SBS World Movies Highlights May 24 – 30 | Movie News

• Audio Description (AD) available for Timecop, The Guns of Navarone, Free Fire, Rabbit-Proof Fence, High Ground, The Place Beyond the Pines, Kursk and Pawn Sacrifice
  
• Closed Captions (CC) available for Rabbit-Proof Fence, High Ground, Tracks and Pawn Sacrifice
  

 

WEDNESDAY 24 MAY

Timecop
7:40pm

MA15+, AD
USA, 1994
Genre: Science Fiction, Action
Language: English
Director: Peter Hyams
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mia Sara, Ron Silver, Bruce McGill, Gloria Reuben
What’s it about?
Cop Max Walker (Van Damme) is assigned to the Time Enforcement Commission, a security agency that regulates time travel. But when his wife is killed, Max must go back in time to fight a corrupt politician, who is intent on changing the past to control the future. Directed by Peter Hyams (2010: The Year We Make Contact, Capricorn One).

Chasing the Dragon
9:30pm

MA15+
Hong Kong, China, 2017
Genre: Action, Crime, History
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Director: Aman Chang, Wong Jing, Jason Kwan
Starring: Donnie Yen, Andy Lau, Kent Cheng, Wilfred Lau, Felix Wong, Philip Keung Hiu-Man
What’s it about?
Yen stars as infamous real-life drug kingpin Crippled Ho, who came to Hong Kong an illegal immigrant in 1963 and ruthlessly carved an empire from the chaotic underworld of drug dealers and corrupt police that ruled the city under notorious detective Lee Rock (Lau).

 

THURSDAY 25 MAY

The Guns of Navarone
5:10pm

PG, AD
UK, USA, 1961
Genre: War, Action
Language: English
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle
What’s it about?
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers. Directed by J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear) and nominated for seven Academy Award including Best Picture.

The One
8:05pm

M
USA, 2001
Genre: Action
Language: English
Director: James Wong
Starring: Jet Li, Jason Statham, Carla Gugino, Delroy Lindo
What’s it about?
In a dual role, Jet Li plays Gabriel Yulaw, a police officer confronted with his sinister double, escaped from an advanced, parallel universe and intent on killing Gabriel. His alter ego’s hunt culminates in a fateful battle between good and evil that changes Gabriel’s perception of reality and forces him to examine the evil hidden within himself.

The Legend of Baron To’a
9:40pm

MA15+
New Zealand, 2020
Genre: Comedy, Action
Language: English, Tonga
Director: Kiel McNaughton
Starring: Uli Latukefu, Nathaniel Lees, John Tui, Jay Laga’aia, Shavaughn Ruakere, Ashlee Fidow
What’s it about?
Tells the story of Fritz (Latukefu), a Tongan entrepreneur who returns to his old neighbourhood and inadvertently causes the theft of his late father’s valued pro wrestling title belt by some ruthless gangsters led by ‘man-mountain’ Tahu. When negotiation and diplomacy fail to get it back, he is forced to embrace his father’s legacy to reclaim the title.

 

FRIDAY 26 MAY

Everybody’s Fine
7:30pm

M
USA, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Kirk Jones
Starring: Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo
What’s it about?
Eight months after the death of his wife, Frank Goode (De Niro) looks forward to a reunion with his four adult children. When all of them cancel their visits at the last minute, Frank, against the advice of his doctor, sets out on a road trip to reconnect with his offspring. As he visits each one in turn, Frank finds that his children’s lives are not quite as picture-perfect as they’ve made them out to be.

 

SATURDAY 27 MAY

Rabbit-Proof Fence
6:50pm, NITV

PG, AD, CC
Australia, 2002
Genre: History, Adventure
Language: Walmajarri, English
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, Deborah Mailman
What’s it about?
Based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls, Molly (Sampi) and Daisy (Sansbury) and their cousin, Gracie (Monaghan), who in 1931, were forcibly removed from their mothers and their home in Jigalong and moved over fifteen hundred miles away, as a part of official ‘White Australia’ Government policy. Molly leads her younger sister and cousin on a brave escape and in a bid to find their way home, following, on foot, the rabbit-proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and towards Jigalong.

High Ground
8:30pm

MA15+, AD, CC
Australia, 2020
Genre: History, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Stephen Johnson
Starring: Simon Baker, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Jack Thompson, Callan Mulvey, David Field
What’s it about?
In a remote corner of the wild country, a bloody war rages. Travis (Baker) is a bounty hunter with one last hope of redemption. Gutjuk (Nayinggul) is a young Indigenous man trying to save the last of his family. Together they embark on a manhunt, which unravels a secret that ultimately pits them against each other.

Jumbo
10:30pm

MA15+
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, 2020
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Drama, Comedy
Language: French
Director: Zoé Wittock
Starring: Noémie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Sam Louwyck, Bastien Bouillon, Tracy Dossou
What’s it about?
Jeanne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Noemie Merlant), a shy young woman, works as a night watchwoman in an amusement park and lives at home with her elderly mother. Her mother is desperate for her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers to spend her time with the park’s newest attraction – Jumbo, the tilt-a-whirl ride.

 

SUNDAY 28 MAY

Bicentennial Man
6:05pm

PG
USA, 1999
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Robin Williams, Kiersten Warren, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt
What’s it about?
Follows the evolution of the android robot Andrew Martin (Williams) from his introduction into the Martin family and interaction with them through four generations: discovery of his emotional and creative abilities, development into an artist and inventor, evolution into an android, his fight to win legal recognition for his humanity, and ultimately his destiny.

Redemption of a Rogue
8:30pm

MA15+
Ireland, 2021
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Philip Doherty
Starring: Aaron Monaghan, Aisling O’Mara, Kieran Roche, Liz Fitzgibbon, Pat McCabe
What’s it about?
Jimmy (Monaghan), a nihilist, carries a black leather doctor’s bag containing the rope he plans to hang himself with. Filled with guilt and shame he returns to his hometown in the cold austere beauty of West Cavan. As soon as Jimmy visits, his ailing father breathes his last and a thunderstorm rolls in. A condition in his father’s will dictates that he cannot be buried on a wet day. Stuck in a purgatory, days roll into weeks and Jimmy begins to seek redemption. Through love he finds it in the most sacrificial and outlandish manner possible.

The Place Beyond the Pines
10:20pm

MA15+, AD
USA, 2012
Genre: Drama, Crime
Language: English
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn, Ray Liotta
What’s it about?
A motorcycle stunt rider (Gosling) turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover (Mendes) and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop (Cooper) navigating a police department ruled by a corrupt detective. Directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Light Between Oceans).

 

MONDAY 29 MAY

Tracks
7:30pm

M, CC
Australia, 2013
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Director: John Curran
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Emma Booth, Adam Driver
What’s it about?
In 1977, a young Australian woman named Robyn Davidson (Wasikowska) set out from Alice Springs to trek across 2,700 kilometres of harsh desert of Western Australia to reach the ocean. Accompanied only by her dog and four camels, Davidson had no other purpose than to reach the ocean and find herself on a journey of self-discovery.

Balloon
9:35pm

M
Germany, 2018
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Language: German
Director: Michael Herbig
Starring: Karoline Schuch, Friedrich Mücke, Alicia von Rittberg, David Kross
What’s it about?
Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.

 

TUESDAY 30 MAY

Kursk
7:30pm

M, AD
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, 2018
Genre: War, Drama, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Colin Firth, Matthias Schoenaerts, Lea Seydoux, Peter Simonischek, Max von Sydow
What’s it about?
Barents Sea, August 12th, 2000. During a Russian naval exercise, and after suffering a serious accident, the K-141 Kursk submarine sinks with 118 crew members on board. While the few sailors who are still alive barely manage to survive, their families push for accurate information and a British officer (Firth) struggles to obtain from the Russian government a permit to attempt a rescue before it is late. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, Another Round).