A small screen selection of cinematic gems provided for you by Mark D Smith  

Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino, 2022) 

Part love story, part cannibalistic gore-fest, Bones and All’s playful rejigging of genre tropes is kept firmly in hand by strong performances from Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet and the ever-reliable  Mark Rylance. Set against a backdrop of a Reagan-era Midwest US, the film’s themes of marginality and supressed history feel wholly contemporary. Luca Guadagnino is an uneven filmmaker; this may be his best. The music is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. 

“The film flows like a Joy Division song: moody and ethereal until it escalates into a burst of sonic violence. Guadagnino treats the gore in Bones and All like a grotesque necessity. There’s no enjoyment here; no revelling in the carnage.” Anna Bogutskaya, Time Out 

Available on BBC iPlayer until 29 December. 

Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015) 

Based on a 1950s Patricia Highsmith novel (The Price of Salt), the searing study of class and forbidden love remains Todd Haynes’ signature homage to his mentor, the master melodramatist Douglas Sirk. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are nothing short of entrancing in this pitch-perfect romance that’s inching towards Xmas classic status. 

“At once ardent and analytical, cerebral and swooning, Carol is a study in human magnetism, in the physics and optics of eros. With sparse dialogue and restrained drama, the film is a symphony of angles and glances, of colors and shadows.” AO Scott, New York Times 

Broadcast on Film4 and available on Netflix. 

Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021) 

Don’t be dissuaded by the three-hour runtime, this exploration of the car journey as a near-therapeutic space for soul-bearing and revelation captivates from the start. A multi-lingual production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya becomes a starting point for a guilt-burdened actor’s path to self-acceptance. This is the film where Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s innovations in storytelling find their stride. The car, incidentally, is a 1987 Saab 900 Turbo. 

“Nearly every scene of this richly novelistic movie teems with ideas about grief and betrayal, the nature of acting, the possibility (and impossibility) of catharsis through art, and the simple bliss of watching lights and landscapes fly past your car window.” Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times 

Available on Channel 4 streaming. 

Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023) 

The thirty-seventh in the franchise, Godzilla Minus One is a rip-roaring return to both form and content. Set in post-war Japan, and framed within prism of US imperialism, failed kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima is a beleaguered by his survivor guilt as he is by the titular monster. Godzilla himself doesn’t disappoint as a beast or an embodiment of nuclear threat and paranoia. But it is the solid characterisation that’s the key to this film’s success. (Note: a decolourised version is available; it’s superior.) 

“Come for the skyline-destroying radioactive dino, stay for the delicately etched portrait of recovery and self-forgiveness. Or vice versa. Just don’t miss the chance to remind yourself why the world fell for Godzilla in the first place.” Dana Stevens, Slate 

Both versions available on Netflix. 

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) 

Genre defining Film Noir from the masterful Howard Hawks. William Faulkner and the legendary Leigh Brackett developed the screenplay after a novel by Raymond Chandler. A Los Angeles set tale of intrigue, blackmail and murder, this film is renowned for its convoluted plot. It’s best to go with the flow. Humphrey Bogart’s performance as the tough, cynical private dick Philip Marlowe is the basis of a cultural archetype. The message that the US post-war system was corrupt to the core couldn’t be clearer. 

“Decades before the self-referential, self-mocking tone became mandatory in would-be cool thrillers, Hawks delivers almost a parody of the private eye genre, using the mystery as a blatant excuse for visual and verbal pleasures.” Kim Newman, Empire 

Broadcast on Boxing Day on BBC2 and available on BBC iPlayer. 

Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass, 2024) 

UK director Rose Glass’ second feature blends of B-movie tropes and a Reaganomic period setting as Kristen Stewart and Katy M. O’Brian play gym buddies turned star-crossed lovers in a rural New Mexican town. Beset by family trauma and the overlapping dictates of commerce and crime, can they survive? This is a grimy, sweaty film on and about steroids. The seventh best film of the year according to Sight and Sound magazine, it’s worth watching for Ed Harris’ hairpiece alone. 

“The all-out Love Lies Bleeding is a love story that won’t work for everyone. However, for those who can revel in the blood-soaked, complicated, sapphic delights that make up the backbone of the film, the saga of Lou and Jackie will be one for the ages.” Alejandra Martinez, Austin Chronicle 

Available on Amazon Prime. 

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (David Hinton, 2024) 

The latest of maestro Martin Scorsese’s personal film histories focuses on the career and travails of the unique and beguiling Archers production company. However, Made in England is something of a misnomer considering Pressburger’s Hungarian heritage and their use of Scottish locations. Wistful and elegiac, this documentary thoroughly captures the enchantment and insistence of Powell and Pressburger’s films while reflecting on companionship and how we change with age.  

“Be warned that it is a gateway drug. It’s also the sort of movie that makes you understand why people fall in love with movies in the first place.” David Fear, Rolling Stone 

Available on BBC iPlayer. 

Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021) 

Pig is a glorious modern drama that skewers how much damage neoliberalism has done to modern life. Rob (Nicolas Cage) is the hermetic truffle-hunter forced to return to the city he has exiled himself from to save his beloved pig. “We don’t get a lot of things to really care about” says Rob at the climax of a revenge movie that subverts its own expectations. This film’s success is rooted in Nicolas Cage’s restrained performance, itself something as rare as a truffle.  

“Like the animal itself, Pig is considerably smarter and more ardent than it appears at first glance, and unearths treasures that are barely evident on the surface level. We’d have settled for much less, but what a rare treat to be offered a great deal more.” Mike D’Angelo, The AV Club 

The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad, 2022) 

A consummate coming-of-age drama based on based on a 2010 short story “Foster” by Claire Keegan. Set in 1980s rural Eire, the eponymous quiet girl is Cáit (Catherine Clinch) encounters her first experience of stable family life in County Waterford. Predominately in Gaelic, a film of deceptive stillness with an unabashed commitment to the power of human kindness. 

“As superb as any feature debut in recent memory, its power derived from its marriage of graceful writing, subtle direction, and unbearably expressive performances. Movies don’t come much more exquisitely heartbreaking than this.” Nick Schager, The Daily Beast 

Available on Channel 4 streaming. 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (John Hughes, 1987) 

A certified John Hughes classic, there are echoes of Laurel and Hardy in this odd couple movie that bristles with holiday season anxiety. Uptight executive Neal (Steve Martin) is forced to bunk up with loquacious buffoon Del (John Candy) as their shared journey from New York to Chicago goes awry. Beware, it gets heart-warming.  

“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is one of those rare movies that manages to mingle outrageous comedy and light drama in such a way that we aren’t repulsed or offended by its simplicity and occasional mawkishness. It’s a fine cinematic treat that doesn’t demand much from a viewer, but gives back a lot, both in terms of laughter and good feeling.” James Berardinelli, Reel Views  

Broadcast on Channel 4 and available on Channel 4 streaming.

Leave No Trace (Debra Granik, 2018)  

War on Terror chickens come how to roast as PTSD survivor Will (Ben Foster) and his teenage daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) have their off-grid idyll shattered by a chance encounter with the external world. Can this family unit survive forced socialisation and what does belonging really mean in a loveless world?  

“Fiercely involving in a way we’re not used to, made with sensitivity and honesty by director/co-writer Debra Granik, it tells its emotional story of a father and daughter living dangerously off the grid in a way that is unnerving and uncompromising yet completely satisfying.” Kenneth Turan, LA Times  

Available on Netflix.  

Coco (Lee Unkrich, 2017)   

Peak Pixar, improbably set during the Mexican Day of the Dead, sees young rebel and aspiring musician Miguel endeavouring to uncover his family’s generations-old prohibition against all things euphonic. The strong cast and script required to pull off a “kid’s film” about death is amply provided as is the richly woven story-telling and cultural specificity.

“Pixar has raised the animation bar again, with its most musical — and arguably most magical — film yet. If this is the afterlife we’re all headed to, don’t fear the reaper.” Helen O’Hara, Empire  

Broadcast on BBC and available on BBC iPlayer.