Film reviews: Conclave and Saturday Night

 Unless your life and career path have gone in a very specific direction, there are some worlds which remain behind closed doors. 

Which makes it all the more thrilling when a filmmaker opens those doors and let you in on the secret. Whether it's inside the Vatican and the process involved in selecting a new Pope, or New York City on the 11th of October 1975 and the first ever episode of a TV show called Saturday Night is about to go live, you're the lucky passenger along for the ride and it's a rollercoaster from beginning to end. 

For the first, director Edward Berger, writers Peter Straughan and Robert Harris has crafted a heightened thriller. The director and cinematographer do well in utilising the building's architecture to properly portray the might and majesty of the Catholic Church, and in doing so, the men within and how closed off and claustrophobic it must feel - and in so doing, puts us in the same frame of mind. 

We are joining Cardinal Lawrence on this journey, the man selected to be in charge of the process - and so, all eyes are on him.  Ralph Fiennes carries the mantle well, an understatement of the highest degree. His character is constantly considered by everyone in the room - friend and enemy alike and so like Mr Fiennes, Cardinal Laurence is constantly performing his role for someone, to be the rock on which everything else depends. It is not only Mr Fiennes that is the only highlight. The cast includes the powerhouses that are Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini and Lucian Msamati, each role is indelibly imprinted in your mind early on and it is a singular pleasure to see them all at their best.

Full marks must go to the editor for keeping the rollercoaster a tight and contracted affair, the pace is quick and small breaks are allowed for us, the viewing audience to catch our breath before we're off again. The credits begin and only then, can we begin to relax. 

For the second, Saturday Night, Gabriel LaBelle as a very young Lorne Michaels - has the whole world (or so it feels) riding on his shoulders. He is creating something very new and revolutionary - a word NBC doesn't seem to like very much and the ninety minutes leading up to air time - the film itself is true to the time it's portraying, is a gauntlet of everything that could be about to go horribly wrong and he is treading water at the best of times.

It can be hard to believe, as we're sitting here in 2024, but there was a moment in comedic history where legends like Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, George Carlin, Garrett Morris, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Andy Kaufman and others, were just unknown comics about to burst into TV and beyond.

Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan peels back the curtain and brings us into this crazy night and keeps everyone on their toes, seriously impressive for a moment we all know happens and we're kept in suspense regardless. Like Conclave, we're kept in constant motion - the camera moving with Mr LaBelle and others through the backstage area - it's a complicated dance and everyone is hitting their marks and performing their moves beautifully.

The attention to detail is stunning, the score for the film is performed live on set and the actors portraying the comics - it is downright spooky how accurate their performances are, let alone costume and hair and makeup to elevate the whole package to something truly sublime.

Mr Dan Ackroyd himself - not Dylan O'Brien, gave this film full marks and I am doing the same because it is a truly beautiful piece of filmmaking and deserves every award. 

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