Amelia Harvey 
The Pitt felt like the best of before-times TV, before streaming and big-budget miniseries with dramatic cliffhangers took over the genre. Here we have 15 solid episodes full of an interesting ensemble of characters, a well-balanced mix of comedy and tragedy, and that address a range of relevant topics. Set …
2025 has just recently finished, the awards season is well underway, and our Letterbox stats are well in our inbox, but we’re already looking at the 2026 cinema schedule. 2026 sees the return of some of Earth’s mightiest superheroes, Spielberg to the science fiction genre for the first time since …
Industry has never been a show to shy away from the grotesque side of humanity. Set in the world of investment banking, the series has evolved from a story about a group of newbies at an investment firm, into something more sinister. Season 4 feels like the show has grown …
Eternity feels like the type of movie made 60 or 70 years ago. Charming and romantic, this comedy-drama relies on the on-screen chemistry of its leading stars and whip-smart writing. Set in a version of the afterlife, Eternity explores who from your life you will be destined to spend your …
H For Hawk, based on Helen MacDonald’s eloquent memoir about grief, is a moving guide to processing loss. The film and the book follow Helen unravelling mind as she tries to distract herself after the death of her father by adopting a goshawk. Academic Helen (Claire Foy) is not the …
Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1982 debut novel, A Pale View of Hills, is an elegant and nuanced examination of identity for post-war Japan. Kei Ishikawa’s ambitious but unsubtle adaptation can’t capture the spirit of his gorgeous writing. The novel and the film are narrated by Etsuko, who appears in two timelines. In …
Richard Linklater brought two films to the festival crowds this year. The first being Blue Moon, a drama about the tragic Lorenz Hart, whose professional relationship with Richard Rodgers has mostly been lost to history. The second is Nouvelle Vague, a loving ode to French New Wave cinema. Both are …
The Fence is Claire Denis’ isolated adaptation of Bernard-Marie Koltès’s play Black Battles with Dogs, which subtly explores masculinity and colonialism. Set predominantly in one location over one night, The Fence never loses its stage show sensibilities, even if that forces Denis to reject her trademark visual lyricism. Set on …
In their last months of high school, two cisgender boys pretend to be transgender to get into the girls’ changing room. The concept sounds like a dangerous right-wing rhetoric, but She’s the He is a sweet coming-of-age comedy made by a predominantly trans and nonbinary cast and crew. Alex (Nico …
Bradley Cooper’s third directorial feature, Is This Thing On?, is a more low-key and down-to-earth tale of one man’s middle-aged venture into standup comedy. Loosely based on the life of Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop, this story is gentle and rough around the edges about martial separation and finding yourself amid …
Plainclothes follows closeted 90s police officer Lucas (Tom Blyth) who spends his workday luring gay men into the toilet at the mall before arresting them. Set in 1997’s America, a story about cops luring men into bathrooms to out them a few years ago would have been a distant shudder …
Comedian Mae Martin’s (Feel Good) first venture into drama is a confused exploration of a dysfunctional town with a mysterious school. What has the potential to be a Lynchian mystery falls flat as it struggles to combine two perspectives. Told through two separate viewpoints, Wayward follows cop Alex Dempsey (Martin) …
Jenna Ortega’s psychic teen detective returns for the first part of Wednesday’s second season. Splitting the part into two seasons will likely leave fans wanting more than just four episodes. Although our time with Wednesday Addams is fleeting, we still get time for macabre balls, gory mysteries that need resolving, …
We meet Devon (Meghan Fahy) on her way out of jail, on her way home to her father, who is suffering from dementia. There is a fruit basket on her Buffalo stoop, a lavish gift in a very unlavish part of town. Devon suspects it’s from her sister Simone (Milly …
Australian auteur Justin Kurzel adapts Richard Flanagan’s novel to harrowing effect in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The adaptation blends a harrowing tale of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp with a war-bound love story and a modern tale of surviving the trauma. The series doesn’t wait to set up …