What to watch this week: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’, ‘CTRL’ and more

CTRL

After his fascinating period drama Jubilee, Vikramaditya Motwane is back with a very modern fable about creeping AI. Ananya Panday plays Nella, who, angry at her boyfriend, Joe (Vihaan Samat), decides to erase him from her life with the help of an AI assistant. Things soon take a dark turn. Written by Motwane, Avinash Sampath and Sumukhi Suresh. (Netflix) 

Joker: Folie à Deux 
The Joker wasn’t a barrel of laughs, but the sequel does sound like it could be uniquely fun: a musical, with Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, who’s being tried for killing a talk show host at the end of the first film. Todd Phillips directs, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Zazie Beetz co-star. (In theatres) 

Also read: Maggie Smith proved that elderly ladies are the real scene stealers 

And, Towards Happy Alleys

A fascinating 2023 documentary by Indian director Sreemoyee Singh on the poetry, cinema and women of present-day Iran. Singh speaks to luminaries like Jafar Panahi and to regular folk, capturing the extraordinary protests led by women, but also noting the risks of speaking out. (MUBI)

Diamond Island

Cambodian-French director Davy Chou came to wider notice with the terrific Return to Seoul (2022). His first fiction feature, Diamond Island (2016), shows an emerging talent settling on a thoughtful, eye-catching style. The film is set in an under-construction luxury township on the outskirts of Phenom Penh. It follows a group of teenagers, who work as manual labour by day and cruise the neon-lit, swanky yet empty streets of Diamond Island at night, dreaming of a bright future. (MUBI)