They’re good at being bad but they can’t help being respectable when it matters. Sometimes they’re the absolute worst but we jive with their bleak outlook on the world.
Here’s the line-up of the anti-hero double features corrupting SBS VICELAND each Monday night in May.
Monday 1 May 2017
Scarface
8:30pm, SBS Viceland
MA15+
USA, 1983
Genre: Crime
Language: English/Spanish
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, F. Murray Abraham
What's it about?
A Cuban refugee, Antonio "Tony" Montana (Pacino), arrives in Miami, Florida, in the 1980s and goes from working as a dishwasher to becoming a millionaire drug lord. It’s the tale of a small business owner, after all, and Tony is chasing the American dream while leaving carnage in his wake. The rise and fall of Montana is bloody, excessive and outrageous. Scarface thrives on melodramatic extremes while working with the traditional gangster film template of crooks vying for power. Pacino gives an unforgettable performance, which launched millions of impressions, and many imitators worked to replicate De Palma’s flamboyant style when approaching the crime world. The difference between Scarface and other crime films is in the quantities: other films have lines of cocaine, Scarface has mountains.
Read more: Scarface's impact on hip-hop culture
Sleepless Night
11:45pm, SBS VICELANDWatch now at SBS On Demand
M
France, 2011
Genre: Crime/thriller
Language: French
Director: Frédéric Jardin
Starring: Tomer Sisley, Serge Riaboukine
What’s it about?
Ah, the bad cop, the ultimate anti-hero. In Sleepless Night, a police detective, Vincent (Sisley), plans to rob a pair of drug couriers but he finds out the cocaine is owned by nightclub owner, Jose Marciano (Riaboukine). Marciano kidnaps Vincent's son with the demand that he will be returned if his cocaine is returned. Just as Vincent finalises the deal, he finds that his cocaine has vanished and must track it down. A frantic thriller that moves at a cracking pace.
[link title="Sleepless Night Review" url="node/5955"]
Monday 8 May 2017
Animal Kingdom
8.30pm, SBS VICELANDAvailable after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2010
Genre: Crime
Language: English
Director: David Michôd
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Jackie Weaver, Joel Edgerton
What’s it about?
A teenager (James Frecheville) navigates his survival amongst an explosive Melbourne-based crime family and the detective (Pearce) who thinks he can save him. The Cody family have a knockabout Australian charm that hides their sinister side. It’s stacked with amazing performances that includes Weaver’s Oscar nominated role as the family matriarch and Mendelsohn going ‘Full Mendo’.
[link title="Animal Kingdom review: Crime saga is shocking, brutal, brilliant" url="node/5049"]
Metro Manila
10:40pm, SBS VICELANDWatch now at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2013
Genre: Crime
Language: Filipino
Director: Sean Ellis
Starring: Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla
What’s it about?
Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez (Macapagal) and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines. It’s tough when they arrive but Ramirez catches a lucky break when he's offered steady work for an armored truck company and a senior officer (Arcilla) takes him under his wing. Soon, though, the reality of his work's mortality rate and the murky motives of his new partner force Oscar to confront the perils he faces in his new job and life. It’s a thriller that examines modern-day corruption but it’s as gripping as any action blockbuster – and twice as thought-provoking.
Monday 15 May 2017
Midnight Express
8:30pm, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
USA, 1978
Genre: Drama
Language: English, Turkish
Director: Alan Parker
Starring: Brad Davis, Randy Quaid, John Hurt, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins
What’s it about?
Set in 1970, while on holiday in Istanbul, Turkey, an American university student, Billy (Davis), is caught with 2 kilograms of hash blocks strapped to his chest while trying to get on a return flight home. Billy is arrested and thrown in a Turkish prison where faces the harsh reality of imprisonment in a foreign country and their brutal legal system. Oliver Stone won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for Midnight Express and Giorgio Moroder won for best score. The film was nominated for best picture, best director, best editing and best supporting acting (Hurt) at the 1979 Oscars.
Point Blank
10:45pm, SBS VICELANDWatch now at SBS On Demand
MA15+
France, 2010
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Language: Frenc
Director: Fred Cavayé
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gerard Lanvin, Elena Anaya
What’s it about?
Samuel Pierret (Lellouche) is a nurse who saves the wrong guy, a thief (Zem) whose henchmen take Samuel's pregnant wife (Anaya) hostage to force him to spring their boss from the hospital. A race through the subways and streets of Paris ensues, and the body count rises. An absolute nail biter from start to finish.
[link title="Point Blank Review" url="node/5766"]
Monday 22 May 2017
To Die For
8:30pm, SBS VICELANDAvailable after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+
USA, 1995
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck
What’s it about?
Suzanne Stone (Maretto) knows exactly what she wants. She wants to be a television newscaster and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. Stone manipulates a group of teenagers (Phoenix and Affleck) into killing her husband (Dillon), who she sees as a threat to her career. To Die For features one of the best performances from Kidman; it recently topped the ‘Kidman World Cup’, a social media poll run by film critic, Guy Lodge, to determine her best work. To Die For is a chilling satire of ambition and fame – a must see in the filmographies of Kidman and Van Sant.
SBS On Demand: The Nicole Kidman collection
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
10.30pm, SBS VICELANDAvailable after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Iran, 2014
Genre: Horror
Language: Persian
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Starring: Shelia Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh
What’s it about?
The first Iranian vampire western – sold! In the Iranian ghost-town, Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople being to realise they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire. A lyrical, black-and-white feminist take on vampires that was just so damn cool. Capes and coffins are replaced with chadors and skateboards. The scene featuring the White Lie’s ‘Death’ is unforgettable and did more in one scene than most films could achieve in their entire runtime.
Monday 29 May 2017
Taxi Driver
8.30pm, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
USA, 1976
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
What’s it about?
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran (De Niro) works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action. One of the definitive films of the '70s that changed the career projections of Scorsese and De Niro as well as starting their ongoing collaboration. If you’ve never seen Taxi Driver – this is your chance.
Rust and Bone
10.30pm, SBS VICELAND
MA15+
France/Belgium, 2012
Genre: Drama
Language: French, Belgian
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Marion Cottilard, Matthias Schoenaerts
What’s it about?
Put in charge of his young son, Alain (Schoenaerts) leaves Belgium to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Alain's bond with Stephanie (Cottilard), a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident. The physical and emotional wounds are raw in this powerful film that will change the way you hear Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’.
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