Guilty Redeemed Our Critics: Erivo and Depp Top UK Film Week
Cynthia Erivo's barrister drama and Johnny Depp's Scrooge lead a crowded week of UK cinema releases, from a Billie Jean King documentary to a Vietnam war story. Reviewers' verdicts on each film, in their own words.
Cynthia Erivo stars as a barrister in a screen version of Suzie Miller's international stage hit, one of the new films reaching UK cinemas in the week of November 14, 2026. Guilty or redeemed, reviewers have given their verdicts on the whole slate.
The film casts Erivo as a lawyer whose career defending rape suspects is undermined by her own experience. Reviewer Peter Bradshaw praised "a blazingly fierce, effortlessly commanding central performance from Erivo, like something from classical drama."
Depp's Scrooge surprises
Johnny Depp plays the miser who finds redemption in a new version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Bradshaw found it better than expected.
"As Scrooge, Depp is in fact rather good," he wrote, calling the performance "theatrically bad-tempered and petulant." He suspected Depp's comic timing and British accent were learned from his old Fast Show comrade Paul Whitehouse.
Documentaries and nature
Director Vincent Munier takes his father and a young son into the Vosges forest in France for a study of human-animal interaction. Leslie Felperin called it "a subtle, tender work" that avoids feeling "too preachy or sanctimonious."
David Wilkinson's film deals with his own bowel cancer treatment and asks why so many much younger people receive the same diagnosis. Bradshaw described it as "sobering but very compassionate, humorous, generous."
Refugee Soraya Akhlaghi filmed her flight from Iran and her precarious new life over five years on her phone. Phuong Le wrote that she is "a born creator" who channels her struggles and despair "into florid, intense drawings."
A separate documentary profiles tennis ace Billie Jean King, who fought throughout her career for the women's game to be respected. Bradshaw called it sparky and engaging, and described King as "a vehement but polite advocate for equal rights on prize money."
War and crime stories
One film tells the story of the US army's first Black special ops team in Vietnam, and the bravery they showed against battle and unrelenting bigotry. Bradshaw said its title refers to the soul music that became anthemic to the soldiers.
Peter Berg directs a second world war drama about an American football game before the battle of Okinawa. Adrian Horton said Berg "has a knack for grace within visual cacophony and chaos," though she found the dialogue "anvil-heavy."
Chen Sicheng, the driving force behind the Detective Chinatown franchise, turns to forensic scientist Cui Daozhi, known as the "Chinese Sherlock Holmes." The thriller spans 30 years of cases. Mike McCahill said it offers "a disarming mix of propaganda, copaganda and gripping narrative."
Kunsang Kyirong's debut feature follows Kunsel, an introverted woman, through Toronto's tight-knit Tibetan community. Cath Clarke wrote that "the film fades like a vapour trail in the sky," its disorientation perhaps reflecting Kunsel's state of mind.
