This week’s new releases on BFI Player+ (29th July 2017)
David Farnor | On 29, Jul 2017
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 Delicatessen. Writer-director team Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro endlessly inventive and wildly enjoyable post-apocalyptic black comedy follows a sinister butcher and the circus clown who becomes his nemesis. Mark devours this bonkers tale of beauty, music and madnes.
What else is new? Here are the latest titles on BFI Player+ this week:
Nighthawks II: Strip Jack Naked
Ron Peck’s experimental follow up to the groundbreaking Nighthawks is both a making-of documentary and a deeply personal film memoir.
The Battle of the River Plate
Powell and Pressburger had their biggest hit with this account of the British Navy’s pursuit of a German battleship at the start of World War II. Filmed in VistaVision, locations including Malta and Montevideo plus actual ships from the battle all add to the spectacle, while the directors bring sympathy to the portrayal of both heroes and enemies.
Chronicle of a Summer
Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s documentary does exactly what it says on the tin, following life in 1960s Paris – and influencing the cinéma-vérité movement as a result.
A Summer + 50
Key participants discuss the making of influential cinéma vérite documentary Chronicle of a Summer. Includes unused footage from the film.
Herostratus
Michael Gothard stars in this 1967 film about a young poet who hires a marketing company to turn his suicide into a mass-media event. The very first feature to be funded by the BFI and the screen debut of Helen Mirren.
A BFI Player+ subscription costs £4.99 a month with a 30-day free trial. For more information, visit http://player.bfi.org.uk.