Jolly good holiday fare this December

PETER FELDMAN

Screen veteran Maggie Smith, who featured in the popular TV series “Downton Abbey”, portraying the Dowager Countess of Grantham, does a complete character turnaround in “The Lady in the Van”.

Directed by British theatre producer and director Nicholas Hytner, the film is based on playwright Alan Bennett’s encounter with a woman, Miss Shepard, who lived in a van parked on his Camden Town property. Smith is superb as the crusty, acerbic old woman who refuses to move and her testy relationship with Bennett forms the basis of this outstanding film.

Another highlight this December is “Carol”. Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk, played by Rooney Mara, who dreams of a better life falls for the charms of an older, married woman, exquisitely visualised by Cate Blanchett. Heady moments lift this production above the mundane.

The story of Frankenstein has come out in various permutations over the years. “Victor Frankenstein” is another fresh version, effectively evoking the famous tale through the eyes of Frankenstein’s devoted assistant Igor, played with great vigour by former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. Frankenstein is conjured up by an over-the-top James McAvoy. There are plenty special effects and the era of early London is well captured in tone and texture.

For the young there is a wonderful revitalised version of “The Little Prince”. Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s timeless classic gets a 21st-century makeover by blending two narratives into one; a modern little girl discovers the story through interaction with an eccentric neighbour, The Aviator.  Director Mark Osbourne (Kung Fu Panda) has fused different animated styles for great effect.

Another crowd-pleaser for the young (and quite a few adults) is “Snoopy and Charlie Brown – The Peanuts Movie 3D”. Directed by Steve Martino, the film features Charlie Brown who has a crush on a new neighbour but is too shy to talk to her, resulting in a misdirected adventure as he sets about trying to impress her.

A notable work is “He Named Me Malala” by renowned documentary filmmaker, Davis Guggenheim, about schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai who made world headlines when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan for speaking out about girls’ education in the country. She was 15. A wonderfully uplifting work in which we get to know the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize-winner a little better.

“Testament of Youth” is an engrossing war epic about Vera Brittain, a fiercely independent woman who abandons her studies at Oxford to become a field nurse during the First World War. Based on Brittain’s classic 1933 memoir, James Kent has fashioned a superb slice of English period drama in his directorial debut, impeccably capturing the era and all the dramatic elements that contribute towards creating a first-class film. 

The new James Bond film “Spectre”, with Daniel Craig, is worth adding to your list, as well as Stephen Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” and “Brooklyn”, about a young immigrant who leaves post-war Ireland to start a new life in Brooklyn, New York.

It’s worth mentioning that Woman in Gold, with its strong Jewish theme, gets my vote for one of the top productions of the year and is available on DVD. In 1907 socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer sat for artist Gustav Klimt. The film centres on the restitution battle, decades later, between the Austrian government and Maria Altmann, (Helen Mirren), Bloch-Bauer’s niece, for this dazzling gold-flecked portrait.

TV series worth watching:

• Blue Bloods (Mnet-101)
• Fortitude (BBC First 119)
• Eggheads (ITV Choice 123)
• The Chase (ITV Choice 123)
• For the Love of Dogs (ITV Choice 123)