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| Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio in Critics' Week winner Aftersun by Charlotte Well Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Critics' Week |
Time and place feel both concrete and, at times, slippery in this debut from British director Charlotte Wells. The firm sense of place is generated by a Turkish holiday resort in the Nineties, where young single dad Calum (Paul Mescal) is spending time with his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio). We see the problems Calum has that Sophie doesn't as she is more focused on the holiday emotions of childhood, like hanging out with new friends or a first kiss. Framed by the older Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) looking back at a holiday video shot on the trip, we see how interactions take on ambiguity through the passage of time. These uncertainties are also emphasised by strobe-filled moments of emotion that speak to the past, present and future all at once. This is an ambitious film that finds strength in its emotional texture and the pitch perfect performances of its two leads.
Do The Right Thing, BBC2, 11.15pm, Monday, May 22
The hottest day of the year becomes a cauldron of tension in Spike Lee's classic that has lost none of its power - or, sadly, its relevance - in the years that have passed since 1989. Danny Aielo plays Italian-American Sal, the owner of a pizzeria in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, who has a brace of sons, one racist (John Turturro) and one not (Richard Edson). For all Sal's talk of different communities fitting together, there's an undercurrent there too. An ensemble film, the central beef revolves around the mate of Sal's delivery guy Mookie (played by Lee), Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), who starts to campaign for Sal to include pictures of Black stars on Sl's "wall of fame". A shocking incident sees events boil over but Lee isn't interested in easy situations or characters, embracing complexity and holding it up to the blistering sunlight. Things start off easy like Sunday morning and end up very hard to forget.
Black Narcissus, ITVX, streaming for free now
Jennie Kermode writes: The final days of Britain's colonial hold on India are obliquely explored through this ravishingly beautiful yet distinctly artificial film about a group of nuns trying to establish a mission in region of the Himalayas where they are regarded as little more than amusing novelties, and where they gradually find themselves overwhelmed physically, emotionally and spiritually. Though it plays out as a highly strung melodrama, with the stubborn Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) struggling to hold it all together as the fragile Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) gradually loses her mind, there are layers and layers of meaning to be found here. The title refers to a heady scent quite out of keeping with the nuns' aesthetic, like the former seraglio in which they are housed, its erotic paintings looking down as they strive to teach Christian values to children who are only attending in order to get food. Cinematography comes courtesy of the great Jack Cardiff, and there is an intense eroticism about the whole thing, even though the actors never so much as kiss. Viewers should be aware, however, that the film features white actors made up to look (supposedly) Bengali - even in presenting a critique of Empire, it did not quite escape its legacy.
Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle, 12.35am, Film4, Friday, May 26
This robust piece of storytelling from Arthur Harrari recounts the stranger-than-fiction tale of Hiroo Onoda (played as a young man by Endô Yûya and then by Tsuda Kanji) - a Japanese Army recruit who was deployed to the Philippines in the Second World War and who never got the message to lay down his gun. Harrari begins near the end of this tale before winding back the clock so that we can see how, as a rebellious youth, Onoda found himself seconded to the intelligence service. He and his fellow recruits are told they are to never surrender and that they "don't have the right to die" - instructions that drive the film. The war is virtually over when he gets to the Philippines - where the troops are under siege from the US and many are dying from illness. Onoda finds himself leading a scrappy thrown together unit of troops and Harrari charts what happens, not just for the next few months but as the years wear on. A gripping character study that is all the more remarkable for being true.
How To Train Your Dragon, 1.15pm, Film4, Saturday, May 27
This first instalment of the DreamWorks trilogy about a young viking who forges an unlikely friendship is by far the best. Teenager Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) finds the forever war his viking settlement's adults are waging with dragons might not be the best way forward after discovering one of the creatures injured in the woods. There's plenty of smart observational comedy about what it means to be a teenager confronted with an adult world of recalcitrance in the script to lift above its more formulaic elements, while the dragon flight scenes deliver the adventurous goods.
Get On Up, ITVX, on demand
This James Brown biopic has its weak points but Chadwick Boseman, who died all too soon at 43 in 2020, is definitely not one of them. He captures the volatile brilliance of the funk singer-songwriter right from his teenage years to his dotage (if such a term could ever be applied to Brown), without missing a beat. He'd already taken on an American icon when he played baseball star Jackie Robinson in 42 the previous year, and here it feels as though he's unfurling before us in all of Brown's erratic but compelling glory. This isn't impersonation, it's embodiment.
Arrival, 9pm, Film4, Sunday, May 28
Like many films about aliens, Denis Villeneuve's science-fiction drama puts the emphasis on humans rather than the latest batch of potential invaders. It charts the work of linguist Dr Louise Banks (Amy Adams) as she, along with physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) attempt to communicate with the squid-like new arrivals to Earth. This is a thoughtful consideration of communication and loss that unfolds gradually against its sci-fi backdrop, with Villeneuve retaining a sense of mystery and awe about the creatures thanks, in no small measure, to Bradford Young's excellent cinematography.
