The 10 best films out in UK cinemas and on streaming in April

Dev Patel made his name as an actor with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, so it’s fitting that the Londoner has headed back to India to repeat the trick as a filmmaker. His moviemaking debut sees him starring as an unnamed kid from the boondocks who brings his fiendish fighting skills to the big city on a revenge mission. Word of warning: this is not the Dev you know and love from ‘Skins’ and ‘Lion’. He’s taking no prisoners.

Out Apr 5

Ryusuke Hamaguchi follows up his best film yet, ‘Drive My Car’, with a twisty eco-parable set in a rural Japanese village outside of Tokyo. The stellar Japanese filmmaker embraces mysticism, activism, and all the intricacies of human connection to weave a quietly spellbinding story of a community under siege by business interests that defies all expectations. If you love movies that cast a lingering spell, don’t miss it. 

Out Apr 5

As Monty Python twigged, ancient British history is intrinsically funny: the mud, the dodgy teeth, the endless sword fighting. The latest to turn history homework into hilarity is this Python-esque comedy about a haughty queen (Aimee Lou Wood) who gets deposed by a Nicola Coughlan’s revolutionary and must flee through a land inhabited by her muddy, violent, dentally-challenged subjects. Look out for a ‘Spaced’ reunion, with Nick Frost and Jessica Hynes along for the ride.

Out Apr 5

Asif Kapadia’s hit documentary ‘Amy’ gave us Amy Winehouse through the eyes of her friends back in 2015; now Sam Taylor-Johnson is telling the story of the legendary musician and professional North Londoner through the prism of her doomed love affair with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell). ‘Industry’s Marisa Abela will be trying to capture the singer’s fiery spirit in a film that should make for essential viewing for her army of fans. 

Out Apr 12

Alex Garland’s filmmaking CV is full of punchy and provocative views of our potential future. Even alongside ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Annihilation’, his latest must count as his most provocative yet: a road-trip through a dystopian America at war with itself, where violence has assumed its own dark logic and Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny and Wagner Moura’s photojournalists and reporters try to capture it en route to interviewing a besieged President. It’s A24’s big movie yet, so expect the best kind of arthouse blockbuster.  

Out Apr 12

Filmmakers Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck’s cine-essay tells the story from the camera, from its earliest days to our selfie-and-live-stream-obsessed present. Have we lost control of the thing we use to document ourselves? Or is the camera lens still a gateway to see ourselves in a new light and maybe even make a motza in the process? A montage of memes unafraid to send up the absurdity of it all, it’s no dry sociology lecture but a fascinating insight into our camera-ready culture. 

Out Apr 19

The Bullitts – aka Jeymes Samuels – made a splash with his London Film Fest opener in 2021 and now he’s back with a ‘Life of Brian’-adjacent comedy-drama about a man called Clarence who claims to be the messiah in the wake of Jesus’s rise. The Londoner has assembled a very handy cast to help strike the satirical notes, with ‘Sorry to Bother You’s LaKeith Stanfield as the wannabe saviour and Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch co-starring. 

Out Apr 19

Zack Snyder’s big-budget sci-fi double-header reaches its climax on Netflix this month. If you’re still catching up with the polarising director’s ‘Star Wars’-y epic, expect a battle for survival by the warriors of a besieged moon led by ‘Atomic Blonde’s Sofia Boutella. If you’re in, you’re in, and lots of people will be... the first film racked up 966 million viewership minutes in the week leading up to Christmas.

Streaming on Netflix Apr 19

Luca Guadagnino’s (‘Call Me By Your Name’) latest is a so-sexy-it-hurts love triangle movie set in the high-pressure world of professional tennis. ‘Dune’s Zendaya swaps Arakkis for Centre Court as tennis star Tashi Duncan – all-court legend Brad Gilbert her Zendaya, so expect purists to be satisfied – who may have to make the unenviable choice between love (and tennis) rivals Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. Poor thing. And no, the tagline for this one isn’t ‘New balls, please’. 

Out Apr 26

Medieval antisemitism comes under the spotlight in Marco Bellocchio’s period thriller. It’s based on real events in mid-18th century Bologna when a six-year-old Jewish boy was forcibly taken from his parents and baptised as a Christian. The fallout from that event is depicted in a pacy, beautiful-looking religious procedural full of anguished parents, pensive clerics and hissable priests. 

Out Apr 26