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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Widow’s Bay
Apple TV
Summed up in a sentence Matthew Rhys stars in a rich, wonderful and laugh-out-loud comedy-horror about a mayor trying to turn a cursed New England island into a tourist hotspot.
What our reviewer said “Widow’s Bay is rich and wonderful.” Lucy Mangan
Pick of the rest
Should I Marry a Murderer?
Netflix
Summed up in a sentence The astonishing real-life tale of a woman who helped police to investigate her killer fiance – only for them to let her down badly.
What our reviewer said “We should rename the true-crime genre: ‘The catalogue of ways misogynists and the patriarchy have set up this world to hurt, humiliate and destroy us.’” Lucy Mangan
The Cage
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A thrilling tale of two casino employees robbing their workplace, which is also a deeply moving state-of-the-nation drama, starring Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha.
What our reviewer said “Socha is phenomenal. He is always great, and always interesting, but this is a gift of a part and he excavates every layer of Matty with matchless delicacy.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘I’ve had white knuckle moments’: Michael Socha on This is England, his patchy beard – and seedy new casino thriller The Cage
You may have missed …
Clash of the Superpowers: America v China
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence Revered documentarian Norma Percy serves up a wry, poised two-parter about the relationship between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
What our reviewer said “Percy’s films are usually nuanced dramas of manners, with bigwigs from different countries exploiting minor personal weaknesses to achieve big results; Trump staggers in and vomits all over that.” Jack Seale
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
The Devil Wears Prada 2
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Glossy sequel to the fashion biz hit, with Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep revisiting their turns as former assistant and demon editor respectively.
What our reviewer said “This is good-natured, buoyant entertainment. It’s wearing well.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading The devil wears Primark: is the romcom reporter about to get the sack?
Pick of the rest
Power to the People: John & Yoko Live in NYC
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Star-studded concert film containing footage from John Lennon’s only full-length performances after the Beatles – at New York’s Madison Square Garden with the Plastic Ono Band.
What our reviewer said “The best track for me is the first: New York City, John and Yoko’s homage to the city that offered them sanctuary and respite – but would be the site of the terrible catastrophe eight years later.” Peter Bradshaw
Ada – My Mother the Architect
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Film-maker Yael Melamede presents a fascinating account of the life and work of revered Israeli architect Ada Karmi-Melamede – who is also her mother.
What our reviewer said “Karmi-Melamede’s ethos is to establish buildings that take root in their allotted space, an ‘architecture of the ground and of the sky’ – rather than replicate the endless glass towers of first-world cities which could be put down anywhere.” Peter Bradshaw
Highlander
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Fortieth-anniversary rerelease for preposterous time romp, starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery as immortals battling across the centuries.
What our reviewer said “The film’s galloping silliness never lets up, though it is perhaps an acquired taste – those who can indulge it will find it uniquely quirky, funny and eccentrically ambitious.” Peter Bradshaw
Hokum
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Eerie rural horror with Adam Scott as a writer returning to the Irish hotel in which his parents spent their honeymoon, which brings him face-to-face with all manner of creepy goings-on.
What our reviewer said “It is an amusing and gruesome premise, which writer-director Damian McCarthy stretches out into a convoluted, bizarre extended narrative.” Peter Bradshaw
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Famesick by Lena Dunham
Review by Hannah J Davies
Summed up in a sentence The Girls creator’s candid memoir about chronic illness and the downsides of celebrity.
What our reviewer said “The afflictions described across its 400 pages include OCD, colitis, the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, endometriosis, early menopause, PTSD and addiction to both opioids and benzodiazepines. At one point, Dunham accidentally sets herself on fire.”
Further reading ‘I got everything I dreamed of – when I had no ability to handle it’: Lena Dunham on toxic fame, broken friendships and her ‘lost decade’
Pick of the rest
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Review by Claire Adam
Summed up in a sentence A Massachusetts teacher reckons with his family trauma in the new novel from the Olive Kitteridge author.
What our reviewer said “Strout has charted her fictional worlds so extensively across interlinked novels and stories that readers often think of her characters as their personal friends.”
Further reading Where to start with: Elizabeth Strout
This Dark Night: Emily Brontë, a Life by Deborah Lutz
Review by Samantha Ellis
Summed up in a sentence A no-nonsense take on the author of Wuthering Heights.
What our reviewer said “Both Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights have been called ‘deranged’, ‘crazed’ or ‘unhinged’. So it’s a relief to read a biography where she comes across, instead, as more grounded, steady, sane.”
What If Reform Wins: A Scenario by Peter Chappell
Review by Gaby Hinsliff
Summed up in a sentence A punchy account of how a Nigel Farage premiership would unfold.
What our reviewer said “Though based on conversations with civil servants, Reform insiders and others, it’s pitched not as a piece of conventional analysis but as a story: a lively and often witty political thriller that both is and isn’t fiction.”
Further reading Too good to be true: on the road with Nigel Farage – photo essay
Devotions by Lucy Caldwell
Review by M John Harrison
Summed up in a sentence Sharply observed short stories from the award-winning Northern Irish author.
What our reviewer said “These stories are full of transformational delight in life and the spirit one moment, emotional and psychological threat the next.”
You may have missed …
Helm by Sarah Hall
Review by Aida Edemariam
Summed up in a sentence A millennia-spanning epic of Britain’s only named wind, and the Cumbrian valley it blows around, now in paperback.
What our reviewer said “Above all it is the wind itself that holds this vastly ambitious, serious – but also often playful and ironic – book together.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Kneecap: Fenian
Out now
Summed up in a sentence With strong words for Keir Starmer, the Irish rave-rap trio remain unbowed by the controversy around them – yet this is a more ruminative record than you might expect.
What our reviewer said “Kneecap’s current notoriety is a complex and potentially fraught business: Fenian suggests they have more than enough about them to ride it out.” Alexis Petridis
Further reading ‘We just want to stop people being murdered’: Kneecap on Palestine, protest and provocation
Pick of the rest
Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The South African producer presents a masterclass in mapanta, the intensely fast rural celebratory sound from Limpopo that splices animal howls with hammering marimba rhythm and scatter-gun electronic percussion.
What our reviewer said “Rather than creating nuanced arrangements with emotional arcs, his tracks are charged up by mind-clearing loudness itself; to succumb to these consistently breakneck rhythms is strangely freeing.” Ammar Kalia
Kacey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere
Out now
Summed up in a sentence After two underwhelming pop-leaning records, the country star gets back to basics on this sparsely produced gem filled with wit and hard-won lessons.
What our reviewer said “Middle of Nowhere sacks off all the pageantry. Subtly arranged, tinged with western swing and traditional Mexican music, the low-key sound gets back to Musgraves’ rural roots and makes a smart backdrop to these beautifully weary songs about reckoning with delusion.” Laura Snapes
Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano and Cello
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Cellist Paul Watkins’ career-long immersion in the composer pays dividends in his pairing with Alessio Bax’s unfussy virtuosity.
What our reviewer said “Their playing here seems to come from a shared impulse, unflaggingly eloquent without ever seeming to strive for effect.” Erica Jeal
Further reading Beethoven: where to start with his music
Now touring …
Ne-Yo and Akon
Touring to 14 May
Summed up in a sentence From So Sick to Smack That, this double-headliner provides major millennial nostalgia – but goes to show how varied their respective careers were at their peak.
What our reviewer said “Over the course of just under three hours, the duo take turns in the spotlight, the mood seesawing in line with each of them. This joyous, varied spectacle shows how deep an impact these two made on pop culture for a time.” Arusa Qureshi
