Cherry

A young man drops out of college in Ohio, enlists, serves as a medic in Iraq, comes home damaged, falls into opioid addiction and starts robbing banks. The whole narrative is one life collapsing in a straight line. The source is Nico Walker's semi-autobiographical 2018 novel, written while he was in prison. It is the Russo brothers' first film after Endgame. Their company AGBO bought the rights in August 2018 for about a million dollars, beating Warner Bros and Sony. Shooting ran from October 2019 to February 2020, mostly in Cleveland, on a 40 million dollar budget, and Apple TV+ took distribution in September 2020 for roughly 40 million. Tom Holland is a long way from Spider-Man here, with Ciara Bravo as Emily. Critics praised both performances and went after everything else: 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with the writing and direction called formulaic, and one reviewer naming it the worst film of 2021. Who it is for: anyone curious about the edges of Holland's range, and viewers who can take addiction narratives. Who it is not for: people irritated by formal tricks. The film keeps announcing itself with chapter titles, direct address and shifting colour.