Pick of the week
The Eternal Daughter<\/p>\n
There are plenty of creaks and bumps in the night in Joanna Hogg\u2019s latest drama<\/a>, set in a Welsh country hotel shrouded in mist. But despite the haunted house trappings, this is a place where the ghosts are mostly memories. Tilda Swinton, always a sensitive performer, takes dual roles: film-maker Julie and her elderly mother, Rosalind. They come to stay at the rural venue \u2013 which used to be the home of Rosalind\u2019s aunt \u2013 as a nostalgia trip and a birthday treat for Rosalind. But Julie is unsettled by unexplained noises, while her buttoned-up parent\u2019s recollections of childhood visits there encompass the bad as well as the good. A poignant tale of love, loss and remembrance. HarveyHallucinating? \u2026 James Stewart in Harvey. Photograph: PictureLux\/The Hollywood Archive\/Alamy<\/p>\n \u201cFor years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.\u201d James Stewart\u2019s amiable everyman qualities are to the fore in Henry Koster\u2019s warm-hearted 1950 comedy<\/a>. He plays Elwood P Dowd, a harmless drunk who hangs out in bars with an invisible 6ft white rabbit\/fairy spirit called Harvey. Or is his alcoholism giving him hallucinations? The townsfolk either keep their distance from him or play along, but his sister Veta (a terrifically flustered Josephine Hull) is at the end of her tether. Despite his possible mental health issues, Elwood\u2019s ethos of enjoying all life has to offer is a persuasive one. CharadeNear-perfect \u2026 Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n She may have been going on half his age, but Audrey Hepburn\u2019s partnership with Cary Grant in this 1963 crime caper<\/a> is a near-perfect Paris match. As experts in quick wit and smooth romance, they skip through Stanley Donen\u2019s thriller, set in the French capital, about a widow (Hepburn), her recently murdered husband\u2019s stolen $25k, and the bad guys who want to know where it is. Grant is the helpful stranger with secrets of his own. Donen, a veteran of the MGM musical, keeps things colourful in spite of the peril-laden plot. Polite SocietyPunchy energy \u2026 Priya Kansara in Polite Society. Photograph: Alamy<\/p>\n The creator of We Are Lady Parts<\/a>, Nida Manzoor, brings that show\u2019s vivid punk energy to her feature film debut<\/a>, a punchy comic thriller. Priya Kansara is Ria, a teenage British Muslim martial arts fanatic who dreams of becoming a stunt performer. Her older sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), is an art school dropout who somehow attracts the attention of wealthy, eligible geneticist Salim (Akshay Khanna). Aghast at Lena abandoning her artistic dreams for an arranged marriage, Ria plots sabotage. Can she find anything wrong with Salim \u2013 or is this just a bad case of sibling jealousy? KindlingHeartbreaking \u2026 Mia Mckenna-Bruce and George Somner in Kindling. Photograph: Signature Entertainment<\/p>\n Five male pals in their late teens gather for the summer, but there\u2019s more to their time together than partying and shooting the breeze. Sid (George Somner) is terminally ill, so he arranges a bonfire ritual to celebrate their friendship and mark his passing. Connor O\u2019Hara\u2019s drama<\/a> has sadness hard-wired into it, but it skilfully sidesteps the maudlin as the boys deal with imminent death in their different ways, most heartbreakingly in Sid\u2019s burgeoning connection with Mia McKenna-Bruce\u2019s in-the-dark Lily. The Toxic AvengerSuperpowered crusader \u2026 Peter Dinklage in The Toxic Avenger. Photograph: Ent-movie\/Alamy<\/p>\n In 1984, Troma Entertainment, low-budget purveyor of comic gore to the masses, made an eco horror that has had a surprisingly long afterlife \u2013 three sequels, a cartoon series, comic books, even a musical. Now comes Macon Blair\u2019s ineffably silly remake<\/a>. Peter Dinklage stars as mild-mannered chemical factory janitor Winston Gooze, who turns into a green-hued, superpowered crusader against his company\u2019s dubious health and safety policies after being thrown into a pool of unsavoury liquid. A film with a lot of guts \u2026 and brains and blood. RevengeAngel of death \u2026 Matilda Lutz in Revenge. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Friday 23 January, 11pm, BBC Two<\/p>\n
Sunday 18 January, 11am, Film4<\/p>\n
Sunday 18 January, 1.10pm, Talking Pictures TV<\/p>\n
Wednesday 21 January, 9pm, Film4<\/p>\n
Thursday 22 January, 11.30pm, BBC Three<\/p>\n
Thursday 22 January, 2am, Sky Cinema Premiere<\/p>\n