XIII Oceans

Tonight on Monday (11.25pm on Film 4) is a must watch if you haven’t seen it before.  Shane Meadows who directed the best British film of last year, This Is England, brought former boxer and resident of St Helens, Gary Stretch to the fore (he got a gig in Oliver Stone’s Alexander following this) in Dead Man’s Shoes.  Starring Paddy Considine in truly charismatic form this, for me, is the best I’d seen of Meadows until the BAFTA winning This Is England.

If you’re up and around late Wednesday night/Thursday morning (2.20am) Film 4 is showing P’Tang Yang Kipperbang which is notable for being one of the first films that Channel 4 brough to the viewing public.  Originally broadcast under the name First Kiss it’s a lovely little film reminiscent of Gregory’s Girl.

Film 4 has a couple of Powell and Pressburger classics this week at 7pm with A Matter Of Life And Death on Thursday and Black Narcissus (which has recently been aired on Radio Four), but my third choice of the week has to be Mike Leigh’s excellent Naked.  11.30pm, Friday night on Film 4, it’s often described as bleak, brutal and cynical it’s a truly brilliant piece of work delivered with sneering vitriol by David Thewlis.  My film of the week.