Pillion
Love stories come in all shapes and sizes. Harry Lighton sets his provocative, witty debut film in the world of BDSM. Harry Melling stars as introverted traffic warden – and occasional barbershop quartet singer – Colin, who lives with his parents in suburban London. When he is picked up in the local pub by Adonis-like biker Ray (an enigmatic Alexander Skarsgård), he thinks all his dreams have come true. But Ray needs to be dominant sexually, so if their new relationship is to survive Colin must submit to his every whim. A fascinating exploration of the gay biker subculture and fetish scene that manages to feel transgressive but also touching, a coming-of-age tale in chains.
Friday, 10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Outcome
Films in which film stars bemoan their lot can be pretty tiresome (see Jay Kelly), but this comedy from director-writer-co-star Jonah Hill features a spot of shrewd casting in that beacon of niceness, Keanu Reeves. As Reef Hawk, celebrated actor and secret recovering heroin addict, Reeves inspires instant sympathy when he is extorted over a compromising video. This sets him off on an apology tour of the people who hate him to find the culprit, including his first manager (a great turn from Martin Scorsese), an ex-girlfriend and even his mom. Turns out he’s not a nice guy …
Out now, Apple TV
***
Caught Stealing
As well as the reference to theft, the title of Darren Aronofsky’s manic crime caper refers to a runner in baseball trying to edge ahead before a play is made. The chancer here is New York bar worker Hank (Austin Butler, believable despite the plot’s many twists), who is left holding a cat and a mysterious key by his neighbour, errant London punk Russ (a ridiculous though oddly endearing cameo by Matt Smith). But highly violent hoodlums of every hue (Russians, a Puerto Rican, two Orthodox Jews) are after what that key unlocks.
Saturday 11 April, 10.05am, 11.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Our Man in Havana
Set in Cuba “before the recent revolution”, Carol Reed’s 1959 comedy drama is a light-touch takedown of the subterfuge and self-importance of the espionage world. Adapted by Graham Greene from his own novel, it stars Alec Guinness, alternately amused and bemused as English vacuum cleaner salesman James, whose idle life with his upwardly mobile daughter is shaken when Noël Coward’s British agent recruits him. James decides to invent a network of informants and intelligence, but can he keep up his deception?
Saturday 11 April, 4.35pm, Talking Pictures TV
***
Blue Moon
A transformational performance (not least height-wise) by Ethan Hawke carries Richard Linklater’s melancholic, waspish drama, which imagines one night in the life of failing, alcoholic Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart. Attending the opening of Oklahoma! – the musical his former partner Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) has created with Oscar Hammerstein II – Hart sneaks out to the bar before the afterparty to drown his sorrows in a cocktail of regret and unrequited love.
Sunday 12 April, 6.10am, 7.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Soul
Pixar’s resident metaphysical sage, Pete Docter, has created – alongside co-director and writer Kemp Powers – another fantastical, sorrow-tinged treat. Music teacher and pianist Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) has hopes of a career as a jazz performer but dies before his time. Scrabbling to return to Earth, he finds himself in a realm for unborn souls and meets the recalcitrant 22 (Tina Fey), who doesn’t want to get a life at all. Accessible on many levels, it’s simultaneously an imaginative kids’ comic adventure about finding your way back home and a grownup lesson in making the most of what you’ve got.
Sunday 12 April, 4.15pm, Channel 4
***
Roofman
The sad but true story of an escaped convict who hid out in a Toys R Us store and began a relationship with an employee has become a comedic, but still pathos-filled, film. Channing Tatum makes for an amiable thief as Jeffrey Manchester, an ex-soldier and estranged father caught after robbing multiple McDonald’s outlets by drilling through the roof. After breaking out of prison, he sets up a hidden den in a toy shop and spies on the staff, including Kirsten Dunst’s single mother Leigh, who may offer him the chance of a second family.
Tuesday 14 April, 8.05am, 9pm, Sky Cinema Premiere/Paramount+
