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| Ninjababy |
This Norwegian comedy drama uses animation to accentuate the emotional experience of the hard partying Rakel (Kristine Kujath Thorp), who gets a shock when she discovers she is heavily pregnant. She starts chatting to her "stealthy ninjababy", who appears in animated form as she grapples with what to do next in a film that offers comedy and poignancy in equal measure. Loosely adapted with an offbeat fluidity from the graphic novel by Inga Sætre, Yngvild Sve Flikke's film has a thoroughly modern take on potential motherhood that isn't scared to acknowledge it is not for everyone. If you liked Baby Done or Saint Frances, it offers a similar vibe.
Phantom Thread, 11.15pm, BBC2, Tuesday, March 8
Jennie Kermode writes: Featuring the last film performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement shortly before it was released in 2018, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sumptuously presented drama has echoes of Hitchcock’s Vertigo in its portrait of a romance which hinges on the reshaping of a woman (played by Vicky Krieps) into somebody else. Day-Lewis is a celebrated tailor, designer, at the peak of his powers; she is the waitress who becomes his model and surrenders herself to him, waiting to be created – but as she discovers herself, the threads begin to twist. The film is wonderfully detailed, with stunning costume design by Mark Bridges, and every detail tells a story. It’s a remarkable piece of craft.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?, 9pm, Film4, Tuesday, March 8
There's an enjoyable acidity to Marielle Heller's consideration of the life of Lee Marshall, a writer who turned her hand to forgery to make ends meet. Melissa McCarthy brings her sharp comic timing to material that is much darker than her more regular outings as no-nonsense cat lady Marshall who finds herself in an unlikely partnership with fellow booze-lover Jack (Richard E Grant, having a ball as always) - outsiders who have found an inside track. Striking a balance between being kind of funny and kind of sad is never easy but thanks to the strong central performances, Heller manages that and more.
Zulu, Plex.tv
Jennie Kermode writes: Following the rout of the British army at Isandlwana, a small group of cavalrymen and engineers building a bridge at the missionary station of Rourke’s Drift find themselves pinned down by the Zulu army and forced into a desperate defence. Though a long period as a staple of Sunday afternoon TV stopped people taking it seriously as a piece of art, this film, which was a huge hit on release, still has a lot to recommend it. As it was made in 1964 no effort has been made to sanitise the racist language or attitudes of the time so some viewers may find it a tough watch, but the film is sharper than many of its ilk and shows as much respect for the skills and ability of the Zulus as the white men. The former show a much better grasp of tactics, the latter commendable mostly for their courage, with very little hope of success – but the battle that follows leads to a rare moment of mutual respect.
The Big Sick, 10pm, BBC4, Friday, March 11
Real-life comedy couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon based this tale of a culture-clash relationship upon their unconventional courtship – a romance that began with Gordon heckled stand-up Nanjani from the crowd. Kumail is Muslim, with a family dead set on arranging marriage for him, but the film opens out from familiar culture-clash territory when Emily becomes very ill. Suddenly, with Emily in a coma, Kumail finds himself having to woo her parents – played with sharp timing and verve by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano – who are armed with the complete playbook on the pair’s relationship so far. Although the film meanders a bit, the story, no doubt because it is rooted in truth, feels original and the humour and emotion hit home in all the right places.
The Human Voice, 10.45pm, BBC4, Saturday, March 12
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Tilda Swinton, always a strong presence, is stone-faced throughout as the woman at the centre of Pedro Almodóvar’s first film in English, “freely” based on Jean Cocteau’s 1930 play of the same name. In the woman’s studio-built dollhouse of an apartment, colorful luxury reigns supreme. Never has a set seemed more hollow. While she talks on the phone to the never visible or audible man that got away, we see her rummaging through stuff. She may have been talking to herself, as far as we know. Then she smokes on the balcony. When Almodóvar has the protagonist talk about kitchen knives and their temptation, all I could think of was the brand of knife he might choose to showcase. Tilda plays an actress and says sentences such as “women my age are fashionable again” and that the newfound popularity results from her“mixture of madness and melancholy.” We hear that “reality always prevails”. Whose we might ask? More thought has gone into the selection of the separate pieces (which turtleneck? Which leather jacket?) of the final outfit Swinton picks from the closet than into what this film has to say to the majority of people making it through a pandemic. Arson and revenge are not exactly an original or empowered update on despair. You can catch Almodóvar’s Pain And Glory earlier at 9pm.
The Witch, 1.10am, Film4, Sunday, March 13
Superstition, fable and religion come together to form a chillingly atmospheric mix in Robert Eggers' feature debut, a historic horror which, in testimony to its beautiful crafting, premiered at Sundance not in the traditional Midnight section but the US competition. The setting is 17th Century America, where Yorkshireman William (Ralph Ineson), his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their family have been banished from their settlement. Puritanical in their beliefs, their new home is marked by extreme isolation on the fringes of a forest, a place where eldest daughter Tomasin (Anna Taylor-Joy, making her breakout film debut) finds it tough to look after her younger siblings. When, one day, her baby brother disappears in the middle of a game, the family begins to unhinge, as the fears of the parents are passed to the children and disturbing psychosexual tensions also emerge. Eggers draws fully on the iconography of the period, along with painters like Caravaggio and Goya, to craft a bone-chilling study of fractured family and faith that also offers up a canny little origin story about "a witch in the woods".
This week's short selection is Aneil Karia's BAFTA-nominated short film Work
