Noel Curry kicks off a brand new regular feature. He has done the TV guide trawling for you and picked out some of the filmic highlights available via free to access digital channels. And what a wonderfully eclectic mix it is.
Film of the Week
Nil By Nouth (Tuesday 20th 1.00am Film Four) – image above
An unflinching look at the the lives of the poor and deprived in inner city London. This directorial debut from actor Gary Oldman has drawn comparisons to the work of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, but Oldman’s film is unencumbered with their need to “make a statement” and is all the better for it. In its honesty and rawness, the film just lays it out like it is for those who have been forgotten by society and thus has more in common with the work of Shane Meadows. All of the cast, led by Ray Winstone, are excellent, but Kathy Burke deserves special praise for her performance as the downtrodden wife. It’s criminal that this film came out fifteen years ago and stills remains Oldman’s only film. Somebody please put a gun to his head and force him back behind the camera. British cinema needs him.
Worth Another Look
Resurrected (Monday 19th 1.20am Film Four)
A young David Thewlis plays a British soldier Kevin Deakin, a presumed-dead war hero from the Falklands who turns up alive months later, thus casting doubt on his supposed heroism and causing friction amongst his family and friends. A brave look an the ideas of valor and honour during wartime. Worth another look, because this is the directorial debut of Paul Greengrass, who went on to direct “United 93” and the last two films in the Bourne Trilogy.
Last of the Mohicans (Tuesday 20th 9.00pm 5USA)
Slightly odd choice this as I’m not recommending that you watch all of this film. Michael Mann’s adaption of Fennimore’s adventure story, set in America during the Seven Years War whilst that country was still a colony, is a rather turgid affair. Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stowe strive to create some heat in the central romance, but they fail to rasie it above the level of Mills and Boon. However, in the last ten minutes, it appears as if an entirely different director takes over control, as it turns into cinematic tone poem that deals, wordlessly, with young love and loss. An astonishing end to a rather mediocre film.
Guilty Pleasure
Field of Dreams (Thursday 22nd 6.50pm ITV4)
I’ll happily admit that this is a rather gloopy film that unashamedly appeals to the baby boomer generation. Kevin Costner is an struggling Iowa farmer, who, for some reason, decides to build a baseball field in his back yard. On to this field stroll the ghosts of the shamed ‘Black Sox’ baseball team (the Chicago White Sox were found guilty of throwing the World Series in 1919 – and thus America lost its innocence). Hoaky, sentimental but as enjoyable as a long bath on a Sunday afternoon – just don’t spoil it by thinking about it too much.
What I’ll Be Watching
Synecdoche, New York (Saturday 24th, 11.40pm BBC2)
Haven’t seen this one myself and reviews were mixed when it was released. However, Charlie Kaufman’s work (he wrote “Being John Malkovich”, “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) is never less than interesting and this is his directorial debut. The always watchable Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theatre director who ambitiously attempts to recreate New York within a warehouse for his next production. Things soon get out of hand and, as always with Kaufman, the lines between art and real life becoming increasing blurry. Worth a look.
Noel Curry has degrees in both film studies and film production and now works as a freelance television editor. When he’s not editing, looking after his kids or watching the latest series of Mad Men with his wife, he likes to draw silly cartoons and publish them online (see www.miltonslife.com, www.djbogtrotter.co.uk and www.sascomic.com). He has views on films, which he has now decided to start writing down rather than just shouting them out of windows.
You can find Noel on Twitter: @DJBogtrotter
Mike McKenny is The Culture Vulture’s film editor. If you have any film related stories, articles, reviews with a twist, etc, contact him on mike.mckenny1983@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @DestroyApathy