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Cocaine Bear
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Cocaine Bear, 9pm, Film4, Tuesday, November 9
Jennie Kermode writes: The world was already well resourced with oversized-predatory-animal-of-the-week-goes-rogue movies when Elizabeth Banks delivered this little gem, but let's face it, they rarely make their way onto the big screen. When they do, like Snakes On A Plane, they create a cultural sensation. Though there's nothing particularly unusual about it, Cocaine Bear is made with a proper degree of respect for the genre, an understanding of the key dynamic in which the monster is also the real hero, and a more infectious sense of fun than anyone really had a right to expect. The casting helps. Kristofer Hivju is fun as a terrified hiker, very much at odds with the Game Of Thrones character who made him famous, whilst the film proved a great springboard for young talent Christopher Convery. It's Margo Martindale who steals the show as a sexually frustrated park ranger just having a really bad day. Though the plot meanders a bit, there are some entertaining moments, and a surprising streak of feminism overturns some of the clichés of the genre. Plus, you know, there is a bear on cocaine, and love it or loathe it, that's enough for most folks.
Hell Or High Water, 11pm, BBC2, Thursday, November 11
Heist meets western in David Mackenzie's Texan take on the genre that sees brothers, ex-con Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben Foster and Chris 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 dine
Ran, 9pm, BBC4, Saturday, November 15
Jennie Kermode writes: Taken out of its original context and reworked as a vision of feudal Japan, Akira Kurosawa’s masterful adaptation of King Lear leaves all the rest standing. Made 23 years after his take on Macbeth, Throne Of Blood, it was a work seven years in the making and one that the great filmmaker obsessed over in a way that reflected the struggles of its central character, keeping going even through the death of his wife, building a castle and burning it down, painting a whole field gold for a scene that he later decided to cut. The result is an astonishing piece of cinema which unites Shakespeare’s work with Japanese folklore of create something that feels fresh, real and utterly compelling. Even the wind rippling the grass is hard to forget. The battle scenes are awesome, but it’s Tatsuya Nakadai’s performance as the doomed warlord that will haunt you.
West Side Story, 8pm, Sky Arts, Sunday, November 16
The second Shakespeare adaptation of the week is also radically different. Romeo and Juliet is expertly transported to New York in Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's musical. Running on the vibrant energy of its cast, including Natalie Wood as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony, and with considerable directing flair from Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise and the beautiful mood shifting of its songs, from the spiky America and expectant Tonight to the romantically yearning Somewhere. If you're looking for more background on this 10 Oscar winner, Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It is well worth a look.
The Sixth Sense, 9pm, Great TV Sunday, November 16
Hayley Joel Osment had already attracted some attention as a child actor in *Forrest Gump*, but his role as Cole in M Night Shyamalan's twisty chiller or both actor and director firmly on the map. Cole has a secret and it's not a nice one. Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) just might be an adult he can trust with it. Saying more about the plot seems pointless - if you know, you know, if you don't, enjoy creeping yourself out with this. Even if you have seen it previously, it's worth a rewatch for the lovely combination of Osment's fierce but fragile intensity and Willis' sensitive turn, plus sterling work from Toni Collette as Cole's mum.
The Fighter, 11.25pm, Legend, Sunday, November 16
Gritty biopic of "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg, who also produced), a welterweight who is attempting to follow in his brother Dicky’s (Christian Bale) footsteps to the big time. Bale is twitchy and monstrous but somehow still sympathetic and won an Oscar for his efforts, but the whole ensemble cast is great, including Amy Adams as a barmaid who takes a shine to Micky and Melissa Leo as his overbearing mother. Somehow they all teeter on the brink of caricature without tipping over. Director David O’Russell isn’t so good when it comes to shooting the fight scenes but in the brawl of the family, he comes out on top.
The Blue Caftan, 1.30am, Film 4, Monday, November 17
Just into Monday, but indulge me! Halim (Saleh Bakri) and Mina (Lubna Azabal, with a physically as well as emotionally committed performance) run a family tailors and find the fabric of their own life shifting when they take on an apprentice (Ayoub Missioui). Maryam Touzami's finely nuanced drama celebrates the tradition of caftan tailoring, while also exploring what it means to break with cultural expectations. As Touzani told us: "I do believe there are certain traditions that need to be questioned, that need to be changed, that need to be shaken up." In her carefully wrought film they are not so much shaken as gently stirred to strong effect.
This week's short is Merlot, which I came a across while reviewing the much more cold-oriented Piccolo Piccolo , proving Marta Gennari's range. Pop over to Vimeo to watch it, here
