JUDD Apatow has developed a knack for accelerating fresh talent to the big time in recent years. While Amy Schumer, Steve Carell and Seth Rogan all jumped from bit parters to headline acts under his watch, Apatow’s latest film seeks to catapult Pete Davidson out of the shadow of former fiancé Ariana Grande.

The King of Staten Island finds Davidson playing Scott Carlin, a 24 year old high school dropout, whose Crohn’s disease, ADHD, marijuana addiction and unresolved anguish regarding his father’s passing threaten to derail his life on a daily basis. Scott lives with his mother Margie (Marisa Tomei) and sister Claire (Maude Apatow - the director’s daughter) on Staten Island.

Scott dreams of being a tattoo artist and practices on his friends with dubious results. After agreeing to tattoo a nine-year-old on the local beach, Scott’s is approached by the boy’s fuming father Ray (Bill Burr). Much as Scott’s deceased father was, Ray is a firefighter. Also like Scott’s Dad, Ray quickly forms an attraction to Margie, who eventually agrees to go on a date. Nobody said life was easy.

Whereas Apatow’s comic oeuvre has often teetered on the tragic, The King of Staten Island leans farther still from laughs, offering more pathos than could be found in Trainwreck or Knocked Up. Wit does pervade the script, but the addition to Apatow’s screenwriting of Davidson’s own personal history deepens the film’s emotional well. Raw and gangly, Davidson feels his way through every line and skews entirely real as the down and out Scott. He too lost his father, a firefighter, too young. He too has Crohn’s, he too dropped out of college. By virtue of this shared history, The King of Staten Island could hardly be more honest.

There have been more dramatic, more compelling, cinematic drives down the road trodden here by Apatow and Davidson but few have such grounded origins.

Also this week, Netflix debuts the newest animation from Japan’s Studio Colorido. Originally scheduled for a global cinema release, the rights were snapped up by the streaming giant earlier this year.

The story is one of a girl who transforms herself into a cat to get closer to the boy for whom she develops an unrequited love at school. Magic, however, always comes with consequences. With animation this stunning, A Whisker Away is not to be missed.