Critical Week: Practice makes perfect

The 70th London Film Festival continues to play at venues around the city, and I caught up with four more films this week. Yes, I'm taking it a bit easy this year, simply for my mental health. That said, I've already seen 25 films, with more to come (reviews are linked HERE). It was especially fun to meet Pedro Pascal at the screening of Behemoth, a superbly delicate drama about a cellist working through his past. At the reception I also chatted with two of his seriously gifted collaborators on the film: writer-director Tony Gilroy and costar Eva Victor. Speaking of receptions, I got to chat with the talented cast and directors of both La Bola Negra (my favourite film so far this year, out this week in the US) and Possible Love (another fave) at Netflix's annual LFF brunch.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
La Bola Negra • Naza
Forgotten Island • Case 137
Musk • Hadestown: The Musical
ALL REVIEWS >

I also had a great chat with Incredibles director Brad Bird, then immediately headed to a screening of his newest movie Ray Gunn, a beautifully animated retro-futuristic noir mystery. After that, there was screening of Laika's magnificent stop-motion epic Wildwood, attended by director Travis Knight, voice actors Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay and great cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. The film is unmissable! And Sandra Huller gives yet another astonishingly nuanced performance in Pawel Pawlikowski's gorgeous Fatherland, a father-daughter road movie set in Germany just after the war. 

Outside the festival, I saw the frenetic action thriller Street Fighter, starring Noah Centineo, David Dastmalchian and a Hulked-up Jason Momoa. It's loud and chaotic, and very troubling thematically. But gamers might enjoy it. There were also live performances of the unauthorised parody Heated Rivalry and the celebratory dance Ballet Black at 25, plus a visit to the Design Museum to preview Laika's Wildwood Exhibition (see below).

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching Julianne Moore in LFF's closing night film The Debut, the comic book thriller Clayface, Clio Barnard's I See Building Fall Like Lightning, John Hannah in Bad Day at the Office, Australian drama Sweet Milk Lake, the restored version of Ken Russell's The Devils on the big screen and a live performance of Tellus at Sadler's Wells East.

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Stage: Slap that puck

Heated Rivalry
The Unauthorized Musical Parody 
writer-composer Dylan Marcaurele
director Alan Kliffer
with Zheng Xi Yong, Joseph Dann, Andrew Berlin, Sylvie Stenson, May Tether
choreography Brooke Engen & Tiffany Engen
set Sully Ross • costumes Brendan McCann
lighting Devin Cameron
Underbelly Soho, London • 7.Oct-1.Nov.26 ★★★★

Running at a brisk 75 minutes, this hugely entertaining musical pastiche is packed with soaring songs and riotously naughty innuendo. Amusingly recounting the plot of the TV series, the show plays on how Heated Rivalry is "a story for women, written by a woman, about gay guys with big butts". And right up front, they admit that they only made this show to tide us over until season 2 arrives next year.

Tracing the plot faithfully, we meet rising-star Canadian hockey player Shane (Zheng Xi Yong), who is the league's first draft pick until Russian rival Ilya (Joseph Dann) steals his thunder. Both are closeted, and also smitten by each other. They keep their casual affair a secret while playing up their tough-guy rivalry in public. Then they begin to actually fall in love. Cut to a second romance between coffee shop clerk Kip (Andrew Berlin) and hockey star Scott (played by a diva plucked from the audience).

The plot continues through Shane and Ilya's breakup, a serious injury and relationships with their respective beards (May Tether and Sylvie Stenson) before they reconnect on a dance floor to the thumping strains of tATu. All of this is skilfully written with witty visual jokes and a verbal playfulness that runs through both their angry insults and confessions of undying love. It's a nonstop barrage of hilarious gags, both tiny details and big dramatic beats, plus a few sexy moments involving puppets. And each superb number is a massive power ballad performed at full-tilt by the up-for-it cast.

Inventive staging uses simple but effective sets and costumes that help us keep track of the wide range characters who are sharply well-played by Stenson, Tether and the scene-stealing Berlin. And Yong and Dann are seriously engaging leads as well as gifted singers with belting voices. So by the time Ilya finally caves in and proclaims, "I'm coming to the cottage," even someone unfamiliar with the series will be unable to suppress a massive sigh. This is an almost outrageously enjoyable production that is gleefully suggestive, rude and also very smart.

For details, HEATED RIVALRY >  

photos by Matt Crockett • 13.Oct.26

Screen: October TV Roundup

It's been quite a mix of genres on TV over the past few months, and I especially enjoy the shows that blur the lines between them, finding something unexpected in the process. This is so much more engaging and entertaining than simply trying to recreate a well-tested formula. Although even that can sometimes work if the casting comes together. Anyway, watching series is a lovely break from the movies for me. In this roundup, I'll start with the new shows...

Brothers
This good-natured show is "based on a true rumour" that Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are actually half-brothers. They play amusingly exaggerated versions of themselves, best-friends whose families (played by actors) hang out together at Matthew's Austin ranch as he prepares to run for Texas governor. But Woody is determined to find out if this rumour is true. The scripts are a bit too goofy, full of absurdly corny slapstick. But the show also has smart things to say about the nature of fame. And any show that gives Holland Taylor such a meaty role (as Matthew's larger than life Ma Mac) is a must-see. But if there's a sedonc season, they need to give Woody's and Matthew's wives, played by Brittany Ishibashi and Natalie Martinez, something to do. (Apple)

La Mesías 
[aka The Messiah]
The world-building on this show is frankly jaw-dropping. Made by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (aka the Javis, see La Bola Negra) in 2023, this award-hoovering show has finally been released outside Spain. It's set around Montserrat in Catalunya, an epicentre for religious visions and UFO sightings. An ensemble of supremely gifted actors play complex characters over multiple decades, centring around Enric (Roger Casamajor) and his sister Irene (Macarena Garcia) as they try to make sense of their childhood with their chaotic mother Montse (Ana Rujas, Lola Duenas then Carmen Machi). Set-pieces dazzle on a scale rarely seen on television, echoing a real love of movie musicals. And ultimately, it's a staggeringly profound exploration of our innate need to find meaning and truth. (Mubi)

Lanterns
There's a nicely scrappy edge to this superhero series, which to maintains genuine intrigue with a strong dose of black comedy thanks to the jagged tension between Hal (Kyle Chandler) and John (Aaron Pierre). Hal is Earth's lantern, an intergalactic protector, and John is his heir apparent, although their boss (Laura Linney) seems to be playing games with them as a potentially cataclysmic situation develops in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. The cast is terrific, including Kelly Macdonald as the local sheriff, Jason Ritter as her sleazy lawyer husband and Garret Dillahunt as her suspicious father. Keeping action in the background allows the characters to bounce off each other in enjoyably menacing ways. Everything shifts dramatically for the final few episodes, leaving us wanting more. (HBO) 

The Shards
Created and written with Bret Easton Ellis (based on his novel), Ryan Murphy's latest provocation is another lurid romp that leans into grotesque violence and teasing sexiness. Confused, over-confident teen Ellis is sharply well-played by Igby Rigney, and the show traces his coming-of-age in a wealthy corner of early 1980s L.A. with a serial killer on the loose. Clever casting includes Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere as his classmates, with Evan Rachel Wood and Wes Bentley as the deranged parents of Bret's girlfriend (Hayes Warner). Amid the period excesses, the murder mystery holds the attention, even if it is written in a way that stretches everything too thinly (cliffhanger alert!). The problem is that Murphy seems to see rampant indulgence as the main event here, rather than characters and storytelling. (Hulu)

Sterling Point
Filmmaker Megan Park echoes themes and settings from her superb debut feature My Old Ass (2024) in this more straightforward coming-of-age drama about a group of teens who spend the summer on an island in rural Canada. There's a terrific sense of the divide between the earthy, relaxed locals and the privileged, wealthy interlopers, a line the show is happy to blur with a series of sparky and very messy youthful romances. There's also a complex mystery at the centre, as twin siblings (Ella Rubin and Keen Ruffalo) explore their connections to this island and its inhabitants. Where all of this goes is enjoyable and engagingly sexy, with rather a lot of teen angst thrown in to spice things up. And there are also lively adult roles for Jay Duplass, Missy Pyle and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. (Prime)

A N O T H E R   S E A S O N

Ted Lasso: series 4
Returning to Ted Lasso's worldview is as joyful as expected, especially since Jason Sudeikis is accompanied by returning costars Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift, Brendan Hunt and Brett Goldstein, plus a new role for a scene-chomping Tracey Ullman. While we miss the male players, the new women's teammates are very well written and played, arriving with their own engaging mini-storylines (especially Tanya Reynolds' coach Alice). The homespun wisdom is beginning to feel a little stale, but Ted's optimism is a refreshing alternative to cynicism we feel about pretty much everything around us. This season ends with a couple of almost overpoweringly emotive episodes, Thankfully, they never quite give way to sentimentality, remaining edgy and inspiring. We couldn't stop watching if we tried. (Apple)

Star Trek - Strange New Worlds:
series 4
This new season has a bold confidence that perhaps goes a bit too far, with gimmicky episodes that indulge in horror, black-and-white noir, stoner comedy, fairy tale and soap opera, plus puppetry and dinosaurs. Even so, this adventure-of-the-week format is fun, and the terrific ensemble cast (led by Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn) has grown into an engaging crew with remarkably complex inter-relationships. So the big action-thriller episode is unusually exhilarating. It's also fun to see the show weave plot threads together in an effort to bring the story to the start of the original 1960s series. With one season to go, plenty needs to happen yet for Paul Wesley's James Kirk, Ethan Peck's Spock, Celia Rose Gooding's Uhura and Martin Quinn's Scotty. These adventurous writers clearly have a plan. (Paramount) 

Chad Powers:
series 2
Continuing this offbeat show into another season was always going to be tricky, because the premise was pretty much played out the first time around. It's a bit of a stretch here, so the writers cleverly ramp everything up a notch. This means that most of the relationships are more complex, most notably the three central ones between Chad (Glen Powell) and love interest Ricky (Perry Mattfeld), partner in crime Danny (Frankie Rodriguez) and coach Jake (Steve Zahn). But adding a big conflict was a mistake, because turning this into a thriller keeps everything at an annoyingly superficial level. As Gerry, Colton Ryan plays it well, but it's a thankless role with pointless plot turns that take away from the intriguing show this was and could have been. It's difficult to make it through these six episodes. (Hulu)

The Gentlemen: series 1-2
After watching the first series back in 2024, I never wrote about it for some reason. Created by Guy Ritchie, this slickly produced show takes his usual blackly comical approach to a crime thriller, while also playing with the British class system. It centres around Eddie (the absurdly charismatic Theo James), who inherits his family dukedom and discovers a hidden cannabis operation that's linked to a ruthless mobster (Ray Winstone). The second season pushes things much further, adding gangsters from Italy and South America into the mix. Most episodes feature shocking events, including violent murders of main characters. But the show's snarky attitude holds the attention, as does an ensemble that includes Kaya Scodelario, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones and Giancarlo Esposito. (Netflix)

Adults: series 2
Watchable because the actors are so likeable, this wildly overwritten comedy gets almost everything wrong in its storytelling, creating situations that never ring remotely true while pretending to tell it like it is to be in your mid-20s. Sharing a house rent-free in Queens, these bright, funny characters have no clue how out of touch with the world they are, which makes them somewhat endearing. But everything they do is silly and contrived, so your ability to enjoy this show requires either a level of delusion or a willingness to take it as the absurd fantasy that it actually is. And in that case, there's quite a bit to enjoy, mainly because of the adorable, up-for-it cast led by Jack Innanen, Lucy Freyer, Malik Elassal, Amit Rao and Owen Thiele, all of whom deserve better material than this. (Hulu) 

Leanne: series 2
This is one of those warm sitcoms that hits the spot when you need to relax and switch off your critical faculties. Comic Leanne Morgan has fun playing around with middle-aged themes like finding new relationships later in life, coping with the indignities of ageing and the challenges of elderly parents (the superb Celia Weston and Blake Clark). And the tight ensemble cast is getting more comfortable with their roles: Kristen Johnson is more earthy and funny as Leanne's boisterous sister, while Ryan Stiles is still silly but less cartoonish as her cheating ex. Some of the story elements feel contrived specifically to keep this series running for years, which is a problem with most TV shows. But the down-home charm and unblinking honesty are refreshing enough to make us look forward to more. (Netflix)

Single, Out: series 3
It's a gear change for this third season of the low-budget queer sitcom set in Melbourne. The eponymous magazine has folded, and Adam (Will Hutchins) has somewhat improbably started his career as a shooting-star photographer. He's also marrying his boyfriend Gabe (the adorable Jake Hyde). The writing and directing are still somewhat awkward, with rather corny dialog and plotting (does anyone hold a stag night several months before their wedding?). But the expanding ensemble of characters is charming enough to keep us watching, offering some charming wrinkles that touch loosely on issues that circle around family, romance and careers. There are also deeper themes that resonate along with the scrappy comedy and goofy embarrassment-heavy slapstick. (Cinephobia)

NOW WATCHING: Mobland 2, East of Eden, Carrie, Stick 2, Scrubs 11, Necromancer

GUILTY PLEASURES: The Celebrity Traitors, The Great British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing, Drag Race UK

COMING SOON: VisionQuest, Nobody Wants This 3, Lupin 4, Newlyweds, Dexter: Resurrection 2, Black Doves 2

Previous roundup: AUGUST 2026 > 

Dance: Demanding and dazzling

Acosta Danza
Cuban Baroque
artistic director Carlos Acosta
performers Frank Isaac, Paul Brando, Thalía Cardín, Melisa Moreda, Alexander Arias, Daniella Urgelles, Aniel Pazos, Cynthia Laffertte, Ernesto Muñoz, Ofelia Rodríguez, Rolando Dieguez, Wendy Elizabeth, Miguel Gomez, Carolina Monteagudo, Amado Mancebo, María Del Carmen Pantoja
musicians Pepe Gavilondo, Ezo Sarici, Adrian Aguiar
costumes Anastasios Sofroniou, Verena Hemmerlein, Goyo Montero
lighting Nicolas Fischtel, Goyo Montero
Sadler's Wells, London • 7-10.Oct.26 ★★★★★

Carlos Acosta's dance company goes from strength to strength, producing thrilling shows that leave the audience as out of breath as the performers themselves. This double bill is seriously demanding of the dancers, and it keeps the viewer in a state of wonder. Even without a narrative structure, the show carries us along on waves of emotion that surge across the stage. It's purely and simply jaw-dropping.

First up is Pearls, a new work choreographed by Andonis Foniadakis to a musical score by Julien Tarride that creates a sense of baroque elegance (using the 18th century chaconne Salve Regina by Esteban Sallas) as the dancers perform sweeping choreography that locks into the quick rhythms. Movement is both strong and loose, performed as solos, duets and in a large group with a strong sense of abandon. Flourishes are simply stunning, fluid and connected, spinning and swirling across a stage that is marked by projected lines that move to create new spaces. 

The costumes feel both futuristic and in a period style, aubergine bodysuits accompanied by chaps, skirts or trousers, and the men lose their shirts along the way, all of which augments the physicality in rippling waves of motion. There's a push and pull as couples form and swap, then the lighting shifts and the music swells into a pounding Cuban beat that sparks a full-on rave, revealing sharper moves that include jumping and bouncing in insistent unison. In the end, the dancers collapse onto the stage, then impressively rebound into a soulful, beautiful finale.

After the interval, the performers are somehow immediately back on top form as they tackle Goyo Montero's Chacona, accompanied by Bach's Partita No 2 in D Minor, gorgeously played live on the stage on piano, violin and guitar. Created in 2011, this piece is equally demanding, and it requires even more unity for a larger group of 16 dancers as they all remain on-stage throughout, navigating spotlit areas to perform a mix of classical and modern choreography.

Some segments involve them standing along the edges while solos and duets fill the illuminated spaces, so there are echoes of dance studio settings and fashion catwalks as dancers break out to perform. Echoing movement continually catches the eye, as we begin to sense a yearning sense of purpose, the need to move. This is utterly mesmerising, hugely expressive as performers play with light and shapes as they spin, lift, slide and float with startling precision. These dancers are astonishingly fit and absurdly talented, maintaining elegance and artistry during what is clearly a strenuous physical workout. It's emotive, intricate and utterly magical.

For details, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Charlie Kirkpatrick & Johan Persson • 7.Oct.26

Critical Week: Take to the streets

The 70th London Film Festival kicked off last night with the European premiere of Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott. I attended a talk with him today, which was as engaging as you can imagine! But I still haven't seen the film, so I'll be hunting for a screening. I've already caught 20 LFF films (reviews are linked HERE), and I saw three more this week: Ruth Madeley (above) is terrific in Being Heumann, a ripping, essential account of Judy Heumann's 1977 standoff about accessibility. Mahershala Ali brings his powerful presence to the dramatic thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a slightly messy film packed with provocative ideas. And Ryusuke Hamaguchi's extraordinary drama All of a Sudden effortlessly carries us through three hours of a fascinating new friendship.

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
Fjord • Naza • Tenzing
The Social Reckoning
California Schemin'
ALL REVIEWS >

Outside the festival, Mikey Madison leads Aaron Sorkin's sequel The Social Reckoning, as the whistleblower who exposed Facebook's extremely dodgy algorithm. She ably supported by Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong (as Mark Zuckerberg) and others. John Cena leads the charge in the action comedy Matchbox, as a spy who takes his childhood pals on a globe hopping adventure. It's ridiculous, but the stunts are jaw-dropping. Lesley Manville is of course excellent in the gritty thriller Winter of the Crow, as a British professor stranded in locked-down Soviet-era Warsaw. An ensemble of top French actors leads the charge in the theatre-based comedy Comédie Française, mixing smart humour and hilarious slapstick. And I also attended a live performance of Acosta Danza's dazzling Cuban Baroque.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching two highly anticipated animated films: Laika's Wildwood and Pixar's Ray Gunn, plus Pedro Pascal in Behemoth, Andrew Garfield in The Uprising, Jason Momoa in Street Fighter, the comedy Ghosts: The Possession of Button House and live performances of Heated Rivalry and Ballet Black at 25.

Dance: Recollections may vary

Jess & Morgs
Deepfake
director-choreographers Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple
performers Kennedy Muntanga, Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Cathy Grealish, Dylan Springer, Tommi Sutton, Marshall Stay, Grace Broodie, Freya Burdon-Watson, Eva Rose Fellows, Evelien Van Den Hondel, Claire Goose, Habib Nasib Nader
writer Jeff James • video design Dan Light
set/costumes Milla Clarke • lighting Simon Bennison
Sadler’s Wells East, Stratford • 1-3.Oct.26 ★★★★

Dazzling on multiple fronts, this fast-paced hour-long show unfolds its politically charged narrative using a mesmerising combination of dance, sound and technology. As the title suggests, the story involves manipulated video, and it plays out with strikingly visual trickery that includes green screens, camerawork, projections and inventive lighting. Meanwhile, the show makes important points relating to political subterfuge, asking salient questions about why the media feels increasingly untrustworthy.

Creators Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple, aka Jess & Morgs, keep the tension high from the start, as we watch the Prime Minister (Kennedy Muntanga) preparing to be interviewed by TV journalist Katie (Rebecca Bassett-Graham) about a disastrous series of events the night before. Not only is there a videotape showing him in a state of undress, but he arrived suspiciously late to a state dinner, where he was disheveled and erratic. "Witnesses say you were drunk," Katie says. "No, the video is a fake," he replies.

Dialog (voiced by Habib Nasib Nader and Claire Goose) is mixed into the textured audio track, while the performers lipsync it with broad physical movements that often break out into full-on dance pieces. These include solos and duets, plus a range of elaborate group numbers accompanied by eight performers wearing green-screen bodysuits. One of these carries a handheld camera to capture striking angles on the action, often following performers backstage.

We watch all of this on a splintering array of screens. There's the live action on-stage, surrounded by bright green. And on a giant screen above, we can see the combined images, with backgrounds and even second or third versions of the PM as he puts another spin on his account ("I can't be in two places at once!"). The way these interact is mind-bogglingly complicated. And there are also jaw-dropping sections in which the performers interact with projections of themselves that are being shot live from other angles.

Intriguingly, the choreography is pointed and rather academic, never emotionally engaging. Instead, it reflects the push and pull between a politician and a journalist who have grown accustomed to doing this dance. The mix of modern choreo with ballet is playful, as one of the PM's excuses involves attending his daughter's dance recital. Re-enactments of various situations are riotously amusing, leading to a huge disco break in the final act. And through all of this, there's a driving search for the truth beneath the sound bites. 

For details, JESS & MORGS >

photos by Foteini Christofilopoulou • 1.Oct.26

Dance: Everybody shout ¡Olé!

Yllana
Flamenc Oh!!
direction David Ottone and Juan Ramos
artists David Bastidas, Raquel Ortega, Raúl Ortega, Anabel Moreno, Luis Gallo
choreography Carlos Chamorro • costumes Tatiana de Sarabia
set Carlos Brayda • lighting Juani González Vega
Peacock Theatre, London • 30.Sep-10.Oct.26 ★★★★

Those gifted, cheeky artists at Yllana (see also The Opera Locos) bring their lively and hugely entertaining homage to flamenco to London, fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe. Of course, these performers are experts at the craft, dazzling the audience with their wonderful sense of rhythm and movement. But they are also having a lot of fun telling a silly story that has some serious kicks as it explores personal identity, family connections and legacy.

A voiceover paints a portrait of a flamenco family, with the imperious patriarch (David Bastidas) deploying his soaring voice while tapping the cane that symbolises his authority. His wife (Raquel Ortega) is a feisty dancer who rules the roost, while their son (Raúl Ortega) and daughter (Anabel Moreno) demonstrate seriously fancy footwork and armography. Both siblings hope to inherit the cane, and Dad needs to make a decision. He is clearly disappointed with his son, but his daughter is throwing herself at the steaming hot guitarist (Luis Gallo) who just strutted into their lives with his luscious locks of hair and shockingly modern musical sensibilities.

Within this soap opera, each character is a hilarious bundle of attitudes and personality quirks, adding amusing touches to even their most impressive displays of flamenco prowess. These are top-notch performers who continually wow us with their talents, even if the show is designed for entertainment rather than audacity. Ortega and Moreno get a chance to deliver stunning riffs of taconeo as the brother and sister battle for their parents' approval. And Gallo's astonishing guitar work is augmented by his character's riotously preening physicality.

There are also deeper themes that have something more profound to say about Spanish culture, such as how the father longs to explore his feminine side, but feels trapped in his machismo. Finally he takes the plunge and tries on a ruffly red gown, surprised that his wife embraces this. Watching them throw their trains around is thrilling, leaving us wanting much more of this. There's also a nice edge to the way the son seeks approval from his father, while the daughter refuses to settle for anything but the top spot.

Through all of this, modern music continually creeps in, with lovely riffs from standards like Summertime, Moon River and Beautiful, plus exhilarating renditions of Maniac and Purple Rain. Cultural touches include some romance, mysticism and even a bit of magical realism. There are also of course snapping castanets, swirling capes and a full-on boxing ring dance off for the cane. Characters continually flirt with the audience, which is frequently coaxed into clapping to the beat or shouting ¡Olé! And even if it's perhaps a little too crowd-pleasing, the barnstorming curtain call sends us out with a smile.

For details, SADLER'S WELLS >

photos by Pablo Lorente • 30.Sep.26