Welcome to Something Good, the arts and culture newsletter from The Conversation, which aims to cut through the noise and recommend the very best in new releases and events every fortnight. 

The more I see Benedict Cumberbatch on screen the more I marvel at his talent as an actor. Recently, I have watched him in Eric on Netflix, as an unravelling Sesame Street-style puppeteer looking for his abducted son; in old re-runs of smartypants Sherlock Holmes on the BBC; and as a humiliated husband in The Roses with a truly ghastly Olivia Colman. His latest film, The Thing With Feathers, promises another affecting performance, this time as a bewildered father struggling to look after his two small sons after the sudden death of his wife.

Based on Max Porter's beautifully written novella Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, Cumberbatch plays Dad, a graphic artist who is unbearably sad, overwhelmed and increasingly untethered. In a film that is part tender human drama and part horror, this grief manifests as a large black crow, menacing but benevolent in its presence as a kind of guardian figure.

Harry Potter actor David Thewlis voices the character of Crow with thick Lancashire-accented sarcasm, at one point berating Dad for listening to "middle-aged, middle-class, Guardian-reading, beard-stroking, farmer's-market widow music", which has got to be my favourite line. But gradually Crow's hardness shifts Dad, leading him through his sadness and apathy to something at least more bearable and liveable. "I won't leave until you don't need me any more," Crow hisses, almost like a threat. 

Our reviewer Dan O'Brien says it is easily the most poignant film he has seen this year, praising it for its nuanced handling of the subject. "Rather than something to be vanquished, the film suggests grief must be accommodated, even befriended. It’s a persuasive portrayal of mourning that recognises grief not as a wound to be sealed, but a permanent, unpredictable companion that you learn to live with." Definitely on my list this spooky weekend.

The Thing With Feathers is in cinemas now

Courtesy of Vue Lumiere

Comedy in spycraft

I can honestly say I am never happier than when I am settling down on the sofa with a big bag of Maltesers and the latest episode of Slow Horses on the telly. And season five has not disappointed. Based on the brilliant series of Mick Herron novels, the drama plays out against a sinister and depressing landscape of dodgy politicians, media manipulation, radical terrorism and moral panics. But this is offset by the much lighter tone that mines a rich seam of humour running beneath the serious plotlines.

From the sneaky, snooty toffs at the top of MI5 to the bored office bantz at Slough House, all the real-world ghastliness is leavened by the japes, sarcasm and eyerolling that go on.

I just adore the obnoxious Jackson Lamb and his spectacular insults, holey socks and suspect personal hygiene. Gary Oldman is enjoying the role of his life – you can practically smell the reek from the TV. But you also occasionally get the impression that the more Lamb insults, the more he cares. Maybe.

Spycraft expert Robert Dover examines how the series has managed to pull off this tricky combo of tense drama and hilarity, while claiming Lamb as the 21st-century version of John Le Carré's George Smiley.

Slow Horses is on AppleTV+

Do you agree with Robert? Is Jackson Lamb the 21st-century version of John Le Carré's George Smiley? Answer our poll and let us know your thoughts by replying to this email.  

Last week, we asked you what your favourite heist movie was, tied to the recent release of The Mastermind. A resounding 73% voted for The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). 

Maps and broken systems

Like many people, I am mad for maps. I find them not merely useful but endlessly fascinating – there is always something new to spy on close examination. So writers who include maps and invented places as part of the fabric of their stories intrigue me.

J. R. R. Tolkien springs to mind, of course, but now a new exhibition in London is showcasing the wonderful maps created by the revered sci-fi writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who rooted her genre-defying stories in fantasy worlds. Cartographer Mike Duggan finds the exhibition a fascinating insight into Le Guin's process of other-world building. 

The Word for World: Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin is showing at the Architectural Association Gallery, London, until December 6

In John Grisham's latest novel The Widow, a sleazy lawyer with less than ethical motives finds himself the main suspect after an elderly woman with a secret fortune that he has been "advising" is found murdered. When his shady legal dealings are uncovered, Simon F. Latch looks like a man with opportunity and motive. But he's innocent – so how does Grisham create a dodgy victim character the reader can muster up some sympathy for? Expert in human rights law Sarah Jane Coyle examines this grey area.

The Widow is in bookshops now

Set in Paris, Souleymane's Story follows an asylum seeker from Guinea as he seeks work as a delivery cyclist. Seen through his perspective, Paris becomes an unforgiving landscape fraught with danger and harship as he strives to find work and survive. But Souleymane's days are constantly taken up with exhausting negotiations with technology, bureaucracy, racism and threats. First-time actor Abou Sangaré won a best actor award at Cannes in 2024 for his raw, restrained performance, making Souleymane's Story a compelling watch.

Souleymane's Story is in cinemas now

Jane Wright
Commissioning Editor, Arts & Culture