Chris & Jonny’s Film (in the) House Watch List
Friday 24th July 2020
Whilst the world is on pause and your Filmhouse Sunderland visits aren’t possible, we’re keeping the independent cinema flag flying with our new weekly watch lists from Chris & Jonny, the people behind the project.
Each Friday, we’ll post a list of four films that are currently available across BBC iPlayer, All4, Netflix and Amazon Prime that we think you should seek out.
This week’s selection is…
Short Term 12 (15) (2013) (BBC iPlayer)
Brie Larson stars in this compassionate drama about Grace, a young woman working as a supervisor in a home for at risk teenagers. Grace has dedicated her life to helping young people who have slipped through the cracks and is committed to the role she plays in their lives. However, she is struggling with her own past too. When she finds out some news that will change her life forever, and a young girl who has been shifted between homes walks into her life, Grace realizes that the girl may be the key to making peace with her troubled past – and her unknown future. Perfectly written, beautifully played, Short Term 12 is an uplifting delight.
Custody (15) (2017) (All 4)
A broken marriage leads to a bitter custody battle in this tense family drama. Hard hitting from the outset, this multi award-winner follows couple Antoine and Miriam, who are in the middle of a separation. Although the court grants Antoine visitation rights to their young son Julien (Thomas Gloria), his frustration towards Miriam’s hatred of him slowly builds to a terrifying climax. Without applying a blame for the separation, Xavier Legrand’s deftly powerful film slowly builds the tension of the family’s situation, and does so with a refreshing and frankly realistic approach…
Lost In Translation (15) (2003) (Netflix)
Sophia Coppola’s evergreen and enigmatic quasi-romance features two tour de force performances from Bill Murray (who refreshed his career with this) and Scarlett Johannson. Murray is Bob, a weary actor in a tailspin who is in Tokyo to make a whiskey commercial. When he bumps into worldwise twentysomething Charlotte, who is in Japan with her photographer husband, the pair strike up an unlikely friendship. Their mutual dissatisfaction with their respective lives draws them close, and whilst the pair explore the gigantic city, they begin to question whether their friendship is becoming something other…
Moon (15) (2009) (Amazon Prime)
In 2009, director Duncan Jones came out of nowhere with this existential cult classic, which features a terrific performance from Sam Rockwell. One of the greatest science fiction films of the 21st century, Moon tells the story of Sam Bell, a miner working alone in a space station on the moon to extract a gas which will solve Earth’s energy crisis. Sam has been by himself for three years and is looking forward to ending his tour of duty and returning to Earth and his family. However, when he’s just two weeks away from finishing things start to get strange. He begins to experience visions, a routine extraction goes wrong, and he starts to realise that that his employers, Lunar, may not have been entirely open about how he is going to be replaced…
We’d love to hear what you think of the films we recommend – let us know!
See you next week,
Chris & Jonny