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| The Vourdalak Photo: Courtesy of Venice Film Festival |
The Vourdalak, Midnight, Film 4, Wednesday April 16 into 17
This atmospheric Gothic take on vampire mythology draws on Tolstoy's tale of a blood-sucker. An aristocrat (Kacey Mottet Klein) is looking for help in a forest when he stumbles on the home of a family who are waiting for the return of their patriarch, who cautioned them against letting him back in the house if he was gone for more than six days. You might think you can guess what happens next but the familiar elements of this horror are lent an additionally creepy vibe by the use of Super 16 and, more importantly, the fact that the vourdalak himself is not a human but a marionette. Adrien Beau's film has a Hammer-esque retro quality, and the director isn't afraid to employ a good dash of humour as well as the grotesque. Likely to be the most unusual film you'll watch this week.
Limitless, 9pm, Legend, Thursday, April 17
Bradley Cooper plays slacker writer Eddie who gets hold of a wonder drug that allows him to access 100% of his brain power - who wouldn't be hooked? Soon it's not just writing that holds his attention but the possibility of making it big on the stock market. Needless to say, addiction beckons and director Neil Burger puts us inside Eddie's head so that we get a feel of the rush and the comedown. Despite an ending that could have done with more tightening, this is a solid thriller.
Widows, 12.35am, Film4, Thursday, April 17
Steve McQueen transports Lynda La Plante's Eighties TV hit about women who decide to pull off their dead husband's heist, from Britain to Chicago. The result is a gritty thriller that underpins its genre elements with plenty of commentary on race, class and misogyny. McQueen balances the film's heist element with character driven narrative concerning the way the women - and, indeed, most of the city - are trapped by circumstance, asking whether they can change sufficiently to beat the odds. The emotional heft of the film is brought home by the water-tight cast, including Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki, though it's Cynthia Ervio's physical and intense performance that proves to be the highlight.
The King's Speech, Friday BBC2, 10pm
Films about kings are made for noble performances and Colin Firth deservedly took home an Oscar for his sensitive portrayal of George VI as he tried to overcome his stammer with the help of an unorthodox Aussie speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush, who also got a statuette for his trouble). The film's strength are the scenes between the two men, with Firth playing the straight foil to Rush's more comedic character but writer David Seidler also finds plenty of poignancy in the predicament of a king also grappling with the aftermath of his brother's abdication. The film won four Academy Awards in all, including Best Picture.
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, 3.45pm ITV2, Saturday, April 19
Easter Weekend is a good time for a spot of family film watching at this traditional slice of storytelling fits the bill perfectly. Young Lucy Pevensie (Georgie Henley) and her brother Edmund (Skandar Keyes) are joined by their brat of a cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) in this sequel, which is concerned as much with the testing of the kids' inner strength as it is about the quest for magical swords they go on. Although this got a bit of a critical drubbing at the time - and ended up being the last instalment that made it to film - it scores well in terms of swashbuckling even if it ends up being a bit heavy on message.
The Intruder, free to stream on Talking Pictures Encore
Jennie Kermode writes: In 1954, racial segregation of schools in the US became illegal. It would take almost two decades for things to change in practice, and in the meantime, children found themselves at the centre of terrifying clashes. Most white people didn’t think of themselves as aggressively racist, but they disliked cultural change, especially when it seemed to be forced on them from outside, and this was all too easy for agents provocateurs to exploit. While mainstream Hollywood continued to shy away from the subject, Roger Corman, still an industry outsider and a producer who never accepted that anything was impossible, remortgaged his house to make this cautionary tale, recruiting the then unknown William Shatner to play the smooth talking stranger who whips up hate in a small town. Shatner never equalled this performance, which remains chilling today. Beautifully shot, this is a film that will get under your skin and never leave you.
The Worst Person In The World, streaming now for free on All4.com
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: You will be able to think of a number of people much worse than anybody we encounter in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, co-written with longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt. The title expresses perfectly, though, a feeling of surfeit, in a not-yet-adult-at-any-age-and-aware-of-it kind of fashion. Julie, played by Renate Reinsve (Best Actress winner at Cannes) takes us on trips of reinvention attempts and new beginnings. A female narrator’s voice tells us in 12 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue, the tale in a timeless, soothing tone, as if all will be well eventually. Overwhelmed by something in a relationship or beyond, the self or the other may feel like the worst to the best of us. When Julie, in her late twenties, meets Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), successful comic book author, the mutual attraction is palpable. The scenes with Julie’s father (Vidar Sandem), who remarried and has a teenage daughter, are revealing and poignant. Time speeds up, slows down, seemingly stands still and before you know it, the end announces itself with a grin. Trier will be back at Cannes this year with Sentimental Value, which reunites him with Reinsve.
You'll have to hop across to to watch this week's short, Repressed, directed by Jimmy Olsson.
