FILM OF THE WEEK
MALCOLM & MARIE (Cert 15, 106 mins, streaming from February 5 exclusively on Netflix, Drama/Romance)
Starring: John David Washington, Zendaya.
FILM-maker Malcolm (John David Washington) and actress girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) return to a rented house nestled in the rolling hills of California's Central Coast at 1am after the premiere of his directorial debut.
Malcolm dances from room to room, giddy on the fumes of praise from one Los Angeles critic – "She said I'm the next Spike Lee, the next Barry Jenkins, the next John Singleton" – while Marie nonchalantly puffs on a cigarette and boils a saucepan of water to make him boxed macaroni and cheese.
As steam rises from the hob, Marie's mood changes and she addresses the elephant in the impeccably designed room: Malcolm forgot to thank her in his speech about the film, which draws heavily on her hard-fought battle with drug addiction.
Over the next two hours, the couple trade verbal blows, exposing deep fissures in the relationship.
Shot during the pandemic in lustrous black and white by cinematographer Marcell Rev, Malcolm & Marie is an emotionally charged two-hander energised by finely calibrated performances and a dialogue-heavy script by writer-director Sam Levinson, which reads like a gushing valentine to Hollywood.
The ebb and flow of the navel-gazing feels natural, with predictable lulls between outpourings of guilt and indignation that are met with denial and tremulous tears.
Washington and Zendaya, reunited with Levinson after their Emmy Award-winning work on TV series Euphoria, careen from lust-fuelled flirtation to bile-slathered fury with aplomb.
They invest fully in conceited, self-absorbed characters, who spout volumes but say very little of substance.
Rating: 4/5
ALSO RELEASED
RAMS (Cert 12, 119 mins, Signature Entertainment, available from February 5 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
INSPIRED by writer-director Grimur Hakonarson's acclaimed 2015 Icelandic comedy drama Rams, Jeremy Sim's remake resets the sibling rivalry to remote Western Australia.
Sheep farmer Colin (Sam Neill) and his estranged brother Les (Michael Caton) have not spoken for years.
They raise the same breed, descended from an ancient bloodline of sheep, and every year, Colin and Les compete against each other to showcase their best ram.
Veterinary authorities complete routine checks of the flocks and discover a rare and lethal illness in Les's animals.
Farmers in the community are told to destroy their precious livestock.
Colin and Les refuse to abide by the rules laid down by the veterinary officials.
Setting aside their differences, the siblings plot a daring alternative course of action.
Rating: 3/5
COME AWAY (Cert PG, 94 mins, Signature Entertainment, Drama/Fantasy/Romance, available from February 5 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from April 2 on DVD £19.99)
Starring: David Oyelowo, Angelina Jolie, Reece Yates, Jordan A Nash, Keira Chansa, David Gyasi, Clarke Peters, Jenny Galloway, Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
MINIATURE model ship craftsman Jack Littleton (David Oyelowo) and wife Rose (Angelina Jolie) live in the countryside on the outskirts of London with their three children, David (Reece Yates), Peter (Jordan A Nash) and Alice (Keira Chansa).
It's a bucolic idyll replete with a bustling housemaid (Jenny Galloway), where the siblings' imaginations are fuelled by stories of fairies and high seas adventure recounted by the wide-eyed parents.
A soothing air of childhood innocence blows icy cold when David accidentally drowns in a lake.
Rose seeks refuge in alcohol, denying her remaining offspring the attention and bedtime stories they crave, while Jack struggles with a gambling addiction that has racked up crippling debts to his brother James (David Gyasi).
Recounted in flashback by adult Alice (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Come Away is a fantastical coming-of-age story, which melds elements of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Peter And Wendy.
Characters and imagery from Lewis Carroll's and JM Barrie's novels, published almost 50 years apart, soften narrative blows of bereavement, abandonment and abuse which are woven into a tonally uneven script that imagines a sibling bond between the children who inspired the books.
Totems from the literary classics are scattered liberally throughout a freewheeling plot: a chirruping pawnbroker (Clarke Peters) who is as mad as a hatter, a mother's gift of a tiny silver bell made by a tinker, an older brother poised to leave for school telling his sister "I'll leave my shadow behind".
Oyelowo and Jolie catalyse lukewarm screen chemistry so when the Littleton clan fractures under the weight of grief, our emotional tethers to the characters quickly come loose.
Rating: 2/5
SERIES/ BOX SETS
THE SNOOPY SHOW (6 episodes, streaming from February 5 exclusively on Apple TV+, Animation/Comedy)
AS PART of the 70th anniversary celebrations of Peanuts created by Charles M Schulz, intrepid beagle Snoopy (voiced by Terry McGurrin) and feathered best friend Woodstock (Rob Tinkler) take flight in a new animated series, which draws inspiration from the stories and visual style of the comic strip.
Snoopy becomes a First World War flying ace who battles the Red Baron and takes on challengers as famed arm wrestler Masked Marvel.
Meanwhile, Snoopy's nervous, self-doubting owner Charlie Brown (Ethan Pugiotto) navigates the trials and tribulations of childhood with his younger sister Sally (Hattie Kragten) and pals Franklin (Christian Dal Dosso), Linus (Wyatt White), Lucy (Isabella Leo), Marcie (Holly Gorski), Peppermint Patty (Isis Moore), Pigpen (Jacob Soley) and Rerun (Milo Toriel-McGibbon).
THE HEAD (6 episodes, streaming from February 7 exclusively on StarzPlay, Thriller/Romance)
THE first series of Spanish thriller The Head arrives on StarzPlay this week, unravelling a blood-spattered mystery in the unforgiving yet beautiful surroundings of the South Pole.
The Polaris VI Antarctic Research Station hosts a small team of scientists called the Winterers, led by biologist Arthur Wilde (John Lynch).
They are involved in ground-breaking research that could play a vital role in winning the fight against climate change.
For six months, the sun disappears over the snow-laden wilderness and the team continues its work under a cover of darkness.
When seasons change and summer commander Johan Berg (Alexander Willaume) arrives at the station, he encounters a horrific scene.
Members of the winter team, including Johan's wife Annika (Laura Bach), are either dead or missing.
Terrified young doctor Maggie (Katharine O'Donnelly) appears to be the only survivor of a murderous rampage.
Johan races against time to understand the devastating chain of events at Polaris VI and uncover Annika's fate.
CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL (4 episodes, streaming from February 5 exclusively on Netflix, Documentary)
JOE Berlinger, director of Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, and Paradise Lost, helms a fascinating documentary series about a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, which has been linked to tragedies throughout the years.
Built in the mid-1920s, the Cecil Hotel gained an unfortunate reputation as the site of untimely deaths and the temporary residence of serial killers.
In this four-part programme, Berlinger probes the 2013 disappearance of college student Elisa Lam from the hotel, which kindled a media frenzy and compelled internet sleuths to solve the case before the authorities.
By interviewing key figures including local police and the hotel's general manager, Amy Price, the series paints a vivid portrait of the property's chilling history.
