Sigrit and Lars...
Fire Saga...
Yes, I've seen the film too!
Before I chat about them, you will have noticed that this article does not have any mention of this week's edition of my radio show "LET ME BE THE ONE". There is a reason for that - technical issues at Bradley Stoke Radio meant that new shows were not being uploaded onto the system for 4-5 days last week and over last weekend. Supposedly the issue was sorted yesterday (Monday) and my show was meant to be uploaded to play today (remember that we aren't broadcasting live at the moment due to the coronavirus issues and not being able to get into our building). So I thought that it would be all systems go until I tuned in at 8.02pm this evening (Tuesday 30th June) and was greeted with JOWST and "Grab The Moment", the track that kicked off last week's show! Quick Whatsapp messages ensued, I found out that there was still the possibility for glitches and my show was a victim of one of those. Show 99 is now to be held over until next week (July 7th) and that means that show 100 will be the week after (July 14th), now spookily close to the 7th Anniversary of my blog on 17th July! Apologies to everyone who tuned in for a new show (and I know there were quite a few regulars) - hopefully normal service will be resumed in seven days time.
So as there is no Mixcloud or playlist to place in this article, I thought that I'd say something about the event of the last seven days, definitely the past month and arguably 2020, that being:
So as there is no Mixcloud or playlist to place in this article, I thought that I'd say something about the event of the last seven days, definitely the past month and arguably 2020, that being:
Forget that tagline, as us fans all know that in fact the converse tends to be true at Eurovision itself - in fact, ignoring everything that you know about Eurovision was best for watching this film. You know why? This might be difficult for some others to accept but...
"Eurovision Song Contest : The Story Of Fire Saga" (ESCTSOFS) is NOT a documentary!
It is a COMEDY film written and performed for an audience that has no clue about the Contest, is watching probably because of the draw of Will Ferrell or maybe Pierce Brosnan, and wants a very easy watch with a few songs to fill two hours of their life. I would agree with most fans that Dan Stevens, playing Alexander Lemtov, Russia's artist, stole the show as far as being the best actor in the production was concerned but the absolute star of the whole movie did not get her face on screen at all - she was the main singing voice of Sigrit (Rachel McAdams)...
Molly 'My Marianne' Sandén
Rachel was there too but it is obvious that Molly was the driving force in the songs "Volcano Man", "Jaja Ding Dong", "Happy", "Húsavík" and "Double Trouble". Molly picked up THREE Swedish Grammis earlier this year - will she get more awards for her vocals in the film? Will she appear at MF 2021 on the back of this outstanding success? Film critics were unanimous in highlighting the songs as the high point of the movie and that will only add more positives to Molly's CV, as it will to someone who is very unlikely to sing at Eurovision in real life, unless it was as an interval act:
Demi Lovato was the onscreen smash as far as the OST songs were concerned, in her role as the incredibly talented Icelandic star Katiana Lindsdóttir. She got to do a bit of acting as her own ghost but I am not going to give away too much of the plot, although I am pretty sure that everyone who listens to my show and reads this blog will have seen the movie by now. As for content, it is not a documentary but some fans have decided to go with that and complain that there are lots of mistakes and anomalies in the movie. Of course there are - how dry a comedy would this movie have been if it had been written according to EBU rules and been as the Contest is each year? Why have a film about it, we could just reshow old Finals at double the runtime! As I said before, this really was not written for us and I am not going to say anything about what is wrong in the film in that respect (as that could take up a whole article in itself). The way of viewing this film, as expertly summed up by my friend Joanne?
ESCTSOFS is a romcom between Will and Rachel's characters that has the Eurovision Song Contest (and their struggle to get there) as the main backdrop and theme.
When you watch the film from that direction, it all makes sense! ESCTSOFS is not a rip-roaring barrel of laughs, three words of mine summing it up:
It is a FEEL GOOD FILM
I finished the two hours smiling and feeling uplifted, something to be grateful for during these horribly dark times we are all currently living through. The two leads get together in the end despite all of the obstacles in their way and they also achieve their life goals. Now that is, in a nutshell, a very successful romcom. The other bonus for us Eurovision fans?
The movie is VERY DEFERENTIAL to the Contest -
it parodies it but in a very pleasant and friendly way
I have to admit that there is very little I remember of the film dialogue-wise four days on. There are no classic one liners that you might find elsewhere in comedy movies and I would have liked something on the level of 'Spinal Tap' to have come out of this. The strength of the movie were those musical parts - we all recognised the 'real entries' that the acts in the film were paying homage to (Rasmussen and Lordi come to mind) and we even got that incredible "Song-along" section:
That was our equivalent of "Love Love, Peace Peace" in the movie - the bit for all of us die-hard fans to bask in the glory of having so many Eurovision stars together. It also made sense as to why we had so many different versions of "Volcano Man" beforehand! My favourite of those (mainly due to the cinematography):
My personal thoughts on the film itself? I had a warm feeling inside by the end of it and I was smiling - it was a fun film, the Contest itself wasn't ripped to shreds but treated really respectfully and the storyline was okay. I accepted all of those technical faux-pas because, to be quite honest, comedies don't go 100% correct with subject matter for most films as they are, to put it bluntly, fictional and 'bending the truth' often makes for better plot lines! As a comparison, ask someone who has been in any branch of the military if most war films are 100% accurate and they will point out numerous issues in all of them. The music was the real high point for me, the pinnacle being "Húsavík" (picture below) and that is what is going to kick off next week's show (hopefully!), along with the Icelandic 'entry', "Double Trouble".
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My major critique would have been that time seemed to drag a little at the beginning of the movie, perhaps the first 15 minutes could have been condensed or lost, and I have to admit that I probably wouldn't watch the whole of it again but will listen to the complete songs and watch their accompanying sections of the film. I also have that sound track to play, perhaps more important for a radio presenter! The one point that I don't think that any reviewer has identified is this:
I just don't think that there is much you can take from Eurovision to make another comedy film out of - if you go too serious, you have got yourself a documentary! You will also hear my thoughts on ESCTSOFS on air in show 99, albeit now a week late, on July 7th - I think that "Eurovision Song Contest : The Story Of Fire Saga" is a movie that every fan should see but as I said before, don't take it too seriously and don't look for everything in it to be like Eurovision. If you do those two things, you will enjoy your two hours viewing and at the moment, even a light hearted comedy film lifts the mood! Well done to Netflix for producing this and I have seen many non-fans watch the movie and like it - perhaps we will get some more 'recruits' to the real Contest out of it!
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As for my radio show, number 100 will now be in a fortnight's time. You now have an extra week to act - I have decided to make it a 100% REQUEST SHOW and have invited all my listeners and readers to tell me what they would liked played on the show. Be quick though, as I already have some in - what I am looking for are:
Send your suggestions either by Facebook on the Bradley Stoke Radio page, my LET ME BE THE ONE page or my personal timeline; by email to eurovision@bradleystokeradio.com; and to my twitter account. You now have until July 10th to let me know, as I will start recording the 100th show that weekend - of course, if I get more requests than I have time for, I will play them in future shows. Theoretically you could choose something from the Eurovision film - don't choose "Húsavík" and "Double Trouble" as they are on show 99 but I'll allow anything else, including from this guy:
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My personal thoughts on the film itself? I had a warm feeling inside by the end of it and I was smiling - it was a fun film, the Contest itself wasn't ripped to shreds but treated really respectfully and the storyline was okay. I accepted all of those technical faux-pas because, to be quite honest, comedies don't go 100% correct with subject matter for most films as they are, to put it bluntly, fictional and 'bending the truth' often makes for better plot lines! As a comparison, ask someone who has been in any branch of the military if most war films are 100% accurate and they will point out numerous issues in all of them. The music was the real high point for me, the pinnacle being "Húsavík" (picture below) and that is what is going to kick off next week's show (hopefully!), along with the Icelandic 'entry', "Double Trouble".
'Eurovision Song Contest : The Story Of Fire Saga" is likely to be
the ONLY comedy film (perhaps even any film) about the competition ever made.
the ONLY comedy film (perhaps even any film) about the competition ever made.
I just don't think that there is much you can take from Eurovision to make another comedy film out of - if you go too serious, you have got yourself a documentary! You will also hear my thoughts on ESCTSOFS on air in show 99, albeit now a week late, on July 7th - I think that "Eurovision Song Contest : The Story Of Fire Saga" is a movie that every fan should see but as I said before, don't take it too seriously and don't look for everything in it to be like Eurovision. If you do those two things, you will enjoy your two hours viewing and at the moment, even a light hearted comedy film lifts the mood! Well done to Netflix for producing this and I have seen many non-fans watch the movie and like it - perhaps we will get some more 'recruits' to the real Contest out of it!
Eurovision entries
National Final entries
Other songs by Eurovision artists
Send your suggestions either by Facebook on the Bradley Stoke Radio page, my LET ME BE THE ONE page or my personal timeline; by email to eurovision@bradleystokeradio.com; and to my twitter account. You now have until July 10th to let me know, as I will start recording the 100th show that weekend - of course, if I get more requests than I have time for, I will play them in future shows. Theoretically you could choose something from the Eurovision film - don't choose "Húsavík" and "Double Trouble" as they are on show 99 but I'll allow anything else, including from this guy:
Dan Stevens was superb as Alexander Lemto
(drawing on inspiration from Philipp Kirkorov).
I'm not sure that "Lion Of Love" would have won the fictional Eurovision though!
I get the feeling that it was a song we didn't see...
I get the feeling that it was a song we didn't see...