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| Gloria |
The camera barely leaves star Paulina Garcia's Gloria as she puts in a magnetic performance at the heart of Sebastián Lelio's drama. With divorce a decade behind her, at 58, she's looking for a fresh start in romance and wonders if the more recently single Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez) might provide it. Though this might sound like a familiar tale, the Chilean writer/director avoids sentimentality and cliche to serve up a slice of feminist drama that acknowledges the challenges faced by its protagonist and celebrates her strengths, without resorting to cheap gimmicks or easy resolutions.
Hustlers, Film4, 11.30pm, Thursday, September 19
Although she did receive a Golden Globe nomination, Jennifer Lopez should easily have snagged an Oscar nod for her role in Lorene Scafaria's well-written adaptation of a New Yorker story charting a complex scam orchestrated by a group of strippers. Lopez plays the brassy Ramona, who becomes the brains behind a criminal outfit who plot to fleece their unsuspecting clientele. The focus is on how new girl on the scene Destiny (Constance Wu) becomes swept up in the scam, with Scafaria cleverly moving back and forth in time so that we see the consequences and fallout as well as the original con - for both the perpetrators and, importantly, the victims. Glossy and gripping but never voyeuristic, Scafaria's film performs a clever dance.
2 Guns, 9pm, Friday, September 20
A solid slice of action for a Friday night in, Baltasar Kormákur gives the mismatched buddy framework a decent workout. Mark Wahlberg's low level criminal is paired with Denzel Washington's smarter and tremendously named Bobby Beans as the pair of them plan a heist against a drug cartel. What could go wrong? Pretty much everything as it turns out, which allows the Icelandic director to lay on a smorgasbord of action set-pieces. A bit plot heavy but the central pairing keeps things interesting.
The Outfit, BBC1, 10.40pm, BBC1, Friday, September 20
It's a good week for catching excellent performances on the telly and Mark Rylance's turn in Graham Moore's period thriller is no exception. Its Fifties Chicago and Rylance's ex-Savile Row tailor - or, rather, "cutter" - Leonard is in with the mob. Or at least he makes them suit and lets them use his shop as a sort of hang out. Rumours of a snitch bring trouble for him and his assistant (Zoey Deutch). There might be a touch of theatricality about the chamber location but the script is sharp as good scissors and the performances, including from Simon Russell Beale as mob boss Roy Boyle, are neatly cut.
Strange Days, 2.10am, Talking Pictures TV, Saturday, September 21
Jennie Kermode writes: Overlooked in its time - before the public at large fully understood why the work of Kathryn Bigelow deserved attention - Strange Days may be set at the end of the last century but it stands out today for its prescience and its incisive exploration of issues which we have only just begun to deal with. It stars Ralph Fiennes as former cop Lenny, a dealer in black market recordings of sensory experiences, who has a talent for getting on the wrong side of everyone and just can't get over his ex-girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis). Since their break-up, she has become a singing star, with a wealthy and influential promoter boyfriend, and she's scheduled to perform at a big street party for the turn of the millennium, but with tensions running high in the city after the killing of a talented young rapper, there's a real risk of violence. With real visual flair, humour and some very dark themes, Bigelow takes us into the heart of a mystery which interweaves the personal and the political. There's a superb turn from Angela Bassett as the long suffering friend whom Lenny turns to for everything from mopping up his tears to serving as his bodyguard, but whose reason for sticking around he may not recognise until it's too late.
Swallow, 1.05am, Film4, Sunday
Jennie Kermode writes: A lonely trophy wife isolated in an elegant home, Hunter (Haley Bennett) seeks comfort where she can find it and develops a curious addiction to swallowing small, unlikely objects. It's a habit which could have serious consequences for her health, but it marks a growing awareness that she's in an unhealthy situation to begin with, as her husband and his family seek to exert more and more control over every aspects of her existence. Director Carlo Mirabella-Davis was inspired by his grandmother's experiences to create a film which explores the relationship between traditional expectations of women and mental illness. It takes a sharp left turn halfway through, and there's an inspired cameo from Denis O'Hare which reshapes Hunter's understanding of the world once again. Exquisite photography by Katelin Arizmedi really draws us into Hunter's world, making the objects of her desire look irresistible, and Bennett's performance is a triumph.
Birds Of Passage, 1.20am, Film 4, Monday
Admittedly it's a pretty hard sell to ask you to stay awake an additional two hours for this Colombian film, but this is what recorders were made for. The viewing time is put to good use by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra as they craft a gripping, decades-spanning crime clan epic packed with Shakespearean themes but also encompassing topics that have never been more relevant, including capitalism and colonialism. The film charts one indigenous family's baby steps into the drugs trade before watching the decline of the clan as honour falls victim to profit. Beautifully shot (by Gallego) this marries its drug war themes to an ethnographic lament in beguiling fashion.
Our short selection this week is Rita, directed by Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, who went on to write and direct Sicilian Ghost Story.
