Pick of the week
I Swear<\/p>\n
One thing that has been lost in the furore surrounding John Davidson\u2019s outbursts at the Baftas is the film itself. As a plea for tolerance and understanding, Kirk Jones\u2019s award-winning biopic<\/a> of Davidson \u2013 who has Tourette syndrome \u2013 is moving and persuasive. And in Robert Aramayo it has a lead who throws himself wholeheartedly into a life that oscillates between desperation and hope, tragedy and comedy. Scott Ellis Watson is his equal playing the young John, who starts to develop tics as a teenager and finds his life falling apart. Maxine Peake and Peter Mullan, as the two mentors who help him see his potential, add lustre to a spirited and essential watch. WorldbreakerFighting for survival \u2026 Billie Boullet in Worldbreaker. Photograph: Voltage Pictures\/Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n In a post-climate breakdown future, humanity is assailed by Breakers, insectoid creatures that have appeared from beneath the Earth\u2019s surface and infected or killed most of the population, with men particularly susceptible. Luke Evans and Billie Boullet play a father and 15-year-old daughter who hide out on an island while Mum (Milla Jovovich) fights on with her all-female army. Making a virtue of a limited budget, director Brad Anderson focuses on the coming-of-age angle, with Evans\u2019s Welsh lilt giving a bardic feel to the survival story<\/a>. Brief History of a FamilyDeliciously unsettling \u2026 Brief History of a Family.<\/p>\n Lin Jianjie\u2019s delicious Chinese psychological drama<\/a> has hints of Parasite but this tale of a cuckoo in the nest of a middle-class family is even more unsettling and ambiguous. Xilun Sun plays Yan Shuo, a reserved boy befriended by his sporty but less academically gifted classmate Tu Wei (Muran Lin). Wei\u2019s mother (Keyu Guo) and father (Feng Zu) see in Shuo the son they wanted \u2013 attentive, cultured, smart \u2013 but is his escalating presence in their lives just an attempt to escape from an apparently abusive father or something more sinister? The Manchurian CandidateA terrific thriller \u2026 Frank Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate. Photograph: Globe Photos\/Zuma Press\/Alamy<\/p>\n With the brainwashing of US soldiers in 50s Korea pictured early on, John Frankenheimer\u2019s terrific thriller<\/a> makes its central mystery not what happened to Laurence Harvey\u2019s decorated war hero Shaw but why. Frank Sinatra plays his commanding officer Marco, whose recurring nightmares hold the key to a pan-communist plot against America. Steeped in a cold war paranoia that seems to bring out the main characters in cold sweats, it\u2019s also a sly oedipal tale, with Shaw\u2019s mother (Angela Lansbury) intent on involving her son in his senator stepfather\u2019s rise to power. Zootropolis 2The second highest-grossing animation of all time! \u2026 Zootropolis 2. Photograph: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s called Zootopia 2 or Zoomania 2 (hello Germany), the second-highest-grossing animated film<\/a> of all time is a chip off the old block. Back come police detective duo Judy Hopps, a rabbit (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), and Nick Wilde, a red fox (Jason Bateman), as they seek a snake (Ke Huy Quan) who may be connected to a smuggling operation. But snakes haven\u2019t been seen in the city for years \u2026 A colourful comedy action adventure that will appeal mostly to the younger generation. MaterialistsRipe for heated debate \u2026 Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in Materialists. Photograph: Atsushi Nishijima\/Adore Matchmaking<\/p>\n Celine Song\u2019s follow-up<\/a> to Past Lives<\/a> has a superficially similar setup of a woman caught between two men \u2013 one of whom is from her past. But here the focus for Dakota Johnson\u2019s high-end Manhattan matchmaker Lucy is whether to opt for love with her ex \u2013 broke actor\/waiter John (Chris Evans) \u2013 or marriage to the loaded, 10-out-of 10 \u201cunicorn\u201d financier Harry (Pedro Pascal). There are lots of quotable lines about the business of dating and getting hitched, and the three stars are infinitely photogenic, while Lucy\u2019s dilemma is ripe for heated post-viewing debate. GirlWonderful \u2026 (from left) Le\u2019Shantey Bonsu as Ama and Liana Turner as Fiona in Girl. Photograph: BFI<\/p>\n
Tuesday 10 March, Netflix<\/p>\n
Saturday 7 March, Prime Video<\/p>\n
Saturday 7 March, 10.40pm, BBC Four<\/p>\n
Sunday 8 March, 9pm, Sky Arts<\/p>\n
Wednesday 11 March, Disney+<\/p>\n
Friday 13 March, 8.35am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere<\/p>\n