Five things to watch this week

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant — Prime Video

In spite of its director’s insistence on putting his name in front of its title, this surprisingly restrained drama marks some of the British stylist’s most dramatically satisfying work to date. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a US soldier who, after his life is saved by his Afghan interpreter, finds himself up against the frustrating enemy of US bureaucracy as he tries to honour his promise of getting his friend out of Afghanistan before the Taliban return. Ritchie didn’t really need to put his name ahead of the title as his direction here is astute and assured, balancing the high-intensity grit of the war scenes with dramatically engaging interactions carried by a strong performance from Gyllenhaal, that bring home a powerful message about the responsibilities of foreign armies to the civilians who risk their lives to assist them.

Black Snow — Prime Video

Vikings star Travis Fimmel sheds his historical costume and manicured facial hair for dirty jeans and trainers and a return to his native Australia for this mystery noir set in the remote beauty of the country’s South Sea Island coast. When new evidence emerges in the decades-old cold case of a missing teenager, Fimmel’s troubled big-city detective, James Cormack, finds himself digging up painful secrets from the community’s past and confronting his own demons as he tries to bring justice to the missing girl’s family. Atmospherically impressive and tautly controlled, the True Detective-style show asks some uncomfortable questions about Australia’s dark colonial past.

They Cloned Tyrone — Netflix

Jamie Foxx, John Boyega and Teyonah Parris star in this darkly funny sci-fi thriller as a trio of incompetent misfits who are thrown together when they find themselves in the middle of a nefarious government conspiracy. Part gritty social realism in the beginning, it quickly turns into something far stranger but always intriguing and laugh-out-loud entertaining with something to say about the political realities of African American life in urban America.

Son of a Critch — Showmax

Based on a best-selling memoir by Canadian writer Mark Critch, this endearingly entertaining sitcom about the trials of teenage life in 1980s Newfoundland offers a nostalgic evocation of the period and a hugely enjoyable performance from Malcolm McDowell as a grumpy but wise grandfather that makes it family fare with gentle laughs and heartfelt life lessons recalling The Wonder Years.

The Deepest Breath — Netflix

An epically filmed documentary about the wonders, challenges and dangers of free-diving that explores the relationship between a champion freediver and her safety diver and the bond they formed during a daring world record attempt. A reminder of the beauty and dangers at the bottom of the ocean and the lengths those who are driven to explore them will go.