Here’s what you need to know:
The Mexican feature is one that all film fans should watch
A 2023 film with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score film that’s not available to stream is airing on TV tonight (Thursday, April 10) for free across the UK.
It’s been a stunning period for foreign cinema, with multiple films from various countries enjoying mainstream success.
The trend arguably began with 2019’s Parasite, with the Korean drama becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
From here, multiple non-English films have been nominated for Best Picture, including Drive My Car, All Quiet on the Western Front and Anatomy of a Fall.
Last month saw I’m Still Here become the first Brazilian film to win an Academy Award as it took home Best International Feature Film over Netflix’s Emilia Pérez.
However with the Oscars only able to nominate five films in the category, sometimes a film like Radical can slip under the radar.
Released in 2023, the film follows a group of sixth grade students at Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary who are among the worst performing students in Mexico.
Dealing with violence and hardship, new teacher Sergio Juarez attempts to inspire the students to achieve anything they put their minds to.
In a film that takes all the right lessons from Dead Poet’s Society, watching Sergio’s attempts to lift the students’ spirits makes Radical a must watch.
Having appeared in The Book of Life, The Angry Birds Movie 2, and CODA, Eugenio Derbez’s lead performance is up there with the best cinema has to offer.
Based on a real life story, Derbez previously said in an interview with NPR that the real teacher is ‘an amazing human being’.
He explained: “He was telling me the story why he started this radical method, and it was because every single year at the end of the year, kids used to take a picture with him and hug him.
“And year after year, it was less and less kids who approached him. And then he realized he was probably losing the touch, and he had to do something radical to change it.”
Filmed on a shoestring budget, Radical earned an impressive $21.1 million at the box office as its status grows by the day.
Part of the magic of loving cinema is exploring works from countries and discovering cultures you may not be familiar with. A night spent watching Radical is one you won’t forget.
Radical airs on Thursday, April 10, at 11.40pm on Film 4 and channel4.com.
Published: 2025-04-10 04:00:00 | Author: [email protected] (Liam De Brun) | Source: MEN – News
Link: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Tags: #film #Rotten #Tomatoes #stream #airing #tonight
