Going out: Cinema
The Fall Guy
Out now
It’s nearly two months since Ryan Gosling gave us that iconic slice of Ken at the Oscars, and if you’re jonesing for another hit, that’s understandable. Here the former Mousketeer plays an ageing action choreographer on the trail of a missing A-lister for whom he once acted as stunt double.
The Devil Finds Work: James Baldwin Through Film
Barbican Cinema, London, to 22 May
This year marks the centenary of the birth of James Baldwin, and the Barbican is celebrating with a season looking at cinema associated with his work, including screenings of If Beale Street Could Talk and Hunger. Plus talks after every screening discussing significant themes and influences. Curated by Dr Clive Chijioke Nwonka.
Love Lies Bleeding
Out now
Director Rose Glass builds on the promise of her debut Saint Maud with an A-grade cast including Kristen Stewart and Ed Harris. But the breakout star is Katy O’Brian, as a bodybuilder and object of Stewart’s affection, in a no-holds-barred 80s-set love story.
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Out now
Etero (Eka Chavleishvili) a resolutely single 48-year-old woman living in a small village in Georgia, has always maintained her independence. But when she unexpectedly finds herself falling head over heels for a new love interest, she’s confronted with serious questions about what she wants from life, in this award winning drama from director Elene Naveriani. Catherine Bray
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Going out: Gigs
The Japanese House
7 to 10 May; tour starts Glasgow
Released last summer, Amber Bain’s second album as the Japanese House, saw her reflect on her queer identity and broken relationships via a suite of vibrant alt-pop songs. Honed over various international festivals, this short tour should see her evolve still further. Michael Crag
Total Immersion: Italian Radicals
Barbican, London, 5 May
Any of the four composers grouped under the title of Italian Radicals for the latest of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion days could have justified a day of concerts all to himself. But no opportunity to hear anything by Luigi Dallapiccola, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono or Luciano Berio should be spurned, and the final concert does include two masterpieces, Nono’s Canti de Vita e d’Amore, and Berio’s Sinfonía. Andrew Clements
Elbow
7 to 15 May; tour starts Brighton
Ten albums into their career, Elbow have steadily become one of the country’s most loved bands. With latest record, March’s Audio Vertigo hitting No 1, Guy Garvey et al head out on an arena tour armed with a cavalcade of densely packed indie epics. MC
Cheltenham jazz festival
Montpellier Gardens, to 6 May
Soulful, gospel-rooted US singer Gregory Porter has become a global jazz star, and his Cheltenham gig (6 May) will make a rousing finale for the 2024 festival. Pianist Brad Mehldau, vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cherise, and Norma Winstone, and jazz-funk stars Snarky Puppy also feature over this closing weekend. John Fordham
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Going out: Art
Lucian Freud’s Etchings
V&A South Kensington, London, to 25 August
As well as painting with a uniquely ruthless eye, the great Berlin-born artist did powerful etchings in collaboration with master printer Mark Balakjian. This small display of rarely seen proofs takes you inside his process. It shows Freud working in the north European print tradition of Cranach and Rembrandt.
National Treasures
Galleries nationwide, from 10 May
Great paintings from the National Gallery visit galleries around the UK to celebrate the collection’s 200th birthday. You can see Turner’s Fighting Temeraire in Newcastle, and Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus in Belfast, while Artemisia Gentileschi proves her modernity by popping into Birmingham’s contemporary Ikon Gallery.
Simon Starling
Modern Institute, Glasgow, to 25 May
The environmentally minded Turner winner presents Houseboat for Ho, a surreal combination of a Bolivian reed boat and European thatched cottage. This dreamlike creation looks like a calming place to live and float. The climate reference? Ho is a Danish village that may soon vanish underwater.
Mary Beale
Philip Mould and Company, London, to 19 July
British art began in the 17th century when homegrown talents were inspired by the many European painters who worked for Stuart monarchs. Right there on the ground floor of the nation’s art history was Mary Beale, who made a good living from portraiture and employed her husband as business manager.
Jonathan Jones
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Going out: Stage
Richard Herring
8 May to 18 July; tour starts London
After a six-year hiatus from standup (although not from the stage; see his prolific live podcast), Herring returns with a show about his 2021 testicular cancer diagnosis. Can I Have My Ball Back? sees the comic muse on his illness and some unsavoury peers in the single-testicle community. Rachel Aroesti
Breakin’ Convention
Sadler’s Wells, London, 4 & 5 May
This fest brings the best hip-hop dance artists from around the world (and local talents, too) to the Sadler’s Wells stage. It’s always family-friendly, with dance battles in the foyers, graffiti artists on site, and all-round good vibes. Lyndsey Winship
Sweat
Royal Exchange, Manchester, to 25 May
Jade Lewis (Sleepova) directs Lynn Nottage’s glorious, brutal play, a story of factory workers in middle America, where financial insecurity informs every conversation, dream and fight. Kate Wyver
The House Party
Chichester festival Theatre, 4 May to 1 June
Headlong knows how to make a production feel like a party. In this adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, made in collaboration with Frantic Assembly, Julie’s 18th birthday party looks set to be messy. KW
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Staying in: Streaming
Inside No 9
iPlayer & BBC Two, 8 May, 10pm
After a decade of insidious, hilarious horror, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s creative and creepy anthology series hangs up its hat. The twisted, twisty premises are still under wraps, but the stars are out: series nine will feature Mark Bonnar, Siobhan Finneran, Eddie Marsan, Matthew Kelly and many more.
Bodkin
Netflix, 9 May
Politics may be beyond parody, but podcasting certainly isn’t: this latest send-up of the eminently problematic true-crime genre stars the reliably hilarious Will Forte as a patronising podcaster who travels to rural Ireland to investigate a cold case – which duly warms up as his team home in on the truth.
Dark Matter
Apple TV+, 8 May
Forget murder or betrayal, serious television drama is increasingly powered by one thing and one thing alone: quantum mechanics. Starring Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga, this adaptation of Blake Crouch’s 2016 novel about a physicist who is kidnapped (potentially by himself) and taken to another dimension combines head-scratching science with straightforward thrills.
The Responder
iPlayer & BBC One, 5 May, 9pm
Series one of this bent-copper drama swooped, nail-bitingly, through Liverpool’s nocturnal criminal underbelly as officer Chris Carson (a truly incredible Martin Freeman) implicated himself in the dodgy dealings he was supposed to be policing. Its return sees him fall even further from grace, desperately juggling his official workload with a tormented spiral into corruption. RA
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Staying in: Games
Endless Ocean Crow Country
Out 9 May; PC, PS4/5, Xbox Series X/S
A creepily nostalgic, character driven folk-horror game with the low-poly look of the original PlayStation era.
Luminous
Out now; Nintendo Switch
Encounter new marine life on every dive below the waves in this underwater adventure – some creatures real, some mythical, and some extinct. Keza MacDonald
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Staying in: Albums
Sia – Reasonable Woman
Out now
On this 10th album, the bewigged Australian singer-songwriter ropes in Missy Elliott, Kylie, Chaka Khan and, erm, Paris Hilton on a suite of full-throated songs that flit between squelchy dance-pop (Dance Alone, Incredible) and broken balladry (I Forgive You).
Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism
Out now
Ahead of her forthcoming Glastonbury headline set, the Swan Song hitmaker adds a handful of immaculate bangers to her arsenal via this third album. Co-produced by Kevin Parker and Danny L Harle, and inspired by the “freedom of 90s Britpop”, singles Houdini and Training Season should go down a treat in Somerset.
Kamasi Washington – Fearless Movement
Out now
The US jazz saxophonist has billed this fifth opus, which clocks in at an epic 86 minutes, as his “dance album”. Don’t expect any David Guetta-esque beats, however. Instead there’s the skittering rhythm of The Garden Path, or the near-nine-minute, André 3000-assisted Dream State to lose yourself in.
Willow – Empathogen
Out now
After dabbling in pop-punk and alt-rock on 2021’s Lately I Feel Everything and 2022’s Coping Mechanism, 23-year-old genre-hopper Willow switches here to a more jazz-tinged, piano-based sound. Singles Symptom of Life and Big Feelings channel Tori Amos, and guests include St Vincent and Jon Batiste. MC
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Staying in: Brain food
We Disrupt This Broadcast
Podcast
A fascinating series (above) lending insights into the ways TV shows aim to change culture on and off screen. Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson and Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker are among those interviewed.
Gimmie Zine
Online
Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie is a delightfully DIY exploration of all things punk, featuring regular online interviews with scene heads such as Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, as well as a hand-crafted print magazine packed with rising stars.
The Invention of Surgery
PBS America, Wednesday
From Hippocrates’ theory of bodily humours to impromptu amputations and accidental discoveries, this two-part series, concluding on Thursday, explores how modern surgery emerged from a long, complex and often gruesome history of mistakes and breakthroughs. Ammar Kalia
