FREE TO AIR
Utopia, ABC, 8.30pm
While it is great to see Tom, Rob, Jane and Santo return to the small screen, this offering into the micro-cosmos of government bureaucracy has been disappointing. Set in the fictional yet plausible Nation Building Authority, it follows a group of hopeless public servants who over-promise and under-deliver a host of infrastructure projects. This season finale sees Tony (Rob Sitch) and other staff realise they haven't done anything in their first year of existence. Despite that, the office is distracted by the planning for its Mexican-themed anniversary party. Comparisons with Frontline are inevitable and some of the characters could be poorer incarnations of Frontline's core (Utopia's airhead receptionist Amy is far too similar to Frontline's Dom, for example). There are several casting mis-steps, including Kitty Flanagan, who is a terrific comedian but plays the role of public relations pro Rhonda far too broadly to be even remotely believable. Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann also sticks out like a sore thumb. Celia Pacquola is a great as Nat, the frustrated worker who simply wants to build something. In spite of all that, there's still a lot to like about Utopia.
Living with the Enemy, SBS One, 8.30pm
This Australian series is compelling viewing. Each episode, two people who are on the different side of the same coin spend time in each other's worlds to try and understand their position. NSW hunter Steve wears a necklace made of bullets and has a room dedicated to his kills. Animal rights activist Felicity is a vegan and has rescued mistreated animals. There are plenty of tears and anger as they spend five days each in the other's world, which involves Steve going on a duck-hunting protest and Felicity joining a wild pig hunt. Watching each side struggle to understand the other is awkward viewing at times but always emotionally charged. A top watch.
Bates Motel, Seven, 11.30pm
A prequel of sorts to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho that sets out to unlock why Norman Bates went cray-cray and all stabby on Janet Leigh's Marion Crane. Delving into Bates' complex mental health and relationship with his mother it explores how Bates' depravity developed. In this episode Norma seeks help for some of her problems and her son tries to get her back home. Production values are high and the visuals are captivating but it is still a bit beige.
Alana Schetzer
PAY TV
A Night at the Movies: Stephen King, TCM, 8.30pm
Stephen King is a thoughtful, perceptive and opinionated viewer of horror movies. And, of course, one who is uncommonly well-placed to critique them, given the many decades that he has been analysing them, writing stories that get turned into them, and appearing in them himself. This fascinating special begins with King revealing that the first movie to terrify him was Bambi (yes, it was the forest fire). Then we're into the first horror movies to make an impact on him (Francis Ford Coppola's Dementia 13 and George Romero's Night of the Living Dead), and his own experience in the horror movie business. King talks about his enlightening first viewing of Carrie in a black cinema, his well-documented disappointment with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining ("A beautiful car with no engine"), and his opinion that Dee Wallace should have won an Oscar for Cujo. Just as interesting are his problems with werewolves (too literal a transformation), vampires (he doesn't buy the male ones as suave seducers) and the slasher genre (misogyny, misanthropy), and his admiration of Tobe Hooper and the makers of The Blair Witch Project.
Brad Newsome
MOVIES
The Kid with a Bike (2011), SBS One, 11.10pm
Rarely does a critic experience a film like a blind wine tasting, knowing nothing about what is to come, including who made it. That was the case with The Kid with a Bike, which had somehow escaped my radar and begins with no director credit. It could have been made by an inexperienced student at some obscure European film school. It certainly looks that way, with its low-rent videography and exaggeratedly jerky camera, and overly intense "realist" acting. In short, it is a tough film to watch. Twelve-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret) lives in an orphanage, where he is rude to everyone he can be and from which he repeatedly tries to escape. He cannot accept his father has abandoned him or sold his beloved bicycle. Cyril is an anti-hero, a rebel with a cause, but few have been less empathetic. However, this is not the view of the local hairdresser (Cecile De France) who, without explanation, buys him a bike. You realise, with instant and utter certainty, that she will help Cyril blossom as they bicycle their way to a happier future. Some might call this deterministic and linear storytelling heart-warming. Others will be less kind.
What the end credits reveal is that The Kid with a Bike was directed by Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and that it shared the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. Publicists and critics have even compared it favourably to Vittorio De Sica's Italian neo-realist masterpiece, Bicycle Thieves (1948). But that has a believable and unpredictable plot, engaging characters and supreme visual mastery. Still, if you think the prize-givers at Cannes might be right …
Catch Me If You Can (2002), ONE, 9.30pm
Charming, sad and deeply moving film from Steven Spielberg about a young man (Leonardo DiCaprio) on the run from himself. When Spielberg makes one of his rare films for adults, he can't help but reveal his genius.
Scott Murray
