Pick of the week
Nosferatu
Robert Eggers, already one of the most distinctive voices in American cinema, risked looking a tad arrogant when he announced that he was remaking FW Murnau’s 1922 classic. But the risk paid off. Eggers has managed to capture both the pervading sense of dread and stylish production design of the original, while deepening the mythology to make it more palatable for modern viewers. It’s a true horror, with every frame filled with foreboding. And now, after playing both Pennywise the clown in It and Count Orlock, surely Bill Skarsgård qualifies as the world’s scariest actor. But it is Lily-Rose Depp’s tortured, possessed performance as Orlock’s victim Ellen that really impresses.
Friday 12 September, 11am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Sound of Metal
Already one of our finest actors, Sound of Metal is the film that made people sit up and notice Riz Ahmed. Here, he plays a drummer who learns that he has degenerative hearing loss, and suffers through every stage of grief as a result. It is well observed, incredibly well directed – plus it won Oscars for both editing and sound – and yet it is Ahmed who carries the entire thing. His performance is extraordinary, full of heart and pain and loss. No spoilers but the final scene, in which he finds a way to come to terms with his condition, is one of the all-timers.
Saturday 6 September, 1.15am, BBC Two
***
One of Them Days
Lawrence Lamont’s buddy comedy was a refreshing blast of cool air when it hit cinemas earlier this year, but you suspect that it is on television where it will find a wider audience. It essentially shares a premise – find a lot of money really fast, or else – with Vanessa Kirby’s recent Night Always Comes. But while that film went for heavy-handed drama, this one finds laughs at every turn. Keke Palmer and SZA play the pair who must find $1,500 in a matter of hours, and their crackling chemistry propels the film at lightning speed.
Sunday 7 September, 10.30am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
American Refugee
While the title of this film (and the theme, about a Black family struggling through a societal collapse) hint at all manner of serious issues, the truth is that American Refugee is at heart a silly horror movie. Erika Alexander and Derek Luke play a couple whose mistimed relocation to the sticks mean that they’re forced to share a bunker with an oddball survivalist. Things progress in almost all the ways you’d expect them to, but the tension remains palpably high throughout and there’s an awful lot of fun to be had watching everything go to hell.
Monday 8 September, 2.45am, Channel 4
***
The Old Man & the Gun
David Lowery is one of the most fascinating directors working today, flitting between Disney fare such as Pete’s Dragon and the hardcore arthouse of A Ghost Story. But with 2018’s The Old Man & the Gun, he hit the exact midpoint between the two. Robert Redford plays career criminal Forrest Tucker, whose string of heists enchants everyone around him, including the officers pursuing him. To date, The Old Man & the Gun represents Redford’s last substantial film role. If it remains this way, then it’s the perfect way for him to go out; breezy, charming and utterly charismatic.
Tuesday 9 September, 2.15am, Channel 4
***
Memory
Before he made his recent pivot to comedy, it was getting harder and harder to distinguish between Liam Neeson’s films. He had a gun in many of them, and they were quite likely to have a vague one-word title. As such, the good ones need to be pulled out and cherished. Memory is one of the good ones. Neeson plays a hitman with early dementia out on one last job, only to find that his target is a child – which is against his hitman code. He refuses, forcing him on the run. The premise allows Neeson to flex his dramatic chops more than usual, plus he’s well supported by Guy Pearce and Monica Bellucci.
Wednesday 10 September, 9pm, Film4
***
The Wrong Paris
A romcom with a premise that, depending how you view these things, is either the most genius or stupid ever put to film: Miranda Cosgrove plays a woman who enters a dating show in the belief that it will be filmed in Paris. It is but, get this, it’s the one in Texas not the one in France. Can she learn to fall in love with a tanned rural beefcake rather than the existential Frenchman of her dreams? Pierson Fode plays the cowboy, so it’s best to assume yes. One to watch twice: first for the film and second to imagine the outraged cartwheels Wim Wenders must be doing.
Friday 12 September, Netflix
