly Paul Thomas Anderson's mesmerising satirical revolutionary tale 'One Battle After Another...