TV: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock has quickly become the only thing anyone remembers about last week’s Oscar ceremony but at some point in the proceedings, Jessica Chastain won her first Oscar for playing the lead role in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Based on the true of televangalist Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye who founded the PTL Satelitte Network, an evangelical Christian television network, which became one of the biggest shows of it kind on US TV. Chastian is excellent as Faye, her acting talent combine with exceptional makeup and prosthetics to create a truely transformative performance and Andrew Garfield as Jim is able, but a little lightweight support.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye is streaming now on Disney +
Dine: Kasa & Kin
Filipino food has been due a moment in the spotlight for some time. In Soho, next to one of the world’s great record store’s Phonica, is Kasa & Kin a incredibly bright, vibrant, family-run lunch spot. From the same team as Romulo Cafe in Kensington, the imbento box deal is a terrific lunch - start with chilli chicken pesto rolls, beef broth and then savour the deep delightful sticky BBQ pork belly. Next time? A Pandesub Fili Cheese steak sandwich, followed by a 'Tsunami cheesecake'.
https://kasaandkin.co.uk/
Cinema: Aguirre, Wrath of God.
Those who are unaware of the chaotic creative relationship between the director Werner Herzog and the actor Klaus Kinski should watch Herzog’s excellent 1999 documentary ‘My Best Fiend’ and revel in the combined madness of two forces of nature. Herzog and Kinski made five films together. The first, and the best, is Aguirre Wrath of God, a 1972 epic historical drama starring Kinski stars as Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre, who leads a group of conquistadores down the Amazon River in South America in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. The movie was made for $370,000 (with one-third of the budget paying for Kinski's salary) and was filmed on location in the Peruvian rainforest.Herzog and Kinski’s relationship became strained during filming. Legend has it that after accidentally blowing off the tip of an extra’s finger, Kinski threatened to leave the shoot, only changing his mind when Herzong threatened to shoot him, then himself. It might have taken a mighty effort to get there but the finished movie is among the greatest ever made and really needs to be seen on the big screen to fully appreciate. Apocalypse Now, The Mission and Predator are all heavily influenced by Aguirre and Martin Scorsese recently named it as one of his favourite films of the 1970s.
Aquirre, Wrath of God is showing at selected dates at the BFI Southbank from April 2nd- 25th: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk
