Square Eyes

Television Reviews

Movie of the week, Chocolat, NBN, Sat, 9.30pm:

Chocaholic night kicks off with Roald Dahl's dark yet whimsical children's tale, Willy Wonka, followed by this light-hearted, lusciously sweet fable, set in a timeless French village filled with earnest churchgoers. When the mysterious, sweet-natured Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter arrive and open a chocolate shop. A battle between pagan indulgence and pious but hypocritical community leaders, like the mayor (Alfred Molina) lead to growing tensions. It's a beautifully filmed, bittersweet fairytale with a great supporting cast that includes Carrie-Anne Moss, Judi Dench, Lena Olin and Johnny Depp.

Ever After, Prime, Fri, 8.30pm:

Drew Barrymore stars in this Cinderella fairytale set in 16th Century France. It's a gentle blend of romance and comedy (Leonardo Da Vinci is a loveable nutter) that should have all teenage girls sighing with optimism. Angelica Houston has fun as the wicked stepmother.

Harvie Crumpet, SBS, Sun, 8.30pm:

This Oscar-winning Australian clay animation is clever and darkly funny in places, but ultimately dismally bleak as it recounts the travails of a doomed immigrant.

Big Reef, NBN, Sun, 8.30pm:

An Aussie telemovie about a journo who flees his unravelling life and lands in Paradise, far north Queensland, where he hopes things will look up, but finds himself up to his neck in more disasters, from cyclones to crocks. Angus Grant and Steve Bisley star.

Mullet, SBS, Sun, 9pm:

Eddie (Ben Mendelsohn) is back in his small town, feeling adrift after his stab at the citys bright lights failed. After three years, people have moved on. The girlfriend he abandoned (Susie Porter) has married his copper brother and Eddie slowly realises he's not only unwelcome, he's also lost his roots. A thoughtful essay on belonging, told with humour and sadness, by David Caesar.

Leonardo: The Man Who Wanted To Know Everything, ABC, Sun, 7.30pm:

This computer-generated two-part docu-drama recreates the life of a genius of extraordinary diversity who lived a roller coaster life of success and failure; who fought a succession of bitter rivalries; and who suffered a troubled incapacity to come to terms with a world of demons. The scope of his vision is truly breathtaking.

Daughter From Danang, ABC, Weds, 9.30pm:

This riveting, deeply moving and ultimately heartbreaking doco about longing and the personal legacy of war follows the life of seven-year-old Heidi Bub, one of the thousands of Vietnamese-American chlldren brought to the US at the end of the war. She became "101 per cent American'' but she had a longing to claim her own identity and reunite with her birth mother. But after 22 years, the cultural divide between them is too wide.

Stories from a Children's Hospital, ABC, Thurs, 8pm:

This extraordinary and powerful doco series is self explanatory and gut-wrenchingly moving. This week it looks at the cost of keeping premature babies alive. But how can you put a price on it?