The Night Manager: Episode 6

It is 27 March 2016, and time for the final episode of The Night Manager.

Everything comes full circle: Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is back at Cairo's Nefertiti Hotel, where he was first drawn into the criminal world of Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). Roper's arms deal is about to be made, and with Corky dead Jonathan is running out of avenues to keep Roper from discovering he is a spy. Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) is in Cairo to help, but can she do enough to help trap Roper and keep Jed (Elizabeth Debicki) out of harm's way?

There is a very pleasing symmetry to this final episode of The Night Manager. After moving from Cairo to Switzerland to Spain to Turkey, the series now snakes back to its starting point: a new deal, a new disguise, but the self-same hotel in which Jonathan originally worked as the titular night manager. It also brings him back in contact with corrupt Egyptian playboy Freddie Hamid (David Avery), whose murder of his lover brought a vengeful Jonathan to British intelligence in the first place.

The Night Manager: Episode 5

It is 20 March 2016, and time for episode 5 of The Night Manager.

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) has defied the orders of his handler Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) and accompanied arms trader Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) to his latest deal in Turkey. Jonathan has never been closer to trapping Roper and exposing his criminal enterprise, but with his location growing more and more isolated and with Corky (Tom Hollander) still working to unseat him in Roper's circle, it may be too dangerous to continue.

There is a striking change in tone with this fifth episode, which takes the series out of its luxurious settings in Spain and Switzerland and shifting instead to the industrial ports and wilds of Turkey. The stakes have been raised considerably, since Jonathan is now operating without any support from London at all. The series also shifts its visual palette: the softer, richer colours of earlier episodes have given way to muddy greys and browns. As Jonathan moves closer to the centre of Roper's operations, so too does the audience: it is all feeling much more vicious and unpleasant.

The Night Manager: Episode 4

It is 13 March 2016 and time for the fourth episode of The Night Manager.

Former hotel night manager Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is now deeply enmeshed in the secret arms trade Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). As Pine gets closer to securing evidence of Roper's crimes, his mission is imperilled by a romantic advance from Roper's girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), the growing suspicions of Corky (Tom Hollander), and his London-based handler Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) attempting to pull him out of the fire.

The slightly unconvincing insertion of Pine into Roper's life is complete, and that frees the second half of The Night Manager to arc up the stakes and suspense as it approaches its climax. Pine now has two main causes for worry: the fear he will be caught out spying on Roper, and the fear he is going to get caught out sleeping with his girlfriend. The second one feels a bit of a cliche to me, but it is admittedly very well performed by Hiddleston and Debicki and does lead to the episode's most outstanding scene.

The Night Manager: Episode 3

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) has found himself stuck in Spanish island estate of billionaire-turned-arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). Now he has to ingratiate himself fully into Roper's service if he is to stand any chance of helping British intelligence pin him down. All the while Roper's right-hand man Major Corcoran (Tom Hollander) is watching Pine with suspicion, waiting for him to make a single mistake.

One thing you cannot fault about The Night Manager is its cast. There is not a single let-down in the entire group, whether it's Tom Hiddleston's intense, mercurial Jonathan Pine, or Tom Hollander's bitchy, predatory Corky, or Elizabeth Debicki's mysterious, brittle performance as Roper's girlfriend Jed. Each actors gives it their all, and transforms what are in the main very archetypal spy fiction characters into three-dimensional people. Sadly with this episode there are a few things to criticise about the script.

The Night Manager: Episode 2

It is 28 February 2016, and time for episode 2 of The Night Manager.

Jonathan (Tom Hiddleston) agrees to assist British intelligence operative Angela (Olivia Colman) in bringing down billionaire and suspected arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). To do so, he must create a believable and attractive back story for Roper to buy into and accept, and that means putting his own life and reputation at serious risk.

There seems to be a film-like storytelling style to The Night Manager. Each of the first two episodes has by-and-large told its own relatively self-contained mini-story. The first episode, set in Cairo and Switzerland, told the story of how Jonathan came to know of Roper and how the death of a woman he attempted to help left him intent on destroying Roper and bringing him to justice. This second episode is about how Jonathan transforms himself into a violent criminal to make himself a more likely candidate for Roper's operation. I like this sort of format, which reminds me quite a bit of fellow spy thriller series 24. It gives each episode its own sense of urgency and narrative, and ensures that despite the overall serialisation there is still a proper story each week with a beginning, middle and end.

The Night Manager: Episode 1

It is 21 February 2016, and time for the first episode of The Night Manager.

Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is the night manager at Cairo's prestigious Nefertiti Hotel. During the chaos of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 he becomes involved with Sophie Alekan (Aure Atika), mistress to wealthy and influential playboy Freddie Hamid. When Sophie hands him documents to be copied and placed in the hotel's safe - documents that report on a massive illegal arms sale - Jonathan finds himself drawn into the world of international espionage.

The Night Manager is a glossy, lavishly produced TV adaptation of the John Le Carre novel of the same name, co-produced by the BBC and AMC and released to much acclaim last year. That acclaim is well deserved. This is, based on its first episode at least, a brilliantly directed low-key thriller with an excellent cast and a gripping narrative.

Argo (2012)

In November 1979 Iranian protesters storm the United States embassy in Tehran, seizing 60 hostages and demanding that the USA return the exiled Shah to Iran for trial and execution. During the chaos six embassy workers escape, taking refuge inside the nearby residence of the Canadian ambassador. CIA exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is tasked with the near-impossible task of rescuing the six escapees before they are discovered and taken by the Iranian government.

Almost a decade ago I read a sensational article in Wired about a ridiculous CIA plot to rescue six embassy staff from Iran using a fake motion picture as a cover story. It was one of those 'too ridiculous to be made up' stories, involving an actual screenplay to a science fiction B-movie, Hollywood producers, design drawings and concept art by legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby, and a tense evacuation via Tehran's international airport before the Iranian police discovered the identities of the six runaway diplomats. I remember thinking at the time it could make for a pretty sensational motion picture, and five years later actor/director Ben Affleck proved me right. Argo is a tightly written and smart espionage thriller, boasting a great script, strong direction and a great cast.

Outbreak (1995)

After uncovering a 100 per cent lethal blood-borne virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, military virologist Colonel Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) demands for an immediate warning to go out to all American border controls and medical centres. His demands are ignored, and before long a deadly outbreak of the virus occurs in the town of Cedar Creek, California. While Sam and his team fight to contain and cure the virus, his US Army masters - personified by Major General Donald McClintock (Donald Sutherland) - are secretly working against him.

In 1994 Richard Preston's non-fiction book The Hot Zone became a publishing sensation, and Hollywood rushed to adapt it into a narrative feature film. It was 20th Century Fox that won the bidding war to the book's movie rights, and they quickly signed up Ridley Scott to direct and Jodie Foster and Robert Redford to star. Not to be left out of the opportunity, Warner Bros - which had failed to get the rights - simply developed their own virus-based medical thriller at breakneck speed. They hired Wolfgang Petersen to direct and, after failing to court Harrison Ford, cast Dustin Hoffman to star. So smoothly did the Warner Bros production Outbreak hit the script that The Hot Zone, despite being the earlier project, floundered and collapsed in pre-production and was ultimately never made.

The Handmaiden (2016)

In 1930s Korea a pickpocket named Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) is persuaded by the deceitful Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) to masquerade as a maid to a rich, disaffected heiress named Hideko (Kim Min-hee), in order to help him defraud her of her fortune. Fujiawara's master plan hits a snag, however, when Sook-hee and Hideko begin to fall in love.

In many respects, The Handmaiden is a wonderful oddity. It is the latest film by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-wook, whose previous films - including Oldboy, JSA: Joint Security Area, and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance - have established him a major creative force in his own country and a cult favourite internationally. This new film is an adaptation of the similarly acclaimed English-language novel Fingersmith, by Welsh author Sarah Waters. While the novel was set in 19th century England, Park has relocated the action of 1930s Korea: a country occupied by the Japanese, and where aspiring rich aesthetes seem more interesting in adopting Japanese language and culture than in defending their own heritage.

This film is a genuine surprise, in fact it is one of those films best viewed with as little knowledge about its storyline as possible. What I can say is that it is one of the best films I have seen this year, and showcases one of the world's most talented directors at the height of his powers.

Personal Shopper (2016)

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a 28 year-old American living in Paris. During the day she works as a personal shopper for a rich celebrity named Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten). In her own time she obsesses over her recently deceased twin brother Lewis, and his promise to try and contact her from beyond the grave if he died. It is not long before something seems to be making contact, but whether it is her brother, her imagination or something altogether darker remains to be seen.

Personal Shopper is a horror film by stealth. It comes from acclaimed French director Olivier Assayas via the Cannes Film Festival, where it ran in contention for the prestigious Palme d'Or. At a glance it appears to be a typical French drama, with sullen overwrought emotion and privileged type complaining incessantly about their luxurious lives. Instead it is one of the best supernatural thrillers of recent years, and it has an alarming tendency to creep up on you and give one hell of a surprise.

Cop Car (2015)

Travis (James Freedson-Jackson) and Harrison (Hays Wellford) are two young boys walking cross-country through a series of fields. In a small grove they find a police patrol car. They dare each other to touch it. They dare each other to get inside. They find the keys. They go on an impulse joy ride. A minute later the local sheriff (Kevin Bacon) returns to find his patrol car missing. He has just buried one dead body. The second is in the patrol car's trunk.

Cop Car is a low-budget but brilliantly effective comedy thriller. The humour plays like a comedy of errors as Sheriff Kretzer goes on a tightly-wound, drug-fuelled meltdown over the loss of his car, and Travis and Harrison engage in increasingly dangerous hijinks with a back seat full of police weapons and equipment. The thrills come as the tension gradually escalates, some unexpected story developments appear, and the risk to the boys' lives becomes greater and greater. It is a relatively short film, running 88 minutes including the credits, but it is a strikingly effective one.

Three (2016)

Dr Tong Qian (Zhao Wei) is an overworked neurosurgeon struggling to compose herself after a surgery goes terribly wrong. Before she can leave the hospital, the police bring in the violent gangster Shun (Wallace Chung). He has been shot in the head, but miraculously remains alive and conscious. Tong wants to operate immediately to save Shun's life. Police Inspector Chan (Louis Koo) wants to interrogate Shun first. Shun bizarrely refuses medical treatment, and instead seems set on escape - but how?

Three is the latest crime thriller from Hong Kong's masterful director Johnnie To. It is set entirely inside a hospital ward, although we hear of plot developments occurring outside throughout the film. It primarily follows three key characters - a surgeon, a criminal, and a police officer - as their lives cross over and interrelate. Everything in the film builds to a noisy, chaotic climax - but is the build-up any good, and is that climax worth the wait?

2,000 minutes

Let's say you had 2,000 minutes that you wanted to spend watching movies. That breaks down to 33 hours and 20 minutes, so you could stock up on meals and snacks and run from 8.00am to 12.40am over a weekend. What would you watch with those 2,000 minutes? I am a pretty keen fan of Asian cinema, so let's say you wanted to see some great and entertaining Asian films. You could keep things simple, I suppose, and watch the first 21 Godzilla films in a row. On the other hand you could get an in-depth understanding of a particular director, like Akira Kurosawa: 2,000 minutes would get you from his debut feature Sanshiro Sugata all the way to The Lower Depths (his 17th).

I think a little variety would be better. Under the cut are my picks, pretty much made by browsing along my DVD collection until I hit 2,000 minutes of viewing time. These are not the best Asian films ever made, and they don't really follow any kind of pattern or logic beyond them being films that have really entertained me and that I would enthusiastically recommend to others. 20 movies in all: 12 from Japan, six from Hong Kong and China, and two from South Korea. Watch them over a weekend, or watch them occasionally over the course of a year. Either way, these are 20 Asian films I would wholeheartedly recommend.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "Tarr Tells His Story"

It is 17 September 1979 and time for the second part of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Retired intelligence deputy George Smiley (Alec Guinness) has been brought back into the fold to debrief runaway agent Ricki Tarr (Hywel Bennett), who has returned to London after three months in hiding. He brings with him a disturbing story about his last mission - and the discovery that there is a mole hidden somewhere in the senior command of MI6.

The leisurely and thoughtful pace of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy continues in its second episode, the bulk of which is dedicated to Ricki Tarr's story. To an extent it requires the viewer to put aside any expectation of following up directly on the events of the first episode, and simply enjoy Tarr's adventure on its own merits. It is a slightly odd episode as a result, but ultimately a satisfying one.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "Return to the Circus"

It is 10 September 1979 and time for the first episode of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The BBC have a long-held reputation of exceptional television drama. I recently watched and reviewed Wolf Hall, which is probably the latest of their hugely successful miniseries. To follow on from that I decided to jump back a few decades to re-watch of their most famous and acclaimed television miniseries ever: the seven-part adaptation of John Le Carré's novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. While the series was excellently adapted by Arthur Hopcraft and well directed by John Irvin, it remains best known for Sir Alec Guinness' masterful and understated performance as retired deputy head of intelligence George Smiley.

In this first episode a top-secret mission to Czechoslovakia goes horribly wrong, and rather than meet with a potential defector British agent Jim Prideaux (Ian Bannen) is shot and captured by Soviet forces. Some time after the incident former deputy head George Smiley (Guiness) - who resigned in the aftermath - is unwillingly pulled back into duty.

Running Out of Time (1999)

A robber (Andy Lau) holds a Hong Kong finance company at gunpoint, but when police detective Ho Sheung-Sang (Lau Ching-wan) the thief seems more interested in playing a game of cat and mouse than in getting away with his money. Over the next 72 hours the game progresses, with Ho always one step behind the thief while slowly piecing together the truth behind his motives.

1999 was a great year for Hong Kong director/producer Johnnie To. His production company Milkyway Image, which he founded three years earlier, had suffered a string of commercial and critical failures. In 1999 To's one-two punch of The Mission (shot in 18 days) and Running Out of Time (shot intermittently over two years) revived Milkyway's fortunes and re-established his career as one of Hong Kong's finest and most idiosyncratic feature film directors. They cemented a specific house style for Milkyway's crime flicks and thrillers, one that highlights small moments of character and embraces the absurd in among all of the plot twists and shoot-outs. Running Out of Time specifically also re-directed the career of co-star Andy Lau, then a popular but critically unappreciated star of romantic comedies and dramas. Under To's direction Lau stretched himself considerably, and earned a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor as a result.

All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa (2014)

Riko Rinda (Haruka Ayase) is a professional appraiser, working out of her own small business All-Round Appraiser Q. Upon the invitation of the Louvre art museum, Riko travels to Paris - a dogged young journalist (Tori Matsuzaka) in tow - to appraise the legendary "Mona Lisa" and ensure it is delivered safely to the Tokyo History Museum. Before long it is clear something is awry, and a mystery is afoot.

All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa is an adaptation of one volume from a popular series of mystery novels by Keisuke Matsuoka. The books follow Riko Rinda's adventures around Japan and the globe, solving mysteries and preventing crimes wherever she goes. The character is clearly a sort of female Sherlock Holmes, with journalist Ogasawara as her dutiful Watson analogue. The film, on the other hand, has clearly been sculpted to capitalise on both the popular Warner Bros Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr - the soundtrack is a dead giveaway - and the best-selling Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code. It is slickly produced, and engagingly performed, but also rather silly and in the end only partially successful.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packs her possessions into some boxes and leaves her apartment. As she drives into the night her boyfriend telephones her to beg her to return. Momentarily distracted, she doesn't see the pick-up truck coming. Her car rolls off the road and down a hill. When she wakes, she is chained to a bed in an underground bunker. The man who chained her there, Howard (John Goodman), explains that he found her in the wreckage and brought her underground when the world outside was subjected to an attack. Whether nuclear, chemical or even extraterrestrial, he does not know.

That is the basic premise of 10 Cloverfield Lane, a film that - like its 2008 namesake - suddenly appeared on the near horizon without most movie-goers even knowing that the film was being made. It is a claustrophobic thriller that strings it audience along on the promise of an answer to two questions: is Howard what he appears to be, and has anything actually happened to the world upstairs?

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

It is the night of the USA's annual Purge, in which all crimes are declared legal for a 12 hour period. While most of the nation's civilians cower fearfully inside their homes, other step onto the streets armed with handguns, rifles, knives and baseball bats to commit random violent crimes or even to engage in premeditated murder against people they dislike. A car breakdown leaves a young couple stranded on the freeway just as the Purge is set to begin. A mother and daughter have their home invaded and are dragged out onto the streets. A mysterious well-armed man sets out into the night in an armoured car with murder on his mind. Over the course of the night, all five people's lives intersect as they band together and attempt to survive.

The Purge: Anarchy is the 2014 sequel to The Purge, a small-scale near-future thriller. Both films are directed by James DeMonaco. Buoyed by the success of the first film and armed with a bigger budget, this second film is in pretty much every way its superior. Whereas the original was a serviceable home invasion movie, Anarchy is a fully-fledged near future thriller with pointed social satire on its mind.

The Purge (2013)

In a future America, one night of the year is handed over to the Purge: a ritualised spree where all crime including murder is no longer illegal, and where citizens can act out their most violent fantasies with legal impunity. On one Purge night, a wealthy security sales manager (Ethan Hawke) and his family bunker down inside their house only to have their lives threatened with the Purge comes for them.

Blumhouse Productions has spent the last few years churning out cheaply made, commercially savvy horror movies and violent thrillers, beginning with Paranormal Activity in 2006 and working its way through 40 films since. The Purge, released in 2013, only cost three million dollars to make but grossed almost ninety million in the cinemas. It has since been followed by two sequels, the second of which is set for release this July. It's a canny method of making commercial cinema, that seems to rely on having a strong hook with which to reel audiences into movie theatres. On the face of it the hook for The Purge seems a little ridiculous and difficult to believe. Once seen on screen, however, the satirical nature of the concept becomes much clearer.