{"id":359997,"date":"2026-03-22T22:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359997\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:51:23","slug":"one-of-the-best-movies-of-the-2020s-is-on-tv-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/359997\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the best movies of the 2020s is on TV tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"One of the best movies of the 2020s is on TV tonight\" width=\"620\" height=\"500\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full object-cover rounded-md\" style=\"color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 620 500'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAACEN3D\/AAAAL0lEQVR42mP4z8DAwMiAARgZGJhY+P\/\/PwMDAwPDfwYGBgaGhgYGhgYGAAD9Hwlr5xRngAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774219879_870_image.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The film&#8217;s Irish lead was Oscar-nominated for his performance.<\/p>\n<p>Our TV movie pick for tonight (Saturday, 21 March) is Aftersun, the 2022 indie drama starring Irish actor Paul Mescal (Hamnet, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joe.ie\/movies-tv\/normal-people-netflix-where-to-watch-in-ireland-sally-rooney-trinity-college-848524\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Normal People<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The film revolves around Sophie (Frankie Curio), an 11-year-old in the 1990s who embarks on a holiday to a Turkish resort with her estranged father, Calum (Mescal).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a world of adolescence creeps into view for young Sophie, beyond her eye, Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood,&#8221; the plot synopsis adds.<\/p>\n<p>Aftersun was writer-director Charlotte Wells&#8217; debut feature and also served as Paul Mescal&#8217;s breakthrough movie.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Article image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"618\" height=\"329\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-auto object-contain rounded-[10px]\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774219882_860_image.png\"\/><img alt=\"Logo Camera in article\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"11\" height=\"9\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"absolute w-[11px] h-[9px] bottom-[11px] right-[11px] object-conatin tablet:hidden\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774219883_111_image.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An incredibly powerful and vividly realised portrait of memory, childhood and familial bonds, the film boasts two of the greatest performances in recent memory by Curio and Mescal.<\/p>\n<p>The pair manage to convey so much to the viewer, even with little dialogue. In fact, Mescal rightfully earned a surprise Best Actor Oscar nomination for his haunting performance as a dad struggling to conceal his inner turmoil from his daughter.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;d argue that Curio probably should have scored a Best Actress nom, too.<\/p>\n<p>Boasting a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Aftersun is airing on TV tonight on BBC Two at 11.45pm. The movie is also available to stream on Mubi.<\/p>\n<p>Aftersun Trailer<\/p>\n<p>Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:<\/p>\n<p>Captain Phillips &#8211; Film4 &#8211; 9pm<\/p>\n<p>Tom Hanks gives an excellent performance in this tense real-life hijacking drama.<\/p>\n<p>Paul &#8211; Comedy Central &#8211; 9pm<\/p>\n<p>Nick Frost and Simon Pegg star in this sci-fi comedy as two comic book lovers going on a road trip across the USA who come across an alien (voiced by Seth Rogen).<\/p>\n<p>Contraband &#8211; Legend &#8211; 9pm<\/p>\n<p>Mark Wahlberg headlines this solid crime thriller, playing a former smuggler and family man coerced back into the criminal life for one last job.<\/p>\n<p>Narrow Margin &#8211; Legend Xtra &#8211; 9pm<\/p>\n<p>A \u201990s neo-noir action thriller starring Anne Archer and Gene Hackman.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel the need\u2014the need for speed!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>La chimera &#8211; BBC Four &#8211; 9.20pm<\/p>\n<p>This acclaimed drama, starring Josh O&#8217;Connor as a British archaeologist-turned-grave robber\u00a0in 1980s Italy, has also been called one of the best movies of the 2020s.<\/p>\n<p>For a Few Dollars More &#8211; Sky Arts &#8211; 9.30pm<\/p>\n<p>The Pursuit of Happyness &#8211; TG4 &#8211; 9.30pm<\/p>\n<p>Will Smith stars in this powerful drama as a newly single father determined to lift himself and his son out of poverty.<\/p>\n<p>Mission: Impossible &#8211; Rogue Nation &#8211; Channel 4 &#8211; 10pm<\/p>\n<p>The solid fifth entry in the Tom Cruise-led action spy film franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Red Heat &#8211; Legend &#8211; 11.15pm<\/p>\n<p>In this fun \u201980s action flick, a Russian cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is forced to team up with an American detective (Jim Belushi) to take down a dangerous criminal.<\/p>\n<p>Breakfast on Pluto &#8211; RT\u00c9 One &#8211; 11.30pm<\/p>\n<p>Director Neil Jordan and writer Patrick McCabe reteamed after their great &#8217;90s comedy-drama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joe.ie\/movies-tv\/the-butcher-boy-movies-on-tv-tuesday-17-march-2026-best-irish-films-866993\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Butcher Boy<\/a> for this 2005 movie starring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joe.ie\/movies-tv\/peaky-blinders-the-immortal-man-ending-sequel-netflix-best-movies-cillian-murphy-867325\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cillian Murphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most underrated movies of recent years, this\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.joe.ie\/movies-tv\/knock-at-the-cabin-movies-on-tv-tuesday-27-january-2026-best-thrillers-863224\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">M. Night Shyamalan-directed<\/a>\u00a0horror thriller follows a group of vacationers who travel to a secluded tropical beach that holds very strange powers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The film&#8217;s Irish lead was Oscar-nominated for his performance. Our TV movie pick for tonight (Saturday, 21 March)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-359997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}