Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, Apple TV+ review - sprawling account of the singer's rise to superstardom

★★★ BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD'S A LITTLE BLURRY Sprawling account of the singer's rise to stardom

Would RJ Cutler's documentary work better in bite-sized chunks?

The Billie Eilish story is a paradigm of pop music and marketing, 2020s-style. Eilish’s instinctive talent became evident when she was barely into her teens, and she flourished with the support of a close-knit and musical family. But the club-gigs-and-radio-play model is long gone, and Eilish’s high-speed ride was boosted by a deal with Apple Music, releases of individual tracks on SoundCloud and YouTube and hefty promotional support from Spotify.

Joseph Andras: Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us review - injustice and tenderness in the Algerian War

★★★★ JOSEPH ANDRAS: TOMORROW THEY WON'T DARE TO MURDER US Injustice and tenderness in the Algerian War

This thriller-ish debut revives the only European executed in the French-Algerian conflict

Joseph Andras wastes no time. “Not a proud and forthright rain, no. A stingy rain. Mean. Playing dirty.” This is how his debut novel kicks off, and it’s a fitting start for his retelling of the arrest, torture, one-day trial and subsequent execution of Fernand Iveton, the only Algerian-born European (or “pied-noir”) to have been subject to the death penalty during the conflict. It remains one of the most ignominious episodes of the Algerian War of Independence. Ignominious but largely forgotten. 

Album: Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains - Banane Bleue

French-born singer-songwriter Frànçois Marry’s soft focus celebration of internationalism

Frànçois Marry’s sixth album as Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains evokes warm days spent lounging in fields of clover reflecting on friendship, places visited and journeys which could be undertaken. Banane Bleue’s 10 tracks are unhurried and delivered as if Marry had just woken up. Relatively, the chugging “Holly Go Lightly” is uptempo – but it’s still reserved.

Persian Lessons review - confusing Holocaust drama

★★ PERSIAN LESSONS Confusing Holocaust drama

Ukrainian film doesn't add much to the genre

This is an odd film, made even odder by a caption near the beginning, which claims it is "inspired by true events" but doesn’t elaborate. Produced in Belarus, it’s a Holocaust drama based on a novella by the veteran East German screenwriter/director Wolfgang Kohlhaase but made by the Ukrainian director Vadim Perelman.

Blu-ray: Liberté

★★ BLU-RAY: LIBERTE On 'libertinage': Albert Serra’s improvisaton of 18th century debauchery is painful in every sense

On 'libertinage': Albert Serra’s improvisaton of 18th century debauchery is painful in every sense

Catalan director Albert Serra’s interest in late 18th century France is well established – his previous film was The Death of Louis XIV – but the title of his new one has precious little to do with the triadic revolutionary slogan that swept away the French monarchy at the end of it.

Blu-Ray: La Haine

★★★★★ LA HAINE Handsome Blu-ray restoration for Matthieu Kassowitz's take on the French dispossessed

Handsome restoration for Matthieu Kassowitz's take on the French dispossessed

The BFI has done an excellent job of giving La Haine the 4k restoration treatment under the vigilant eye of the film’s cinematographer, Pierre Aïm. From the opening image of planet earth being torched by a slo-mo Molotov cocktail to the shocking final moments, this is a stunningly handsome film. It’s hard to believe Matthieu Kassovitz’s blistering tale of three young men fired up by police brutality is now 25 years old as the film has lost none of its incendiary energy and style.

Julia Bullock, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – bewitching dreamscapes

★★★★ JULIA BULLOCK, PHILHARMONIA, SALONEN, RFH Bewitching dreamscapes

Rarefied magic from Ravel and Britten, culminating in a fairy-tale ballet masterpiece

Nobody would wish it this way, but orchestras playing on a stage specially built-up for distancing to a handful of invitees have never sounded better in the Royal Festival Hall.