Pick of the week
Catherine Called Birdy
Adapted from Karen Cushman’s children’s novel, this sprightly comedy by Lena Dunham focuses on Birdy (Bella Ramsey) as she narrates her life as a 14-year-old aristocrat in medieval England. She’s an independent spirit – or, if you’re her father, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), an insufferably mischievous child who keeps foiling your plans to marry her off. Bracingly open about menstruation and infant mortality, Dunham probes restricted female lives in the 13th century (and, by extension, in our time) with a ready wit, helped by an on-point cast including Billie Piper as Birdy’s mother, Lesley Sharp as her sardonic servant and Sophie Okonedo as a marvellously eccentric widow.
Friday 7 October, Prime Video
***
Hocus Pocus 2
The 1993 original developed a cult reputation, so Disney has got the band (of sisters) back together for another easily digestible comedy. Witches Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy (all magically unchanged) are accidentally brought back to life by Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo’s spell-dabbling pals in present-day Salem on Halloween, and again attempt to survive for longer than their allotted night. Slightly more sophisticated special effects are the only change in a broad caper that hews close to its ancestor.
Disney+, out now
***
Hell Or High Water
Everyone has their reasons, and for Texas brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) they rob banks to save the family ranch. Unfortunately, Tanner’s erratic ways jeopardise their safety, and with Jeff Bridges’s ranger on their trail there’s little room for error. David Mackenzie’s film is both a persuasive thriller and a realistic study of rural lives, while a script by Taylor Sheridan is increasingly becoming a marker of quality. Bridges is as magnetic as ever as the lawman on the verge of retirement, but Pine and Foster also impress as the errant siblings.
Saturday 1 October, 9pm, Film4
***
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
David Lowery’s next film is fantasy spectacular Peter Pan, but he built his reputation on understated dramas such as this 2013 film, a delicate, Malick-esque love story. After Casey Affleck’s Bob gets sent to prison for shooting a police officer, his lover Ruth (Rooney Mara) raises their daughter alone, with only Keith Carradine’s ambivalent father figure to lean on. Then Bob escapes from jail, and all their futures are thrown into doubt. There’s a stillness to the film that belies the outlaw plot, as unarticulated but life-changing emotions envelop the couple.
Sunday 2 October, 9.01pm, Great! Movies
***
Queen & Slim
Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith make a highly engaging pair of criminals in Melina Matsoukas’s effervescent road movie. The inadvertent killing of a white, possibly racist cop while on a first date speeds up the “getting to know you” part of Ernest and Angela’s relationship as they flee Ohio for New Orleans. The serious nature of their situation is balanced by the giddy newness of adventure; their offence gaining iconic status in the Black communities they pass through and are welcomed by.
Sunday 2 October, 10.45pm, BBC Two
***
Collective
Alexander Nanau’s documentary is a shocking tale of a Romanian newspaper’s investigation into excessive deaths of burns victims after a nightclub fire. This quickly expands into an exposé of widespread corruption in the country’s healthcare system, while cameras also track a new health minister struggling to deal with the crisis. The work was done by the staff of Gazeta Sporturilor, which is known mainly as a sports paper, and though there are many depressing aspects to the film’s revelations, it does proves the vital role independent journalism can play in an open society.
Tuesday 4 October, 10.35pm, BBC Four
***
Waves
Waves of hate and love, guilt and regret sweep over a family in Trey Edward Shults’s atmospheric drama. We follow 18-year-old favoured son Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr) – pushed by his aspirational father (Sterling K Brown) to academic and sporting success – and then Tyler’s ignored sister Emily (a superb Taylor Russell), who finds her own path after an incident that fractures the ostensibly perfect clan. It’s a hazy but captivating film, with brief, elliptical scenes bound together by intense performances and arresting imagery.
Friday 7 October, 9pm, BBC Three
