The Drama review: Robert Pattinson and Zendaya prop up provocative marriage drama
Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's new film is engineered for discourse, not depth – but its lead stars are in fine form.
★★★☆☆ Warning: the following review contains spoilers for The Drama, which is in cinemas now. Add it to your watchlist At what point is a red flag impossible to ignore? That’s the principal question posed in this combustible new drama from Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, which pushes the genres of romcom and marital drama to their very extremes. In fact, cinema has never known pre-wedding jitters quite like this. View Green Video on the source website Starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a couple in Boston about to tie the knot, The Drama is a film that hinges on a twist. But in contrast to The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects or Fight Club, where a late reveal memorably casts previous scenes in a new light, The Drama plays its hand early. And what lands on the table is indeed entirely original and unpredictable… even if Borgli can’t decide where to go in its wake. Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) first encounter each other in a café and share a textbook meet-cute: she’s the bookstore clerk reading by the window and he’s the museum director who pretends to have read what she’s holding purely to strike up conversation. In the blink of an eye they’re loved up and having dinner to sample catering options for their fast-approaching dream wedding. Their friends Rachel and Mike (a terrifically catty Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie) mention how before they got married, they asked each other: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? And that’s when the bombshell drops. Publicity for The Drama has been subtly subdued and entirely reliant on the profile of its stars, with press coverage limited in the hope of preserving the twist. Skirting around it, though, will not make for a worthwhile discussion of the film’s merits — so if you’d prefer to “go in blind” then it’s best to stop reading here. The skeleton in Emma’s closet is that she meticulously planned and intended to carry out a school shooting while at high school, only to stop short at the 11th hour. Naturally, this prompts Charlie to reconsider their relationship — and also causes a rupture in her friendship with maid-of-honour Rachel. “You always find a way to turn my drama into comedy,” Charlie says early on while drafting his wedding speech, which becomes pivotal as the film launches into screwball comedy with a script that is both too on the nose and pleased with itself. The incendiary nature of Emma’s revelation means it is of little surprise that Eddington director Ari Aster is credited as a producer on The Drama, but Borgli’s film offers little social commentary on a subject that deserves sensitivity or interrogation. The Norwegian made his name with provocative fare in Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario: dark comedies about narcissistic artists or what happens when Nicolas Cage appears in every American’s dreams. The Drama has a similarly jet-black sense of humour, but somehow recalls all of Todd Solondz, Danish dinner-party-from-hell Festen and even 45 Years, starring Sir Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling. Where the latter asked intelligent questions of spousal trust and repression, though, Borgli’s priority is merely making mischief. Similarly, even if you put aside the mass-shooting talk (assuming those words can ever be put together), The Drama’s attempt to be a keenly observed relationship comedy is another shoe that doesn’t quite fit. In quoting Freud and referencing Louis Malle films, Charlie stretches relatability, while the couple’s ever-so-chic apartment stocked with houseplants and a spiral staircase wouldn’t look out of place in the wish-fulfilment romcoms of Nancy Meyers — only a title like It’s Complicated wouldn’t quite cover it for them, of course. Fortunately, Zendaya and Pattinson are saving graces. The former fashions a compelling enigma by riffing on the girl-next-door charms of her MJ in Marvel’s Spider-Man films and the troubled moodiness of her Euphoria work; the latter is endlessly charming and comedic as a beleaguered British fop whose life appears increasingly Kafkaesque. By the time a killer final scene rolls around, The Drama is somewhat limping over the line, but its leads lend a crucial heartbeat to a film frustratingly engineered for discourse, not depth.
The Drama review: Robert Pattinson and Zendaya prop up provocative marriage film
Warning: contains spoilers for The Drama, which is in cinemas now. At what point is a red flag impossible to ignore? That’s the principal question posed in this combustible new drama from Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, which pushes the genres of romcom and marital drama to their very extremes. In fact, cinema has never known pre-wedding jitters quite like this. Starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a couple in Boston about to tie the knot, The Drama is a film that hinges on a twist. But in contrast to The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects or Fight Club, where a late reveal memorably casts previous scenes in a new light, The Drama plays its hand early. And what lands on the table is indeed entirely original and unpredictable... even if Borgli can’t decide where to go in its wake. Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) first encounter each other in a café and share a textbook meet-cute: she’s the bookstore clerk reading by the window and he’s the museum director who pretends to have read what she’s holding purely to strike up conversation. In the blink of an eye they’re loved up and having dinner to sample catering options for their fast-approaching dream wedding. Their friends Rachel and Mike (a terrifically catty Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie) mention how before they got married, they asked each other: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? And that’s when the bombshell drops. Publicity for The Drama has been subtly subdued and entirely reliant on the profile of its stars, with press coverage limited in the hope of preserving the twist. Skirting around it, though, will not make for a worthwhile discussion of the film’s merits – so if you’d prefer to “go in blind” then it’s best to stop reading here. The skeleton in Emma’s closet is that she meticulously planned and intended to carry out a school shooting while at high school, only to stop short at the 11th hour. Naturally, this prompts Charlie to reconsider their relationship – and also causes a rupture in her friendship with maid-of-honour Rachel. “You always find a way to turn my drama into comedy,” Charlie says early on while drafting his wedding speech, which becomes pivotal as the film launches into screwball comedy with a script that is both too on the nose and pleased with itself. The incendiary nature of Emma’s revelation means it is of little surprise that Eddington director Ari Aster is credited as a producer on The Drama, but Borgli’s film offers little social commentary on a subject that deserves sensitivity or interrogation. The Norwegian made his name with provocative fare in Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario: dark comedies about narcissistic artists or what happens when Nicolas Cage appears in every American’s dreams. The Drama has a similarly jet-black sense of humour, but somehow recalls all of Todd Solondz, Danish dinner-party-from-hell Festen and even 45 Years, starring Sir Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling. Where the latter asked intelligent questions of spousal trust and repression, though, Borgli’s priority is merely making mischief. Similarly, even if you put aside the mass-shooting talk (assuming those words can ever be put together), The Drama’s attempt to be a keenly observed relationship comedy is another shoe that doesn’t quite fit. In quoting Freud and referencing Louis Malle films, Charlie stretches relatability, while the couple’s ever-so-chic apartment stocked with houseplants and a spiral staircase wouldn’t look out of place in the wish-fulfilment romcoms of Nancy Meyers – only a title like It’s Complicated wouldn’t quite cover it for them, of course. Fortunately, Zendaya and Pattinson are saving graces. The former fashions a compelling enigma by riffing on the girl-next-door charms of her MJ in Marvel’s Spider-Man films and the troubled moodiness of her Euphoria work; the latter is endlessly charming and comedic as a beleaguered British fop whose life appears increasingly Kafkaesque. By the time a killer final scene rolls around, The Drama is somewhat limping over the line, but its leads lend a crucial heartbeat to a film frustratingly engineered for discourse, not depth. The Drama is out now in cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Why One Battle After Another deserves to win the war for best picture at the 2026 Oscars
Celebrating a film as politically urgent as the action thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio is an opportunity the Academy must not miss – especially when recognition for 14-time nominee Paul Thomas Anderson is so overdue.
The so-called “Career Oscar” can be an awkward compliment. There are two types, but both are tinged with embarrassment: honorary Oscars for those who never received a statuette — and competitive awards given to established talent largely due to their unrecognised body of previous work, rather than the film actually nominated that year. Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Charlie Chaplin, Debbie Reynolds and Peter O'Toole are some of the most egregious examples of the former; Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Paul Newman (The Color of Money), Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) and Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond) fit into the latter category, where one can hardly say they won for their best work. This year, the Academy can avoid another one of these by handing Paul Thomas Anderson a best picture Oscar. The superlative One Battle After Another presents voters with an unmissable opportunity to invest in their future selves and save face down the line, after years of leaving a generation’s most acclaimed film-maker without a prize from his industry’s leading body. The Californian writer/director has come a long way from the 27-year-old wunderkind who dazzled audiences with his second feature in 1997, the porn-industry drama Boogie Nights. That was the first of his films to receive an Oscar nomination and he has been a consistent fixture on ballots ever since, with eight out of his ten features nominated in any category. Overall, Anderson’s films have had 41 nominations and won three awards, for acting, cinematography and costume design. The man behind There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza has 14 nominations and zero wins to his own name. View Green Video on the source website Of course, the likes of Sinners and Hamnet should not lose to One Battle because Anderson’s previous films deserved more love in years gone by — that would be the kind of logic that sees the Academy get it wrong so often. Rather, Anderson’s time has come because One Battle is an achievement that stands above the competition in its own right. As with Oppenheimer two years ago, the fact that the statuette would go to an acclaimed-but-unrecognised film-maker is merely convenient for the Academy. What makes One Battle so singular is its dexterity. Released in September to widespread and breathless praise, not least from our own review, the loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland follows paranoid recluse Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) as they are hunted by a ruthless army colonel (Sean Penn), who has history with Bob after the latter's years in a left-wing revolutionary group. It is a film that defies easy genre categorisation in the best way: equal parts political thriller, father-daughter drama, stoner comedy and pulp actioner. As much as the comedy of Anderson’s script entertains, the film has an astonishingly countercultural edge for something that cost Warner Bros over $100 million. A farcical and shaggy quest for a phone charger is intercut with a riot between immigration enforcement officers and civilians; the best Hollywood car chase since Mad Max: Fury Road is preceded by a gag about Tom Cruise; there are white supremacists who discuss eugenics while calling themselves The Christmas Adventurers Club. View Green Video on the source website To smuggle this social commentary into such an accessible package should be commended, as unlike the cynical Bugonia, it shows that having something to say about America’s cultural moment should not be at the cost of entertainment. In 1997, Anderson said in an interview that he left film school after a screenwriting teacher told students they should not aim to make Terminator 2. Sean Penn’s near-indestructible villain in One Battle is a middle finger to such snobbery and the Academy should echo the sentiment. Anderson is something of a shoo-in for the best director prize this year, but in recent years that award has felt like a consolation for contenders whose films are deemed too ambitious for best picture. Just ask The Power of the Dog’s Jane Campion or Roma’s Alfonso Cuarón. At the time of writing, One Battle After Another is seemingly in a two-horse race with Sinners, the only nominee that can compete in terms of cultural footprint. Ryan Coogler’s blockbusting vampire horror would be a refreshing outlier in the best picture canon, but there’s an argument that a win would not serve it well. Sinners’s strength is in its embrace of horror and the B-movie, but a best picture Oscar off the back of a record 16 nominations would have people debating its credentials among traditional “prestige” dramas, which Coogler’s film has no interest in being. One Battle After Another would perhaps be a more conventional winner in this regard, but absolutely no less thrilling. An urgent film of resistance and rebellion would be an apposite and culturally confronting choice — and exactly the kind that the Academy should make in a time when America appears on the brink. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The case for One Battle After Another to win Best Picture
Celebrating a film as politically urgent as the action thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio is an opportunity the Academy must not miss – especially when recognition for 14-time nominee Paul Thomas Anderson is so overdue
One Battle After Another is available to rent on multiple streaming platforms. Add it to your watchlist The so-called “Career Oscar” can be an awkward compliment. There are two types, but both are tinged with embarrassment: honorary Oscars for those who never received a statuette — and competitive awards given to established talent largely due to their unrecognised body of previous work, rather than the film actually nominated that year. Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Charlie Chaplin, Debbie Reynolds and Peter O'Toole are some of the most egregious examples of the former; Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Paul Newman (The Color of Money), Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) and Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond) fit into the latter category, where one can hardly say they won for their best work. This year, the Academy can avoid another one of these by handing Paul Thomas Anderson a best picture Oscar. The superlative One Battle After Another presents voters with an unmissable opportunity to invest in their future selves and save face down the line, after years of leaving a generation’s most acclaimed film-maker without a prize from his industry’s leading body. The Californian writer/director has come a long way from the 27-year-old wunderkind who dazzled audiences with his second feature in 1997, the porn-industry drama Boogie Nights. That was the first of his films to receive an Oscar nomination and he has been a consistent fixture on ballots ever since, with eight out of his ten features nominated in any category. Overall, Anderson’s films have had 41 nominations and won three awards, for acting, cinematography and costume design. The man behind There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza has 14 nominations and zero wins to his own name. View Green Video on the source website Of course, the likes of Sinners and Hamnet should not lose to One Battle because Anderson’s previous films deserved more love in years gone by — that would be the kind of logic that sees the Academy get it wrong so often. Rather, Anderson’s time has come because One Battle is an achievement that stands above the competition in its own right. As with Oppenheimer two years ago, the fact that the statuette would go to an acclaimed-but-unrecognised film-maker is merely convenient for the Academy. What makes One Battle so singular is its dexterity. Released in September to widespread and breathless praise, not least from our own review, the loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland follows paranoid recluse Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) as they are hunted by a ruthless army colonel (Sean Penn), who has history with Bob after the latter's years in a left-wing revolutionary group. It is a film that defies easy genre categorisation in the best way: equal parts political thriller, father-daughter drama, stoner comedy and pulp actioner. As much as the comedy of Anderson’s script entertains, the film has an astonishingly countercultural edge for something that cost Warner Bros over $100 million. A farcical and shaggy quest for a phone charger is intercut with a riot between immigration enforcement officers and civilians; the best Hollywood car chase since Mad Max: Fury Road is preceded by a gag about Tom Cruise; there are white supremacists who discuss eugenics while calling themselves The Christmas Adventurers Club. To smuggle this social commentary into such an accessible package should be commended, as unlike the cynical Bugonia, it shows that having something to say about America’s cultural moment should not be at the cost of entertainment. In 1997, Anderson said in an interview that he left film school after a screenwriting teacher told students they should not aim to make Terminator 2. Sean Penn’s near-indestructible villain in One Battle is a middle finger to such snobbery and the Academy should echo the sentiment. Anderson is something of a shoo-in for the best director prize this year, but in recent years that award has felt like a consolation for contenders whose films are deemed too ambitious for best picture. Just ask The Power of the Dog’s Jane Campion or Roma’s Alfonso Cuarón. At the time of writing, One Battle After Another is seemingly in a two-horse race with Sinners, the only nominee that can competein terms of cultural footprint. Ryan Coogler’s blockbusting vampire horror would be a refreshing outlier in the best picture canon, but there’s an argument that a win would not serve it well. Sinners’s strength is in its embrace of horror and the B-movie, but a best picture Oscar off the back of a record 16 nominations would have people debating its credentials among traditional “prestige” dramas, which Coogler’s film has no interest in being. One Battle After Another would perhaps be a more conventional winner in this regard, but absolutely no less thrilling. An urgent film of resistance and rebellion would be an apposite and culturally confronting choice — and exactly the kind that the Academy should make in a time when America appears on the brink.
How to Make a Killing review: Glen Powell makes millions from murder in watchable but derivative thriller
Despite another likeable lead performance from its star, John Patton Ford's remake of an Ealing comedy fails to stand out from the crowd.
★★★☆☆ How to Make a Killing is in cinemas from 11 March. Add it to your watchlist There has never been a worse time to be a rich person in a film. In the last seven years alone, Parasite, The Menu, Ready or Not, Triangle of Sadness, Knives Out and Saltburn have all seen the proverbial 1% meet gruesome ends, as the “eat the rich” subgenre has united audiences against a common enemy. With this in mind, How to Make a Killing, the new thriller starring Glen Powell, both joins these ranks with ease and fails to stand out from the crowd. It is adequately watchable and aims to be keenly modern, but is undercut by a failure to escape roots in a British film from 1949. View Green Video on the source website Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), the film opens with Becket Redfellow (Powell) having his last meal while in a cell on death row. As he enters his final few hours, he recounts to a priest provided by the penitentiary how he murdered his way to the top of his family tree to claim billions in inheritance. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is: this black-comedy thriller is a wholesale 21st-century remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets, the superlative Ealing comedy with Dennis Price and Alec Guinness. “Money doesn’t buy you happiness? That’s dead wrong,” Becket says in voiceover. He is the son of Mary Redfellow, a New York aristocrat who was exiled by her father (Ed Harris) after refusing to have an abortion when she became pregnant with Becket as a teen. Upon growing up and learning that he is eighth in line to the $28 billion family fortune, he pledges to “prune a few branches from the family tree” — a line lifted somewhat shamelessly from Kind Hearts and Coronets. What follows is a light-on-its-feet 105 minutes that revels in the double entendre of its title, as the audience are privy to the planning and execution of Becket’s schemes. Having “the right kind of life” is what drives him, as a number of cousins and uncles of all archetypes are dispatched in comedic ways involving yachts, a bow and arrow, photography dark rooms and teeth-whitening kits. The first is played by Rafferty Law, whose nepo-baby credentials as the son of Jude Law — and particularly The Talented Mr Ripley’s Dickie Greenleaf — make him a canny bit of casting for an entitled brat. But it’s the character actors of Bill Camp and Zach Woods, as Uncle Warren and Cousin Noah respectively, who provide the film’s most robust comedy and enjoyable passages. “I got this bottle of whiskey from Dick Cheney,” Camp’s banker brags as he foolishly takes Becket under his wing. Patton Ford’s script has the odd pleasing quip but rarely probes further to showcase the keen sense of class boasted by his previous film, Emily the Criminal. In a conflict never truly addressed by the script, Becket makes a mockery of wealth by birthright… but also asks us to believe in it. As his kill count rises, Becket’s life is expanded by a girlfriend he earnestly falls for (a charming Jessica Henwick) and a fairly bland femme fatale from his past life (Margaret Qualley). Powell proves a charismatic presence throughout, but is more Bruce Wayne than Patrick Bateman, leaning closer to the waspish Ivy-League side of his character than the sociopath. Given the entertainment when he let his hair down as the many alter egos of an assassin in Hit Man — a performance that coincidentally echoed Alec Guinness’s eight family members in Kind Hearts — this is something of a shame. By the time Ed Harris’s gravel-voiced patriarch arrives and a shootout ensues, steam is running out — and Becket reminds us that “this is a tragedy”, although the film can’t land on any genre with confidence. In the end, the rehashing of Kind Hearts and Coronets lends a cruel irony amid the subject matter: How to Make a Killing feels less like an heir apparent for our times and more like a distant relative struggling to forge their own path.
There has never been a worse time to be a rich person in a film. In the last seven years alone, Parasite, The Menu, Ready or Not, Triangle of Sadness, Knives Out and Saltburn have all seen the proverbial 1% meet gruesome ends, as the “eat the rich” subgenre has united audiences against a common enemy. With this in mind, How to Make a Killing, the new thriller starring Glen Powell, both joins these ranks with ease and fails to stand out from the crowd. It is adequately watchable and aims to be keenly modern, but is undercut by a failure to escape roots in a British film from 1949. Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), the film opens with Becket Redfellow (Powell) having his last meal while in a cell on death row. As he enters his final few hours, he recounts to a priest provided by the penitentiary how he murdered his way to the top of his family tree to claim billions in inheritance. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is: this black-comedy thriller is a wholesale 21st-century remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets, the superlative Ealing comedy with Dennis Price and Alec Guinness. View Green Video on the source website “Money doesn’t buy you happiness? That’s dead wrong,” Becket says in voiceover. He is the son of Mary Redfellow, a New York aristocrat who was exiled by her father (Ed Harris) after refusing to have an abortion when she became pregnant with Becket as a teen. Upon growing up and learning that he is eighth in line to the $28 billion family fortune, he pledges to “prune a few branches from the family tree” – a line lifted somewhat shamelessly from Kind Hearts and Coronets. What follows is a light-on-its-feet 105 minutes that revels in the double entendre of its title, as the audience are privy to the planning and execution of Becket’s schemes. Having “the right kind of life” is what drives him, as a number of cousins and uncles of all archetypes are dispatched in comedic ways involving yachts, a bow and arrow, photography dark rooms and teeth-whitening kits. The first is played by Rafferty Law, whose nepo-baby credentials as the son of Jude Law – and particularly The Talented Mr Ripley’s Dickie Greenleaf – make him a canny bit of casting for an entitled brat. But it’s the character actors of Bill Camp and Zach Woods, as Uncle Warren and Cousin Noah respectively, who provide the film’s most robust comedy and enjoyable passages. “I got this bottle of whiskey from Dick Cheney,” Camp’s banker brags as he foolishly takes Becket under his wing. Patton Ford’s script has the odd pleasing quip but rarely probes further to showcase the keen sense of class boasted by his previous film, Emily the Criminal. In a conflict never truly addressed by the script, Becket makes a mockery of wealth by birthright... but also asks us to believe in it. As his kill count rises, Becket’s life is expanded by a girlfriend he earnestly falls for (a charming Jessica Henwick) and a fairly bland femme fatale from his past life (Margaret Qualley). Powell proves a charismatic presence throughout, but is more Bruce Wayne than Patrick Bateman, leaning closer to the waspish Ivy-League side of his character than the sociopath. Given the entertainment when he let his hair down as the many alter egos of an assassin in Hit Man – a performance that coincidentally echoed Alec Guinness’s eight family members in Kind Hearts – this is something of a shame. By the time Ed Harris’s gravel-voiced patriarch arrives and a shootout ensues, steam is running out – and Becket reminds us that “this is a tragedy”, although the film can’t land on any genre with confidence. In the end, the rehashing of Kind Hearts and Coronets lends a cruel irony amid the subject matter: How to Make a Killing feels less like an heir apparent for our times and more like a distant relative struggling to forge their own path. How to Make a Killing is released in UK cinemas on Friday 13 March 2026. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
After seemingly stealing a march on the chasing pack, Timothée Chalamet is facing some stiff competition late in the day.
It was supposed to be plain sailing. Exactly 12 months ago, any soreness Timothée Chalamet would have felt after losing a best actor Oscar to Adrien Brody would have been softened by commentators declaring that “his time will come”. And it looked like being soon, too. The release of exhilarating ping-pong drama Marty Supreme in December last year took acclaim for the 30-year-old actor to new heights – and Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe awards followed. Then, the announcement of his third Oscar nomination in January saw him become the youngest individual to receive three best actor nominations since Marlon Brando in 1953. Put simply: even alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, momentum has always been with Chalamet and his coronation has seemed one of the safest bets of this year’s Oscars’ race. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2026/03/GettyImages-2263800521-a163af1.jpg" width="3285" height="2190" alt="Michael B Jordan accepts the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for Sinners during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 1, 2026." title="Michael B Jordan accepts the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for Sinners during the 32nd Annual Actor Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 1, 2026." /> That is, until the last two weeks. Fellow nominees Ethan Hawke and Brazilian critical darling Wagner Moura have rarely threatened to steal Chalamet’s thunder (despite Moura winning a Golden Globe), but Sinners’ Michael B Jordan has emerged from the shadows to become a genuine contender. The Bafta best actor prize went to Robert Aramayo for Scotland-set drama I Swear, which is perhaps a case of a homegrown win that will have little impact on the Oscar race, but since then there has been a groundswell of support for Sinners. So much so, last week the vampire horror drama swept The Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards) and Jordan edged Chalamet to make things dicey for prognosticators and pundits. Jordan’s performance as Smoke and Stack, two enterprising twin brothers in 1930s Mississippi, is central to the appeal of Ryan Coogler’s film, and an Oscar win would make him the first actor since Lee Marvin in 1965’s Cat Ballou to be recognised for two performances in one film. Notably, if Chalamet were to prevail, though, he would also become the first best actor winner in 22 years to win without having a Bafta and Actor Award on the shelf in advance – as this year's best supporting actor frontrunner Sean Penn did so in 2004. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, despite the evident love for his film One Battle After Another, it’s possible that voters have seemingly found his performance to be too comedic to compete with the field. One need not be Barry Norman to see that for The Academy, anguish is often currency. In that regard, Chalamet’s ping pong hustler Marty is perhaps a little light, although his spectacular performance is also showy in a way that wouldn’t look out of place alongside recent winners, not least in a tearful final scene that neatly recalls the ending of Chalamet's breakthrough film, Call Me By Your Name. So, as Sunday night at LA’s Dolby Theatre approaches, best actor is quietly looking ever less certain. Or, in table tennis terms: Marty is still serving for the match, but the scoreline is a lot closer than he’d like.
Marty Supreme review: Timothée Chalamet hits new heights in breathless and brilliant ping pong drama
The young actor excels alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in this exhilarating screwball character study from director Josh Safdie
★★★★★ Marty Supreme is in cinemas from 26 December. Add it to your watchlist In February of this year, Timothée Chalamet raised eyebrows when accepting an award from the Hollywood elite. “I want to be one of the greats. I’m as inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Viola Davis as I am by Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps,” he said. By his own admission, it was unusual to talk about acting with such competitive spirit, but his latest performance — as a 1950s professional table tennis player — thrillingly makes his rhetoric less surprising and his credentials even more legitimate. It’s 1952 in New York and 23-year-old Marty Mauser is a shoe salesman with the gift of the gab. He fools around with his girlfriend Rachel (Odessa A'zion) in the storeroom and clashes with colleagues over his dream of becoming an international table tennis champion, which soon takes him to Wembley for the British Open. It’s there that the story gathers pace and never lets up, not least as Marty meets three key new people to use or obsess over: Gwyneth Paltrow’s retired movie star, her millionaire husband (Kevin O’Leary) and Koto Endo, a Japanese table tennis star with a puzzling technique for gripping the bat. This is no regular sports film, though. It’s as much about table tennis as Challengers was about the ATP Tour. For Marty, chasing the American Dream is sport in itself, and no one will get in his way – including the people he supposedly loves. The film is written and directed by Josh Safdie, one of the brothers behind 2019’s Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler, and is absolutely in the same high-octane vein. Very loosely based on the life of ping pong hustler Marty Reisman, the story crashes between continents as Chalamet swaggers and sweats through all kinds of schemes involving the Harlem Globetrotters, a stolen dog and a blown-up petrol station. “I have a purpose. It puts me at a huge life disadvantage,” Marty callously tells a pregnant Rachel. As table tennis rapidly grows on the world stage, he is both the USA’s biggest talent and an obnoxious showman: the ex-clerk who “could sell shoes to an amputee”, and the Jewish prodigy who calls himself “Hitler’s nightmare”. If he sounds deplorable, it’s because he is. But like many great American character studies, you won’t look away and will laugh as much as you condemn. Chalamet’s performance is a feat of sheer intensity, but also echoes the screen presence of Tom Cruise’s arrogant pool player in The Color of Money, or even Robert De Niro’s fresh-faced hustler in Martin Scorsese’s earlier film, Mean Streets. To play such a narcissist is a diversion for Chalamet in the wake of Wonka or Dune, as here the only one who would call Marty the chosen one is himself. But Chalamet’s confidence and physical comedy take his work up a gear. Amid the exhilarating and intoxicating chaos, there are fine supporting turns too. Odessa A'zion does well to be the only firecracker who can get through to Marty as the relentless tail spin lands him in another fresh hell of his own making. While Gwyneth Paltrow returns on excellent form in a tough role as a washed-up actor of dubious ability. Alongside a number of non-professional actors, the casting also finds personality in unexpected places: musician Tyler, The Creator brings charisma as a fellow hustler, cult film director Abel Ferrara menaces as a man Marty shouldn’t mess with, and Kevin O’Leary — a businessman known as a judge on the Canadian Dragons’ Den — excels as CEO of an ink company. It’s all part of the screwball and shaggy story. And just like One Battle after Another, this year’s other acclaimed state-of-the-nation American film, eccentric and absurdist touches help mask Marty Supreme’s slightly indulgent runtime. With scenes of ping pong rallies backdropped by the stars and stripes of the American flag, it’s easy to think of Forrest Gump, cinema’s other champion with the bat. But that parallel only pulls into sharper focus the intelligence of this breathless and brilliant film: if Tom Hanks’s wholesome veteran was a product of 1990s optimism, Marty Mauser is a brash, corrupted descendant — and an All-American man for our times.
This fast-paced drama from Josh Safdie is no ordinary sports movie.
In February of this year, Timothée Chalamet raised eyebrows when accepting an award from the Hollywood elite. "I want to be one of the greats. I’m as inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Viola Davis as I am by Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps," he said. By his own admission, it was unusual to talk about acting with such competitive spirit, but his latest performance – as a 1950s professional table tennis player – thrillingly makes his rhetoric less surprising and his credentials even more legitimate. It’s 1952 in New York and 23-year-old Marty Mauser is a shoe salesman with the gift of the gab. He fools around with his girlfriend Rachel (Odessa A'zion) in the storeroom and clashes with colleagues over his dream of becoming an international table tennis champion, which soon takes him to Wembley for the British Open. It’s there that the story gathers pace and never lets up, not least as Marty meets three key new people to use or obsess over: Gwyneth Paltrow’s retired movie star, her millionaire husband (Kevin O’Leary) and Koto Endo, a Japanese table tennis star with a puzzling technique for gripping the bat. This is no regular sports film, though. It’s as much about table tennis as Challengers was about the ATP Tour. For Marty, chasing the American Dream is sport in itself, and no one will get in his way – including the people he supposedly loves. The film is written and directed by Josh Safdie, one of the brothers behind 2019’s Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler, and is absolutely in the same high-octane vein. View oEmbed on the source website Very loosely based on the life of ping pong hustler Marty Reisman, the story crashes between continents as Chalamet swaggers and sweats through all kinds of schemes involving the Harlem Globetrotters, a stolen dog and a blown-up petrol station. “I have a purpose. It puts me at a huge life disadvantage,” Marty callously tells a pregnant Rachel. As table tennis rapidly grows on the world stage, he is both the USA’s biggest talent and an obnoxious showman: the ex-clerk who “could sell shoes to an amputee”, and the Jewish prodigy who calls himself “Hitler’s nightmare”. If he sounds deplorable, it’s because he is. But like many great American character studies, you won’t look away and will laugh as much as you condemn. Chalamet’s performance is a feat of sheer intensity, but also echoes the screen presence of Tom Cruise’s arrogant pool player in The Color of Money, or even Robert De Niro’s fresh-faced hustler in Martin Scorsese’s earlier film, Mean Streets. To play such a narcissist is a diversion for Chalamet in the wake of Wonka or Dune, as here the only one who would call Marty the chosen one is himself. But Chalamet’s confidence and physical comedy take his work up a gear. Amid the exhilarating and intoxicating chaos, there are fine supporting turns too. Odessa A'zion does well to be the only firecracker who can get through to Marty as the relentless tail spin lands him in another fresh hell of his own making. While Gwyneth Paltrow returns on excellent form in a tough role as a washed-up actor of dubious ability. Read more: Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: This boilerplate sequel should be more funny and more frightening Blue Moon review: Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott shine in tender portrait of an artist Alongside a number of non-professional actors, the casting also finds personality in unexpected places: musician Tyler, The Creator brings charisma as a fellow hustler, cult film director Abel Ferrara menaces as a man Marty shouldn’t mess with, and Kevin O’Leary — a businessman known as a judge on the Canadian Dragons’ Den — excels as CEO of an ink company. It’s all part of the screwball and shaggy story. And just like One Battle After Another, this year’s other acclaimed state-of-the-nation American film, eccentric and absurdist touches help mask Marty Supreme’s slightly indulgent runtime. With scenes of ping pong rallies backdropped by the stars and stripes of the American flag, it’s easy to think of Forrest Gump, cinema’s other champion with the bat. But that parallel only pulls into sharper focus the intelligence of this breathless and brilliant film: if Tom Hanks’s wholesome veteran was a product of 1990s optimism, Marty Mauser is a brash, corrupted descendant — and an All-American man for our times. Marty Supreme is released in UK cinemas on 26th December 2025. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
With news of the American actor's passing after an illness at the age of 65, here are ten of his best films to stream now. Presented alphabetically.
View Riddle on the source website
Oscar winners 2025: Full list as Anora wins Best Picture and sweeps Oscars
The comedy drama swept many of the top prizes, while big winners also included Adrien Brody for Best Actor and Zoe Saldaña for Best Supporting Actress
Anora was crowned the latest winner of the Best Picture Oscar at last night's 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood – with the film seeing off competition from the likes of Conclave and The Brutalist to follow Oppenheimer in winning the coveted prize. It was a night of sweeping of success for the comedy drama about a New York sex worker that marries the son of a Russian oligarch, with Sean Baker's film winning a total of five statuettes. Alongside Best Picture, Editing and Original Screenplay, those included a Best Director win for Baker – plus a win in the hotly contested Best Actress category for star Mikey Madison, who pipped The Substance star Demi Moore. Elsewhere, Timothée Chalamet's win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards had appeared to throw the Best Actor race wide open again, but in the end The Brutalist star Adrien Brody prevailed and won the second Oscar of his career, after winning in 2003 for The Pianist. Other acting wins included Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña in Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress respectively, as they both completed their hugely successful awards campaigns. Finally, there were also wins for Latvian film Flow in Best Animated Feature – beating Wallace and Gromit – and Brazil's I’m Still Here in Best International Film, while Brit Peter Straughan won Adapted Screenplay for Conclave. Read below for the full list of nominees and winners. Best Picture Anora — WINNER The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez I’m Still Here Nickel Boys The Substance Wicked Best Actor Adrien Brody, The Brutalist — WINNER Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Best Actress Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora — WINNER Demi Moore, The Substance Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here Best Supporting Actress Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez — WINNER Best Supporting Actor Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain — WINNER Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Best Director Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora — WINNER Brady Corbet, The Brutalist Coralie Fargeat, The Substance James Mangold, A Complete Unknown Best Adapted Screenplay A Complete Unknown Conclave — WINNER Emilia Pérez Nickel Boys Sing Sing Best Original Screenplay Anora — WINNER The Brutalist A Real Pain September 5 The Substance Best Original Score The Brutalist — WINNER Conclave Emilia Pérez Wicked The Wild Robot Best International Feature I’m Still Here – Brazil — WINNER The Girl with the Needle – Denmark Emilia Pérez – France The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Germany Flow – Latvia Best Animated Feature Flow — WINNER Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Best Documentary Feature Black Box Diaries No Other Land — WINNER Porcelain War Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Sugarcane Best Original Song Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late El Mal – Emilia Pérez — WINNER Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez Like a Bird – Sing Sing The Journey – The Six Triple Eight Best Costume Design A Complete Unknown Conclave Gladiator II Nosferatu Wicked — WINNER Best Make-up and Hairstyling A Different Man Emilia Pérez Nosferatu The Substance — WINNER Wicked Best Production Design The Brutalist Conclave Dune: Part Two Nosferatu Wicked — WINNER Best Sound A Complete Unknown Dune: Part Two — WINNER Emilia Pérez Wicked The Wild Robot Best Film Editing Anora — WINNER The Brutalist Conclave Emilia Pérez Wicked Best Cinematography The Brutalist — WINNER Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez Maria Nosferatu Best Visual Effects Alien: Romulus Better Man Dune: Part Two — WINNER Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Wicked
With news of the incomparable actor's passing at the age of 95, here are ten of the double Oscar-winner's best films to watch now. Presented alphabetically.
Oscars 2025: The case for The Brutalist to win Best Picture
Starring Adrien Brody, the American epic from director Brady Corbet towers over the competition in more ways than one...
Like Lady Liberty on the Hudson River in its opening scene, The Brutalist looms large. The third film from American writer/director Brady Corbet is, in our RadioTimes.com review’s words, an “epic in length, weight and ambition” — and at three hours and 35 minutes, it stands aloft on this year’s ballots, as striking and bold as any of the buildings designed by its architect protagonist. A win in the Best Picture category on Oscars Sunday would make the film the longest winner since Ben-Hur in 1960 and the fourth longest in history, after William Wyler’s religious epic, Lawrence of Arabia and Gone with the Wind. But bigger isn’t always better – and, in fact, a 215-minute runtime makes the film a harder sell. In a time when our attention spans are purported to have been cut by small screens, The Brutalist being this year’s Oscar frontrunner is a testament to the film’s sweep and gripping narrative momentum. To paraphrase how Guy Pearce’s vain industrialist describes his conversations with Adrien Brody’s László Tóth, it’s simply: “persuasive and intellectually stimulating”. Download the Radio Times app for more Oscars 2025 coverage – including interviews with the stars and exclusive features. The story follows a Jewish architect from Budapest (Brody) working for a wealthy client (Pearce) after arriving in Pennsylvania having survived the Holocaust and being separated from his wife (Felicity Jones). If that sounds like it’s all about blueprints, concrete and cranes, fear not. This is a film with broad scope and rich thematic heft, with plenty to say about the tension between art and commerce, plus the myth of the American Dream. As a result, the film positions itself in the cinematic traditions of Orson Welles, The Godfather trilogy, Fitzcarraldo and There Will Be Blood – but The Brutalist was made for a fraction of the cost. Reports of a mere $10 million budget heralded Corbet’s work as a staggering feat in terms both artistic and economic. A world premiere at the Venice Film Festival was met with critical acclaim and a Best Director award for Corbet, and Oscar prospects have only grown since. While Emilia Pérez came to the fore and stuttered in scandal, and Anora’s ability to seduce voters with comedy and sex work was questioned, The Brutalist stood tall and became difficult to deny. In Corbet, you have a young director painting on a vast canvas with thrilling confidence, while Brody is on the imperious form that saw him steam to an Oscar win for The Pianist. Of course, it hasn’t all been plain-sailing. In an interview with film industry publication Red Shark News last month, editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that Brody and Jones’s Hungarian accents had been occasionally augmented by AI software in sound editing, which led to some people questioning the film’s artistic integrity. However, when informed industry folk soon pointed out the prevalence of such tech tweakage in modern film-making, the story seemed like a storm in a teacup. Quite how much that controversy will hinder The Brutalist at the Oscars remains to be seen, but its chances should be unexpectedly strengthened by Hollywood’s tendency to dole out prizes to life stories of real figures. Just like the Cate Blanchett-led Tár of 2022, The Brutalist’s textured portraiture builds a lead character so convincingly that many are surprised to learn it’s all fictitious – to the point where our RadioTimes.com team felt the need to write a piece clarifying that the film is indeed not based on a true story. View Green Video on the source website That is not to say that Brady Corbet’s film is a cynically designed piece of Oscar-bait in the shape of a Marcel Breuer pseudo-biopic, though. Rather, it’s a leisurely paced independent film made with a novelistic sensibility and scenes of sexual abuse and heroin addiction. A lazy comparison could be drawn to last year’s Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer, purely as a long, mid-century drama about one man’s project against the odds – but make no mistake, Christopher Nolan’s $100-million film was never an underdog. The Brutalist’s form, weight and origins would see it rank as one of the most subversive Best Picture winners of the century so far. Released the very same week as the 2025 Presidential Inauguration, The Brutalist only grows more pertinent in how it depicts the US to be a long way from the land of opportunity it professes to be. In other words: there’s a reason Lady Liberty is upside down in that opening sequence. And in the fraught rapport between Tóth and van Buren, Corbet and Mona Fastvold’s script delivers hard truths about how a relationship between artist and patron can be both mutually beneficial and exploitative. To say this in Hollywood, of all places, is brave – and leaves one wondering: if the Oscars are not there to celebrate such films to reckon with, what are they for? Sponsored by Vue Save up to 30% on the latest releases at Vue in 2025 Are you a movie lover who always wants to be up to date with the latest releases? Then you're in luck, as RadioTimes.com readers can enjoy new films at Vue Cinemas for less. Customers will receive up to 30% off films with Vue Pass, as long as they have a RadioTimes.com account. It's a great time for new releases, with films such as Wicked, Nosferatu, The Brutalist and Moana 2 taking UK cinemas by storm. Head to your nearest Vue to catch these movies and more for up to 30% less if you're signed up as a RadioTimes.com member. Save up to 30% with Vue Pass The Academy Awards will take place on Sunday 2nd March. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Oscar predictions 2025: Who will win and should win Best Director?
With just a few days until the ceremony, there are two clear frontrunners for the award.
As with this year’s Best Picture Oscar, it looks to be a case of sex work versus architecture for 2025’s Best Director award. Sean Baker’s madcap screwball comedy drama Anora, about a stripper who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, has won enough film-festival and critics’-choice awards to fill any mantlepiece – and yet the writer/director has only been a bookie’s frontrunner fleetingly. That’s because Brady Corbet and The Brutalist have been at least as big a presence on the Hollywood awards’ circuit, thanks to the colossal epic starring Adrien Brody as a mid-century Hungarian architect. At first glance, the rest of the field appears strong, thanks to all the other nominees being behind the camera for Best Picture contenders. However, there is little serious threat to the Baker and Corbet, who appear to be in a tight two-horse race, according to Hollywood pundits who read the runes like ex-footballers watch replays on Match of the Day. After Walk the Line and Le Mans ’66, James Mangold is seen as an exceedingly secure pair of hands for a true-life drama, but his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown is perhaps too unspectacular and familiar to gain traction for a direction prize. Jacques Audiard of Emilia Pérez, meanwhile, is a seasoned figure in European festivals, where he has often been feted, yet his Netflix cartel-crime-drama-cum-musical lost momentum after star Karla Sofía Gascón was discovered to have posted a number of problematic tweets – and although Audiard has distanced himself from his leading lady, he now seems an outside bet. That leaves The Substance director Coralie Fargeat, who is just the ninth female directing nominee in history – and looks like a long shot to win due to her body-horror film being arguably the most confrontational on the ballot. Sponsored by Vue Save up to 30% on the latest releases at Vue in 2025 Are you a movie lover who always wants to be up to date with the latest releases? Then you're in luck, as RadioTimes.com readers can enjoy new films at Vue Cinemas for less. Customers will receive up to 30% off films with Vue Pass, as long as they have a RadioTimes.com account. It's a great time for new releases, with films such as Wicked, Nosferatu, The Brutalist and Moana 2 taking UK cinemas by storm. Head to your nearest Vue to catch these movies and more for up to 30% less if you're signed up as a RadioTimes.com member. Save up to 30% with Vue Pass Naturally, there are controversial snubs too, with Dune's Denis Villeneuve and Conclave's Edward Berger among the most conspicuous absentees, but it's doubtful either would be in serious contention had they been nominated. Fundamentally, The Brutalist’s Corbet and Anora’s Baker have triumphed at the so-called “precursor” awards. The former has a Venice Film Festival directing gong, plus a Golden Globe and BAFTA to his name, while the latter has a Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and hit a winning streak recently at awards for the directors, writers and producers guilds. In particular, the directors guild is significant, as nine of the last ten winners there have gone on to win the Oscar for directing. Quite how much that will tip the scales in favour of Baker will depend on individual voter taste. Will Anora prove too bawdy and hectic or The Brutalist simply too long and bleak? Ultimately, though, the best director Oscar tends to go to two types of film-maker: the one whose film also wins Best Picture (like Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, Bong Joon-Ho for Parasite, Chloé Zhao for Nomadland), or the one whose film is critically acclaimed and admired for its craft – but not popular enough to win Best Picture (think Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog or Alfonso Cuarón for Roma). With less than two weeks to go, Corbet and Baker can easily fit those bills. But whatever happens, it’s a more compelling contest than when Christopher Nolan essentially had his name engraved on the statuette since before Christmas last year. View Green Video on the source website The Academy Awards will take place on Sunday 2nd March. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
With less than two weeks until the ceremony, there are two clear frontrunners for the award
As with this year’s Best Picture Oscar, it looks to be a case of sex work versus architecture for 2025’s Best Director award. Sean Baker’s madcap screwball comedy drama Anora, about a stripper who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, has won enough film-festival and critics’-choice awards to fill any mantlepiece – and yet the writer/director has only been a bookie’s frontrunner fleetingly. That’s because Brady Corbet and The Brutalist have been at least as big a presence on the Hollywood awards’ circuit thanks to the colossal epic starring Adrien Brody as a mid-century Hungarian architect. At first glance, the rest of the field appears strong, thanks to all the other nominees being behind the camera for Best Picture contenders. However, there is little serious threat to the Baker and Corbet, who appear to be in a tight two-horse race, according to Hollywood pundits who read the runes like ex-footballers watch replays on Match of the Day. After Walk the Line and Le Mans ’66, James Mangold is seen as an exceedingly secure pair of hands for a true-life drama, but his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown is perhaps too unspectacular and familiar to gain traction for a direction prize. Jacques Audiard of Emilia Pérez, meanwhile, is a seasoned figure in European festivals, where he has often been feted, yet his Netflix cartel-crime-drama-cum-musical lost momentum after star Karla Sofía Gascón was discovered to have sent a number of bigoted tweets – and although Audiard has distanced himself from his leading lady, he now seems an outside bet. That leaves The Substance director Coralie Fargeat, who is just the ninth female directing nominee in history – and looks like a long shot to win due to her body-horror film being arguably the most confrontational on the ballot. Naturally, there are controversial snubs too, with Dune's Denis Villeneuve and Conclave's Edward Berger among the most conspicuous absentees, but it's doubtful either would be in serious contention had they been nominated. Fundamentally, The Brutalist’s Corbet and Anora’s Baker have triumphed at the so-called “precursor” awards. The former has a Venice Film Festival directing gong, plus a Golden Globe and BAFTA to his name, while the latter has a Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and hit a winning streak recently at awards for the directors, writers and producers guilds. In particular, the directors guild is significant, as nine of the last ten winners there have gone on to win the Oscar for directing. Quite how much that will tip the scales in favour of Baker will depend on individual voter taste. Will Anora prove too bawdy and hectic or The Brutalist simply too long and bleak? Ultimately, though, the best director Oscar tends to go to two types of film-maker: the one whose film also wins Best Picture (like Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, Bong Joon-Ho for Parasite, Chloé Zhao for Nomadland), and the one whose film is critically acclaimed and admired for its craft – but not popular enough to win Best Picture (think Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog or Alfonso Cuarón for Roma). With less than two weeks to go, Corbet and Baker can easily fit those bills. But whatever happens, it’s a more compelling contest than when Christopher Nolan essentially had his name engraved on the statuette since before Christmas last year.
Starring Adrien Brody, the American epic from director Brady Corbet towers over the competition in more ways than one…
Add The Brutalist to your watchlist Like Lady Liberty on the Hudson River in its opening scene, The Brutalist looms large. The third film from American writer/director Brady Corbet is, in our RT review’s words, an “epic in length, weight and ambition” — and at three hours and 35 minutes, it stands aloft on this year’s ballots, as striking and bold as any of the buildings designed by its architect protagonist. A win in the Best Picture category on Oscars Sunday would make the film the longest winner since Ben-Hur in 1960 and the fourth longest in history, after William Wyler’s religious epic, Lawrence of Arabia and Gone with the Wind. But bigger isn’t always better – and, in fact, a 215-minute runtime makes the film a harder sell. In a time when our attention spans are purported to have been cut by small screens, The Brutalist being this year’s Oscar frontrunner is a testament to the film’s sweep and gripping narrative momentum. To paraphrase how Guy Pearce’s vain industrialist describes his conversations with Adrien Brody’s László Tóth, it’s simply: “persuasive and intellectually stimulating”. View oEmbed on the source website The story follows a Jewish architect from Budapest (Brody) working for a wealthy client (Pearce) after arriving in Pennsylvania having survived the Holocaust and being separated from his wife (Felicity Jones). If that sounds like it’s all about blueprints, concrete and cranes, fear not. This is a film with broad scope and rich thematic heft, with plenty to say about the tension between art and commerce, plus the myth of the American Dream. As a result, the film positions itself in the cinematic traditions of Orson Welles, The Godfather trilogy, Fitzcarraldo and There Will Be Blood – but The Brutalist was made for a fraction of the cost. Reports of a mere $10 million budget heralded Corbet’s work as a staggering feat in terms both artistic and economic. A world premiere at the Venice Film Festival was met with critical acclaim and a Best Director award for Corbet, and Oscar prospects have only grown since. While Emilia Pérez came to the fore and stuttered in scandal, and Anora’s ability to seduce voters with comedy and sex work was questioned, The Brutalist stood tall and became difficult to deny. In Corbet, you have a young director painting on a vast canvas with thrilling confidence, while Brody is on the imperious form that saw him steam to an Oscar win for The Pianist. Of course, it hasn’t all been plain-sailing. In an interview with film industry publication Red Shark News last month, editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that Brody and Jones’s Hungarian accents had been occasionally augmented by AI software in sound editing, which led to some people questioning the film’s artistic integrity. However, when informed industry folk soon pointed out the prevalence of such tech tweakage in modern film-making, the story seemed like a storm in a teacup. Quite how much that controversy will hinder The Brutalist at the Oscars remains to be seen, but its chances should be unexpectedly strengthened by Hollywood’s tendency to dole out prizes to life stories of real figures. Just like the Cate Blanchett-led Tár of 2022, The Brutalist’s textured portraiture builds a lead character so convincingly that many are surprised to learn it’s all fictitious – to the point where our RT team felt the need to write a piece clarifying that the film is indeed not based on a true story. That is not to say that Brady Corbet’s film is a cynically designed piece of Oscar-bait in the shape of a Marcel Breuer pseudo-biopic, though. Rather, it’s a leisurely paced independent film made with a novelistic sensibility and scenes of sexual abuse and heroin addiction. A lazy comparison could be drawn to last year’s Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer, purely as a long, mid-century drama about one man’s project against the odds – but make no mistake, Christopher Nolan’s $100-million film was never an underdog. The Brutalist’s form, weight and origins would see it rank as one of the most subversive Best Picture winners of the century so far. Released the very same week as the 2025 Presidential Inauguration, The Brutalist only grows more pertinent in how it depicts the US to be a long way from the land of opportunity it professes to be. In other words: there’s a reason Lady Liberty is upside down in that opening sequence. And in the fraught rapport between Tóth and van Buren, Corbet and Mona Fastvold’s script delivers hard truths about how a relationship between artist and patron can be both mutually beneficial and exploitative. To say this in Hollywood, of all places, is brave – and leaves one wondering: if the Oscars are not there to celebrate such films to reckon with, what are they for?
Emilia Pérez star praises work developing trans character's journey
View Green Video on the source website Emilia Pérez is on Netflix now. Add it to your watchlist.
Emilia Pérez star on developing trans character's journey
Emilia Pérez star praises extensive work developing trans character's journey
Emilia Pérez is on Netflix now. Add it to your watchlist.
Anita Dobson as a zombie? You read that right — EastEnders’ Angie heads an eclectic cast that includes Robert Lindsay, Sue Johnston and Johnny Vegas. In writer/director Ben Wheatley’s outrageous horror satire, the old feast on the flesh of teenagers. A trailer is yet to be released, but we do have some gruesome images…
This Norwegian series about the enigmatic singer Leonard Cohen bizarrely comes from the creatives behind Whitstable Pearl. Alex Wolff (A Quiet Place: Day One) stars as Cohen alongside Thea Sofie Loch Næss (The Last Kingdom) as his lover and muse Marianne Ihlen in this 1960s Bohemian real-life romance. View oEmbed on the source website
It’s a thorny dilemma: when two couples realise their toddlers were switched at birth, should they keep the boys they’ve been raising or swap them? Moral quandaries will abound in this four-part thriller featuring James Norton, Niamh Algar, James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay. A trailer is still to come, but we do have first-look images of Algar and Norton.
Sharon D Clarke (also in Mr Loverman) takes the title role this time in a police drama centred on a detective chief inspector who steps in to help local forces solve unfinished cases. Andrew Gower (Outlander) plays her right-hand man DS Harper for this first batch of three feature-length stories. View oEmbed on the source website
Guadeloupe, Devon and now Australia: the Death in Paradise multiverse is rapidly expanding — and it has scored its first female lead. DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) is an ex-pat uprooted from the London Met to deal with crimes in her Down Under childhood home, Dolphin Cove. View oEmbed on the source website
From the makers of Normal People, this drama boasts an unusual premise: the life of an English teacher, played by Rebecca Hall, is thrown into disarray when she inexplicably hears a low humming sound that no one else can. Then she learns of a “chosen few” who share the same ability… View oEmbed on the source website
Add it to your watchlist. Can lightning strike again? Just how Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) gets back in the game in this Korean smash is strictly under wraps — but expect the stakes to be even higher. View oEmbed on the source website
Add it to your watchlist. Break-ups, pre-nups, wedding crashers, reunions and potential new romances — the Defoe family are set for a tumultuous time at a Catalonian wedding in this two-part special. At present details are few and far between, except for the below images released by the BBC…
Add it to your watchlist. The sixth case for Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke) and Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger), The Ink Black Heart finds our heroes on the trail of an online troll who was hounding a cartoonist found dead in Highgate Cemetery. In the absence of a trailer just yet, here's a look at the last case… View oEmbed on the source website