Film of the week

Saturday

Darkest Hour, BBC One, 7.35pm

Having dipped into the events surrounding the Battle of Dunkirk in his 2007 film Atonement, British director Joe Wright returns for a more forensic look at the period in this acclaimed 2017 film which centres on the political events which brought Winston Churchill to power in May 1940, just days before the legendary evacuation.

Gary Oldman plays Churchill. When we first meet him he’s sitting in bed wearing a pink dressing gown, having breakfast – eggs, bacon, whisky: the Full Winston – and scaring the life out of his new secretary, Elizabeth Layton (the ubiquitous Lily James). Downstairs somewhere is his long-suffering wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas, who else?) and waiting to shuffle off into the political wilderness is Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup), still Prime Minister but fast losing the confidence of the house. Over brandies in a smoke-filled room, the dinner jacket-clad Tories discuss who should take over. Stephen Dillane’s Viscount Halifax turns down the job so, reluctantly, the call goes out to Churchill. Before you can say ‘That’s not how you do a V-sign’ – and, bless her, Elizabeth Layton does put him right on that score – the cigar-toting boozer is off to the Palace to meet King George VI (the always watchable Ben Mendelsohn).

If you loved The King’s Speech, Darkest Hour is worth watching for those Mendelsohn/Oldman scenes alone as the men first spar and then bond over long lunches and confessional late-night chats. Much of the rest of the action takes place either in the Commons chamber or in the warren of gloomy rooms and dark passageways beneath Downing Street where Churchill ate, slept, drank and commanded. It gives the film a claustrophobic feel and lets Wright’s camera stay tight on Oldman, who has the wartime leader’s speech and mannerisms down to a tee. Aiding the believability is an exquisite make-up job that took hours to apply.

It’s jingoistic hokum from start to finish, and it can’t be a coincidence that it’s airing the day before the Euro 2020 final. There’s a particularly egregious scene on an underground train which will either cause fat tears to roll down your cheeks or have you reaching for the sick bucket. But it’s jingoistic hokum of the high quality sort which wins awards – for his performance Oldman took home the Best Actor award at the 2018 Oscars to add to his Golden Globe and BAFTA wins, and the film was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards.

Monday

Naked, Film 4, 11.20pm

Johnny (David Thewlis), an intelligent Mancunian drifter, steals a car and travels to London where he takes refuge at the home of old girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharp). He seduces her flatmate Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge), then takes to the streets. During his odyssey, he meets a couple of Scots drifters (Ewen Bremner and Susan Vidler in pre-Trainspotting appearances), is let into a business block by Brian (Peter Wight), a lonely security guard lusting after an ageing woman who lives across the street, and meets a shy cafe worker housesitting for some gay friends. One of the best (and bleakest) films of director Mike Leigh’s career features a multi-award-winning performance from Thewlis, and bristles with witty, edgy dialogue. The one weak link is Gregg Cruttwell, as one-dimensional yuppie, Jeremy. Look out for appearances by Gina McKee and Claire Skinner too.

Tuesday

Beast, Film 4, 11.25pm

Shot partly on location in Jersey, Beast is a brooding adult fairy tale of female empowerment and sexual awakening. Haunted by a shocking incident in her past, flame-haired shrinking violet Moll (Jessie Buckley) submits to a joyless life under the thumb of her domineering mother, Hilary (Geraldine James). But then Moll encounters poacher and handyman Pascal (Johnny Flynn), whose wilful disregard for etiquette is a thrilling antidote to the starchy formality practised by her mother. The misfits fall head over heels in lust - and then Pascal becomes a suspect in the hunt for the murderer of young women on the island. Writer-director Michael Pearce's impressive debut jangles nerves like a persistent itch you can't quite reach, while Buckley and Flynn are an electrifying pairing.

Wednesday

The Hate U Give, Film 4, 9pm

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) lives with her ex-con father Maverick (Russell Hornsby), who turned his back on local drug dealer King (Anthony Mackie) to raise a family with his wife Lisa (Regina Hall). To give the kids a brighter future, Lisa sends them to the predominantly white Williamson Prep. Starr keeps the two sides of her existence separate until the fateful night she witnesses a white police officer shoot her unarmed childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) dead. Adapted from Angie Thomas's young adult novel, The Hate U Give is an emotionally charged drama, which rages against racial division and police violence in 21st-century America. Stenberg delivers a gut-wrenching lead performance as a teenager who zigzags uncomfortably between two worlds.

Thursday

The Importance Of Being Earnest, BBC Four, 8pm/Wilde, BBC Four, 10.55pm

Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) and Algernon Moncrieff (Rupert Everett) are best friends with much in common. Both men are in the amorous pursuit of young ladies – Algernon's cousin Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor) and Jack's lustrous young ward Cecily Cardew (Reese Witherspoon) respectively – and both are using the same fake name. A comedy of errors ensues, ensnaring the two best friends in their own web of lies. This adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s most entertaining play can’t quite match the 1952 version, but it's still a lot of fun and it does have Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson among the top-notch cast. That’s followed by a Wilde biopic starring Stephen Fry as the playwright. Disaster strikes when he falls for the spoilt, handsome Lord Alfred Douglas (Jude Law), who doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word discreet. However, Wilde contributes to his own downfall when Douglas’s father begins making public accusations – and the writer decides to take him to court. For a film about a celebrated wit and dandy, the drama is rather lacking in flair, but it does a good job of telling Wilde’s fascinating story. It also benefits from having a perfectly cast (and never better) Stephen Fry in the lead role, while Law makes it easy to see why Wilde might have fallen for the petulant Douglas.

Friday

A Simple Favour, BBC One, 10.35pm

Single mother and food blogger Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) strikes up a friendship with impossibly glamorous PR director Emily Nelson (a charismatic Blake Lively). When Emily calls one afternoon and asks Stephanie to pick up her son from school while she deals with an emergency, Stephanie gladly obliges. The publicist never returns to collect her child and Stephanie turns amateur sleuth to unravel the mystery. A Simple Favour is a sinfully entertaining comedy thriller, which blends a fruity cocktail of Hitchcockian whodunnit and gnarly black comedy, garnished with generous twists of spite and betrayal. Think Gone Girl with killer one-liners and perfectly shaken martinis and you'll be close to the lip-smacking delights of this depiction of intrigue in small-town suburbia.

And one to stream …

Fear Street Part One: 1994, Netflix

Based on the novel series of the same name by American horror writer RL Stine, this knowing and homage-laden slasher flick is the first in a trilogy of films to be released a week apart. Each one is set in the fictional town of Shadyside and each is set in a decade in which, you can be absolutely certain, the costume and art direction teams have had an absolute field day. Accordingly we kick off in 1994 amid a whirl of PJ Harvey and Iron Maiden t-shirts and against a rolling soundtrack which features Garbage, Radiohead, Portishead and more. This is the era of dial-up internet and chewing gum grey PCs. Someone even mentions AOL at one point.

So far, so Stranger Things. But Fear Street is far bloodier and swearier and owes more to Stephen King’s Derry-set horror novels and found footage chiller The Blair Witch Project than it does the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix smash. We open in a deserted mall – natch – and witness the brutal slaying of a bookshop worker by a knife-wielding assailant wearing a black cape and a skeleton mask. As the credits roll we learn that Shadyside is no stranger to such murders. Over the years there have been many and the town has a reputation as the murder capital of the US, in stark contrast to neighbouring Sunnyvale, which is prosperous and untroubled by masked serial killers.

Into this set-up come Shadysiders Deena Johnson (Kiana Madeira) and her geeky brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Deena’s drug-dealing pals Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger), and her paramour, Sam, who has moved to Sunnyvale in search of a better life. Sam will feature heavily in what follows as the 17th century witch who is said to have cursed Shadyside returns in various forms to wreak havoc in the town. So Deena, Sam and Co steal an ambulance and fight back. Part two dropped yesterday and is set in 1978. It deals with the so-called Camp Nightwing massacre which is referenced in part one.

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