Daisy Ridley is preparing to star in new Star Wars projects, but before she does, she has been focusing on smaller features such as Young Woman and the Sea and Sometimes I Think About Dying. She never gave up on her craft. Although many famed English actors have seamlessly performed without an accent (as showcased in those two roles), the American accent, like many other countless personas, came naturally to Ridley, who is now back to her favorite voice – British. Ridley is currently busy acting in Magpie, a neo-noir film based in the UK where she portrays a desperate British mother with two children fighting to keep their family glued while coping with an unappreciative partner.
The writer of the film is Tom Bateman, whom Ridley married, while Sam Yates is charge of direction, and Ridley developed the Magpie’s storyline. She co-produces the film with Bateman, so you can see why this is a project she’s looking forward to. It is easy to see how much passion she has for both projects. It came through in the end – this performance was one of the best in Ridley’s career. The film’s meta-narrative embeds a classic thriller structure which is sure to attract both noir lovers and Ridley’s fans.
Watching the film promotional poster with Ridley, the viewers may think e.g. what does it say about the role Orson played, about the scene she looks towards with her piercing eyes – but no, that would be a cell phone. In our days, however, and as many of us have likely experienced over the course of this dangerously digital age, a cell phone can do a great deal of damage, if misused. And in Magpie, a story revolving around two antagonistic mothers and their children, such mobile phones become a weapon with little restraint. The phone, a ingot of so much desire, hatred and attention, also initiates quite a few heavy plot pronouncements in the film, even at the very beginning.
The narrative, moves to the Uk film industry where a popular actor has her name dragged into a controversy (which I guess is being relished by everyone on their phones). Yet acting is the only profession she works, and so Alicia (Matilda Lutz), has to move on and accept her subsequent focus for this particular project, which includes playing the role of a troubled mother in a historical drama.
Casting her teenager daughter in ‘Matilda, the movie within a movie’ is Hiba Ahmed, the daughter of Anette Ridley and her husband, the writer Ben Shazad Latif. Contrary to all their mother Matilda, Anette also expresses her admiration for Ben claiming he is a published writer. For Ben, he believes this is falsehood. As they land, it is easy to see that their people, their marriage, are indeed strained Simba is at home perhaps expecting baby number two to keep the temperature in the house on the low side. Anette, by the way, has made the choice to focus on the children and now does not work from home, though she excels at it. So, what is the cause of the conflict?
Once again, Ben brings Matilda to the set and meets Alicia and straight away becomes a fan. On the set, Ben is all about positive vibes, especially when around Alicia, but it seems he reserves the negative energy for life at home with Anette. Ben doesn’t appear to be in a great mood even sot Much to Anette’s utter disgust when an almost grinning Ben exclaims that Alicia was happy to read one of his award-winning books.
It is obvious therefore that there is no affection at home, and the spying Anette is even able to listen to Ben satisfying his sexual urges in their master bath as an alternative.
In this scenario, a more figurative gap develops between the two, with the father driven by the need to take their Matilda to the shooting schedule, which is an encouraging reason to keep having physical encounters with his daughter’s co-star. And that is the point when Anette starts getting all the more inquisitive regarding this push and pull that Ben is discreetly orchestrating which results in a precarious love triangle with all the conspiratorial turns and moves.
Above all, through its sexually graphic protagonists, Magpie is fortunately never able to follow the cliché beats of a famous romance novel, but rather takes control of the narration by providing the audience unexpected surprises. While in the second part things may at some point become monotonous with Ben’s disgraceful and crude bullying, one cannot help but adore Anette’s resolute action centered disposition. The anticipation of the spectators’ active imagination is also increased with the presence of a visual excess of the film’s dreamy quality since Yates himself often employs subjective perspective shoots to visualize the racy text messages. “I never met someone like,” Ben casts a craving glance to the camera – to us – as if he’s dangling with a mobile phone to Alicia and tapping in these purposely tacky phrases.
As Ben, Latif is once again brilliant and beyond the boiling point, digging into the reality of being a man who can never sap his sexual appetite and lives an illusion that his wife or the ‘child’ is ever going to believe him. Greed, sex, toxic masculinity, it is all present in piles and at times it is unbearable as its filth can be hard to handle.
Moving on to the versatile Ridley. Her fierce and focused gaze has worked for her in different Disney ventures and now even for this character who is more mature. And this time you can’t miss her striking, short hair and how well it fits her businesslike attitude which drives the momentum for much of Magpie.
There’s also the additional meta aspect, that is, the film-within-the film, where the practically theatrical scenes shot between Alicia and the young Matilda somehow portray the conflicts and nuances of Anette and Ben’s family — which had different centers to begin with. Likewise those shocking plot twists especially in the final third, which may evoke gasps and cheers from some viewers for key characters. Ridley looks real nice in a neo-noir style.
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