Tenet still (Credit: Warner Bros)
MY WORLD OF TRUTH
Saturday 29 August 2020
Nine films to watch this September
Tenet
If any film is going to tempt crowds back to cinemas, it’s Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, a brain-frying science-fiction blockbuster with a high concept and a higher budget. John David Washington stars as a secret agent who learns about mysterious weapons that move backwards through time, and then dashes off on a mission to find the man responsible, a sadistic Ukrainian arms dealer played by Kenneth Branagh. Tenet is a Bond movie that squeezes Back to the Future 2 and Edge of Tomorrow into its last act. After six months with almost no new films in cinemas, it’s good to see a film so crammed with exotic locations, snazzy costumes, shoot-outs and explosions that you get six months’ worth of entertainment in two and a half hours.
On general release now, and in the US and Russia on 3 September
Mulan still (Credit: Disney)
Mulan
Has there ever been a longer gap between a film’s premiere and its general release? Mulan had its red-carpet gala in Los Angeles on 9 March, but then... well, we all know what happened next. Its release was postponed and postponed again, and now at last Niki Caro’s live-action remake of the 1998 cartoon is being shown on Disney Plus for a premium fee. It will go down in history as the first major film to go straight to the company’s new streaming channel, but it’s a shame that it won’t be on the big screen. Judging by the trailers, Mulan will have some huge battle scenes and spectacular mountain scenery, as a Chinese girl (Yifei Liu) disguised as a man proves herself in the emperor’s army.
On Disney+ from 4 September
I’m Thinking of Ending Things still (Credit: Netflix)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Like a dark remake of Meet The Parents, I’m Thinking of Ending Things stars Jessie Buckley as a young woman who drives with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to the farm owned by his disturbingly chipper mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis), only to find herself slipping back and forth through time and in and out of reality. Adapted from Iain Reid’s psychological horror novel, the film is scripted and directed by Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, so you can expect low-key surrealism and painful existential angst. What else you can expect is a mystery, although IndieWire promises that “Kaufman’s off-kilter and more comedic vision is a study in loneliness, a break-up story, and the writer/director’s own searching journey through his career”.
On Netflix from 4 September
The King’s Man still (Credit: 20th Century Studios / Disney)
The King’s Man
Matthew Vaughn follows his two Bond-spoofing Kingsman comedy-thrillers with a prequel set during World War One. A cabal of the world’s most heinous criminals and tyrants (including Rhys Ifans’ magnificently bearded Rasputin) is planning to profit from the global havoc, so an aristocrat (Ralph Fiennes) and his protegé (Harris Dickinson) set up their own smartly-suited intelligence agency. Considering that Fiennes played a pin-striped super-spy himself in The Avengers (the British one with Uma Thurman, not the Marvel one) as well as the head of the Secret Service in the recent Bond movies, he should know what he’s doing. Gemma Arterton, Stanley Tucci, Matthew Goode and Djimon Hounsou join him for a cavalcade of swordfights, explosions and one-liners – though not as much silliness as there is in the previous Kingsman romps. “It’s quite different tonally,” Arterton told Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5. “There’s a real weight to it. It’s a little bit more serious in tone.”
Released on 16 September in the UK, Ireland and France; 17 September in Germany, Denmark and Italy; and 18 September in the US and Taiwan
About Endlessness still (Credit: Magnolia)
About Endlessness
Anyone who has seen Songs from the Second Floor or You, the Living will know that Sweden’s Roy Andersson is cinema’s master of bleakly funny, absurdist, and somehow profound vignettes. His films are like compilations of depressive Monty Python sketches, in which frumpy, zombie-pale Swedes treat the most bizarre situations as if they are crushingly banal. About Endlessness is another “collection of tragicomic tableaux revealing large truths about humanity’s everyday struggle for happiness”, says David Jenkins in Little White Lies. But here Andersson “cuts through the sheen of artificiality with very real and affecting emotions, and... manages to achieve an almost Zen perfection”.
Released on 3 September in Denmark, 17 September in Germany and 18 September in the US
The Glorias still (Credit: Amazon Prime)
The Glorias
Gloria Steinem’s life and work are too much for one actress. Already this year, the trailblazing activist and journalist has been played by Rose Byrne in the Mrs America TV series. And now, in an ambitious biopic directed by Julie Taymor (Frida, Across the Universe), she is embodied at different ages by Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Lulu Wilson and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. There are even fantasy sequences in which the various Glorias meet and chat about their decades of learning and campaigning. The complex result, says Tim Grierson in Screen International, is “an exceedingly thoughtful portrait” that explores both “the feminist writer’s imposing cultural status [and] her flesh-and-blood humanness”. Film trivia footnote: Steinem’s stepson is Christian Bale.
On Amazon Prime in the US and Canada from 30 September
White Riot still (Credit: White Riot/ Syd Shelton)
White Riot
White British rock stars may have pinched their ideas from black musicians, but that didn’t stop David Bowie, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton spouting anti-immigrant rhetoric in 1976, at a time when the fascistic National Front was on the march. In response, a protest movement named Rock Against Racism was born in east London, and grew from printing fanzines to organising a punk and reggae festival featuring The Clash in 1978. Rubika Shah splices new interviews with archive footage to make a documentary as energised and confrontational as its subject. Alistair Harkness of The Scotsman says that this “blistering, highly entertaining” film is “sadly, as relevant today as it was then”.
Released on 17 September in the UK and the Netherlands
Kajillionaire still (Credit: Focus Features)
Kajillionaire
A crime caper with a difference – well, quite a few differences – Kajillionaire is the first offbeat but heartfelt comedy from Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Future) in almost a decade. Evan Rachel Wood plays a twenty-something who has been raised by her parents (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) to be a small-time crook in Los Angeles. Like the families in Parasite and Shoplifters, the trio devotes its days to cheating and stealing, but is still stuck in poverty. Things change when the woman makes a new friend (Gina Rodriguez). “Their relationship builds, in a wonderfully roundabout way, to one of the great romances in cinema history,” says Pete Debruge in Variety, “although maybe only we weirdos who identify as Miranda July fans will recognise it as such”.
Released on 18 September in the US, 30 Sept in France and 9 October in the UK
The Devil All The Time still (Credit: Netflix)
The Devil All the Time
Antonio Campos has packed his feverish backwoods gothic thriller with one of the year’s coolest casts. Adapted from Donald Ray Pollock’s award-winning novel, The Devil All the Time charts the crime and corruption in a small religious community in Knockemstiff, Ohio (yes, that’s a real place) between World War Two and the Vietnam War. Tom Holland is a dirt-poor youth who is pushed towards violence, Jason Clarke is a predatory photographer, Riley Keough is the beauty queen who becomes his sidekick, Sebastian Stan is a crooked sheriff, and Mia Wasikowska and Bill Skarsgård are also in the mix. But the performance that could get people talking is Robert ‘The Batman’ Pattinson’s wild-eyed turn as a villainous preacher. “There are certain performances where it almost feels like a possession,” says Campos, “and I think this is one of those performances”.
Saturday 15 August 2020
Are you missing out on vital minerals?
Many people in the UK are not getting the recommended amount of some vital minerals, leading to symptoms including fatigue and lethargy, sometimes with long-term health risks. Consumption of iron, calcium and iodine is particularly low among females aged 11-18, and more than one in ten women in most age groups aren’t consuming enough of them according to evidence in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Males fare better, but a small percentage consume less than the lowest recommended amount of these three nutrients. Should you worry? We look at the evidence.
Iron deficiency is the world’s most common nutritional disorder
Over 30 percent of the world’s population are anaemic, many due to iron deficiency, according to The World Health Organisation – who describe it as “the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world”.
Iron is essential for making red blood cells, which carry oxygen around your body. If you don’t eat enough iron and develop iron-deficiency anaemia, it can increase your risk of illness and infection as well as heart and lung complications. The symptoms of iron-deficiency anaemia include tiredness, lack of energy or concentration and shortness of breath.
Over half of 11-18 year old females and over a quarter of 19-64 year old females in the UK are eating below the recommended intake of iron, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey*. For some, this has lead to low iron stores and/or iron-deficiency anaemia (found in 9 percent of 11-18 year-old girls, 5 percent of adult women and 1 percent of older women). The problem is significantly less common among males in the same age range. “Iron is lost through bleeding, so those who are menstruating need more iron than those who aren’t”, says dietitian Catherine Rabess.
Meat contains haem iron, the type most easily absorbed by the body, but you can also get the iron you need from non-haem plant foods, including lentils, kale, chickpeas, beans, soy and microprotein products, and many nuts and seeds. Vegetarians who eat a varied and balanced diet have been found to have no greater risk of iron-deficiency anaemia than non-vegetarians.
Iron absorption can be helped by eating foods containing vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli and kiwi. Drinking tea, coffee and dairy alongside a meal may reduce the absorption of iron from food because of a chemical they contain called phytic acid. Read more about iron on BBC Food.
Many of us don’t eat enough calcium
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, with approximately 1kg stored within adult bones. However, many of us don’t eat enough of it when young to keep our bones healthy for life. More than a fifth of 11-18 year old females and 11 percent of 11-18 year old males eat below the recommended intake of calcium*. “If you don’t get enough calcium, especially when you are young and growing, you may see problems later in life, such as osteoporosis (brittle bone disease)”, says Rabess.
One sign that you aren’t getting enough calcium can be tiredness. “Calcium helps release energy from your food, so if you aren’t consuming enough of the mineral you may feel more tired than normal”, says dietitian Helen Bond.
Dairy provides more than 40 percent of the calcium intake of adults in the UK diet, and if you cut milk-based products out “it is really important to make sure you still get calcium from other sources”, says Rabess. Many wheat products in the UK are fortified with calcium, meaning breads, pastas and breakfast cereals often contain added calcium – and about 30 percent of the UK calcium intake comes from these foods. Additional sources of calcium include broccoli, fish eaten with the bones in, such as sardines and tinned salmon, and some milk alternatives and soya products, such as tofu. Organic products, including milk alternatives, are not fortified with nutrients.
Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium. In the UK, it is recommened we take a vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter months, when the sun isn’t strong enough to synthesise the vitamin in our skin. Those who spend limited time outdoors may benefit from taking supplements for additional months.
It’s particularly important to watch your iodine intake when pregnant
More than a quarter of 11-18 year old females eat below the recommended intake of iodine, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey*. Iodine is used for the production of thyroid hormones and needed for growth and metabolism. “One of the greatest causes of preventable brain damage is linked to low iodine intake in babies”, says Rabess. If you are trying to conceive, pregnant or breast feeding, iodine is vital for your child’s development.
Iodine deficiency can lead to an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). This can cause various symptoms, including tiredness, weight gain, constipation and feeling cold.
A study looking at iodine status in UK school girls found evidence of a mild level of deficiency in 51 percent of 14-15 year old girls.
Most adults who follow a healthy, balanced diet should be meeting their iodine requirements, according to The British Dietetic Association. But those who avoid fish and dairy products may be at risk of deficiency and may require a supplement or fortified foods. Some milk alternatives are not fortified with iodine, so always check the label.
It is important to have enough iodine, but too much can be harmful. Seaweed can be a very concentrated source of iodine, so may provide excessive amounts, which could have a negative effect on your health. For this reason, eat it “no more than once a week to be safe”, says Rabess.
Selenium intake
Nearly half of females over the age of 11 and a quarter of males aged 11-65 are eating below the recommended amount of selenium*. This rises significantly for both sexes over the age of 75. However, deficiency is rare. Selenium is found in Brazil nuts, fish, meat, eggs and bread, although the selenium content of cereals, such as wheat, is related to the amount in the soil. Selenium intake has fallen in the UK, due to European cereals replacing North American selenium-rich wheat in many products, such as bread.
Many in the UK don’t eat enough minerals
Many groups don’t eat enough potassium or magnesium. Deficiencies of these minerals are rare, but not getting enough of them long-term can affect your health.
Magnesium
Half of 11-18 year old females and over a quarter of 11-18 year old males* eat below the recommended intake of magnesium. While deficiency is rare, and normally found in severely ill patients, alcoholics and those with malabsorption disorders, intake of this nutrient is fairly low in young age groups in the UK. It is available in many foods, including green leafy vegetables, nuts, rice, fish, meat and dairy.
Potassium
Potassium deficiency normally results from diarrhoea, but low dietary potassium intakes have been observed in the UK*, particularly among females, even though the recommended daily intake for women is often lower than for men. Potassium is found in many foods, and fruit (particularly bananas), vegetables such as broccoli and parsnips, fish, shellfish, beef, chicken, nuts, seeds and pulses are useful sources.
Can you take a supplement to minimise deficiency risk?
A diet low in one mineral may well be low in others. Assessing and improving the diet as a whole will help ensure an adequate supply of most minerals for healthy people. If you want to take supplements, it is “best to speak to your GP or a health professional first, who can tell you if you need one”, says Rabess.
If you think you might be consuming too little (or too much) of a particular nutrient, type it into our nutrition calculator below to find out how likely that is, based on your age and sex.
