The Week's Must-See Culture: Critical Acclaim Across Screens and Pages
This week's cultural landscape is brimming with critically acclaimed releases across television, film, literature, and music. From returning masters to exciting newcomers, here is a comprehensive guide to the week's most highly-rated offerings, as selected from the Guardian's best reviews.
Television Highlights: Horror, Thrills, and Real-World Impact
If you only watch one television series this week, make it The Beauty on Disney+. This marks a triumphant return to form for television powerhouse Ryan Murphy. The horror series presents a terrifying premise: a sexually transmitted virus that proves lethal but also bestows extraordinary beauty upon its victims, leading to dramatic scenes of exploding supermodels. Critic Lucy Mangan praised it as "a return to bingeable Murphy goodness", noting its thematic connection to some of his finest earlier work.
Another standout is Steal on Prime Video, starring Sophie Turner. This twist-laden financial thriller promises to leave audiences both breathless and intellectually engaged. Mangan described the experience as "a wild ride through layers of deceit" that concludes with the viewer "hugely entertained".
For those seeking a series with profound real-world resonance, The Black Swan on BBC iPlayer delivers a heart-stopping Danish investigation. The show follows a mob lawyer turned whistleblower, whose revelations sent shockwaves through Denmark. Hannah J Davies highlighted it as "a nail-biting series" that powerfully demonstrates television's capacity to influence society.
Cinema Spotlight: Satire, Sci-Fi, and Sporting Drama
The film of the week is undoubtedly Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice, now in cinemas. This state-of-the-nation satire from South Korea follows an unemployed paper worker who devises a murderous scheme to re-enter the job market. Peter Bradshaw commended the film's "effortlessly fluent, steely confidence" and its unique storytelling momentum.
Other notable cinematic releases include Mercy, a sci-fi thriller starring Chris Pratt as a cop who must prove his innocence against an AI judge, played by Rebecca Ferguson, within a tight ninety-minute window. Bradshaw found it "ingenious and watchable", albeit with a finale that ventures into the absurd.
H is for Hawk features Claire Foy in a moving adaptation of Helen Macdonald's memoir, portraying a grieving academic who finds solace in training a goshawk. Bradshaw was impressed by Foy's authentic, non-acting approach to the bird-handling scenes.
For sports drama, Saipan transforms Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy's infamous 2002 World Cup walkout into an amusing psychodrama, with Éanna Hardwicke capturing Keane's intense and provocative demeanour.
Literary and Musical Standouts
In the world of books, the must-read is Julian Barnes's final work, Departure(s). This autofictional exploration of love, ageing, and mortality has been praised for allowing readers to "feel things, ordinary things both trifling and important, about our own lives".
Other compelling reads include Oliver Bullough's Everybody Loves Our Dollars, a jaw-dropping expose on global money laundering, and Ai Weiwei's provocative On Censorship, which argues that limits on creative expression are a global, not solely Chinese, phenomenon.
The album of the week is Tessa Rose Jackson's The Lighthouse. The Dutch-British songwriter's most personal record to date moves from dream pop to acoustic clarity, transforming loss into something quietly powerful. Jude Rogers noted her "inquisitive, poetic and refreshing" approach.
Also in music, metal legends Megadeth release their final, self-titled album, described as a career-summarising redux, while the London Symphony Orchestra's release of Havergal Brian's The Gothic showcases a colossal symphony handled with a ringmaster's assurance by conductor Ole Schmidt.
This week's cultural offerings provide a rich tapestry of horror, satire, thriller, memoir, and musical innovation, each earning high praise from critics and promising audiences a diverse range of compelling experiences.
