Preacher
Fans of the original comic-book series will be pleased to hear that the third season of this freewheeling adaptation is now venturing into some of the original fiction’s best and darkest areas. It’s time to explore Jesse Custer’s difficult childhood. Don’t expect too much hugging and learning, though; Preacher remains, by turns, funny, daring and brutal.
Available now, Amazon Prime Video
The Cult of Aphex Twin
Half an hour isn’t nearly enough time to do justice to the enduring genius and strangeness of Aphex Twin. But journalist John Doran offers an entertaining primer to a musician whose fantastical myths are matched by equally fantastical realities.
Tuesday 3 July, 11.30am, Radio 4
Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig’s feature debut is a poignant, big-hearted and hilarious rites-of-passage story starring the superb Saoirse Ronan as the titular Sacramento teen. Lady Bird captures the comical, heartbreaking essence of late adolescence perfectly.
Available from Monday 2 July, Sky Store
Sacred Games
Netflix’s first Indian original is a generic but entertaining cop drama. The picturesque and picaresque city of Mumbai is the backdrop to a story that, like so many of its type, starts relatively small and unfurls into an elaborate conspiracy of unfathomable proportions. Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is the unfortunate cop charged with uncovering the truth.
Available from Friday 6 July, Netflix
Rich Hall’s Working for the American Dream
Working his redneck aesthete persona to maximum effect, this is another of Hall’s brilliant dissections of American manners. Hall’s trump card is that he’s both an insider and an observer: his knowledge of his subjects is matched by his distance. Here, he runs the rule over the American dream – and there’s rarely been a better moment for a critical assessment.
Wednesday 4 July, 9pm, BBC Four
Call Me By Your Name
This sensual, lyrical film was the big-screen romance of 2018. Young musician Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is entranced by the arrival of graduate Oliver (Armie Hammer) at the family home. Will their dalliance last beyond summer?
Sunday 1 July, 12noon, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
This Is Us
Adored in the US but received more sceptically in the UK, the first season of this involving if saccharine series illustrated the temperamental contrast between Brits and Americans. It’s a human drama, mapping ordinary struggles in the LA area – multiple timelines lend narrative intrigue and emotional heft.
Wednesday 4 July, 9pm, More4
You Were Never Really Here
Lynne Ramsay’s latest is a nightmarish thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix as a traumatised contract killer hired to rescue a girl from paedophile slavery. Phoenix’s Joe has a melancholy air and a way with a hammer but, as brutal killers go, is oddly easy to root for.
Available from Monday 4 July, Sky Store
Summertime
This beautiful, bittersweet story of an American spinster finding love while on an erstwhile lonely holiday in Venice was David Lean’s favourite among his films. It also starred his favourite actress: Katharine Hepburn is achingly affecting as the woman touched by the charms of Rossano Brazzi in a city gloriously photographed by Jack Hildyard.
Friday 6 July, 1pm, Talking Pictures TV
Humans
The generally excellent third season of this allegorical drama concludes, with its themes of minority rights and community responsibility feeling more relevant than ever. As we reach the endgame, Niska is approaching the end of her journey and Laura, who has put her reputation on the line, finds herself in a race against time.
Thursday 5 July, 9pm, Channel 4
