Five things to watch this weekend
Cliff Curtis is on cracking form in the tense new SBS thriller Swift Street, plus an unsung drama about forbidden love.
This is Going to Be Big
Premieres Tuesday 30 April 8pm on ABC iview and ABC TV.
This creative, tender, beautifully observed documentary follows a group of neurodivergent students from the Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School in Bullengarook, Victoria, as they prepare to stage a time-travelling, John Farnham-themed musical. The play, dubbed “The Time-Travelling Trio”, is an original production, co-written by the school’s music teacher Darcy Nolan and drama teacher Lori Nichols, that follows three students who travel back in time and meet Farnham at various stages of his career. Melbourne filmmaker Thomas Charles Hyland captures the creative process from its inception, covering six months of auditions, rehearsals, and the nerves leading up to opening night. The heart of the documentary lies in the stories of the musical’s four leads — Josh, a 17-year-old plane enthusiast, who has an intellectual disability and autism; Halle, who plays 1980s Farnham and is on the autism spectrum; Elyse, who suffers from chronic anxiety; and Chelsea, who has an acquired brain injury — each who have their dreams and fears. It’s life-affirming stuff.
Swift Street
SBS on Demand
In this tense, assured new SBS thriller, rising Australian actor Tanzyn Crawford plays Elise, a wisecracking 21-year-old whose father, the dopey but loving wide-boy Robert (played tremendously by Cliff Curtis), has found himself mixed up in a dangerous crowd and $26,000 in debt. The pair, who are estranged, have 10 days to put aside their differences and come up with the cash. There are shades of Two Hands here, but instead of the sleaze-soaked neon of Kings Cross, it’s the inner-north of Melbourne that’s the star. Though the story is far-out and the momentum never stalls, the script — penned by 27-year-old Tig Terera, who migrated to Melbourne from Zimbabwe at the age of five — has a warm realism to it.
Leaving
Britbox
A baby-faced Callum Turner, most recently seen in Steven Spielberg’s flashy Apple TV+ drama Masters of the Air, stars alongside Helen McCrory in this taut, three-part drama about forbidden love from 2012. Leaving tells the story of an affair between Julie (McCrory), an unhappy 42-year-old manager of events at a swanky country hotel, and Aaron (Turner), a posh, driftless young man 20 years her junior. Julie, a mother to two ungrateful teenagers who is stuck in a passionless marriage, meets Aaron, who has recently left university, at one of her weddings, where he is a belligerently drunk guest. He is capricious but possesses a restless life force that knocks Jane off her feet, and soon enough they begin a passionate, life-ruining affair. McCrory, who tragically died of cancer at age 52 in 2021, was relentless in her effort to be authentic as an actress. This role showcases one of her sharpest, knottiest performances on screen. It doesn’t hurt that she’s working with a script by Tony Marchant, who has an ability to write dialogue that makes you stop cold.
Clark
Netflix
Bill Skarsgård gives a committed, exuberant performance as Clark Olofsson, the real-life Swedish thug credited with inspiring the term Stockholm syndrome. This vibrant six-part miniseries chronicles his life of crime from childhood (in narration he refers to his birth as “My first jailbreak”) to the Norrmalmstorg bank robbery in 1973, a six-day standoff which was televised live on Swedish TV. This Swedish-language series is stuffed with sex and action, and there’s very little room to breathe, but there’s something quite irresistibly freaky about it. The show’s special gift is Skarsgård, who gives a fantastically appealing performance in this tricky role. Clark is a weird character — he carries himself with a swaggering self-importance, but he is inherently a bit of a loser. The frantic direction on this might not be to everyone’s taste — the director, Joans Åkerlund, is mostly known for his work on music videos, most notably Madonna’s Ray of Light and The Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up, which says a lot — but if you’re looking for something true crime that isn’t totally mopey, this is a winner.
Life on Mars
Britbox
Life on Mars shouldn’t work; it’s a time-jumping police procedural that ran for two seasons in the mid-noughties about a police officer, Sam Tyler (John Simm), who is working in Manchester in 2006 when he is hit by a speeding car and wakes up in 1973. It’s a ridiculous premise executed with such gusto and wit that there is no point trying to resist it. The period sets are scrumptious – it’s a revheads’ paradise; all Capris and Cortinas. The charm lies in its dynamite leads, good cop Simm, and Philip Glenister, who plays the corrupt yet charismatic DCI Gene Hunt. It’s loads of fun.