Pick of the week
Belfast
Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical drama is an affectionate look back at his childhood, despite being set during the Troubles. It’s 1969, and tensions in Northern Ireland are starting to have an impact on the carefree life of nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill). His Protestant builder father (Jamie Dornan), who has to go to England to find work, wants the family to quit an increasingly volatile north Belfast, but Buddy’s mother (an exceptional Caitríona Balfe) finds the ties to family and place difficult to abandon. Branagh depicts these events from the innocent Buddy’s viewpoint, so the effects of the Troubles seem more domestic than political, but the emotional impact is still strong.
Friday 2 September, 10am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Samaritan
Granite City is, not unlike Gotham, a disaster area of crime and poverty, one crying out for a superhero. For 13-year-old Sam (Javon “Wanna” Walton), Samaritan is that man. The fact he died years ago, in an explosion with his evil brother Nemesis, is a mere detail. Could his loner neighbour Joe (Sylvester Stallone) secretly be his idol? Julius Avery’s film employs its action sparingly – more Luke Cage than Dark Knight – but it’s always fun to see Sly flex his muscles and grunt out his lines, and Pilou Asbæk keeps his crime boss Cyrus to naturalistic levels of badness.
Out now, Prime Video
***
Days of Heaven
Before a 20-year hiatus from film-making, Terrence Malick created his masterwork, a ravishingly shot tale of tangled romance in 1916 rural Texas. Richard Gere’s labourer Bill realises the ailing landowner (Sam Shepard) has fallen for his lover Abby, who is posing as his sister, and sees the opportunity for a better life in promoting their union – but soon regrets his plan. Malick’s trademarks are all here – elliptical drama, elegiac voiceover, a sensitivity to the seasons and the natural world – in a landscape that glows with “magic hour” light.
Saturday 27 August, 9.55pm, Sky Cinema Greats
***
Rear Window
Photographer LB (James Stewart) is stuck in his Manhattan flat with a broken leg, and only visits from girlfriend Lisa (a luminous Grace Kelly) and nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter ) relieve the boredom. To pass the time, he starts spying on his neighbours across the courtyard, and begins to suspect that one apartment owner has killed his wife. Alfred Hitchcock’s most voyeuristic film (and there are many) cleverly makes us complicit in LB’s secretive watching – even as it becomes more perilous – but always with the getout clause of the thriller plot to assuage our guilt.
Sunday 28 August, 9pm, Sky Arts
***
Waking Ned
There’s a distinct flavour of Ealing – particularly Whisky Galore! – to Kirk Jones’s affable comedy. Ian Bannen and David Kelly play two old friends in a small Irish village who discover the local recipient of a nearly £7m lottery win, the titular Ned, has died of shock at his good luck. However, all the duo need is someone to impersonate Ned and then all the residents can share in the cash bonanza. A film of gentle humour, light-touch eccentricity and zestful performances from the jolly Bannen and Kelly.
Monday 29 August, 7.10pm, AMC
***
The Queen
Photograph: Granada Film Productions/Allstar
Just in time for the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, a showing of writer Peter Morgan’s 2006 precursor to The Crown which follows the events of 1997 through the eyes of the royal family. The unprecedented, bizarre outpouring of national grief after Di’s fatal car crash nonplusses Elizabeth II (a note-perfect Helen Mirren), and her lack of public reaction causes disquiet. Her new prime minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), however, sees it is a critical moment for the monarchy. A fascinating snapshot of a moment in British history in which tradition faced up to the modern world, and lost.
Tuesday 30 August, 8pm, ITV
***
Free Fire
This cartoonishly enjoyable crime caper from Ben Wheatley revels in its focused absurdity – and has a fine eye for a 70s moustache. An illegal firearms purchase by Irish terrorists from a South African/American gun dealer duo in a dockside warehouse accidentally turns into a firefight, but it’s one with more missed shots than an A-Team episode. Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson and Sharlto Copley are among the wounded dragging themselves around the disused building in a frenetically choreographed ballet of confusion, indignation and black humour. SW
Friday 2 September, 1.15am, Channel 4
