Plenty of strong willed women feature on Rialto Channel this week, from the awesome singer songwriter Kathleen Hanna in the documentary The Punk Singer, to the unconventional Vanessa Bell and her sister Virginia Woolf who lived their lives according to their own moral code, rather than that of the times in the BBC drama Life in Squares. Indie filmmaker Cat Candler also brings her sensitive touch to the poignant family drama Hellion, and let’s not forget Saga Noren – policing Scandinavia in her own unique manner in Tuesday night’s The Bridge. Plenty to enjoy this week – here are my picks.
Thursday 13th August, 8.30pm … The Punk Singer
Plenty of strong willed women feature on Rialto Channel this week, from the awesome singer songwriter Kathleen Hanna in the documentary The Punk Singer, to the unconventional Vanessa Bell and her sister Virginia Woolf who lived their lives according to their own moral code, rather than that of the times in the BBC drama Life in Squares. Indie filmmaker Cat Candler also brings her sensitive touch to the poignant family drama Hellion, and let’s not forget Saga Noren – policing Scandinavia in her own unique manner in Tuesday night’s The Bridge. Plenty to enjoy this week – here are my picks.
Thursday 13th August, 8.30pm … The Punk Singer
Sini Anderson’s directorial debut feature film tells the story of Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kills and dance punk band Le Tigre, and founder of the Riot Grrrl movement of the '90s. An activist, feminist icon and all round cool chick, Hanna inspired and polarized her audiences until 2005 when, out of the blue, she went quiet. Hanna announced, she’d said everything she wanted to say, but in The Punk Singer, she acknowledges this was a lie. Suffering from an undiagnosed and debilitating illness for five years, Hanna was left unable to physically perform. An incredible array of archive material, especially from the Bikini Kill’s era, helps make this documentary as energetic, engaging and inspiring as its subject matter. Anderson is obviously a fan, but her glowing view of Hanna, one of the most influential musicians of the 1990s, is hard to resist. Anderson has in interest in New Zealand film. When asked by Indiewire who her favourite woman directed film was and why, Anderson answered Jane Campion and An Angel at My Table. “I was 20 when I saw this film and was blown away by how beautiful it was. It addresses class, abuse, and insanity among many other things, and it kicked so much ass. It gave me permission to feel empowered by my own story’ said Anderson. Enjoy Kathleen Hanna’s story on Rialto Documentary this Thursday.
Saturday 15th August, 8.30pm… Hellion
Written and directed by indie filmmaker Cat Candler, Hellion was originally a short film that screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. It’s based on a story Candler’s Uncle would tell at family gatherings about how when they were young, three of Candler’s uncles set fire to their father’s jeep. What happened when Candler’s grandfather got home and saw the destruction became the nugget of an idea that was turned into a short film, and then developed into a feature film at the Sundance Creative Producer’s Lab. The film stars Breaking Bad Emmy Award winner Aaron Paul as a Dad trying to raise his two boys in the wake of their mother’s death. When 13-year-old Jacob starts getting into trouble with the cops, social welfare moves in to break up the family, and Jacob goes to extreme lengths to get them back together. It’s not hugely original material, but a moving performance by newcomer Josh Wiggins as Jacob, and a restrained, nuanced performance by Paul give this film an edge. So too does the cinematography and verite style that immerses us within this blue collar world, and takes us depth into Southeast Texan town of Port Arthur.
Sunday 16th August, 8.30pm … Life in Squares
Life in Squares is a 3-part BBC drama about the Bloomsbury group, centering on the close and often fraught relationship between painter Vanessa Bell and her sister Virginia Woolf. The series was written by novelist and screenwriter Amanda Coe and is shot both in London’s Bloomsbury as well at the iconic Charleston country estate where Vanessa, Virginia and their unconventional group spent time. At the beginning of this period drama corsets are thrown out of the window as the Stephens sister’s celebrate their newfound freedom after the death of their strict father in 1905. The series carries on until after the World War II, when Vanessa’s daughter also gets romantically caught up in the complex, and amorous Bloomsbury set. The Bloomsbury circle that included noted biographers (Lytton Strachey), artists (Duncan Grant), art critics (Clive Bell; Roger Fry), economists (John Maynard Keynes), psychoanalysts (Adrian Stephens), and authors (E M Forster) is far more racer than your normal period costume crowd. If you’re looking for something a little more risqué than Downton Abby, then you can’t look past Life in Squares.