The Great Escaper to Poolman: the seven best films to watch on TV this week
Pick of the week
The Great Escaper
This was Glenda Jackson’s swansong – and probably will be her co-star Michael Caine’s too – so Oliver Parker’s fact-based drama carries a ton of emotion, even without its D-day commemoration plot. They play Rene and Bernie, a married couple living in a retirement home in Hove. When navy veteran Bernie misses the deadline to attend the 70th-anniversary bash in Normandy, he decides to pop on a ferry and go anyway. What begins as an “old bloke on one final adventure” comedy develops into a tale of love, ageing and death, as Bernie relives the trauma of conflict and Rene recalls their courtship. A deeply moving film, with the two leads playing their life-affirming roles to the hilt.
Friday 14 June, 7am, 12.45pm, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Poolman
In this jolly, silly California noir pastiche, civic-minded Los Angeles pool cleaner and Erin Brockovich stan Darren (Chris Pine) finds himself investigating a conspiracy involving a councillor and property developers. But his city hall contact is the very femme fatale-ish June Del Rey (DeWanda Wise) – so does that make him a useful idiot in someone’s plot? Pine’s debut as director and co-writer is a studied mashup of The Big Lebowski and Chinatown, with Lynchian top notes and a star-laden supporting cast of Annette Bening, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Danny DeVito.
Out now, Prime Video
***
The Royal Hotel
It doesn’t quite have the levels of anarchic terror of its most obvious forebear, Australian new wave classic Wake in Fright, but Kitty Green’s outback drama conjures up a similar atmosphere of incipient male violence. Julia Garner (who starred in Green’s previous film The Assistant) and Jessica Henwick play American backpackers seeking quick cash by working at the titular pub in a rural mining town. Amid casual sexism, bar brawls and murky new friendships, the duo struggle to negotiate a macho world that threatens to devour them.
Saturday 8 June, 10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Blue Story
Hip-hop storyteller Rapman’s 2019 debut feature is adapted from his YouTube tales of young Black men’s lives in London, and he also features here as a kind of Greek chorus relating the tragic events. With a grim authenticity reminiscent of Top Boy, the drama follows Timmy (Stephen Odubola), who lives in Deptford, as he is sent to school in Peckham, where he becomes best friends with Marco (Micheal Ward). With Marco’s elder brother a local gang leader, the duo’s vain attempts to avoid postcode beefs and turf wars puts a strain on their relationship.
Sunday 9 June, 10pm, BBC Three
***
The Outsiders
A proto-Brat Pack outing, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 version of the SE Hinton novel harks back to the era of Brando and Dean in its story of feckless, reckless working-class boys in 60s Tulsa. C Thomas Howell plays Ponyboy, the 14-year-old youngster in a parentless family run by brother Darrel (Patrick Swayze). Both are in the “Greasers” gang, and their rivalry with the wealthier “Socs” across town escalates in deadly fashion. Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise add to the cast of future Hollywood stars.
Sunday 9 June, 1.25am, Film4
***
Videodrome
“Long live the new flesh!” David Cronenberg’s 1983 thriller is probably the finest example of his “body horror” style of film-making, but it also fed into contemporary fears about the unregulated spread and malign influence of visual media. James Woods, always a terrific purveyor of sweaty paranoia, plays Max Renn, a Toronto TV station owner who is told about a mysterious channel that broadcasts snuff films. As he probes deeper, his sense of reality starts to melt. Hallucinatory but surprisingly political, it’s still a shocking experience.
Monday 10 June, 12.10am, Sky Cinema Greats
***
Millions Like Us
This skilful 1943 propaganda drama from Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder is less Keep Calm and Carry On, more Grumble and Get On With It. When war comes, ordinary British folk such as the Crowsons buckle down – Dad joins the Home Guard, daughter Phyllis signs up for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, and young Celia (Patricia Roc) goes off to work in an aircraft factory. It’s an affecting bundle of love, class-mingling and inevitable sacrifice – and a fascinating snapshot of how 1940s Britain liked to see itself.
Wednesday 12 June, 1.35am, Talking Pictures TV
