the park is really close? come on. you're sweaty. # i wonder where friends... the brilliant feature debut from writer and star kelly o'sullivan, this is a vibrant and emotionally engaging tale that dresses a subversive self—determination manifesto in the clothes of a ditzy, bittersweet comedy about midlife disappointment. have you nannied before? i've babysitted...sat. do you know how to open this? o'sullivan plays bridget, a 30—something waitress who finds herself facing an unwanted pregnancy at around the same time that fate conspires to offer her new employment as a nanny. frances? will bridget‘s avowed child—phobia prevent her

from caring for six—year—old frances, and what will her employers, one of whom is devoutly religious, think of her decision to have a termination? directed with loose—limbed intimacy by alex thompson, st frances is refreshingly frank on a number of subjects that mainstream cinema has often considered to be taboo. from menstruation and postnatal depression, to birth control and abortion. your sperm are probably super fast. that's a compliment. thank you, thank you so much. i appreciate that. it's also terrifically funny and heart—warming, with intimate hand—held cinematography giving us the impression that we're eavesdropping on genuine conversations and encounters. but what's most impressive is how much the incidental details of this frank and feisty film ring true. why was she angry? because she was born into a patriarchy and it effing sucked. what's a patriarchy? it's where men are in charge and women have to do what they say. like michaela coel‘s outstanding tv series i may destroy you, st frances expands the representation

of women's lives on screen in a manner that's so casual, you hardly notice it's happening. i am proud of you. i'm so proud of you, frannie. whispering: i'm not frannie right now. oh, sorry. i loved st frances, and i have no hesitation in recommending it. it's well worth a trip to the cinema. # i once was lost, but now am found... all right, well, that was neither amazing nor graceful. also opening in a number of uk cinemas this week is stage mother, in which jacki weaver plays maybelline, the director of a conservative texas church choir, who inherits a san francisco gay bar when her estranged son dies. maybelline‘s husband is a straight—arrow stick—in—the—mud who refused to accept his son's sexuality, causing the family to split apart. are you ricky's mum, from texas?

but now, maybelline sees a chance to make peace with the past to become a surrogate mum to the boys in the band, and turn a rundown drag show into a crowd—pulling success. back in the ‘90s, films like priscilla, queen of the desert and to wong foo, thanks for everything julie newmar provided multiplex friendly portrayals of drag culture, along with mike nichols‘ the birdcage, a star—studded us remake of la cage aux folles. and whatever those films‘ flaws, they seemed at the time broadly ground—breaking. but in the age of rupaul‘s drag race, it's hard to see what ground, if any, is being broken by stage mother. there's literally nothing new or original about director tom fitzgerald's movie from a script by brad henning, which is content to simply tick every well—meaning stereotypical box. thanks heaven forjacki weaver, who was oscar—nominated for recent hits like animal kingdom and silver linings playbook, and brings a much—needed dose of oomph to a film that, although good—hearted, borders all too often on the bland.

there's both a theatrical and virtual release for il traditore, the traitor, a sprawling drama about tommaso buscetta, a member of the sicilian mafia who turned informant, shedding light on the inner workings of the cosa nostra. in competition at last year's cannes film festival, marco bellocchio's ambitious, if not always enthralling drama depicts buscetta and his family, from whom he was separated by geography and imprisonment, and some of whom he lost to a catalogue of internecine mob violence.

the most intriguing scenes are those between buscetta and judge falconi, with these two men from opposite sides of the law finding unexpected kinship and respect. there's weird theatre too in the courtroom scenes, in which buscetta testifies while mafias who watch from behind barsjeering, gesturing and occasionally taking the stand. it's an epic story, which was the italian entry for the 92nd academy awards‘ international feature category, but which, for me, lacked the kinetic energy with which, for example, scorsese‘s goodfellas took a true—life crime saga and turned it into something genuinely cinematic. this is the place you come where you can dance and scream and be with your own kind and where everything is

possible. but how do i get there from here? transformation is at the heart of how to build a girl, adopted by screenwriter caitlin moran from her autobiographically— inspired bestseller. what a beautiful day! i regret to say that despite my best intentions, today has been another miserable one. well, missy, i've had plenty of those. beanie feldstein plays johanna morrigan, a studious mid—905 school kid with dreams of becoming a writer, who discovers that an unbridled enthusiasm for the annie soundtrack isn‘t what the hip rock press are looking for. have a free t—shirt. dear god, it's a child catcher. so, she reinvents herself as bad girl dolly wilde, a top hat—wearing whirlwind who wins awards for writing the kind of scathing reviews that make her feared and famous, but also leave her feeling empty and unfulfilled. like gurinder chadha‘s blinded by the light,

how to build a girl has a rough and ready energy that‘s hard to resist, sprinkling its streetwise tale with elements of ecstatic musical fantasia. however awful it is on earth, it's always summer. it‘s a credit to feldstein that the wobbliness of her wolverhampton accent never comes between us and her character. instead, we simply get on board with her adventures, as she resolves to rip it up and start again. come on, we‘re going out. how to build a girl is available on amazon prime. from wolverhampton to paris for alice, the prize—winning feature debut from australian writer—director josephine mackerras.

emilie piponnier is a woman with a child and an apparently loving husband who suddenly disappears after squandering all their money on high—class prostitutes. facing foreclosure on her home, alice turns to the very escort agencies to which her husband was addicted, finding a new line of work which proves unexpectedly liberating. originally written as an english—language film set in london, alice has a somewhat rose—tinted view of sex work that sits comfortably, or should that be uncomfortably, within a certain strand of chic cosmopolitan french cinema. what raises us above the level of mere movie cliche is the efficiency in which mackerras evokes the personal and financial catastrophe facing our heroine in the first act. we really do get the feeling of watching someone‘s life suddenly falling apart, thanks in no small part to

emilie piponnier‘s performance. plaudits too to martin swabey, who is eerily convincing as the perfect partner who turns out to be a loathsome creep. alice is available on selected digital platforms. # trolls, they want to have fun. # yeah, trolls just want to have fun. back at the beginning of lockdown, trolls world tour was one of the first major studio films intended for cinema release, but instead went straight to streaming services. poppy, you know you can't go back on a pinky promise. from monday, you can own it on dvd and blu—ray to watch over and over and over again. a prospect that will doubtless delight some kids while terrifying their parents. a pinky promise! dang! i‘ll leave you with news that bong joon ho‘s oscar winner parasite is back at the curzon mayfair in london and on curzon home cinema in the black—and—white addition

unveiled at the rotterdam film festival earlier this year. according to director bong, all the characters look even more poignant and the distinctions between the different spaces where the families live with all the shades of grey, are even more tragic. that‘s it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe and i‘ll be back next week. i apologise. hello again. i have been looking ahead to the weekend weather prospects. for saturday i don‘t like particularly what i see. a cloudy day for many, with

outbreaks of rain at times. looking at the satellite picture, to the west, you can see how extensive the cloud is, and it is a complex area of low pressure, bringing different zones of rain across the country, with a couple of weather fronts mixed in, pushing east. the first of those, bringing rain at the moment to scotland across wales and england. as that clears we will be left with low cloud, drizzle for northern ireland and heavier ireland and heavier burst of rain and there is rather murky conditions will extend to scotland. it will be a humid night with temperatures around 17 the low for some. tomorrow, a cloudy start with some drizzle. in the jet stream winds, you can see a dip, responsible for this line of very heavy showers extending in across the republic of ireland and northern ireland, so some heavy downpours around, and as that dip in thejet stream, the trough hits over the english channel

it causes a wave develop and there will be a zone of heavy rain across east anglia and the south—east of england, and this rain could push into central and southern england, the midlands, lincolnshire and yorkshire, some of the wettest weather through the afternoon, but some areas will get pretty wet — certainly in the east. the cricket will see some interruptions to play for the third test on monday. looks like being a complete wash—out. that is one to watch, as well. through saturday night, outbreaks of rain clearing from east anglia and the south—east. skies clearing for a time, and it will begin to start to turn less humid but temperatures still around 12 celsius. but sunday, the better half of the weekend for many of us. broadly speaking a day of sunshine and showers, with lengthy outbreaks of rain working their way into north—west scotland and a breezier day but feeling significantly fresher and more pleasant with more than a ray of sunshine coming through. temperatures for most of us between 17—20,

not feeling too bad. into next week, we have a lot of cloud on monday, so it is not exactly triple—a rated weather, we will see cloud and some heavy rain as well, and turning drier and warmer as the week goes on.

welcome to bbc news. i‘m aaron safir. our top stories: britain‘s prime minister boris johnson tells the bbc his government didn‘t understand coronavirus at the start and could have handled things differently. us federal officials repossess the chinese consulate in houston, after president trump orders its closure. in the escalating diplomatic row, where now for us—chinese relations? iraq creates a city in the desert to bury its coronavirus dead. we report on the scale of the outbreak there. black lives matter in brazil. we have a special report from the country where police killed nearly six times as many people as in the us last year.