FOTV – Saturday 2104 to Friday 2704

[sw12expat]

Just a few films you may find of interest (rated * to ****)

Saturday 2104
**½ KIDULTHOOD (UK 2005) C7, 2145-2315; Ami Ameen, Red Madrell, Jaime
Winstone, Noel Clarke, Madeleine Fairley; Some teenagers in West
London are given a day off school when another pupil tops herself
(after being bullied). Between the violence, the bad language, and the
aimlessness, star NC has written a film which involves you and
features a star-making performance from RM. JW is Ray's daughter.

Sunday 2204
*** RABBIT PROOF FENCE (Austral 2002) C9, 2100-2225; Everlyn Sampi,
Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh.
*** BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (UK 2003) C15, 0105-0315; Emily Mortimer,
Stephen Campbell Moore, Fenella Woolgar, Jim Broadbent, Dan Aykroyd,
David Tennant, Stockard Channing, Richard E. Grant, Peter O'Toole;
Stephen Fry's first film as director details a group of wealthy 1930s
socialites frequenting hotels, parties, and race meetings. It's an
adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies". Look quickly for the late
John Mills smoking cannabis!

Monday 2304
** CHATROOM (UK 2010) C15, 2325-0120; Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots,
Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray, Megan Dodds; This film – in which a
depressed teenager(AJ) starts a chatroom – has one successful
innovation. The phenomenon of online 'chatrooms' is presented here as
if in a real room, with the participants appearing and disappearing as
they would do online. This ensures that the narrative is watchable;
unfortunately it isn't very exciting!

Tuesday 2404
***½ WENDY AND LUCY (US 2008) C15, 2250-0025; Michelle Williams,
Walter Dalton, Will Patton, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith; In Portland,
Oregon, young homeless MW is arrested for shoplifting, and her dog
disappears. And that's it. But director Kelly Reichardt's 3rd film is
almost a masterclass in how to keep an audience involved in the
minutest plot. 80 minutes of an excellent MW doing all she can to get
out of Portland – without amassing bills to pay the police, repair her
car, and release her dog from the pound. [Followed by the director's
1st film, "RIVER OF GRASS", finishing at 0200.]

Wednesday 2504
**½ OLD JOY (US 2006) C15, 0045-0220; Daniel London, Will Oldham;
Director Kelly Reichardt's 2nd film (her 1st and 3rd were shown last
night). [Preceding this from 2250 is the first showing on TV here of
her 4th film, "MEEK'S CUTOFF".]
** GARDEN STATE (US 2004) C4, 0235-0420 (C13, 0335-0520 Thursday);
Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard; Debut director-
writer-star ZB turned in a generally well-received (well-cast) indie
but the big disappointment is its script: the backstory – ZB returning
to his home town after years away – and the revelation are cliches of
the highest order.

Thursday 2604
*** GET CARTER (UK 1971) C24, 2235-0050; Michael Caine, Britt Eland,
Ian Hendry, Geraldine Moffatt; Original version.
**½ LEMMING (French 2005) C15, 2330-0205; Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Laurent Lucas, Charlotte Rampling, André Dussolier; 1960s-style
'psychological' horror, in which you spend a lot of your time thinking
"did he really see that?"/"did she really do that?"/"was that a
hallucination?", but that's (presumably) the intention. CG gets ever
better as an actress and as a Spanish-seeming sensual woman, and CR
seems to delight in playing against type. The narrative concerns young
couple CG and LL discovering a lemming – a Scandinavian creature – in
their kitchen's wastepipe!
**½ ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (UK/US 2005) C15, 0205-0355; John
Hawkes, Miranda July, Natasha Slayton, Najarra Townsend; In L.A., a
couple are splitting up – wife MJ leaving, husband JH remaining with
his internet-obsessed sons. This often appears to be a somewhat sexist
tale of a JH being stalked by MJ, while an artist(MJ again) can't get
her work seen by an art gallery because of a stroppy female manager.
But, IF we know beforehand that the film was written and directed by
MJ, we can read 'subversion of the norm' instead of 'sexism'.