 |
| The Shape Of Water |
The Shape Of Water, 11.40pm, Film4, Monday January 24
Jennie Kermode writes: A marvellous tribute to the creature features of yore, Guillermo Del Toro's Oscar-winning spectacular upends the conventional morals of Fifties America to find heroes in unlikely places. The ever reliable Sally Hawkins won a league of new admirers with her performance as mute cleaning lady Eliza, very much at the bottom of the hierarchy on the secret government base where a mysterious creature is brought at the behest of Michael Shannon's sinister federal agent. Whereas everyone else is horrified by the creature, Eliza finds him strangely beautiful and, as the two develop an unexpected romance, hatches a plan to break him out with the aid of fellow cleaner Zelda (Octavia Spencer) and gay best friend Giles (Richard Jenkins). There are quite a few stereotypes here, but that's the natures of fairy tales. With Cold War drama playing out in the background and a strange secret buried in Elia's own past, there's a lot to engage with here - plus, in one of its most delightful comic scenes, you'll get a hint of how the young Del Toro once destroyed his parents' bathroom.
Double Indemnity, 6.45pm, Great Movies Classic (Freeview Channel 51)
Featuring dialogue that rattles on with the pace of a freight train and master craftsman Billy Wilder at the engine, this sizzler of a thriller has lost little of its grip down the decades. Fred MacMurray plays against his usual nice-guy type as salesman Walter Neff, whose path crosses that of Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) with the crackle of desire. The only fly in the ointment is Phyllis' husband and so the pair plot what they hope will be the perfect crime. Told in a flashback that suggests their scheming may not have been as watertight as they imagined, this film is so taut you could bounce a coin off it. Fun fact: Wilder was so fed up when he didn't snag any Oscars that he deliberately tripped up Going My Way director Leo McCarey as he went to pick up his Best Director gong.
The Invisible Man, Netflix from Saturday, January 29
Leigh Whannell's tense and visceral take on The Invisible Man, reimagines the Doc Griffin's medical student as a high-flying tech guru - and domestic abuser. Avoiding overt violence in the film's opening minutes, Whannell instead lets Elisabeth Moss do the work with body language, her every movement betraying fear as her character Cecilia Kass drugs her controlling fiancé Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and creeps her way from his Fort Knox-style home. Taking refuge with her sister's (Harriet Dyer) friend James (Aldis Hodge), she can't believe it when she's told her abuser is dead... and neither can we. Griffin's invisibility trick is achieved with technology - a high-end camouflage suit that he has which stays on the right side of credibility. The film has a strongly feminist and welcome slant, inviting us to believe Cecilia and share her sense of peril as those around her are more sceptical, while delivering genre thrills thanks to Moss' central performance and tricksy camerawork from Stefan Duscio that uses negative space in the frame to create a sense of threat.
The Thing From Another World, 11.15am, Great Movies Classic (Freeview Channel 51), Saturday, January 29
Jennie Kermode writes: It's 1951, and a group of scientists at a remote Arctic base see something come crashing down out of the sky. What follows will set the tone for decades of science fiction films (not least John Carpenter's semi-remake The Thing), but it's much more than just an interesting piece of film history: it's a potent chiller in its own right. Hinging less on overt horror than on a sense of existential threat, it confronts its heroes with a threat whose nature they struggle to understand. There are hints of the thinly disguised anti-Communist genre films that would dominate the next decade, but it also makes a positive case for science that contrasts strongly with other films of the era. Margaret Sheridan makes a gutsy heroine whilst macho posturing is cut down to size. Culminating in one of the most famous speeches in genre cinema, it will leave you feeling unsettled long after you stop watching.
Rush, 10.30pm Sunday, January 30
The story of the rivalry between F1 aces James Hunt and Niki Lauda is given a glossy big screen retelling in Ron Howard's film. Written by Peter Morgan, it's no surprise that the writer of Frost/Nixon and The Queen puts psychology to the fore and amps up the win-at-any-costs mentality of Lauda, in particular - something that led the driver to have a horrific accident. Howard's action on the racing circuit does the job but it's Lauda's battle back from the accident that really holds the interest and Daniel Bruhl, who can be a bit hit and miss in terms of performances, is on the top of his game as the driven Austrian. Chris Hemsworth puts in a solid supporting performance, although he mainly leans into the established playboy image of the English sportsman.
Ex Machina, 10.55pm, Film4, Thursday, January 27
Alex Garland added director to his writing credit with this twisty artificial intelligence thriller. Programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) finds himself chosen by his volatile employer Nathan (Oscar Isaac) to conduct the Turing test with his AI creation Ava (Alicia Vikander) to see whether she can pass as a human. Garland's psychological thriller unfolds in slippery fashion as we try to work out who is manipulating who and, more importantly, where our sympathies truly lie, while considering larger existential questions along the way. The central trio of performances are all water tight but Isaac, in particular, reminds us what a chameleon he is when it comes to getting under the skin of characters.
The House I Live In, free to watch on Plex.tv
Eugene Jarecki turns a gimlet gaze on the American justice system in this hard-hitting film that took home the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2012. Having explored the military-industrial complex in Why We Fight, he suggests a very similar prison-industrial complex is at work in the US, as penal institutions move from punishment/rehabilitation to money-making projects, which people come to rely on to generate profit. Through telling the history of the States' 'war on drugs' he highlights the racism and classism that is baked into the system, so that the rich and white seem to be offered a get out of jail free card. Although the personal element of this documentary is a little laboured, his assessment of the system is detailed and laser-like.
Among the shorts showing at Sundance, is a retrospective collection, including the evocative Boneshaker, directed by Nuotama Frances Bodomo, starring a young Quvenzhané Wallis.
BONESHAKER (starring Quvenzhané Wallis) from Nuotama Bodomo on Vimeo.
