Five things to watch this weekend
ENNIO MORRICONE SELECTION — APPLE TV
After the death of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, Apple TV has curated a selection of 16 films that offer an overview of his memorable talents as a prodigious creator of some of the most well-known scores in cinema history. From The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and the rest of the Sergio Leone spaghetti western quartet to the terrible Exorcist II and Mission
to Mars, there’s plenty of aural, if not always visual pleasure, to be had. Also included is Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight.
HOMEMADE — NETFLIX
Twenty of the most interesting filmmakers from across the world have made short films for this anthology examining life, love, anxiety, fear and hope under Covid-19. You can watch them in whatever order you like and take comfort in that while the future of cinemas may be uncertain, the future of film is in good hands. Featuring work by Paolo Sorrentino, Ladj Ly, Ana Lily Amirpour, Johnny Ma, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kristen Stewart, it’s a rewarding demonstration of the powers of the imagination to overcome the obstacles of self-isolation.
STATELESS — NETFLIX
Cate Blanchett co-creates and stars in this multi-character drama about the interconnected lives of a group of characters who find themselves trapped in an immigration detention centre. It’s a moving and sometimes deeply upsetting questioning of how we define others and decide to deal with them and what the consequences of such decisions are to ordinary people and their lives.
TRIGONOMETRY — SHOWMAX
Gary Carr and Thalissa Teixeira star as a struggling London couple whose decision to make some extra cash by renting out a room in their flat to a mysterious former Olympic synchronised swimmer played by Ariane Labed leads them down the path to the surprising joys and rejuvenations of polyamory. Gently but humanely told, it’s a lighthearted but heartfelt examination of the realities of a way of being in the world that’s no longer as taboo or shocking as many believe.
YVONNE ORJI: MOMMA, I MADE IT — SHOWMAX
Nigerian comedian Yvonne Orji is best known for her role in Insecure. Here, she travels back to her hometown of Lagos and shows us something of the influence of her homeland on her personality in a standup special that makes incisive fun of tradition and its continued battle with the demands of the modern world.