A Real Pain to Con Mum: the seven best films to watch on TV this week
How the Holocaust echoes down the generations is the core concern of this deceptively light-hearted comedy drama from writer-director Jesse Eisenberg. He also stars as David, a Jewish American who joins his extrovert cousin Benji (Oscar winner Kieran Culkin) in Poland for a tour of sites associated with the genocide – funded by their beloved late grandmother. The men's fluctuating relationship is a source of quick-witted humour but also great drama. Benji's scattershot attempts to honour the traumatic events, alongside the more repressed David's reluctance to open up to his once-close relative, give the film an emotional pull that's both historical and personal.
Wednesday 2 April, Disney+
There are plenty of true-crime documentaries out there about people duped into giving away money through catfishing and the like. But what if the grifter is your own mother? Nick Green's truly gobsmacking film tells the story of pastry chef Graham Hornigold, who was contacted in 2020 by the mum he never knew. Dionne turned out to be a very wealthy entrepreneur – but she only had six months to live, so Graham grabbed at the chance of a parental relationship, however brief. There are many, many twists in this tale of love, manipulation and devastating consequences. Out now, Netflix
Pair Broad City's writer-star Ilana Glazer and the creator of Better Things, Pamela Adlon, and you can guarantee an unabashed, gloriously funny story about women's lives. Glazer and Michelle Buteau play New York best friends, yoga teacher Eden and dentist Dawn. The latter has just given birth (the scene where her waters break is hilarious) when the former finds out she is pregnant. As the pressures of parenthood and potential single motherhood intensify, their intimate bond – utterly candid, sharply witty – begins to fray. Saturday 29 March, 1.05pm, 6.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
For his feature debut, actor turned director Neil Maskell has clearly adopted the off-kilter, darkly comic stylings of his friend and regular collaborator Ben Wheatley. Klokkenluider is the Dutch word for whistleblower, which is what UK government IT guy Ewan (Amit Shah) is. He's hiding in a Belgian holiday let with his wife Silke (Sura Dohnke), waiting for a journalist to spill the beans to about his world-shattering discovery. Tom Burke and Roger Evans play the minders who join them in a thriller that manages to be unsettling and slyly mundane at the same time. Saturday 29 March, 11.10pm, Film4
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Wanda (Edie Falco) is a giver in a family of takers – from her heavily pregnant daughter and recovering addict son to a secret lover who's only in it for the sex. She could just be an annoying doormat of a character, but in the estimable Falco's hands she is an engagingly flawed woman who relies on being wanted to give meaning to her life. There aren't many rough edges in Brendan Walsh's middle America drama, but it's finely acted and completely relatable. Sunday 30 March, 11.35am, 7.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Chris Bernard's Liverpool-set romance was one of a string of features funded by Channel 4 in the 1980s that revitalised the moribund British film industry. Like much of the broadcaster's early content, it's sparky, politically edged fare, following two young women – jobless Elaine (Alexandra Pigg) and chicken factory worker/force of nature Teresa (Margi Clarke, sister of the film's writer Frank) – on a night out in the city. They meet two Russian sailors, and while Teresa gets off with Alfred Molina's Sergei, Elaine falls heavily for Peter (Peter Firth). But love and cold war realities soon collide. Sunday 30 March, 11.35pm, BBC Two
The smoke sauna tradition in Estonia is recognised by Unesco, and Anna Hints's season-traversing documentary pays due homage to its rituals and idyllic woodland setting. But the female visitors to the isolated cabin are the film's real focus. In this safe space, they sit and talk – about body image, sex, relationships, family – naked physically but also exposing themselves emotionally. Viewed in a beautiful play of light and steam, it's a moving insight into troubled individuals given succour through a collective endeavour. Thursday 3 April, 2.10am, Film4
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Leader Live
an hour ago
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Sir David Attenborough recalls almost drowning while diving
Sir David was speaking to the Prince of Wales when he was promoting his latest film, Ocean with David Attenborough. Dramatic footage from the new film captures the destruction caused to the seabed by bottom trawling. While talking to Prince William, Sir David put an open-circuit helmet on his head which lead to him telling the story about how he once almost drowned when he tested a scuba diving outfit in 1957, reports the Metro. He was working and filming clips on the Great Barrier Reef when the incident happened, the newspaper explained. 'When I put mine (helmet) on for the first time, I suddenly felt water and thought, 'this can't be right'. But by the time the water got about there (pointing to under his nose) I thought, 'I'm sure this is not right',' he said. 'Of course, you've got this thing screwed on top of you and you can't breathe or make yourself heard. I was saying 'get it off me.'' He went on to say that the director wasn't convinced there was a fault with the equipment and insisted on trying it out himself. A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales) Sir David said: 'He grabbed it and said it was fine, but I again said there was a fault, and he put it on, and I'm happy to say, he went underwater and came up even faster than I did, because there was actually a fault on the thing', he said, laughing with the Prince about his ordeal. He talked about the destruction of the 'deep ocean floor' that has occurred since his first dive, describing it as 'just unspeakably awful'. Sir David was one of the first people to explore the ocean. Ocean With David Attenborough was released in cinemas to mark the renowned naturalist and TV presenter's 99th birthday and includes a sequence where the camera follows a bottom trawl, where nets are dragged with a metal beam across the seabed to catch fish. Recommended reading: How to watch Ocean with David Attenborough at home this week 17 fascinating facts about Sir David Attenborough's career as he turns 99 Sir David Attenborough opens up about 'the end of my life' in new documentary As the iron chains travel across the ocean floor, they can be seen bulldozing through the habitat, stirring up silt which releases carbon and scooping up species indiscriminately. The footage is thought to be the first time the process has been filmed in such high quality, showing the scale of destruction caused by trawling. You can watch the new film in UK cinemas or on Disney+.
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Sir David Attenborough recalls almost drowning while diving
Sir David was speaking to the Prince of Wales when he was promoting his latest film, Ocean with David Attenborough. Dramatic footage from the new film captures the destruction caused to the seabed by bottom trawling. While talking to Prince William, Sir David put an open-circuit helmet on his head which lead to him telling the story about how he once almost drowned when he tested a scuba diving outfit in 1957, reports the Metro. He was working and filming clips on the Great Barrier Reef when the incident happened, the newspaper explained. 'When I put mine (helmet) on for the first time, I suddenly felt water and thought, 'this can't be right'. But by the time the water got about there (pointing to under his nose) I thought, 'I'm sure this is not right',' he said. 'Of course, you've got this thing screwed on top of you and you can't breathe or make yourself heard. I was saying 'get it off me.'' He went on to say that the director wasn't convinced there was a fault with the equipment and insisted on trying it out himself. A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales) Sir David said: 'He grabbed it and said it was fine, but I again said there was a fault, and he put it on, and I'm happy to say, he went underwater and came up even faster than I did, because there was actually a fault on the thing', he said, laughing with the Prince about his ordeal. He talked about the destruction of the 'deep ocean floor' that has occurred since his first dive, describing it as 'just unspeakably awful'. Sir David was one of the first people to explore the ocean. Ocean With David Attenborough was released in cinemas to mark the renowned naturalist and TV presenter's 99th birthday and includes a sequence where the camera follows a bottom trawl, where nets are dragged with a metal beam across the seabed to catch fish. Recommended reading: How to watch Ocean with David Attenborough at home this week 17 fascinating facts about Sir David Attenborough's career as he turns 99 Sir David Attenborough opens up about 'the end of my life' in new documentary As the iron chains travel across the ocean floor, they can be seen bulldozing through the habitat, stirring up silt which releases carbon and scooping up species indiscriminately. The footage is thought to be the first time the process has been filmed in such high quality, showing the scale of destruction caused by trawling. You can watch the new film in UK cinemas or on Disney+.
Glasgow Times
2 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Sir David Attenborough recalls almost drowning while diving
Sir David was speaking to the Prince of Wales when he was promoting his latest film, Ocean with David Attenborough. Dramatic footage from the new film captures the destruction caused to the seabed by bottom trawling. David Attenborough recalls almost drowning in scuba diving equipment While talking to Prince William, Sir David put an open-circuit helmet on his head which lead to him telling the story about how he once almost drowned when he tested a scuba diving outfit in 1957, reports the Metro. He was working and filming clips on the Great Barrier Reef when the incident happened, the newspaper explained. 'When I put mine (helmet) on for the first time, I suddenly felt water and thought, 'this can't be right'. But by the time the water got about there (pointing to under his nose) I thought, 'I'm sure this is not right',' he said. 'Of course, you've got this thing screwed on top of you and you can't breathe or make yourself heard. I was saying 'get it off me.'' He went on to say that the director wasn't convinced there was a fault with the equipment and insisted on trying it out himself. Sir David said: 'He grabbed it and said it was fine, but I again said there was a fault, and he put it on, and I'm happy to say, he went underwater and came up even faster than I did, because there was actually a fault on the thing', he said, laughing with the Prince about his ordeal. He talked about the destruction of the 'deep ocean floor' that has occurred since his first dive, describing it as 'just unspeakably awful'. Sir David was one of the first people to explore the ocean. How to watch Ocean With David Attenborough Ocean With David Attenborough was released in cinemas to mark the renowned naturalist and TV presenter's 99th birthday and includes a sequence where the camera follows a bottom trawl, where nets are dragged with a metal beam across the seabed to catch fish. Recommended reading: As the iron chains travel across the ocean floor, they can be seen bulldozing through the habitat, stirring up silt which releases carbon and scooping up species indiscriminately. The footage is thought to be the first time the process has been filmed in such high quality, showing the scale of destruction caused by trawling. You can watch the new film in UK cinemas or on Disney+.
