TV
If you only watch one, make it …
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time
Disney+/National Geographic; available now
Summed up in a sentence A powerful, gripping look back at the tragic events that overwhelmed New Orleans in 2005.
What our reviewer said “This series is a devastatingly precise illustration of systemic failure, political impotence and media distortion.” Phil Harrison
Further reading ‘There’s New Orleans before and after’: revisiting Hurricane Katrina in a new docuseries
Pick of the rest
Destination X
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence A surreally elaborate reality competition that makes contestants live on a coach with blacked-out windows, drives them around Europe – and forces them to guess where they are for cash.
What our reviewer said “Destination X does not close like a vice around you in the manner of The Traitors, nor does it have the cockle-warming aspect of Race Across the World. But it’s fun to go along for the ride.” Lucy Mangan
Kamikaze: An Untold History
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence This powerful documentary tells the story of Japan’s deployment of kamikaze pilots to bomb US ships in the Pacific during the second world war; missions that killed almost 4,000 Japanese and 7,000 American soldiers.
What our reviewer said “Clear answers are not to be found here but, as we gaze at photographs of squadrons of men under the age of 25, whose whole adult lives were rehearsals for their death, we have to ask why.” Jack Seale
You may have missed …
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence A belated airing of the hugely controversial documentary that the BBC refused to show: a horrifying investigation into claims that Israel’s Defence Force has systematically targeted Palestinian medics.
What our reviewer said “This is the sort of television that will never leave you. It will provoke an international reaction, and for extremely good cause. Forget what got it stopped at the BBC. It is here now and, regardless of how that happened, we owe it to the subjects to not look away.” Stuart Heritage
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Bring Her Back
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence The Philippou brothers seal their position as dark chiefs of modern horror in story of an orphan trying to save his stepsister from a villainous Sally Hawkins.
What our reviewer said “It’s a horror preying with hideous expertise on our protective instincts towards the vulnerable, our fear of our own vulnerability, the shame and guilt of abuse, and survivors’ wretched sense of loyalty to their abusers.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘It’s very risky’: the Philippou brothers on horror films, back yard wrestling and knocking back Hollywood
Pick of the rest
The Naked Gun
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Highly amusing spoof reboot of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker’s comedy classic, with Liam Neeson as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Lt Frank Drebin, appearing opposite Pamela Anderson.
What our reviewer said “It is a life-support system for some outrageous gags, including sensational riffs on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sex and the City, and one showstopping are-they-really-gonna-do-it reference to OJ Simpson, who featured in the original films.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading The return of the spoof: can comedy’s silliest subgenre make a comeback?
Oslo Stories Trilogy: Dreams
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Third in a playful trilogy from Norwegian novelist and film-maker Dag Johan Haugerud, about a 17-year-old whose memoir about her passion for a teacher rattles three generations.
What our reviewer said “I can imagine two different sorts of US English-language remake: one which ramps up the wry indie comedy, and another which transfers the emphasis to a dead-serious generational family drama. Neither would have this insouciant flavour.” Peter Bradshaw
2000 Meters to Andriivka
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Heartwrenching follow-up to 20 Days in Mariupol, in which photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov is embedded with the 3rd Assault Brigade during a gruelling counteroffensive in Ukraine.
What our reviewer said “The forces brutally fight every metre of the way, heading for the symbolic liberation of the largely ruined village of Andriivka in north-eastern Ukraine. They are carrying a precious Ukrainian flag, and it is their mission to fix this to any broken bit of wall they can find, to proclaim their national spirit is not dead.” Peter Bradshaw
Further reading ‘The soldiers want you to see what they’re going through’: the heartbreaking follow-up to 20 Days in Mariupol
Now streaming …
Last Swim
Multiple digital platforms; available now
Summed up in a sentence Deba Hekmat is impressively subtle as a British-Iranian teen whose celebrations come unstuck on a complicated A-level results day.
What our reviewer said “Director Sasha Nathwani gets a headlong rush of energy from his zesty young cast, as they roam all over London – first in a horribly uncool 80s car, then on bikes, then via train.” Peter Bradshaw
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Authority: Essays on Being Right by Andrea Long Chu
Review by Houman Barekat
Summed up in a sentence Scorching literary hot takes.
What our reviewer said “Reviewing Bret Easton Ellis’s ‘deeply needless’ 2019 essay collection Long Chu bemoans his descent into fogeyish paranoia, and suggests the author of American Psycho is starting to resemble his most famous creation.”
Pick of the rest
Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell
Review by Emma Brockes
Summed up in a sentence A gossipy, unsparing portrait of the actor and wellness guru.
What our reviewer said “Here’s a reveal: Paltrow is such a massive cheapskate she used Goop’s food editors to cook for her.”
Further reading Self-belief and sex eggs: 10 things we learned about Gwyneth Paltrow from an explosive new biography
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart
Review by Xan Brooks
Summed up in a sentence Precocious 10-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin comes of age in a near-future, post-democracy US.
What our reviewer said “Shteyngart’s ode to a good American in a bad America conspires to be, by turns, a rueful human comedy and a coming-of-age caper, a dystopian chiller and an espionage yarn.”
The Fathers by John Niven
Review by James Smart
Summed up in a sentence Two fortysomething Glaswegians from either side of the tracks form an unlikely friendship.
What our reviewer said “A comic melodrama that’s never dull, and a satire that hits most of its targets … a fine choice for anyone who likes a little grit in their holiday read.”
Further reading John Niven: ‘My comfort read? Alan Clark’s diaries’
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén
Review by Patrick Gale
Summed up in a sentence In the rugged far north of Sweden, an elderly man lives out his last days with his beloved dog.
What our reviewer said “As Bo’s end draws near, he faces the twin challenges of keeping his beloved Sixten at his side and overcoming his masculine conditioning so as not to die with love unexpressed.”
You may have missed …
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Review by Marcel Theroux
Summed up in a sentence As his kids leave home, a middle-aged man takes a road trip to figure out his future, and whether to leave his marriage.
What our reviewer said “The relaxed precision of the writing is one of the novel’s pleasures. Another is the gradual unpacking of Tom’s mind as we travel alongside him.”
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
The New Eves: The New Eve Is Rising
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Velvets-style drone rock, trad folk, anarcho-punk and hippy whimsy are all discernible in the Brighton quartet’s debut album.
What our reviewer said “The New Eve Is Rising sounds as if it’s being played live, by a band who prize immediacy over virtuosity, with all the teetering potential for disaster that suggests. There’s a certain white-knuckle intensity to the moment when Circles shifts its rhythm, and given that the change is counted in with such vociferousness, perhaps it hasn’t always come off in the past.” Alexis Petridis
Pick of the rest
AraabMuzik: Electronic Dream 2
Out now
Summed up in a sentence This sequel retains the original’s generation-defining mix of dread and debauchery, although it is overshadowed by recent bolder versions of the sound.
What our reviewer said “It’s an understandable impulse to make a sequel: rappers have done it for years, and nostalgia-bait has become a dominant form of popular art – to the point that Madonna has been teasing Confessions Part 2. But for an innovator such as AraabMuzik, moving on seems the best path.” Shaad D’Souza
DJ K: Radio Libertadora!
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Kaique Vieira’s latest “bruxaria” album is even bolder and louder than his 2023 debut, as he brings revolutionary spirit to the funk sound of São Paulo.
What our reviewer said “Vieira displays immense skill in balancing his arrangements and allowing each element, no matter how brash, to play clearly without collapsing into muddy loudness. Some listeners may find it too noisy, but succumb to Vieira’s relentless energy and there is freedom in the barrage of sounds – an invitation to lose yourself in the cacophony.” Ammar Kalia
Chromatic Renaissance
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Exaudi, directed by James Weeks, explore late 16th-century choral works in this fascinating and involving disc.
What our reviewer said “The writhing, convoluted lines of these pieces, negotiated with exemplary precision and clarity by the seven singers of Exaudi, their voices perfectly matched and balanced, carry their own expressive power. This is a disc that becomes more fascinating and involving the more you listen to it.” Andrew Clements
You may have missed …
Justin Timberlake: Everything I Thought It Was
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Painted as a villain following Janet Jackson and Britney Spears controversies, the pop-R&B megastar gets back to brass tacks – and bed-rattling.
What our reviewer said “With not a hope in hell of regaining the narrative upper hand, the only weapon in Timberlake’s arsenal is to produce bangers beyond reproach. For nearly half of this excessively long album, he gets close.” Laura Snapes
Further reading Justin Timberlake reveals Lyme disease diagnosis
