The Herald - The Herald Magazine
PICK OF TV MOVIES
SATURDAY
By the Grace of God (2018) (BBC4, 9pm)
French writer-director Francois Ozon addresses a real-life case of child abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest in a powerful drama, which won the coveted Jury Grand Prix at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. Alexandre Guerin (Melvil Poupaud) is a doting husband and father of three, who regularly attends church. He has never spoken publicly about the harrowing experiences of his childhood when Father Bernard Preynat (Bernard Verley) preyed on him and other boys. When Guerin learns that his tormentor continues to tend to a young flock, he embarks on a painful mission to seek justice and expose collusion within the church. Other victims lend their voices to an impassioned movement for clarity.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (STV, 10.35pm)
Having destroyed a cyborg assassin sent to kill her, and had a child with the late soldier sent to protect her, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is now locked up in a psychiatric institute. Thankfully, she is broken out by her young son John and a reprogrammed Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The bad news is a liquid metal killer (Robert Patrick) is out to murder them all. Considering state-of-the-art effects have a shorter shelf-life than milk, James Cameron’s ground-breaking movie still looks amazing after 30 years. Furlong grates as John, but the stunts, editing and score are top-notch, Hamilton deserves full marks for such a committed performance and Schwarzenegger is as effective a good guy as he was an implacable villain.
SUNDAY
Free State of Jones (2016) (BBC2, 10.50pm)
This handsome historical drama fictionalises a bruising five-year period during the American Civil War. In October 1862, farmer Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) is serving as a medic in the Confederate Army and witnesses a local boy being shot on the frontline. Horrified, Newton abandons his post and returns home to Jones County with the boy’s body to perform a proper burial. The threat of capture as a deserter puts an intolerable strain on his relationship with his wife Serena (Keri Russell) and Newton eventually flees into nearby swamps, where he befriends runaway slaves including Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Moses (Mahershala Ali). They live quietly off the land, hoping not to draw the attention of sadistic Lieutenant Barbour (Brad Carter) and his soldiers.
The Dressmaker (2015) (Film4, 11.10pm)
Based on the bestseller by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is a 1950s-set comedy drama threaded with lustrous strands of revenge, redemption and mother-daughter bonding. At the tender age of 10, Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage (Kate Winslet) is implicated in the death of a schoolboy. The girl is banished from her sleepy, close-knit (fictional) hometown of Dungatar, Australia, and finds her calling as a seamstress in Paris. When her single mother Molly (Judy Davis) falls ill, Tilly returns to Dungatar laden with her trusty Singer sewing machine and a fierce desire to exact delicious revenge on the people who labelled her a murderer. Her return piques the interest of Sergeant Farrat (Hugo Weaving) and footballer Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth), whose family has been keeping an eye on Molly.
MONDAY
12 Angry Men (1957) (Film 4, 11am)
One of the all-time classic courtroom dramas, this tense 1957 film marks the directorial debut of Sidney Lumet, who would go on to make Dog Day Afternoon, Network and Serpico. Adapted from a 1954 teleplay by Reginald Rose, noted for writing about political and social themes, it stars Henry Fonda as a juror in a New York murder trial who goes against his fellow jurors in doubting the guilt of the accused, a young man. At stake is the young man’s life. Initially a lone voice, Fonda’s Juror 8 gradually convinces more and more of his colleagues to come round to his way of thinking – or, at the very least, to admit to the reasonable doubt which would find the man not guilty. Tempers rise, prejudices are aired, logic skewed and twisted. Lee J Cobb, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden and John Fielder also star.
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) (C5, 11.05pm)
The third film in the franchise sees loose-cannon cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) returning to duty following an explosion at a New York City department store. The perpetrator, who calls himself Simon (Jeremy Irons), contacts the police and tells them that unless McClane and bystander Zeus Carver (Samuel L Jackson), who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, carry out a series of
instructions, more bombs will be detonated across the city. It’s not up to the standards of the original film but this thriller is a lot of fun and arguably the pick of the sequels. Trivia fans may like to note that the script, which was originally called Simon Says, had been intended as a vehicle for Brandon Lee and was at one point rewritten by film studio Warners as a Lethal Weapon sequel.
TUESDAY
The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947) (Talking Pictures TV, 3.55pm)
An independent young widow (Gene Tierney) hopes to escape her uptight in-laws by moving into a seaside cottage, only to find her new home has a sitting tenant – the ghost of a deceased sea captain (Rex Harrison). He tries to scare her away, but when he discovers she doesn’t frighten easily, he comes up with an alternative plan and asks her to
write his memoirs. A bond quickly springs up between the unlikely housemates, but the sailor soon discovers he has a living rival for the widow’s affections. As you’d expect from the director responsible for All About Eve, Joseph L Makiewicz, this is a witty and intelligent fantasy, but it’s also genuinely romantic. Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison are perfectly cast in the lead roles, and Bernard Herrman’s score is suitably haunting.
WEDNESDAY
His Girl Friday (1940) (Film4, 1.10pm) Legend has it that director Howard Hawks got the idea for this remake of The Front Page, which was written for two male leads, when he read the play through with his secretary and realised it worked even better with a woman in one of the roles. The result is one of the great screwball comedies, starring the master of the genre, Cary Grant, as a scheming newspaper editor who is shocked to discover that his ace reporter and ex-wife – Hildy (Rosalind Russell) is planning to give up her career and remarry. So, he tries to tempt her into staying with one last big story. The sharp dialogue flies by so fast, you might have to record it to catch the jokes you missed.
The World Is Not Enough (1999) (ITV4, 8pm)
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is assigned to protect Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), the daughter of a murdered oil tycoon. She not only inherited her father’s fortune, but also most of the rights to six trillion dollars’ worth of oil deposits. As Turkey, Russia and Iran each try to woo her to get their hands on her assets, Bond is drawn deeper into a relationship with her, but soon finds himself trying to stop all-out war and save the world. It’s not a patch on Goldeneye, which brought Bond back to the masses after a six-year hiatus and established Brosnan as the quintessential hero, but it’s still good fun, with some terrific set-pieces.
THURSDAY
Top Hat (1935) (BBC4, 9pm)
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ fourth film together is also their best, thanks to a delightfully frothy script and some truly iconic dance scenes. Astaire stars as dancer Jerry Travers, who first meets model Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) in a London hotel – she’s in the room below his and complains that his tapping is disturbing her. For him, it’s love at first sight, but a case of mistaken identity leads her to believe that he’s her best friend’s producer husband and she’s outraged by his attempts to pursue her. The plot is just a flimsy excuse for some wonderful Irving Berlin numbers, including Top Hat, White Tie and Tails and the romantic Cheek to Cheek.
FRIDAY
Beautiful Boy (2018) (BBC1, 11.45pm)
David Sheff (Steve Carell) is a senior writer for prestigious magazines, who famously conducted the last major interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1980. His first wife Vicki (Amy Ryan) lives in Los Angeles, amicably sharing custody of their son Nic, while David builds a new life in San Francisco. David suspects Nic is in the grip of drug addiction and the concerned father persuades his boy to attend Ohlhoff Recovery Centre. Rehabilitation appears to go well until the teenager goes AWOL and David applies his journalistic mind to learning everything about drugs and their treatment. Beautiful Boy is a sobering account of one family’s battle of attrition with a demon that sinks its jaws into a prodigal son and refuses to let go.