It’s not uncommon this year to read about media institutions falling into disrepute, so it would be reasonable to assume a documentary called Tabloid might be about a recent scandal. But no, it’s more interesting than that.
It’s not uncommon this year to read about media institutions falling into disrepute, so it would be reasonable to assume a documentary called Tabloid might be about a recent scandal. But no, it’s more interesting than that.
Tabloid (Thursday 22nd November, 8.30pm) is the latest documentary from veteran award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War, Gates of Heaven), who examines one of the most outrageous, salacious and plain right bizarre tabloid stories of the 70s.
Joyce McKinney, a former beauty pageant queen, fell in love with Kirk Anderson, a nice Mormon boy from Utah, USA. When he was sent to England on a mission she followed him and kidnapped him at gun point, taking him to a cottage in Devonshire where she tied him up and had sex with him for three days. Then, much to her amazement, she was arrested for abducting and imprisoning Anderson, and spent 3 months in prison, before fleeing the country.
This documentary is Joyce’s opportunity to tell her story, and as you can imagine it’s quite different to the one the tabloids printed at the time. She spins a remarkable good yarn - but to balance things Morris also chats to others involved in Joyce’s plan and the journalists who followed the case.
Fast paced, witty and delivered with a sense of incredulousness, this stranger than fiction story is compelling viewing.
Saturday’s Official Selection brings us Burning Man (Saturday 24th November, 8.30pm), an Aussie film about a young man trying to hold his life together as he deals with his wife’s cancer diagnosis.
This is not your normal Beaches-type approach to dealing with terminal illness. Instead, director Jonathan Teplitzy’s drama starts off at a frenetic pace as husband Tom (Mathew Goode) flicks back and forth in time between a beautifully shot car crash, feisty phone calls, and appointments with prostitutes. After about 20 minutes the film settles down into a more sedate pace, and Tom’s story slowly reveals itself. The beginning of this film does requires some patience, but superb performances and some genuinely moving moments get the film a mention this week.
Finally, it’s time to farewell Lars von Trier who has been our celebrated director in this month’s Director’s Showcase. This Sunday, Rialto Channel brings you a Lars von Trier double feature; Dogville, followed by Antichrist.
Dogville (8.30pm) isn’t my favourite von Trier film, but he sure knows how to get a performance out of his cast, and once again delivers an original and observant satire on human nature and American society. Dogville took a while to draw me in, but I’m glad I stuck at it as von Trier rewarded me with a truly compelling finale.
I have to be honest and say I haven’t seen von Trier's controversial psychodrama/horror film Antichrist (10.45pm) starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe. I’ve never had the guts to watch it, but as this will more than likely be the only premiere screening of Antichrist, ever, on television, I think it’s time to take a big breath, and give it a crack.
Enjoy.