Rocketman, Limbo, The Matrix - TV film picks

Rocketman, Channel 4, 9pm

Dexter Fletcher, who as a child actor starred as Baby Face in Bugsy Malone, has carved out a niche for himself as a director by turning musicals and musical icons into big screen entertainments. He shot Sunshine On Leith in Edinburgh in 2013, and followed that with 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and then this 2019 film about the life of Elton John. It was co-produced by David Furnish, Elton John’s husband, and by Rocket Pictures, the company the singer founded in 1996 and which was responsible for Gnomeo & Juliet. Unauthorised, Rocketman is not.

That said, it’s commendably unvarnished (until it turns icky at the very end anyway) and watchable throughout. Thank playwright Lee Hall for that: the writer of Billy Elliot has crafted a screenplay which is both pleasingly fantastical and typically stagey. It opens with John (Taron Egerton) striding down a corridor in full stage regalia (a devil costume complete with horns) and then barrelling into what turns out to be a rehab session, one of those where everyone sits in a circle and says things like: ‘My name’s Elton Hercules John. I’m an alcoholic and a cocaine addict and a sex addict and a bulimic.” Which is exactly how he begins.

What follows is a run-through of his life, from when he was plain old Reg Dwight growing up in the London suburb of Pinner, to his first fateful meeting with lyric writer Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) and Paisley-born John Reid (Richard Madden), who became his lover and manager. Stephen Graham has a scene-stealing turn as music publisher Dick James, founder of Northern Songs, and Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones and Steven McIntosh also star as John’s mother, grandmother and father respectively.

The song-and-dance sequences are suitably glitzy, though if anything there are too few of them. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting and The Bitch Is Back are the big set-pieces, followed by Tiny Dancer (at a glamorous party after a first triumphant gig at LA’s famous Troubadour venue) and Your Song. Most of the rest of the greatest hits are given an airing, though don’t hold your breath if you’re expecting Candle In The Wind – there’s a few bars played on the piano, but that’s it.

Monday

The Matrix, ITV4, 10pm

Keanu Reeves is computer hacker Neo, a man with an impossible mission (or so it seems). He's charged with saving the world and enlightening the human race to the fact that reality, as they know it, isn't all that it appears. It turns out everyone is living in a computer simulation, but Neo is suddenly plucked out of the high-tech illusion by a team of freedom fighters determined to reveal the truth. At the time of its release, The Matrix made a huge impact, thanks to its ground-breaking special effects and top-notch action. Although a slew of copycat films and some unnecessarily convoluted sequels have dulled the impact a little, it remains an eye-popping, mind-bending movie. A new addition to the franchise is due later this year.

Tuesday

Rebecca, Talking Pictures TV, 9pm

Alfred Hitchcock's wonderfully atmospheric version of Daphne Du Maurier's gripping tale stars Joan Fontaine as the timid new wife of widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). His country estate Manderley remains in the iron grip of the frighteningly efficient housekeeper Ms Danvers (the brilliant Judith Anderson) and the memory of the master's late wife, Rebecca. As the new Mrs de Winter struggles to win the approval of the staff, she can't help but feel that her husband is also still pining for her glamorous predecessor – and Mrs Danvers is quick to exploit her new mistress's insecurities. But was Rebecca really as perfect as everyone seems to believe?

Wednesday

Selma, BBC Two, 11.15pm

In 1960s America, political bureaucracy and prejudice deny African-Americans the chance to vote in the forthcoming election in which President Lyndon B Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) hopes to be returned to the White House. Martin Luther King Jr (David Oyelowo) entreats the President to right this democratic wrong but Johnson don't consider voting rights to be high on his list of priorities. So, King and his team head to the community of Selma, Alabama, to lead a peaceful protest march. Selma is an impassioned biopic, which honours the memory of the leader of the US Civil Rights Movement. Oxford-born actor Oyelowo delivers a breakout performance replete with Georgia accent.

Thursday

The Babadook, BBC Four, 9pm

Seven years after the death of her husband (Benjamin Winspear), care home worker Amelia (Essie Davis) is still haunted by memories of her beloved. To add to her stress, her young son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) is exhibiting signs of ADHD and interrupts his mother's sleep with claims of monsters in his room. He's particularly worried about a hideously gnarled spectre called the Babadook, a character in a sinister pop-up book that has found its way on to their shelves. She ignores his pleas and, slowly, Amelia’s mental state unravels, causing deep concern for elderly next-door neighbour Mrs Roach (Barbara West). The Babadook is a deeply unsettling and impressive debut from writer-director Jennifer Kent, drawing emotional power from the strong performances of Davis and Wiseman.

Friday

The Mountain Between Us, Film 4, 9pm

Storm clouds amass over Salt Lake City, grounding all commercial flights. Photojournalist Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is poised to marry fiancé Mark (Dermot Mulroney) the following day in New York. She charters a two-person plane from avuncular pilot Walter (Beau Bridges) and offers the second seat to Dr Ben Bass (Idris Elba). During the flight, Walter suffers a stroke and the plane careens into a snow-laden peak in the High Uintas Wilderness. Walter perishes; Ben suffers bruises and broken ribs, and Alex's leg is injured. When she regains consciousness, the strangers confront the reality that Walter didn't log a flight plan so they are alone in the sub-zero wilderness. Based on the novel by Charles Martin, director Hany Abu-Assad's drama remains airborne thanks to solid performances from Winslet and Elba

And one to stream …

Limbo, MUBI

Edinburgh-born director Ben Sharrock made a splash in 2015 with his debut feature Pikadero, shot and set in Spain’s Basque region, where he was then living. It won the prestigious Michael Powell Award at that year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival and saw Sharrock hailed as a new voice in – wait for it – Spanish cinema.

But for his second film, Sharrock has returned to Scotland for a tale about four refugees sent to an un-named island in the Western Isles as they wait to hear if their asylum applications will be granted. Central to the story is Omar (Amir El-Masry, pictured below), a Syrian musician whose brother is at home fighting (on which side we are never told) while his parents try to make ends meet on the streets of Istanbul. From a desolate phone box he calls them, fielding plaintive requests from his mother to ring his brother and from his father to send money.

Omar carries his oud everywhere with him but won’t play it because he says it doesn’t sound right. His companions are Freddie Mercury-loving Afghan Farhad (Vikash Bhai), Abedi (Kwabena Ansah) and Wasef (Ola Orebiyi), who dreams of playing for Chelsea. Abedi and Wasef are pretending to be brothers, though one is from Ghana, the other Nigerian. Borgen star Sidse Babett Knudsen plays Helga, some kind of integration and welfare officer, who gives lessons about how to dance with girls without causing offence, or how to cultivate a good telephone manner when applying for jobs. Reactions range from boredom to bemusement. Sanjeev Kholi is on great form as Vikram, a local shop keeper who makes desultory remarks over a tannoy to his mostly empty premises.

Sharrock has an eye for the comic and the absurd – fans of Bill Forsyth will love Limbo – but he’s well enough schooled in both arthouse cinema and current affairs (he has lived in Damascus) to also bring inspired image-making and thematic heft to the party. Not for nothing was Limbo nominated for a BAFTA and picked to play at last year’s Cannes Film Festival: it’s a serious film, with much to say. The new voice in Spanish cinema has found his Scottish accent.