Shabu review - documentary-drama about youngsters in Rotterdam

★★ SHABU Documentary-drama about youngsters in Rotterdam

A memorable youth character and a glimpse into life on a Dutch housing estate

This loose-limbed movie follows Shabu, a 14-year-old boy who is growing up on the public housing estate known as the Peperklip (Paperclip) in Rotterdam. It’s the summer holidays and he’d like to hang out with his girlfriend and his mates, but first he’s got to sort out some trouble. 

Shabu’s beloved grandma flew home to see her family in Suriname, and the lad took her car for a joyride and trashed it. Now he has to work out how to make enough money so his grandma can replace her car when she gets back.

Hello, Bookstore review - a documentary with shelf life

★★★★★ HELLO, BOOKSTORE A documentary with shelf life

How to turn a book shop into an oasis of wellbeing

It’s impossible not to fall in love with Matthew Tannenbaum, the man at the centre of this delightful film. Reading books and chatting to people about books are two of his favourite occupations, so running a bookstore is his idea of paradise. His pleasure is so infectious that the independent bookstore he’s run in Lenox, Massachusetts for over 40 years has become a hub of bonhomie.

Mad About the Boy review - entertaining cradle-to-grave Noel Coward documentary

★★★★ MAD ABOUT THE BOY Entertaining cradle-to-grave Noel Coward documentary

The Master's life seen close up but with no warts

Devoted fans may not learn anything that new about Noel Coward from Barnaby Thompson’s documentary Mad About the Boy, but they will doubtless see some new things. And those who know “the Master” only from his early plays, hardy perennials these days in British theatres, will marvel at the sheer range and volume of his output.

Blu-ray: The Conquest of Everest

★★★★ BLU-RAY: THE CONQUEST OF EVEREST Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

Post-war heroics, still impressive 70 years on

Studio Canal’s restored print of the 1953 documentary The Conquest of Everest is so sharp, so clear that initially it’s hard to believe that we’re not watching a studio reconstruction. Skies, snowscapes and sunlit uplands glow; it’s only in the perilous final stages that things turn murkier.

Moon Is the Oldest TV review - a fitting tribute to a visionary modern artist

★★★★★ MOON IS THE OLDEST TV A fitting tribute to a visionary modern artist

Authoritative documentary that defines the genius of Nam June Paik

Who created the term “electronic superhighway”? First described a system of linked communication that would become the internet? Envisioned a multichannel TV system where viewers chose for themselves what to tune into? Watch Amanda Kim’s excellent documentary Moon Is the Oldest TV and you find that the correct answer to all those questions is Nam June Paik.

Brainwashed review - the toxic impact of the 'male gaze' in film

★★★★ BRAINWASHED The toxic impact of the 'male gaze' in film

Documentary charts an issue that goes beyond the film screen, served up in a digestible portion

The phrase “male gaze” was coined by the British film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975 and has become a standard tool for analysing a film’s gendered content. What director Nina Menkes has set out to show in Brainwashed is that the techniques that create the male gaze have entered cinema’s DNA and become standard across the genders, for makers and watchers alike. “It’s like a law,” she says. This is bad news for us all, she argues, not just cineastes.

Loving Highsmith review - documentary focused on the writer's lighter side

★★★ LOVING HIGHSMITH A poignant portrait, but with most of the warts ignored

Eva Vitija presents a poignant portrait, but with most of the warts ignored

Since her death in 1995, Patricia Highsmith has prompted three biographies, screeds of often conflicting psychological analysis and now this documentary from the Swiss-born Eva Vitija. We hear the director say at the outset that by reading her then-unpublished diaries she learned to love, not just the writing, but the writer, which not all commentators have managed to do.

Villeneuve Pironi: Racing's Untold Tragedy, Sky Documentaries review - a macabre slice of motor racing mythology

★★★★ VILLENEUVE PIRONI, SKY DOCUMENTARIES A macabre slice of motor racing mythology

A film that feels more like a séance than a documentary

Netflix’s hit show Drive to Survive has proved that F1 can grab ratings, but Villeneuve Pironi: Racing's Untold Tragedy (Sky Documentaries) is a more esoteric offering.

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared, Netflix review - a field day for conspiracy theorists

★★★★ MH370: THE PLANE THAT DISAPPEARED, NETFLIX Field day for conspiracy theorists

Will we ever know what really happened to the vanished Malaysian airliner?

For fans of conspiracy theories, this three-part examination of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is irresistible, though the continuing anguish of friends and relatives of the 239 people aboard the flight makes for some painful viewing. 

Grenfell: System Failure, Playground Theatre review - if this doesn't make you angry, nothing will

★★★★ GRENFELL: SYSTEM FAILURE, PLAYGROUND THEATRE Second instalment of urgent documentary drama condemns the system that let the tower burn

Second instalment of urgent documentary drama condemns the system that let the tower burn

It’s been five years since 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in West London. Five years and no arrests, as countless placards and posters around the neighbourhood point out.