BORN AGAIN
POOR THINGS, DISNEY+ streaming now
■ YOU won’t see a more extraordinary performance this year than Emma Stone’s Oscar-winning turn in Yorgis Lanthimos’s Poor Things – and for that matter, you probably won’t see a more remarkable film in 2024. Loosely based on Alasdair Gray’s novel, the story is a mix of Frankenstein and Pygmalion in which Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter is a deceased young woman re-animated by Willem Dafoe’s mad scientist, but with the brain of a child. As she tries to find her place in the world, she ignores the moral shackles of late Victorian society and her lust for life (and life of lust) makes for an entertaining and sometimes shocking film with a stunning visual style.
HORRORS OF WAR 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
Channel 4 and channel4. com, streaming now
ANOTHER Oscar winner, this harrowing feature documentary charts the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the focus on the port city of Mariupol. Filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov is part of a Ukrainian news crew reporting on the Russian invasion and occupation of the city, capturing the mounting chaos and horror its citizens face with every passing day. A difficult but necessary watch with the brutality of war and its impact on ordinary people all too evident.
KIWI MYSTERY THE GONE BBC Four, Saturday, March 16, 9pm
BBC Four’s latest Saturday night crime drama sees Irish detective Theo Richter (Richard Flood) team up with Kiwi cop Diana Huia (Acushla Tara Kure) to try to find a young Irish couple who have gone missing while visiting a rural town in New Zealand. The local community closes ranks as the investigation proceeds amid concerns the disappearance may have something to do with an Irish gang and historical murders. Manu Bennett and Michelle Fairley co-star in this six-part series, with the second episode showing straight after the first.
UPLIFTING TALE THE LAST REPAIR SHOP Disney+, streaming now
ANOTHER Oscar winner, this time in the documentary short category of the Academy Awards, this little gem is only 40 minutes long but it packs a big emotional punch. If you enjoy the BBC’s Repair Shop you’ll like this look at the real-life LA institution where damaged musical instruments are given a new lease of life. But there’s more to it than that, of course, as we hear the back stories of the four workers who are dedicated to repairing instruments so students can fulfil their ambitions of being musicians. We hear of the hardship and struggles they’ve endured in this emotional, inspirational and ultimately uplifting film that’s a testament to the power of music to bring different people together.
TO CATCH A KILLER MANHUNT AppleTV+, from Friday, March 15
■ THIS intriguing seven-part series looks at the hunt for the man who killed President Abraham Lincoln and the efforts to try to preserve order in the wake of the US Civil War. Tobias Menzies stars as Edwin Stanton whose job it is to track down actor-turnedassassin John Wilkes Booth who escapes after ft killing killi Lincoln i l at t the th Ford’s d Theatre, h t Washington, DC. As well as a gripping thriller, Manhunt is a fascinating portrait of a country coming i to tt terms with ith its it own nationhood, borne out of bloody conflict.