fathers ans sons Archives - Jeremy C. Processing

Director – Ross McElwee – 2025 – US – Cert. 15 – 114m

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Having filmed his son Adrian since early childhood, the filmmaker uses that footage to come to terms with Adrian’s death – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 25th

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee used to film his son Adrian for a few minutes about once a month. On a visit to Paraguay, he shot footage of the family, which always included his future adopted daughter. He screened the film about Paraguay at the Venice Film Festival, then put off screenings for quite a while. For a time, he went through a ‘golden age’ of filming, but as Adrian entered his late teens, the family seemed to get fed up with his filmmaking.

Then, Hollywood producer Steve Carr contacted him about a narrative remake of his documentary Sherman’s March (1985), which was the film in which Ross started to film and incorporate elements of his own life. Ross goes to consult his professional advisers – his brother and sister. He goes to Los Angeles to talk with Steve Carr, who had directed a series of commercially successful comedies. He signs a deal which will also allow him to make a documentary about the remake.… Read the rest

October Sky

Director – Joe Johnston – 1999 – US – Cert. PG – 97m

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Coming-of-age drama based on the teenage years of Homer Hickam who went on to become a NASA rocket scientist – out in UK cinemas on Friday, June 26th 1999

1957 was the year Sputnik became the Earth’s first man‑made satellite. This first of two December releases set in small town America against the backdrop of that event (the second is next week’s The Iron Giant, Brad Bird, 1999) is a coming-of-age drama based on the real life teenage years of Homer Hickam who went on to become a NASA rocket scientist. Homer (Jake Gyllenhaal) is initially inspired by the sight of the Sputnik flying over his hometown through 1957’s October skies, a tiny moving dot amidst the stars.

Hickham starts experimenting with home-made rockets – blowing up his mother’s picket fence, sending potentially lethal projectiles hurtling through the air towards the local pithead and, ultimately, becoming something of a local celebrity. Aided by his two best mates and the school nerd, a stereotype likely to infuriate anyone who wears spectacles, he receives support from admiring teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern) but not his own mine superintendent father John (Chris Cooper) who regards him as an idealistic fool wasting his time.… Read the rest