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| Ray And Liz Photo: Courtesy of New York Film Festival |
Ray And Liz, 1.45am, Tuesday, Film4
A textbook case of how vital production design can be to creating and sustaining the mood of a movie, Beck Rainford's work on Richard Billingham's film is so intense you can almost smell it. She recreates, alongside Billingham a snapshot of the bleak side of Thatcher's Britain, as he draws on his own childhood and photographic studies of his family to depict a dysfunctional family. Presented as a triptych, we see his alcoholic father Ray (Patrick Romer), in a framing device, elderly and alone after Liz (Deidre Kelly) has left him. The film then flashes back to two more periods in the family's life with the focus falling on Richard's little brother Jason - first seen as a toddler and then as an older child (when he is played by Joshua Millard-Lloyd), mostly living on pickled beetroot while trying to avoid his parents as much as possible. It's often painful subject matter is offset by dark humour and there's also a surprising amount of hope to be found in the unexpected kindness of others.
Mars One, Netflix
Jennie Kermode writes: In an urban apartment in Brazil, just after the election of Javier Bolsonaro, a family is pulling itself apart. Eunice (Camilla Damião) has found her first girlfriend and is beginning to develop an independent life, but still strives to look after her little brother, Deivinho (Cícero Lucas). He is passionate about the idea of becoming an astronomer (hence the title) but is cursed with a natural talent for football, on which all the hopes of his father Wellington (Carlos Francisco) are riding. Wellington is an alcoholic who has been sober for years but is struggling to stay that way as family routines are disrupted. His wife, Tercia (Rejane Faria), is struggling to hold everything together, but is troubled by a deep sense of foreboding. In the cramped spaces of their apartment, director Gabriel Martins keeps the camera close, his focus not just on what we see but on what isn't being said. Despite the struggle, there's a persistent element of optimism in a film which feels full of possibility.
The Silence Of The Lambs, 10.20pm, ITV, Thursday, January 12
Last week, we featured Manhunter in this column and this week you can catch up with the most famous incarnation of killer Hannibal Lecter, with Anthony Hopkins' portrayal, full of polite menace, winning him his first Oscar. It's this paired with Jodie Foster's deliberately vulnerable performance as FBI Clarice Starling that makes Jonathan Demme's film sing with psychological tension and fear. The resulting psychological wargame as Starling tries to catch second killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) is much darker than your average Academy Award winner. Chillingly effective even on a repeat watch.
This is Spinal Tap, 11.55pm, BBC1, Saturday, January 14
One of those films that seems to have been specially designed so that it's the perfect watch late at night, Rob Reiner's quotable comedy has lost little of its charm - and gained an awful lot of influence - since it first hit the screens back in 1984. Where other mockumentaries forget the genre they're sending up, Reiner pays close attention so that the antics of Spinal Tap (played by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer) as they gear up for a comeback tour and a new album remain believable on some level. There is currently a sequel - made by the original team - in the works for a 2024 release. "You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story,” Reiner told Deadline - wonder if he'll turn it up to 12?
Trainspotting, 11.30pm, Channel 4, Sunday, January 15
Danny Boyle's films come at you at the gallop and this blackly comic drama is no exception, starting as it means to go on with Renton (Ewan McGregor) legging it up Princes Street. Adapted from Irvine Welsh's cult novel, this film about the lives of a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh this film made household names of then youngish stars Robert Carlyle - rarely more scary than is here - McGregor, Kelly Macdonald and the rest. Boyle's brutal bounce has lost little of its impact with the passing of the years. Looking for something to watch? As Renton might say: "Choose this".
Unsane, 11.45pm, Film4, Sunday, January 15
There might be a whiff of the predictable about this psychological thriller from Steven Soderbergh but even though he and his writers Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer telegraph quite a few of the plot points, it all adds to its oddly retro charm. He's also very lucky to have Claire Foy in the central role, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the sweaty panic of Sawyer, whose life has been going south since she discovered she has a stalker (Joshua Leonard). When she finds herself admitted to a mental hospital for a week, she becomes convinced her stalker is on the staff, with the question being, will any of the staff - or us - believe her? Famous at the time of release because it was shot on an iPhone, the squared off ratio and flat lighting do add to the claustrophobic chill.
The Wrestler, Amazon Prime
Few comebacks have been greater than that of Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky's tale of an ageing wrestler grappling as much with his emotions and relationship with his daughter as he is with his opponents. Rourke plays Randy 'The Ram' Robinson with a physicality that, coupled with Maryse Alberti's close quarters camerawork, ensures we feel every smackdown in the ring. Although offering the visual adrenaline kick more commonly associated with boxing flicks like Rocky, it is the wrestling of the mind, which is key to its success. Rourke lost out in the Oscar race to Sean Penn's performance in Milk, although he did take home a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. You could argue Rourke's early performances in the likes of Rumble Fish have a broody sex appeal, but he's never been better than damaged, but still fighting, soul he plays here.
Although we often look back with our short selection, we like to try to include some of the Oscar shortlisted films at this time of year. With that in mind, this week's short is Nuisance Bear - a short doc about Manitoba's polar bear tourism. Watch it for free and read more about the story behind it across at The New Yorker.
