" BoJack Horseman in LEGO " by Ochre Jelly via Flickr (licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) One of my earliest memories as a child involves me sitting in front of our family TV, cereal bowl in hand, watching an episode of Little Einsteins . I remember patting along on my lap to get Rocket, the friendly spaceship, to launch, and hearing Vivaldi’s Morning Mood  orchestrated as the animated children on screen encouragingly asked me to identify the shapes in the scene. This was my first experience...

"London feels like fresh air in our relationship..."

The Vile (Majid Al Ansari, 2025); Image courtesy of BFI London Film Festival 2025 Emirati director Majid Al Ansari’s latest feature, The Vile (2025), is a masterclass in bringing the modern Gothic to your doorstep. When Amani, a loving wife and mother, finds herself playing second fiddle to the new (and younger) bride her husband ushers in without telling her, her life begins to unravel from the inside out, outside in. The hour and a half that follows narrates the lives of Amani and her...