 |
| The Eyes Of Tammy Faye |
Jessica Chastain takes centrestage in this biopic, which was a long-time passion project for the star and is based on the cult documentary of the same name. She plays televangelist Tammy Faye, who rose to fame with her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), after the pair met at bible college. Michael Showalter directs with a deliberately kitsch air that emphasises the fakeness which shrouded the pair's ascent, as they gathered pots of cash from their true believers along the way. Tammy was a natural performer and the film zeroes in on this suggesting that even she might not have truly known where make-believe ended and reality began. That she was also part of a fiction that she may well have been unaware of gives the film a melancholic note. While the biopic structure is a bit inflexible, Chastain's performance is a knock-out.
When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors, MUBI, streaming now
This isn't the first time the story of The Doors has been brought to the screen, nor probably the last, but Tom DiCillo's film has the benefit of a massive archive of rare footage of Jim Morrison and his band. Although a little bit too in love with Morrison for its own good, this is nevertheless an intimate portrait that finds room to also talk about his bandmates Ray Manzarek, Robby Kriger and John Densmore, whose stories are often glossed over. The film was also markedly improved for its cinema release from its Sundance debut, with Johnny Depp taking over narration duties from DiCillo himself.
Picnic At Hanging Rock, 10.45pm, Talking Pictures TV (Freeview 82), Monday, July 15
Jennie Kermode writes: Back when they were filming it, supporting cast member John Jarrat once told me, nobody on the team behind Picnic At Hanging Rock had any idea that it would be special. Joan Lindsay's novel had been a sensation on its release eight years earlier, uncertainties about the origins of the story – which is ostensibly fiction but has parallels with several real world events - only adding to the mystery, yet what no one reckoned with at the time was the genius of the then largely unknown director, Peter Weir. His work with cinematographer Russell Boyd introduced something that was completely new even though the story was set in the past, and it's the tension between the romantic vision of daydreaming schoolgirls clad in white with the fear of the unknown that the rock represents which really drives the film, as important to its lingering power as its stubborn refusal to offer narrative solutions. Encapsulating a clash between imported European culture and the untameable nature of the Australian continent, together with the legacy of colonial guilt and expectation, it's a film built on secrets, a riddle as elusive as a golden-haired girl slipping away into the rocks. Read our interview with one of the film's stars Karen Robson.
An Education, 11.45pm, BBC2, Tuesday, July 16
Carey Mulligan might be a household name now, but she was better known for performances on British TV before she starred in Lone Scherfig's adaptation of Lynne Barber's memoir. She plays a schoolgirl who is swept off her feet by a suave older man as a teenager – a role that catapulted her from the snow of Sundance to the big time and an Oscar nomination, although she lost out to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Mulligan was in her 20s at the time but she feels perfectly cast as 16-year-old Jenny, groomed for Oxford by her parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour), and soon falling for the charms of David (Peter Sarsgaard), whose charm offensive also works wonders on her parents. Though Mulligan is magnificent, Sarsgaard also pitches this just right, floating perfectly in the grey area between debonair and dodgy.
Mulholland Drive, 12.45am, Film4, Saturday, July 20
David Lynch has made so many great films that it's tricky to choose a favourite – but this one certainly has a claim to it, and is currently ranked in eighth place in Sight and Sound's Greatest Films of All Time poll. Lynch's alternately dreamy and nightmarish tale sees an actress (Naomi Watts) try to unravel a mystery with an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring), a thriller plot which will see both actresses adopt double roles. The surreal narrative, like so many of Lynch's films, is an open invitation for multiple interpretations and is best viewed without any steering from me. Just enjoy the fabulous central performances and, if you have questions, there are plenty of rabbit hole solutions on the internet for you to slip down afterwards – and if there's one thing Lynch likes, it's a rabbit.
The Courier, 11.05pm, BBC1, Saturday, July 20
Originally screened at Sundance under the title Ironbark in January 2020, this well-appointed Benedict Cumberbatch spy thriller gives the British star an opportunity to lean into his Englishness. His businessman Greville Wynne finds himself unexpectedly recruited as a civilian go-between after a Soviet colonel (Mirab Ninidze) tells the West he wants to help stop a nuclear war. What the film lacks in general spy-craft it makes up for in general relationship drama as the two men forge an unlikely friendship in a bid to change the course of history and that makes a gripping watch as they come increasingly under threat.
Photograph, 1.25am, BBC2, Sunday, July 21
Romance blooms across the class divide thanks to a camera in Ritesh Batra's slow-burn drama. The camera in question belongs to Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a street photographer struggling to make ends meet in Mumbai. One day he takes a snap of rich young woman Miloni (Sanya Malhotra), using it to concoct a story of romance for his gran who is pressuring him to wed. It's a clever set-up that sees him end up convincing Miloni to play along for the day – after which things get complicated. Batra carefully constructs his film around a strong sense of longing – from the simple pleasures of kulfi to the prospect of a fresh start. Warm hearted and generous to its characters, his film builds to a moving climax. Batra told us: "Every movie you make, you learn something more about yourself and about the business."
This week's short selection is animation Alma, directed by Rodrigo Blaas, whose latest credits include writing and directing an episode of Star Wars: Visions.
