From the small to big screen, here are your May on-screen essentials
Read our accompanying Local Hero interview with Jonathan Rhodes (Life’s Too Short, Belgravia, The Crown) here.
Conversations with Friends
After the rampant success of Normal People last year, another Sally Rooney adaptation arrives this summer.
Where to Watch: BBC Three and Hulu | When: May, release date TBC
Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts
Roger Michell’s posthumous film picks apart the longest-reigning British monarch’s rule.
Where to Watch: In cinemas and on Amazon Prime | When: 3 June
Stranger Things
Everyone’s favourite 80s-set sci-fi returns, as a group of high-schoolers handle the fallout of the previous season’s battle.
Where to Watch: Netflix | When: May 27
Great Freedom
Racking up an impressive number of awards, this is a poignant study of the criminalisation of love.
Where to Watch: Mubi | When: May 6
Back to the Source
Cambridge jazz musician Robin Phillips heads out on the road, from Chicago to New Orleans, in this documentary filmed by Domininkas Zalys.
Where to Watch: YouTube, available now
Back to the Source, available on YouTube
Picturehouse Picks
From a season presented by Gaspar Noé to theatre firsts, there’s lots to look forward to at the Picturehouse this month
This Much I Know to be True
Andrew Dominiks follows in the footsteps of his last Nick Cave feature, One More Time with Feeling. The film captures Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ exceptional creative relationship, as they form their albums.
May 11, 8.30pm
Gaspar Noé presents: Bird with the Crystal Plumage
As part of a new season, ‘Culture Shock’, Gaspar Noé unveils films that fed into his own latest, Vortex, starting off with Dario Argento’s gem.
May 16, 8.30pm
VAMPYR 90th Anniversary
Celebrate nine decades of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s creepy, spine-tingling, black and white classic. A traveller arrives at a countryside inn – and is pulled into a mystery that crosses the realms of the living and dead.
May 22, 3pm
NT Live: Straight Line Crazy
Spearheaded by Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses, David Hare’s play deconstructs the concept of democracy in a New York setting. Broadcast live from the Bridge Theatre in London and directed by Nicholas Hytner.
May 26, 7pm
