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| The Power Of The Dog Photo: Netflix |
Jane Campion headed out west for this well appointed psychodrama. While she takes a rather too reverent approach to the Thomas Savage source book she still generates plenty of tension by the time it reaches its climax. Benedict Cumberbatch stars a sullen and bath-avoiding cowboy, who takes against the new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and effete son (Kodi-Smit McPhee) of his brother (Jesse Plemons, who continues to mark himself out as one of the stand-out talents of his generation). Beautifully shot with an eye for open spaces and erotic intimacy in unexpected places, the main gripe is that there’s very little of her usually insightful female characterisation.
Das Boot, Netflix, streaming until July 13
Any cut of this superior submarine drama is worth cutting and the theatrical, 2.5-hour version is sailing off the streaming service in a month, and well worth catching before it does. Pressure is everywhere in Wolfgang Petersen's intense and claustrophobic film set aboard a German U-boat. Life in all its tedium is here, but also the terror of being stuck in a tin can below the waves as they are targeted by depth-charges. By keeping us with the men over a long period of time, we see how they evolve amid the rigours of war and the petty conflicts that emerge when you live at close quarters with others in difficult conditions. Shot with hand-held immediacy by Jost Vacano, the creaks and groans of the boat will make you shudder to your soul.
Cold In July, 10.55pm, Legend Xtra, Wednesday, June 17
Jim Mickle's psychological thriller keeps you guessing as a family man's life starts to unravel after he kills a home intruder in the night. Michael C Hall – gamely taking on both the role and an Eighties-style mullet – is perfectly cast as a dad who suddenly finds himself in deep. Acting grace notes provided by Sam Shepard and Don Johnson as the two men he has to team up with after they stumble on a horrific conspiracy. Mickle’s next project, starring Sydney Sweeney and Jason Isaacs, is a live-action version of Japanese robot franchise Gundam, which should be worth keeping an eye out for.
The Horse Whisperer, 9pm, Great TV, Friday, June 19
When it comes to carefully crafted films, Robert Redford was always a safe pair of hands. This was the first time that he had directed himself and he could have been born to the role of the horse whisperer who helps a teenager (Scarlett Johansson) and her horse following a life-changing accident. Also featuring a magnetic performance from Kristin Scott Thomas as the teenager's mother, writers Eric Roth and Richard LaGravenese shear off the sentimentality of Nicholas Evans' original novel, finding emotional resonance in questions of healing and communication that feel mature and profound.
New Life, 11.30pm, Film4, Friday, June 19
Jennie Kermode writes: Two individual tragedies intertwine, each a microcosm of broader human experience, as two women engage in a high stakes cross-country pursuit. John Rosman's stripped-down thriller keeps the twists to a minimum but packs in a lot of emotional weight. You will find your eye drawn to the details at it passes through one claustrophobic space after another en route to a terrifying open horizon, a world of potential irretrievably out of reach. It is difficult to say more without giving too much away, but this is a brave low budget début with a great deal to say, and some of that by people whose voices we hear too rarely.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, 5.05pm, ITV2, Saturday June 20
Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguziamo) and Diego the sabretooth tiger (Denis Leary) are back for another round of prehistoric adventures in this sequel. It’s a wee bit tepid on the drama, but definitely worth seeing for the ongoing tribulations of squirrel forebear Scrat, as he attempts to get his paws on an acorn. The main drift of the plot concerns a looming environmental disaster as things start to heat up, meaning our pals team up with Ellie (Queen Latifah), a mammoth who thinks she's a possum, and her 'brothers' Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck) in a bid to escape. It could do with more tension but it’s solid family viewing and the comedy remains on point.
Undergods, 2.15am, Film4, Sunday, June 21
Spanish director Chino Moya invites us to slip down a series of rabbit holes into a nest of near-future dystopias in this slippery fantasy. Each tale is linked together by a framing story of two men, K (Johann Myers) and Z (Géza Röhrig), driving around a post-Apocalyptic wasteland on the lookout for dead bodies. In one Ballardian section, a couple find themselves with an unexpected guest (Ned Dennehy), while in another a young girl hears a nightmarish fairy tale. In the third strand, the troubled marriage of a couple (Adrian Rawlins and Kate Dickie) is about to snap sharply into focus. Although a little uneven, this is an ambitious debut with plenty to say about modern malaise. Moya told us: "I’m intrigued by humans, with all the technology and all the knowledge that we have about sociology, technology, science, why we ended up living in environments like this, why we haven't created this actually real utopian environments".
This week's short selection is Oedipus, directed by Rong - a Bristol filmmaking collective comprising Stephen Scott-Hayward, Alex Kirkland, and Matt Golding. Nathan Filer, who wrote and stars in it, has gone on to write books, including the well received The Shock Of The Fall. You can read more about his work here.
