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| Tish will open DocFest Photo: Ella Murtha |
Tish, 10.30pm, BBC4, Monday, March 10
This informative and moving documentary celebrates the talent of photographer Tish Murthy - whose extraordinary work at capturing the lives of the working class people she grew up with sadly went unsung in her lifetime. Her daughter Ella adds an engaging personal dynamic to this story as director Paul Sng expertly guides us, using her photos, from her life growing up in poverty in Elswick on the banks of the River Tyne, to the love affair with her camera that would last her a lifetime. Beyond showcasing some of her remarkable work, this film explores how Murthy actively took on her critics, while offering a stinging indictment of the Thatcher years' impact on the arts and considering the levers of social exclusion. Both a testimony to the photographer's work and a reminder that the inequalities she faced haven't been consigned to the history books.
Catch Me If You Can, 9pm, Great Movies, Tuesday, March 11
The true story of serial fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr is brought to the screen with panache and plenty of Sixties styling by Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio turns up the charm to stun as Abagnale, making it easier to believe he managed to get away with as much as he did, including impersonating a doctor and an airline pilot. Tom Hanks has the less showy role here, as the FBI agent who will stop at nothing until he gets his man, and brings nice comic touches to the part.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, 2.50pm, Legend, Wednesday, March 12
Jennie Kermode writes: One of few 20th Century stories to achieve truly mythic status, embedding itself in the popular consciousness, Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers has spawned a host of adaptations, including Philip Kaufman's popular 1978 take with Donald Sutherland, 2007 version The Invasion, with Nicole Kidman, high school-set reworking The Faculty, teen drama Assimilate and last year's The Changed with Clare Foley - but this film, made just one year after the release of the book, remains the definitive take. It's one of the masterpieces of US Cold War paranoia cinema, with an unabashed comparison to the perceived Communist threat in its story of mysterious pods from which clones of people emerge, gradually replacing the real thing. As Kevin McCarthy's small town doctor determines, the only sure way to avoid being copied is to resist going to sleep - but the longer he does so, the harder he finds it to think straight, and as it's impossible for him to know who he can trust, escape seems ever more unlikely. Gorgeously shot, it has a sequence near the end which is simply unforgettable.
Memento, 11pm, Film4, Thursday, March 13
Back before Christopher Nolan became a blockbusting household name with the likes of Batman Begins and Inception, he made this twisty psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce (also much less well known globally at the time) as an insurance agent with short-term memory loss, who is trying to investigate the murder of his wife. Nolan (who co-wrote this with his brother Jonathan) has always been a fan of playing around with time and he does so with audacity here as the story unfolds both in chronological order - marked by the use of black-and-white stock - while also being shown in reverse, in colour, so that its secrets are gradually revealed.
The Masque Of The Red Death, 1.30am, Film4, Saturday, March 15
Jennie Kermode writes: Roger Corman, Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe – was there ever a trio of artists so well suited to each other? Yes, it’s only a loose adaptation of the latter’s work, but this spectacular visual feast, shot by Nicolas Roeg and loaded with symbolic import, certainly captures the spirit. It’s also highly relevant today, focusing as it does on a cruel prince who barricades himself inside his castle with a collection of sycophantic courtiers to escape a plague which is killing the peasants over whom he has dominion. Holding gaudy revelries and toying with a peasant girl whom he hopes to corrupt, he turns his back on what he takes to be an uncaring God and seeks to ensure his safety and power by devoting himself to Satan. What he doesn’t realise is that Death knows no master. Enlivened by David Lee’s haunting score and spiced with wit, the film unfolds like a Medieval epic, full of mythic weight. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Mr Popper's Penguins, 11am, Film4, Sunday, March 16
There may be a predictable sweep to this adaptation of the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater but, as always, Jim Carrey - who had already had a go at being a workaholic dad in Liar Liar - elevates the material by force of will and contortion of face. Mr Popper (Carrey) ends up inheriting a pack of penguins who proceed to wreak havoc - and quite a few impressive set action pieces - in his life. Another plus for the script is Angela Lansbury as the owner of a tavern that Popper's real estate bosse want to get their hands on, bringing with her the sort of life lessons she regularly dished out in cinema since Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The French Connection, 10pm, BBC2, Sunday, March 16
As the film world mourns the loss of Gene Hackman, here's a chance to see him at the top of his game in William Friedkin's gritty 1971 thriller. Hackman stars as NYPD detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle alongside the equally reliable Roy Scheider as his partner Russo. They take on a narcotics ring while breaking every rule in the book. There's a docu-realism to the camerawork meaning you can almost taste the tang of the New York City streets, and the subway train chase scene has also lost little of its impact down the years, even if Doyle's attitude is even more problematic by today's standards than it was back then.
Our short selection is taking a break but will return next week.
