FILM OF THE WEEK
WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS (Cert 12, 112 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Romance/Drama, available from March 15 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services)
Starring: Charlie Plummer, Taylor Russell, Molly Parker, Walton Goggins, AnnaSophia Robb, Devon Bostick, Lobo Sebastian, Beth Grant.
WITTY, introspective high school student Adam Petrizelli (Charlie Plummer) is diagnosed with schizophrenia, which manifests as a pervasive, spider-like darkness that leeches into his waking visions.
Voices in his head take the form of three distinct, competing personalities: hippy chic free spirit Rebecca (AnnaSophia Robb), sex-obsessed teen Joaquin (Devon Bostick) and baseball bat-wielding thug The Bodyguard (Lobo Sebastian).
A psychotic break in chemistry class leads to expulsion from school and Adam transfers midway through his senior year to Saint Agatha's Catholic academy.
The youngster's trials create friction between his doting mother Beth (Molly Parker) and new stepfather (Walton Goggins).
Meanwhile, at the academy, sassy valedictorian Maya (Taylor Russell) catches Adam's eye but he is reluctant to share the truth about his mental health.
Based on the young adult novel by Julia Walton, Words On Bathroom Walls strikes a pleasing balance between honouring and subverting the conventions of a coming-of-age story.
In a year when mental health has been elevated in the public consciousness, director Thor Freudenthal's moving drama is a timely call to arms for compassion and understanding for those who are suffering in isolation.
Screenwriter Nick Naveda addresses the lead character's schizophrenia with sensitivity and wry humour, employing visual cues as a cinematic shorthand for a complex and potentially frightening condition.
Plummer deftly navigates the inner turmoil and mood swings of his alienated 17-year-old.
His sympathetic, finely calibrated performance is matched by the luminous Russell as a spunky classmate, who understands the delicate art of concealing deep-rooted pain.
Rating: 7/10
ALSO RELEASED
THE COLUMNIST (Cert 15, 84 mins, Vertigo Releasing, Horror/Comedy/Romance, available from March 15 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services)
Starring: Katja Herbers, Claire Porro, Bram van der Kelen, Genio de Groot, Harry van Rijthoven.
FEMKE Boot (Katja Herbers) is a mild-mannered Dutch newspaper columnist, who draws on personal experience for her work.
One opinion piece about a neighbour, who blithely flouts political correctness by performing in blackface, elicits a torrent of abuse on social media channels.
She attempts to quell the uproar by taking part in a televised debate about free speech and pleads: "Why can't we have different opinions and be nice about it?"
Soon after, Femke sparks an unlikely romance with her opponent on the TV show: horror novelist Steven Dood (Bram van der Kelen).
He moves into her home with teenage daughter Anna (Claire Porro), who is a chip off the old block.
The online vitriol reaches fever pitch and Femke snaps, lashing out at one of the "army of losers with a laptop".
Blood flows freely as Femke systematically hunts down the trolls and hacks a finger from each victim as a grisly memento.
Directed by Ivo van Aart with tongue wedged firmly in cheek, The Columnist is a ghoulish black comedy, which handcuffs some impressively grisly make-up effects to a familiar cautionary tale about the dark side of online interactions.
Scriptwriter Daan Windhorst nudges his protagonist to the brink of madness then, sadly, pulls back to engineer an overly neat resolution that leaves too many important questions unanswered.
Herbers is delightfully unhinged in the lead role and she shares pleasing screen chemistry with van der Kelen, who gradually reveals the lovable, caring man behind the macabre goth facade used to promote his books.
A subplot involving Porro's politicised daughter peters out at the very moment it should reach a thrilling and defiant crescendo.
Rating: 6/10
SERIES / BOX SETS
THE GOOD DOCTOR – SEASON 4 (starts streaming from March 16 exclusively on NOW TV, Drama/Romance)
FILMING of the fourth series of the hit medical drama developed by David Shore was affected by the Covid pandemic.
Thankfully, The Good Doctor returns to Sky Witness this week and streams exclusively on NOW TV, welcoming back Freddie Highmore in his Golden Globe-nominated role as savant surgeon Shaun Murphy.
The pandemic forces Shaun to spend time apart from his sweetheart Lea (Page Spara) because he does not want to expose her to the virus.
Surgical resident Dr Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) grows frustrated by the impact of Covid, but not as much as Dr Audrey Lim (Christina Chang), who is haunted by losses she witnesses at San Jose St Bonaventure Hospital.
The team unites in adversity while Dr Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) wrestles with deep feelings for Lea and the potential emotional fallout for Shaun.
THE ONE (8 episodes, streaming from March 12 exclusively on Netflix, Sci-Fi/Drama/Romance)
THE search for true love unites the human race across race, class and geographical boundaries.
This eight-part Netflix psychological drama based on the novel by John Marrs imagines a near future in which a simple DNA match can reveal the identity of the one person on Earth you a genetically predisposed to fall in love with.
Rebecca (Hannah Ware) is the ambitious chief executive of a company co-founded with best friend James (Dimitri), which takes the uncertainty and disappointment out of dating.
Their DNA match guarantees sparks of desire but some of the people who use the service quickly discover that even perfect soulmates can conceal deadly secrets from each other.
MARCELLA – SERIES THREE (Cert 15, 360 mins, Acorn Media, available now on Amazon Video/iTunes/ITV Hub and other download and streaming services, available from March 15 on DVD £24.99, Drama/Thriller)
ANNA Friel reprises her role as London detective Marcella Backland in the award-winning ITV1 crime drama written by Hans Rosenfeldt, Swedish creator of The Bridge.
This series, Marcella continues her hard-fought battle to balance family life and debilitating mental health issues in unfamiliar surroundings: Belfast.
Adopting a new identity, Marcella goes deep undercover as Keira Devlin at the behest of Frank Young (Hugo Speer), who needs her to infiltrate the inner circle of steely crime matriarch Katherine McGuire (Amanda Burton).
Marcella's descent into the Irish underworld tests her resolve to breaking point.
Detective Inspector Rav Sangha (Ray Panthaki) arrives unexpectedly in Northern Ireland and threatens to blow apart her carefully crafted cover story.
The two-disc DVD set includes all eight episodes.
THE ATTACHE (10 episodes, streaming from March 14 exclusively on StarzPlay, Drama/Romance)
THE city of love provides a glittering backdrop to a marital crisis in a 10-part Israeli drama headlining Eli Ben-David and Heloise Godet.
Annabelle (Godet) lands a high-profile job as attache to the Israeli embassy in Paris.
She moves to the French capital with her husband Avshalom (Ben-David).
He is an Israeli Jewish man of Moroccan descent and a successful musician, who does not speak French and feels increasingly distant from his beloved wife.
The couple's arrival coincides with the largest terror attack in French history, which heightens Avshalom's sense of unease.
As Annabelle flourishes in her new environment, Avshalom endures an awkward transition to his 40s.
