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| Military Wives Photo: Lionsgate |
Peter Cattaneo's feel-good film is based on one of the singing groups Gareth Malone founded in his hit BBC series The Choir - although Malone is wisely kept out of this picture. Instead the focus is firmly on a group of women on an Army base, who are grappling with fears about their husbands, who are on a dangerous tour of duty in Afghanistan. Structured largely around the relationship that develops between the posh colonel's wife (Kristen Scott-Thomas) and the more working class sergeant's wife Lisa (Sharon Horgan), the choir they set up to improve morale contains all the initial dischord you might expect. The plot might follow a familiar tune but Scott-Thomas, in particular, helps the emotional beats land solidly.
Hell Or High Water, 11.05pm, BBC4, Thursday, June 8
Heist meets western in David Mackenzie's Texan take on the genre that sees brothers, ex-con Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben Foster and Christ Pine) robbing banks to save their family farm. Writer Taylor Sheridan knows how to stitch a story fully into a place – with Wind River and Sicario also great examples – and here he bakes his tale of brothers against the bank, or perhaps the American Dream, into the sun-cracked earth of the Republican state. As the brothers continue their spree, a close-to-retirement sheriff (Jeff Bridges, at his laidback best) is hot on their trail. The showdowns are suitably showy but it's the well-crafted characters, right down to the diner waitresses, that make this memorable.
1985, 1.50am, Film4, Thursday, June 8
Jennie Kermode writes: A quiet family drama shot in crisp black and white, this modest little independent work from director Yen Tan features some of the best performances of 2018. Its initial appeal for many will be the reunion of three Gotham stars, an accident of the casting process, but the real standout here is Virginia Madsen, who has never been better. She plays doting mother Eileen, welcoming her older son, Adrian (Cory Michael Smith) home for Christmas, trying to manage unspoken tensions between him and his father (Michael Chiklis) whilst keeping her younger boy (Aidan Langford) from getting caught in the middle, and gradually becoming aware that something is wrong. It's not just the distance which appears in Adrian's eyes when she suggests he spend time with his ex-girlfriend, or his reticence about certain areas of his life, but the thinness he tries to hide from her. In light of the era, viewers won't take long to figure out what's going on, but what matters here is not mystery, it's the delicate portrait of people who love each other but don't all know how to say so, saying their goodbyes without being able to say why.
And Then There Were None, 9pm, Talking Pictures TV (Freeview channel 82), Wednesday, June 7
Not the best known or, in truth, most highly polished of Agatha Christie adaptations, this take on her most offensively titled book - which interestingly was always known as And Then There Were None in the US - is still an enjoyable slice of entertainment. Its charms, as with so many Christie films, mainly lie in the all-star cast, which offer a sort of time capsule of who was famous at the time of any given adaptation. This, made in the mid-Seventies, is like a who's who of the period, featuring Oliver Reed, Herbert Lom and Gert Fröbe not to mention Richard Attenborough and Charles Aznavor (who even strikes up his favourite tune at one point). Shot with stylish verve by Peter Collinson and veteran Spanish cinematographer Fernando Arribas, it may look rather kitsch now, but somehow that only adds to the charm and the central whodunnit - concerning guests bumped off one by one at a remote hotel - is one of Christie's best. This week's short selection is Alone, directed by Garret Bradley. Made three years before her multi award-winning Time, it's every bit as beautifully shot and moving.
Ain't Them Bodies Saints, 11.40pm, Great Movies (Freeview channel 34), Wednesday, June 7
It's fair to say there's a lot of filler films on Great Movies - including a lot of Hallmark channel fodder. But they also have the occasional gem and this is definitely one of them. David Lowery's second feature, after 2009's St Nick, saw him step fully into the indie limelight. There's plenty of light and warmth on display here, too, as DoP Bradford Young infuses almost every frame with the soft glow of the magic hour, which reflects the spirit of the film's central relationship between Bob (Casey Affleck) and Ruthie (Rooney Mara). They are at the point of love where much of what goes on between them passes in unspoken understanding and, with a baby on the way, what could go wrong? Just about everything as it turns out, thanks to the pair's criminal tendencies. After a bungled job, Ruthie accidentally wings local cop Patrick (Ben Foster) and, after Bob takes the blame, he is locked up for 25 years. He is not content to stay in jail, however, and soon she is facing tough choices about the future for her and her daughter, while Bob is being hunted by more people than just the law. Lowery's film has a timeless and geographically loose feel, lending it a mythical sweep and there is also a dreamlike quality, heightened by the fact that he withholds key events from the audience in favour of focusing on the build-up to them and the aftermath. Lowery told us: "By not isolating it in any specific moment it gave the story a currency that I felt is valuable."
The Exorcist, 12.30am, Saturday, June 10
Jennie Kermode writes: The most famous (if not necessarily the most interesting) of William Friedkin's works, and an essential part of the horror canon, The Exorcist is 50 this year but still does an impressive job of terrifying viewers. For some it's that the horror involves a child; for others it's the, um, unusual bodily contortions; for still others it's the way the film speaks to deep-rooted Catholic paranoia. Even if you fall into none of these categories, there's a lot to admire about the elegant framing and fantastic acting work from Ellen Burstyn and Max Von Sydow. The former plays a mother whose fear that her child will be institutionalised is every bit as moving as her gradually developing fear of the supernatural, while the latter has a haunted aspect rarely conveyed so effectively elsewhere. Jack Nitschze's score, which incorporates Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, adds to the overall effect, a film so classy that it gave birth to an entire genre. There is much more to this than pea soup.
Moffie, 1.40am, Film4, Monday, June 12
This story of a teenager conscripted to the brutal regime of South African Defence Force in 1981 is a master of understatement, with director Oliver Hermanus carefully building the mood and putting us into the shoes and head of Nick (Kai Luke Brummer). 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, 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 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. 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.
This week's short selection is Alone, directed by Garret Bradley. Made three years before her multi award-winning Time, it's every bit as beautifully shot and moving.
Alone from The New York Times on Vimeo.
