this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and main stories at the top of the hours straight after this programme. hello from new york, and welcome to talking movies. i'm tom brooks. in today's programme, the new york film festival, one of my favourite autumnal cultural events, bringing great cinema to new york city. a highlight of this year, the opening night film, a new adaptation of macbeth starring frances mcdormand and denzel washington. we hope that people enjoy it and respond to it and we'll see what happens. macbeth, the so—called scottish play, has been adopted into more than 25 different movies. we look at those that made an impact. a shocking body horror thriller, titane, this year's big winner at the cannes film festival, came to new york with its director and star. i told myself, pretend you're doing a little show. this is a weird show, butjust have fun with it. there were many festival films with great performances, a real stand—out, benedict cumberbatch in the power of the dog. and some great documentaries, one using animation to chronicle the plight of an afghan refugee fleeing the taliban 25 years ago. and the other, a portrait of the influential new york rock band formed in the 1960s, the velvet underground. like almost every british schoolchild of my generation, i had the works of william shakespeare thrown at me. but i have to admit, the only play of his that i received with a massive amount ofjoy was macbeth. i think i really understood the drama of it all, and over the years, lines from that play have stayed with me, "vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself and falls but i have to admit, the only play of his that i received with a massive amount ofjoy was macbeth. i think i really understood the drama of it all, and over the years, lines from that play have stayed with me, "vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself and falls on the other," and of course lady macbeth uttering "out, damn spot." so i was very pleased when i heard that this year the new york film festival was having as its opening night film a fresh interpretation of macbeth called the tragedy of macbeth, starring denzel washington and frances mcdormand. the world premiere of this new macbeth definitely created excitement. the film was shot in black and white on a los angeles soundstage. it all unfolds artfully within a hermetically sealed world. directorjoel coen, working solo without his brother for the first time in his career, has certainly created a visually striking movie. but it's his actors who bring it to life, his wife frances mcdormand as lady macbeth and denzel washington as macbeth, two leads at the forefront of a large ensemble of well—rehearsed american, british and irish actors. we got a chance to rehearse it like a play, well, we actually started working, fran and i and joel, i don't know, a year out, we started reading and sitting down and rehearsing it, but then the company rehearsed for about a month before we started shooting. as the director of the new york film festival told me, audiences will find joel coen�*s macbeth faithful to sha kespeare�*s original work. they'll see a film that very much connects with and hews closely to the language and the wording of the tragedy of macbeth, but it's refreshed in a certain way, refreshed with some of the people that are acting on screen, working behind the camera. this new macbeth won some great reviews and talk of possible oscar nominations for its leads, it was really seen as quite fine cinema. what's striking about this film is that it really turns shakespeare into something cinematic. it looks like a german expressionism film or something made by carl theodore dreyer, in the sense that you're looking at people's faces in this really striking detail up close, which is something that a lot of filmmakers, with shakespeare in general and with macbeth are afraid to do — often with soliloquies, with the monologues, you hear them in voice—over. and this really stays with the actors, it stays with the performances, and that's what drives the movie. more than just seeing macbeth, the new york film festival's opening night brought audiences thejoyous experience of connecting after tough pandemic times. we're all ready to be here and we're ready to be in the theatre together and have a communal experience. we need this. new york needs this film festival and we need each other. it's quite emotional to be here together. over the decades there have been numerous interpretations and adaptations of macbeth from different filmmakers, from kurosawa to polanski and many more. noah gittell has been looking back at cinema history to see how filmmakers have staged the so—called scottish play in the past. you know your own degrees. orson welles directed and starred in the first significant adaptation of macbeth in 1948. a macabre interpretation, welles�* film featured a grisly execution scene not found in the original play. his significant revisions to the text, including the reordering of scenes and the cutting of dialogue, angered critics, and the film was not considered a success. hail macbeth! over the years, others have tried their hand at it. roman polanski made a well—regarded version in 1971 that featured more on—screen violence than previous iterations. it makes me sick how they use you. you do everything, they do nothing. the american independent film boom of the 1990s produced two gritty modern—day adaptations, men of respect, set in the world of organised crime, and scotland, pa, set bizarrely but effectively at a fast food restaurant in the 1970s. there's a reason filmmakers continue to be drawn to this character and this story. macbeth is one of shakespeare's more internal and philosophical plays, making it a naturalfit for the intimacy of cinema. we have this really intimate view of a man who is not only having his nerve endings deadened as he goes through his sort of murderous course of the play, but who is explicitly conscious about what is happening. so he's like an observer of his own process of being dehumanised, and he reflects on that consciously at the end of the play. so that extraordinary, large story arc, which is intimate and powerful and devastating, as we see him reflecting on the what—might—have—been of his life, is actually highly amenable material for cinematic treatment, that can get very close to that. just a stone's throw from where joel coen�*s new macbeth recently premiered is the delacorte theatre in central park, which for more than 60 years has provided free shakespeare performances for audiences. and while shakespeare is widely considered the pre—eminent master of the english language, macbeth has actually inspired its share of international adaptations. it's a special challenge to translate shakespeare's flawless dialogue into a new spoken language and a cinematic language at once. in 2003, maqbool, an adaptations set in mumbai's criminal underworld, played to appreciative audiences at both the cannes film festival and the toronto film festival. of course, the best—regarded adaptation of macbeth may be akira kurosawa's throne of blood, which merges shakespeare's vision with japanese culture to stunning effect. some feel that an adaptation that is forced to omit shakespeare's inimitable dialogue actually makes it more palatable for general movie audiences. language obviously to some extent is an obstacle to modern audiences. and instead you get, you know, a film vocabulary that makes a lot of sense, and kurosawa is of course a very controlling director, and some of the things he does in the movie just with framing, the angles of the shots, juxtapositions of characters and the sort of triangles that he sets up, they almost always, if you pay attention to them, have a real meaning that they convey, even if it's only reaching the audience subliminally. sincejoel coen�*s the tragedy of macbeth has onlyjust premiered amidst the hurly—burly of the new york film festival, it's not yet known if it will be received as the definitive english—language version that cinema has thus far lacked — although some scholars think we're better off without one. with these stories that we have like macbeth, that belong to all of us, it's wonderful seeing how each generation will engage with it a fresh take but also one that hears and echoes and filters and, you know, sort of newly reads all those echoes from the ghostly past of interpretations as well. it was orson welles who famously, although perhaps a bit obviously, stated that shakespeare would have been a great movie writer. over a century of macbeth adaptations have proven him correct, and with any good fortune, we'll get a century more. though the yeasty waves confound and swallow navigation i up. though bladed corn be lodged... the french movie titane made a big impact when it was shown at the cannes film festival earlier this year. it brought its director, julia ducournau, the top prize, that of the palme d'or. the film was also shown at the new york film festival — but this body horror thriller won't be to everybody�*s taste. the film follows alexia, who as a young girl has a titanium plate inserted into her head in the wake of a car crash. so through this car crash, alexia comes out of a piece of metal in her head, that is for me also a way to establish a link between her and the car. because in this car crash, you see, you had three people. you had the father, the daughter — alexia — and the car. since she's never going to get the attention and love from her own father, she thinks she's going to get it from that third person who lived the same initial trauma, meaning, the car. alexia's relationship with cars is explored. in one scene, she rather shockingly gets impregnated by a car. it makes the mind boggle. for the actress it was an unusual scene to shoot. you know, ijust told myself, just pretend you're doing a little show. this is a weird show, butjust have fun with it, because, you know, like, you just have to do it anyway, so just have fun with it. so i tried to have fun and it was actually really fun. # but it's too late to say you're sorry... it is a provocative film. it has several themes, among them gender identity and humans�* relations with machines, but for its director, it's a movie which explores love. it was a huge challenge for me. i think it's very hard for me to talk about love, and it's very hard to talk about love in this way, in this becoming, like, what love could be and what we should aspire to. that is, unconditional, for me. my character in the beginning of the movie has not been loved before, doesn't know how to love, and she's going to meet this character, this other character, who doesn't think he's able to love anymore. and together they 're going to find their humanity and they're going to find this sort of intimacy. titane is violent and has strong sexual content. the director doesn't mind if people object. people react the way they react, and this is something you can't... actually, you can, but i don't want to dictate any form of reaction, or any form of understanding of my film. this is certainly a film that doesn't take you by the hand. i mean, for me, as long as a reaction is present, it means the mission is accomplished, right? whether you like her work or not, julia ducournau is breaking ground, shaking things up. she has become a strong, new, acclaimed voice in transgressive cinema. one documentary has been winning a big following at film festivals across north america, and it's gained many converts here at the new york film festival. it's called flee, and it chronicles the struggles of an afghan refugee trying to flee from the taliban in kabul 25 years ago. we caught up with the filmmaker at the telluride film festival. this unusual portrait of an afghan refugee who fled kabul in 1996 relies on animation, pop music and archivalfootage. the main character, amin, is a real person. amin is a pseudonym to protect his identity. flee�*s copenhagen—based director has known amin personally as a close friend for a long time. it's a mess right now in afghanistan. i think it's important to kind of get some perspective on it, and amin�*s story happened many years ago, 25 years ago. and with this story we can kind of see what it does to a human being to be on the run, to flee, and how he can move on. so i definitely think that my film can give some perspective on what's going on right now. amin�*s journey from afghanistan to denmark via moscow is told in sometimes harrowing detail. it is upsetting but moving and inspiring. the director was keen to use animation. because it's really a story about trauma and memories, with animation it allows us to be more expressive, we can show things in a way that feels more true to the emotion than being realistic. flee also has a gay theme — amin is gay. closeted in afghanistan, it was an issue he has had to struggle with. it was a key part of the film. the gay story is kind of a mirror on his refugee story, because in his youth, and from his family, he had to "flee" his sexuality. so in a way he's always been on the run. in his youth it was from his sexuality and afterwards it was from his past, from his story he couldn't tell. so i think those two stories really go hand—in—hand. the documentary�*s positive reception in new york was almost guaranteed, because many critics in the city had already seen flee earlier on the festival circuit and really loved it. one new york film festival movie has haunted me from the moment i first saw it, the power of the dog. it's a western of sorts in which its filmmaker, new zealanderjane campion, shows full mastery of her craft, as does the movie's leading man, benedict cumberbatch. i see it as a study of power in relationships and repressed lives. this dog bites. made byjane campion in new zealand, the landscape doubling for montana of a century ago, the power of the dog is an adaptation of a thomas savage 1960s novel. it's the story of phil, portrayed by benedict cumberbatch. he's a deeply unhappy rancher who bullies his new sister—in—law, rose. cumberbatch says his director allowed him to inhabit the characterfor the duration of filming. right at the beginning she said "look, this is phil." "you're going to meet benedict at the end of the shoot and he's really nice, but this is phil." and that was, like, it was great. itjust gave me full permission to do that without feeling self—conscious. you know, because it's a way to go, it's far away from me. it was quite a transition. kirsten dunst, who campion admired for her performance in lars von trier�*s melancholia, plays rose. she says the actors stayed far apart during filming. the scenes that we were in, we were pretty distant from each other. so i kind of had to create my own demon of phil, and benedict and i didn't talk to each other during filming either. if we went out to dinner on the weekend with our kids, or something, or hung out, obviously we talked to each other. but on set we kept our distance. campion won the original screenplay oscar in 1994 for the piano, starring holly hunter and anna paquin. she also directed the tv series top of the lake, starring elizabeth moss. her protagonists have been female. cumberbatch�*s leading role as phil is new for her. but this portrayal of toxic masculinity and misogyny is resonating with critics. as well as the film appearing at toronto, telluride and now new york film festivals, campion was awarded best director prize at the venice film festival. the film is backed by netflix. campion is the latest auteur they've collaborated with, as the streamer still searches for that elusive best picture oscar. do you feel that you can work with somebody like jane campion, who's a great auteur, and the film you're doing can still get a huge promotional push? that it can, you know... i think it's the perfect synchronicity. to think that someone who has that aesthetic and taste, who's a festival queen and favourite, to think that her film might get an even bigger audience, that's a win—win, yeah. good evening. benedict cumberbatch may be the actor of the moment. he also has an anticipated role in taika waititi's new film the electrical life of louis wain, a portrait of an english artist who made surreal cat paintings. i just don't want you to think you have to be cooped up in this house. but the brooding intensity of his performance in the power of the dog may prove far stronger than its feline rival. one great influential new york city rock band formed in the 1960s, the velvet underground, was the subject of a new york film festival documentary this year. the band came from a storied era of new york city pop culture history. at one time artist andy warhol was the manager, and the band had lou reed as its charismatic lead singer. kitty cox went to see the documentary. we're sponsoring a new band, it's called the velvet underground. a rock 'n' roll band like no other. todd haynes�* new documentary on the velvet underground explores the unique set of circumstances that brought together four outsiders to create a distantly different sound. steeped in the heady mix of avant garde art and filmmaking of 1960s new york city. they go so deep. they go so deep within the 1960s itself, and they were so ahead of their time thematically and sonically that no—one knew what to do with them, even at a time of incredible invention and desire for radical change. and it still took decades for people to catch up to what they were doing. so you learn so much about not only the 1960s, but, you know, why did that happen? at the centre of it was the famous new york city artist and film director andy warhol, who discovered the band and became their manager. he incorporated them into his art studio, called the factory, where artists, models and other cool kids known as warhol�*s superstars hung out. people came because the cameras were running. they thought they could become famous. todd haynes recreates the unconventional nature of velvet underground�*s music and how it combined with art in his film. he juxtaposes light with sounds, uses split screens and takes viewers on an immersivejourney through space and time. velvet underground�*s music was dark and edgy and full of life, so it makes perfect sense that the band was created here. in fact, in this apartment, on 56 ludlow street, is where members of velvet underground perfected what would become some of their signature sounds. lou reed brought in themes from his own life, with lyrics that never shied away from topics like drug abuse, sexuality and depression. he was immensely talented and deeply emotional, but reed could also be a difficult person to be close to. todd haynes�*s film explores this contradiction through those that knew him best. he was complicated, man. he was full of all kinds of protective barriers. somebody who felt insecurity, and he�*s sharing it with us in the most direct way possible, which is in his work. reed�*s work and that of his band endures, speaking to people who don�*t quite fit in and prefer to embrace life with its rough edges intact. emerging from a pandemic in which we all felt disconnected and offkilter, haynes believes the velvet underground also resonates for a new reason. for us, it was the movie we had been making underground during lockdown in this pandemic. but it was a movie about an incredibly vital time in creative life, in the history of film, and in music. and that music filled that room, and i think it did something to the audience beyond what the film itself is doing. you know? because of the conditions that we�*ve all lived through. well, that brings this special new york film festival edition of talking movies to a close. we hope you�*ve enjoyed the programme. please remember you can always reach us online and you can find us on facebook and twitter. so, while new york city continues to host the new york film festival, the rest of the world is beginning to savour the newjames bond film, so we�*re going to leave you with the official theme song from the new movie. # fool me once, fool me twice # are you death or paradise? # now you�*ll never see me cry # there�*sjust no time to die... hello. we�*re eyeing up another area of low pressure, another spell of wind and rain heading into parts of the uk overnight monday into tuesday. until then, it is showers, not quite as windy for monday. it will still be breezy out there, especially in wales and england. so, on this brisk flow of air coming in from the west, the showers mostly across western areas developing low pressure, though, to the southwest will bring that rain — later in the day — that next area of low pressure. starting numbers for monday, showers, some heavy, just running through southeast england and east anglia early on before they�*re clearing away. then many eastern areas will be largely dry for the rest of the day, just the odd hit and miss shower. a scattering of showers to the west, any where you catch a shower could be heavy, could be some hail mixed in and perhaps the rumble of thunder. and as for temperatures, we�*re topping out at around 13—17 celsius, some decent spells of sunshine around. rain gathering, though, to the southwest, that next area of low pressure pushing the rain into southwest england and wales. some of this will be heavy on monday evening. then it feeds across the rest of england, and then going into tuesday, it�*s a question ofjust how far north that rain is going to get. quite a chilly night, though, in scotland and northern ireland, where it stays clear with lighter winds on tuesday morning. so, something to play for in the detail of where this band of rain is going to come to a halt on tuesday, maybe affecting parts of northern england, but also toward southern and eastern scotland, so we will keep you updated on that. there will be showers elsewhere though much of northwest scotland and northern ireland will avoid the rain from this weather system, it will be a cool day on tuesday and near that rain, there�*s a chance of gales as well. the area of low pressure will slowly move away into the north sea as we go on into wednesday with high pressure building in behind. still breezy across eastern areas with early showers or some spells of rain slowly easing. lighter winds elsewhere with some sunshine around, clouding up again towards northern ireland and parts of scotland later in the day as outbreaks of rain move in on wednesday. now, later in the week, there�*s a change of weather pattern, if you like, low pressure. this is ex—hurricane sam in the northwest. a trailing weather front, though, will be sitting across parts of scotland and northern ireland thursday into friday with a chance of rain, whereas elsewhere, high pressure is building in. now, all parts will turn milder, but drierfor wales and england, quite a bit of cloud, though, and some mist and fog around. a very warm welcome to bbc news. i am mark lobel. our top stories. the secret wealth of dozens of world leaders from the king ofjordan to the president of russia exposed in one of the biggest ever leaks of financial documents dubbed the pandora papers. bbc panorama in a year—long investigation involving more than 650 journalists with access to 12 million documents, sparking allegations of corruption, money—laundering and global tax avoidance. us says it is very concerned about the rising tensions between and taiwan, with chinese militaryjets flying into taiwan�*s defence zone over the last three days. the investigation into the abuse in french catholic