SBS World Movies Highlights: 13 – 19 July | Movie News

• Audio Description (AD) available for All At Sea, First Girl I Loved, Once Upon a Time in America and The Road to Wellville
• Closed Captions (CC) available for Once Upon a Time in America

WEDNESDAY 13 JULY

The Man in the Basement
7:30pm

M
France, 2021
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: French
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Starring: François Cluzet, Berenice Bejo, Jeremie Renier, Jonathan Zaccaï, Martine Chevallier
What’s it about?
A Parisian couple decides to sell an unsanitary basement in their building. A very ordinary, nondescript man, Mr. Fonzic (Cluzet), shows up to buy it. Nothing unusual there, until the man moves into the cellar and makes it his permanent residence. The couple tries desperately to cancel the sale but to no avail. Worse, Mr. Fonzic becomes a threat to their family as he befriends their teenage daughter on whom he seems to exert a perverted influence.

In the House
9:40pm

MA15+
France, 2012
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: François Ozon
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Fabrice Luchini, Emmanuelle Seigner, Ernst Umhauer
What’s it about?
A 16-year-old teenager (Umhauer) sneaks into a classmate’s house. He then writes about the event in stories for his French teacher (Luchini). Inspired and confronted by the student, the teacher finds renewed joy in his job. Yet the teenager’s intrusion unleashes a series of uncontrollable events. Directed by François Ozon (Swimming Pool, Frantz) and inspired by the Spanish play The Boy in the Last Row.

THURSDAY 14 JULY

Bye Bye Morons
7:30pm

M
France, 2020
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English, French
Director: Albert Dupontel
Starring: Virginie Efira, Albert Dupontel, Nicolas Marié, Jackie Berroyer, Philippe Uchan
What’s it about?
When 43-year-old hairdresser Suze Trappet (Efira) finds out that she’s seriously ill, she decides to go looking for a child she was forced to abandon when she was only 15. On her madcap bureaucratic quest she crosses paths with JB (Dupontel), a 50-year-old man in the middle of a burnout, and Mr. Blin (Marié), a blind archivist prone to overenthusiasm. The unlikely trio set off on a hilarious and poignant helter skelter journey across the city in search of Suze’s long-lost child.

Between Two Worlds
9:10pm

M
France, 2022
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Emmanuel Carrère
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Hélène Lambert, Louise Pociecka, Steve Papagiannis
What’s it about?
Marianne Winckler (Binoche), a well-known author, goes to live in northern France to research for her new book on the subject of job insecurity. Without revealing her true identity, she gets hired as a cleaner, working with a group of other women. In this new role, she experiences financial instability and social invisibility first-hand. But she also discovers mutual assistance and solidarity, strong bonds shared by these behind-the-scenes working women.

FRIDAY 15 JULY

Mama Weed
7:30pm

M
France, 2020
Genre: Drama, Crime, Comedy
Language: French
Director: Jean-Paul Salome
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Liliane Rovère, Hippolyte Girardot, Iris Bry, Pierre Rousselet
What’s it about?
Patience Portefeux (Huppert), a translator for the Paris police, is months behind on her bills when she finds herself in possession of a huge store of hash and the insider knowledge required to move it. Patience capitalises on her field experience to earn extra income while staying one step ahead of her colleagues at the precinct. Also known under the title Mama Weed.

La Belle Époque
9:30pm

MA15+
France, 2019
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: French, English
Director: Nicolas Bedos
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet, Doria Tillier, Fanny Ardant, Pierre Arditi
What’s it about?
Victor (Auteuil), a disillusioned sexagenarian, sees his life turned upside down on the day when Antoine (Canet), a brilliant entrepreneur, offers him a new kind of attraction: mixing theatrical artifices and historical reconstruction, this company offers his clients a chance to dive back into the era of their choice. Victor then chose to relive the most memorable week of his life: the one where, 40 years earlier, he met the great love.

SATURDAY 16 JULY

All At Sea [aka Wide Blue Yonder]
6:00pm

PG, AD
Norway, UK, 2012
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: English
Director: Robert Young
Starring: Brian Cox, Lauren Bacall, James Fox, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Hege Schøyen, Kåre Conradi
What’s it about?
Two retired sailors, Wally (Cox) and Skipper, are old workmates and best friends for 40 years now living at an old folks’ home in Norway. One day, Wally finds Skipper dead and he wants a burial at sea, the old-fashioned way, as he promised him. Wally isn’t going to let the fact that he doesn’t have a boat, any money or, for that matter, a body, stop him from keeping his word; and so he takes his friends May (Bacall), George (Fox) and Nina (Berdal) on a bold mission to send the coffin to the bottom of the North Sea. 

I Am Michael
7:35pm

M
USA, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Justin Kelly
Starring: James Franco, Zachary Quinto, Emma Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Lesley Ann Warren
What’s it about?
Based on the fascinating, true-life story of gay activist Michael Glatze (Franco). An Ivy League grad with multiple degrees, he’s a writer, pianist, and “queer theorist,” espousing his belief that sexual orientation shouldn’t define one’s identity, he embarks on a painful journey after deciding to renounce his sexuality for his religion. 

Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)
9:30pm

MA15+
France, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Eva Husson
Starring: Marilyn Lima, Daisy Broom, Finnegan Oldfield, Lorenzo Lefèbvre, Fred Hotier
What’s it about?
In the coastal French city of Biarritz, sixteen-year-old George (Lima), the high school hottie, falls in love with Alex (Oldfield). To get his attention, she initiates a group game with Alex, Nikita (Hotier), Laetitia (Broom) and Gabriel (Lefèbvre). They will discover, test, and push the limits of their sexuality.

First Girl I Loved
11:20pm

M, AD
USA, 2016
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: Spanish, English
Director: Kerem Sanga
Starring: Dylan Gelula, Brianna Hildebrand, Mateo Arias, Pamela Adlon, Tim Heidecker
What’s it about?
Seventeen-year-old Anne (Gelula) just fell in love with Sasha (Hildebrand), the most popular girl at her L.A. public high school. But when Anne tells her best friend, Clifton (Ariad) – who has always harbored a secret crush on her – he does his best to get in the way.

SUNDAY 17 JULY

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
6:30pm

PG
USA, 1967
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy
What’s it about?
After a ten-day Hawaiian vacation, Joanna Drayton (Houghton) returns to her San Francisco home with John Prentice (Poitier), her brand-new fiance. Although he’s a successful doctor, her parents, Christina (Hepburn) and Matthew (Tracy), are taken aback when they discover John is Black. While he quickly wins over Christina with his charm and intelligence, Matthew is more hesitant. Nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1968 including Best Picture.

Once Upon a Time in America
8:30pm

MA15+, AD, CC
USA, Italy, 1984
Genre: Drama, Crime
Language: English, French, Italian
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Tuesday Weld
What’s it about?
The final film by legendary Italian director Sergio Leone (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West) is an epic gangster film spanning decades, following the life of Jewish gangster David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson (De Niro) and his friends, from their childhoods in 1920s New York through Noodles’ return to New York in 1968 after a long absence.

MONDAY 18 JULY

The Road to Wellville
7:30pm

M, AD
USA, 1994
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: English
Director: Alan Parker
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda, Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Dana Carvey
What’s it about?
A madcap portrayal of William Lightbody’s (Broderick) stay at the health farm run by cereal king Dr John Harvey Kellogg (Hopkins). William’s wife, Eleanor (Fonda), has persuaded him to go to Kellogg to have his system cleaned of impurities. Kellogg, however, is very unconventional and almost barbaric in his treatments. Directed by Alan Parker (The Commitments, Midnight Express, Angel Heart).

Deerskin
9:45pm

MA15+
France, Belgium, Switzerland, 2019
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Language: French
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy, Coralie Russier, Pierre Gommé
What’s it about?
Academy Award-winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) stars as Georges, a recently divorced middle-aged drifter. In search of a new life and look, Georges becomes obsessed with owning a vintage deerskin jacket that seems to hold supernatural powers. Co-starring Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and directed by Quentin Dupieux (Wrong).

TUESDAY 19 JULY

Dreamfools
7:45pm

M
Italy, 2018
Genre: Comedy
Language: Italian
Director: Francesco Miccichè
Starring: Sergio Castellitto, Sabrina Ferilli, Valeria Fabrizi, Matilde Gioli, Antonio Catania
What’s it about?
Carpenter Sergio (Castellitto) and ex-singer Sabrina (Ferilli) have been long-time lovers, but they are unable to leave their partners due to their poor finances. When Sergio is pranked into believing he is the winner of a millionaire lottery, he walks out on his wife, and takes Sabrina and their relatives on a crazy road trip.

Great Freedom
9:30pm

MA15+
Austria, Germany, 2021
Genre: Drama, War, Romance
Language: English, German
Director: Sebastian Meise
Starring: Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich, Anton von Lucke, Thomas Prenn, Thomas Stecher
What’s it about?
In post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans Hoffmann (In the Aisles and Transit‘s Franz Rogowski) is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalizes homosexuality. Nevertheless, over the decades, he continues his quest for freedom and love, even if he finds it in the most unusual places.