TiVoPlex
By John Seal
November 14, 2011
5:00 PM HBO 2
The Bengali Detective (2011 USA-GB-IND): One of the most entertaining and unusual documentaries of recent vintage, The Bengali Detective relates the true life misadventures of Rajesh Ji, an overweight P.I. working cases in the back alleys of Kolkata, India. Rajesh specializes in cases the police are too busy to take an interest in: the black market, unfaithful spouses, and so forth. When a triple murder falls into his lap, however, it looks like he might be ready to hit the big time. The Bengali Detective features almost as much song, dance, and melodrama as your average Bollywood epic, but remember - it’s all true!
8:00 PM Sundance
Three Blind Mice (2008 AUS): It’s Top Gun - Aussie style! Well, not really, but Three Blind Mice does record the misadventures of three hell-raising sailors over the course of one booze soaked shore leave. Sam, Dean and Harry (Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, and Matthew Newton) are preparing to ship out to the Gulf but are enjoying one more night on the tiles before getting exposed to Saddam’s awesome nuclear-biological-chemical arsenal. You can’t blame them, can you? Written and directed by Newton, Three Blind Mice is full of surprising plot developments and top-notch acting - it’s no by-the-numbers character study. Look for Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver and Antipodean legend Charles "Bud" Tingwell amongst the supporting cast. Also airs 11/17 at 3:30 AM.
Thursday 11/17/11
1:20 AM HBO Signature
El Mal Ajeno (2010 ESP): Released on DVD in the U.S. as For the Good of Others, El Mal Ajeno stars Eduardo Noriega (Transsiberian) as Diego Sanz, a doctor desperately in need of a mental health day. The camel’s back is finally broken by a suicidal patient, a young woman (Angie Cepeda) whose boyfriend (Marcel Borras) is not happy with the care she’s getting. So unhappy is he, in fact, that he shoots Diego - an act that has some extremely unexpected and unlikely consequences. Directed by Oskar Santos, this magical realist film is no classic, but Noriega is excellent.
1:30 PM Sundance
When a Man Comes Home (2007 DEN): It’s hard to go wrong when Thomas Vinterberg sets up shop behind the camera, and here’s further evidence in support of that premise. Vinterberg got his start with 1998’s Dogme Manifesto classic Celebration and then moved on to something a bit more mainstream with 2003’s It’s All About Love, his first English-language feature. The aptly titled When a Man Comes Home sees him back in Europe, and tells the story of a world famous Danish artist who returns home to find that things have changed since he went away. The man is Hans Kristian Schmidt (Vinterberg regular Thomas Bo Larsen), an opera singer of considerable renown whose backwater home town holds a surprise for him: namely, a son (Oliver Moller Knauer) he didn’t know about. Though not strictly a Dogme film, When a Man Comes Home hews fairly closely to the formula, and though far from Celebration in terms of dramatic impact is still worth your while.
7:00 PM Sundance
Mad Bastards (2007 AUS): I haven’t seen this Australian drama yet, but with a title like Mad Bastards I’m not about to miss it. Set in the outback (and rumored to feature some terrific widescreen cinematography), the film stars Dean Daley-Jones as a father in search of the son he never knew. Perhaps he should try looking in Denmark? Also airs 11/18 at 4:00 AM.
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