Tv
If You Only Watch One, Make It …
Last Seen
Apple TV; available now
Summed up in a sentence In this gripping Australian thriller, emergency call handler Ian (Patrick Brammall, fresh from Colin from Accounts) thinks his missing daughter is still alive after he takes a mysterious call.
What our reviewer said “It doesn’t just pile on the twists; it makes the twists really matter, because we always understand, with painful clarity, the emotional consequences for the people experiencing them. This is riveting television, and one of the standout shows of the year.” Luke Buckmaster
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Colin From Accounts
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence The final season of the charming hit Aussie romcom picks up three years after Ashley rejected Gordon’s humiliating proposal.
What our reviewer said “Colin from Accounts has been like a ray of sunshine in the schedules. It’s been a huge hit across the world, and many will mourn its ending. I hope it turns out to be a happy one at least.” Rachel Aroesti
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Britain’s Forgotten Girls
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence An infuriating look at how victims of grooming gangs in the UK have been repeatedly failed by authorities.
What our reviewer said “The details are few and horrifying. A number of them mention having to go to school as if nothing had happened the night after an inaugural gang-rape. Your mind can hardly take it in.” Lucy Mangan
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Tommy Robinson: Where’s The Money Gone?
Channel 4; available now
Summed up in a sentence Matt Shea investigates a number of allegations about the co-founder of the English Defence League’s finances – and puts big questions to him.
What our reviewer said “Has Shea landed an unanswerable haymaker? Not quite. Would any evidence of impropriety cause the flow of money from the faithful to dry up? Probably not. But this programme asks a lot of the right awkward questions.” Jack Seale
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You May Have Missed …
Reckless
ITV1; available now
Summed up in a sentence Neil Forsyth’s excellent Leith-set dark comedy drama Guilt relocates to Fremantle, Perth, where a brother and sister accidentally kill someone.
What our reviewer said “Reckless is a fantastic, fun ride grounded by a realistically fractious, but at heart loving, relationship between the siblings, the light but piercing commentary on the wider racial and socioeconomic dynamics at work in Australia, and a cast of credible, however idiosyncratic, characters whose size makes the tonal consistency all the more wildly impressive.” Lucy Mangan
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Film
If You Only Watch One, Make It …
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Grant Gee’s film delves into the creative and personal torment of the great American jazz pianist – with a terrific supporting Bill Pullman turn as his cantankerous father.
What our reviewer said “It’s a film about music; particularly, about what remains when a musician cannot play and is left to consider the terrible sacrifices made, without conscious consent, to this all-consuming vocation that creates family pain and jealousy almost as a toxic byproduct.” Peter Bradshaw
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Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence The Gallagher brothers’ mammoth comeback concerts are given the full fan-worship treatment, but it’s impossible to begrudge the euphoria they have created.
What our reviewer said “We see again the Oasis congregation engaging in colossal Dionysian events of mass joy – but of course, the poignancy of time passing and the irresistible narrative of the brothers’ public reconciliation give a new layer of emotion to the songs.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading ‘Would they fight or hug?’ The Oasis comeback film’s makers on shooting fans, vicars, police – and the Gallaghers
Better Go Mad In The Wild
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Director Miro Remo journeys deep into the Czech countryside to find two brothers living an isolated life filled with quixotic ideas in this surreal documentary.
What our reviewer said “There is copious wisdom regarding family, nature, interdependency and love in this rowdy, rapturous and brilliant film.” Phil Hoad
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La Femme Infidele
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Claude Chabrol’s eerie 1969 domestic thriller charts a complex marriage in which a husband suspects his wife is cheating on him.
What our reviewer said “It does not in fact look like a classic noir thriller in the style of Chabrol’s hero Hitchcock, which is how it is often described, but more like something by Buñuel: an elaborate absurdist joke at the expense of the French bourgeoisie, a ballet of repression and fear.” Peter Bradshaw
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Now Streaming
Call My Agent! The Movie
Netflix; available 10 September
Summed up in a sentence The gang get back together for a spin-off of the French talent-agency sitcom, with Andréa and Noémie at the heart of chaotic events.
What our reviewer said “Writers Fanny Herrero, Lison Daniel and Violaine Bellet, along with director Émilie Noblet, skilfully open the tap and let the stream of industry-insider jokes flow at an even pace but make sure that the final product never feels smug, sentimental or self-congratulatory.” Leslie Felperin
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Further reading Call My Agent!’s Camille Cottin on becoming a sex symbol in her 40s: ‘There’s a desire to see women who’ve been invisible’
Books
If You Only Read One, Make It …
Hawking By Graham Farmelo
Reviewed by Philip Ball
Summed up in a sentence An unflinching biography of the celebrated physicist.
What our reviewer said “The unavoidable truth is that Hawking’s overweening ambition and self-promotion, his repeated failure to acknowledge the work of others, his sexism and controlling behaviour were largely ignored because of his disability.”
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The Newer World By Sebastian Barry
Reviewed by Sara Collins
Summed up in a sentence The memories of a formerly enslaved man in the aftermath of the American civil war.
What our reviewer said “I can think of no other writer who could describe blood and chaos in language that reaches for such a high register, and whose natural writerly empathy pre-empts the otherwise inevitable discussion about cultural appropriation.”
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Taipei Story By Rebecca F Kuang
Reviewed by Kit Fan
Summed up in a sentence An American Chinese student attends a language school in Taiwan.
What our reviewer said “Kuang recreates the uncanny process of language acquisition, as if the reader is learning Mandarin side by side with Lily, sharing her joy and frustration.”
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Further reading Rebecca F Kuang: ‘A Tale of Two Cities is deeply silly camp – I love it!’
Our Noble Selves By Kate Atkinson
Reviewed by Lucy Atkins
Summed up in a sentence A noirish mystery set around the 1951 Festival of Britain.
What our reviewer said “There is a gentle plea, here, for resilience and decency, couched in a nostalgia for a plucky and decent Britain that – if it ever existed – is certainly disappearing fast.”
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The Castle By Jon Ronson
Reviewed by Anthony Cummins
Summed up in a sentence The journalist goes down the rabbit hole of modern masculinity.
What our reviewer said “Ronson makes these bizarre tales feel emblematic of topsy-turvy times, but you often sense an over-caffeinated logic at work.”
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Further reading A party, 101 princesses and an eccentric millionaire: Jon Ronson on a mysterious castle – and what it taught him about masculinity in crisis
You May Have Missed …
The Vivisectors By Missouri Williams
Reviewed by Ian Maleney
Summed up in a sentence A cynical young woman navigates life, love and culture wars in this Booker-listed gothic saga set in a crumbling university town.
What our reviewer said “For all the layers of alienation and abjection which encrust Williams’s tale, there remains a model campus romance novel at its heart.”
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Albums
If You Only Listen To One, Make It …
Neil Young: Second Song
Reprise; available 18 September
Summed up in a sentence A late-period Neil Young album leaning into his gentle acoustic side, balancing intimations of mortality and occasional dashed-off moments with a beautiful 11-minute title track.
What our reviewer said “The sublime shares space with the not bad and the insubstantial: a superior example of a late-period Neil Young album, but a late-period Neil Young album nonetheless.” Alexis Petridis
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Haruomi Hosono: Yours Sincerely
Ghostly International; out now
Summed up in a sentence Creative and captivating, the septuagenarian beloved by Harry Styles brings a hint of mischief to his innocently charming songs.
What our reviewer said “His 23rd solo album is wilful, playful, unpredictable and utterly beguiling. Rooted in the Japanese concept of omoiyari, roughly translated as compassion, these songs are big-hearted, focusing on warmth and positivity.” Stevie Chick
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Gretchen Parlato: The Wise Ones
Edition; out now
Summed up in a sentence With guests including Robert Glasper, Parlato turns her immaculate phrasing to soft funk, dancefloor numbers and interpretations of Stevie Wonder and Tears for Fears.
What our reviewer said “Perhaps aimed at a wider marketplace than its more improvisational and intimate predecessors Flor and Lean In, and not without a humdrum moment or two, The Wise Ones nonetheless confirms that Parlato’s inimitable character never lets her slip into the generic.” John Fordham
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Lucas Debargue: Gershwin Variations
Sony; out now
Summed up in a sentence Alongside supple and distinctive accounts of Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto and Preludes, the French pianist showcases his jazz chops in reinterpretations of Gershwin’s timeless songs.
What our reviewer said “His 12 virtuoso etudes on Gershwin songs, impeccable compositions in their own right, view familiar tunes through unfamiliar lenses. Embraceable You, for example, is reinvented as a sultry rumba, while Fascinating Rhythm is a cheeky Parisian waltz.” Clive Paget
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Now Touring …
Angine De Poitrine
Le Poisson Rouge, New York; touring now
Summed up in a sentence The brilliantly strange experimental band’s live show is a must-see spectacle powered by glorious noise and wild flair.
What our reviewer said “The songs had not especially changed from how they sound on their albums and in studios. The ability to finally see the duo’s superb musicianship up close carried the show – as did the reminders that they are still human.” Alexander Abnos
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Further reading ‘We’re not Lady Gaga and Elton John’: unmasking Angine de Poitrine, the year’s buzziest, dottiest band