of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year, and it's finally streaming in the uk this weekend. you just forgot your birthday. you don't want to have a party, you don't want to see your friends. you know i don't have any friends, mum. don'tjoke about it, don't. do you know how strange this is? you, you're still living here at home, working in that stupid coffee shop since you and nina dropped out of med school! you're out all night long doing god only knows what. 0k... i mean, you don't have any boyfriend, you don't have any friends! mum, you should've saved all of that for my birthday card. carey mulligan stars as cassie, a medical school dropout living in ohio. she works in a coffee shop and secretly spends her nights trawling bars and nightclubs, apparently intoxicated. when she's invariably taken home by an opportunistic man,

she picks her moment to sober up, and he gets a shock. what are you doing? # i was busy thinking �*bout boys...# i won't spoil what happens next. much of promising young woman's power is in its surprises and a bit of misdirection. it's a wild ride that mixes dark comedy and a zippy score with a serious feminist message. i'm so sorry i didn't go with her. well, i'm sorry too. bafta winning and oscar—nominated writer/director, emerald fennell, tackles territory that's both important and uncomfortable. cassie calls men and women to task on their past behaviour, whether they were perpetrators or silent bystanders. thematically, there are shades of the jodie foster star of the accused here. i think you gave me a fake number the other day. doesn't sound like me. in terms of tone, this has more in common with 90s noir like to die for and the last seduction, a genre that's having a bit

of a resurgence at the moment. promising young woman gives it a colourful spin. i like to call it bubble gum noir. this is a candy coloured pop soundtrack confection with music video moments. it's no surprise it's produced by margot robbie, who produced and starred in i, tonya and birds of prey. as ever, british actress mulligan fares well in an american role and brings the right mix of intelligence, dry wit and vulnerability. and the supporting cast members are meticulously chosen. promising young woman isn't perfect — some of the tonal shifts didn't work for me and i had mixed feelings about the ending — but it tackles crucial issues around consent and contemporary culture in a very entertaining format. and it stands up to multiple viewings. it's on sky cinema and the now streaming service. next up, another darkly funny feature from a debut female director, the comedy horror i blame society.

this is where i would bury stalin and murder her, if i did it. all i have to do is roll her into the grave, cover it up and make sure i take everything with me. yeah, ijust sort of wish there was that strong female lead. yeah, yeah. someone likeable. writer—director gillian wallace horvat also stars as an indie film—maker on a mission when her friends tell her that she'd make a good murderer, she's weirdly flattered and intrigued. gillian starts making a documentary explaining who she'd off first and how. but soon, she starts killing for real. and so what begins as an offbeat meta—comedy about guerrilla film—making becomes a satirical horror. whispers: i'm living my best life. this lacks both the polish and the budget of promising young woman, and it's heroine is defiantly unsympathetic, but it still raises and its heroine is defiantly unsympathetic, but it still raises pertinent questions about the way women are perceived in the media and the film industry. so we have a bunch of projects

set up, actually, here with strong female leads. well, i mean, i could definitely come up with some ideas. we wouldn't need you to, we already have a bunch. | gillian has hilariously awkward meetings with production companies who are clearly looking for a token woman to hire. these scenes feel like they come from a very real place. cool not all of the film's extremities pay off. this had me laughing one minute and wincing the next. but it's definitely a talking piece, and one for fans of dark comedy horrors like alice lowe's prevenge. it's on digitalfrom monday the 19th of april. you're not going to stop me. onto sci—fi and the anthology film portal. who are you? i'm in some kind of hallucination that looks like i'm back in my apartment. there are copies of myself, clearly entities created by the door. what did you call me? one of the copies is engaging in a conversation with me. yeah, there you go again.

what? you think you're the real vince? i'm getting psychosis beeps. you really think you're the real vince? i need help! what makes you so sure? which one of us is wearing the suit, smart guy? portal imagines a world where huge mysterious alien doors have appeared around the globe. some people feel strangely compelled to walk through them and are sucked into unknown territory. i think this is a good time to go. it's a reasonably engaging set up, and i enjoyed the first chapter set in high school detention, think the breakfast club meets the faculty. the tone shifts closer to flatliners in the second film, which starsjosh peck as a volunteer venturing inside the portal. i said, i got the suit. and there is a definite whiff of close encounters in the third part, which sees a scientist trying to communicate with the aliens. portal may not be that original, but it is intriguing. though the episodic style hampers the tension,

and there's little resolution in the finale. it's more of a tantalising peek than a satisfying journey. portal is on digital and dvd from the 19th of april. if you're in a contemplative mood, may i suggest the documentary henry glassie: field work. what i do is i don't study people at all. i stand with people and study the things that they create. that's what interests me. what do they choose to present as emblems of their being? henry glassie is an american folklorist and ethnologist, but this film from pat collins is less about his life and more about his subjects. this doc patiently observes the rituals of working artists in brazil,

turkey, north carolina and ireland. these are practitioners who spend most of their waking hours lovingly creating everything from rugs to religious icons. they aren't necessarily famous and even less likely to be rich, but they're incredibly talented. a momentary fulfillment of what it is to be human. this is what you might call a mood piece. once i adjusted to its very leisurely pace, ifound a quiet enjoyment in observing these master craftspeople with a consuming devotion to their work. all i have to do is put myself in the way of other people and they'll bump into me and teach me. it does on digital and virtual screenings now. it's on digital and virtual screenings now. now to modern—day tokyo and the adoption melodrama, true mothers.

based on a novel by mizuki tsujimura and directed by the acclaimed japanese film—maker naomi kawase, this initially centres on a middle—class couple. when their young adopted son gets into trouble at school, they're concerned, implicitly worried that he might have inherited bad genes. the story then flashes back to their struggles to conceive and the decision to use an adoption association that takes in young expectant mothers — one of these is hikari. another flashback then takes us to hikari's teenaged romance and her contrastingly quick accidental conception. true mothers has the kind of literary narrative structure that

can work better on the page, but i went willingly to unexpected places, absorbed by the characters and a hint of mystery. kawase has a delightful attention to visual detail, and her cast really delivers. both the adoptive mother and natural mother are fairly internal characters, but their expressions speak volumes. it also portrays male vulnerability with empathy. i can't recall the last time i saw a drama where two of the male leads broke down crying in separate scenes. true mothers is a sensitive film that ponders on compassion, parenthood, privilege, identity and more. it's on curzon home cinema now. finally, if you are looking for something to take your mind off the pandemic, then do not watch final days — a thriller about a man trying to sit out an apocalypse in isolation.

tv: emergency broadcast... a remake of the korean film alive, it stars tyler posey as aiden, a single guy whose party lifestyle is suddenly curtailed by a zombie epidemic. stuck in his apartment with a limited supply of food and water, he has to barricade out a steady stream of flesh hungry neighbours. aiden eventually finds something to live for when he spies a beautiful neighbour across the courtyard, but getting to her is a challenge. i'll come to you. how? this feels like a fairly low—rent horror thriller, but the survival details have a certain morbid interest, and things improved dramatically when donald sutherland enters the picture, as you can imagine. you're not screaming. you're not either, but you've got blood there. oh...i cut myself on something.

ultimately, there's enough suspense if you're in the mood for cheap thrills. it's on dvd and digital now. thanks for watching the film review with me, anna smith. i'll be back next week. meantime, stay safe. i'm not really looking to date anyone at the moment. right, yeah. me neither. would you be interested in a friendship, and i'm secretly pining for you the whole time? hello. no significant rain on the way again this week. there's an atlantic weather system close to parts of northern ireland and scotland, so a little rain during monday for some here. but for most of the uk it's high—pressure and dry and after a chilly start, it will feel quite warm in the sunshine. this area of high—pressure extending across from

scandinavia, this area of low pressure giving northern ireland and scotland notjust cloud but a little rain. where you have the clouds to start today you will avoid frost, but a touch of frost eastern parts of england or wales and close to or perhaps a touch below freezing in the coldest rural areas. and some earlylow cloud, mist and fog clearing from england. following behind across much of england and wales and scotland, patchy cloud developing, an isolated shower later in the day can't be ruled out in southeast england, but the cloud is thickest across western counties of northern ireland, parts of scotland and outbreaks of rain occasionally — just ten to 12 degrees here. really quite warm when you get the sunshine elsewhere. overnight and into tuesday, the cloud and chance of seeing rain by tuesday morning, low cloud mist and fog returning to parts of eastern england, generally temperatures a bit higher going into tuesday morning so frost will morning, so frost will be harder to come by. low cloud, mist and fog gradually clearing from eastern

england on tuesday. a shower can't be ruled out on tuesday. cloudy in scotland and northern ireland, not much rain left on this weatherfront, northern scotland brightening up but here behind the weather front, the air, the wind is changing direction and it will feel colder here. south of the weather front is still warm and light winds and where you get some of those sunny spells continuing. a cooler air behind this weather front with cloud and not much rain continues to push south overnight and into wednesday across the uk. and a new area of high pressure taking over anfd giving plenty taking over and giving plenty of dry weather in the second half of the week, but the wind around that coming in for the northeast will be colder along north sea coasts, generally temperatures will come down a little bit but yet again, it will continue to feel really quite warm when you get to see some sunshine. though there is still the risk and the threat of frost overnight, for gardeners and growers, no significant rain this week.

this is bbc news — i'm samantha simmonds — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world... tensions between moscow and prague escalate — russia expels 20 diplomats — a day after the czech republic kicked out 18 russian diplomats identified as secret agents. as concerns grow over the health of kremlin critic alexei navalny — russia's ambassador to london says he won't die behind bars. of course it will not be allowed to die in prison but i can say that mr navalny, he behaves like a hooligan absolutely. a study finds one in ten households have food shortages. football chiefs warn europe's top clubs not to join a new super—league, after reports

of an announcement, on a breakaway tournament.