Film
The Hours and Times
A 57-minute black-and-white speculation on an actual 1963 holiday: John Lennon and Brian Epstein alone in Barcelona. It's intimate, oblique, and wholly invented—a meditation on desire, power, and the unknowable spaces between famous men. For those drawn to artistic risk-taking and Beatles lore willing to sit with ambiguity.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like small, talky chamber pieces where the unspoken tension between two men matters more than any plot, and you don't mind a restrained, monochrome picture of the Beatles' world.
Skip it if you want Beatles music or a brisk plot, since this is a slow, mostly still hour of talk where very little visibly happens.
What it asks of you: Its running time is just under an hour, so it asks for an evening's patience with long silences, unhurried conversation, and a stripped-back monochrome look.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
24 Hour Party People2002
A joyously messy true-ish story about music history, featuring a charismatic lead character navigating desire, ambition, and the chaos of creating something real. It shares the same playful irreverence toward biographical fact.
But Frantic pacing and a very 2002 sensibility; if you want a straightforward narrative, this will frustrate you.
Control2007
Intimate, austere portrait of Ian Curtis and Joy Division's early years. Black and white, economical storytelling, and a fascination with the private life behind the public figure. Genuinely moving without being sentimental.
But Slow and methodical. The film respects your patience more than it flatters your attention span.
Velvet Goldmine1998
A glorious, deliberately fictional excavation of glam rock's mysteries. It invents liberally, treasures ambiguity, and trusts the audience to sit with unanswered questions. Visually intoxicating and endlessly inventive.
But Deliberately obscure, non-linear, and sometimes precious. If you're looking for a clear story, you'll feel lost.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Hours and Times
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Nighthawks1978
Both films are queer meditations on desire and unknowing shot in stark B&W, trusting visual composition and space over narrative explanation.
A German experimental film about two men in a Berlin bar—cruising, desire, and the small intimacies of strangers. Shot in long takes with minimal dialogue. It's a distant ancestor of The Hours and Times: patient, queer, and more interested in atmosphere than plot.
But It moves like honey. If you need things to happen or mean something obvious, this will feel empty.
More like this (8)
My Week with Marilyn2011
Another intimate speculation about a brief, charged encounter between a young man and a famous figure. Captures the tension between myth and the fragile human being behind it with genuine tenderness.
But Gentle and whimsical to the point of softness; it never pushes as hard as it could.
Rocketman2019
Elton John's life through music and visual fantasy. Unafraid to blend fact and emotional truth, with a lead performance of raw vulnerability. Celebrates queerness and artistic obsession without apology.
But Extremely sentimental and sometimes manipulative. The film wants very badly for you to cry, which can feel like pressure.
The Queen of Versailles2012
Documentary about desire, ambition, and delusion—a real-time study of a couple's marriage during financial collapse. Unflinching and ultimately compassionate, it finds the humanity in its subjects without judging them.
But It's a documentary about wealth, excess, and dysfunction; if you need to like your protagonists, this will exhaust you.
Prick Up Your Ears1987
Gary Oldman as Joe Orton in a stylish, fearless film about artistic ambition and a doomed same-sex partnership. It's sensual, witty, and unafraid of its own queerness and darkness.
But Darkly comic about suicide and murder—not everyone wants that tonal blend in their biographical drama.
Mysterious Skin2005
Two young men process trauma and desire through parallel narratives. Honest about sexuality, shame, and the search for connection. Visually poetic without prettifying pain.
But Deals with childhood sexual abuse directly and without flinching. It's necessary but not comfortable.
Looking for Richard1996
Al Pacino's semi-documentary essay on Shakespeare's Richard III—part performance, part investigation, part love letter to acting itself. Messy and sincere in equal measure.
But Structurally chaotic and sometimes indulgent; it can feel like watching someone figure things out in real time.
Synecdoche, New York2008
Both films refuse the comfort of clarity, layering invention over real events to explore the blurred boundary between artistic truth and biographical fact.
Charlie Kaufman's labyrinthine masterpiece about a theatre director collapsing biography, fantasy, and creation into one space. Formally ambitious, tender, and entirely unconcerned with whether you follow it. Obsessive and gorgeous.
But Deliberately confusing and increasingly baroque. Some people call it brilliant; others call it a mess. Both are right.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu2005
Both deploy minimalism—minimal dialogue, minimal plot, black and white—to create maximum emotional weight. Both ask you to sit with discomfort and absence as their primary material.
A Romanian black-and-white film following an old man through a night of medical bureaucracy. Formally patient, darkly comic, humanizing. Radically unhurried—it trusts you completely. A masterpiece of register and restraint.
But 160 minutes observing suffering and indifference. Not entertainment; it's witnessing. Many people will find it punishing.
People
Cast
Ian HartJohn Lennon- David AngusBrian Epstein
- Stephanie PackMarianne
- Robin McDonaldQuinones
- Sergio MorenoMiguel
- Unity GrimwoodLa mère