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1 month ago
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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt
ITV; available now
Summed up in a sentence An intelligent, sophisticated documentary using devastating expert analysis of the issues with the evidence against the neonatal nurse infamously convicted for murdering infants in her care.
What our reviewer said “In its marshalling and explanation of complicated medical and mathematical issues, it succeeds brilliantly, covering more ground more meticulously in an hour than any documentary I’ve seen in recent years, and perhaps ever.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Emergency care at Lucy Letby hospital falls short of legal standards, CQC finds
Pick of the rest
Wednesday
Netflix; available now
Summed up in a sentence The return of the Addams Family-spin off that proved to be Netflix’s biggest English-language drama ever, now with added Steve Buscemi.
What our reviewer said “The season opener is wonderfully skittish and dense with jokes and plot. Tim Burton’s brisk direction ensures any embryonic wibbles of seriousness or sentimentality are swiftly squished.” Sarah Dempster
Platonic
Apple TV+; available now
Summed up in a sentence The return of Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne’s comedy about two mischief-loving midlife friends with a tendency to bicker and plunge into calamity.
What our reviewer said “Platonic ranges from great to decent company. The leads have palpable (nonsexual) chemistry, and it’s always nice to watch something that is putting serious effort into making you laugh.” Rachel Aroesti
King of the Hill
Disney+; available now
Summed up in a sentence After 16 years away, Mike Judge’s animated sitcom about a conservative Texan family makes a charming return.
What our reviewer said “ It’s not a show that will ever hold back on the hugging and learning. But that feels entirely deliberate; at the moment, a show prioritising modesty, tolerance and gentle revelation feels more welcome than ever.” Phil Harrison
You may have missed …
Poisoned: Killer in the Post
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence A painstaking account of a journalist’s investigation into the deaths of users of a suicide forum, and the identity of the person selling them lethal poison.
What our reviewer said “If you can get through this two-part documentary without sliding down on to the floor in despair – well, you’re a better viewer than I.” Lucy Mangan
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
The Kingdom
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence An outstanding Corsica-set mafia tale following a teenage girl discovering and revelling in her status as the blueblood daughter of a crime boss.
What our reviewer said “We know what’s coming, of course, but the film shows that something in its very inevitability is shocking. An intensely atmospheric, absorbing and exciting drama.” Peter Bradshaw
Pick of the rest
Freakier Friday
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence The body-swap comedy continues and while Lindsay Lohan puts in a serviceable appearance it’s Jamie Lee Curtis who makes this zany update a treat.
What our reviewer said “Another version of this movie might have wanted to dip its toe into the issues of body image and identity: Freakier Friday keeps it light, partly as a result of Curtis’s jokey grandma.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘Generations of women have been disfigured’: Jamie Lee Curtis lets rip on plastic surgery, power and Hollywood’s age problem
Viet and Nam
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A hallucinatory love story about a gay Vietnamese man looking for his dead father’s remains which recalls the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
What our reviewer said “The terrible sadness of the film is to be found in a rather extraordinary late scene in which Ba reveals something awful to Hoa, who then immediately has to deal with a customer, an interruption to be compared with the one at the end of Brief Encounter.” Peter Bradshaw
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence A stirring documentary about the actor – the first and only deaf winner of the best actress Oscar – reveals the highs and lows that came after.
What our reviewer said “This film makes a rather interesting case that Matlin’s achievements showed up as much or more on TV, with her sparkling small roles on Seinfeld and The West Wing. Either way, Matlin is an American pioneer.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘It’s hard to find work’: Marlee Matlin on making Hollywood history but waiting for change
Now streaming …
Inside
Multiple digital platforms; available 11 August
Summed up in a sentence Guy Pearce, newcomer Vincent Miller and Cosmo Jarvis are all remarkable in this unsentimental Australian prison drama.
What our reviewer said “And then there’s Jarvis, who was recently unforgettable as the potty-mouthed John Blackthorne in Shōgun. Here he delivers a performance seared on to my psyche like a hot iron.” Luke Buckmaster
Books
If you only read one, make it …
TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker
Reviewed by Sandra Newman
Summed up in a sentence A brilliantly over-the-top comedy about a heckler and a viral moment.
What our reviewer said “It’s that rare thing, a serious work of art that is also a giddy confection: a vehicle of pure delight.”
Further reading ‘If I have a life philosophy, it’s ferocious innocence’
Pick of the rest
The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix
Reviewed by Charlie Gilmour
Summed up in a sentence The story of how trees came to rule the world.
What our reviewer said “Element by element, trees have learned to control water, air, fire and the ground beneath us, as well as fungi, plants, animals and even people, shaping them according to their own ‘tree-ish’ agenda”
Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood
Reviewed by Sophie Dickinson
Summed up in a sentence A caustic satire on war reporting.
What our reviewer said “A remarkably skilful debut. Greenwood’s style is compelling and blackly comic; the story could not be more serious.”
Interviewing Hitler by Richard Evans
Reviewed by John Banville
Summed up in a sentence The sinister story of the Daily Mail’s star reporter of the 1930s.
What our reviewer said “Ward Price’s reporting came in for serious criticism, including from Winston Churchill, who declared on meeting him: ‘I see that you’ve been over in Germany again, shaking the bloodstained hands of your Nazi friends.’”
You may have missed …
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
Reviewed by Christopher Shrimpton
Summed up in a sentence The perfect lives of wealthy New Yorkers are shattered by a violent act on a birthday weekend.
What our reviewer said “A bracingly honest and affectingly intimate depiction of abuse, family dynamics and self-deceit … it upends its characters’ lives so ruthlessly and revealingly that it is hard not to take pleasure in a false facade being finally smashed.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Amaarae – Black Star
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The Ghanaian-American pop star blew minds with the sensuality and frankness of her last album, Fountain Baby – for the follow-up, she focuses squarely on the dancefloor.
What our reviewer said “For her, glamour is a side-quest and love is the motive. Shopping at Saks and being passed another blunt might be nice, Amaarae seems to say, but the real high comes from finding someone to share it with.” Shaad D’Souza
Further reading: ‘I’m presenting black women as deities’
Pick of the rest
For Those I Love: Carving the Stone
Out now
Summed up in a sentence With his emotional spoken word delivery, David Balfe’s 2021 debut was original and arresting, and the grief that informed it now modulates into different but no less intense feeling.
What our reviewer said “Carving the Stone’s portraits of new kinds of poverty are too depressing – and depressingly accurate – to be beautiful, although the music offers occasional bursts of strange joy.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading: Ireland’s potent new poet of grief
Autumns: Basic Face
Out now
Summed up in a sentence With beefy rhythms and intense, unrelenting tracks, the prolific Irish producer follows the classic EBM formula to sweaty effect.
What our reviewer said “Repetitive rather than progressive, the tracks are seemingly made for DJs and live sets, rather than home listening … they are intense and unrelenting, as any good EBM track should be.” Safi Bugel
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3; Two Scherzo
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Capturing the momentum of two of Shostakovich’s first Soviet-era symphonies, this performance adds a pair of scherzos that pre-date even them.
What our reviewer said “Conductor John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic are more effective in maintaining the momentum of the faster music than they are in registering the moments of deeper, darker emotion.” Andrew Clements
