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| Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood Photo: Courtesy of LFF |
You don't have to have grown up in the US, where Mister Rogers (Tom Hanks) was a household name for generations of youngsters, to enjoy this charmer of a biopic. Marielle Heller's film goes beyond the children's favourite onscreen to show he was just as nice away from the camera as a journalist who comes to interview him (Matthew Rhys) gets emotional support as well as his story. Hanks plays Rogers with the welcoming warmth and familiarity of one of Rogers' trademark cardigans, so that you feel nostalgia for him even if this is your own first encounter with a man who, thankfully in a cynical world, was not too good to be true. Read what Wendy Makkena, who co-stars as Dorothy, the partner of the journalist's estranged father, told us about the film.
Blindspotting, 1.50am, Film4 Tuesday, September 13
There's an infectious rhythm and energy to this drama, written by Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs and directed by Carlos López Estrada. The writers also take centre stage as friends Collin and Miles, with the former worried that his white, loose-cannon mate might attract exactly the wrong sort of attention as he tries to serve out the last bit of his probation. Adding to the tension, he has seen a cop doing something he shouldn't outside the hours of his curfew, which leaves him morally compromised. With a script that embraces spoken word poetry and themes including racism, class and gentrification, there's a lot going on here but its emotional core is strong and compelling as the tension gradually becomes almost unbearable.
Gorbachev, Heaven, 9pm, BBC4, Tuesday, September 13 and 10.35pm, BBC4, Saturday, September 17
No doubt showing in tribute to the former Russian president, who died on August 30, this thoughtful interview-led documentary about Mikhail Gorbachev has a suitably eulogistic tone. Vitaly Mansky - who was once a Kremlin insider and is now one of the regime's fearest critics - spends time with Gorbachev, already in failing health, in his home, probing him about his career. Although the former leader is guarded in many ways, the director is able to capture something of the essence of the man that goes beyond the politician to show us the husband still mourning his beloved late-wife and the twinkling spirit that endeared him to many around the world. Although sympathetic as a portrait, Mansky avoids hagiography, gently refusing to let Gorbachev off the hook, even if the former head of state proves a master tactician when it comes to sliding away from difficult questions.
Rush, 10.40pm, BBC1, Wednesday, September 14
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.
Searching, 1.40am, Film4, Thursday, September 15
Plenty of films have tried to incorporate modern technology in films in ways that often feel forced or quickly fall out of date but Aneesh Chaganty succeeds where many others have failed, presenting this gripping thriller about a man's hunt for his missing daughter as we look out at his world from his computer screen. As dad David (John Cho) begins to learn more about his daughter (Michelle La) as he roots around her hard drive, Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian zero in on the way that adults can appear to be hyper-connected to their children and yet still know only a small fraction of what they are actually getting up to when they connect to the internet.
Moffie, 1.45am, Film4, Friday, September 16
This story of a teenager conscripted to the brutal regime of South African Defence Force in 1981 is a master of understatement, with the director carefully building the mood and putting us into the mindset of his central character Nick (Kai Luke Brummer, who has a real look of a young Guy Pearce). The title - a highly derogatory term for a gay man in Afrikaans - hints at what is to come as Nick is packed off to the training camp with the good wishes of his mother and a raunchy Playboy style mag from his dad. Braam du Toit's score does a lot to set the scene here, starting with anxiety-inducing plucked strings that escalate and mix with something altogether more industrial as Nick nears the camp. There, the recruits are steeped in brutal, toxic masculinity from the start - and though Nick, we realise, had an early lesson in how to mask his feelings, others aren't so lucky. Director Oliver Hermanus invites us under the skin of Nick, often letting the camera linger on him and the other recruits so that we can really feel the weight of their emotions.
The Courier, Netflix Saturday, September 17
Originally screened at Sundance under the title Ironbark in January 2020 - which seems like a lifetime ago now - this well-appointed Benedict Cumberbatch spy thriller gives the British star an opportunity to take centre stage. His businessman Greville Wynne finds himself unexpectedly recruited as a civilian go-between after a Soviet colonel (Mirab Ninidze) tells the West he wants to help stop a nuclear war. What the film lacks in general spy-craft it makes up for in general relationship drama as the two men forge an unlikely friendship in a bid to change the course of history and that makes a gripping watch as they come increasingly under threat.
With the news that Martin McDonagh's latest, The Banshees Of Inshirin, has won plaudits at Venice Film Festival our short selection this week is Six Shooter, which won the Live Action Short Oscar back in 2006.
