Talkie Talk #30 - Adam Bowen's rundown of the new movies and the TV highlights

IN CINEMAS THIS WEEK

Jirga (Benjamin Gilmour, Australia)

Jirga – Aussie soldier returns to Afghanistan to seek redemption from the Afghani family of a civilian he killed.

Watch the trailer here

McKellen: Playing the Part – doco about Sir Ian McKellen.

Custody – French drama about a painful, post-marriage custody battle.

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot – wheelchair-bound Joaquin Phoenix sobers up and discovers the healing power of art.

Night School – comedy in which high school troublemakers are forced to attend night school.

Alpha – Prehistoric boy meets wolf.

Zama (Lucretia Martel, Argentina)

Zama –drama set in the 17^thcentury about a colonial administrator, “stuck” in Argentina, and yearning for his native Spain.

Watch the trailer here

Pataakha– feuding sisters miss each other when they’re separated by marriage.

ON THE TELLY

David Farrar, Kathleen Byron The Small Back Room

Tuesday 12.10pm 9Gem: Nigel Balchin’s The Small Back Room (1949) – during WW2 an alcoholic bomb disposal expert (David Farrar) faces the external challenge of ingeniously booby-trapped bombs. Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Also starring Kathleen Byron.

Watch a key scene from the film here

Thursday 10am Fox Classics: Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not (1944) – in WW2 Martinique, Humphrey Bogart helps a French resistance fighter. Also starring Lauren Bacall and Walter Brennan.

Saturday 4.15pm 9Gem: We of the Never Never (1982) – fascinating, beautiful, underrated Australian classic about Mrs Aeneas Gunn (the excellent Angela Punch-McGregor), a 19^thcentury white woman making her mark in the outback.

Watch a preview here

Sunday 1.50pm 9Gem: The Cruel Sea (1953) - WW2 naval drama about the crew of a convoy escort ship. The emphasis on realism and lack of melodrama makes it all the more gripping and moving. Starring Jack Hawkins.