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TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Riot Women
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence Sally Wainwright returns, with an energetic drama about a group midlife women who form a punk band.
What our reviewer said “It is, of course, in Wainwright’s customary manner, perfectly seasoned with humour, from the lightest to the darkest … Like all her best work it covers a lot of ground without getting bogged down or leaving the viewer feeling shortchanged.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Inside Sally Wainwright’s joyous, raucous TV show about menopausal punks
Pick of the rest
The Chair Company
Sky & Now
Summed up in a sentence I Think You Should Leave’s Tim Robinson is hilarious as a man hellbent on taking down a negligent chair manufacturer in this cringe caper.
What our reviewer said “All comedy is essentially about surprises, and in The Chair Company you can’t tell exactly when the next massive, stupid laugh is coming.” Jack Seale
How I Made a Million in 90 Days
Channel 4
Summed up in a sentence Prankster-satirist Oobah Butler takes on hustle culture by trying to get rich quick, exposing the bleak world of crypto CEOs in the process.
What our reviewer said “With deadpan humour and a relentlessly left-field point of view, Butler specialises in highlighting the void – of value, of morality – at the heart of the forces that shape our world.” Rachel Aroesti
Further reading ‘Please can I have a million pounds?’ A documentary-maker’s wild attempt to strike it rich in 90 days
Leonard and Hungry Paul
BBC iPlayer
Summed up in a sentence A gentle adaptation of Rónán Hession’s understated 2019 novel about two eccentric friends, with Julia Roberts on narration duties.
What our reviewer said “For those exhausted by the bluster and rat-tat-tat of today’s TV terrain, here is Leonard and Hungry Paul with a foil blanket and warming mug of Ribena.” Sarah Dempster
You may have missed …
The Iris Affair
Sky & Now
Summed up in a sentence
Tom Hollander and Niamh Algar star in this fun, propulsive drama about a genius code-cracker, an oddball entrepreneur … and an evil supercomputer known as Charlie Big Potatoes.
What our reviewer said “The Iris Affair is a rollicking yarn from Neil Cross, the creator of Luther, stylishly and propulsively directed by Terry McDonough and Sarah O’Gorman. Cross’s script is drily witty while avoiding any hint of the cynicism that would spell death for the endeavour. You’ve got to go at this stuff with your whole heart or it doesn’t work at all.” Lucy Mangan
Further reading Tech, terror and Tom Hollander: Niamh Algar on her wild new TV thriller
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Sunlight
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Nina Conti’s super-quirky directing debut involves a man going on road trip with a woman in a monkey suit.
What our reviewer said “Conti manages the feat of being funny, emotionally astute and kinda sexy throughout.” Phil Hoad
Pick of the rest
Frankenstein
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star as the freethinking anatomist and his creature as Mary Shelley’s story is reimagined by Guillermo del Toro in his unmistakable aesthetic.
What our reviewer said “The visual style of the movie is utterly distinctive and unmistakably that of Del Toro: a series of lovely, intricate images, filigreed with infinitesimally exact cod-period detail; deep focus but also strangely depthless, like hi-tech stained glass or illustrated plates in a Victorian tome.” Peter Bradshaw
Ballad of a Small Player
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Colin Farrell stars as a high-stakes gambler seeking redemption in Macau’s casinos in the new film from Edward Berger.
What our reviewer said “Berger and his cinematographer James Friend charge the screen with florid panoramas of Macau and its hazy waterfront, and also with exotic, sinister interiors; the world of the hotels, with their synthesised grandeur and cavernous spaces where anonymity is liberating and oppressive.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton on taking a gamble with their new drama
Soulemayne’s Story
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Abou Sangaré is superb in a drama of a migrant clinging on in the margins in Paris.
What our reviewer said “Director Boris Lojkine shoots France’s ever-shifting capital with hazy impressionistic beauty, occasionally breaking out of shallow focus with a sobering crystalline composition to situate his protagonist in this capitalist warren.” Phil Hoad
Available on streaming
Requiem for a Dream
Amazon Prime; available to rent on various platforms
Summed up in a sentence Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly star in agonising and unflinchingly grim portrait of drug abuse adapted from Hubert Selby Jr’s parable of drug addiction.
What our reviewer said “This excursion into the progressive circles of hell is recorded by Aronofsky with such precision that the whole film is unsettlingly like a gruesome yet compelling vivisectional experiment.” Peter Bradshaw
Books
If you only read one, make it …
After Oscar by Merlin Holland
Reviewed by Matthew Sturgis
Summed up in a sentence Wilde’s grandson on the legacy of a scandal.
What our reviewer said “The story of Oscar’s glorious posthumous rehabilitation is told with an engaging combination of wit, personal candour and scholarly rigour.”
Pick of the rest
Humanish by Justin Gregg
Reviewed by Edward Posnett
Summed up in a sentence The science behind anthropomorphism, from dogs to dolphins.
What our reviewer said “His stories repeatedly surprised and enlightened me, overturning my assumptions about other species.”
Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai
Reviewed by Mythili Roa
Summed up in a sentence How Malala grew up.
What our reviewer said “Finding My Way sees Malala wresting back the story of her own life – rejecting the constrictions and contradictions of a sheltered childhood and sudden fame.”
Further reading Malala Yousafzai on growing up, getting cynical – and how getting high nearly broke her
Big Kiss, Bye Bye
Reviewed by Lara Feigel
Summed up in a sentence A woman looks back on her past loves, in the new novel from the author of Pond.
What our reviewer said “Bennett is less concerned with skewering contemporary manhood than with exploring the role of these encounters in making up a life.”
You may have missed …
On Friendship by Andrew O’Hagan
Reviewed by Anthony Cummins
Summed up in a sentence The writer on the friendships that have shaped his life.
What our reviewer said “He considers why actors, politicians and Republicans make bad friends, why the novelist Colm Tóibín makes such a good one, and how the experience of friendship is shaped by bereavement and the internet.”
Further reading Andrew O’Hagan on 15 years of funny, frank and champagne-fuelled friendship with Edna O’Brien
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Tame Impala: Deadbeat
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Australian indie’s breakout star takes a dancefloor diversion, but amid the four-four fun are fears about fame’s effect on his domestic life.
What our reviewer said “You could read the first Tame Impala album in five years as a treatise on trying to balance success with some kind of normality, the disjunction between the demands of fame and domesticity.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
Sebastian Rochford: Finding Ways
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The Polar Bear drummer showcases his signature alchemic touch in a fusion of improv, reggae and romantic pop.
What our reviewer said “The title of Finding Ways is no accident: this sharply contrasting record features edgy, metal sounds from seven studio-mixed electric guitarists. But it’s Rochford’s signature, songlike chemistry – subtly transformed by rich textures, energised by his own unpredictably shifting ambiguities of rhythm – that still infuses his sound.” John Fordham
Hugh Cutting: Refound
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The countertenor’s debut recital album showcases his warm tone, effortless musical line and originality
What our reviewer said “Don’t expect the usual lineup of Handel arias or Dowland lute songs. On Refound, a collection of art songs with reinvention at its heart, his choices are eclectic, idiosyncratic even, but also profoundly satisfying.” Clive Paget
Now touring …
Jade
Brighton dome; touring to 23 October
Summed up in a sentence Synth-laden show that showcases former Little Mix singer’s appealing and at times deeply odd shtick.
What our reviewer said “Jade is a hugely appealing, cheerily unvarnished presence: she is, she announces at one point, ‘shaking like a shitting dog’; shouting out her LGBTQ+ fanbase, who are here in force, she suggests thanking them by adding a branded jockstrap to the merch stand”. Alexis Petridis
Further reading Jade Thirlwall on anorexia, protest in pop and life after Little Mix
