Category: Culture

A post-facto watch of nearly eight hours of political theatre tells the story of how the G.O.P. is seeking to arrange its characters in a Trumpless environment, a future that is likely a fantasy.

Todd Haynes’s new film on Netflix reveals how race and class shaped the real-world case that inspired it.

Live theatre, NewcastleThese one-act plays covering passion, acceptance and obsession are connected by a seasonally warming theme about communityIn their trilogy of one-act plays, Laura Lindow, Naomi Obeng and Vici Wreford-Sinnott take turns to contemplate the pain and the pleasure of love. Despite the time of year, there is nothing festive about their plays, co-directed by Bex Bowsher and Jack McNamara, but they do have a seasonally warming theme about community and reconciliation.Lindow takes the brief literally. Her opening piece, The Start of Space, is about a heart surgeon. Dr Fiona McGill is played by Imogen Stubbs with an east-coast Scottish lilt and a sheen of brisk professional competence that belies her vulnerability. She is a medic who routinely holds hearts in her hands, the responsibility all the greater for her specialising in children. As she abandons her prepared lecture for a personal reflection, we see how a life-and-death day job contrasts with the strains of love and loss at home. Continue reading…

Stepping away from Barbie-Girl pop towards her strengths as a rapper, this is the sound of a more mature artist in fierce command of her talentMore than any other genre, hip-hop loves a sequel. Jay-Z. Eminem, Future, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Method Man: all have felt impelled to release a branded follow-up to their best-loved work, usually years after the event. Their proliferation isn’t quite enough to dispel a slight sense of shoring up declining inspiration by revisiting past glories – it’s unlikely Nas would have felt the need to revisit his landmark 1994 debut Illmatic with 2001’s Stillmatic had his previous album I Am … not been so poorly received – but that isn’t really the case with Pink Friday 2, an album Nicki Minaj has been trailing since 2019.Whatever you make of Minaj’s recent releases, her career is hardly in the doldrums. It might take a concerted effort to get through her Ice Spice collaboration, Barbie World, without feeling the will to live ebbing from you – time has done little to make its chief sample source, Aqua’s Europop hit Barbie Girl, any less annoying – but you can’t argue with the figures. Streamed 371m times on Spotify alone, a hit everywhere from Honduras to Hungary: it was her 23rd US Top 10 single, more than any other female rapper. This is not a woman in need of a commercial boost, something she’s quick to underline: “I tell ’em I’m moving units, my videos gonna view it,” she snaps on FTCU. “Spotify ain’t gonna lie, they’re really streaming my music.” Continue reading…

The Egg theatre, BathSet in the cherry orchard that Madame Ranevsky is preparing to leave, this story leads its young audience on a tactile adventure undergroundOur host is making a list and checking it twice. Father Christmas, you presume? Not at all. Madame Ranevsky greets the young audience for this show which plucks its landscape, and borrows some of the spirit, from The Cherry Orchard.It’s not exactly Chekhov for preschoolers. Instead, the story springs from the estate owner’s reluctance to abandon her beloved garden. Her bags are packed and the train’s whistle can be heard but she decides to have one last play with its creatures, including a chipper velvety mole with pink spectacles. Continue reading…

Matthew Jordan’s horn history beat Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze and ‘I Fart in your General Direction!’ Flatulence in Popular CultureDanger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History by Matthew F Jordan has won the Diagram prize for oddest book title of the year.Jordan’s book charts the history of the klaxon automobile horn. It won a public vote against five shortlisted titles including Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating and Hooking Up Without the Booze and Backvalley Ferrets: A Rewilding of the Colorado Plateau. Continue reading…

Those who met and worked with him, and those who had their lives changed by his work, remember their connections to the writer and performer• Benjamin Zephaniah – three poems• Benjamin Zephaniah – a life in picturesI have a memory, at age nine, of reading a poem in year four (around 2000 or 2001), called Funky Chicken. I must have loved the absurd humour and playful tone, because it stayed with me for many years. I remember Benjamin Zephaniah being a presence since then. He was probably the first poet whose name I could remember. I’ve since loved everything he does and says and believe him to be a pioneer in art, education and social change. What a force, a true artist, actor and revolutionary. Ogul Can, 32, actor and musician, Lewisham Continue reading…

Our countdown of the year’s best albums continues with Noname’s piercingly intelligent hip-hop, a wakeup call from Yves Tumor and Boygenius’s instant indie classic• More on the best music of 2023• More on the best culture of 2023Coming off halfway between Jenny Lewis and Self Esteem, Dublin’s CMAT sets life’s greatest embarrassments to ritzy country showstoppers – the musical equivalent of piling your beehive high to distract from your tear-reddened eyes. On her second album, she tots up the price she has paid for her bad boyfriends, self-subjugation and knowing avoidance of less-than-romantic realities, always with mordant humour rather than self-pity: “I’m just some stewardess who feeds your pets / And does your dishes and pays your rent,” she sings on the delicate, harmony-heavy Such a Miranda. For all that she has lost in these songs – pride, love, literal cash – her perspective remains a firmly clasped jewel. Laura Snapes Continue reading…

A celebration of dance music, a homage to the Cure, a deep dive into Black punk and moreDance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the DancefloorEmma Warren, FaberA dyed-in-the-wool clubber, Warren knows of what she speaks when it comes to the dancefloor: there is a lot of personal reminiscence in the endlessly fascinating Dance Your Way Home. But there’s also science, wide-ranging sociocultural history – folk dancing at Cecil Sharp House coexists with the rise of dubstep; Chicago footwork with the jazz-inspired ban on dancing in 1930s Ireland – and, more unexpectedly, a righteously angry polemical bent. Warren’s formative clubbing experiences were in the 80s and 90s, a golden era, simply because there were more venues. Clubs and youth spaces have since been decimated by councils and property developers, in a culture that, as Warren puts it, “fetishizes youth but doesn’t seem to like youth much”. She makes a compelling argument that dancing – and having the space to dance – matters: “You must let go of self-consciousness, embarrassment, pride and prejudice and embrace what you actually have.” Continue reading…

Robert Downey Jr won’t be back, but the MCU stands on the shoulders of masked heroes, not the people playing them. Plus, a new man in the iron suit could revive failing box-office fortunesIt’s a Hollywood ploy as old as time – and one that probably explains why the Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger still have acting careers. If your venerable old action saga is struggling to recoup the greenbacks it did in the early days, just bring back the guy (and let’s face it, it always seems to be a guy) who made it such a success in the first place.This is the whole reason movies such as Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate exist (for better or worse). But if Marvel fans had hoped that the suddenly struggling superhero mega-saga might be restored to its former glories by bringing back Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, they will now have to look elsewhere for their returning comic book messiah. Marvel supremo Kevin Feige has put the kibosh on the idea in an interview with Vanity Fair to discuss the latest phase in Downey Jr’s much-garlanded career, pointing out that to reintegrate this version of Tony Stark would ruin the finale of Avengers: Endgame, in which the character sacrifices himself for the greater good. Continue reading…

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the worldWarning – graphic content Continue reading…

The eponymous family seat in Emerald Fennell’s film is one of its lead performers. We take a look at its actual identity and a pile of other movie mansionsIt’s been mooted as “the most divisive film of the year”, with keen discussion among cinema-goers before they’ve even emerged from screening rooms. But one thing we can all agree on about Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn is its true star (OK, aside from Rosamund Pike): Saltburn itself.The Catton family seat is fictional. But it exists in real life in the form of Drayton House in Northamptonshire, the Grade-I listed, 127-room pile belonging to the Stopford Sackville family (since the 1770s). Continue reading…

Screening of film on French TV prompts some in industry to say they will not work with actor again after rape allegationsFigures in the French film and TV industry have said they would not work again with the actor Gérard Depardieu, after a documentary showed footage of sexism and inappropriate behaviour by the star, who is under formal investigation for rape.The documentary, Depardieu: The Fall of an Ogre, ran on the public service channel France 2 on Thursday night, after more than a dozen women had previously made allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour against Depardieu in an investigation by Mediapart last year. Continue reading…

Royal Court theatre, LondonChris Thorpe’s one-man show is more of a scrappy routine than a meaningful call for disarmamentThere are nine nations in the world that possess nuclear weapons, we are told by writer and performer Chris Thorpe. That two of these nations – Russia and Israel – are embroiled in wars should raise the alarm in his call for disarmament. Unfortunately, this one-man show, styled like a standup routine, does not have any dramatic intrigue, intensity or tension.Thorpe gives us facts, snatches of wobbly song, sweariness, bants, and opaque spoken-word interludes on everything from facial recognition to small boats and “red-faced men asking female politicians if they would press the button”. Continue reading…

He is a Cannes-winning auteur famed for brutality, who once declared: ‘I am a pornographer.’ Can Nicolas Winding Refn really turn The Famous Five into a heartwarming Christmas treat?When Nicolas Winding Refn, the director of cult violent films Pusher and Drive, was announced as one of the creators of the BBC’s new version of The Famous Five, it left members of the Enid Blyton Society spluttering into their ginger beer.Yes, the Danish film-maker is “reimagining” the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog for a “progressive new audience”. True, he’s a Cannes award-winning auteur with a reputation for onscreen hyperviolence. Granted, he once declared “I’m a pornographer” in an interview for his Ryan Gosling vehicle Only God Forgives. But fans can rest assured that they’re set for something magical this Christmas. Continue reading…

Aviva Studios, ManchesterFirst large gig at new super-venue sees Marr magically reinvent Smiths, solo and Electronic tracks‘I’m going to need a new tour bus,” quips Johnny Marr, referring to the vast amount of people on the stage. His regular band of 10 years has expanded and now includes his son Nile on “guitar and fabulous harmonies”; a 30-piece orchestra – conducted by Fiona Brice – is here to provide what the 60-year-old frontman has called a “highly pumped symphonic feel”.The occasion marks Marr’s 10 years as a solo artist and new solo best of, Spirit Power. It’s also the inaugural large music event at Manchester’s Aviva Studios. The product of the UK’s biggest cultural investment (£242m) on a venue since the Tate Modern is a vast space for 5,000 people with an unusually high ceiling allowing for spectacular lights and visuals. Continue reading…

She ran away to punk London at 12, becoming a drummer, a skinhead and a model. Then she wrote Superstars, about the hard-raving 90s. Now the writer is back – with a novel about a Marvel movie composer relocating to the coastShe has been hailed as the literary queen of the Paris techno scene, whose cult novel Superstars immortalised the hedonism and rivalry of the sweat-drenched dancefloors and rave parties of 1990s France. But if the novelist Ann Scott, the winner of last month’s prestigious Renaudot prize, so poetically chronicled Paris’s generation X, from queer clubs to hard house, it was also because her own backstory gave a unique insight on what it was to be part of the underground.Sent by her well-meaning Paris parents to England’s Shoreham-by-Sea in 1977 aged 12 “to speak English and play tennis” for the summer, she ran away from her host family to hang out on Kings Road in London with bands. Each summer she would repeat the same act of rebellion; by age 13 she’d been offered heroin by some of London’s biggest punk rockers. By 15 she was drumming in a band, at 16 was a skinhead, and by 18 she was modelling in London for designers such as John Galliano and being photographed for shoots in magazines like i-D and the Face. “Fashion was changing every year,” Scott reminisces. “You could just be anything.” Continue reading…

The actor narrates his remarkable journey from a difficult childhood in West Yorkshire to finding fame in Hollywood In Making It So, the actor Patrick Stewart chronicles his working-class childhood in a two-up, two-down in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, where his “weekend alcoholic” father, still traumatised after fighting in the second world war, would return from the pub and terrorise his wife as his children watched. Stewart found refuge in books at the local library – at home he would don gloves and a hat and read in the family’s outdoor toilet – and, with the encouragement of a schoolteacher, developed a love of Shakespeare. This, in turn, led him to the stage and a place at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school, after which he worked in rep and at the Royal Shakespeare Company.Stewart, whose booming baritone has lately taken on a warmer and more gravelly timbre, is the book’s narrator. The actor reveals how it took years of therapy for him to process “the impact of the violence, fear, shame and guilt I experienced as a child”, and how he would later draw on memories of his father when playing tyrants. He goes on to detail his casting as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as the mutant Professor X in the X-Men films, roles that would propel him to superstardom. While Stewart expresses regret for his two failed marriages, in his third to the singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell he appears to be having the time of his life. Throughout Making It So, he never loses his sense of wonder at where his career has taken him and where he has ended up. Continue reading…

Call 2023 the year many of us learned to communicate, create, cheat, and collaborate with robots.

Khalil Sahragard’s documentary short follows an amputee in Kurdistan who carves prosthetics for others who, like him, have lost limbs to explosives after the Iran-Iraq War.

This flawless drama sees Timothy Spall put in the best performance of his career. It is a masterclass in respectful true-crime TV that rewrites the rules of the entire genre• More 2023 in TV• More on the best culture of 2023Once in a while a drama gets under the skin so deeply it stays with you. No, in you. Frame after searing frame. The Sixth Commandment, written by Sarah Phelps and directed by Saul Dibb, was the most gut-wrenching example of the year. Perhaps the decade. In four harrowing, nigh-on unbearable episodes it took a genre often prurient, insensitive and morally dubious, and gracefully upended it. The Sixth Commandment was true crime that focused on the victims, though even to use that word feels like a thoughtless reduction. What it gave was a dignity rarely afforded, neither on screen nor in life, to people whose lives are destroyed by crime.Those people, primarily, were Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall), a retired Stowe schoolmaster, and his neighbour Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid), a retired headteacher. One after the other, in 2014 and 2017, they were befriended by a young churchwarden, Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke), who inveigled himself into their lives. He read bible verses with them. Helped in the garden. Cooked for them. Moved in. Then he told them he was in love with them. After they had changed their wills in his favour, Ben proceeded to gaslight, humiliate, mentally torture and poison them. He murdered Peter, and attempted to murder Ann. After a Thames Valley police investigation and criminal trial in 2019, Field was sentenced to life imprisonment. Continue reading…

(Reprise)Gentle melodies and minimal instrumentation grace this live album of mostly lesser-known songs from the seven decades of Young’s careerAt 78, “Shakey” is showing no signs of slowing down, although he seems more comfortable with looking back. Recorded over the course of four shows on his recent Coastal Tour, Before and After is a live album with a difference: 13 songs from throughout Young’s career are performed, without audience noise, in a continuous 48-minute sequence. The acoustic-based selections cover seven decades and are mostly lesser known, although the minimal instrumentation and similar themes, such as the passage of time and a changing world, mean they complement each other well.The format certainly suits I’m the Ocean: the track was originally recorded with Pearl Jam on 1995’s Mirror Ball, and removing the electric guitars reveals more of its beauty. The biggest curiosity is If You Got Love, recorded for 1982’s electronic album Trans but not included on it: the gentle melody transfers perfectly to pump organ and occasional harmonica. Elsewhere, the piano playing on My Heart and A Dream That Can Last is magically fragile and delicate. Burned (“no use running away, and there’s no time left to stay”) certainly packs a different energy from a seventysomething than from the 20-year-old Young was when he recorded it with Buffalo Springfield in 1966, while Mother Earth’s environmental message remains as relevant as ever. There’s a lovely intimacy and openness to songs such as When I Hold You in My Arms and while his voice has lost some of the old youthful power, it has gained in tenderness, nuance, humanity and warmth. Continue reading…

(Bash! Village Records/Modulor)Saxophonist Omicil builds atmospheres then upends expectations in this free-jazz homage to Haiti’s successful 18th-century slave insurrectionIn August 1791, a group of enslaved Haitians met in the woods of Bois Caïman, on the north coast of Haiti, and conducted a secret Vodou ceremony that planted the seeds for the Haitian Revolution. This collective ritual, which would go on to inspire a mass uprising, now forms the energetic inspiration for Haitian saxophonist Jowee Omicil’s latest album, Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite. Over an hour, Omicil transposes the imagined energy of the ceremony into a free jazz interpretation, switching between several woodwinds and brass while accompanied by percussion, keys and bass.The album opens minimally, with Omicil vocalising over plaintive snatches of saxophone melody, guttural bass clarinet and rattles of percussionist Yoann Danier’s ka drum. Sweeping his hand across the surface of the drum as if replicating the rustle of forest leaves, Danier situates the listener in the imagined setting of Bois Caïman before Omicil punctures the soothing soundscape with a clarion call on cornet. That forceful entry signifies much of what is to come: compositions that build a certain comfortable mood before switching tack and upending expectations. Continue reading…

Man-mountain Alan Ritchison is back as Lee Child’s military hero, while Peter Morgan’s royal saga bows out for good … and we’ll all be rubbernecking furiously Continue reading…

The travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has published the sixth edition of its annual northern lights photographer of the year list. As another solar maximum (the period of greatest solar activity during the sun’s 11-year solar cycle) approaches, there have been displays at lower latitudes, such as in Wales, Germany, Italy’s Dolomites and Death Valley national park in the US Continue reading…

Experts reveal how the little blue pill revolutionised the search for an erection. Plus: Julianne Moore joins Graham Norton on the couch. Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading…

High-toned discontent, big trouble in Tahiti and two Tilda Swintons continue our countdown of the year’s best films in the UK • Read the US cut of this list• More on the best films of 2023• More on the best culture of 2023 Continue reading…

Historical drama will focus on US psychiatrist tasked with deciding if Hermann Göring and others were sane enough to face justice Russell Crowe, Rami Malek and Michael Shannon will lead James Vanderbilt’s historical drama Nuremberg, which is set in post-war Germany.The film will follow the Oscar-winner Malek as the American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who was tasked with deciding whether Nazi prisoners were fit to stand trial for their war crimes. Continue reading…

Ava DuVernay’s rendering of Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste” is a compelling fusion of history and drama.

There are plenty of charming moments in this look at pregnant pets, but it fails to consider that they have their own feelings. It’s a disappointing exercise in rampant anthropomorphismThere is a very good chance that I will get a lump of coal in my stocking for feeling frosty about Fur Babies, because it is unbelievably sweet, and practically pleading to be adored. This four-part series follows pet owners who are breeding their animals, assisted by two photogenic vets who are there to guide them through the process, as well as advising viewers on responsible pet-breeding practices.The huge pet TV genre thrives on the stories of the owners’ lives, and casting has taken place with that at the forefront. Holly’s two sons, Charlie and Finley, are leaving home, and together, the family is breeding their two-year-old chocolate labrador, Bella. Soon, we learn more about Holly’s life and her deep connection to animals. On the feline front, Kelly and her son Ronnie are seeing Leyla, their British short-hair blue, through her second litter. Again, we soon learn more about the depths of Kelly and Ronnie’s bond, and the love they share for Leyla. Later, although they are not given nearly as much screen time, another family has to rethink everything they thought they knew about their male guinea pig, Splodge. His appearance in this show may give away the secret. Continue reading…

Tales of homecoming, forbidden love, dangerous adventures on an island of ghosts and moreMexikid Pedro Martin (Guppy)It’s not easy growing up in a big Mexican-American family – especially when setting out on a road trip in the family motorhome, bringing your legendary Abuelito (Grandpa) back from Mexico to live with you in the States. For 11+ readers, this graphic memoir is full of superb, multilayered storytelling, exploring nuances of identity via the intersection of image and word. Hilarious, wide-ranging and unforgettably evocative, Mexikid chronicles horrific haircuts, dangerous toys, cataclysmic reactions to raw milk and how it feels to be not quite at home on either side of the border. Continue reading…

Allegations French star actor groped Darras on set is second official complaint after Charlotte Arnould accused the actor of rape in 2018A second actor has filed an official complaint against Gérard Depardieu, claiming the French star sexually assaulted her on the set of the 2007 film Disco.Full details of Hélène Darras’s allegations against the French star will air on the French investigative news show Complément d’Enquête on Thursday evening. Continue reading…

The rise of Madonna, Barbra Streisand in her own words, plus the stormy relationship of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are among this year’s highlightsFor most writers, a memoir is a once in a lifetime event, but not for the poet and novelist Blake Morrison. Having already written memoirs about his late mother and father, he has turned his attention to his siblings in Two Sisters (Borough). The book details the life of Gill, his younger sister who died in 2019 from heart failure caused by alcohol abuse, alongside his half-sister Josie, the product of his father’s affair with a married neighbour, whose real parentage went unacknowledged for years. Morrison’s account of their struggles is tender, vivid and achingly sad.O Brother (Canongate) is another brutal and brilliant sibling memoir in which the Kill Your Friends author John Niven recalls the life and death of his charismatic, troubled brother, Gary, who took his own life in 2010. It’s with both humour and pathos that he recalls his and Gary’s early life growing up in Irvine, Ayrshire, their diverging adult trajectories and the “Chernobyl of the soul” felt by Niven and his family after his brother’s suicide. Continue reading…

The Japanese filmmaker behind “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away” is renowned for stories about resourceful children navigating surreal, often perilous circumstances. In “The Boy and the Heron,” the eighty-two-year-old makes a rare return to his own youth.

Actors to make ‘merry mischief’ in Samuel Beckett’s play at Theatre Royal Haymarket in SeptemberBen Whishaw is to star in a new London production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the play that inspired him to quit his art foundation course as a teenager and study acting instead. Whishaw will play Vladimir opposite Lucian Msamati as Estragon in the tragicomedy, directed by James Macdonald. It opens at Theatre Royal Haymarket in September.“When I was 18, I was doing an art foundation course in Bedford and went one night with a friend to London to see a play that was part of a season of plays by Samuel Beckett at the Barbican theatre,” said Whishaw. “The play was Waiting for Godot. The next day I dropped out of my art course, having decided I wanted to study acting instead.” Continue reading…

Dream-seeking bears, a pancake-making lion, an ingenious guide to rewilding and moreThis year’s best books for children address sadness and fear while celebrating love, resilience, hope and joy. In The Big Dreaming by Michael Rosen and Daniel Egnéus (Bloomsbury), two bears are preparing for the Big Sleep, but Little Bear worries they won’t have enough dreams to last the winter. He sets out on a dangerous journey, from which he returns with stored visions of happiness, homecoming and hope. Egnéus’s light-dappled illustrations pair seamlessly with Rosen’s simple, moving text to create a picture book of sublime warmth and comfort.Lighthearted and rambunctious, The Ogre Who Wasn’t by Michael Morpurgo and Emily Gravett (Two Hoots) is a fairytale with a difference. While Princess Clara’s father is away, the horrible palace staff insist on decorous silence and uncomfortable clothes. When Clara finds a little “ogre” in her shoe, however, she manages to scare off the nannies and butlers – and when her father returns with a new love, there’s a blissfully muddy happy-ever-after. This sweet, spirited picture book has some of the anarchic energy of Tony Ross’s Little Princess, and an acutely observed sense of how small people see the world. Continue reading…

Photographer Jason Gardner travelled for more than 15 years documenting carnival traditions across the world, capturing the costumes and traditions that link participants to ancestral folklore Continue reading…

In a lengthy interview, Swift says Kim Kardashian feud ‘took me down psychologically’, and criticises music industry over treatment of young starsTaylor Swift has spoken of the psychological damage of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and lambasted the music industry over its treatments of young pop stars, in a new interview with Time, which has named her their person of the year.After a year in which she has been at the centre of cultural conversations for her massively lucrative Eras tour, Swift spoke damningly of what she sees as a short-termist approach by record labels to replace, rather than nurture its stars. “By the time an artist is mature enough to psychologically deal with the job, they throw you out at 29, typically,” she says. “In the 90s and 00s, it seems like the music industry just said: ‘OK, let’s take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a fire, and watch what happens. By the time they’ve accumulated enough wisdom to do their job effectively, we’ll find new teenagers.’” She said her solution was to change style with each new album project: “I realised every record label was actively working to try to replace me. I thought instead, I’d replace myself first with a new me. It’s harder to hit a moving target.” Continue reading…

Throughout her career, the celebrated French actor has worked with auteurs ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to Hong Sangsoo—and maintained a matter-of-fact approach to her craft.

Hip-hop mogul, who has faced three sexual assault lawsuits recently, accused over 2003 incident when alleged victim was 17Sean Combs, the rapper known as Diddy, has again been accused of rape in a new lawsuit by a woman who says Combs and two other men raped her nearly two decades ago, when she was 17 years old.The most recent lawsuit is the fourth filed against Combs in recent weeks. Combs has been accused of sexual assault by several women, including his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, AKA Cassie. Combs and Ventura settled her lawsuit to their “mutual satisfaction” one day after it was filed. Continue reading…

The limited series on the Russian feminist collective will be based on the forthcoming memoir by founder Nadya TolokonnikovaThe Russian feminist protest collective Pussy Riot is headed for television in a limited scripted series, Deadline reported on Wednesday.The group’s creator, artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova, reached a deal with STX Entertainment to develop the series based on her forthcoming memoir. Continue reading…

The 40th edition of the Utah-based film festival will also feature new films from director Steven Soderbergh and actor turned film-maker Chiwetel EjioforNew films starring Kristen Stewart, Saoirse Ronan and Steven Yeun will premiere at next month’s Sundance film festival, celebrating its 40th year.The lineup for the Utah-based festival boasts an array of film and TV premieres that highlight the “vitality of independent storytelling” with almost half coming from first-time directors. Continue reading…

In a new book, Lauren Elkin explores the radical legacy of nineteen-seventies feminist art.

In Samantha Sanders’s documentary short, a group of Chicago women find pandemic solace, in a death-defying winter ritual.

Whether shooting civil rights marches or Studio 54 style icons, the politically conscious photographer – who died last month – cast a critical eye on the American class system Continue reading…

In Costa Rica, a centralized system for street addresses does not exist, so people use landmarks as reference points in giving out directions. A short documentary by María Luisa Santos and Carlo Nasisse attempts to figure out why.

From psychology to AI, pandemics to popular culture, we survey the bigger pictureDo you often find yourself dancing the “reasonable tango”? This is what the sociologist Kirsty Sedgman, in On Being Unreasonable (Faber), calls the kind of polite argument that acknowledges the opponent’s point with a “Yes, but …” and carries on indefinitely, with no mutual agreement in sight. In this bracing manifesto for being just a little less civilised, she considers subjects such as what should count as bad behaviour in the theatre, what “reasonable” means in law, and why we should not “debate” with fascists. (Sunlight is not the best disinfectant, she points out; bleach is.) Does being meek ever bring about justice? Is performative “reasonableness” really a cloak for the “terrifying thrill of self-righteousness”? The pious tone-policers, she argues, are Unreasonably Reasonable; we could all do with pulling down a few more statues and in general being a bit more Reasonably Unreasonable.What more reasonable way to investigate the weird misogyny of popular culture in the 2000s than via case studies of famous women? That is Sarah Ditum’s gambit in Toxic (Fleet), a furious and funny book about the public discourse around Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston and others. The febrile combination of social media with hungry paparazzi feeding a new ecosystem of online gossip sites gave rise to what Ditum calls the “upskirt decade”, a virtual cesspool of celebrity culture. From “Nipplegate” (Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Superbowl) to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines and the singer’s pillorying as a poster boy for rape culture, Ditum always has something new and insightful to say about old scandals, and how they continue to reverberate in many current conversations, not least among the Unreasonably Unreasonable. Continue reading…

A splendidly tricksy locked-room mystery, a fortune teller in Georgian high society and Indian mobsters make this year’s list Given this year’s headlines, it’s unsurprising that our appetite for cosy crime continues unabated, with the latest title in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil to Die (Viking), topping the bestseller lists. Janice Hallett’s novels The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, which also features a group of amateur crime-solvers, and The Christmas Appeal (both Viper) have proved phenomenally popular, too.Hallett’s books, which are constructed as dossiers – transcripts, emails, WhatsApp messages and the like – are part of a growing trend of experimentation with form, ranging from Cara Hunter’s intricate Murder in the Family (HarperCollins), which is structured around the making of a cold case documentary, to Gareth Rubin’s tête-bêche The Turnglass (Simon & Schuster). Books that hark back to the golden age of crime, such as Tom Mead’s splendidly tricksy locked-room mystery Death and the Conjuror (Head of Zeus), are also on the rise. The late Christopher Fowler, author of the wonderful Bryant & May detective series, who often lamented the sacrifice of inventiveness and fun on the altar of realism, would surely have approved. Word Monkey (Doubleday), published posthumously, is his funny and moving memoir of a life spent writing popular fiction. Continue reading…

Since 2005, Brazilian photographer André François has been capturing pandemic, earthquake and other health responses in remote communities across the world Continue reading…

Hip-hop history, real-world wishes and the forgotten watercolourist in Turner’s shadow are among the subjects of this year’s finest comicsComics have always been interested in the strangeness that lurks beneath everyday life, and many of 2023’s best graphic novels dig into weird places. Why Don’t You Love Me? (Drawn & Quarterly) follows a couple struggling through parenthood and blagging their way in baffling jobs. British cartoonist Paul B Rainey builds his story from bleakly humorous page-long strips, while the larger question – how, exactly, did these absurdly underqualified people get to where they are? – slowly moves into focus, giving his inventive drama a real emotional weight.The year’s most eagerly awaited work, Daniel Clowes’s Monica (Cape), follows a woman’s search for her mother. The veteran cartoonist gives us strange cults, conspiracy theorists and episodes that skip from genre to genre, in a book that’s philosophical as well as playful, and one of his best. Continue reading…

In Jen Silverman’s drama, Marin Ireland and Andrew Burnap play filmmakers working for the K.G.B. who tap Dos Passos and Hemingway for a Soviet propaganda movie.

Confronting the catastrophe of the Second World War, four composers produced strikingly different responses.

They didn’t mean to become critics; they probably hoped to be better known for that novel. But, when something cuts them to the quick, they need you to know.

The Vietnamese-born photographer charts how conflict embeds itself in both physical and psychological terrains.

Voted on by over 30 Guardian music writers, we celebrate the year’s best tracks from Boygenius to Blur and beyond Continue reading…

We’re living in a golden age of ultra-high-end, wildly creative Korean restaurants. At Meju, the chef Hooni Kim artfully distills the cuisine to its essentials.

Elliott Erwitt, who died on 29 November 2023, became a member of Magnum Photos in 1953, where he went on to make some of his most iconic images. In 1968, he became president of the prestigious agency, a role that he held for three terms. Erwitt was renowned for his black and white candid photos of ironic and absurd situations, everyday settings and his great love – dogs. He published more than 25 books over 45 years and won virtually every international photographic award Continue reading…

Author Otegha Uwagba’s sought-after style is a mix of secondhand designer, lesser-known labels and ‘ugly shoes’. She tells Emma Jane Palin how she tracks down the objects of her affectionIn a world where “new in”, “while stocks last” and “as seen on …” are permanent fixtures in our inboxes, it can be hard to cut through the noise of fashion marketing. Do we really want it? Is it even our style? (What even is our style?!) Or are we just following the crowd towards the same en vogue items?Bestselling author and culture journalist Otegha Uwagba is having no such existential crisis. “I like things that make me feel unique,” she says. “Things I don’t think everyone else will buy.” Continue reading…

Netflix’s phenomenally successful sci-fi horror saga continues with a new stage production, now running at the Phoenix theatre in London. Here’s an exclusive first look Continue reading…

Also: “Squid Game: The Challenge,” music from Romy and Liz Phair, a documentary on the authoritarian Chinese government, and more.

In Yorgos Lanthimos’s film, Emma Stone plays a young woman who was created by a scientist, and is forever tasting the world—eating, dancing, travelling, having sex—as if it were freshly made.

From doll makers to swamp-dwellers, the Brooklyn photographer turns his unique gaze on the more dreamlike aspects of America and beyond Continue reading…

Watch Mike Birbiglia’s hit comedy about mortality, Colm and Brenda Meaney in Enda Walsh’s two-hander or choose from a flock of Swan Lakes Here’s Mike Birbiglia’s pitch for his Broadway and West End hit: “I wrote a show about mortality and I guarantee you’ll laugh for 80 minutes straight and sometimes people also feel emotions from it and – trust me – I think you’ll love it.” We did – and it’s now on Netflix. Continue reading…

The acclaimed company returns to Sadler’s Wells in London with a production inspired by the optical phenomenon known as a ‘lunar halo’Photography by Tristram Kenton Continue reading…

The lawmaker George Michaels casts a historic vote to legalize abortion that destroys his political career, in a short documentary directed by Jeremy Workman and Rob Lyons.

Opposites make for great comedy in the lifelong friendship of legends Bob Newhart and Don Rickles, in a short documentary by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio.

Also: Nutcrackers galore, Allison Russell, a Hart Island podcast, and more.

Collector Carl Thompson loves pre-loved watches for their history, personality and accessibility. He shares the quirks of his collection and tips for secondhand sourcing with Emma Jane Palin“Secondhand watches have a history,” says Carl Thompson, looking at the Montblanc Moonphase on his wrist. “They have a certain feel to them. They’ve got little quirks, which just adds to the feelgood factor of buying pre-loved. They’ve lived – and that’s what I love about them.”Designer watches can be considered a status symbol, but for Thompson (founder of shirt label Hawkins & Shepherd and proud owner of 20 vintage timepieces) collecting is all about the narrative behind a watch and how it marks a moment in his life. Continue reading…

A Kansas City family reunites to do something that countless African Americans before them could not do—choose their own last name.

Favorite traditions light up the season, including “The Nutcracker,” Handel, a Yo La Tengo residency, and more.

Trishna Goklani’s pre-loved pieces make the ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic more attainable, sustainable and interesting. She talks to Emma Jane Palin about the thrill of shopping secondhandIf I’m ever in need of a dose of “cool girl style”, there’s one Instagram feed that I’ll head for. London-based content creator Trishna Goklani (@trishnagoklani) is the embodiment of timeless taste, fusing casual basics with statement silhouettes, elevating her aesthetic with artfully chosen luxury accessories.That coveted “quiet luxury” look, with its good tailoring and great knitwear, usually signals a degree of sophistication that comes with a personal shopper or stylist. But many of Goklani’s aspirational “outfits of the day” have been bought secondhand.“I didn’t shop at all for a while,” she says. “I was almost fatigued. Then I found the thrill of shopping secondhand – mostly online. I find that when shopping pre-loved, you are more intentional with what you search for, and you buy the things that you know you’re going to wear.”Goklani with her vintage Gucci bamboo handle bag Continue reading…

This will be Melanie Rickey’s (AKA Fashion Editor at Large) second Christmas gifting vintage and secondhand to friends and family. She explains why – and how to get it rightThe why: luxury at a fraction of the price – and footprintCast your mind back over the last few decades of fashion. The incredible catwalk shows, hundreds of stores offering on-trend styles, new collabs, and drops – all the time. What happens to these mountains of well-made outfits, ‘it’ bags and designer jewels after they stop being brand new? They’re still out there somewhere. Ideally loved and worn by one careful owner, but if not, hopefully set free to re-enter the marketplace rather than sent to landfill.Pre-loved style has fascinated me since I was a teenager. My first part-time job as an editor at the iconic London vintage store Rokit, coupled with my obsession with fashion, meant I learned young how to recreate a straight-from-the-runway look using well-made vintage pieces at a fraction of the price. Continue reading…