Square Eyes

Television Reviews

Movie of the week, A Beautiful Mind, NBN, Sun, 8.30pm:

John Nash (Russell Crowe) is a brilliant young mathematician whose star is on the mid-20th Century rise. After developing the theories on which modern economics are based, he heads off to work for the US Defence Department. Alas he's dogged by schizophrenia, even if it suits the Cold War paranoia of the times. It's a cleverly crafted drama of triumph and survival, with Our Russ delivering typically effective gritted-teeth stoicism.

Spy Kids, NBN, Sat, 7.30pm:

Ain't it funny how the stations are giving up on Sunday blockbusters, yet they've started competing in the kid's slot on early Saturday night. This is an enjoyable James Bond junior adventure about a kidnapped husband-and-wife spy team (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) whose kids have insider know-how to save the day. It worked so well, they've been making yearly sequels ever since.

The Murder Room, ABC, Sun, 8.30pm:

The PD James sleuth-cum-poet Adam Dalgliesh (Martin Shaw) returns with a new two-part mystery. He's investigating a well-connected doctor found burned to death in his sports car. It's wondrously crafted and James is a superb whodunit writer, who at 84, promises one final saga because she was so enamoured of Shaw's portrayal of her sterling copper.

Rain, SBS, Sun, 8.30pm:

Anyone who's seen the new Australian film Somersault will be familiar with the perils of ambitious teenage amour. This NZ drama, set in the early '70s at a seaside resort, charts the disintegration of a family. Kate's marriage is in trouble. An affair with an itinerant photographer doesn't help it, but it's her 13-year-old daughter, Janey, who discovers it and then competes with her mother for the outsider's attention - with tragic consequences. Neil Finns brooding soundtrack and great visuals make this an intelligent, if fraught story.

Bend it like Beckham, Prime, Sun, 8.30pm:

This light-hearted, cross-cultural, coming-of-age comedy follows the travails of Jess, a teenage Punjabi-English girl, who dreams of being a soccer star like her hero Becks, to the consternation of her parents. There is plenty of room for misunderstandings and in trying to straddle two worlds Jess is in danger of falling down the gap. Wrapped in an ever-popular underdogs triumph sporting yarn, it's hard to resist.

A Mother's Journey, ABC, Weds, 9.30pm:

Young Scot Yoni Jesner was holidaying in Israel in 2002 when his 19-year-old life was cut brutally short by a suicide bomber. He hoped to be a doctor, but ended up saving lives through organ donation. Thus a Jewish kidney went to an eight-year-old Palestinian girl whose family live in the stark rubble, metres from Arafat's compound in Ramallah. This doco follows his anguished mother as she visits the place where he died and the girl who lived as a result.