New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

106 LISTENER AUGUST 10 2019

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

SATURDAY AUGUST 10
Oranges and Sunshine (Māori
TV, 8.40pm). The apple doesn’t
fall far from the tree, after all.
Jim Loach may have vowed
as a child not to become a
film-maker like his father, Ken,
but here he is with a Loach-
ian spotlight on a huge social
injustice. The British practice
of sending poor and orphaned
children to the colonies
began in the 17th century,
but Oranges and Sunshine is a
20th-century story focusing on
social-worker Margaret Hum-
phreys (Emily Watson) and
her investigations into postwar
deportations of children to
Australia. Many were abused,
and as one of the so-called
“home children” whose child-
hood still haunts them, Hugo

Weaving, in particular, is heart-

breaking. (2011)

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

(Three, 8.55pm). Wonderful

and slightly crappy at the same

time. Who doesn’t want to see

Edina and Patsy, drunk since

1990 and still unrepentantly

badly behaved in 2016? Unfor-

tunately, for all that the series

was a satire about the worlds

of fashion and PR, there’s an

awful lot of fashion, fashionis-

tas and superstar cameos in the

movie, from Stella McCartney

to Jon Hamm. Sight gags and

slapstick abound after Eddy

accidentally kills model Kate

Moss and the louche twosome

go on the run to the South of

France, where “everyone’s a

criminal!” In general, however,

in the year of the Brexit refer-

endum, British critics greeted

the movie with affection.

(2016)

American Ultra (TVNZ 2, 1.15am

Sunday). Not enough comedy

and too much set-piece action

make for a messy mishmash

of genres in this film written

by Max Landis, son of the

legendary John. Perhaps in a

nod to the Bourne films’ direc-

tor Doug, the movie is set in a

town called Liman, where Jesse

Eisenberg is a stoner conven-

ience-store clerk until he is

activated by a series of ridicu-

lous phrases uttered by Connie

Britton. Henceforth, he kills

anyone who comes at him,

while CIA agents Britton and

Topher Grace argue. Eisenberg

and Kristen Stewart just about

carry the film, but music-video

director Nima Nourizadeh is

focused on action, rather than

character. (2015)

SUNDAY AUGUST 11

Bohemian Rhapsody (Movies

Premiere, Sky 030, 8.00pm).

Not as proficient as Rocketman,

but somehow its messiness

conveys the excitement and

thrills of the life of Freddie

Mercury and Queen as well

as the struggles. Rami Malek

is entirely convincing as

Mercury, a strange, flamboyant

genius who, in some ways, was

an unlikely rock star. Gwilym

Lee and Ben Hardy are excel-

lent as bandmates Brian May

and Roger Taylor, too. The

film does seem to downplay

A Guide to the Week’s Viewing

TV Films

Absolutely Fabulous:

The Movie, Saturday.

by FIONA RAE