MELANIA: “A piece of handsomely mounted crypto‑fascist propaganda” + Riz Ahmed

Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Sony Music

Film Reviews, Film Interviews, Tv Reviews, Tv & Film

4.3 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2026

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some exciting news—The Take is now on Patreon: www.patreon.com/kermodeandmayo. Become a Vanguardista or an Ultra Vanguardista to get video episodes of Take Two every week, plus member‑only chat rooms, polls and submissions to influence the show, behind‑the‑scenes photos and videos, the monthly Redactor’s Roundup newsletter, and access to a new fortnightly LIVE show—a raucous, unfiltered lunchtime special with the Good Doctors, new features, and live chat so you can heckle, vote, and have your questions read out in real time. It’s the take you’ve all been waiting for... Mark’s Melania review. Did he enjoy this, er, ‘documentary’ about the FLOTUS? Obviously not. Will you enjoy listening to him slate it? We think so. Buckle up. Our guest this week is Riz Ahmed—actor, musician, writer and all-round creative force—joining Simon to talk about his bold new film adaptation of Hamlet. Reimagining Shakespeare’s most introspective tragedy for the screen, Ahmed takes on the iconic role of the Prince of Denmark in a version that fuses classic text with contemporary urgency. He tells Simon what it means to wrestle with “to be or not to be” in the modern world. Mark also reviews Hamlet, plus three more of this week’s notable releases. There’s Send Help, Sam Raimi’s survival thriller that strands its characters in a fight against both nature and themselves; The Chronology of Water, a visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, and Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut; and It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, a documentary portrait of the elusive, mythic musician whose influence still reverberates decades on. All this, plus the box office top 10, the lofty pleasures of the Laughter Lift, and the usual conversational twists, turns, and small-hill-pedantry you’ve come to expect. Timecodes with YT clip codes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free) Send Help review - 08:53 ( clip: 11:27 – 12:18 Box Office Top 10 - 00:15:56 Melania review - 00:18:46 (clip 00:19:10 - 00:19:58) Riz Ahmed interview - 00:38:50 (film clip Universal 00:39:16 - 00:40:02) Hamlet review - 00:55:07 Laughter Lift - 01:02:50 Chronology of Water review - 01:04:46 (clip 01:05:41 - 01:06:32) It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley 01:11:19 (clip 01:11:56 - 01:12:44) You can contact the show by emailing correspondence@kermodeandmayo.com or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, Simon, if our beloved redactor would be offered a mind-blowing new job and abandon us tomorrow, hard to imagine, but go on. We would be on the lookout for a replacement. I mean, surely he's irreplaceable. He is, but that aside, for candidates who match what we're looking for, elite-level Christmas cracker joke writing, a track record of working with top talent. and we do mean top, we'd be wise to try
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0:46.1	curmode mayo. Just go to indeed.com slash curmode mayo right now and support our show by saying
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1:03.8	This episode is brought to you by Mooby, the global film company that champions great cinema.
1:10.3	From iconic directors to emerging
1:12.1	hauteur's, there's always something new to discover. With Mooby, each and every film is
1:16.8	hand-selected so you can explore the best of cinema. Yes, a new to Mooby in the UK this
1:22.5	March is the brilliant, no other choice from Park Chanwick. If you're a regular listener
1:26.6	at the show, you will have heard me reviewing the film and raving about it, actually kind of struggling to describe it because it's a black comedy, it's a thriller, it's a social satire, it's about a man whose life starts to fall apart and he takes unreasonable measures to correct things. I was absolutely fascinated by it. I thought it was a terrific film. And as I said,
1:50.2	it's coming to Mooby in the UK from March the 13th. You can try Mooby free for 30 days at mooby.com slash curmud and mayo. That's Mubi.com slash Kermudemayo for a whole month
1:56.6	of great cinema for free. There really is no other choice.
2:05.8	Before we begin, a quick reminder that you can become a Vanguard Easter and get an extra episode every Thursday.
2:08.6	Including bonus reviews.
2:10.4	Extra viewing suggestions.
2:12.1	Viewing recommendations at home and in cinemas.
2:14.8	Plus your film and non-film questions answered as best we can in questions,
2:18.7	Schmestians.
	...

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