 |
| Anthony Hopkins in The Silence Of The Lambs Photo: Orion Pictures |
Anthony Hopkins is back in cinemas this week as neurologist Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session and here’s a chance to catch him offering psychoanalysis of an altogether more sinister sort in his Oscar-winning turn as sadistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. His intense performance in Jonathan Demme's crime thriller is reciprocated by Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling, who finds herself embroiled in a psychological wargame with the incarcerated murder as she tries to snare another monster. Much darker than your average Academy Award winner, Demme knows exactly what to show and what not to show to generate horror and tension. Chillingly effective even on a repeat watch. Glass of chianti, optional.
The Grey, 11.05pm, Film4, Monday, June 10
Jennie Kermode writes: It's man versus wolf in the Boy's Own-style survival thriller, which opens with a brutal plane crash. The survivors soon realise that they cannot afford to risk staying at the crash site and will need to try and cross the snowy mountains surrounding them in order to reach civilisation, but once a pack of wolves catches their scent, they need to use all their resources to try and avoid getting picked off one by one. Quickly coming to the fore in the biped pack is Liam Neeson, as grizzled and laser-focused as his foes. It's a film whose macho posturing is far too heavily exaggerated to take seriously and is matched by egregiously sentimental flashback scenes, but when it comes to straight-out thrills, it really delivers. It's better informed about wolf behaviour than you might expect, reducing the need to suspend disbelief, and the scenes with the wolves are tightly framed to capitalise on their natural actions. As such, it very effectively captures the existential terror of realising that one is no longer in a world where being human affords any measure of security or control. Intelligence is as important here as simple toughness, but a lot still depends on luck, and it's the resultant sense of uncertainty that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Copa 71, 10pm, BBC4, Tuesday, June 11
Now bearing the subtitle “the lost Lionesses” this documentary digs into the Mexican Women’s World Cup of 1971. Whether the women’s story has been as entirely overlooked by history as this film suggests is a matter for debate, but it is nevertheless a welcome dive into the historical moment when women came together on one of the world’s biggest stages. The film doesn’t just focus on English participants, branching out to include representatives of Mexico, Denmark, Argentina, France and Italy, who were also at the tournament. The women’s stories have a lot in common as they discuss the obstacles they faced but also the joy of getting to play and their amazement at suddenly becoming stars overnight in Mexico. Tightly edited, this is an energetic and infectious celebration of the women’s game.
The Graduate, 10.15pm, BBC4, Thursday, June 13
It seems almost impossible to believe there was a time Dustin Hoffman was unknown to international audiences, but he was largely an off-Broadway star when he hit the big-time in Mike Nichols' sharp satire (which he dropped out of Mel Brooks' The Producers to take on - alongside Brooks' wife Anne Bancroft). He plays Benjamin, a nervy, virginal student who is seduced by his parents' predatory and desperately bored fortysomething friend Mrs Robinson (Bancroft). More than 50 years on, if anything, the deliciously black comedy about middle-class anxieties and intergenerational warfare bites even deeper now than it did then.
Kes, 1.25am, Film4, Wednesday, June 11
Its graveyard slot might not suggest it but this is a heartbreaker that is accessible for all ages. Ken Loach's adaptation of the tale of a working class lad and his pet falcon has stood the test of time. All his hallmarks are here in his social-realist rendering of a story that sees young Billy (David Bradley) find escape through nature, in sharp contrast to the grind of his everyday life. While the climax is sobering it is also a call to arms for workers everywhere. Beyond the central performance of Bradley, Freddie Fletcher also puts in excellent work as his half-brother Jud, while the late-great Brian Glover excels as the epitome of everyone's most hated PE teacher.
Paris, Texas, 12.55am, Monday, June 17
German director Wim Wenders might have been an 'outsider' to the US but here he presents one of the most resonant depictions of American spaces, something he had already shown a keen eye for a decade earlier with Alice In The Cities, all lensed with fluid grace and long takes by Robby Muller. Harry Dean Stanton plays Travis Henderson, a missing-presumed-dead amnesiac, who wanders out of the desert four years after his disappearance and who gradually begins to reconnect with his family and, particularly, his son (Hunter Carson). Wenders' film is big on mood and emotion as he explores Henderson's odyssey through the shards of the American Dream. Tom Farrell told us about his experience in one of the film's key scenes.
Man On Wire, ITVX, streaming now
A break-out hit from Sundance - where it snagged both the Audience and Jury Awards - James Marsh’s documentary offers the sort of second-hand high anxiety big screens were made for. It charts the attempt by Frenchman Philippe Petit to walk a tightrope between the two World Trade Center towers and far from being a dry recollection of events, it plays instead like a thriller, as we learn how it was planned and executed to perfection. Petit proves the perfect interviewee with his irrepressible attitude even now and, even though he is clearly still alive and well, it doesn’t stop you being glued in apprehension as he attempts the feat. ITVX has also recently added Marsh’s Project Nim, the emotionally charged story of a chimpanzee groomed by scientists, which is also well worth a look.
Our short this week is Naptha, which sees the life of a man working at an isolated petrol station turned upside down. Director Moin Hussain has gone on to make Sky Peals, which will be released in the UK on August 9.
