Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers — Netflix
Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the tragic events of July 7 2005, when terrorist attacks on the London transport system resulted in 52 deaths and left more than 700 people injured. Director Liza Williams’ four-part docuseries is commendable for its wide-ranging focus on the many strands it examines. These range from the experience of victims and survivors to the response by unprepared security and government officials — including former prime minister Tony Blair — still unrepentant for his role in manipulating Britain into supporting the US invasion of Iraq that resulted in anger among radical sections of the country’s Muslim population that motivated the bombers. It also examines the pressures that investigators were under that led to the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles De Menezes after further scares of the failed bombings of July 21 2005. Overall, it’s a sobering look at a terrible moment. It asks difficult questions about how and why the attack happened, and its consequences.
Shark Whisperer — Netflix
Ocean Ramsey, a Hawaiian native, has made a name for herself over the years as either impressively fearless or insane as she swims unprotected with great whites and other marine villains to counter the misunderstanding about the bogeymen of the seas. Director Juan Oliphant’s sentimental documentary tells Ramsey’s story with lots of assistance from its subject, who conveys her message of tolerance for her much-maligned, toothy friends.
On the Road — Mubi.com
Brazilian director Walter Salles’ widely criticised 2012 adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s seminal Beat Generation novel of free-spirited rebellion isn’t as bad as many thought at the time. It stars Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund and Kristin Stewart as the trio of far-too-good-looking wanderers through the wide-open landscape of the American road. It is not a perfect representation of the spirit of its source material, though the chemistry between its young and enthusiastic cast is good.
Mary & George — Showmax
SA director Oliver Hermanus continues his successful ascendancy to Europe’s art cinema heights with his first series. It’s an energetic, queer-positive, black-humoured period drama inspired by the book by Benjamin Woolley. Julianne Moore is in fine form as Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who pushes her handsome son George (Nicholas Galitzine) to seduce King James I (Tony Curran) and become his lover, thereby helping both mother and son to rise to unimagined heights of power and influence in English society.
We Live in Time — Showmax
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh demonstrate an easy, engaging chemistry as the couple at the centre of director John Crowley’s bittersweet, non-linear melodrama of love, grief and human connection. It doesn’t reinvent the romantic melodrama wheel, but it hits high romantic notes and has you reaching for the tissues by its heartbreaking conclusion.
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