my daughter would've been five today. 0h... how did she pass? there's no doubting the conviction of the performances, with kirby, who earned an oscar nomination for pieces of a woman, continuing to cement her reputation as one of the finest screen actors of her generation. god puts heavy stones in our path. it's up to us to step over them. plaudits, too, to cinematographer andre chemetoff, whose imposing views of romanian mountains double efficiently for upstate new york, and british composer daniel blumberg, whose music captures the discordant mood shifts with gut wrenching aplomb. stones are what the fortunate receive. my mother's mother was born in 1780, right here in schoharie county. the result is a film that offers what appears to be an honest and accurate depiction of hard times, but in which any

sense of hope orjoy lies not in this world, but in the world to come. it's in cinemas now. it's very important... he doesn't appreciate you touching the glass. and i don't appreciate his manner. senor? we don't need this. 0h. he's gotta bejoking. oh, gosh! ok, no need, senor, no need... i am an american citizen, senor, please! at the other end of the spectrum in terms of mood, heft, and, well, pretty much everything, actually, is off the rails — a daft bill kenwright—produced romp featuring a cheesy script, a star—studded cast, and a jukebox soundtrack of clumsily—slapped—on blondie hits. jenny seagrove, sally phillips, and kelly preston — in herfinalfilm role — are the threesome reliving

a youthful dream to see the lights in parma cathedral. joining them is elizabeth dormer—phillips�* maddie, daughter of the recently—deceased anna, whose dying wish was for them all to make this last—minute pilgrimage. broad strokes interrailing japes ensue, as the group pinball across france, italy and spain, losing their money, passports, and minds as they deal with births, deaths, and marriages. the internet scares me. you could be talking to anyone. i mean, i could be- a serial killer — i'm not! if you stand this next is something like shirley valentine — in which a middle—aged housewife finds a new lease on life while holidaying in greece — then off the rails really pales by comparison. there's little of the wit, grit, or bittersweet humour of that willy russell—scripted gem in this ragbag of romantic cliches and cut—and—paste pop songs — which, for all its eye—catching locations, feels more like a tv movie the anti—future. —— then a feature. to be clear, off the rails won't be

troubling the oscars, or even the baftas. but i'd be lying if i claimed that this didn't touch my dark heart at all. not least because it's pretty much impossible to spend 90 minutes in the company of this very likeable cast — which also includes small roles for ben miller and franco nero — without it raising a chuckle or a tear. and, i confess to both. moreover, there's something reassuringly shonky about off the rails that distances it from the obnoxious excesses of, for example, sex and the city 2 — a slick hollywood blockbuster that i personally found more distasteful than the human centipede. laughter. off the rails is in cinemas now. a couple of weeks ago, i declared mads mikkelsen�*s performance in the oscar—winning another round to be the high point

in a screen career that ranges from playing a bond villain in casino royale, to starring in the oscar—nominated danish historical drama a royal affair, and winning a cannes best actor award for his lead role in the hunt — not to mention breathing new life into the cannibalistic dr lecter in tvs hannibal. now, mikkelsen further demonstrates his range in riders ofjustice — a totally unhinged offering from writer—director anders thomasjensen, whose extensive credits include scripting suzanne bier�*s oscar—winner in a better world. mikkelsen plays marcus, a gruff soldier with a crew cut and an unruly beard whose wife, emma, is killed in a train wreck after a fellow passenger gives up his seat. it looks like the set up for a grief—stricken drama about morning and loss, with marcus�*s teenage daughter, mathilde, who is on the train with her mum, struggling to find comfort or common ground with her dad. but instead, the film turns into something completely different — first, a paranoid conspiracy

thriller as the disconsolate algorithm expert who fatally gave emma his seat convinces markus that his wife's death on the same train as a biker gang trial witness could not have been a coincidence — and then, as an increasingly crazed black comedy. as markus and three misfit geeks wreak murderous vengeance on the supposed of killers while pretending, for the sake of mathilde, to be experimental grief therapists. if that sounds completely nuts, it's because, well, it's completely nuts, veering between action, drama, socio—political satire, and three stooges slapstick comedy not only between scenes, but sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. mikkelsen somehow manages to keep a straight face, which perversely only makes the sense of disorientation worse — or better, depending on your perspective. none of which is to suggest

that riders ofjustice, which opens and closes with a fatalistic joke about bicycle thieves, isn't oddly entertaining fair. i kind of enjoyed its tragicomic absurdity, even if it does suggest that the danish sense of humour is even more morbidly twisted then we may so far have imagined. riders ofjustice is in cinemas now. of the three ivory coast submissions for the foreign language film oscar over the years, two have been her by writer director philippe lacote — 2014's run, and night of the kings, which was shortlisted for best international feature at the 93rd academy awards. a shape—shifting tale of incarceration and emancipation, it may have missed out on an oscar nomination — but this vivid, genre—fluid investigation of the alchemical art of storytelling definitely hits the mark.

it's set in the notorious maca prison — described by one keeper as the only reason in the world run by an inmate. that inmate is blackbeard, an ailing godfather figure played by steve tientcheu, who made a lasting impression in the urban drama les miserables. nearing the end of his reign, blackbeard declares a new arrival to be roman, whose role it is to tell stories as if his life depended on it. what follows is a strange and rather wonderful hybrid of tough prison drama and theatrical performance piece — with mime, dance, poetry, and oral history intertwining in a whirling cinematic maelstrom. there's a fable—like element that

links night of the kings back to the folkloric tales of 1,001 nights — with roman a modern—day scheherazade — and to the oral storytelling traditions of west africa. but lacote�*s cinematic storytelling is all his own, mixing the personal and political in a heady brew that's unlike anything else currently playing in uk cinemas. i'll leave you with news of the french comedy drama bye bye morons, which picked up a whopping seven awards, including best film at the 46th cesars earlier this year. virginie efira is suze trappet, a woman with little time searching for the child she gave up for adoption. writer—director albert dupontel plays the snubbed it operative whose botched suicide attempt misfires with spectacular results. and nicolas marie is the blind archivist who winds up helping

the mismatched pair to track down her child and clear his name. despite the multiple awards, bye bye morons is fairly lowbrow fair, reveling in a hodgepodge of broad, bureaucratic satire, politically incorrect slapstick, and questionably romanticised views of creepy male—female relationships. or, to put it another way, it's very french. there on the—nose—nods to the films of terry gilliam, who makes a fleeting cameo appearance, while the over cranked zaniness evokes the heyday ofjeunet and caro, albeit without the visual invention. it's fun up to a point, but i remain baffled by the love heaped upon it in its homeland which is unlikely to be replicated here. it's in cinemas and on curzon home cinema now. that's it for this week, thanks for watching the film review. stay safe, and i'll

see you next week. good evening. well, northern ireland saw temperatures up around 30 celsius once again today. further south, the storm clouds were gathering, and that sets us up for the weekend. a cooler feel to the weather, with some really intense downpours for some of us. now, a lot to look at on this satellite picture. this beautiful swirl of low cloud in the north sea, that's been turning things quite murky for some north—eastern coasts. these clouds to the south—west are the storm clouds. we've had a lot of lightning from these clouds as they've been approaching our shores, and through this evening and tonight, this rain, this thundery rain will push in across southern counties of england, getting into the far south of wales, too. at the same time, this mist and murk and low cloud will once again roll in across north east scotland,

the eastern side of england on what will be another pretty warm night. but as we head into tomorrow, this area of low pressure will dominate the scene across the southern half of the uk. where you're close to the centre of this low, you can expect some really intense downpours and thunderstorms. across southern parts of england and south wales especially, there is the risk of flooding and transport disruption. now, it won't be raining all the time. there will be some gaps, some bright or sunny spells between the downpours. but where the showers do show up, they could give you a lot of rain in a short space of time, with frequent lightning and some rather gusty winds. this mist and murk and low cloud will cling to some of the north sea coasts. but for north wales, north west england, nothern ireland and a good part of scotland, we'll see some sunshine and still some warmth through tomorrow afternoon, with highs of around 26 celsius. the showers and storms, though, in the south will continue to rumble around for a time during saturday evening. and as we get into the second half of the weekend, our area of low pressure will still be with us. it'll lumber perhaps just

a little further eastwards, so that's going to focus the showers and thunderstorms across south—eastern parts of the uk, especially through east anglia, parts of south east england, maybe the south west and parts of the midlands as well. some further heavy and potentially disruptive thundery downpours. further north and west, drier, brighter with quite a lot of sunshine, but temperatures lower than they have been recently, between 20—21; degrees in most places. and as we head into next week, things will continue to turn cooler. we'll see some further rain at times. some of that rain will be heavy and thundery, but with some drier, brighter spells in between.

at six — tokyo's olympic games are officially underway as the opening ceremony takes place injapan. a year late — in a city under emergency covid measures — the olympic flame is lit at last byjapan�*s tennis star naomi osaka. the first games in history without spectators — the olympics boss thanks the japanese people and the athletes for their resilience in the face of covid. let us cherish these moments, finally we are all here together. one of the biggest team gbs ever sent to the olympics — with hopes of bringing home up to 70 medals. we're live in tokyo, as two weeks of sporting action get underway. also tonight:

confusion and delays over government plans to exempt some key workers —