This week’s most praised cultural offerings range from a ferocious reform school drama starring Cillian Murphy to an enchantingly inventive comedy from Mawaan Rizwan. The former, an adaptation of Max Porter’s novella Shy directed by Tim Mielants, has been described as suffused with gonzo energy and the death-metal chaos of emotional pain, cut with bizarre black humour. The latter, Juice, morphs from a comedy into a romcom with heart in its second season, with a creativity that comes at the viewer like a tidal wave.
Other highlights include the return of Kaitlin Olson’s detective drama, hailed as slick and crowd-pleasing network TV. A profile of former Irish president Mary Robinson is praised for documenting a woman whose desire to do the right thing has never wavered. Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell star in a giddy romantic fantasy that plunges viewers into a multicoloured daydream about love and emotional risk. Meanwhile, a dynamic real-life disaster movie about California’s 2018 Camp fire features Matthew McConaughey as the unassuming hero who drove a school bus full of children to safety.
On television, the teen spin-off of The Boys, Gen V, returns with its second series, maintaining its astonishingly graphic and sweary antics. Japanese near-future high school drama The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is described as brilliantly mysterious, combining futurist satire with coming-of-age elements. All these works have received top marks from Guardian critics, making them essential viewing for culture lovers.
