one of the most high—profile releases of the week is ammonite, the second feature from writer—director francis lee. like his brilliant debut god's own country, this is another love story set against the backdrop of a bracing british locale — in this case, the sea battered coast of lyme regis. mary? look what's falling down. the rock thing. it's too big. impossible to move. kate winslet plays the 19th century palaeontologist mary anning, whose class and gender have kept her outside of the snobby geological establishment. saoirse ronan is charlotte murchison, a young woman plagued with melancholia, whose husband persuades mary to take her in and help her to recuperate. my husband... your husband left you.

but first, charlotte seems too fragile for the hard knocks lifestyle of searching for hidden treasures on the beach, but she's made of sturdier stuff and soon, her and mary become friends and then lovers. lee's decision to imagine an intimacy between two real—life characters has ruffled some feathers, which the film—maker responded by stating... it's a forceful point perfectly made, but in fact, it's issues of class and gender rather than sexual orientation that seem to lighten the heart of lee's film. it's in the british museum with its fancy, made—up name, ichthyosaurus. while ray finds his auto didactic archaeologist basil brown was snobbed by the snobbiest establishment in the dig, winslet�*s anning faces the double whammy of being both

largely self—taught and a woman — this in a time when the geological society of london, for example, was a men—only enclave. more problematic, i think, is the chilly tone of the film, which reminded me somewhat of the austere mood of michael winterbottom'sjude, an early critical triumph for kate winslet. both films have much to admire artistically, but also left me rather cold. you can find ammonite on a wide range of digital platforms. sticking with british films, the vanishing is a �*305—set haunted house chiller from christopher smith, whose cv ranges from the death line style subway chiller creep through the satirical slasher severance to the mediaeval romp black death. what's this room? mummy says you're not to go there.

excuse me? mummy says you're forbidden. jessica brown findlay is marianne, a reverence wife who moves into a dusty home full of creeks, shadows and secrets. anya mckenna—bruce is adelaide, a young girl who seems to fall under the influence of strange forces, turning her against marianne and leading her back into the house's dark history. are you talking about the voices? what did you hear? it was nothing. it's a history that's only too familiar to sean harris's flamehead spiritualist harry and tojohn lynch's strangely sinister malachi, who's placed his family within these dangerous walls. hauntingly lensed by cinematographer sarah cunningham, the vanishing is atmospheric fair that leads its audience down creepy corridors and shadowy tunnels, with echoes of everything from the haunting to the shining with just a hint of the orphanage. addie? there are flaws — the background plot about the

rise of nazis that never quite falls into place, and this doesn't have the pleasing chinese puzzle intricacy of smith's seabound thriller triangle. but it does have an evocative score by toydrum, whose film critics include alice lowe's prevenge and who once again lent a touch of magic. the banishing is on a range of digital platforms now. a few years ago, ceyda torun�*s wonderful ceyda torun�*s wonderful documentary kedi told the story of street cats in istanbul, including that cats can teach us to love life and learn to laugh again. now, elizabeth lo's stray turns its cameras on istanbul's canine population, offering an extraordinarily intimate portrait of the dogs whose lives also tell us much about ourselves.

at the centre of the film is zeytin, an olive—eyed creature who we see negotiating the hustle and bustle of istanbul, a city in which it is illegal to euthanize or imprison stray dogs. using gps trackers and unintrusive cameras, lo follows an array of dogs, documenting their lives in a impressively naturalistic fashion. meanwhile, the film draws subtle but unavoidable parallels with the city's homeless population, like the young syrian refugees who sleep in a building site and who take solace in the company of the dogs who sometimes seem better treated than them. it was suggested that dogs think that human beings while cats think that human beings are god's intermediaries. here, we're treated to the thoughts of group philosopher diogenes, within titles telling us that humans live artificially and hypocritically, and would do

well to study the dog. you can study stray in virtual cinemas and on—demand now. from istanbul to colombia, where this year's injury for the best international feature oscar was memories of my father, adapted from the claimed memoir about hector abad gomez, written by his son hector abad faciolince. javier camara is wonderful in the central role as a physician—turned—university lecturer with a strong social conscience who speaks out against injustice and inequality. but while his firmly held political views make him a target for those attempting to quash dissent, it's his role as a father who takes greatest pride in his family that that the centre of this

who takes greatest pride in his family that's at the centre of this episodic yet engrossing film. directed by fernando trueba, whose varied cv ranges from the spanish oscar—winner belle epoque to the gorgeous animation chico rita, memories of my father is a film born of a desire to celebrate the goodness in people. movies always talk about psychopaths, serial killers and utter imbeciles, trueba has said, adding that recounting the humanity of hector abad gomez was an opportunity that wouldn't come their way so often. that's a sentiment that runs throughout the movie, in which the distant past is set in rich, saturated hues, while more recent scenes are in black and white, the counterintuitive but highly effective technique that juxtaposes the vividness

of childhood memories with the more monotone reality of adult life. monochrome reality of adult life. memories of my father is available on curzon home cinema. now, one of the standout offerings at this year's sundance and south by south west film festivals was violation, festivals was violation, a riveting and sometimes shocking canadian drama that premiered at toronto in 2020, and is now available on the streaming service shudder. co—writer and director madeleine sims—fewer stars as miriam, sister to anna maguire�*s greta, with whom resentment seemed greta, with whom resentment seem to lurk behind the smiles. i miss you. do you? yeah, i miss what we used to be like. when her own relationship with caleb hits the rocks, miriam shares a fireside evening with greta's husband dylan, with terrible consequences. all i'm saying is you and me...

..we're in this together. i know we've hurt each other, | but we care about each other. get off. intriguingly, violation intercut between the intercuts between the revelations of what happened that night with the repercussions that follow, creating a narrative tension that keeps the audience on edge while also offering a bold new take on the revenge genre. there on the revenge genre. are shades of the nature is that there are shades of the nature is that satan's church monta will == that satan's church monta will -- alon: that satan's church monta will —— along with an unforgiving physicality. that's the whole cocktail in the film packs a powerful punch, but we warned— violation is not for the faint hearted. you can find it now on shoulder. i leave you with news that tom and jerry now have a 21st

century future combining live action with digital animation.— with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse- — with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse- 0h. _ with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse. 0h, jerry. _ with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse. 0h, jerry. i— with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse. 0h, jerry. i need - with digital animation. listen here, mr mouse. 0h, jerry. i need this i mr mouse. oh, jerry. i need this job, so simply put, this is a hotel. you're a mouse.— job, so simply put, this is a hotel. you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla. _ you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla, who _ you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla, who scams - you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla, who scams a - you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla, who scams a job - you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz stars as kayla, who scams a job at. you're a mouse. chloe grace moritz| stars as kayla, who scams a job at a swanky hotel do to host a lavish wedding only to have her plan scuppered and assisted by the titular pair. having become tv staples in the 60s to have their first frankel film in the 90s after a couple cameo appearances, tom and jerry have stood controversy for everything from racial stereotyping to excessive violence. the latter is certainly on display here, with tom getting bashed, smashed, snapped, ejected, electrocuted, hit in the

face with an iron, all to no lasting effect. clearly determined to move things on a bit, director tim story and writer kevin costello had the mouse known to put aside their differences and built a plot around a multicultural celebration that also enables them to have elephants wreaking havoc in man habit —— manhattan. it's hardly vintage fair, and there's the usual preponderance of knowing gags about copyright infringement in silence of the lambs while the kids giggle at characters hitting each other with heavy objects. as usual, the old ones are still the best. tom and jerry is available from a range of digital retailers. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe, and i'll see you next week. .,

today brought some impressive skyscape. clouds like this tend to bring heavy showers in the showers haven't only been heavy, they been wintry in places because we've had a change to some rather cold conditions. this frontal system swept eastwards without brakes of rain behind it. you can see the cold air flowing down from the northwest. where we have further showers through tonight, they will continue to be wintry we could see up to five centre maidens and snow —— five cm of snow. the midlands, moors of the west country, we can see a centimetre or two of snow by the into the night. temperatures in towns or cities close to freezing in... there could be some icy stresses to start tomorrow morning. but tomorrow should get off to quite a bright start with some spells of sunshine. however, it won't last. it will cloud over from the west of the day outbreaks of rain into northern

ireland, the odd spot until wales, and the southwest as well. temperatures already showing signs of creeping upwards, so it is quite a short—lived cold spell. a windy speu a short—lived cold spell. a windy spell awaits during saturday night, particularly across northwestern areas. that shows that we will have strong winds, gales in fact for parts of northern ireland for a time. very heavy bursts of rain working through, and that rain is likely to get stuck across central part of the uk during sunday. to the north, a mixture of sunny spells and showers. some will be wintry. to the south, cloud breaking to give spells of sunshine and that will bring some warmth with highs of 15 or 16 degrees. but the temperatures have further to rise. as we move out of sunday into monday, this frontal system will wriggle around across the north of the uk. that'll be quite a lot of rain into northwest scotland. enough to get flooding here over the next couple of days, but to the south of our waving

weather front, but to the south of our waving weatherfront, the but to the south of our waving weather front, the air will turn warmer and warmer. have a look at some of the temperatures. across the northern half of the uk, highs of 18 or19 northern half of the uk, highs of 18 or 19 degrees. we will have that rain for their north and west. further south, could see temperatures up to 22 or 23 degrees, unseasonably warm for the and of march. —— the end.

tonight at six: scotland's former first minister alex salmond launches a new pro—independence party to fight the elections in may. the alba party will challenge his former protege nicola sturgeon and the scottish national party in a move that could splinter the independence vote. we intend to contribute policy ideas to assist scotland's economic recovery and help build an independence platform to face new political realities. tonight the snp said scotland's interests should not be obscured by what it said was mr salmond's self—interest. also on the programme... a major victory at the supreme court as it rules in favour of thousands of asda store workers, in the latest stage of their equal pay battle. a slight rise in covid infection levels among england's