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| Prisoners |
Prisoners, 9pm, Great Movies, Monday, October 17
Don't be put off by the 2.5 hour running time of Denis Villeneuve's psychological thriller - you'll be too busy gripping the arms of your chair to look at your watch. Hugh Jackman stars as a carpenter, who becomes increasingly unpredictable when his six-year-old daughter is abducted and the police seem to be dragging their heels when it comes to tackling the man (Paul Dano) he believes has done the deed. Writer Aaron Guzikowski creates a moral maze, where the judgement of all the characters, including police detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is called into question and Villeneuve doesn't let the tension slacken for a second.
Poltergeist, 11.15pm, BBC2, Monday, October 17
As Halloween draws closer, the schedules are starting to have their seasonal outbreak of horrors films, including this Tobe Hooper classic. The safety of suburbia falls away for a family see the staples of modern life, including the television subverted in sinister ways. The idea of their being no haven is emphasised when the family’s daughter (Heather O’Rourke) is abducted from right under her own roof by a sinister spirit. Marrying state-of-the-art, at the time, special effects, that have aged well to great performances, particularly from JoBeth Williams as the desperate mum and Zelda Rubenstein as a kindly psychic, it scares because we care.
The Drop, 9pm, Great Movies, Tuesday, October 18
Best known for being James Gandolfini’s final film, the action of Michaël R Roskam’s crime-tale-cum-character study - with a screenplay adapted from his own novel Animal Rescue by Denis Lehane - begins in a bar. It’s here we see how dirty cash is laundered through New York City with random bars nominated as “the drop” of the title. When a robbery breaks the routine, trouble isn’t far behind for barman Bob (played with taciturn depth by Tom Hardy) and his not-so-wise guy cousin/boss Marv (Gandolfini). The chief drivers of the plot are a puppy in peril, rescued by Bob, and the new woman in the barman’s life, Nadia (Naomi rap ace). Although threatening to go off the boil in one or two places, Hardy keeps you with Bob at the bar, listening to his story.
In Bruges, 11.35pm, Film4, Wednesday, October 19
Back on the box, no doubt, because Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason are back on cinema screens in The Banshees Of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh showed few signs of nerves with his big screen debut. Farrell and Gleason play Ray and Ken, a couple of assassins who are stuck in the Belgian city after Ray’s first hit goes bad. Although the action movie element doesn’t always entirely gel with the jet black humour that is at play elsewhere, McDonagh has a distinctive voice and thanks in no small part to the two central performances, achieves a surprising amount of poignancy by the film’s climax.
Bringing Out The Dead, 12.20am, Talking Pictures TV, Wednesday, October 19
Nicolas Cage’s performances don’t always match the material he is given but he fits like surgical hand in glove into this film, which sees writer Paul Schrader re-team with Martin Scorsese. Cage plays paramedic Frank as a man who is so close to the edge, he may well already be over it. Although it didn’t attract the same critical heat as some of Scorsese’s other films, I think it’s one of his best, as New York, as in Taxi Driver, is a hell mouth and Frank is dancing on the brink.
A Town Like Alice, 1.10pm, Film4, Wednesday, October 19
The most successful British film of 1956, Jack Lee's adaptation of Neville Shute's novel captures the heroism of British women during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the Second World War. Although there's some stereotyping here, the central performance of Virginia McKenna is powerful and the depiction of the realities of war strong for the time. Look out for a young Jean Anderson who would go on to star in TV classic Tenko about prisoners of war following the Japanese invasion of Singapore.
Deerskin, 12.30am, Film4, Saturday, October 22
Quentin Dupieux never takes things too seriously, not even when he is writing about a serial killer. Taking its nod from the likes of Hans Christian Andersen’s red shoes, his film centres on a deerskin jacket, which its new owner Georges (Jean Dujardin) believes has “killer style”. That description comes increasingly literal as Georges attempts to reinvent himself after the demise of his marriage, pretending to be a filmmaker. As the bodies start to pile up Dupieux digs into Georges’ obsession while also leaving plenty of question marks over the motives of barmaid Denise (Adele Haenel), who is helping him.
This week’s short is meet-cute Just Say Hi, it might be less than three minutes long but it shows how talent can soon progress to bigger projects, as it’s directed byJohn McPhail, who went on to make Anna And The Apocalypse.
Pop over to YouTube to see it.
