This week’s new releases on BFI Player+ (22nd October)
David Farnor | On 22, Oct 2016
Heard of BFI Player? Well, there’s also BFI Player+, a subscription service that offers an all-you-can-eat selection of hand-picked classics.
Every Friday, Mark Kermode highlights one of the collection’s titles with a video introduction. This week, it’s Unrelated, Joanna Hogg’s debut film from 2007, which sees a forty-something woman on a Tuscan break fall in with a group of partying teens.
Mark hails Hogg as one of British cinema’s most singular and distinctive talents, praising her subtle and sophisticated comedies-of-manners that adopt “a notably European flavour”, particularly in the Tuscan-set Unrelated, which introduced a young Tom Hiddleston as a screen star to watch.
What else is available to stream? Every week, we bring you a round-up of the latest titles on BFI Player+:
The Stuart Hall Project
John Akomfrah’s 2013 film is a portrait of the life and times of the founder of cultural studies and the New Left Experience. Comprised of archive footage, set to the music of Miles Davis.
Pressure
Horace Ové’s 1975 movie captures the identity struggle of British-born black youths in 1970s London, as Tony, an intelligent pupil, finds himself unable to get work due to social prejudices. Should he conform with his family’s church-going behaviour or join his friends and brother in a fight for purpose in the streets?
Burning an Illusion
Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering debut from 1981 captures the emotional political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.
B.D. Woman
Inge Blackman’s documentary explores the hidden histories of black lesbians, primarily focusing on 1920s Paris. It runs for just 20 minutes, but that doesn’t stop the film cramming in sex and style.
Relax
BFI Player+ continues its run of short films with this 1991 drama about a gay man awaiting the results of an HIV test, as he drifts between dreams, fears and memories.
Delphinium, A Childhood Portrait of Derek Harman
Matthew Mishory’s 2010 short does what it says on the tin, presenting a stylised coming-of-age portrait of Derek Jarman’s artistic, sexual and political awakening.
A Farewell to Arms
Walking force of charisma Gary Cooper stars in Frank Borzage’s classic, Oscar-winning adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s tragic Great War romance.
A BFI Player+ subscription costs £4.99 a month with a 30-day free trial. For more information, visit http://player.bfi.org.uk.