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| The Battle For Laikipia Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute |
The Battle for Laikipia , BBC iPlayer streaming now
As this year’s Sheffield DocFest draws closer, treat yourself to one of the best of the films that screened there last year. Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi’s thoughtful and thorough documentary considers the complex situation at play in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, where frictions over land are growing between the indigenous semi-nomadic pastoralists and white land-owning descendants of the colonial era. The documentarians step inside both communities and follow the developments over several years, while also offering plenty of historical context. A thoughtful film that advocates for dialogue over conflict. “It was basically like walking on a tightrope, you get the right balance,” Murimi told us when he and Matziaraki talked to us about the challenges of the film.
Batman, 11.10pm , Talking Pictures TV (Freeview Channel 81), Monday, June 9
Long before the Caped Crusader took on bleak big-screen tendencies, this enjoyable adventure saw TV favourites Adam West and Burt Ward step up to a feature-length superhero tale as Batman and his faithful sidekick Robin. In terms of bad guys, the gang’s all here, with Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith particularly memorable as Joker and Penguin alongside Lee Meriwether’s Catwoman and Frank Gorshin's Riddler, equipped with a kidnap plot that’s not exactly taxing. West and Ward nail the tone as they camp it up with aplomb in a story that’s bright, breezy and – though we might whisper it in Christian Bale tones – a hell of a lot of fun.
Julie Keeps Quiet, Curzon Home Cinema, streaming now
If you didn’t catch this tense entry in the #MeToo genre in cinemas, it’s well worth taking a look at in the comfort of your own home. Leonardo van Dijl’s debut centres on Julie (talented tennis player Tessa Van den Broeck, also making her screen debut). She’s a tennis up-and-comer who finds herself under immense pressure after her coach is suspended following the suicide of a fellow youngster. Van Dijl keeps us with Julie as she resists the coercion of adults and tries to work through the emotional turbulence on her own, offering insight as to why she might not want to talk about it. Van Dijl , told us: “We often see stories, especially about women, where they are always being punished. I did not want this to happen with this story.”
The Levelling, BBC2, 11.30pm (England only), Tuesday, June 10, then on iPlayer
Hope Dickson Leach's distinctive debut follows Clover (Ellie Kendrick), a young woman who returns to her father's farm after her brother commits suicide. Dickson Leach explores the everyday judgments people can make about their nearest and dearest with care and attention, as bottled up emotions begin to spill out. She also makes beautiful use of the countryside setting, showing that it's much less idyllic than townies might imagine and emphasising the pressures of farming life. Kendrick - who many will recognise from her role as Meera Reed in Game of Thrones - continues to impress in any setting and deserves more big-screen work.
Brian And Charles, 7.10pm, Film4, Thursday, June 12
Anyone who has caught The Ballad Of Wallis Island in cinemas recently and is hankering for a spot more British absurdity, this should hit the spot. Lonely and, of course, eccentric inventor Brian (David Earl) shares a lot of DNA with Wallis Island's Charles. Rather than draft in a musician, Brian creates a robot (played by Chris Hayward) to be his friend. The result, which Jim Archer wraps up in a mockumentary, has a rambling charm as robot Charles starts out as a naif before fast-forwarding to those difficult 'teenage' emotions while also falling foul of local bad guy Eddie (Jamie Michie). The stand-out performance here, however, is from Louise Brearley as Brian's potential love interest Hazel.
The Banshees of Inisherin, 9pm, Film4, Thursday
Reuniting his In Bruges pairing of Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Martin McDonagh sets his sights on rural 1923 Ireland, where Farrell's sweet-natured but not very bright Pádraic Súilleabháin is about to be cut off from his long-time best mate Colm (Gleeson), who announces: “I just don’t like you no more.” This sets the stage – an appropriate word since this is quite a theatrical work from McDonagh, who originally intended it as a play – for a slide from absurdity to bleakness as Colm's toxic determination to be left alone becomes increasingly extreme. Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon as the island's whipping boy and Pádraic's sister just about steal the whole film out from under Gleeson and Farrell with a single scene of elegant poignancy. It may not be McDonagh's most complex or nuanced work but for that moment alone it is worth giving this a look.
WolfCop, Shudder, streaming now
Jennie Kermode writes: Lou (Leo Fafard) is used to waking up in odd places with odd injuries and only vague memories of the night before, but after a strange encounter in the woods with what his conspiracy nut friend says were Satanists, he finds himself feeling more peculiar than usual - and that's before the moon turns full. Discovering new powers despite having long been too lazy to use the ones he had, he finds himself half cop, half wolf, and on a whole new crime fighting mission - but with shadowy figures watching his every move, there's more at stake than he thinks. Set during the annual drink n' shoot in a backwoods Canadian town, this is a charmer of a film, much sharper than you'd expect and with some perfectly judged deadpan comedy to balance the schlock. Those of a nervous disposition should be aware that it does get pretty gory. Others may find themselves at least as disturbed by its main sex scene. If you stick around, though, it will have you howling.
Since Wallis Island has already had a mention, it seems like a good time for this week’s short selection to be The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island – the short where it all started. You can see that over at Moxie Pictures.
