Chaotic cosmic clones and the Joker reinvented – what to watch and read this week

When director Robert Eggers asked him what kind of movies he was interested in, Robert Pattinson said: “I only wanna do strange things.” It seems he’s taken the same approach to stardom as fellow teen star, Daniel Radcliffe – make your name in a big-budget franchise, then spend the rest of your career starring in the interesting, the unexpected and downright weird.

Since his turn as the sparkle-skinned teen vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies, Pattinson has played a tortured lighthouse keeper, a celibate space prisoner and a city slicker who barely leaves his limousine. Even his iteration of Batman was kooky – a tragic, lonely hero in smudged black eye make-up.

So, it’s no wonder that he jumped at the chance to star in Mickey 17. The latest film by renowned Korean writer-director Bong Joon-ho, it follows a mission to establish a human settlement on an inhospitable alien planet in the year 2054. In this imagined future, it has become possible to replicate human beings with total accuracy using an advanced form of 3D printing.

Although outlawed on ethical grounds back on Earth, human printing is legal in the remote regions of space. There, disposable workers known as “expendables” can be reprinted on demand each time they perish. Our reviewer, an expert in science fiction, said: “Like Bong’s earlier films, Mickey 17 combines artful world-building, an impeccable cast, social satire, anarchic humour – and a taste for the grotesque.”

Mickey 17 is in cinemas now

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Mickey 17: this absurdist, dystopian clone drama is highly entertaining – despite its flaws

Villains and heroes

Pattinson’s Batman has yet to face the Joker, the character’s arch nemesis, and a recurring role that is even more prized among actors than Bruce Wayne. But Vera Drew, who co-writes, directs and stars as several iterations of the character in her new film The People’s Joker, hasn’t let a casting director get in the way of her ambitions.

In this surreal, hilarious – and very much unofficial – film, Drew plays a mix of both Harley Quinn and the Joker. It’s a queer twist on the DC universe, and a metaphor for the difficulties she encountered as a transgender teen.

For our reviewers, experts in comic books and their adaptations, it was a breath of fresh air. Proof that, in the era of Marvel’s box office dominance, there is still room for unique remixes of familiar superhero stories.

The People’s Joker is touring cinemas across the UK

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The People’s Joker remixes familiar characters to create a new kind of comic book movie

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The most streamed TV series on Netflix this week is the new drama Toxic Town – and deservedly so. It tells the true story of a group of women from Corby in Northamptonshire, UK, who gave birth to children with limb differences in the 1980s and 90s. The children were born with shortened arms or legs or missing fingers.

The drama follows their battle to uncover the cause and their subsequent fight for justice. It makes for compelling viewing, with standout performances from former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker and White Lotus’s Aimee Lou Wood.

We asked a pair of climate researchers to review the show. They found it to be a “stark warning about the dangers of weak environmental protections”. Far from being a thing of the past, they argue that we could return to the toxic times seen in Corby if we fail to prioritise stringent environmental safeguards.

Toxic Town is now streaming on Netflix

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Netflix’s Toxic Town offers a stark warning on environmental rollbacks

Timely storytelling

For more culture with a message this week, we highly recommend No Other Land. Winner of the Oscar for best documentary feature film, it chronicles the efforts of Palestinian townspeople to combat an Israeli plan to demolish their villages in the West Bank and use the area as a military training ground.

The film was directed by four Palestinian and Israeli activists and journalists including Basel Adra, who is a resident of the area facing demolition. The film’s subject matter has made it difficult to attract distributors in many countries, including the US. British viewers, though, can stream the film for free on Channel 4.

No Other Land is now in select cinemas and streaming on Channel 4

Read more:
A Palestinian-Israeli film just won an Oscar − so why is it so hard to see?

Show Don’t Tell is the new short story collection from Curtis Sittenfeld. She’s the American writer behind Rodham, the 2020 novel that reimagined the life of Hilary Clinton. Offering slices of life in the American Midwest, it’s a profound exploration of individual and social conflict at a time when the US is on the verge of momentous political change.

Many of Sittenfeld’s characters are experiencing a low-level sense of dread. Some are obsessed with death. But the stories remind us that, considering the chaotic past decade, where catastrophe and complex political issues have dominated American lives, fear and anxiety are an entirely reasonable emotional response.

Our reviewer, an expert in American literature and history, read all 12 stories in one sitting. She found them to be moving, witty and achingly real.

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Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld is moving, witty and achingly real