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| No Country For Old Men |
No Country For Old Men, Netflix, streaming now
The usual start of the month flurry of titles has dropped on Netflix over the weekend. Among the highlights is this Coen Brothers' Cormac McCarthy adaptation. A stripped back cat-and-mouse thriller that plays out against the arid empty landscapes of Texas in 1980, it sees a man (Josh Brolin) find a suitcase of cash tough to resist . He's soon on the run from a psychopathic killer (Javier Bardem, never better than here), while the murderer is, in turn, being chased by a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a bounty hunter (Woody Harrelson). Playing around with archetypes – the saint, the abject sinner and someone hovering in between – this is a tense and blackly comic ride. Props too to Kelly Macdonald and Garret Dillahunt putting in small but excellent supporting turns. If it puts you in the mood for a Coens' kick, Fargo has also just landed on Freevee.
The Maze Runner, 8pm, BBC3, Monday
Jennie Kermode writes: As a teenager there are inevitably a lot of things about life that don’t make sense, and that experience of dislocation is neatly captured in Wes Ball’s surreal post-apocalyptic thriller. Like the other boys. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is amnesiac when he awakens in the village, a crude assemblage of huts surrounded by unscalable stone walls. By day, the walls part to reveal a maze which might lead to escape, but at dusk they close and those trapped behind them can be crushed to death, or worse. Bit by bit, the boys are trying to map the maze, but their work is complicated by internecine tensions, and never more so than when, for the first time, a new arrival turns out to be a girl (Kaya Scodelario). The film explores the darker side of human nature while – the odd bit of gore aside – keeping things suitable for a young audience.
The Beguiled, 11.15pm, BBC2, Monday
Jennie Kermode writes: A fresh adaptation of Thomas P Cullinan's novel rather than a remake of the 1971 Don Siegel film, this deceptively delicate slice of Southern Gothic made Sofia Coppola the second ever woman to win Best Director at Cannes, and where it does directly parallel Siegel's work, the difference in perspective, in shot choice and the way it's lensed, is startling. As Coppola has demonstrated previously with The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, she has an astute understanding of the toughness that can underlie feminine trappings. The inhabitants of the girl's school which she presents to us here are resourceful and capable of ruthlessness when occasion requires it – they have had to be, to escape the danger represented by prowling soldiers during the US Civil War. When wounded soldier John McBurney (Colin Farrell) throws himself on their mercy, it may be his good looks that initially save him, but those same looks spark jealousy, and what might initially have seemed like a dream come true for him will ultimately become a nightmare. Coppola reunites here with Kirsten Dunst and also gets great performances from Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. Read what the director and cast said about the film in Cannes.
Playground, 2.20am, Film4, Monday
The schoolyard is a warzone in Laura Wandell’s bullying drama. Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) is scared on her first day at school and Wandell ensures we go emotionally with her as she says goodbye to her dad at the gates. She, in fact, begins to forge some tentative friendships but soon discovers that her brother Abel (Günter Duret) is not being so lucky. Wandell keeps us with Nora as she faces the unenviable task of trying to work out the right thing to do in the face of pressure to keep silent. Wandell’s gripping drama shows that playground politics are anything but child’s play. Read what Wandell told us about developing the script through workshops with the children.
The Railway Man, 12.10am, BBC1, Wednesday
Nuanced performances from Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine as the old and young Eric Lomax – which show care in the way they maintain consistent mannerisms – anchor this real life adaptation of the former Royal Signals officer's memoir. The film not only tells of the brutality Lomax suffered as a PoW working on the Burma railway but spins out beyond that to show how he later tracked down his chief persecutor (Takashi Nagase), with affecting results. Nicole Kidman is slightly odd casting as Lomax's wife, but don't let that put you off.
Thelma And Louise, 10.40pm, BBC1, Friday
Jennie Kermode writes:When Geena Davis’ bullied Thelma and Susan Sarandon’s hard-bitten Louise head out on the road in their teal 1988 Ford Thunderbird, all the classic ingredients are in place and Ridley Scott knows exactly what he’s doing. Marianne Faithfull’s rendition of The Eyes Of Lucy Jordan sets the tone (with its own references to sports cars) and the women’s final leap is arguably in process the moment they decide to leave their mundane lives behind. En route there’s sex, violence, trouble with the law and a friendship that grows strong enough to survive pretty much anything – even the prejudices of critics who initially complained about the idea of poisoning the genre with feminism. Today, of course, the film is widely regarded as a classic, and it’s founded on the classic theme of setting out on a journey from which there can be no return, more powerful because we know that it can’t last.
The Happy Prince, 12.05am, BBC1, Sunday
While writer, director and star Rupert Everett might be a bit too in love with Oscar Wilde for his own good where this biopic is concerned it is still well worth catching for his central performance. He could have been born to play the playwright and his own career has featured plenty of notable performances in works by him, including The Importance Of Being Earnest and The Ideal Husband. Everett the actor masterfully evokes the mournful mix of decadence and decay of the last years of Wilde as he charts the writer’s decline after serving two years’ hard labour for his affair with Bosie (Colin Morgan), while the action is punctuated by a retelling of the fairy tale of the title. While the action feels stagey in places and Everett slides towards the sentimental in his retelling, there’s no taking away from the heartfelt performance at the film’s core.
Our short this week comes from the director of Aftersun, Charlotte Wells. Tuesday, like her first feature, deals with the complexity of a dad and daughter relationship.
