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| Alpha: Right To Kill Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
Brillante Mendoza's gritty crime drama plunges us into the world of Rodrigo Dutarte's 'drug war' and police corruption in the Philippines and is well worth catching before it leaves All4's catch-up service. Focusing on cop Moises (Allen Dizon) and his relationship with young, streetwise snitch - or Alpha - Elijah (Elijah Filamor), the plot is driven by a plan to take down a drug kingpin. The plot beats may be familiar from other films but its political commentary is scathing, as is the strong sense of the contrast between Manila's haves and have nots is all its own. Catch it quick before it leaves Channel 4's catch-up service.
I was quite surprised to discover this tense indie gem lurking on free streaming service w4free this week. Mark Jackson's drama revolves around Hafsia (Hafsia Herzi in a role that was specifically created for her by Jackson and his co-writer Dana Thompson) - a Muslim visiting her friend in New York who is constantly coming up against the privileged and reductive white definition of what they believe she is or "should be". Hafsia's experience in New York is just a taste of what is to come later in the film after Hafsia retreats to a cabin in the woods and encounters another set of prejudices from those in a neighbouring retreat. Built around Herzi's commanding performance as the psychologically strained Hafsia, the result is a scathing assessment of not-so hidden prejudice and an anxiety-inducing watch to the last.
President, 10pm, BBC4, Wednesday, February 9
Jennie Kermode, writes: Longlisted for this year's best Documentary Oscar, Camilla Nielsson's second film about Zimbabwean politics is a brave piece of filmmaking whose completion placed the director an her team at some considerable personal risk. Embedded with anti-corruption candidate Nelson Chamisa as he took on the much larger, better funded and more ruthless ZANU-PF party of Emerson Mnangagwa, they follow him as he addresses rallies, meets voters and discusses strategy behind closed doors, observing the challenges he faces as he tries to persuade people to invest in the future of their democracy. Trust in politicians is so low that many of them would prefer a cash bribe instead because at least that's guaranteed. There's a wealth of information packed into this keenly observational film, but the most powerful part comes towards the end, when evidence of serious corruption related to the electoral commission itself emerges.
Booksmart, 10pm, BBC3, Wednesday, February 9
Bawdy high school comedy is brought bang up to date in Olivia Wilde's directorial debut. Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are the best of BFFs, who wear their studious nerd-dom with pride - they go from cramming to trying to cram in some wild excitement when they suddenly realise they've been missing out. The film plays around with expectations about characters, holding up ideas of identity to the light. All types of sexuality are treated as unremarkable - a real step forward - and nobody is a bad guy/gal, they're just all muddling along with the reputation they've garnered over the years. Although it has a bit of a sketch-show feel in places the central pairing is a cracker.
The Pit And The Pendulum, Talking Pictures TV, 9.05pm, Friday, February 11
Jennie Kermode, writes: Ostensibly based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe (though all they really have in common is the titular elaborate torture device), Roger Corman's elegantly appointed tale of a mentally unstable aristocrat obsessed with the Spanish Inquisition was initially promoted with the promise "£100,000 if you die of fright!" It has much in common with his House Of Usher, made the previous year, also exploring an unhealthy relationship between a brother and sister who live in a remote castle, and the consequences of the sister attracting the attention of another man. Vincent Price is once again magnificent in the lead, though here the madness he portrays takes on a much darker tone, underscored by the ugliness of the real history on which the story draws. Though it will be too over the top for some viewers, it's a splendid example of its kind.
Paris, Texas, 1.05am Film4, Saturday, February 12
German director Wim Wenders might have been an 'outsider' to the US but here he presents one of the most resonant depictions of American spaces, something he had already shown a keen eye for a decade earlier with Alice In The Cities, all lensed with fluid grace and long takes by Robby Muller. The late-great Harry Dean Stanton plays Travis Henderson, a missing-presumed-dead amnesiac, who wanders out of the desert four years after his disappearance and who gradually begins to reconnect with his family and, particularly his son (Hunter Carson). Wenders film is big on mood and emotion as he explores Henderson's odyssey through the shards of the American Dream. Tom Farrell told us about his experience in one of the film's key scenes.
Sicario, 11.35pm, Channel 4, Saturday, February 12
If you prefer your thrillers to have a little less conversation and little more action, then this Cartel-driven outing from Denis Villeneuve should fit the bill. Emily Blunt stars as a steely FBI field agent, taking on the bad guys as well as good, old-fashioned sexism from her colleagues and who finds herself embroiled in violence in a bid to bring down a clan. Although the script is the first from Taylor Sheridan (Hell And High Water, Wind River), you wouldn't know it, as he marries a deeper consideration of corruption to a twisty plot and solid action sequences. Sheridan will be back in special ops territory with the upcoming Fast, directed by Accountant helmer Gavin O'Connor, which should be well worth looking out for. Read our full review.
If you were moved by Garrett Bradley's Oscar-nominated Time then this week's short is a must watch. It was during the course of making Alone that Bradley met Rich Fox, which would lead to the longer film. This short and affecting consideration of the implications of mass incarceration is equally worth your time.
