Pick of the week
The Madness
This thriller acquires a sinister subtext given recent events in the US: an opinionated, progressive, Black media personality finds a dismembered body in the woods, but when he reports it, the white establishment attempts to frame him for the crime. Colman Domingo plays the baffled, angry and increasingly terrified pundit Muncie Daniels, who is suddenly at risk of losing everything, as the grim narrative pivots to involve a white supremacist group, a conspiracy-obsessed investigative journalist and a corrupt police force. It takes a while to get going and pushes its zeitgeist bullet-points slightly too much, but it still conjures a sadly appropriate tone of oppressive paranoia.
Netflix, from Thursday 28 November
***
Senna
Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time. This drama, starring Gabriel Leone, tracks a life lived at full throttle, from his first outing in the Formula Ford racing class up to his tragically premature death in 1994. It portrays Senna as a fiercely ambitious and occasionally difficult character who never shied away from conflict and was only ever at peace when risking life and limb on the racetrack. It’s told with maximum melodrama and is never particularly subtle – but Senna’s life was lived in primary colours so perhaps that’s appropriate.
Netflix, from Friday 29 November
***
Tsunami: Race Against Time
Twenty years have now passed since the Indian Ocean tsunami that had a deadly impact in 14 countries. This series – directed by Daniel Bogado, who was responsible for the startling 9/11: One Day in America – recalls the horror of that day but also locates the stories of heroism that always offer shafts of light during traumatic experiences. As with his 9/11 film, the story is mainly told on a linear, minute-by-minute basis, but some of the most affecting material involves survivors’ attempts to rebuild their lives and communities in the years that followed.
Disney+, from Monday 25 November
***
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey
The sexual assault and murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey – apparently in her own family home – remains one of the most horrific cases in living memory. It also remains unsolved and was always likely to attract the attention of true-crime documentary-makers. This three-part series explores the events around the killing itself but also the wider context: JonBenét and her family had been heavily involved in beauty pageants, and the undeniable oddness of these events led to much unsavoury speculation as the case became an American national obsession.
Netflix, from Monday 25 November
***
Is It Cake? Holiday
An irresistible festive fantasia courtesy of the daftest show (in a good way) on Netflix, as former champions return to rustle up some cakey Christmas illusions. The fun lies in watching technical and creative brilliance (some of these bakes are genuinely mind-bending on their own terms) being put to such gloriously pointless use. Mikey Day oversees the contest as bakers fashion everything from ice-skates to decorative wreaths out of dough, sponge and icing and present them to a guest judging panel including Rachel Bloom and Tiffany Haddish.
Netflix, from Thursday 30 November
***
The New Front
A dark German thriller from the Walter Presents strand in which Julia, a trainee police officer, gets a nasty shock during a one-night stand. When her lover Nick takes off his top, she’s faced with the awkward fact that he has a huge swastika tattooed on his back. Rather than immediately making her excuses and leaving, Julia decides Nick offers her a route into investigating the far right from the inside. However, by the time she finds herself in the abandoned bunkers of Hitler’s Siegfried Line, she realises she’s bitten off more than she can chew.
Channel 4, from Friday 29 November
***
The Trunk
A bleak mystery from South Korea involving a fake marriage and some very real alienation and existential terror. No In-Ji (Seo Hyun-Jin) is a contract wife – she works for a company that provides women for fixed-term marriages. Unsurprisingly, this arrangement doesn’t feed her soul. But when a trunk washes up on a shore revealing details about past relationships, her contract with Han Jeong-won (Gong Yoo, who you may recognise from Squid Game) is thrown into chaos. But maybe a little chaos is exactly what both of them need.
Netflix, from Friday 29 November
