Five of the best ... films
Roma (15)
(Alfonso Cuarón, 2018, Mex/US) 135 mins
Alfonso Cuarón has been hoovering up the plaudits for his first return to film in his homeland since Y Tu Mamá También in 2001. Named after the Colonia Roma area of Mexico City, here Cuarón produces a beautifully assembled evocation of life in 70s Mexico, focusing on a well-off family’s nanny. Having conquered space with Gravity, Cuarón proves he can still operate on a small scale.
The Old Man & the Gun (12A)
(David Lowery, 2018, US) 93 min
With the actor having announced this is to be his final screen role, much attention has been paid to Robert Redford as veteran heister Forrest Tucker in this genial account – which is based on a real figure – of a life dedicated to crime. Casey Affleck lends support as the cop on Tucker’s track but it is Redford who steals the limelight.
Sorry to Bother You (15)
(Boots Riley, 2018, US) 111 mins
Musician and activist Boots Riley has brought his distinctive voice to the screen with this scattershot but hot-button satire. Cash (Lakeith Stanfield) aims to turn his life around by joining a telemarketing firm; after learning to use his “white voice” the money starts rolling in, but the compromises mount at the same time. Stanfield is excellent in the lead role, and Riley has got off to a great start as a film-maker.
Disobedience (15)
(Sebastián Lelio, 2018, UK/Ire/US) 114 mins
Rachel Weisz is a powerful presence in this careful, restrained adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel. She plays a rabbi’s rebellious daughter, returning for his funeral to the London Haredi community she left behind for New York. There she meets, years on, two important figures from her childhood – Dovid and Esti – now married. How their adult relationships play out makes for intense, intelligent drama.
Three Identical Strangers (12A)
(Tim Wardle, 2018, UK) 97 mins
There is no denying the head-scratching weirdness of the story told here: triplets separated at birth in the early 1960s, reunited by accident in the 80s, and uncovering the murky reasons behind it all in the first place. Director Wardle does an excellent job in conveying the complex emotions aroused, and understanding the sensitivities involved.
AP
Five of the best ... rock & pop
Lily Allen
Her book My Thoughts Exactly may have grabbed the headlines, but 2018 also brought with it a new Lily Allen album in the shape of the muted, Mercury prize-nominated No Shame. Keen to keep the music side of things ticking over into next year, she has also just dropped a ravey, panic-inducing collaboration with drum’n’bass producer Shy FX.
Dublin Tuesday 11; Glasgow, Thursday 13; Birmingham, Friday 14; touring to 18 December
Pusha T
Daytona, the first of five Kanye West-produced LPs out this year, turned out to be Pusha T’s best. Since then, the ex-Clipse member has beefed with Drake over the latter’s “secret” son and seen a recent Toronto show descend into a brawl. Expect the unexpected as he headlines WHP’s Sounds of the Near Future festival ahead of a London gig.
The Warehouse Project, Manchester, Saturday 8; O2 Forum, Kentish Town, NW5, Wednesday 12 December
Mariah Carey
While America prepares for next year’s tour in support of Mariah’s return-to-form album Caution, Europe is saddled with another Christmas-themed spectacle in which everyone waits for an All I Want for Christmas Is You singalong. Dose up on mulled wine, chuck on an itchy yuletide sweater and make the best of it.
Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, Sunday 9; First Direct Arena, Leeds, Monday 10; The O2, SE10, Tuesday 11 December
The War on Drugs
Adam Granduciel (pictured below) and his band of merry men won a Grammy and scored a UK top 10 with last year’s richly rewarding fourth album, A Deeper Understanding, so to celebrate they’re playing a one-off arena show. Often compared to Springsteen, this could mark Granduciel’s next step in alchemising his love of mid-80s rock into proper crowd-pleasers.
The O2, SE10, Thursday 13 December
MC
Courtney Pine & Omar
UK sax star Courtney Pine and sometime Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu vocal collaborator and hitmaker Omar began their soulful and original Black Notes from the Deep project in 2017, reflections and vivacious celebrations inspired by the Windrush generation and their descendants. They are backed by a powerful band
including Robert Mitchell on keys.
Manchester, Saturday 8 & Sunday 9; Leeds, Monday 10; Kendal, Tuesday 11; Glasgow, Wednesday 12 December
JF
Four of the best ... classical concerts
LCMF: Sounds of the Thick Present
You never know what to expect at the London contemporary music festival, except wonderfully varied works that otherwise wouldn’t get heard. So, among this year’s concerts there is a UK premiere from Pascale Criton, alongside Greek mourning songs (Thu), and a new piece from Gerald Barry plus music by Julius Eastman and Annea Lockwood (15 Dec).
Various venues, London to 16 December
Frontiers + Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough may have lived in the US for the last 30 years, but he was born in Coventry and was a student at the Birmingham School of Music in the 1960s. That institution, now renamed, marks Ferneyhough’s 75th birthday with a day devoted to his music, involving Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Arditti String Quartet.
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Sunday 9 December
Hansel and Gretel
Humperdinck’s version of the celebrated fairytale may have its dark side, but the Royal Opera’s staging, its first new production this season, is very consciously designed as a family show. Antony McDonald directs and designs, Hanna Hipp and Jennifer Davis are the children, with Gerhard Siegel as the Witch.
Royal Opera House, WC2, to 29 December
Candide
The London Symphony Orchestra’s celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s centenary has saved one of his greatest achievements until last. Marin Alsop conducts the concert staging of Candide, with Leonardo Capalbo in the title role, and Jane Archibald as Cunegonde.
Barbican Hall, EC2, Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 December
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
Exposed: The Naked Portrait
When we are naked we are truly ourselves. Artists have known this for centuries. A nude portrait of 17th-century actor and royal lover Nell Gwyn features in this show alongside photographs of Mick Jagger and Naomi Campbell. Artists including Tracey Emin and David Hockney show how the skin can reveal what lies beneath it.
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne to 3 March
Hooked
If you are gearing up for Christmas parties and indulgence, get a grim perspective on pleasure in this exhibition about addiction. You can be hooked on anything from sweets to heroin according to this sometimes comical, ultimately scary survey featuring strong art by Dryden Goodwin, Rachel Maclean, Richard Billingham and more.
Science Gallery, SE1, to 27 January
Jörg Immendorff
This political, rude, rollicking German painter was taught by Joseph Beuys and helped translate his mentor’s social aesthetic into a new conception of painting. Immendorff’s big, sprawling picture cycles such as Café Deutschland and The Rake’s Progress make painting a public, angry art on an operatic scale. A contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, he can be seen, like them, as a pioneer of today’s street art.
Michael Werner Gallery, W1, to 25 January
Making Connections
Typically, modern mysticism about Stonehenge centres on the summer solstice but there is evidence that Neolithic people came to this monument at midwinter. After all, if the place is associated with sun worship, the crucial moment is the winter solstice when you pray for the sun’s return. Anyway, that is a good excuse to see the brooding stones on a dark December day and explore this exhibition, which locates them within a wider European culture.
Stonehenge, nr Salisbury, to 21 April
Modern Couples
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca: modern art in the early 20th century was intensely romantic. Artists were not just trying to have careers but wanted to change the world. That shared vision made for exciting, experimental lives. This show features Dora Maar’s affair with Picasso as well as Dalí’s relationship with the poet Lorca.
Barbican Art Gallery, EC2, to 27 January
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
Rumpelstiltskin
A contemporary and eye-catching version of the old fairytale – thought by some to have originated 4,000 years ago – is promised in the UK premiere of this new musical version by the Windmill Theatre Company and the State Theatre South Australia. Aussie cabaret performer Paul Capsis stars as the imp who wreaks havoc with his greed and revenge. Suitable for over-eights.
Queen Elizabeth Hall, SE1, Thursday 13 December to 6 January
Horrible Christmas
After 80 years, the theatre at Alexandra Palace – where the world’s first regular TV transmissions were made – opens its doors again with a seasonal family show from the Horrible Histories team. A ribald romp through Christmases past brings Dickens, Cromwell, Henry VIII, Santa and Rudolph, among others, to the stage.
Alexandra Palace, N22, Thursday 13 to 30 December
The Cane
It is more than 20 years since the Royal Court staged Mark Ravenhill’s decade-defining 90s work Shopping and Fucking. Now he returns to the venue with his new play featuring a fine cast of Alun Armstrong, Maggie Steed and Nicola Walker, directed by artistic director Vicky Featherstone. Edward is a popular teacher retiring after 45 years and anticipating a lovely send-off, but suddenly he and his wife Maureen find themselves trapped in their home for days by a mob of angry students. Why?
Royal Court Theatre, SW1, to 26 January
Crimes of the Christmas Pudding
Agatha Christie, Gosford Park and classic Ealing comedies combine in this annual offering – a take on cosy crime drama – from the New Old Friends company, which is dedicated to creating original comedy. This year, a cast of four play 13 characters as lady detective Artemis Arinae finds herself among high society in the isolated manor house of Lord and Lady Lorde. Expect goofy gags and daft goings-on aplenty.
Lichfield Garrick: Studio, to 5 January
White Christmas
In the chocolate box of festive productions, White Christmas is the escapist soft centre, with its slightly mushy tale of two former army buddies who put on a show for their retired commander at his snowless Vermont hotel. Danny Mac returns to the Curve after starring in Sunset Boulevard there and gets to sing the title song made famous by Bing Crosby (though it was actually written by Irving Berlin for the film Holiday Inn). Nikolai Foster directs.
Curve Theatre, Leicester, to 13 January
MC
Three of the best ... dance shows
Scottish Ballet: Cinderella
A nice alternative to a Nutcracker, Cinderella, by company director Christopher Hampson, has all the pretty set-pieces, colourful costumes, lush music and magic you could want from a seasonal show. Plus, later in the month the company will be staging a version for mini theatregoers, aged three and upwards.
Edinburgh Festival Theatre Saturday to 30 December; touring to 2 February
Carlos María Romero & Steven Warwick: HQ – (I Feel So Mezzaniney)
Trendy co-working space Second Home is the setting for this UK premiere. Composer Warwick and choreographer Romero respond to the office’s architecture, raising questions of community and commercialism via a group of go-go dancers.
Second Home, E1, Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 December
Protein Dance: The Little Prince
The witty, playful and socially engaged choreographer Luca Silvestrini makes his first family show, based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s story about a prince who comes to Earth to discover the follies of human nature, as well as love and friendship.
Ipswich, Wednesday 12 to 16; Falmouth, 22 December
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