Five of the best ... films
The Rider (15)
(Chloé Zhao, 2017, US) 104 mins
Beijing-born director Chloé Zhao conjures an effortlessly poetic portrait of bronco riders and cowboys, rendered all the more plausible by the use of non-professionals acting out virtual simulacra of their real selves. Brady Jandreau is the central figure: a Native American rodeo rider injured after a heavy fall, and desperate to get back on the horse.
Crazy Rich Asians (12A)
(Jon M Chu, 2018, US) 120 mins
Staggeringly successful romcom and a genuine gamechanger, adapted from Kevin Kwan’s novel. Constance Wu plays an Asian-American academic called Rachel on a trip to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding); he turns out to be massively wealthy and burdened with a family throwing obstacles in the path of their true love.
Wajib (15)
(Annemarie Jacir, 2017, Pal) 96 mins
Absorbing low-key drama from Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, which eschews agitprop and revolutionary zeal for a dissection of the stresses of life in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth with the lowering presence of the military in the background. A father and son hand-deliver wedding invitations – they, and most of their invitees, are Christian Arabs – and in doing so expose the faultlines of family and ethnic divisions.
King of Thieves (15)
(James Marsh, 2018, UK) 108 mins
An interestingly downbeat take on the Hatton Garden heist, the notorious diamond-vault job pulled by a bunch of ageing robbers. A classy cast, led by Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay and Jim Broadbent, under the smart direction of James “Man on Wire” Marsh, combine the geezer cliches with an unmistakeable apprehension of personal disintegration and the shadow of death.
The Predator (15)
(Shane Black, 2018, Can/US) 107 mins
The Iron Man 3 director indulges in some retro ancestor worship, making over the 80s action-horror in which a determined alien chomps its way through a squad of soldiers. This reboot stars Boyd Holbrook and Olivia Munn, and impressive levels of mayhem.
AP
Five of the best ... rock & pop
Kylie Minogue
After scoring her first UK No 1 album in eight years with the country-tinged Golden, the original and best Kylie (soz Jenner) heads out on an arena tour. While it is unlikely to do away with the glitz and glamour completely, expect a relatively pared-down production, ie some glittery hay bales among the disco balls.
Newcastle upon Tyne, Tuesday 18; Nottingham, Thursday 20; Birmingham Friday 21 September; touring to 8 October
Moses Sumney
Still riding high off the fumes of last year’s genre-defying, slowburn Aromanticism album, LA troubadour and serial collaborator (Solange, Beck, Sufjan Stevens) Sumney plays his biggest UK shows to date. Expect songs from that debut – the perfect autumn soundtrack – plus highlights from his recent EP Black in Deep Red, 2014.
The Dancehouse, Manchester, Wednesday 19; Royal Festival Hall, SE1, Friday 21 September
Mitski
While 2016’s Puberty 2 album propelled US singer-songwriter Mitski to the cusp of mainstream success (it was Pitchfork’s 18th best album of that year, chart fans), last month’s Be the Cowboy looks set to sneak her even closer to household-name territory. Ditching the rock thrum of its predecessor in favour of girl-group harmonies, experimental disco and implied political anger, expect to see it all over 2018’s best of lists.
Manchester, Wednesday 19; Glasgow, Thursday 20; touring to 26 September
Spiritualized
Minimalism be damned! Six years on from 2012’s typically epic Sweet Heart Sweet Light, Jason Pierce returns with more skyscraping confessionals that dabble freely in gospel, rock’n’roll, country and psychedelia. Expect to hear classics from across the eight Spiritualized albums, but also expect to not actually hear anything again for a good few days afterwards.
Eventim Apollo, W6, Friday 21 September
MC
The Big Chris Barber Band
The British trad jazz boom – that fervent 1950s revival of pioneering early-20th century New Orleans music – had the nation dancing when the Stones were still in junior school. A key figure was trombonist Chris Barber, who celebrates 70 years on the road with this tour by his rootsy but also elegantly Ellington-esque big band.
Yeovil, Tuesday 18; Milton Keynes, Wednesday 19; Buxton, Thursday 20; London, Friday 21 September
JF
Three of the best ... classical concerts
War and Peace
Prokofiev’s version of Tolstoy’s epic novel may be dramatically unruly, but its proliferation of roles and choral set-pieces make it a brilliant showcase for any opera company. David Pountney’s production opens his final season as Welsh National Opera’s artistic director. It is a chance to remind everyone what Cardiff will be missing when he has gone, and also to celebrate the strength in depth that he has nurtured there. Tomáš Hanus conducts a cast including Jonathan McGovern and Lauren Michelle.
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Saturday 15 to 29 September; touring to 24 November
Dispelling the Fears
Simon Rattle opens the London Symphony Orchestra’s Barbican season with an all-British programme. There is a new fanfare from Harrison Birtwistle, a rare outing for Gustav Holst’s superb Egdon and an opportunity to hear again one of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s finest scores. Dispelling the Fears is a concerto for two trumpets, originally conceived as the final section of his evening-long masterpiece, Blood on the Floor.
Barbican Hall, EC2, Sunday 16 September
Luminate
Kings Place initiates its new monthly contemporary-music series with a concert by the Riot Ensemble, composer Philip Venables’s performing group. It is framed by a pair of Venables’ own works, and in between come pieces by Sarah Nemstov, Lee Hyla and Helga Arias Parra. Later concerts in the series, which runs until 11 April 2019, include appearances by percussionist Greg Fox, Ex-Easter Island Head, Manchester Collective, and Rakhi Singh and the Singh Quartet.
Kings Place, N1, Monday 17 September
AC
Five of the best ... exhibitions
Christian Marclay
Marclay’s installation The Clock, which tells the time with classic film clips, has become a classic of contemporary art. Its constellation of cinema memories has a human universality and atmospheric power as well as a mind-boggling technological wizardry that make it a true masterpiece for our time. A well-deserving crowd-puller.
Tate Modern, SE1, to 20 January 2019
Courtauld Impressionists
The industrialist Samuel Courtauld assembled one of the greatest collections of impressionism, with masterpieces such as Renoir’s La Loge. While the Courtauld Gallery closes for refurbishment, these paintings come to the National Gallery in what promises to be a powerful panorama of the birth of modern art.
The National Gallery, WC2, Monday 17 September to 20 January 2019
Hooked
Art and science have been orbiting each other for 500 years. Today, the powerful visual images generated by scientific data rival anything art can create. The Science Gallery is a timely venue at this moment of cultural crossover. Its opening exhibition takes as its theme addiction to everything from drugs to phones, combining scientific contributions with art by Richard Billingham, Rachel Maclean and others.
Science Gallery, SE1, Friday 21 September to 6 January 2019
Staging Jackson Pollock
When the Whitechapel Gallery put on a sensational show of Jackson Pollock’s paintings in 1958, the man who made modern American art famous was already dead. A car crash in 1956 had ended a stunning chapter in art’s evolution, yet the sense of newness and possibility in his cosmic loops of paint is still mesmerising. This exhibition reconstructs the British premiere that captured the imaginations of young artists and set the stage for 1960s experiments.
Whitechapel Gallery, E1, to 24 March
Fig-Futures
What is the very latest revolution in art? How can galleries keep up with definitions of the contemporary in an age of technological innovation, generational revolt and political turbulence? Kettle’s Yard tackles this with a four-week series of quickfire exhibitions that survey the challenging and unexpected. Week two (Tue to 22 Sep) features a sonic performance by Oreet Ashery.
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, to 7 October
JJ
Five of the best ... theatre shows
Lord of the Flies
William Golding’s 1954 novel is a classic and a GCSE text, a political and moral allegory as a group of boys are stranded on a remote island after a plane crash and resort to their basest instincts. Theatre Clwyd and Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre have collaborated here on an all-female adaptation of the story, which transfers to Cardiff from 17 Oct.
Theatr Clwyd, Mold, Thursday 20 September to 13 October; touring to 3 November
The Humans
Stephen Karam’s deft family drama is beautifully and seamlessly performed by a tight-knit all-American ensemble under Joe Mantello’s direction. As relatives gather in a New York flat to celebrate Thanksgiving, what they each have to give thanks for, or not, becomes slowly and painfully apparent. This is theatre of a superior order.
Hampstead Theatre, NW3, to 13 October
Rebus: Long Shadows
Ian Rankin’s grizzled Edinburgh detective John Rebus makes it to the stage in a new story by Rankin and Rona Munro. Having been played on TV by John Hannah and Ken Stott, the role is taken by Charles Lawson, Coronation Street’s Jim McDonald. Cathy Tyson is Rebus’s former ally, Siobhan, now a detective inspector, and John Stahl plays long-time foe Big Ger Cafferty. Rebus fans rejoice.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Thursday to 6 October; touring to 24 November
Eyam
The venue warns that this production contains blood, pus, boils and nudity (eeeeuw). Well, Matt Hartley’s new play is set in a Derbyshire village during the plague. A London vicar arrives to lead the parish and finds a village full of “fighting and fornication”, ruled by a ruthless landowner. But the locals face the dilemma of whether to stay quarantined and maybe die, or flee and risk spreading the disease. Adele Thomas directs.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, SE1, Saturday 15 September to 13 October
Trial By Laughter
After their first world war hit The Wipers Times, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman return with another print-inspired drama. Trial By Laughter is the story of William Hone, a bookseller, publisher and satirist who dared to take potshots at religion, politicians and the monarchy, and stood trial in 1817 for his efforts. The play asks whether progress has been made in this era of fake news and censorship.
West Berkshire Playhouse: The Watermill, Newbury, Thursday 20 September to 27 October; touring to 24 November
MC
Three of the best ... dance shows
Richard Alston Dance Company: Mid Century Modern
Richard Alston turns 70 this autumn. The elder statesman of British contemporary dance has been choreographing for 50 years and his instinct for beautiful line and melodic movement is undiminished. Mid Century Modern is essentially a greatest hits, with excerpts from every decade of his career.
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thursday 20 & Friday 21 September; touring to 22 November
201 Dance Company: Skin
Choreographer Andrea Walker combines shadowy atmosphere and sharp-edged commercial-style hip-hop with emotional storytelling to address gender transition and one boy’s search for an identity that fits.
Bristol, Saturday 15; Cheltenham, Tuesday 18; London, Thursday 20, Liverpool, Friday 21 September; touring to 1 November
Northern Ballet: Mixed Programme
Three new works from young choreographers: Kenneth Tindall takes on Max Richter’s reworking of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons; Morgann Runacre-Temple tells the story of Mozart’s sister; and there’s a choreographic debut from dancer Mlindi Kulashe.
Leeds, Saturday 15; Doncaster, Friday 21 to 22 September
LW
