 |
| Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood Photo: Courtesy of LFF |
Tom Hanks has been trying his hand at old curmudgeons lately, with Elvis and A Man Called Otto. But there's no doubt he's at his best when he's playing sweet-natured characters. And few come more nice than US children's TV favourite Fred Rogers. Marielle Heller's biopic charmer goes beyond the children's favourite onscreen to show he was just as adorable away from the camera as a journalist who comes to interview him (Matthew Rhys) gets emotional support as well as his story. Hanks is so good, you’ll 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.
12 Years A Slave, 11.20pm, Film4, Tuesday, February 21
Awards season is upon us again but it still seems incredible that its less than 10 years since Steve McQueen's film became the first produced and directed by a Black filmmaker - and written by an African American (John Ridley, adapting from Solomon Northup's memoir) - to win the Best Picture Oscar, although McQueen lost out in the Best Director stakes to Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity - see below. Based on the true story of violinist and family man Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who was born a free man but who was kidnapped and transported to Louisiana - where slavery still raged. McQueen shows not just the physical abuse but also the psychological violence that stems from white privilege and the difficulties of breaking free from something so culturally ingrained. There's a rawness and subtlety to the action and performances - both from Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o as a housemaid who unfortunately catches the eye of brutal slave owner Epps (Michael Fassbender) - that brings home the horror and makes sure it takes up residence in your head.
Gravity, 8.05pm, BBC3, Wednesday, February 22
You can judge who should have won the Best Director award for yourself if you also catch Alfonso Cuaron’s film this week - and it’s a tough call. Sandra Bullock takes you with the central character of astronaut Dr Ryan Stone every space walk step of the way, with George Clooney offering strong support as her veteran colleague Matt Kowalski. When the pair of them are caught in a debris storm, cutting them off from NASA, they find themselves battling the infinite 'nothingness' of space. "I feel like a chihuahua in a tumble dryer," Ryan tells Matt as she heads out for that walk and, for the first 20 minutes of this film, that's pretty much how the viewer feels too, struck by the vertiginous sight of earth as a twirl in the distance as Emmanuel Lubezki's camera roves around between the characters and their craft. The script is spare but powerful and the end result is the perfect combination of tension and technical achievement, gripping from first to last.
Edie, 12.15am, BBC2, Thursday, February 24
Not everything abou this late-life drama works all of the time but its well worth watching for the powerful central performance from Sheila Hancock. She plays Edie, who finds her life opening up for her after the death of her husband, for whom she has been caring. Deciding to take on a mountain climb, almost on a whim, her path crosses that of Johnny (Kevin Guthrie), a guide who also runs the local equipment shop. The result is a gently comic journey of rediscovery, which though leaning rather heavily into its chocolate box portrayal of the Scottish countryside, is lent weight by Hancock’s melancholy-tinged turn. If burning the midnight oil seems a bit much, you can also catch it on BBC4 at 10.40pm the same night.
Honey Boy, 11.55pm, Thursday, February 23
Shia LaBeouf's semi-autobiographical tale of life for a child star and his ex-rodeo clown dad is searingly intense in places and directed with panache by Alma Har’el, who has a real handle on conveying life on the fringes. LaBeouf plays an incarnation of his own father with Noah Jupe and Lucas Hodges picking up the role of his son, Otis, at the ages of 12 and 22. The film charts the father and son's volatile relationship as we see the jealous dad shape the sensitive kid into the troubled young man with addiction issues. There's a raw feel to much of this because of its confessional nature but it's ultimately a compassionate portrait of a man coming to terms with his past.
Those Who Wish Me Dead, Amazon Prime, from Friday
Although Taylor Sheridan’s follow up to crime thriller Wind River is considerably more formulaic, it’s elevated by an excellent cast headed by Angelina Jolie. She plays firefighter Hannah who, in one of the early indications of the schematic route Sheridan is taking, has trauma in her past. She finds herself attempting to help a young boy (Finn Little) who is on the run from would-be assassins. As if that isn’t enough to fuel this action drama, there’s also the small matter of a wild fire they are trying to outrun. While the outcome is never in doubt, there’s a decent amount of pyrotechnic spectacle on the way.
The Beguiled, 11.55pm, Saturday, February 25
Jennie Kermode writes: A fresh adaptation of Thomas P Cullinan's novel rather than a remake of the 1971 Don Siegel film, this deceptively delicate slice of Southern Gothic made Sofia Coppola the second ever woman to win Best Director at Cannes, and where it does directly parallel Siegel's work, the difference in perspective, in shot choice and the way it's lensed, is startling. As Coppola has demonstrated previously with The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, she has an astute understanding of the toughness that can underlie feminine trappings. The inhabitants of the girl's school which she presents to us here are resourceful and capable of ruthlessness when occasion requires it - they have had to be, to escape the danger represented by prowling soldiers during the US Civil War. When wounded soldier John McBurney (Colin Farrell) throws himself on their mercy, it may be his good looks that initially save him, but those same looks spark jealousy, and what might initially have seemed like a dream come true for him will ultimately become a nightmare. Coppola reunites here with Kirsten Dunst and also gets great performances from Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning.
Our short this week is Sonia K Hadad's Exam.
EXAM from Sonia K.Hadad on Vimeo.
