Black Mirror: Black Museum
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Colm McCarthy (Netflix, 2017)
Black Museum follows the same formula as White Christmas, and explores similar technology (and horrific misuses thereof), artfully weaving its three parts into a denouement that sees Letitia Wright’s character transformed from passive consumer of story to active shaper. Confronting but cathartic!
Black Mirror: Joan is Awful
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Ally Pankiw (Netflix, 2023)
A satire that is at once awkward, confronting, darkly humorous and not far removed from where technology and society are heading. Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek come gloriously into their own as the layers come unravelled (taking an axe to Hamlet-like procrastination!).
Black Mirror: Nosedive
by Rashida Jones & Mike Schur; dir. Joe Wright (Netflix, 2016)
Social commentary as a reductio ad absurdum. The exploration of social media ‘like’ culture is pertinent but hard to watch, the heightened fakeness overwhelming save for brief bursts of unaffectedness courtesy of James Norton, Cherry Jones and (in cathartic conclusion) Sopé Dìrísù.
Black Mirror: Playtest
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Dan Trachtenberg (Netflix, 2016)
Brooker incorporates a SF tech element through which to tinker with horror tropes, layering and foreshadowing and peeling back while Wyatt Russell bums about, channelling his inner Jeff Bridges. Hannah John-Kamen hits the right notes in support. The ending proves neatly ironic.
Black Mirror: Demon 79
by Charlie Brooker & Bisha K. Ali; dir. Toby Haynes (Netflix, 2003)
Gloriously dark yet laugh-out-loud funny, even while tackling such topics as racial prejudice (in Britain immediately post- the Winter of Discontent), just murder, and Fight Club–reminiscent mental imbalance. Anjana Vasan, Paapa Essiedu and Shaun Dooley bring impressive truth to their characters.
Black Mirror: Metalhead
by Charlie Brooker; dir. David Slade (Netflix, 2017)
Black Mirror does Terminator in a people-lite, black-and-white rural dystopia, across a runtime short enough not to outstay its welcome or make the lack of backstory too problematic (such absence in any case yielding to an artfully held-back skew on character motivation).
Black Mirror: Crocodile
by Charlie Brooker; dir. John Hillcoat (Netflix, 2017)
Crocodile takes its one key SF element (a machine that stimulates then records memories) and splices in a hit-and-run trigger event to create a bleak exploration—Nordic Noir-ish in aesthetic and carrying distinct Fargo vibes—of the spiralling consequences of bad decision-making.
Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation
by Charlie Brooker; dir. James Hawes (Netflix, 2016)
Feature-length police investigation with the character development to constitute a series pilot in its own right. Brooker considers the internet as a conductor of mass hate, then flips through a disquieting grey area to visit extreme, equally capricious consequence on individual users.
Black Mirror: Men Against Fire
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Jakob Verbruggen (Netflix, 2016)
While the character dynamics are nicely scripted, and well handled by the actors (particularly Malachi Kirby and Madeline Brewer), the naturalistic exploration of military indoctrination and target dehumanising is undermined by Brooker’s using Michael Kelly as a mouthpiece to articulate his inspirations.
Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
by Jesse Armstrong; dir. Brian Welsh (BBC, 2011)
A reductio ab adsurdum turned alarmingly not-too-farfetched projection of where technology might take us by facilitating total recall (and display) of memories. Jodie Whittaker is delightfully nuanced but Toby Kebbell’s character is so manifestly, irredeemably a dick, the relationship seems doomed anyway.