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| The Deepest Breath Photo: Netflix |
The Deepest Breath, Netflix, from July 19
Laura McGann brings home the sheer athleticism and courage of freediving as, for the first minutes of this film, you're likely to find yourself holding your breath like the participants as you watch a dive in real time. Her film interweaves the story of Italian freediver Alessia Zecchini and Irishman Stephen Keenan, who became the diver tasked with ensuring her safety on difficult dives. The level of danger involved - especially during the strenuous surfacing, when the divers are short of breath - is brought home as McGann charts Zecchini's dedication to the sport and the unusual route that Kennan took into it. This documentary proves gripping and poignant in equal measure.
Videodrome, 11.10pm, Legend (Freeview Channel 41), Tuesday, July 18
Jennie Kermode writes: Released in 1983, David Cronenberg's breakthrough hit has only become more relevant with time. It was inspired by the director's childhood experiences of staying up late at night in Canada to access US broadcast signals, never knowing what he might see, and it follows cable programmer Max (James Woods), who is searching for the next big thing when he stumbles across what seems to be a channel dedicated entirely to showing real violence. His new girlfriend, radio host Nicki (Deborah Harry), finds it arousing and invites him to experiment, but they soon find themselves going in different directions as Max's experiences prompt him to question his own identity and undergo a physical transformation which leads to him literally ingesting media. Going beyond contemporary dialogues about the corrupting influence of violence on television, this is an extraordinarily prescient take on the psychological and sociological shifts brought about by the dawn of the Information Age. Its grimy, low-tech approach and simple yet appropriately discomfiting special effects have aged well and its tremendous influence makes it a film which no serious cinephile can afford to miss.
The Day The Earth Caught Fire, 4pm, Talking Pictures TV (Freeview Channel 82), Wednesday, July 19
Jennie Kermode writes: Val Guest’s 1961 thriller may have a dubious premise – that simultaneous nuclear tests carried out by the US and USSR could knock the Earth out of orbit – but what follows from there is sharply observed. It’s informed by experiences of the Second World War but its take on climate change gives it additional present day relevance. At its heart is Edward Judd’s haggard newspaperman, trying to write about the global disaster at the same time as adjusting to divorce, managing a drink problem and embarking on a possible new relationship with an underrated female colleague (Janet Munro). The paper he writes for is the then highly respectable Daily Express and parts of the film were shot in its London offices, with the famously formidable editor Arthur Christiansen playing himself. It’s deservedly regarded as a classic.
The Lighthouse, midnight, Film4, Wednesday July 19
This trippy, poetically inflected horror sees Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers - one a long-term resident on the rocky island where it sits, the other its new arrival ready for a four-week assignment. The lonely vigil has already taken its toll on Dafoe's Thomas and it isn't long before the place begins to exert its effect on Pattison's Efraim too. Robert Eggers' film is possibly a little overlong at almost two hours but as the isolation starts to bite and Dafoe gets to lean into weirdness, there's plenty to enjoy as the men's moods darken and the fog of madness blooms in the gloom. The sound design from Damian Volpe is also an oppressive treat.
Gravity, 10.40pm, BBC1, Thursday, July 20
Alfonso Cuarón's nerve-shredding space thriller will be getting a big screen re-release this October for its 10th anniversary but, while there's no doubt it deserves to be seen on a large screen, it loses little of its grip even on a small one. Sandra Bullock puts in an emotionally and physically demanding performance as Dr Ryan Stone, who is up on a space station for her first walk as veteran Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) concludes his last mission. When a debris storm hits the space station both the characters and us are caught up in the ensuing turbulence. The script is spare but powerful and the end result is the perfect combination of tension and technical achievement, gripping from first to last.
Spider-man: Homecoming, BBC1, Friday, July 21
One of the more successful reboots of the Marvel universe, Tom Holland's Spidey is a likeable lad, with this entry in the franchise striking an enjoyable balance between crime-fighting/world-saving element and coming-of-age themes. Director Jon Watts steps up from the rock-bottom budget of Cop Car to CGI Central with the skill of a director (and co-writer) who remembers no matter how much web slinging or exploding is going on, characters must come first. Holland, a younger actor than previous incarnations, finds it easier to slip under the skin of the teenager, while the supporting cast all make their mark, with Marisa Tomei, as Peter's Aunt May again reminding the world what a travesty is she doesn't get cast front and centre more often.
Pepe The Frog: Feels Good Man, midnight, BBC4, Sunday, July 22
With all the ongoing arguments regarding the rise of the alt-right and their influence on social media platforms such as Twitter, this documentary from Arthur Jones is an eye-opener. He charts the bizarre metamorphosis of the frog of the title, from a small, slacker comic book character to hateful internet meme - much to the surprise and then horror of his creator Matt Furie. Jones covers the background elements well, so that you don't have to bring prior knowledge of Pepe - or memes - to the film, and slickly carries us on this unlikely journey that saw Pepe first hop to MySpace (of all places) before going rogue courtesy of 4chan. As well as considering the power of memes, Jones' film also explores what the idea of intellectual property means in the modern interconnected world, as Furie finds it's harder to get Pepe back in his original pond than he could ever have imagined.
Our short this week is a computer generated animation that has been crafted to resemble stop-motion, right down to the finger prints. Uri Lotan's Black Slide sees a youngster confronting his fears at a waterpark.
