Film

The Agent

The Agent

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Cert:(adv 12A)
Dir. Lesley Manning
GB , 80 mins, 2008
Cast: Stephen Kennedy, William Beck, Maureen Lipman

We are delighted that Lesley Manning and Martin Wagner, the Director and Writer of The Agent, will introduce the film before the 18th March showing.

The short film Llora will be shown before this film.

The story of a frustrated writer and his agent, The Agent is a smart two-hander with a nimble, well-paced script, spot-on performances, and some compelling arguments. Skilled but self-doubting writer Stephen hasn’t heard from his agent Alexander in the four months since sending in the final draft of his new novel, Black. Grasping the nettle, Stephen hotfoots it to Alexander’s office to demand a response. What, he asks, gives Alex the right to decide what people should read? And why do so many worthless books make money? Flustered, Alexander brushes away the questions away, but an ultimatum soon develops…

Debutante director Lesley Manning’s The Agent makes it to the screen via a hit source play, which enjoyed a successful run at London’s Trafalgar Studios in summer ‘07. And though it’s easy to appreciate The Agent’s origins as theatre, Manning brings a great deal of filmic nous to her adaptation, making it thoroughly satisfying as cinema. There’s the great sense of pace in the super-honed script and in Manning’s own lively editing. Lead actors Kennedy and Beck, both veterans from the play, have fun with our shifting sympathies and flesh out fascinating roles with real conviction. They’re really intriguing characters: both men are, after all, merely doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. The trouble is art and commerce are sometimes uneasy bedfellows.

There are many great arguments running through The Agent: how should an artist cope when their work becomes a commodity, should agents worry about standards of ‘art’, could we think about art be different in a re-imagined world? That these ideas are explored with such wit and energy as in The Agent is to be celebrated. Watching it is like the most exciting day at work you never had.

Tom Vincent

We are delighted that Lesley Manning and Martin Wagner, the Director and Writer of The Agent, will introduce the film at 5.45 on Wednesday 18 March

Other films showing that are Premieres & Previews are:

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