16 - 22 MARCH 2024

Well, the Oscars have been and gone with Oppenheimer winning the serious awards (Best Film, Actor, and Director). There was a modest surprise with Emma Stone winning Best Actress rather than Lily Gladstone. Some of the hosting and presentations were awful, but there were at least two moments of class involving Christopher Nolan and the delightful Da’vine Joy Randolph who won Best Supporting Actress. This brings me nicely to my main complaint of recent years: name-above-the-title major players such as Robert De Niro and Ryan Gosling being nominated for ‘supporting’ roles. Sorry, but these categories should be for character actors who work at the coalface year on year and who do not always receive the praise, and recognition, they deserve.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1967) Sunday 17 March 9.00-10.50pm Legend (Channel 41)             
Richard Burton was a high-profile actor in the 1960s but this film, which he also co-directed, wasn’t successful, and doesn’t turn up all that often. It’s an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s play; it isn’t very good but, as a curio, might interest members. Elizabeth Taylor is also in the cast.
NAME ME LAWAND (2022) Tuesday 19 March 12.05-1.45am Channel 4    P             
Despite its strong critical reviews, Lawand has a late (early?) slot due to its subject matter. A documentary that follows a six-year-old Kurdish refugee who is deaf, it is both insightful and moving. Well, at least coming to a terrestrial channel in addition to the BFI Player subscription platform, makes it available to a wider audience (or to insomniacs).
WAY OF A GAUCHO (1952) Wednesday 20 March 3.05-4.55pm Talking Pictures (Ch 82)             
Cult director par excellence Jacques (Night of the Demon) Tourneur made this rather good Argentinean western. It has style and some affecting moments – particularly the one when Rory Calhoun stands on his horse to see better the lay of the land. Excluding Randolph Scott, Calhoun made the best co-feature westerns between 1953 and 1959 by which time he was investing in his TV series The Texan (which was also one of the better half-hour western shows).
HOTEL DU LAC (1986) Wednesday 20 March 10.00-11.15pm BBC 4             
BBC 4’s weekly offering from the archives won two Baftas, an award going also to Anna Massey in the lead role – as a novelist ‘exiled’ to a Swiss hotel.
HERE WE ARE (2020) Thursday 21 March 10.20-11.50pm BBC 4    P             
The terrestrial premiere of our successful Israeli film from last season: you’ll remember Aharon who is desperate to look after his autistic son Uri, rather than see him move to a specialist home. Our members’ score was 87% and the Radio Times gives it 5-stars.