hello and welcome to the film review with me, mark kermode, rounding up the best movies available for viewing in cinemas and in the home. one of the most intriguing films at last month's bfi london film festival was possessor, the second feature from canadian writer—director brandon cronenberg. dramatic ambient electronic music plays set in an alternate 2008, this enjoyably squishy sci—fi thriller features andrea riseborough as tasya vos, an assassin working for a sinister industrial espionage company who transplant the consciousness of their agents into unwitting hosts to carry out covert hits. like a much nastier version of inception. for her latest assignment, vos possesses the body of colin tate, played by christopher abbott, effectively doing an impression of andrea riseborough doing an impression of christopher abbott. think of the ‘80s comedy all of me, in which steve martin's body is accidentally filled with the soul of lily tomlin. then try and imagine that movie not directed by carl reiner who made knockabout comedies like thejerk, but by the son of body horror maestro david cronenberg, who made such head—scrambling shockers as rabid, scanners and the fly. in his underrated first feature antiviral, brandon cronenberg posited a world in which celebrity infections could be sold to adoring fans. with possessor, his focus is on the ultimate invasion of privacy. a timely subject in this age of access all areas information, run by secretive companies whose data mining knows no boundaries. but the film also packs an emotional punch, thanks to our antiheroine's growing confusion about her identity and her separation from the family to whom she has become a danger. mom! hi, darling. how was your trip? dull, extraordinarily dull. the decision to shoot the special effects in camera and to rely on prosthetics rather than computer graphics pays huge dividends, lending a physical heft to possessor that keeps the story grounded even during its most outlandish flights of fantasy. some may find the blood—splattered results alarming, but as a lifelong fan of sci—fi and horror, i loved the fact that possessor isn't afraid to sink its teeth deep into both genres. it's available on digital platforms now. now, citizen kane is widely regarded as the greatest movie of all time, but it's also spawned a string of movies of variable quality that have attempted to get under the skin of its creation. in 1999, liev schreiber played orson welles in rko 281, a drama about the making of citizen kane based in part on the documentary the battle over citizen kane. a few years later, christian mckay proved so impressive in the biographical stage play rosebud that richard linklater cast him to reprise his central role in me and orson welles, set in the years before welles conquered cinema. best of all, vincent d'onofrio cameoed as welles in tim burton's ed wood, ruefully explaining that kane was the only film over which he had control. you know, the one film of mine where i had total control — kane. and urging ed to follow his own personal vision on plan 9 from outer space. now into this long and illustrious canon comes mank, the new film by david fincher, director of seven, fight club and gone girl, from a screenplay by fincher‘s late fatherjack. i need a favour, but you're gonna have to promise you won't laugh. given the state of the world, a tall order. you're gonna, ijust know you are. i have got such a hangover right now, there's just a fighting chance i won't. i'm being burned at the stake and i'm dying for a ciggie, boo. he laughs there, god's punishing you. gary oldman is hermanj mankiewicz, aka mank, hired by tom burke's orson welles to write the script for kane, while bedridden from an injury. lily collins is rita alexander, the secretary charged with helping to keep the writer sober long enough to produce the necessary pages, while amanda seyfried is marion davies, starlet mistress of media mogul william randolph hearst, upon whom the character of charles foster kane was loosely based. having lost out on an oscar for his wonderfully understated role on tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, only to triumph by grandstanding as churchill in darkest hour, oldman here keeps things broad, portraying mank as an irascible but brilliant drunk who essentially wrote the script for kane on his own without input from the wicked welles who tried to rob him of credit. in fact, welles who clearly collaborated heavily on the script and was contractually entitled to claim sole authorship, not only agreed to mank getting credit, but also insisted that he got first credit. of course, none of this would matter if this oscar bait film which, after all, is a drama rather than a documentary, was as remarkable as some of the reviews suggest. it isn't. ready and willing to hunt a great white whale? just call me ahab. rather it's a good looking but ultimately empty affair, packed with heavy—handed visual nods to kane, boosted by a great score and a rip—roaring performance by charles dance, yet lacking the truthfulness, originality and sense of mischievous wit that lay at the dark heart of welles's masterpiece. to evoke a movie cliche — it's fine, it's just not citizen kane. you can judge it for yourself in a few cinemas in scotland and wales now, and on netflix from december 4. it's often said that it's lonely at the top and that's exactly how it seems in a new documentary about screen legend audrey hepburn. the best kept secret about audrey... ..was that she wanted to be loved. having been abandoned by her father as a child, hepburn became a dancer—turned—moviestar who won an oscar for roman holiday and was hailed as a style icon around the world, but still suffered from insecurity about her talent, her appearance and her life. drawing on a wealth of interviews and archive material, helena coan‘s very sympathetic documentary paints a portrait of a woman whose own granddaughter has said that the best kept secret about audrey was that she was so sad. yet the film, which is available on dvd and digitalfrom monday, also highlights the pride hepburn took in becoming an ambassador for unicef, revealing how her humanitarian work finally provided her with the love she craved, offering a positive outlet for the fame and attention she had always mistrusted. audrey hepburn: when i love, i love unconditionally. one of the interesting things about 2020 has been that in the absence of big blockbusters, many smaller, more offbeat productions have garnered widespread attention, including several short films by celebrated directors. next month, for example, viewers of the streaming service mubi can enjoy cold meridian, an experimental six—minute short from in fabric director peter strickland. new to the same service this week is nimic, an intriguing oddity from greek director yorgos lanthimos who made the favourite. tell her to get out. tell him to get out. this is our home. you're my other half. a popular hit at a range of international film festivals last year, nimic stars matt dillon as a cellist who finds himself being pursued by a doppelganger who copies his every move. there are thematic echoes of dostoyevsky‘s the double, the i9th—century novel that previously inspired an underrated feature by richard ayoade. while tonally, nimic harks back to the surreal nightmarish satire of early lanthimos films like dogtooth. it's a strange little movie that will leave you with a head full of questions that can only be answered by going straight back and watching it again, something that's easy to do with a short film. but while nimic deserves to be seen twice, there are some other releases out this week that will benefit from never being seen at all, ever, by anybody. tonight is a very violent show! take the ringmaster — a pitiful slice of danish torture porn that makes eli roth's hostel movies look like the work of orson welles. adapted from steen langstrup‘s novel finale, this derivative bilge is a by—numbers tale of two women being terrorised in front of audiences both real and virtual. all this mayhem is orchestrated by the titular ringmaster, a character who is less funny than the funnyman, less frightening than the bogeyman and less psychologically interesting than the man from the electric who came round to read the metre while i was watching this garbage and who said, "what on earth are you doing watching this garbage?" to which my only answer was, "it's myjob, i do it so others don't have to." fantastic! you're welcome. ladies and gentlemen, we have a psycho with us tonight! the ringmaster is available next week on dvd, vod and, allegedly, in cinemas, and i would tell you to avoid it in any and all of those viewing formats. i promise not to kill you. to dispel the stench of that atrocity, let's turn to something altogether more uplifting, uncle frank, a moving comedy drama set in 1973, written and directed by alan ball, who won a screenplay oscar for american beauty. i've never known anybody who was gay before. 'course you have. choir director at church. mr durisin? but he's so... what? religious. ha! paul bettany is the nyu academic whose family in south carolina don't know he's gay. but when his bullying father dies, frank has to make the road trip home with his niece beth and his partner wally. a journey of discovery for all three of them. what's wrong? wally? oh, hey! you forgot your razor. you rented a car? isn't it snazzy? the story is formulaic and you'd have to be asleep at the wheel not to map out the emotional highs and lows from the outset, but the ensemble cast are terrific, generating plenty of good—natured laughter and tears as they bicker and bond about past, present and future. anyone who found themselves succumbing to the gentle pleasures of green book will find plenty to enjoy in this undemanding but clearly heartfelt film, which, for my money, features betta ny‘s best performance since his first starring screen role in gangster no 1. it's available now on amazon prime video. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. anna smith will be here next week. until then, stay safe. i didn't come to your father's funeral. no, i did not want you to come to my father's funeral. yes, and i respected your wishes and i didn't try and talk you into letting me. it's not the same thing. i have a question, are you the stupidest man alive? obviously, look who i'm with! hello and welcome to sunday's sportsday. i'm jane dougall. pulled to safety — the shocking moment romain grosjean escaped his burning formula 1 car after crashing at the bahrain grand prix. an incredible turnaround for manchester united. 2—0 down, then scoring three against southampton to take all three points away from st marys. and england take the t20 series in south africa with a convincing second match win. welcome to the programme. it was a heart—stopping moment. romain grosjean's car burst into a ball of flames on the first lap of the bahrain grand prix. the safety measures put in place just a few years ago undoubtedly saved his life. grosjean is tonight recovering in hospitalfrom minor burns after miraculously walking away from the accident. the race was eventually re—started and lewis hamilton went on to win it, but the grand prix was overshadowed by those early dramatic scenes, asjoe wilson reports. the grand prix began, lewis hamilton in the lead. it seemed routine. it never is. look towards the back as a car became a ball of flame. and a big fire there! romain grosjean hit the barrier, his car split in two. medical assistance came rapidly. crucially, grosjean was able to force his own way out of the car. he suffered burns. in years gone by, he may have lost his life. his escape still seemed miraculous. certainly looked shocking. as the teams in bahrain watched the replays, they were reminded of the extreme risks of motor racing. grosjean was taken to hospital. the race, after a long delay, resumed. straightaway, another collision, a car upturned. lance stroll the driver pulled out, unharmed. a safety car finally led the drivers home after another incident. lewis hamilton won, his thoughts were with grosjean. 20 drivers came to bahrain and 20 lived to drive again. joe wilson, bbc news. well, the former formula 1 driver joylon palmer has driven with romain grosjean when he was a test driver for lotus. i spoke to him earlier and asked how crucial safety measures like the halo system were in saving grosjean's life? from the looks of it, early on, it looks like it was critical, to be honest. i have to say, when i saw the car going live, it was shocking. the crash was so bad. as soon as he hit, you just... your heart sinks at this moment. and i was team—mates with romain before. and i know him well and you just are desperate that he gets out. and

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