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| Hustlers Photo: STX Films |
Although she did receive a Golden Globe nomination, Jennifer Lopez should easily have snagged an Oscar nod for her role in Lorene Scafaria's well-written adaptation of a New Yorker story charting a complex scam orchestrated by a group of strippers. Lopez plays the brassy Ramona, who becomes the brains behind a criminal outfit who plot to fleece their unsuspecting clientele. The focus is on how new girl on the scene Destiny (Constance Wu) becomes swept up in the scam, with Scafaria cleverly moving back and forth in time so that we see the consequences and fallout as well as the original con – for both the perpetrators and, importantly, the victims. Glossy and gripping but never voyeuristic, Scafaria's film performs a clever dance.
The Quiet Girl, 1.55am, Channel 4, Wednesday, August 26
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Colm Bairéad’s superb first feature was Oscar-nominated in the International Feature Film category, Ireland’s first such honour, shot by Kate McCullough (European Film Award winner), and is based on Claire Keegan’s story, Foster. It tells the tale of Cait (magnificent newcomer Catherine Clinch), a young girl in rural Ireland about 40 years ago. She is sent off by her parents to distant relatives (Carrie Crowley and Andrew Bennett as the Cinnsealachs), virtual strangers to spend the summer while her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) gets ready to give birth to her sixth child in their already too crowded, filthy, poverty-stricken household. Cait’s surly father Dan (Michael Patric) one night tells his wife that “they can keep her as long as they like.” Cait overhears the conversation. Equivalent to Hansel and Gretel’s classic call to adventure, it is every child’s nightmare scenario come true – your parents want to get rid of you. It is the core of fairy tales, ancient and true, that wounds can heal, that change is possible, that goodwill and benevolence and honesty can lead the way to preternatural recovery. This is a picture about top-notch parenting, and its opposite. It is supremely hopeful about what can be overcome with love and care, by openness and listening to a child. Nurture in nature is key.
Ninjababy, MUBI, streaming from Friday, August 28
Animation is used to accentuate the emotional experience of the hard partying Rakel (Kristine Kujath Thorp) in this enjoyable Norwegian dramedy. She gets a shock when she discovers she is heavily pregnant and begins chatting to her "stealthy ninjababy", who appears in animated form as she grapples with what to do next. It’s fair to say the baby, voiced by Herman Tømmeraas, has plenty of thoughts on the matter and doesn’t hold back. Loosely adapted with an offbeat fluidity from the graphic novel by Inga Sætre, Yngvild Sve Flikke's film has a thoroughly modern take on potential motherhood that isn't scared to acknowledge it is not for everyone. If you liked Baby Done or Saint Frances, it offers a similar vibe.
American Gangster, 9.10pm, Film4, Thursday, August 27
Jennie Kermode writes: One of Ridley Scott’s lesser-known works but a good deal better than anything he’s turned out recently, this 2007 film provides a gem of a role to Denzel Washington, whose character is loosely based on real life Harlem kingpin Frank Lucas. It charts his rise to power and the dogged pursuit undertaken by Russell Crowe’s stubbornly decent cop, finding parallels between the two which call deeper aspects of the society within which they live into question. The supporting cast is to die for and the world that Scott creates, in both New York and Chiang Mai, is beautifully detailed, giving it an authenticity and weight that makes the smallest actions matter.
Doctor Strange, 9pm, E4, Friday, August 28
I’m the first to admit that I do not have an exhaustive knowledge of the MCU, but I do find the Doctor Strange entries surprisingly engaging, quite possibly because Benedict Cumberbatch is perfectly cast as the charismatic lead. A talented, if arrogant, neurosurgeon, whose hands are badly damaged in a car accident. Believing Kathmandu may hold a cure, he heads there, where he encounters an immortal (Tilda Swinton), who with Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), trains Strange up in the ways of sorcery. Adding juice to the action is a stock villain Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), a former student who has gone rogue. Beyond the acting, it’s the technical wizardry that impresses as Strange is thrust into alternate dimensions.
Antz, 12.25pm, E4, Saturday, August 29
Woody Allen brings his familiar neuroticism to this animation about a worker ant, Z (which rhymes with bee, because this is American), who is less than happy with his lot in DreamWorks' first animated feature – a much more sarcastic affair than audiences raised on Disney were used to at the time. After a chance encounter with the bored princess of the colony (Sharon Stone), Z finds himself trading places with his soldier buddy (Sylvester Stallone) and before you can say, “The colony is under threat”, he's trying to thwart a totalitarian general's (Gene Hackman, as much of a joy on vocals as he is in person) evil plans. With its streetwise scripting and politics that quietly celebrate independent thought this is a film with one eye firmly on an older audience, but Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson's animation nevertheless delivers enough more easily accessible humour to keep kids on board.
Compartment No.6, 1.35am, BBC2, Sunday, August 30
If you happened to catch and enjoy Yura Borisov's nuanced turn as a henchman in the Oscar-nominated Anora, you won't want to miss him sharing centrestage in Juho Kuosmanen's tale of an unexpected connection forged on a train. Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla) has just had a romance with her older female lover go sour, so the last thing she needs is to find herself sharing a sleeping car on the train to Murmansk with cocky miner Lhoja (Borisov). Kuosmanen initially makes us feel nervous but this is, in part at least, a film that encourages us not to judge a book by its cover. Immersive and packed with everyday detail, this is a film that encourages you to hop aboard with its characters and spend some quality time with them.
Our short selection this week is Quick Fix, directed by Alexandra Lemay. You can read more about her work on her Facebook page.
