Pick of the week
Fair Play
A searing portrait of male entitlement, Chloe Domont’s drama starts out as a sweet workplace romance then shifts into increasingly traumatic territory. Phoebe Dynevor’s Emily is secretly in a relationship with Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), her less talented colleague at a high-pressure US financial firm. When she gets promoted to being his boss – a position he assumed was his for the taking – their bond begins to fray. The distance between them increases scene by scene, as Luke tries, and fails, to be more assertive at work while Emily struggles to prove she isn’t a token hire. Sexism and victim-shaming are dissected in an intense, thought-provoking film.
Friday 6 October, Netflix
***
Boiling Point
A day before its TV sequel premieres on BBC One, here’s a chance to see Philip Barantini’s 2021 feature. It’s a bravura one-shot drama, tense to the point of combustion, centring on restaurant head chef Andy (an exceptional Stephen Graham). His problems come to a head during one shift, with his deputy Carly (Vinette Robinson) barely holding things together as Andy’s mistakes – along with those made by other staff and customers – threaten disaster. Comparisons with The Bear are inevitable, but this British original really holds its own.
Saturday 30 September, 9pm, Film4
***
Local Hero
Bill Forsyth’s sweet-natured drama comes across as a homage to Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going, in which a slightly eccentric rural community befuddles then bewitches a metropolitan incomer. Here, the visitor is Peter Riegert’s Mac, a Texas oil firm minion sent to buy a Scottish coastal village for a prospective refinery. Forsyth tempers the romanticism – some of the villagers actually want to sell up – but it’s hard not to join Mac as he falls for the place, the slow pace of life and, more trickily, the hotel owner’s wife.
Sunday 1 October, 4pm, Film4
***
Ali & Ava
Clio Barnard’s understanding of the ebbs and flows of working-class life is given full rein in her exceptional, Bradford-set romantic drama. “Rough and ready” Ali (Adeel Akhtar) is a landlord, separated from but still living with his wife; Ava (Claire Rushbrook) is a selfless teaching assistant, widowed with four kids – one of whom, Callum (Shaun Thomas), has a new baby. Their tentative courtship plays out through music – he’s into hardcore dance; she likes a bit of country – and stolen moments in a strong community that transcends the sinkhole estate cliches.
Sunday 1 October, 10.30pm, BBC Two
***
The Bigamist
As basically the only female director working in Hollywood in the 1950s, Ida Lupino is to be treasured – and this is one of her most fascinating dramas. Edmond O’Brien plays the titular two-timing salesman, in a childless marriage to Joan Fontaine’s smart business type and drawn to Lupino’s more available waitress. With Fontaine’s character getting a gender flip (she neglects her spouse for work) and a nuanced view of his illegal actions, it’s a film that continually surprises.
Wednesday 4 October, 12.25pm, Talking Pictures TV
***
Alien
Although its mystique has been comprehensively trashed by the many sequels and prequels, Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror is still one terrifically stylish, terrifically big “boo” in space. It helps that the futuristic visuals hold up, with the creature and extraterrestrial environments realised in impressively creepy, oozy fashion. And the uniformly superb cast – not least Sigourney Weaver in a star-making turn as “final girl” Ripley – make the crew’s warren-like spaceship feel lived-in and dull … at least until the rabid xenomorph picks them off one by one. SW
Wednesday 4 October, 10.40pm, BBC One
***
The Fugitive
One of Harrison Ford’s finest hours, this propulsive reworking of the 1960s TV series showcases his A-list ability to combine a believable character with a mostly preposterous plot. He plays Dr Richard Kimble, wrongly accused of his wife’s murder at home, who flees a prison van and goes on the run to search for the one-armed man responsible – in the process uncovering a wider conspiracy. Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar as the US marshal on his tail and proves a steady anchor for the action swirling around him.
Friday 6 October, 10pm, Channel 5
• This article was amended on 2 October 2023. The image from Local Hero shows Peter Capaldi and Peter Riegert, not Peter Riegert and Christopher Rozycki as the earlier agency caption stated. Also, Riegert’s character falls for the hotel owner’s wife, not “Jenny Seagrove’s marine scientist”.
