Pick of the week
Heartstopper Forever
Submerge yourself, for the last time, in the warm bath of inclusivity that is Alice Oseman’s world-conquering LGBTQ+ romantic teen drama. Despite returning as a feature film, it’s intimate, suburban business as usual for Joe Locke’s Charlie, Kit Connor’s Nick and their tight-knit circle of queer friends. The principal conflict this time revolves round Nick’s looming departure for university and the pair’s worries about how – and if – a long-distance relationship could work. It’s also about navigating everyday coupledom, with Anna Maxwell Martin (replacing Olivia Colman) as Nick’s single mum and Derek Jacobi as an older gay man giving the boys pause for thought.
Friday 17 July, Netflix
Redux Redux
In something of a family concern, brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus direct their sister Michaela in a satisfying multiverse thriller that, like all good sci-fi, is really about something else. Grief is the motor that drives Irene (Michaela, channelling the brutal self-sufficiency of Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2) to visit alternative Earths and repeatedly kill the man who murdered her teenage daughter. That is until she saves the serial killer’s next victim, care home runaway Mia (Stella Marcus), and finds her priorities changing.
Saturday 11 July, 6.15am, 8.25pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
The Lady Eve
There can’t be many more seductive movie criminals than Barbara Stanwyck’s con artist Jean in Preston Sturges’s utterly delightful screwball comedy. Sharp, witty and flirtatious, she wraps Charles (Henry Fonda), the naive, snake-obsessed heir to a brewery empire, round her finger while on a cruise – then makes the mistake of falling in love with him. How is she to get the man she wants while keeping her grifting past hidden? Maybe another scam will work! It’s a joy to spend time in the company of the roguish Jean in a film of zippy dialogue and zany slapstick.
Saturday 11 July, 11am, Film4
Anemone
What could draw Daniel Day-Lewis out of retirement? His son Ronan directing the script they co-wrote may have helped, but it’s surely the chance to get his teeth into this dark drama’s meaty, traumatic monologues that did the trick. Sean Bean holds his own against the triple Oscar winner as Jem, who heads into remote woods to find his ex-soldier brother Ray (Day-Lewis), a brooding, off-the-grid figure who abandoned his partner (Samantha Morton) and unborn son 20 years ago. A stormy tale of violence, fear and generational pain.
Sunday 12 July, 7.40am, 8.25pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Misericordia
Alain Guiraudie’s latest film starts out as a slice of French rural social realism, but gets more twisted as it goes along. Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) attends the funeral of a village baker he worked for in his youth. He is put up for the night by the widow, Martine (Catherine Frot), then decides to hang around – to the fury of her son, Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand). An atmosphere of danger and sexual tension lingers around Jérémie, which ultimately drags in the mother, the son and even the local priest.
Tuesday 14 July, 10.55pm, Film4
Kim Novak’s Vertigo
In 1958, Kim Novak starred in one of the greatest films of all time, Vertigo, but less than a decade later she had essentially retired from acting. To illuminate a life of great highs and lows, Alexandre O Philippe’s documentary features an unusually candid interview with the then 92-year-old. She opens up about her colourful upbringing, being groomed for stardom, her fight for control of her career in a misogynistic industry – and that Hitchcock picture. Novak proves to be a bullish, witty subject, with her body of work deserving of a reappraisal; to start that process, Vertigo follows straight after.
Thursday 16 July, 9pm, BBC Four
Anaconda
When you have secured the likes of Jack Black and Paul Rudd for your film, there isn’t much else you need to do to make it a fun watch. Writer-director Tom Gormican does add some meta trimmings to his comedy-focused reboot. Old friends, bit-part actor Griff (Rudd) and wedding video director Doug (Black), and two mates (the rather underused Thandiwe Newton, plus Steve Zahn), enthusiastically head off to the Amazon to make a no-budget remake of Anaconda. Naturally, things immediately go pear- (or snake-) shaped.
Friday 17 July, 9.15am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
