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| The Edge Of Democracy Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival |
It can be tricky to keep up with global politics given that so much seems to be going on everywhere all at once, so in light of the victory for Lula da Silva over Bolsonaro in Brazil's elections, I'm starting this week's Stay-at-Home Seven with a couple of docs that offer good background. Petra Costa's consideration of post-dictatorship politics in her homeland is available to stream with her narration in either Portuguese or English. She draws on her own family's diverse history, which offers connections both to revolutionaries and the affluent establishment in this absorbing essay film that in its exploration of the re-emergence of the extreme right finds echoes with other democracies across the world. Although Costa covers a lot of ground, she keeps a grip on the shape of the material as she scrutinises everything from the "footballification" of politics to the judiciary's role and the way that money can be used to grease a system.
The Last Forest, Netflix
One of those great documentaries squirreled away on Netflix that you almost certainly won't find unless you go looking for it, Luiz Bolognesi blends documentary with fiction in order to immerse us in the life and traditions of the Yanomami. One of the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian rainforest, they - and the environment they live in are facing multiple threats. They re-enact some of their traditions for the camera, including their creation beliefs, while Bolgnesi also captures, in observational style, everyday life. Rather than asking us simply to feel for the precarious existence of the tribe, his rounded approach encourages us to engage more fully with Yanomami culture.
The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Film4, 9pm, Wednesday, November 2
Dickens gets a snappy retelling in this adaptation from Armando Ianucci and Simon Blackwell. Ianucci also directs with verve as Copperfield's tale of childhood grief gives way to a life of eccentricity and goodheartedness. Dev Patel has always had an open-hearted acting style that works particularly well for him here. But as with most Dickens adaptations, half of the joy is in the character acting, with memorable turns here including Peter Capaldi as Mr Micawber, Hugh Grant as the delightfully dotty Mr Dick and Tilda Swinton as Copperfield's maiden aunt.
Booksmart, BBC3, 9.30pm, BBC3, Friday, November 4
There seems to have been as much off-screen drama as on involved with Olivia Wilde's second film Don't Worry Darling. If that and the mixed reviews mean it don't appeal, why not comfort yourself with her impressive debut, which gives high school comedy tropes a good shake? Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are best mates with a fine sense of their own studiousness - until they realise they've been missing out on everything else associated with school and try to cram it all into a single night. This is all about looking beyond the surface cliches of the usual characters - from the jocks to the class clown - to see what lies beneath, highlighting why it's dangerous to make assumptions and showing empathy for all concerned. 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. Whether girl sex talk would be quite this frank all the time is a bit debatable but Dever and Feldstein are a pair of sparky likeable leads given winning characterisation.
The Metamorphosis Of Birds, Netflix, from Friday, November 4
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: “What human beings can’t explain, they invent.” Catarina Vasconcelos constructs a magnificent, shimmering dreamscape around her ancestors and their enchanted existence in and with nature. Paternal grandfather Henrique, a Portuguese seaman, writes letters to his beloved wife Triz and their children. The storytelling is mesmerising, both visually, shot on 16mm film by Paulo Menezes, and in regards to the poetry of the spoken language used to express all that longing and insight. Jacinto, their oldest son counts peacock feathers (73, 74, 75) to form a tapestry on a red carpet. There are paintings, and dried leaves, flowers, pomegranates and persimmons and the earth for her, while Henrique at sea wonders about compassion for the ocean that has so many fishes to feed and so many waves to create. Children’s games of sinking ships on paper and a cat’s cradle with wool, Call me Ishmael and horror tales that make the little ones “afraid of the bottom of the bathtub.” At one point, the picture frame cannot hold the children anymore and they grow up. This is a film of lists. Tender, gentle lists, like Peter Greenaway on tiptoe. Jacinto, at age twelve, knows for example the maximum age of flies (four weeks), mice (one year), moles (three), bats (15), ostriches (50) and that there was a whale of 210 and a turtle of 250 years of age. He also knows that “you can’t discover a continent already inhabited by millions of people.”
Skate Kitchen, Film4, 1.35am, Saturday, November 5
The Wolfpack director Crystal Moselle put her previous documentary experience to good use with a fiction feature debut, a coming-of-age story set against the background of New York's skateboard scene. Working with actual members of the real life women's skateboarding collective of the same name, Moselle employs the natural energy of the girls to good effect as we see them zipping about the streets, while expanding their experiences by having them play fictionalised versions of themselves. If the plotting involving rebellion and rivalry may feel a bit overfamiliar, the raw exhilaration of the women keeps things real.
Sixth Sense, My5.tv until November 28
As it's been October, there's been a fair amount of genre films in the Stay-at-Home this month but we couldn't leave Halloween behind without including just one more. This M Night Shyamalan classic is a spooky little number that hovers in unsettling territory as a psychiatrist (Bruce Willis, better than he had been in ages) tries to help a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is harbouring a terrible secret. Chilling and emotionally resonant in equal manner, Shyamalan shows he knows a lot more moves than simply the twist.
We've got a spot of animation for you for this week's short. The Oscar-nominated Oktapodi, which sees an octopus go on a rescue mission.
