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| Denise Gough and Keira Knightley in Colette Photo: Bleeker Street |
Keira Knightley embodies the French writer as she undergoes a transformation through the course of Wash Westmoreland's film. At first a naive provincial, she becomes increasingly liberated as her books about saucy schoolgirl Claudine - sold under the name of her husband Willy (Dominic West) - begin to sell like hot cakes. Westmoreland allows the complexity to shine in the relationship between Colette and Willy, as Colette blossoms and begins to take control of her own story, while Denise Gough puts in a scene-stealing supporting performance as Missy, with whom Colette engages in a same-sex relationship. Read what Westmoreland had to say about the influence of Max Ophüls, La Belle Époque and on the relationships in Colette.
Donnie Brasco, 1.10am, Great Movies! (Freeview Channel 34), Wednesday, March 16
Made in the same year as The Devil's Advocate - proof that Al Pacino's quality control has been known to be somewhat fritzy - Mike Newell's film plunges the star back into the world of the Seventies as mobster Lefty, who is helping the younger Donnie (Johnny Depp) get a foothold in the wise-guy business unaware that he's actually an undercover cop. Tensions brew as Donnie finds himself having rather too much sympathy for the devil - and its to Pacino and Newell's credit that they make sure we do too. Fading mobsters are always more fun than the newly minted ones and Pacino has a ball here, sparking nicely off Depp, with the film thrumming with the threat posed to both men by Donnie's operation.
The Mole Agent, 10pm, BBC4, Wednesday, March 16
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: Sergio (Sergio Chamy) answers an ad looking for a man in his eighties or nineties to spy on the goings on in a nursing home. Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s immensely entertaining and wildly funny The Mole Agent (El Agente Topo) starts out as an investigation into a specific place and slowly evolves into something much larger. Sergio is to check into the San Francisco Nursing Home, outside of Santiago, Chile. For three months he is hired by private detective Rómulo (Rómulo Aitken) to report daily about the 'target' and advised to be 'prudent'. Armed with spy glasses and a camera pen he phones in not-so coded messages and videos. At his new place of residence Sergio befriends various inhabitants and takes part in joyful extravagant celebrations (with costumes and balloons and cakes) with the staff. Bruno Dumont’s films may come to mind - all that humanity is breathtaking! Not a false note sours what could so easily have gone the cute and brutal, marigold plucky saccharine pensioner horror route. The real anguish of memory loss is given dignity in this film and the implications about depositing others without care are enormous. Read what Alberdi told us about the friendships and discoveries in the film.
Super 8, 6.50pm, Film4, Friday, March 18
The spirit of Spielberg - who executive produced - is strong in this teen-led mystery that sees a group of young would-be filmmakers' attempt to shoot a zombie movie go badly awry. When the kids (including Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths and Ellie Fanning) witness a train wreck and soon find themselves grappling with a monster on the loose. With its nostalgic nod to Spielberg's early films, strong characters and a keen eye for an action sequence, JJ Abrams' film ensures its B-movie staples rattle along at pace. Perfectly pitched at the 12A audience, the film also delivers sufficient horror to give the whole family a scare without going over the top.
Lady Bird, 9.15pm, BBC3, Friday, March 18
Jennie Kermode writes: Greta Gerwig's deftly scripted drama, cruelly overlooked by the Oscars, picks up where Atonement left off in recognising Saoirse Ronan's ability to surrender herself to characters who don't know what they're doing. Her young heroine, rebranding herself with the film's title, leaves home to embark on college life while her mother panics and her father tries to soothe the escalating tensions between them. Lady Bird is naïve and may come across as fickle but she's fierce and emotionally true to herself, with a big appetite for life even though she hasn't figured out what she likes yet, stumbling through the social minefield of things that are and are not perceived as cool. Nothing much happens but everything is reshaped by experience, the same landscape painted in different colours. Mother, her perception coloured by her generation as well as passing time, really can't understand, but despite a succession of small heartbreaks the kid is alright.
Crock Of Gold, A Few Rounds With Shane McGowan, 11.45pm, BBC4, Friday, March 18
Jennie Kermode writes: A renowned documentarian. An alcoholic Irishman born with the gift of the gab. A film made mostly in the pub, though clips of archive footage, often ambiguous in content, serve to illustrate a tale which ranges far and wide. Johnny Depp, also present, knows when to stay in the background. This isn't so much a history of The Pogues as a rambling journey through their charismatic frontman's memories, from happy days growing up in a farming community where he smoked and drank Guinness from the age of six to the misery of a move to England where he met prejudice at every turn, a pivotal Sex Pistols gig and the discovery of a new way to bring Irish music and culture to the world. Shot through with melancholy yet full of passion and the intensity of life lived in the moment, it's tangled up with Irish history and politics, with McGowan never holding back. His frankness is every bit as compelling as the wild adventures he recounts, and one is left feeling as if he could talk like this for weeks and never run out of new things to say. Don't miss it.
Burning, 10pm, BBC4, Saturday, March 19
Moody mystery builds through this film from Lee Chang-dong, whose movies never quite follow the path you might expect, as disaffected young man Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), who is stuck in a dead-end job thinks things might be on the up when he sparks up a relationship young woman Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) only to find himself vying for her affections with Steve Yuen's privileged Ben. To say too much about the plot of Burning would be to spoil the carefully crafted slow build in store, as Chang-dong carefully explores the emotional territory between his characters, while the danger levels slowly creep up. Yuen is a busy actor, taking on a raft of telly roles in between his film outings but his turn here, and his Oscar-nominated performance in Minari a couple of years later make you wish he was more frequently at the box office.
You'll have to pop over to Vimeo to watch our short film selection this week. She Wanted To Be Burnt is an early work by Ruth Paxton - whose A Banquet is currently in cinemas and shows her ability to conjure disturbing emotional imagery - something that reaches new heights in her current film. In our recent interview she talks about her how her decade-long collaboration with her cinematographer David Liddell has helped her hone her craft.
