John Magaro | Bouquets & Brickbats

08/02/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

It’s September 1972 and in Munich the sports department of ABC television are busy in their studio in the Olympic village, beaming live coverage of the Games to viewers all over the world. In this pre-digital age, they need to use every trick at their disposal to ensure that they capture the action. And then some of them hear the sound of gunshots…

Swiss director Tim Fehlbaum’s ingenious account of this true-life story, written by Fehlbaum, Moritz Binder and Alex David, is a dark claustrophobic tale, which adopts the same approach as the broadcast team, never pointing the finger of blame but simply laying out what happens in meticulous detail. Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro), a relatively inexperienced studio director, has been handed the opportunity to helm today’s coverage and is anxious to do a good job, under the ever watchful gaze of head man, Roone Arlege (Peter Sarsgaard), and producer, Marvin Bader (Ben Chaplin).

But when eleven members of the Israeli team are taken hostage by the Palestinian Black September group, the stakes are suddenly kicked into the stratosphere. The terrorists announce that, if their demands are not met, they will kill one athlete every hour…

Arlege is determined that, as the crew closest to the action, the sports team must hang on to this ‘scoop’ at all costs. It is their responsibility, he claims, to ensure that the unfolding story is shown to the world. As the only person in their office who can speak German, young assistant Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) finds herself pressed into service as an interpreter, horribly aware that she has been plunged headlong into a demanding position.

I’m old enough to actually remember the event but its shocking outcome (I’m almost ashamed to admit) has drifted into the mists of time. Consequently, September 5 wracks me with suspense throughout, the tension steadily mounting as the film hurtles towards its shattering conclusion.

Fehlbaum’s production team has done an incredible job here, seamlessly interweaving found footage with authentic recreations of the era and using sequences featuring the original presenter, Jim McKay, to great effect. I’m constantly impressed by the inventiveness of the original technicians, who have to come up with all kinds of tricks and shortcuts to ensure that their coverage reaches the widest possible audience.

It’s sobering to learn that the live broadcast (one of the very first of its kind) was seen by more than 900 million viewers. But be warned, this is real life and therefore not one of those action romps that results in a neat, heartwarming, happy ending. Nonetheless, it’s an assured and provocative film that’s earned its Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

10/09/2

Cineworld, Edinburgh

It’s hard to believe that Past Lives is only the debut film of Korean-Canadian playwright, Celine Song. Here she has created a narrative so assured, so brilliantly handled, it’s little wonder that critics around the world have fallen for its charms. And I am swooning along with them.

When we first see the three main protagonists, they are chatting together in a bar, while a couple of unidentified voices speculate about what their relationship might be. We learn further down the line that they are playwright, Nora (Greta Lee), her novelist husband, Arthur (John Magaro), and Korean engineer, Jung Hae (Teo Yoo). Their relationship is complicated to say the very least, and the film takes its time unravelling an explanation. But relax, there’s no great hurry.

First we must backtrack twenty-six years to see young Nora (or Na-Young, as she was called then) and Jung Hae, at school together in Korea. They are already inseparable, so much so that their respective mothers take the two of them out on a first ‘date’. But huge changes are looming. Nora’s parents are keen to emigrate to Canada, so that their respective artistic careers can prosper. To help her adapt to her new home, Na-Young adopts the name ‘Nora,’ and is obliged to say goodbye to Jung Hae, but twelve years later, the two of them reconnect online and begin a series of soulful conversations.

Jung Hae tells Nora that he still thinks about her all the time. Sadly, work commitments get in the way and once again the two of them drift apart.

Then, at a writer’s retreat in Montauk, Nora meets Arthur and, almost before they know what’s happening, a decade or so has slipped by and the two of them are happily married and living in a tiny apartment in New York.

And then, Jung Hae travels thousands of miles to visit them…

In clumsier hands the stakes at this point. Nora and Jung-Hae would doubtless realise that they’ve always been meant for each other and Arthur merely an obstacle to be overcome, by force if necessary. But Song’s beautiful and lyrical approach to the story displays a generosity of spirit that takes in all those conflicting emotions and accepts that it’s okay for them to exist – that the three protagonists are all on the same journey through life and can co-exist, without recourse to anger or brutality. Song’s perceptive screenplay makes her characters act and talk like real people actually do.

Shabier Kirchner’s cinematography captures the cities of Seoul and New York in vivid detail and the plaintive music by Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen is perfectly matched to the film’s languorous, sedate pacing. By the third act I am, quite frankly, spellbound by the story, which is sweet and yearning and deeply affecting, particularly when Jung Hae confesses to Nora that he didn’t realise that liking Arthur would cause him so much pain. The conclusion is so adeptly handled I want to applaud.

If this is Song’s debut, I can only wonder about what she might achieve further down the line. Meanwhile, Past Lives is truly impressive. Miss it and weep… or see it and weep. The choice is yours.

5 stars

Philip Caveney