Strictly old school: CT editor Kirstie Newton met film critic and musician Mark Kermode in Truro

Mark Kermode is well-known as a film critic, on television and in print (he recently became The Observer’s in-house film writer). But he’s also a passionate musician. On Saturday, November 9, he gets to combine the two when his band, The Dodge Brothers, performs a half-hour set at the Cornwall Film Festival in Newquay, followed by a full-on gig at the Acorn in Penzance.
Our meeting was a classic example of his dual personality. Behind us, the Truro Plaza cinema was filling up with fans eager to hear Kermode discuss his latest book, Hatchet Job, about the future of film criticism in the wake of internet review sites. But he’s equally chatty about the band, a skiffle and blues outfit with whom he plays double bass and harmonica.
The two gigs will be quite different in style. At the film festival, the guys will accompany a selection of scenes from the silent cinema of the 1920s - White Oak, The Ghost that Never Returns and Beggars of Life. The idea was inspired by Mark’s friend, composer Neil Brand, a leading silent film pianist who recently presented a BBC4 series on film music.
“In the past, local bands would just get up and play,” says Mark. “We started accompanying films with Neil, then experimented with some Dodge Brothers material. I’m really looking forward to it. There’s something very special about seeing silent cinema accompanied – there’s a real chemistry between images and music.”
The Acorn gig, meanwhile, will draw heavily on the band’s usual repertoire. The strapline, “All aboard the last train to 1956,” says it all. The band recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis last year, treading in the footsteps of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. Determined that the album should sound as authentic as possible, they used open mikes, with no headphones, and instruments, percussion and vocals all recorded live in single takes.
“It was all analogue, and it was produced by a guy who had worked there for a long time. It took a few hours to get used to the room - if you wanted to hear more of Simon, you had to go and stand next to Simon. But the end result sounds authentically old, which was our aim – that it should sound exactly as it would have done in 1956.”
His love of music is rooted in his childhood, the rockabilly a rebellion against his dad’s obsession with American ragtime pianist Jelly Roll Morton. And his love of film dates back to a similar time. “Some kids loved football and going to parties. I loved going to the cinema, and there were a lot of cinemas I could walk to in Barnet back then – Rex, Odeon, ABC, Gaumont. In Cornwall, you are beautifully unencumbered by cinema chains. You’re so lucky to have the WTW cinemas, the Merlin and the Poly.”
A few days earlier, I’d seen the trailer for Kermode’s book at the Plaza, when it preceded Proclaimers musical Sunshine On Leith, which was the cinema’s biggest selling film at the time. I can’t resist asking a bona fide film critic what he thought of it. “McMamma Mia!” he exclaims. “I really like Dexter Fletcher, the director – he’s always good, and this was shot with its feet on the ground. I thought it was charming and fun.”
I’m surprised. It was undemanding fare, and I thought he’d hate it. “If you want to pull it apart, of course you can – but the songs are indestructible. You know someone will be called Jean, and someone will go to America and send a letter back. The pleasure is in seeing how they put it all together.”
Therein lies the nub of Hatchet Job. “People only seem to remember the bad reviews, but never the really positive ones. I’m known for complaining about things I don’t like, but I think I say a lot of good things.” Is there a future for the professional film critic? In a word, yes. “Just because we’re moving from print to digital, doesn’t mean you have to do away with the values of print journalism. I don’t have much faith in anonymous crowd-surfing sites that add up stars and produce a number. I just want to talk about cinema. I might be horrible about a film, and be wrong; a good film-maker will say, ‘OK’, and get on with the next one.”
Kermode was last down in March to introduce sci-fi film Silent Runnings as part of the Truro Festival. He describes Cornwall as “somewhere I’m very fond of. Over next however many years, we’re slowly moving down. My great ambition is to wake up in the morning and look out over the sea. My family are from the Isle of Man, where you’re never more than 10 miles from the sea. Linda and I have been coming down ever since we started going out. Our kids grew up surfing here. I love Gwithian – who can possibly stand on that beach and not agree that life is good?”
But ask him his favourite place in the county, and he doesn’t hesitate. “I love the Plaza. It’s a proper cinema. They take film seriously here. It shows 35mm as well as digital, while so many cinemas have thrown out their old reels. I like to remind people of what real cinema feels like. It would be a shame if we lost film. It’s a theatrical experience.”
WIN a copy of the Dodge Brothers’ third album, The Sun Set, and a pair of tickets to the Acorn in Penzance on Saturday, November 9. E-mail [email protected], with Mark Kermode in the subject line.
Buy tickets on 01726 879500 or at www.crbo.co.uk