cross the border Archives - Jeremy C. Processing

Director – David Mackenzie – 2016 – US – Cert. 15 – 102m

*****

Two brothers embark on a series of bank robberies even as two Texas Rangers follow their trail – out in the UK on 4K UHD

Entering the Texas Midlands bank early in the morning, a woman employee (Dale Dickey from the G, 2023; Iron Man 3, Shane Black, 2013) finds herself at gunpoint from two masked men in the middle of a robbery of a Texas Midlands bank. Sadly, only Mr. Clauson (William Sterchi) has the keys to the safe – and he won’t be in ‘til 8.30. At which point, one of the pair pistol whips him after his friendly, “good mornin’”. The gung-ho car driver is the elder brother Tanner (Ben Foster from Christy, David Michod, 2025; The Messenger, Oren Moverman, 2009); his quieter younger brother Toby (Chris Pine from Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins, 2017; Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, 2009) tells him to slow down.

Another Texas Midlands interior: an old man (Buck Taylor from Yellowstone, TV series, 2018-24; Gettysburg, Ronald F. Maxwell, 1993) is talking with the teller (Kristin K. Berg) about the box of old coins he found when the pair burst in and take the money from the till.… Read the rest

Hit The Road
(Jaddeh Khaki,
جاده خاکی)

Director – Panah Panahi – 2021 – Iran – Cert. 12a – 93m

****

Four in a car. An Iranian family drive across Iran towards the Turkish border, for reasons that will only later become clear – out in cinemas on Friday, July 29th

A family of four – dad (Hassan Madjooni), mum (Pantea Panahiha), elder son (Amin Simiar), younger son (Rayan Sarlak) plus family dog Jessy – are driving across Iran towards the Turkish border. Actually, when we first meet them, they’ve stopped at a lay-by. That opening, combined with the title, doesn’t leave you in much doubt that this is going to be a road movie. We take an instant shining to the younger son, an irrepressible six-year-old who plays air piano on the keyboard drawn on the plaster cast around his sleeping father’s leg.

A bit of a rogue, this one: mum and dad have left their mobile phones at home as instructed, but six has brought his with him (he denies it, but the ringtone is a giveaway: it turns out he’s hidden it in his underwear and we should probably be thankful the director didn’t make this film in Odorama). Mum takes the phone away and buries it, but later on in the journey, he’s trying to buy another one.… Read the rest