hello and a very warm welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases is mark kermode, as ever. hello, mark. hi. we have a very, very interesting week. we have the last black man in san francisco, which is a sundance film festival hit. we have monos, an extraordinary feature from alejandro landes. and black and blue, a thriller starring naomie harris. there is quite a lot of talk about all of these, actually.

there has! so, san francisco features? yeah, so this was a film that was funded initially by crowdfunding. they appealed for crowdfunding with an idea and they did really, really well. it is co—written by and stars jimmie fails, who plays a man who is desperate to retrieve his family home in the upmarket filmore district of san francisco. he has a very good friend with whom he tours around the city with and they have been pushed to the outskirts, and visit this house regularly, which is now lived in by a white couple. he believes they don't look after the house properly. he turns up and starts painting the windowsills. they're going, "go away! it's and he says, "well, you're not looking after it properly." he arrives there one day to discover that they themselves have been thrown out of the house — there has been an inheritance problem, they're not longer living there, so the house is now empty.

he decides "we're going to move back in" and he goes to see his aunt to get all the furniture and all the furnishings that used to be in the house before they moved out. here's a clip. your daddy didn't send you here, right? no. you sure? i swear to god. because i hope he's done dragging you into his schemes. auntie, this is for us. 0k. i'm proud of you. i really am. thank you. i miss that city. 0h! ooh! you still look good though, baby! you still look good. mmm. what i love about this — and i think you get a little sense from that — is it has a surreal comic element to it, but it also has a lot of pathos and element of tragedy about it. on the one hand, it is about how place changes through gentrification, because the whole thing is his grandfather made the house and they want to get back to it.

on the other hand, it is about how any place changes, depending on the way you look at it. there is this lovely thing about the two main characters skateboarding through the city and you see the city passing by them but you also see the bond between them, because one of them has to put his hand on the other‘s shoulders in order for them to skateboard together. and it is about how people and places are intertwined. funnily enough, the director described it as a love story between a man and a house. it is partly about history, partly about personal relationships. it has the most wonderful score by emile mosseri, who i hadn't come across their work before. this score lends a fairytale aspect to this story. because on the one hand, it is a story about a prince being exiled from his castle. it could be quite an angry film, because gentrification makes some people, you know, quite upset. yes, and it absolutely isn't — although there is a thread of anger in the narrative — but what is lovely about it is it's actually strangely gentle, strangely serene — almost dreamy. and i spent a long time watching it thinking that the real genius

of this — on the one hand, the music is fabulous and it has this look about it which is that you get into the rhythm of the piece, that you learn to slightly slow yourself down and attune to the frequency of the film. it is very rich, very rewarding, often very funny, but also it has a real tragicomic dark heart to it. it is about a very real thing — about something changing, about memory, about history and about gentrification — but also it is kind of a fairytale. it was made from the ground up for very little money and it was backed by brad pitt's plan b. and it's really remarkable. interesting. really interesting. i don't even know how to begin to describe the second film. yes! thankfully, you're here! have you seen monos? i haven't seen it yet. i am bemused trying to read about it. monos almost defies description by words because it is a audio—visual experience.

so it is directed by alejandro landes, who is a colombian—ecuadorian film—maker. it is a story about teenage guerrilla soldiers in an unnamed location atop of a mountain above the cloud line where they are basically being trained and they're looking after an american prisoner. we don't have geopolitical details of where they are, even when this is and how this got there. at the beginning, they are being trained by somebody called the messenger, who leaves and leaves them to their own devices. there is a motive in the film of a pig's head on a stick — which of course immediately makes you think lord of the flies. lord of the flies, yes. there is a lot of lord of the flies. there is a lot of heart of darkness and, by extension, coppola's apocalypse now. also, this reminded me of — there's a really strange movie about child soldiers called johnny mad dog, which is very hallucinogenic, very moving, very upsetting and horrifying. i also saw echoes of other films. it reminded me of barbet schroeder, that film la vallee. it is a film which is

so kaleidoscopic that despite the fact it is about, on the one hand, child soldiers, it is about so much more. it is a coming—of—age story. it has this universal feel because you never know where the story is taking place, or when. it is about the group dynamics between this cast fracture and splinter. the cast is made up of, on the one hand, people who have never done any on—screen work before and on the other hand, at least one cast member was a regular on hannah montana and is the comic lead in the kings of summer, which is my favourite coming—of—age movie, and who i did not recognise until halfway through the film. it has a score by mica levi that is quite the most astonishing thing i have heard in years. it is brilliant. it is absolutely brilliant and indescribable. i was about to say defies description. defies description, yes. the third choice, naomie harris, i love her. she is great. tell me it's great, please. she's the best thing in it. it is a very a nuts—and—bolts

thriller with a nice set—up. which is that she is a rookie policeman, there is racism in the force. but the film is called black and blue, and she is told she has to decide between being black or blue. now, she is blue, she is a policewoman. very early on, she sees her colleagues committing an appalling act which she accidentally films on her body cam. then they are after her, and she is in an area in which the criminals are after her as well. so she is on the run from everyone. here's a clip. hello? it's me. the hell is going on? is that blood? i need sugar. look, i don't know what's going on, but you can't be in here. i've been shot. what?

what do you mean? can i use your phone? who shot you? can i use your phone? you got to go! i don't want no part to this! the police is riding around here all the time! they'll help you. it was the cops that shot me. so that's a great set—up and she is really terrific and she elevates it from being essentially a nuts—and—bolts b—movie thriller into being something more than that. narratively, there's a weird echo of — do you remember that film set in belfast called ‘71, about basically a british squaddie who is suddenly separated from his fellow — and finds himself trapped in this area where he doesn't understand the situation, doesn't understand the landscape and it kind of takes place over one night? this has a similar sort of claustrophobia to it. it is very efficiently put together. so there are some very tense set pieces. as the narrative goes on, it becomes slightly more and more unbelievable, and in the end, it becomes rather ridiculous but all the way through it, you believe in her. and because you believe in her, you believe in the story. and i am a real sucker for a well—executed genre picture. you know, a well—executed, stripped—down genre picture which is what this is.

it may well be more at home on dvd or in streaming. i don't think it will be a huge cinema hit, by any means, but i think she is really great and it is done efficiently by someone who understands — i mean, it's interesting that the director comes from a horror—thriller background — and you know how i feel about that — and that is a great thing, that's a really good training ground, and i think she really elevates it to the next level. ok, best out is probably something we all need to cheer us up in these dark times. 90 minutes of pure goodness — the shaun the sheep movie, farmageddon. which is just what — i am a huge aardman fan anyway. yes,yes, me too. ijust smiled and laughed and giggled all the way through. it is a shaun the sheep movie with a kind of et twist to it. it doesn't matter what age you are, it is just so charming and funny and moving, and made with real care and love, and i am a huge silent movie fan. because there is no dialogue in it. so much of it is just to do with silent movie humour. incidentally, the combine harvester

you're seeing is a set—up for a gag which i laughed about for about three minutes. honestly, it will make everyone feel the world is a better place. it is so lovely. i think we should have that on prescription then, the whole nation. really should. don't feel very well? see farmageddon. you will feel better. quick thought about dvd as well. very quickly, brightburn did not take a huge amount of money in cinemas. it is a dark take on the superman origins myth. i do not know much about it before i saw it and consequently, i really enjoyed it. i like the idea of taking a story that people know quite well and flipping it. it is not the most original thing in the world — it takes a lot of influences from predecessor writing and also films — but i liked the fact that it has the strength of its convictions and it seemed to take itself seriously enough to work. so it is a dark take on the superman origins myth. i know you have a certain fondness for superhero movies. i'm certainly married to someone who loves all of that, so, yes, that will be on our shelf. yeah, exactly. but farmageddon, farmageddon, farmageddon.

double bill — farmageddon and monos. your mind will be blown. that's my weekend sorted! thank you very much! enjoy your cinema—going, whatever you see. really, really interesting week. thanks for being with us. see you next time. bye— bye. there hello. sunday was a lovely day for many parts of the british isles, but despite the presence of the sunshine, you will have noticed how much cooler it felt, especially so across southern parts of written. and that is the way we're going to continue over the next few days. lots of dry weather, some sunshine around as well, but cool by day and night. and that's the way we're going to start monday morning. quite a widespread frost in many inland areas, thanks to the clear skies overnight. but but, once we get going, is going to mean a lot of

sunshine around. still one or two showers across parts of scotland, the odd one may bump into the eastern shores of east anglia, particularly. i waited a south—west, more clouds and rain here, perhaps, certainly in the far south—west, but it helps to keep the temperatures at least in double figures. those fronts really not moving very far, very fast. a similar sort of areas at risk of a little bit of rain as we move into tuesday. the isobars opening up over the north of scotland, so less in the way of breeze here. still a bit of an onshore wind towards eastern shores, but after a frosty start it will be a gloriously sunny day. again, those temperatures really struggling. more perhaps just getting into double figures, but as you see, onlyjust. now, having had those fronts towards the south—west for a day or two i think they will be taken over by a new set of fronts coming in from the atlantic. notice the squeeze on the isobars as well. after a frosty start across many central and eastern areas, it is our towards the west that we look to see a combination of cloudy, wet and windy weather becoming ever more pervasive

across these western areas, eventually getting up into northern ireland through central and western parts of wales, down across the south—west. those temperatures beginning to recover slightly. we are up to about 13 as a max. wednesday night into thursday, we will push those weather fronts further towards the east. following behind, there could well be datasets of fronts coming in from the atlantic. at this stage we really are looking to south—westerly ‘s, mild airdragging their are looking to south—westerly ‘s, mild air dragging their way in from the atlantic to push quite a bit of cloud, some rain, but milder conditions to eventually all parts of the british isles. thursday could be one of those days, i'm afraid. some rain out towards the east. murky conditions down the spine of the country out towards the west, the country out towards the west, the rain gathering a new, as new sets of fronts moving from the atlantic. at least the temperatures are recovering.

forces i'm samantha simmonds in london, the headlines: the us says its forces have killed the leader of the so—called islamic state group, abu bakr al—baghdadi, often described as the world's most wanted man. a brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated. a state of emergency across california as wildfires continue to spread whipped up by ferocious winds. i'm rico hizon in singapore. also in the programme: singing. vigils in vietnam, for some of the 39 people found dead