Kent Film Club (Season 2023 Episode 16)
This week Chris Deacy is joined by Abby Hook to discuss the films; High School Musical, The Great Gatsby, Before I Go To Sleep, and Focus.
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00:00 [Music]
00:12 Hello and welcome to Kent Film Club. I'm Chris Deasy and each week I'll be joined by a guest
00:17 from Kent to dive deep into the impact certain films have had on their life. Each guest will
00:23 reflect on the films which have meant the most to them over the years. And every week
00:28 there will be a Kent Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that has a connection
00:33 to the county. And now let me introduce you to my guest for this week. Alongside hobbies
00:39 of snowboarding and reading, she is also KMTV's own senior broadcast journalist. She is Abbey
00:47 Hook. Great to have you Abbey. Thank you for having me. Well I don't know your four films
00:52 in advance so I'm fascinated because we talk on a Thursday on Kent Tonight about the upcoming
00:58 films in this very programme. So it's great to put the boot on the other foot and find
01:03 out about your choices. So your first selection is High School Musical. Why have you chosen
01:09 this film? I found it really difficult when I was sitting down thinking what four films
01:15 am I going to choose out of all of the films I've ever watched. And this was probably the
01:20 easiest one. This one came to me straight away and 100% was going to be my first choice.
01:24 I think it's not a film where you walk away with a huge meaning and something behind it.
01:30 It's nothing too profound but it's so nostalgic of growing up. And when it came out I remember
01:36 sitting with my mum and my brother and just watching it on repeat. And then when number
01:39 two came out and number three. And I just remember it being such a huge part of my childhood
01:45 and watching it now all those memories come back. All the songs I know word for word.
01:49 My dad sings them word for word. We just recently went on a road trip, me and my dad, and we
01:53 had the album on the whole time and both of us singing away to it. It's just got a huge
01:58 part of my heart I would say and something I've watched growing up. That's why it means
02:03 so much to me. And so when you first saw it, it was very much a communal experience. Is
02:08 that important for you with films more generally? You remember the environment that you're in,
02:13 the context, the fact that you had all your family members singing along. If you'd watched
02:17 that in isolation perhaps it wouldn't have had the same impact.
02:20 Yeah and I think that's reflected in trying to show my boyfriend it now. He's never watched
02:25 it before so he sat down to watch it and he didn't connect to it like I did because he
02:29 didn't watch it from a young age. He didn't have that same experience. So I think yeah
02:33 if I'd watched it on my own, I mean I was quite young when it came out, but if I had
02:36 watched it on my own it wouldn't have had that same connection to it. And I think because
02:40 it becomes such a staple in my life and a memory with my family. I think then watching
02:44 films moving forward, any sort of genre, I would always prefer to watch something with
02:49 somebody because reacting to the twists and the turns, that's a huge thing I like in films.
02:54 So I think that's really important to me, to have someone to bounce off, I did not see
02:57 that coming or what do you think is going to happen?
03:00 But of course it also works the other way that if this matters so much to you and then
03:04 you show a person of significant interest in your life the film and you're thinking,
03:08 hang on, what if they don't like this? Because suddenly all the expectations and all the
03:13 investment of course is going to be impacted.
03:17 I found myself really quite angry he didn't like it as much as I did and quite furious
03:20 that, and sort of I explained to him you have to understand that it's something I grew up
03:25 with and that's the difference is that now you watch it and it might be a bit weird and
03:29 a bit awkward and a bit cringey at different points, but when you were so young it just
03:34 looked like wow, this is an American high school, it seemed so, you know I would then
03:38 grow up to go to secondary school and college and things and always thinking like, will
03:42 I be like them, will that be what life's like? And obviously it's not, one it's a musical
03:47 but also it's American so it's very different and I think that was what the appeal was.
03:52 I don't really remember much like this being out at the time and this was sort of the first
03:57 to do what it did and I couldn't pick between one, two and three what are the favourites,
04:02 I think I just chose number one because it's the start of what was going to be a really
04:06 great sort of memory for me.
04:08 And so because it's very much a rite of passage film, it's a rite of passage for you but of
04:14 course also it's about a rite of passage, so as you're watching it, although there's
04:18 the American experience which of course is not your own, are you watching it and thinking
04:23 gosh that could be my life, can you put yourself in any of the characters in particular?
04:29 That is a good question, I think when you watch it everybody aspires to be, you know
04:33 you want to be Gabriella and you want to be with Troy Bolton, that's the dream, those
04:38 are the two sort of focus, you've got the six main characters but those two are the
04:42 real key characters and I suppose you grow up thinking that but I think the best thing
04:45 is that you go through a sort of moment with each character, you like and dislike them
04:51 at different points and I think that's what it's all about, it's watching them grow up
04:55 and sort of reflecting on something that to be honest I never thought oh I'm going to
04:58 be like this one day, I just thought this is so cool, this would be so cool to be like
05:03 this, to be in America and have this and sort of reflects on a very different schooling
05:09 system to what we have here, I think that was a huge thing as well, growing up at school
05:13 very different, you know no uniform, a very simple thing like that, really tailored towards
05:18 sports and the musical that they have in the show, so it's very different to what we have
05:22 here and I think that was the appeal too.
05:24 Because there are some films where the characters change or sometimes they don't but we change
05:29 and so sometimes when you watch a film after a few years and you sometimes think actually
05:33 maybe I don't see it in the same kind of way, it sounds as though this is a film that precisely
05:37 because there are all these associations that this is going to carry with you sort of for
05:42 always but do you kind of feel that this is a film that you would ever be comfortable
05:46 re-watching in a different sort of light, maybe if you were in a different point in
05:49 your own life, how would you feel about seeing this film through a different kind of lens?
05:54 I think this will stay timeless for me, this will always have the same impact it has but
06:01 when I most recently watched it back, I did watch it and think, like you watch moments
06:07 where you think oh that was a bit awkward but I love it, I love that in it and it makes
06:13 me think, it made me realise how differently you watch it when you're a child and the aspirational
06:18 characters that you're watching in front of you but then when you watch it as an adult
06:23 you think oh that's a bit awkward or that's a bit cheesy but it didn't diminish what it
06:29 meant for me if you see what I mean, it didn't change the way I view it, I didn't think oh
06:33 I can't watch that, that's too cringy, it didn't change that at all for me.
06:37 Brilliant, well it's now time Abby to move on to your second chosen film and you've gone
06:42 for and I have to look to see which version, The Great Gatsby, why this version?
06:48 So I thought when I was picking the films, I thought I want to show something that means
06:53 a lot from my childhood and growing up and then the next part of my life so Gatsby for
06:58 me, the book in particular I studied when I was at school and did my GCSE English on
07:04 it and I studied that book for years and I know so many parts of it off by heart and
07:10 then of course they made a film and they put Leonardo DiCaprio in it so I absolutely love
07:15 this film, I love the meaning behind it, I love all the different scenes, I love the
07:19 big party scene, I love the style and the glitz and the glamour, that 1920s style and
07:24 I also went to a Great Gatsby immersive experience so it was like a theatre production but we
07:29 were in the room, we were at a party with them and in fact Gatsby, the character, the
07:34 man playing Gatsby took me off to the side and was still acting, took me up to a separate
07:40 room and was telling me how he really needs me to give Daisy this message and he gave
07:46 me this card and I needed to give that to Daisy and coming from a background of drama
07:50 and theatre that was amazing, I was completely star struck and then I was able to find Daisy
07:57 later on in the show and pull her to the side and say I need to give this to you from Gatsby
08:01 and I suddenly felt completely part of it, part of the book I had read for so many years,
08:06 part of the film I had watched and absolutely loved so I wanted to reflect a part of my
08:11 life too because education has been a really important part of my life and this was something
08:16 I studied.
08:17 I'm more familiar with the 1974 Robert Redford version where Gatsby is this fascinating character,
08:25 ephemeral almost, you can almost read into him so many things, he's almost opaque but
08:30 how does Leonardo DiCaprio work in that particular role?
08:36 He's obviously the star but there's always something about Gatsby so we're reading, we're
08:39 projecting onto him our own moods and sensibilities.
08:44 I think it's the charm that comes with his character as well and I absolutely love The
08:49 Wolf of Wall Street as well, that's always a top film for me so I think he portrays that
08:54 character, he does it really well of portraying that character of charm and just exuberance
09:00 and I think the connection to the other characters and as you say the whole point of Gatsby and
09:07 the message behind it is to project your own sort of feelings and deconstructing this American
09:12 dream and what it actually turns out to be and I think he does a brilliant job of representing
09:17 that but not controlling that narrative.
09:20 You sort of see a real lack of control that he has and follow him through that with the
09:25 character of Nick too.
09:26 So do you feel, although it's set in the 1920s, do you feel it's also a commentary on now?
09:31 When you were watching it did you kind of feel that it had anything to offer to our
09:36 own age of showbiz?
09:38 Definitely, I think obviously it comes from an era of prohibition and you see the restrictions
09:45 in life we have now, maybe not prohibition but different restrictions that stop that
09:51 American dream and sort of fuel different lines of work and known as a bootlegger and
09:57 things like that so I think it reflects that timeless nature again like High School Musical
10:03 timeless for me in that it reflects different parts of our society and it always will because
10:09 it's human nature and it was human nature back in the 1920s but it's human nature 100
10:14 years later now.
10:16 But there is something to say for the costumes and the glitz and the glamour of the 1920s
10:21 and what that was then and where it was set.
10:24 I think if it was set in a modern day I'd be interested to watch it if there was a modern
10:28 sort of version in that sense but for me it wouldn't hold up against this.
10:34 And when you saw this, was it on the big screen, was this a big screen experience for you?
10:39 No I actually watched this as part of my course, you know we're studying the book so they say
10:45 oh we'll put on the film and you know when you're having a Friday afternoon English lesson
10:49 you might put this on and I remember watching it there so I had this direct connection to
10:54 the book I'd studied, made notes on pages and pages of notes, exams and hours and hours
10:59 studying what the simile means, what the metaphor is, what this could mean, what that could
11:04 mean, all the connections throughout the thing and so much so I remember the exact last line
11:10 of the book and the film and it absolutely had that connection and I think that's why
11:15 because I watched it in that environment where I'd sat and studied and learnt and then watched
11:19 it on the screen in my English class.
11:22 This is a time when spoiler alert is okay.
11:24 Yes.
11:25 Alright well that's just about all the time we have for this first half of the show.
11:29 However before we go to the break we have a Kent film trivia question for you at home.
11:35 Which Stanley Kubrick film inspired Kent-born singer-songwriter Kate Bush's song 'Get
11:41 Out of My House'?
11:43 Was it A) A Clockwork Orange, B)
11:46 Lolita or C) The Shining?
11:51 We'll reveal the answer right after this break.
11:53 Don't go away.
11:54 Hello and welcome back to Kent Film Club.
12:08 Just before that ad break we asked you at home a Kent film trivia question.
12:14 Which Stanley Kubrick film inspired Kent-born singer-songwriter Kate Bush's song 'Get
12:19 Out of My House'?
12:20 I asked was it A) A Clockwork Orange, B)
12:24 Lolita or C) The Shining?
12:28 And now I can reveal to you that the answer was in fact C) The Shining.
12:33 Movies - specifically of the gothic horror genre - have had influence on Kate Bush's
12:38 songs over the years.
12:40 Some other films that have provided inspiration to the Kent-born musician include The Bride
12:45 Wore Black, Wuthering Heights and The Innocents.
12:49 Did you get the answer right?
12:52 Well it is time now to move onto your next chosen film and it's Before I Go to Sleep
12:59 isn't it?
13:00 Yes it is.
13:01 This is one movie of many sort of psychological thriller twist and turn films that I absolutely
13:09 love.
13:10 That's why I went for it.
13:11 It's more a reflection of the genre I really like because The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl,
13:16 those kind of things.
13:17 But this is great.
13:18 I was watching a bit of it this morning as well to recap.
13:22 I actually can't remember the ending so I'm going to finish that when I get home.
13:25 But that's what's great.
13:26 Clearly I love this film, I've watched it so many times but I can't actually remember
13:29 the ending because there are so many twists and turns.
13:31 And I believe I've seen this.
13:32 I know it's got Nicole Kidman in it.
13:34 Do you want to tell me a little bit - to jog my memory - about what happens and also maybe
13:40 you'll remember through osmosis what the ending might be.
13:44 Well it's exactly what it's about - memory.
13:46 So she wakes up every morning and has forgotten everything.
13:50 She thinks she's young again and she just wakes up, rolls over in bed and sees a man
13:54 next to her, has no idea who he is.
13:57 And she goes about her day trying to figure out her life before she goes back to sleep.
14:03 She eventually works with a sort of doctor and he gets her to take a camera and every
14:10 day once she's woken up, looked at all the posters that her husband Ben has stuck around
14:15 on the wall of her and her husband, so that when she wakes up and goes into the bathroom
14:20 she can see this big poster, sort of collage of everything that's gone on.
14:27 And she eventually speaks to a doctor and he gets her to record herself every day.
14:31 So 'my name's Christine, I'm 40 years old and my husband's Ben' and this and that and
14:37 sort of adding to that video log every single day.
14:40 And then he'll call her, tell her 'I'm a doctor, trust me, find this camera, watch it' and
14:44 she just watches it back every day and it sort of follows that process.
14:48 She had an accident that made her this way and it's figuring out what actually happened
14:53 and what the truth behind it all is and who to trust.
14:56 And it makes you think as well, I suppose in the light of lockdown as well, if we were
15:00 losing any of our senses like smell, we had to almost start from scratch.
15:05 And I'm wondering here, it's almost that sense here that she doesn't have any memory of what
15:10 happened but she plays detective with her own life and so she has to find a means every
15:14 day of something, some sort of visual aid that will enable her to piece together all
15:19 those different parts of the puzzle of her own life.
15:22 And then of course she realises that maybe not everybody in her life, because Colin Firth
15:26 is in this as well isn't he, is who they claim to be.
15:29 Yeah, and I think she also finds out she has a son and he's passed away so it's that heartbreak.
15:36 Every single day of her life she wakes up and has this heartbreak that she's lost her
15:41 son and she has to go through that every day and every day resetting.
15:43 I also think there's something for the acting in this as well.
15:46 She's got to redo the same things and make sure she resets every single time she walks
15:51 onto that set, she resets and she goes, right, I'm doing this all over again.
15:55 I can't pick up from the character I've built up, she's got to go back to that character
16:00 she was when they first said action.
16:02 So there's something really interesting in that.
16:04 And also I think I'm connected to it because my mum lost her memory after an accident when
16:10 I was just three years old and my mum forgot her children, me and my brother.
16:14 So it's very reminiscent of her waking up and not remembering anything, having to be
16:18 taught, going back to sleep, waking up, not remembering, having to be taught, which is
16:20 exactly what happened to my mum.
16:23 And what I remember when I watch this is that it's almost like this blank canvas.
16:28 So that must have been really hard for you.
16:30 So when you were watching this film did it kind of feel like your own life being played
16:34 out to some extent?
16:35 Yeah, I suppose.
16:36 I was three at the time so I was very young.
16:38 I was sort of a really inquisitive child so aware that something wasn't quite right with
16:42 my mum.
16:43 But it sort of goes to show what it would have been like for my mum waking up and also
16:48 the partner having to re-every single day.
16:51 You don't build a relationship, you don't keep going, you just have to remind them,
16:55 "I'm your husband, these are your children."
16:57 You live that 24 hours, she goes to sleep and you wake up and "I'm your husband, these
17:02 are your children."
17:03 Which is what happened to my mum until she managed to build up more memory and remember.
17:07 Which in the film this is what she progressively does.
17:09 She builds up her memory, she remembers pictures and then when she is asleep she has flashbacks
17:14 and memories and it all starts to piece together.
17:17 And now my mum of course remembers me and my brother, 20 years on, 19 years on.
17:23 So she remembers everything.
17:25 But I suppose it's that connection too that's why I'm drawn to it.
17:29 Yeah, that's uncanny because everything you've just described about your own experience.
17:32 I had a student who was in a similar position once whose mother had no recollection of significant
17:39 numbers of years of her life.
17:41 And yet in this film of course, although I obviously hope that the analogy only goes
17:45 so far because here you get into the territory of real duplicity and cover up and so on.
17:52 But there is something about this film that's really tantalising because I suppose you could
17:56 watch it on many occasions and each time think, "How would I respond to this?
18:01 On which day is she in?
18:03 Will she forget to look for the obvious cues?"
18:05 Yeah, and I always thought that will she react to the same news every day the same?
18:11 Because it would then go to show if we wake up the same every day.
18:16 Because if she is to wake up with this blank slate she's going to react the exact same
18:19 every time she's told things.
18:20 But maybe she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, her back hurts and she might be a
18:24 bit more feisty, a bit more angry.
18:25 So to react that way.
18:26 I think it's a great display of human nature in that sense as well.
18:30 And then of course you have this psychological thriller and the twists and turns that come
18:34 with that.
18:35 And actually who to trust.
18:36 And you do watch the film, I'm not going to ruin it, but you do watch the film trusting
18:41 certain characters, not trusting others and that changes.
18:46 Yeah, that flips.
18:48 Well thank you Abby.
18:49 Well it's time now to move on to your final chosen film and it's Focus, isn't it?
18:56 Yes.
18:57 So this is more of a fun sort of, one that also plays on, like I said with the four films,
19:02 the genre I really like.
19:04 So if you think like Oceans, Eleven, Twelve, all of those, that sort of like heist and
19:10 the money and the gambling and the sort of, the twists and turns in a more fun sense.
19:16 I love a film when I walk away thinking I did not see that coming or that was cool.
19:22 So it's that sort of, I like being surprised.
19:25 I said to you earlier if I'm going to sit down and watch a film, I want to walk away
19:29 thinking that was worth my two hours or so.
19:32 And this film's great.
19:33 You've got Margot Robbie who's great in it and I love Homewolf of Wall Street as well
19:38 so it's that connection too to obviously the people we watch on our screens.
19:42 But also it's a great film for how they sort of swindle people out of a lot of money.
19:49 But also when you know what's coming, when you see the twists etc, can it still be a
19:54 big surprise the second time or the third time that you see it?
19:58 Yeah, I think obviously with distance between the films but I remember I watched this very
20:03 recently last week and I remember I couldn't remember, there's a certain bit where they're
20:07 in a sort of American football stadium and they're betting with somebody and the money
20:11 just goes from ten dollars to millions.
20:15 And there's a very specific reason and way that they get that money out.
20:20 And I remember watching it going, I know what's going to happen but I can't remember how
20:24 they do it and I think that's great because that's part of it.
20:27 And then when you continue watching you go, oh yeah I remember but I don't then turn it
20:31 off and walk away, I sit down and watch it because I think this is brilliant.
20:34 And also what you said earlier about seeing something different in the film every time.
20:38 You noticed a different part of a character and I suppose with you, you watch films again
20:43 and again and you notice so many different things, you watch it in a different light.
20:47 If I've watched the film I know what's happening, maybe I'll do a more character focused watch.
20:51 So I remember when I watched it recently I focused a lot more on Margot Robbie and her
20:55 character and watched what she did and sort of where she fit in as well.
21:02 So I think they've done a couple of films sort of partnered up before as well.
21:07 Because it's a testament to a good film when there's a twist that you don't see coming
21:10 but after you've watched it, even watching the film again, you're still affected by it.
21:17 You almost don't see it coming a second time or you see the twist but then all these things
21:21 that the first time maybe stopped you from seeing the twist coming, then you suddenly
21:26 see it in a completely new light.
21:27 So in other words it's a very intricate box, like a Pandora's box really.
21:31 The more you delve, the more you get out of it.
21:33 So it's not a one-trick pony.
21:35 And it's focused because Will Smith says that to Margot Robbie that the characters at one
21:39 point you need to focus and that's obviously where they've picked that from.
21:42 But I also think it's such a big clue to the viewer.
21:46 Focus on different parts of the film and you'll see different things.
21:51 And it's all about sleight of hand and stuff.
21:53 So keeping your focus when you do watch it again and again and shifting that focus.
21:57 And I always wonder because some films work really well in the cinematic universe.
22:01 I mean even with High School Musical, you know that it's all a confection and you enjoy
22:06 it so much because you know that it's artifice.
22:09 It's a version of reality but it's obviously a very fabricated one.
22:13 How do you feel with something like Focus?
22:15 Because this is about a serious theme, it's about swindling people but at the same time
22:19 do you kind of watch this and just think, "Okay, there are people like this."
22:23 Do you kind of feel that this reflects real life or do you kind of feel that there's something
22:27 in this that works well beyond the film space?
22:30 I think this reflects the glamour people wish this industry was.
22:35 And there are people that do this, there are pickpockets, we all know that.
22:38 But it's not this glamorous.
22:40 They're not getting this much money.
22:42 In some cases, fraudsters are.
22:45 But I think it reflects the glamour people hope.
22:48 And I think that's why people might look at it and think, "Oh, this is so great to be
22:53 a criminal."
22:54 And you see the ups and downs within that but it glamourises something that shouldn't
22:59 happen of course.
23:01 So I think it reflects life in that sense.
23:04 These big oceans, films, these huge heists that just probably aren't possible but it's
23:10 great to watch and think, "What if?"
23:13 And of all the films that we've talked about today, which one have you watched the most?
23:20 Which one have I watched the most?
23:23 Definitely High School Musical.
23:24 It's got to be, yeah.
23:26 It's just brilliant.
23:28 On repeat, each one.
23:29 Fantastic.
23:30 Okay, well I'm afraid that that's all the time we have for today.
23:33 Many thanks to Abbie Hook for joining us and being such a brilliant guest.
23:38 And many thanks to you all for tuning in.
23:40 Be sure to come back and join us again at the same time next week.
23:44 Until then, that's all from us.
23:46 Goodbye.
23:47 Goodbye.
23:48 [music]
23:56 (dramatic music)