SBS World Movies Highlights: 16 – 22 November | Movie News

• Audio Description (AD) available for Colette, Half Nelson, Their Finest, Bright Young Things, The Hollars, Lost in Translation, Ammonite and Still Life
  
• Closed Captions (CC) available for The Virgin Suicides, Half Nelson, Frankie, Their Finest, Lost in Translation, The World’s Fastest Indian and Blue Jasmine
  
• This week’s SBS World Movies channel premieres include The Virgin Suicides, Half Nelson, Bright Young Things, Then Came You, The Flood, Erotica 2022, Ammonite and Still Life
  

WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER

Colette
7:30pm

M, AD
UK, USA, 2018
Genre: Drama, History
Language: English, French
Director: Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw, Robert Pugh
What’s it about?
After marrying a successful Parisian writer known commonly as Willy (West), Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Knightley) is transplanted from her childhood home in rural France to the intellectual and artistic splendour of Paris. Soon after, Willy convinces Colette to ghostwrite for him. She pens a semi-autobiographical novel about a witty and brazen country girl named Claudine, sparking a bestseller and a cultural sensation. After its success, Colette and Willy become the talk of Paris and their adventures inspire additional Claudine novels.

The Virgin Suicides
9:35pm

MA15+, CC
USA, 1999
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Language: English
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Danny DeVito, Kathleen Turner, James Woods
What’s it about?
The story of five sisters, and their mysterious existence growing up in the 1970s. The film follows the chain of events initiated by one of the Lisbon sisters’ suicide attempt, and its effects on their family, their suburban town and most importantly, the young men who loved the Lisbons from afar and whose words provide the narrative for the film. The acclaimed directorial debut of Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie-Antoinette), based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Half Nelson
11:25pm

M, AD, CC
USA, 2006
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Ryan Fleck
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Jeff Lima, Monique Gabriela Curnen
What’s it about?
Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne (Gosling, in his first Oscar-nominated performance) leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey (Epps) makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.

THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER

Frankie
5:35pm

M, CC
France, Portugal, 2019
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Portuguese
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei, Jeremie Renier
What’s it about?
Three generations of a family grapple with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation in Sintra, Portugal, a historic town known for its dense gardens and fairy-tale villas and palaces. Directed by Ira Sachs (Little Men, Love is Strange).

Their Finest
7:30pm

M, AD, CC
UK, 2017
Genre: Romance, War, Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Richard E. Grant, Jack Huston,
What’s it about?
During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter (Arterton) works on a film celebrating England’s resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace’s spirits. Her efforts to dramatise the true story of two sisters (Lily Knight and Francesca Knight) who undertook their own maritime mission to rescue wounded soldiers are met with mixed feelings by a dismissive all-male staff.

Bright Young Things
9:40pm

MA15+, AD
UK, 2003
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Stephen Fry
Starring: Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer, Michael Sheen, James McAvoy, David Tennant
What’s it about?
An adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel ‘Vile Bodies’, Bright Young Things is a look into the lives of a young novelist, his would-be lover, and a host of young people who beautified London in the 1930s. Also starring Stockard Channing, Dan Aykroyd, Simon McBurney, Jim Broadbent, Peter O’Toole, Imelda Staunton, John Mills, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Fry (who also wrote and directed) and many more.

FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER

Sheep & Wolves
4:25pm

PG
Russia, 2016
Genre: Animation, Family, Adventure
Language: Russian
Director: Andrey Galat, Maksim Volkov
Voice Cast: Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Sergei Bezrukov, Yuriy Galtsev, Nikita Prozorovsky
What’s it about?
In a magical faraway land, in a picturesque little village nestled among green meadows and rolling hills, lives a flock of carefree sheep. But their pastoral and stress-free life is interrupted when a pack of wolves sets up camp in the nearby ravine.

Then Came You
9:30pm

M
USA, 2021
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: English
Director: Adriana Trigiani
Starring: Kathie Lee Gifford, Craig Ferguson, Elizabeth Hurley, Ford Kiernan, Phyllida Law
What’s it about?
A lonely widow plans a trip around the world with her husband’s ashes, to visit the places they loved in the movies. During her first stop in Scotland at the beautiful estate she stays in, she meets the innkeeper who changes her life forever.

SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER

The World’s Fastest Indian
6:05pm

PG, CC
New Zealand, 2005
Genre: Drama, Biography
Language: English
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Iain Rea, Craig Hall
What’s it about?
After a lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle, Burt Munro (Hopkins) set off from the bottom of the world to test his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all odds against him, he set a new speed record and captured the spirit of his times. Based on a true story.

The Flood
8:30pm

MA15+
Australia, 2020
Genre: Drama, Thriller, History, Western
Language: English
Director: Victoria Wharfe McIntyre
Starring: Alexis Lane, Shaka Cook, Dean Kyrwood, Dalara Williams, Karen Garnsey
What’s it about?
Set during the second World War, this is the story of Jarah’s (Lane) coming-of-age in a brutal and lawless land – growing from a sweet child to a strong, independent and ferocious woman taking on Australia’s corrupt and bigoted system one bad guy at a time.

Erotica 2022
10:40pm

MA15+
Poland, 2020
Genre: Drama
Language: Polish
Director: Kasia Adamik, Anna Jadowska, Anna Kazejak, Jagoda Szelc, Olga Chajdas
Starring: Małgorzata Bela, Agnieszka Zulewska, Julian Świeżewski, Agata Buzek, Ignacy Liss
What’s it about?
In a series of five linked stories, five women try to find themselves in a dystopian future where sex is a chore and the women subjected to it are emotionally repressed.

SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER

Walking on Sunshine
4:35pm

PG
UK, 2014
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: Italian, English
Director: Max Giwa, Dania Pasquini
Starring: Annabel Scholey, Hannah Arterton, Giulio Berruti, Greg Wise, Katy Brand
What’s it about?
Set to a soundtrack of popular hit songs from the 1980s, this film take place in a beautiful coastal village, present day Italy. After a whirlwind romance, Maddie (Scholey) is preparing to marry gorgeous Italian Raf (Berruti), and has invited her sister Taylor (Arterton) to the wedding. Unbeknownst to Maddie, however, Raf is Taylor’s ex-holiday flame, and the love of her life.

Ammonite
8:30pm

MA15+, AD
UK, 2020
Genre: Romance, Drama
Language: English
Director: Francis Lee
Starring: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Fiona Shaw
What’s it about?
In 1840s England, palaeontologist Mary Anning (Winslet) and a young woman (Ronan) sent by her husband to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realisation that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably. Directed by Francis Lee (God’s Own Country).

Blue Jasmine
10:40pm

M, CC
USA, 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Alec Baldwin, Andrew Dice Clay
What’s it about?
After her marriage to a wealthy businessman collapses, New York socialite Jasmine (Blanchett, in an Oscar-winning performance) flees to San Francisco and the modest apartment of her sister, Ginger (Hawkins). Although she’s in a fragile emotional state and lacks job skills, Jasmine still manages to voice her disapproval of Ginger’s boyfriend, Chili. Jasmine begrudgingly takes a job in a dentist’s office, while Ginger begins dating a man who’s a step up from Chili. 

MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER

Still Life
7:40pm

M, AD
Italy, 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Uberto Pasolini
Starring: Eddie Marsan, Joanne Froggatt, Karen Drury
What’s it about?
As a modest council case worker in a London suburb, John May’s (Marsan) job is to find the relatives of those found dead and alone. Despite his efforts, he is always on his own at their funerals, having to write their eulogies himself. When his boss intends to fire him, John decides to double his efforts on a case that will change his life and prove that he hasn’t said his last word.

Lucky Grandma
9:40pm

M
USA, 2020
Language: English, Mandarin, Cantonese
Director: Sasie Sealy
Starring: Tsai Chin, Hisao-Yuan Ha, Michael Tow, Emma Hong, Yan Xi, Lyman Chen
What’s it about?
Set in New York City’s Chinatown, an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandma (Tsai Chin) goes all in at the casino, landing herself on the wrong side of luck – and in the middle of a gang war. Reviewing for The Hollywood Reporter, Harry Windsor noted that “the film features hardly any spoken English at all, and very amusingly captures a hermetic immigrant culture in which nobody so much as considers calling the police.”

TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER

Bugsy
7:30pm

M
USA, 1991
Genre: Drama, Crime, Biography
Language: English
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Warren Beatty, Harvey Keitel, Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna
What’s it about?
New York gangster Ben ‘Bugsy’ Siegel (Beatty) takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womaniser with a foul temper, Siegel doesn’t hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill (Bening) detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea. Nominated for ten 1992 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.