Pick of the week
The Boy and the Heron
We’re currently living through a golden age of animation, but sometimes we might need to be reminded of the power of the old master. Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron – the most expensive Japanese film ever made, hand-drawn by a team of 60 animators over seven years – is a masterpiece. Darker than a lot of Studio Ghibli’s output, it is a mind-bending exploration of a young boy’s grief, complete with wizards, giant fish, man-eating parrots and, yes, a talking heron (voiced in the English dub by Robert Pattinson). It might be a tall order for a family movie night, but this is the sort of film in which you can luxuriate.
Monday 7 October, Netflix
Knox Goes Away
During a talkshow appearance to promote the Beetlejuice sequel, Michael Keaton mentioned the film he directed last year. The host reeled off the film’s premise – “ageing hitman with dementia” – and Keaton sat stricken as the audience reacted with titters. In truth this film is far from a comedy. Keaton plays a contract killer with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, on a race against time to redeem himself before his mind vanishes entirely. It’s a hardboiled thriller, and Keaton gives one of his best ever performances.
Wednesday 9 October, Prime Video
Prey
Just when you thought the Predator franchise had run out of steam, hobbled by bad sequels and the witless “Alien v … ” movies, here comes Dan Trachtenberg to fix everything. Prey is a Predator movie with an ingenious twist: the interterrestrial hunter visits America before it was colonised, and it is down to a group of Native Americans to fend it off. Not only is it beautifully made and gripping, but it opens up a new vein of historical Predator movies. Could the next one be set during the Napoleonic wars? Or the Black Death? Dinosaur v Predator, anyone?
Saturday 5 October, 9pm, Channel 4
Restore Point
Essentially “what if Blade Runner, but central Europe?”, Restore Point is a tremendous Czech sci-fi from first-time director Robert Hloz. In the near future, citizens are granted the right to be brought back to life in the event of violent unnatural death, provided they have been diligent about backing up the data from their brain. But questions remain, primarily why the man who developed the technology refuses to back up his own mental data. Restore Point is visually stunning and, in the age of big tech, extremely relevant.
Sunday 6 October, 8.05am, 10.25pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
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Little Richard: I Am Everything
Few figures of the 20th century were quite as fascinating as Little Richard. As someone who birthed rock’n’roll, he was basically responsible for all of popular culture as we know it. Black, gay and – in his own words – “born deformed”, Little Richard was a whirl of sexual energy, and yet his essence was quickly co-opted by the industry, who sold the public a safer, whiter version of his music. Lisa Cortés’s documentary feels like the definitive telling of Richard’s story and (due to his repeated decisions to renounce his queerness) the complicated legacy he leaves behind.
Tuesday 8 October, 1.25am, Channel 4
The Last of the Sea Women
Come March, don’t be surprised to see The Last of the Sea Women winning an Oscar. This beautiful documentary, directed by Sue Kim, is staggeringly close to perfect. The haenyeo are a group of female divers who have harvested food by hand from the sea bed off the South Korea island of Jeju for centuries, without oxygen. Now their way of life is under threat – from the climate crisis, industrialised fishing and a younger generation uninterested in maintaining tradition. This film is part character study of a band of older women and part campaign to preserve their way of life. Just wonderful.
Friday 11 October, Apple TV+
The Beast Within
The biggest selling point of this British werewolf film is that Kit Harington plays a man who sometimes disappears into the night, only to return naked and bloodied. But this is no mere monster flick. It is far less interested in showing a big dog tear across the countryside, and more in showing the effect these transformations have on Harington’s family – not least his young daughter. It probably isn’t a spoiler to point out that werewolves here are an allegory for something much darker and more insidious.
Friday 11 October, Paramount+