12 hours ago
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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
The Assassin
Prime Video
Summed up in a sentence Keeley Hawes puts in a fantastic performance in a hugely fun thriller about a menopausal hitwoman who ends up having to go on the run with her adult son.
What our reviewer said “The Assassin is perfectly crafted preposterousness. It is stylish, witty, tightly written, even more tightly paced and takes the job of massively entertaining us at every turn with the proper amount of seriousness.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘Must-have genre’ for uncertain times: why spy thrillers have taken over TV
Pick of the rest
Unforgivable
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A rich, subtle and sophisticated drama about child sexual abuse from renowned writer Jimmy McGovern.
What our reviewer said “It is an altogether richer, more subtle and more sophisticated creation than, say, Adolescence, to which it is likely to be compared; as such, it is unlikely to be adopted as a pseudo policy document by the government. More’s the pity.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading ‘I danced my little bottom off!’ Anna Friel on a rejuvenating Oasis gig – and her new Jimmy McGovern drama
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A visceral, passionate adaptation of a Booker prize-winning novel that’s set in three separate timelines.
What our reviewer said “The Narrow Road to the Deep North is not an easy prospect, but it is an immensely powerful one, driven by strong performances and a bracing confidence in its ability to tell this story, at its own pace, in its own way.” Rebecca Nicholson
You may have missed …
Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges
BBC One/iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence As he grieves his beloved father, the atheist broadcaster sets off on a pilgrimage that takes him on a surprisingly glorious spiritual adventure.
What our reviewer said “What Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges expresses most powerfully of all, certainly to this fellow bereaved Hindu, are the irresolvable particularities, and commonalities, of second-generation grief.” Chitra Ramaswamy
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Gazer
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Creepy and tense noir chiller with hints of Lynch and Cronenberg and star and co-writer Ariella Mastroianni radiating suppressed anguish and rage.
What our reviewer said “A genuine skin-crawling unease seeps out of the screen for every second of its running time, helped by a brooding, moaning electronic score by Steve Matthew Carter.” Peter Bradshaw
Pick of the rest
Dying
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Lars Eidinger plays a man embarking on a major orchestral project, but whose professional status is threatened by family turmoil behind the scenes.
What our reviewer said “This is a bleak, bold, extravagantly crazy story which is emotionally incorrect at all times. Perhaps it could have been produced as a streaming-TV production but that would have deprived audiences of the pleasures of swallowing it whole.” Peter Bradshaw
Fantastic Four: First Steps
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Marvel offers a superhero family sitcom with Mr Fantastic and Sue Storm living together as a dysfunctional family in a retro-futurist version of early 1960s New York.
What our reviewer said “The result hangs together as an entertaining spectacle in its own innocent self-enclosed universe of fantasy wackiness, where real people actually read the comic books that have made mythic legends of the real Four.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Whiteboard warrior: Marvel is priming Mister Fantastic to be the new leader of the Avengers
Amadeus
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence F Murray Abraham mesmerises as bland court composer Salieri who is eclipsed by Tom Hulce’s nitrogen-voiced genius Mozart in Miloš Forman’s masterpiece.
What our reviewer said “The pure gorgeous villainy of F Murray Abraham once again floods the screen, as saturnine and sulphurous as ever, in this new rerelease of Amadeus in its original 1984 theatrical cut.” Peter Bradshaw
Now streaming …
Toxic
Mubi; available now
Summed up in a sentence Saule Bliuvaite’s debut feature follows two Lithuanian teens seduced by a “modelling school” promising to take them away from their tough home town.
What our reviewer said “Bliuvaite and her cinematographer Vytautas Katkus contrive striking tableaux and ambient setpieces, creating an emotional context for this drama: a world of alienation and desperate need, but also resilient humour.” Peter Bradshaw
Books
If you only read one, make it …
The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The posthumously published final collection from a leading poet of our age.
What our reviewer said “It’s our great good fortune that Burnside’s closing work is also one of his finest. He is attentive to the degradation of nature; staring it in the face and obliging us to stare at it, too. But more often than not, it’s the beauty that possesses him.” Sarah Crown
Further reading John Burnside: ‘My stoner friends were into The Hobbit, but Gormenghast was darker’
Pick of the rest
The Parallel Path by Jenn Ashworth
Reviewed by Blake Morrison
Summed up in a sentence A writer’s reflections as she walks the coast to coast path.
What our reviewer said “What’s captivating about her book is all the thinking she does mid- or post-trek: on writing, friendship, welfare, illness, climate change, protest marches, knitting, and why it is that in popular mythology ‘walking women’ are either models on a catwalk or sex workers.”
Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt
Reviewed by Anthony Cummins
Summed up in a sentence A warmly comic saga about two tech entrepreneurs.
What our reviewer said “A critique of disruptor-era genius is less important here than feeling and friendship; the winningly Edwardian, even Victorian, approach to storytelling extends right to the heart-swelling deathbed climax.”
Father Figure by Emma Forrest
Reviewed by Ella Risbridger
Summed up in a sentence A slippery coming-of-age story about infatuation and ambiguity.
What our reviewer said “The teenage girl, in Forrest’s capable and unusual fifth novel, is a kind of bottomless pit of need – for desire, attention and the world to come.”
Further reading ‘It was my gateway drug to self-harm’: a writer’s journey to finding the joy in makeup
Fair by Jen Calleja
Reviewed by Alex Clark
Summed up in a sentence A surprising and playful study of the art of translation.
What our reviewer said “Shepherding a piece of writing from one language into another requires so many minute responses, thought processes and decisions that the translator would find it impossible to suppress their own voice.”
You may have missed …
Beastly Britain by Karen R Jones
Reviewed by Kathryn Hughes
Summed up in a sentence How animals have shaped British identity.
What our reviewer said “Hedgehogs were reputed to sneak into human settlements at night and steal eggs (true) and suck the udders of sleeping cows (almost certainly false).”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Tyler, the Creator: Don’t Tap the Glass
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The soul-searching of last year’s Chromakopia is expelled – for the most part – by half an hour of early 80s rhythms and slick one-liners with the IDGAF attitude of his early years.
What our reviewer said “Almost all of its 10 tracks seem fixated on the dancefloor. There are 808 beats, Kraftwerk-y electronics, a noticeable smattering of Zapp-like vocoder and electro, among other early 80s genres. The musical reference points are deployed with an evident love and understanding of the source material, never feeling like box-ticking or pastiche; the hooks work with enviable efficiency.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
Madonna: Veronica Electronica
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Almost three decades on, Madonna finally releases the long-promised Ray of Light remix collection.
What our reviewer said “For diehards, the promised record is something of a holy grail. The old demo Gone Gone Gone is brilliantly weird, a wistful breakup ballad set to a squelchy electro beat that gives a surprising amount of insight into Madonna’s creative state at the time: here is one of the biggest stars in the world, in her creative prime, throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks.” Shaad D’Souza
Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The free-collective energy of one of Braxton’s most intuitive groups jostles and enchants on this live recording – salvaged from cassettes – from a 1985 UK tour.
What our reviewer said “Salvaged by state-of-the-art tech methods from former Wire magazine writer and Braxton chronicler Graham Lock’s original lo-fi cassette recordings, the set celebrates Braxton’s conviction that triggering loose improv through tightly challenging compositions can mirror the everyday flux of living.” John Fordham
Editrix: The Big E
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Led by Wendy Eisenberg, the Massachusetts band’s third album explores communication challenges in an articulate and exhilarating rock fusion.
What our reviewer said “Editrix make complex music feel organic, like the natural thing to do, and imply that sound succeeds where words often fail us.” Katie Hawthorne
You may have missed …
John Also Bennett: Στον Ελαιώνα / Ston Elaióna
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Once part of the Ohio noise scene, the US producer has moved to Athens, Greece, and makes oscillating bass flute music inspired by the view of the Parthenon from his window.
What our reviewer said “This is blissful ambient music that resonates with a similar depth – though more warmth – to Kali Malone’s The Sacrificial Code, and stands to have just as much staying power.” Laura Snapes
