--- title: "Onwards and Sideways" year: 2026 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/onwards-and-sideways" fi1m_id: "onwards-and-sideways" imdb_id: "tt11445200" tmdb_id: 1567265 wikidata_id: "Q140647020" fi1m_score: 72 critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 4 published: "2026-10-04T07:53:03.585041+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T07:53:15.377481+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Onwards and Sideways (2026) Directed by John Madden · 1h 50m · Comedy, Drama ## Identity Onwards and Sideways - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/onwards-and-sideways - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** onwards-and-sideways - **IMDb ID:** tt11445200 - **TMDB ID:** 1567265 - **Wikidata ID:** Q140647020 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11445200/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1567265, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140647020 **Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 76 (early) from 4 reviews *In a sentence:* Rhys Ifans’s hands do more acting than most casts manage, and Thomas Newman will not stop telling us how to feel about them > John Madden’s comedy is gentler than its subject and better than its genre, carried by Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney, who play the illness in their hands and faces rather than in speeches. It is kind to a fault, and the score keeps explaining. ## Synopsis Tony Evans (Rhys Ifans) sits in a consulting room while Professor Ridge (Rory Kinnear) gives his tremor a name. He goes home to his wife Liz (Monica Dolan) and tries to carry on as if nothing has changed, which lasts about as long as it does in life. His hands will not do what he asks, his walk has acquired a stutter, and strangers have started to help him with doors. Then he meets Emma Dretzin (Laura Linney), who is further along with the same illness, and the two of them fall into a friendship built on comparing symptoms and refusing to be felt sorry for. Paul Mayhew-Archer wrote it and turns up in a small part as Tom. ## Review Paul Mayhew-Archer has written a comedy about a man whose body has stopped taking instruction, and *Onwards and Sideways* is his attempt to make jokes about illness without turning it into a punchline or a sermon. John Madden directs, and the result is a good, warm, carefully made film about two people learning to live with what their bodies will no longer do. It is also soft in places where it could afford to be harder, and we will say where. But the verdict is simple: if you can bear the subject, this is worth your evening. Rhys Ifans plays Tony Evans, and the performance is in the detail. Watch what he does with a cup, or a coat sleeve, or the half-second between deciding to stand and standing. Ifans has always been a loose, long-limbed actor, and here he is playing a man whose looseness has been taken from him, so that every ordinary movement has to be planned. He never asks for sympathy and he is funny about it, which is harder than it sounds. Laura Linney’s Emma Dretzin is the opposite case: she has made the illness part of her manner, brisk and practical and faintly amused, and Linney lets you see how much that manner costs to keep up. The scenes between them are the film. There is a moment, early on, where Tony tries to do something small and domestic and cannot, and nobody in the scene says anything about it. We were more moved than we expected to be, and we have seen a good many films about illness. It was the silence that did it: Mayhew-Archer trusts the audience to notice, and Madden holds the shot and does not cut away. The film is at its best whenever it behaves like that, and it does so more often than not. Monica Dolan, as Tony’s wife Liz, has the thankless job of being the person who has to watch, and she is good at being tired without being a martyr. Rory Kinnear’s Professor Ridge delivers bad news in the voice of a man who has delivered it before and has not yet gone numb, and his handful of scenes are dry and exact. Isabella Nefar and Leah Byrne, as Bahar and Julie, fill out a world that feels lived in rather than assembled for the occasion. Danny Cohen shoots it plainly and close, in daylight and in kitchens, and the plainness suits it: this is not a film that wants you to admire the view. Úna Ní Dhonghaíle cuts at the speed of the people on screen, which is to say slowly when it needs to be, and she gives Ifans the time his character has to take. Thomas Newman’s score is the one department that does not trust the material. It is pretty, as his scores are, and it arrives too often, underlining scenes that were already legible, and once or twice we felt our response being arranged for us. The larger weakness is temperament. Mayhew-Archer is a kind writer, and the film resolves nearly every scene kindly, so that after an hour we could usually guess where the next one would land. Nobody behaves badly for long. The illness is allowed to be frightening, but the people around it are not allowed to be frightened in ways that make them unpleasant, and real illness is not so well mannered. At 110 minutes the film does not overstay, but it does not surprise either, and a film about a condition this unpredictable might have risked more unpredictability itself. Set against Madden’s own work, this is closer to [*The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel*](https://film.one/film/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel) than to *Mrs Brown*: a comedy for grown-ups about decline, in which decline is kept at a courteous distance. The reviews so far have been warmer than we are, though not by much, and we understand why; the two leads are good enough to carry a softer script than they deserved. Watch it with someone you are prepared to talk to afterwards. It is the kind of film that starts conversations in the kitchen, which may be exactly what its writer wanted. *Fi1m score 72, published 4 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Onwards and Sideways worth watching?** *Onwards and Sideways* is worth watching if you can bear a comedy about illness, and we scored it 72. Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney play a man and a woman with the same condition, and their scenes together are the film; it is kind to a fault and rarely surprises, and Thomas Newman's score keeps underlining what the actors have already shown. **How long is Onwards and Sideways, and what is it rated?** *Onwards and Sideways* runs 1h 50m. It is a comedy and drama film. **Where can I watch Onwards and Sideways in the US?** *Onwards and Sideways* is not on any streaming or rental service in the US at the moment. Availability is checked daily. **How does Onwards and Sideways compare to Ikiru?** *Onwards and Sideways* is the gentler and more comfortable of the two, and [*Ikiru*](https://film.one/film/ikiru) is the better film. Madden's comedy keeps decline at a courteous distance and resolves nearly every scene kindly, while Kurosawa's drama lets the fear of wasted time sit plainly on Takashi Shimura's face. Choose Madden for a warm evening in company, Kurosawa if you want to be properly shaken. **What should I watch after Onwards and Sideways?** After *Onwards and Sideways*, try [*Ikiru*](https://film.one/film/ikiru) (1952, Fi1m 92): Kurosawa’s clerk learns he is dying and decides, late, to do one thing properly. Then [*The Farewell*](https://film.one/film/the-farewell) (2019, Fi1m 84): A family hides a diagnosis from grandmother; a comedy about illness that stays honest; and [*The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel*](https://film.one/film/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel) (2011, Fi1m 71): Madden’s earlier ensemble about ageing; sunnier, broader, with the same kind heart. ### Reviews we read (4) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Michael Rechtshaffen (78/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a stirring, gracefully handled drama that largely avoids the usual pitfalls of illness stories. He particularly praises the fully inhabited performances by Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney, while noting that the melodic score is overused. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/onwards-and-sideways-review-laura-linney-rhys-ifans-1236702940/) - **Screen Daily**, Robert Daniels (70/100, inferred): Daniels presents the film as a poignant, bittersweet drama. The headline singles out the bond between Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney for praise. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/onwards-and-sideways-review-rhys-ifans-and-laura-linney-form-a-bittersweet-bond-in-john-maddens-poignant-parkinsons-drama/5220401.article) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (70/100, inferred): Lodge finds the film gentle and uplifting, though sometimes overly soft and predictable. He especially praises Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans for bringing warmth and detailed physical nuance to their performances. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/onwards-and-sideways-review-1236865721/) - **The Wrap** (88/100, inferred): The critic finds the film charming, tender and life-affirming despite its difficult subject. They single out Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans for performances full of depth and heart. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/onwards-and-sideways-review-laura-linney-rhys-ifans/) ## Details - **Director:** John Madden - **Director:** John Madden - **Writer:** Paul Mayhew-Archer - **Cinematography:** Danny Cohen - **Editor:** Úna Ní Dhonghaíle - **Music:** Thomas Newman - **Producer:** Hilary Bevan Jones, John Gore - **Cast:** Laura Linney as Emma Dretzin; Rhys Ifans as Tony Evans; Rory Kinnear as Professor Ridge; Monica Dolan as Liz Evans; Isabella Nefar as Bahar; Leah Byrne as Julie; Danielle Galligan as Carol; Paul Mayhew-Archer as Tom - **Runtime:** 1h 50m - **First release (Canada):** 13 September 2026 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR5Nkdndv18 ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. ## If you liked this - *The Savages* (2007): Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman manage a dying father, bitterly and very funnily. - *Supernova* (2020): Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci on a last road trip; quieter, sadder, equally well acted. - *Ikiru* (1952), Fi1m 92: Kurosawa’s clerk learns he is dying and decides, late, to do one thing properly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ikiru.md) - *The Farewell* (2019), Fi1m 84: A family hides a diagnosis from grandmother; a comedy about illness that stays honest. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-farewell.md) - *The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel* (2011), Fi1m 71: Madden’s earlier ensemble about ageing; sunnier, broader, with the same kind heart. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/onwards-and-sideways