The Assassin to Tyler, the Creator: the week in rave reviews
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
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Further reading 'Must-have genre' for uncertain times: why spy thrillers have taken over TV
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
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Further reading 'I danced my little bottom off!' Anna Friel on a rejuvenating Oasis gig – and her new Jimmy McGovern drama
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Further reading Whiteboard warrior: Marvel is priming Mister Fantastic to be the new leader of the Avengers
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
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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
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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
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Further reading John Burnside: 'My stoner friends were into The Hobbit, but Gormenghast was darker'
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.'
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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.'
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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.'
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Further reading 'It was my gateway drug to self-harm': a writer's journey to finding the joy in makeup
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.'
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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).'
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
Read the full review
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The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The shocking hit film about overworked nurses that's causing alarm across Europe
The world could face a shortage of 13 million nurses by the end of this decade. For her new film, Swiss director Petra Volpe imagined the consequences of just one missed shift on a busy night at a hospital, and found herself making a disaster movie. With Late Shift, Volpe aimed to shine a light on the frontlines of the looming healthcare catastrophe through the eyes of the dedicated, exhausted Floria. Played by German actor Leonie Benesch, the young nurse shows an initially acrobatic grace in her workday, whose first half resembles a particularly hectic episode of the restaurant kitchen series The Bear, but with life-and-death stakes. Arriving for her shift cheery and energetic and taking the time to ask about her colleague's recent holiday, Floria soon hears that another nurse has called in sick. The looming workload suddenly grows exponentially, compounding the stress and driving up the likelihood she will make a fateful mistake. The Swiss-born Volpe said she had chosen the film's German title Heldin (Heroine) because it took a mythic term often reserved for warriors and applied it to the bravery and self-sacrifice of care work. 'This work, which is extremely complex and emotionally charged, is completely devalued in our societies,' Volpe says. 'I find it very symptomatic because it's women's work – 80% of the people [in many countries] who do this work are female.' Volpe was inspired by a longtime roommate who worked as a nurse, and by the autobiographical novel Our Profession Is Not the Problem – It's the Circumstances by German former care worker Madeline Calvelage, who advised her on the script. 'My heart was pounding from the first chapter and I thought to myself – this reads like a thriller,' Volpe says. 'But within that stress you find the most tender, human moments.' The film revolves around the escalating and competing needs of patients on a hospital ward, with a different set of medical and emotional demands lurking behind each door, signalled to the staff by a shrieking call bell. Benesch's turbo-driven career has already included roles on The Crown and Babylon Berlin as well as film parts in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, Munich Olympics attacks drama September 5 and German Oscar nominee The Teachers' Lounge. She says a common thread in her most recent characters was 'people who burn for what they do'. But she notes it was rare in TV medical dramas to see nurses and their everyday feats front and centre. 'You're used to getting the physicians as the heroes and then in the backdrop a nurse might hang an infusion bag or drink a coffee or have an affair with the senior doctor,' Benesch says. 'Before this it wasn't clear to me how much of the actual medical responsibility rests on nurses' shoulders.' Benesch, who trained at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, said she spent several shifts trailing real nurses at a Swiss hospital to learn the 'choreography' of interactions between staff and patients, and the manual skills of prepping a syringe or taking blood pressure. 'I wanted real nurses not to be able to tell the difference between me and a professional,' she says. 'I just hope people aren't scared off by a film with subtitles because the story is absolutely universal.' Late Shift has stoked heated policy reform debates and proved a critical and box office success in German-speaking Europe, even besting the latest Bridget Jones movie in Swiss cinemas. At the world premiere at the Berlin film festival in February, several nurses were invited to appear in their uniforms on the red carpet and take the stage after the screening for a round of applause. Days before Germany's general election, some held #wirsindfloria (We Are Floria) signs. One of those guests was Ingo Böing, 47, who worked in hospitals for a quarter century and is now on staff at the German Association of Nursing Professionals, which lobbies for better conditions for care workers. 'It was incredibly moving,' he says of the film gala. 'Watching several of the scenes I thought 'Wow, that's really how it is.'' Böing says Late Shift did a convincing job depicting the 'vicious circle' of nursing, in which people working at the absolute limits of their strength call in sick at short notice, leaving those who show up for duty with an even more daunting task. 'It's that feeling of trying to meet so many needs at once and not managing,' he adds. He says waiting lists like those used by the NHS in Britain, although frustrating for patients, would help hospitals in Germany better prioritise while keeping medical staff from getting overstretched. Franziska Aurich, 28, who works on a cancer ward at Berlin's Charité hospital, also found the film 'very close to reality'. Asked what she'd advise Floria, Aurich says: 'I would say go back to work tomorrow because like her I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. But join a union, so you don't have as many shifts like this one.' Volpe, who divides her time between Berlin and New York, says she was gratified to see nurses going in groups to see the film, and hoped it would make the rest of the audience into better patients. 'Nurses should be at the very top of our social hierarchy but we live in a world where it's just the opposite,' she says. 'This film is a love letter to the profession.' While the film is set in Europe's creaking but still intact social infrastructure, Volpe said she saw in the USnited States where Donald Trump's swingeing cuts to Medicaid, which mainly serves poor and disabled people, threatened to hurt the most vulnerable. 'You see a great cruelty in all these measures,' she says. 'Elon Musk said he saw empathy as the biggest problem of our time which is of course completely monstrous. The least an artist can do is to push back against that. Sooner or later we're all going to be dependent on that person standing by the bed.' Late Shift will be released in the UK and Ireland on 1 August
The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
TV's best (and worst) historical epics: from Wolf Hall to I, Claudius:
Inflate thy balloons and unsheathe thy Party Rings, for here is Chief of War (Apple TV+) to remind us of the joy of the scowling historical epic. Here too, almost, is Battle of Hastings belter King & Conqueror (BBC, August). And Spartacus: House of Ashur (Starz, this winter). Also in the period-specific pipeline are second series for Disney+'s brilliant Shogun and Amazon Prime's terrible House of David. Historical epics, it would not be unreasonable to say, are everywhere. But which are the best and which should be catapulted, screaming, across a poorly rendered CGI battlefield? Given their abundance, some arbitrary judging criteria is clearly in order. Hence: no 'fantasy' nonsense (ie Game of Thrones) and nothing set after the early 1800s, the latter on the grounds that a) there are too many of the sods and b) Julian 'Downton Bloody Abbey' Fellowes has effectively tucked the era under his top hat and run off with it while honking like an overprivileged goose. Let battle commenceth… A barrel-chested wodge of Big History in which mountainous creator and co-writer Jason Momoa thunders through the based-on-true-events that led to the late 18th century unification and, ultimately, colonisation of his native Hawaii. And it's brilliant; from its predominantly Polynesian cast to the sense of doom that swirls perpetually around the scenic foothills of Mount Momoa. It may lean a touch too heavily on extended, subtitled brawls in which there is much [grunting], but this is heartfelt storytelling; as muscular and sincere as its loinclothed protagonist. Startlingly brutal middle ages od(in)yssey in which mud-caked peasants duck from the flailing mace of progress/death and Norsemen with calves like bowling balls stagger across fjords, their complexions suggesting they may not be getting their five a day. There are the obligatory fireside frottageings, but this is clever stuff, with complex characters, an atmosphere of thunderously oppressive gloom and dialogue that does not make one long to inter oneself, sobbing, in a flaming longship. The second adaptation of James Clavell's 1,100-page clomp through the late Sengoku period of feudal Japan, this US-produced saga leaves its beloved 1980 predecessor spluttering in its backwash, the latter's once sacrosanct USP (Richard Chamberlain blinking expressionlessly in a kimono) unable to compete with the former's rich, knotty script, riveting characterisation and steadfast attention to historical detail. Cue stoic samurai, scurvy-ridden sailors and preoccupied warlords in a succession of exquisitely indifferent terrains and everyone else sprinting for cover as the whole shebang is (justly) pelted with Emmys. Yes, the pace is slow, the sets perfunctory and the wigs apparently assembled from the contents of a vacuum cleaner. But still, 50 years on, the BBC's adaptation of Robert Graves' novels on the bastardry of the early Roman empire remains one of TV's finest achievements, with an unapologetically adult script and magnificent, pillar-rattling performances from John Hurt, Siân Phillips and Derek Jacobi, the last assisted by prosthetic makeup and a false nose that could dislodge the cobwebs from a triumphal arch. An object lesson, here, in how to deliver prestige historical drama without recourse to bums or bombast. Instead, there are exquisitely layered performances (Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce), quiet, adult explorations of difficult, adult things (grief, ageing) and many, many candlelit silences into which Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell glides, his expression, as always, that of a ferret saddened by developments in France. A monumental achievement, obviously, and in director Peter Kosminksy and scriptwriter Peter Straughan's hands, a near-perfect adaptation of Hilary Mantel's three-piece masterpiece. Rome, 1492, and the Vatican is besieged by filth as director/co-creator Neil Jordan takes a stiff quill to non-secular skulduggery. Cue: tumescent priests, pouting strumpets and a never-wearier Jeremy Irons as Pope Shagger VI. Here, historical integrity is something to be bent over and humped, unconvincingly, behind a net curtain. The script? Pfft. The acting? Tsk. The plot? Possibly, although it's tricky to concentrate on the dynastic machinations of 15th century Italy when Irons in a mitre keeps shouting 'WHORE'. A catastrophic attempt by the BBC to replicate the success of I, Claudius by squeezing Grade II-listed hams into togas and forcing them to SHOUT at punishing length about the PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY in what appears to be an abandoned REGIONAL LEISURE CENTRE. The upshot? Tedium. Plus? Bald caps, flagrant boobery, Richard Griffiths 'working' a 'smoky eye', the line 'Let's get out of Egypt!' and trembling extras gulping in horror as the plot catapults yet another flaming ball of exposition at the studio floor. Manacled jocks go loincloth to loincloth in a US production comprised almost entirely of buttocks. There is, occasionally, other stuff: blood, knockers, airborne viscera, Americans in sandals decapitating other Americans while shouting 'ass', some 'plot' or other involving revenge, John Hannah (as dastardly slave trader Batiatus) bellowing 'BY JUPITER'S COCK!' at 30-second intervals etc. But it is mainly buttocks. Watch it on fast-forward and it's like being shot in the face by a pump-action bum-gun. One, two, swashbuckle my shoe: abject 'international co-production' tosh here from the Beeb as Alexandre Dumas's novels are reimagined for whichever generation it is that is supposed to be interested in this sort of thing. And lo, much adolescent tomfoolery doth ensue, with PG-rated punch-ups, tiresome hunks smirking in pleather and dialogue of the 'Things just got complicated!' genus. The result? Hollycloaks. Peter Capaldi does his best as Cardinal Richelieu but it would take more than thigh boots and nostril-flaring to lighten this particular load. Verily, my liege, this idiot Canadian-Irish co-production does dance a merry jig upon the very concept of historical accuracy, with its Irish Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), its ripped courtiers and Joss Stone as Anne of Cleves. There is the occasional grudging nod to Actual Historical Stuff (the Reformation, wives etc). But it's mostly just Henry banging his way around Tudor England, his bum cheeks jack-hammering with such ferocity that they are little more than a meaty blur, like a deli counter viewed from the top deck of a speeding bus in the rain. Chief of War is on Apple TV+ from 1 August.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
BBC Death in Paradise spin-off gets major update and fans are delighted
Death in Paradise fans have shared their delight after bosses shared an update on Beyond Paradise Beyond Paradise has delivered thrilling news about the upcoming series, sending fans into raptures. The British crime drama, which spun off from Death in Paradise, features Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton in leading roles. The show debuted in 2023, and viewers are eagerly anticipating information about the fourth series, which is expected to broadcast early next year. Production has now kicked off, with the BBC programme posting a photograph of a clapperboard on Instagram. The message stated, "We're back in Shipton Abbott! Filming has begun this week on the brand-new series of #BeyondParadise," reports the Express. "Expect plenty of puzzling twists and turns as the team gears up for another series full of mystery, humour, and heart on the sunny shores of Devon and Cornwall." Supporters have been celebrating the announcement, with one commenting, "So exciting! " while another declared, " Excellent news!" A third chimed in, " Can't wait!" This follows after devotees discovered that Kris would be returning to his character as Detective Humphrey Goodman, as production for the BBC Series seemed to have started. One individual posted to a Facebook fan group devoted to the programme and uploaded a notice reading "BP Unit" alongside the message "Back filming in Cornwall. "The sign is at St Mellion Golf Club; it's where they store their filming trailers and lorries," one person responded. Another enthusiast posted a separate photograph from the production firm that notified locals when shooting would occur. It had been stated that filming for the fourth season of Beyond Paradise will commence in July and conclude in November, taking place "in and around East and West Looe". Details regarding the plot for the upcoming season remain under wraps; however, the third season concluded on a poignant note. The finale saw Humphrey and Martha Lloyd (Sally) bid farewell to their foster daughter Rosie, after grappling with their own fertility issues. Kris recently opened up about his evolving role, having first graced the screen in the third season of Death in Paradise, stating: "I'm still finding stuff with Humphrey." He continued: "And I think as long as that goes on and as long as Humphrey evolves [that's good] because when I started playing Humphrey it was 11 years ago so the character has to grow with me as I get older. "As I get more mature -I'm not getting mature- he has to grow with me as I get older. He has to evolve because now I'm in my fifties so I can't play the same character that Humphrey was when he was 40, which is when I started. "As long as the character keeps evolving to fit the [person] that plays him, as long as there's not too much discrepancy between the two, then that's fine. I think if ever I thought that I was becoming too old to play that then I would say 'that's enough'." Beyond Paradise can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.
