Director’s journey to the centre of the man

Ahead of the curve as always, award-winning filmmaker and Kaytetye man Warwick ­Thornton began self-isolating well in advance of the rest of us.

The Beach, a six part documentary by Warwick Thornton

Eddie Cockrell gives his top recommendations for this week’s viewing on the box.

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Free to air

Ahead of the curve as always, award-winning filmmaker and Kaytetye man Warwick ­Thornton began self-isolating well in advance of the rest of us.

His resulting journey of reflection and discovery is charted in a defiantly personal and deeply rewarding six-part documentary, The Beach, presented by SBS as a three-hour event. By turns emotionally challenging and visually exhilarating, and regularly achieving both simultaneously, this is a singular and deeply introspective achievement that will richly reward the patient viewer.

Prior to beginning work as cinematographer and director, with Wayne Blair, of the engrossing second series of Mystery Road — the climactic episode of which, directed by Thornton, airs on the ABC on Sunday at 8.30pm — the director felt he needed a change in his life.

In Aboriginal culture, he well knew, it is important to never take more than you need. Be ­respectful to the land, and the land will give back to you.

With this in mind, he headed back to country. Arriving at a one-room shack on the Dampier Peninsula on the northwest coast of Australia with a few chickens, boxes of cooking utensils and a guitar, he settled in to cook and to think.

Each episode is structured around his foraging for food, the intricate and largely silent preparation of a spectacular meal for one (there are no pre-packaged foods in sight) and a soliloquy, often to the chickens and later to a dog that magically appears (it actually showed up on set one day and was incorporated into the story).

He speaks bluntly yet elliptically about his uncle, his mental challenges that manifested themselves in the appearance of a black puppy, and the pitfalls of vice.

“The Beach is one of the most important projects of my life,” Thornton has said of the undertaking. “It’s about my life. It is my life.”

Be warned, however, that Thornton can be difficult company.

Gruff and surly, he appears alternately angry and pensive, more determined than happy in his quest.

It’s also important to note that The Beach, like all visual storytelling, is built on illusion. Thornton’s son, Dylan River, was along to engineer the spectacular cinematography, and the credits list a production designer, set construction manager and even a food stylist.

Knowing these elements, however, only enriches the mystery and underscores the bravery of the filmmaker and the single-minded purity of his vision.

The Beach will air as an exclusive three-hour network event premiering on NITV, SBS and SBS On Demand simultaneously. NITV will then encore the six episodes, one each night at 7.30pm from Monday, June 1 to Saturday, June 6.

The show is a component of a dedicated programming slate in recognition of Reconciliation Week 2020, from May 27 to June 3.

Under the banner In This Together, events ­include a selection of Thornton’s films, among them recent drama Sweet Country and feature-length documentary We Don’t Need a Map. Complete information is on the SBS website.

The Beach, Friday, 7.30pm, NITV.

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Bites

Kinne Tonight, Monday, 9.30pm, Ten and WIN Network

Blokey and likeable, Aussie observational comedian Troy Kinne first came to national attention with two series of his eponymous show on 7Mate. After winning Ten’s 2018 pilot week with the Kinne Tonight concept and a successful first season, the funnyman is back with a second series of six half-hours that use the sketch format to skewer relationships, family and the workplace — with a refreshing emphasis on the slippier side of social media. “I want the audience to think to themselves ‘Oh, I thought that only happened to me’, which is something I heard Ray Romano say in a documentary once,” he told one interviewer not long ago. “I try to find the little behaviours most of us do within general activities everyone does … It’s a 30-minute stress relief to break up the working week.” A small, skilled repertory group work Kinne’s material in skits, punctuated by stand-up sequences filmed after social distancing came into effect. Ten has such faith in Kinne it’s slotted him to follow Have You Been Paying Attention?, which should prove a winning strategy — particularly as Sam Pang is a promised guest stars in an upcoming episode.

Absentia , Tuesday, 8.30pm, Seven

Four hours into 10-episode first season of the 2017 American thriller Absentia, the third series of which is now wrapping up post-production in isolation, it’s clear what made the show a hit with audiences. Six years after disappearing during her hunt for notorious Boston-area serial killer Conrad Harlow (Richard Brake, the Night King in the fourth and fifth series of Game of Thrones), presumed dead and now-former FBI special agent Emily Byrne (Stana Katic, from the popular crime comedy series Castle) is found barely alive when a mysterious call is made to her now-remarried husband Nick (Patrick Heusinger). Having no memory of her ordeal, she is shocked to discover her nine-year-old son Flynn (Patrick McAuley) is being raised by Nick’s new wife Alice (Cara Theobold, Ivy Stuart in Downton Abbey). What’s worse is Harlow is out of prison and Emily is now the suspect in a fresh series of murders. Serial killers are an evergreen of American film and TV entertainment, and the byzantine plot coupled with the surrealist touch of filming the US on Bulgarian locations adds to the puzzle.

Compass: Faithfully Me, Sunday, 6.30pm, ABC

For many, self-isolation and house-of-worship closures have prompted a time of reflection on the strength of belief. Presented as part of the ABC’s long-running flagship faith-oriented series, Compass, Sydney-based producer-director Rachel Lane’s half-hour documentary takes a compassionate and moving look at the slowly growing segment of gender-diverse priests and congregants within the church. British-born, Brisbane-based transgender Anglican priest Josephine McDonnell Inkpin came out fully in 2017, and her reflections are intercut with those of trans man Rhett Pearson, who expresses the same satisfaction and joy at the strength required for their deeply fulfilling journeys. Lane underscores the importance of support by interviewing the priest’s steadfast partner, Penny Jones — herself among the first female priests in the UK — and Baptist minister Mike Hercock, whose family welcomed Pearson unreservedly. These are stories of perseverance, tolerance and ultimate acceptance, which are timely and inspirational.

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Pay TV

Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell and Michelle Dockery in Defending Jacob

Parent’s fight in the face of ‘murder gene’

Not long ago, an online Hollywood trade source indicated that among the two dozen or so original TV shows released thus far on the Apple TV+ streaming service, eight-part family crime drama Defending Jacob was second only to The Morning Show (known here as Morning Wars, for obvious reasons) in viewership over the first three episodes.

This isn’t surprising. Taken as a spiritual cross between Academy Award-winning drama Ordinary People and an extended version of a Very Special Episode of Law & Order, this is a viewing experience at once reassuringly conventional and smart enough to penetrate the cliches of the genres it embraces. With the climactic eighth episode set to drop shortly, now is the right time to get up to speed with one of the more addictive binges currently available.

In the suburban Massachusetts city of Newton, a bit more than 10km west of Boston, the Barber family seems to have it all. Father Andy (Chris Evans, playing a parent for the very first time) is the assistant district attorney there, and mother Laurie (Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery) runs a well-funded local centre for at-risk children.

Their 14-year-old son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell, young protagonist Bill Denbrough in the It films and Evans’s co-star in Knives Out), is normal enough if somewhat quiet, a brooding yet warm young man who enjoys video games and his own company.

Their seemingly placid upscale existence is up-ended when a classmate of Jacob’s is stabbed to death in the local park and his partial fingerprint is found on the boy’s jumper. The boy maintains his innocence but is arrested, Andy and Laurie are stood down from their jobs, and the family bonds are put to tests that include the revelation of Andy’s father, Billy (JK Simmons), a brutal killer serving life in prison. Does Jacob have the murder gene?

Following last week’s episode, “Job”, where Jacob’s court trial played itself out, the series finale, “After”, follows the family on the Christmas-New Year holiday to Mexico they’d planned early in the story. Yet the Barbers aren’t yet done being tested.

Defending Jacob is based on the bestselling 2012 thriller by author William Landay, who served as a consultant to series creator and writer Mark Bomback on the project. For his part, Bomback has parlayed a start as an assistant to late Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey into an in-demand screenwriter of such tentpole multiplex fare as Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0), The Wolverine and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

“I understood the impulse to turn it into a film,” Bomback told a Television Critics Association press tour audience in January, and his motivations speak to the current shift from traditional cinema to long-form stories.

“Twenty, 30 years ago this is a movie that we all know is in the multiplex, it feels like now this train is being better served in the limited series space … It is an elevated thriller in that we’re really diving super deep into the character’s journey. My favourite kind of genre is the genre that is obeying the rules of the genre, but is ultimately about something.”

The shaping of those journeys falls to 53-year-old Norwegian-born director Morten Tyldum, whose previous work for the big screen includes 2014 drama The Imitation Game (for which he received an Oscar nomination as best director), 2016 science-fiction romance Passengers and the pilots for Counterpart (which starred Simmons) and Jack Ryan. Crafting precise performances from the large cast, Tyldum has crafted a show that bears up under its length by honouring the genre even as it explores the universal theme of family.

Defending Jacob, Friday, streaming on Apple TV+.

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Bites

Aussie Salvage Squad, Wednesday, 8.30pm, Discovery Channel

There’s an undeniable thrill to be had watching men and women wrestle with large machinery in precarious situations, and that is what has made Aussie Salvage Squad a strong performer entering its second season. From their home base in Busselton, Western Australia, Geographe Marine Salvage and Rescue proprietor Luke Purdy and his crew of five specialise in solving big, messy problems with grit, focus, a fair share of risk and irreverent wit. The centrepiece of their arsenal seems to be a big truck called Christopher the Winch Beast and in last week’s debut episode they used it to pull a 20-tonne excavator called the Mud Monster out of a bog as the relieved owner looks on. Later, they must negotiate a nature reserve to pull an ancient derelict ship out of the water in time to avoid a fine. In the upcoming second of eight episodes, everything that can go wrong does as they try to drag a pair of stolen cars up from a lake bed at Collie as pleasure boats and water skiers circle around them. One of the more entertaining local reality shows on offer, Aussie Salvage Squad has an infectious, can-do attitude.

Love Life, Wednesday, streaming on Stan

A quirky and agreeable 10-part comedy on the vicissitudes of finding a soulmate in the big city, Love Life stars Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air, the Pitch Perfect franchise) as Darby Carter, an amiable hospitality worker who wanders New York in search of the right relationship and some happiness in her life. The structure of the half-hours is chronological, guiding the viewer through her liaisons to show how each influences the next and helps Darby discover who she is. This is one of the first original series created for the new WarnerMedia streaming service stateside and it is co-executive produced by Kendrick and Paul Feig. Hamilton’s Jin Ha comes into her life in the first episode, followed by former boss Scoot McNairy (Argo) in the second. Writer-director Sam Boyd captures some of the comedic bite of Feig’s more high-profile projects, which include Freaks & Geeks and Bridesmaids. Love Life is envisioned as an anthology project that will highlight a different young single each season, and its narrative chemistry thus far bodes well for the concept.

Forensic Files II, Thursday, 7.30pm, Crime + Investigation

A pioneer of documentary-style true-crime science shows, Forensic Files started in 1996 as Medical Detectives, enjoying a run of more than 400 half-hour episodes on various US networks until 2010. Narration duties are assumed in this new iteration of the concept by actor Bill Camp. Interestingly enough, where many shows of this sort use actors for dramatic re-creations, producer Nancy Duffy has been economically impressionistic, showing only fragments of bodies and using “excited” HLN and parent company CNN staff as volunteer re-enactors. These first two of 16 episodes in the season are typical of what the true-crime fan can expect. In the first, a lone dog hair is among the forensic clues used to convict the murderer of a 22-year-old woman in Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, while the action shifts to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for the second tale of a killer captured through the use of software that can generate facial reconstructions from DNA strands. Subsequent episodes will employ mobile device forensics and personal genomics to crack cases, confirming this as a program that has grown into modern technology.