Closed Captions (CC) available for Lost in Translation, Dallas Buyers Club, Pawn Sacrifice, Zero Dark Thirty, Babel, Jappeloup and A Month of Sundays
MONDAY 11 JANUARY
Return of the Hero
7:50pm
M
Belgium, France, 2018
Genre: History, Comedy
Language: French
Director: Laurent Tirard
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Mélanie Laurent, Christophe Montenez, Fabienne Galula, Noémie Merlant
What's it about?
1809 France. Captain Neuville (Dujardin) is called to the front, leaving his future bride Pauline (Merlant) heartbroken. Her sister Elizabeth (Laurent) decides to write letters on his behalf to cheer her up, thinking he would never come back. When Neuville returns home unexpectedly, he is welcomed in glory, but in truth is a war deserter and an opportunistic coward, and a suspicious Elizabeth is determined to expose him.
Lost in Translation
9:30pm
PG, CC
USA, 2003
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
What's it about?
Bob Harris (Murray) and Charlotte (Johansson) are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young woman tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband (Ribisi). Unable to sleep, Bob and Charlotte cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar, and this chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship. Nominated for four 2004 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Sofia Coppola).
TUESDAY 12 JANUARY
Anthony Zimmer
7:50pm
M
France, 2005
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Language: French, Russian
Director: Jérôme Salle
Starring: Sophie Marceau, Yvan Attal, Sami Frey, Gilles Lellouche, Daniel Olbrychski
What's it about?
Interpol and the Russian mafia are chasing Anthony Zimmer (Attal), a criminal genius responsible for money laundering in France. Zimmer has had extensive plastic surgery, and the only way to trace him is through his girlfriend Chiara (Marceau). When Francois, an ordinary man, speaks to Chiara on the train, he is mistaken for Zimmer, and thus becomes a target for the mob. The film was remade in 2010 with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie asThe Tourist.
Son of Saul
9:30pm
M
Hungary, 2015
Genre: War, Drama
Language: German, Hungarian, Yiddish
Director: Laszlo Nemes
Starring: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn
What's it about?
Saul Auslander (Röhrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from Auschwitz in 1944 who were forced to assist the Nazis by cremating the bodies of the dead. Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he believes is his young son. As the other Sonderkommando plan a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial. Winner of the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY
A Private Function
7:45pm
M
UK, 1984
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Malcolm Mowbray
Starring: Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Richard Griffiths, Denholm Elliott, Pete Postlethwaite
What's it about?
In the summer of 1947, Britain prepares to commemorate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. To get around food-rationing laws, Dr. Charles Swaby (Elliott), accountant Henry Allardyce (Alison Steadman) and solicitor Frank Lockwood (John Normington) are fattening a black-market pig for the big day. Egged on by his wife Joyce (Smith), meek Gilbert Chilvers (Palin) steals the swine, but the couple must conceal it from inspector Morris Wormold (Bill Paterson).
Dallas Buyers Club
9:30pm
MA15+, CC
USA, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Steve Zahn, Jennifer Garner, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto
What's it about?
1986, Texas. Homophobic womaniser Ron Woodruff (McConaughey, in an Oscar-winning performance) is completely oblivious of AIDS, even as it spreads through the world, terrifying the public. So when Ron contracts HIV, he is blindsided. Given just 30 days to live, he tries in vain to be included in the AZT drug trial. Ron seeks out other untested, alternative medications in Mexico, and establishes an underground network of drug supply for the growing increasing numbers of HIV and AIDS. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y., Wild, Big Little Lies).
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY
Pawn Sacrifice
7:30pm
M, CC
USA, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Lily Rabe, Peter Sarsgaard, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg
What's it about?
During the Cold War chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer (Maguire) takes on Boris Spassky (Schreiber), the Soviet world champion. Though Fischer wants a normal match against his rival, the United States wants it to be seen as the Cold War played out on the chess board. All of this isn't helping the fact that Fischer is constantly dealing with paranoia. This is the world of chess like you've never seen it before.
Zero Dark Thirty
9:40pm
M, CC
USA, 2013
Genre: Thriller
Language: English
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Ehle, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, James Gandolfini
What's it about?
For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret locations across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal to track down and eliminate wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. From Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Point Break), and nominated for five 2013 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
FRIDAY 15 JANUARY
The Wife
7:35pm
M
Sweden, UK, USA, 2018
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Swedish
Director: Bjorn Runge
Starring: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Harry Lloyd
What's it about?
As her husband Joe (Pryce) is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in honour of his acclaimed and prolific body of work, Joan (Close, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress) ruminates over shared compromises, secrets and betrayals.
Babel
9:30pm
MA15+, CC
USA, 2006
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Adriana Barraza
What's it about?
A rifle shot in the Moroccan desert sets in a motion a series of events that will have tragic consequences for the two young Moroccan gunmen, as well as a married American couple who are grieving on holiday, a Mexican nanny struggling to make ends meet and a rebellious, deaf Japanese girl. Nominated for seven 2007 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and winner of one for Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla).
SATURDAY 16 JANUARY
Jappeloup
6:05pm
MA15+, CC
France, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: English, French
Director: Christian Duguay
Starring: Guillaume Canet, Daniel Auteuil, Marina Hands, Tcheky Karyo
What's it about?
A true sports story that utterly defies the odds, Duguay’s film captures the wild ups and downs of the Olympics-bound career of legendary equine star Jappeloup and his troubled rider (Canet), locked in a tense relationship with his horseman father (Auteuil) and forever uncertain of his own skills as an equestrian.
Lord of War
8:30pm
MA15+
USA, 2005
Genre: Action
Language: English
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ian Holm, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke, Eamonn Walker, Bridget Moynahan
What's it about?
An international arms dealer (Cage) find his business slowly falling apart from numerous factors, including his drug-addicted brother and business partner (Leto), an interpol agent (Hawke), and an East African warlord (Walker). Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, screenwriter of The Truman Show and writer/director of Gattaca.
Capharnaüm
10:45pm
M
Lebanon, 2018
Genre: Drama
Language: Arabic
Director: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Nadine Labaki
What's it about?
Zain (Al Rafeea), a 12-year-old boy scrambling to survive on the streets of Beirut, sues his parents for having brought him into such an unjust world, where being a refugee with no documents means that your rights can easily be denied. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
SUNDAY 17 JANUARY
A Month of Sundays
6:25pm
PG, CC
Australia, 2015
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Language: English
Director: Matthew Saville
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Julia Blake, Justine Clarke
What's it about?
Frank Mollard (LaPaglia) won't admit it, but he can't move on. Divorced but still attached, he can't sell a house in a property boom, much less connect with his teenage son. One night Frank gets a phone call from his mother (Blake). Nothing out of the ordinary - apart from the fact that she died the year before.
The Heist of the Century
8:30pm
M
Argentina, 2020
Genre: Comedy, Thriller, Crime
Language: Spanish
Director: Ariel Winograd
Starring: Guillermo Francella, Diego Peretti, Luis Luque, Pablo Rago, Rafael Ferro
What's it about?
In 2006, a group of thieves performed what is considered one of the most famous and smart bank heists in the history of Argentina. How they robbed the Rio bank is as surprising as what happened afterwards. This is their story.
Esteros
10:35pm
MA15+
Argentina, 2016
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: Portuguese, International, Spanish
Director: Papu Curotto
Starring: Ignacio Rogers, Esteban Masturini, Joaquín Parada, Blas Finardi Niz, Renata Calmon
What's it about?
Matías and Jerónimo's childhood friendship transforms the summer before starting high school, when they both experience their sexual awakening. But Matías' father breaks up their relationship when he takes up a job in Brazil. More than ten years later, Matías returns to his old town and runs into Jerónimo, who now works as a biologist for a big company. Seeing his friend again reawakens his feelings and gives Matías the chance at real love.
Click here for details of SBS World Movies' Summer of Discovery