For It Is Man's Number: sadie soverall

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Friday, 3 July 2026

Finding Emily (2026)

A fun rom-com that explores the aftermath of a fateful "meet-cute", Finding Emily makes use of a number of sub-genre tropes, but becomes a more interesting film when it spends some time dissecting and subverting the filtered POV of someone who believes that they have fallen in love.

Spike Fearn plays Owen, a young man who finds himself at a loss after a great encounter with a young woman dressed up in a fairy outfit. She gave him her phone number, but there's one digit missing. So all he knows is that her name is Emily, she was dressed as a fairy, and she attends the university where he works (don't worry, he works in the student union, this isn't a look at some icky teacher-student relationship). Armed with this information, Owen sets about to find his Emily, which leads to him encountering a multitude of young women named Emily, including Emily Raine (Angourie Rice), a psychology student who offers to help Owen when she spies a chance to prove her thesis that love is the same as temporary insanity.

The feature directorial debut from Alicia MacDonald, Finding Emily tries hard to stay fresh and fun throughout, placing itself right in between something more grounded and something with a sprinkling of magic and romance. The Manchester setting helps, moving it a step or two away from the onscreen world of rom-com leads like Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger, as do the challenges encountered by Owen on his journey to reconnect with someone he believes he was fated to be with.

The screenplay from Rachel Hirons is smart and funny, making me want to check out some of her past work (which includes a few more rom-coms, from the look of things, and . . . a 2023 movie showcasing some breakdancing skills). You get good amounts of sweetness throughout, but it also has fun pitting romanticised flights of fancy against the realities of modern life, especially when showing how the behaviour of rom-com leads is often unacceptable, and even quite a bit creepy, when viewed without any rose-tinted glasses on.

Fearn is a good lead, and his character is enjoyably upbeat and optimistic for most of the runtime. Rice plays the more cynical one, of course, but she does well to show how she's gradually drawn more towards appreciating the outlook of the young man that she offers to "help". Sadie Soverall makes a good enough impression in her first scenes, as "Fairy Emily", to make the desperate quest feel worthwhile, and there's a fun mix of supporting characters played by Prasanna Puwanarajah (a Professor trying to ensure that one of his best students doesn't ruin her thesis), Minnie Driver (a beleaguered Dean), Cora Kirk (good friend of Rice's character), Nadia Parkes (a university podcaster/presenter), as well as a veritable army of Emilys.

Cannily moving through a familiar modern world while swerving away from anything that could seem too dark (although it comes close once or twice), this is also helped by a strong selection of tunes on the soundtrack, as well as the essential chemistry that develops between the two leads. It's a shame that it rarely maintains the fun inventiveness that it shows in one or two small "set-pieces", but I'm sure that most people will find themselves charmed and entertained by this. I'm not sure they'll remember it in a year or two though.

6/10

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Wednesday, 3 January 2024

Prime Time: Saltburn (2023)

Unoriginal and imperfect throughout, Saltburn has been gaining more of a reputation since it became available to stream, as people share their astonishment at a few key scenes. It also helps that it's a brilliant film, elevated by a cast who are doing some of their best work. Writer-director Emerald Fennell may not surpass her debut feature, the superb Promising Young Woman, but she does well enough to deliver something on a par with it.

Barry Keoghan is Oliver Quick, a student at Oxford University who stands out for all the wrong reasons. It's obvious from the way he carries himself, the way he dresses, and the way that he has actually completed the recommended reading list, that he's not from the same social strata as many of the privileged and carefree students around him. He soon gets a chance to taste a very different lifestyle, however, when he is befriended by Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Felix likes Oliver, and eventually invites him to his family home for the summer holidays. The family home is Saltburn, a huge mansion that houses mother (Elspeth, played by Rosamund Pike), father (Sir James, played by Richard E. Grant), Felix's sister (Venetia, played by Alison Oliver), and an American cousin (Farleigh, played by Archie Madekwe). Oliver soon starts to feel more comfortable in his new surroundings, but some people go out of their way to remind him that he'll always be a tourist reliant on the charity of the rich and the patronising.

Part gothic romance, part sexy vampire movie, part Patricia Highsmith tale, Saltburn is another film that shows how you can take a number of familiar elements to make something that feels vital and fresh. Whether it is the framing of the images (Fennell decided to avoid a widescreen look in order to show the grandiosity of places like the old university buildings and Saltburn) or the moments of kink that will have mainstream viewers reaching for the smelling salts, this is a film that keeps trying to prod and tickle you while taking you towards a seemingly-inevitable finale. It may seem quite blunt and silly at times, especially when certain details are revealed later on, but it’s worth remembering that a lot of the characters are themselves blunt and silly. Money doesn’t buy class or intelligence. It just means that you have money, and probably keep wanting more of it.

Keoghan, although a bit too old for the central role, gives a performance that is rightly winning him a whole new fanbase. He’s so comfortable in his skin, even as he continually adapts and reacts to the situation and people around him, that it’s unnerving. Everything about him feels slightly false, but it doesn’t matter because everything about everyone around him also feels slightly false. Elordi is equally good, albeit in a very different way, portraying his character as someone with bad habits and good intentions, making himself feel better by befriending a “charity case” he can make happy for a fleeting period of time. Grant and Pike are also fantastic, with the latter already in danger of cornering the market in films featuring people deemed sociopathic, at the very least. As for Oliver and Madekwe, it’s hugely entertaining to watch the cracks appear in their facades as things start to come undone in the imposing surroundings of Saltburn. It’s also worth mentioning the glorious supporting turns from Paul Rhys, as a head butler named Duncan, and Carey Mulligan (delivering what is basically a bittersweet cameo that helps to underline the shallow, cold, and crass nature of the central characters).

There’s also a great score and soundtrack accompanying the visuals (okay, one song from The Cheeky Girls makes an appearance, but the placement of it works), a lot of dark humour underpinning even the darkest moments, and numerous references to the main works that influenced Fennell’s script, ensuring that this will reward repeat viewings.

If you have heard too much about this already, and some people have made far too much fuss over one or two scenes that aren’t quite as shocking as the conversation would have you think, maybe try to put all that chatter and noise aside when you get around to watching the film. I think anyone going into this with a rough idea of how playful and twisted and erotically-charged it is will have a good time, but anyone going into it with some of the many hyperbolic exclamations about it running through their mind is more likely to end up disappointed. And nobody wants that. Saltburn is a place where everyone should end up completely satisfied. At least temporarily.

9/10