TV Movie Guide: 22 – 28 February

• Audio Description (AD) available for There Are No Fakes, Foxcatcher, She’s the Man, Blade Runner, Waru, She Who Must Be Loved and Radiance
  
• Closed Captions (CC) available for She Who Must Be Loved and Radiance
  

 

WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY

There Are No Fakes
9:30pm, NITV

MA15+, AD
New Zealand, 2019
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Jamie Kastner
What’s it about?
Norval Morrisseau was the first Indigenous Canadian artist to be taken seriously in the art world. By the turn of this century his work commanded tens of thousands of dollars. So when Barenaked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn learned his prized painting was a forgery, he sued. But as this doc reveals, there was a cottage industry in fake Morrisseaus, an industry that flourished unchecked for years, feeding on greed, exploitation, racism and contempt.

Foxcatcher
10:25pm, SBS VICELAND

M, AD
USA, 2013
Genre: Biography, Drama, Crime
Language: English
Director: Bennett Miller
Starring: Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Rufallo, Vanessa Redgrave
What’s it about?
US Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark (Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Ruffalo) join Team Foxcatcher. As they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul under the tutelage of John du Pont (Carrell), John’s his self-destructive behaviour threatens to consume them, and destroy their chances of winning gold. Winner of the Best Director at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

 

THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY

Desperately Seeking Susan
9:30pm, NITV (repeats Friday 24 February, 12:00pm)

M
USA, 1985
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Susan Seidelman
Starring: Madonna, Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, Laurie Metcalf, John Turturro
What’s it about?
Roberta (Arquette) is a bored suburban housewife who is fascinated with Susan (Madonna), who she only knows about by reading messages to and from her in the personals section of the newspaper. This fascination reaches a peak when an ad with the headline “Desperately Seeking Susan” proposes a rendezvous. Roberta goes too, and in a series of events involving amnesia and mistaken identity, steps into Susan’s life.

 

FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY

Belle and Sebastian 2: The Adventure Continues
7:30pm, NITV (repeats Saturday 25 February, 10:00am)

PG
France, 2015
Genre: Family, Adventure
Language: French
Director: Christian Duguay
Starring: Félix Bossuet, Tcheky Karyo, Thierry Neuvic, Margaux Châtelier, Urbain Cancelier
What’s it about?
September, 1945. Sebastian impatiently waits for the return of his friend Angelina, whom he has not seen for two years. When the plane carrying the young woman to her small village in the Alps is reported to have crashed in the mountains, Sebastian is convinced that Angelina is still alive. Along with his faithful dog Belle, Sebastian embarks on the most dangerous adventure of his life.

The Last Days of Mariupol
8:30pm, SBS

MA15+
UK, 2022
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, Russian, Ukrainian
Director: Robin Barnwell
What’s it about?
This documentary tells the definitive story of the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, told with access to the people who lived there. Mariupol is a symbol of what has happened to Ukraine. It was a modern European city of 400,000 people. Over two months, it was destroyed, with Ukrainian officials estimating more than 20,000 of its inhabitants have been killed. This is a story of war crimes and suffering but is also a story of a people who showed amazing courage, incredible daring in escape, and an undaunted spirit.

She’s the Man
9:15pm, NITV

PG, AD
USA, 2006
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Language: English
Director: Andy Fickman
Starring: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Vinnie Jones, David Cross, Julie Hagerty, Laura Ramsey
What’s it about?
Viola Hastings (Bynes) is in a real jam. Complications threaten her scheme to pose as her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), and take his place at a new boarding school. She falls in love with her handsome roommate, Duke (Tatum), who loves beautiful Olivia (Ramsey), who has fallen for Sebastian! As if that were not enough, Viola’s twin returns from London ahead of schedule but has no idea that his sister has already replaced him on campus. Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’.

 

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY

Handbag: The Untold Story of the Fag Hag
8:30pm, SBS VICELAND

M
Australia, 2021
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Monica Davidson
What’s it about?
Handbag is a documentary film about an unusual kind of friendship – the age-old relationship between gay men and straight women, as told by Monica Davidson, a self-declared “fag hag” (aka an array of names, including “handbag”).

Blade Runner
8:30pm, NITV

M, AD
USA, 1982
Genre: Thriller, Action, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, M. Emmet Walsh, Sean Young 
What’s it about?
In the near future, the police department forces former blade runner Rick Deckard (Ford) out of retirement to hunt four genetically engineered humans who have escaped the colonies and returned to Earth. Designed to do difficult, hazardous work, the manufactured humans are stronger, faster and smarter than non-engineered humans. NOTE: This version is the original 1982 theatrical cut.

 

SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY

Zappa
9:15pm, NITV (repeats Monday 27 February, 11:45am)

MA15+
USA, 2020
Genre: Music, Documentary
Language: English
Director: Alex Winter
Featuring: Frank Zappa, Gail Zappa, Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai
What’s it about?
This feature documentary takes an in-depth look into the private life and work of American musician, composer, and bandleader Frank Zappa. It explores his rich, often controversial musical career and features unfettered access to the Zappa vault and a deep cache of archival footage.

Waru
11:30pm, NITV

M, AD
New Zealand, 2017
Genre: Drama
Language: Māori, English
Director: Briar Grace Smith, Casey Kaa, Ainsley Gardiner, Katie Wolfe, Chelsea Cohen, Renae Maihi, Awanui Simich-Pene, Paula Whetu Jones
Starring: Tanea Heke, Roimata Fox, Ngapaki Moetara, Awhina-Rose Ashby, Maria Walker, Kararaina Rangihau, Merehaka Maaka, Acacia Hapi, Antonio Te Maioha, Miriama McDowell, Amber Curreen
What’s it about?
From eight female Māori directors come eight connected stories (in Māori, waru means 8), each taking place at the same moment in time during the tangi (funeral) of a small boy, Waru, who has died at the hands of a caregiver. The eight stories are all subtly linked and follow different female characters as they come to terms with Waru’s death and try to find a way forward in their community.

 

MONDAY 27 FEBRUARY

She Who Must Be Loved
8:50pm, NITV (repeats Tuesday 28 February, 11:20am)

G, AD, CC
Australia, 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Erica Glynn
Starring: Freda Glynn
What’s it about?
Erica Glynn tells the epic life story of her mother Alfreda Glynn: 78-year-old Aboriginal woman, stills photographer, co-founder of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), and Imparja TV, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, radical, pacifist, grumpy old woman, who in equal measure loves the limelight and total privacy.

Radiance
10:25pm, NITV

M, AD, CC
Australia, 1998
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Rachel Perkins
Starring: Deborah Mailman, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Rachael Maza
What’s it about?
Three sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother’s funeral. Cressy (Maza), the eldest of the three, is a diva – an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and definitely doesn’t want to share it with her sisters. Mae (Morton-Thomas), has stayed behind looking after mum, and believes that Cressy hasn’t shared enough. Nona (Mailman), the youngest and the party girl, just wants them to all be one happy family. Based on the play by Louis Nowra.

 

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY

Brown Boys
10:00pm, NITV

MA15+
New Zealand, 2019
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Language: English, Samoan
Director: Hans Masoe
Starring: Johnny Aukusitino, Jesme Fa’auuga, Tom Natoealofa, Eteuati Ete, Hans Masoe
What’s it about?
The Brown Boys spend their weekends drinking, partying and chasing girls. Peter the Player (Masoe), Kiligi the Bad Influence (Aleni Tufuga), Magele the Tough Guy (Natoealofa), Luka the Drunken Master (Fa’auuga), Siaki the Weird Guy (Aukusitino) and Mickey the Baby (Leaupepe Jnr) – they are family by blood and by choice. When one of the boys expresses a desire to settle down, it causes reactions among the group that could rupture their bonds of friendship and family forever.