Going out: Cinema
Nouvelle Vague
Out now
Never bet against Richard Linklater: the veteran director (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood) loves turning his hand to different genres, and his latest is a typically mellow dramatisation of the period in French film history that saw the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol shake off their lives as critics and become bona fide film legends.
Is This Thing On?
Out now
It sounds like an improbable standup bit in itself, but no: here we have a Hollywood comedy inspired by the life of the UK’s own John Bishop. Will Arnett plays the man in a troubled marriage who decides to give open mic a go and is a surprise hit, while Laura Dern plays his wife. Directed by Bradley Cooper (yes, the Bradley Cooper).
Primate
Out now
Come on now, people: chimpanzees are unsuitable enough as pets to start with. Throw a case of rabies into the mix and poor Ben the chimp soon finds himself the antagonist in a quirky horror movie in which a family’s tropical holiday goes very wrong indeed.
Shelter
Out now
Jason Statham is front and centre in this action/survival thriller, in which a former assassin must protect a young girl he rescues during a storm. Per the demands of the genre, his past is set to catch up with him in ways that will make his role as protector more challenging. Also starring Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays. Catherine Bray
Going out: GigsMagnetic … Anna of the North. Photograph: William Spooner
Anna of the North
Islington Assembly Hall, London, 5 February
Tyler, the Creator’s favourite Scandi-pop star (they collaborated on his Flower Boy album) brings her emotionally frayed soft-pop to London. With the second part of last year’s excellent Girl in a Bottle EP due at some point, keep an ear out for new songs. Michael Cragg
Manchester Collective: Sky With the Four Suns
3 to 12 February; tour starts Bristol Beacon
Manchester Collective’s immersive performances have established it as one of the coolest outfits in classical music. This latest tour juxtaposes the luminous expanses of John Luther Adams’s Canticles of the Sky with works by Purcell, Britten and Arvo Pärt, plus a new commission by rising star Jasmine Morris. Flora Willson
Dana Masters/Viva Cuba Late Show
Ronnie’s Scott’s, London, 6 February
Ronnie Scott’s club unveils the refurbishment of its Upstairs venue, designed to cherish both the establishment’s jazz-devoted history and its flair for discovering rising stars. Soul-jazz artist and former Van Morrison vocalist Dana Masters, and a Cuban-jazz Late Late Show, open this legendary club’s new era. John Fordham
Xiu Xiu
31 January to 7 February, tour starts Falmer
Released earlier this month, Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol 1 collects together the US experimental rock trio’s brilliantly odd selection of cover versions, originally released on Bandcamp. Fingers crossed they highlight their unsettling version of Robyn’s modern classic Dancing on My Own on this short tour. MC
Going out: ArtReady to war … Samurai armour. Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
Samurai
British Museum, London, 3 February to 4 May
The masks and armour of Japan’s old warrior elite, not to mention the high-quality steel and ritualised crafting of Samurai swords, have fascinated westerners from King James I, who took delivery of a complete Samurai suit in the 1600s, down to Kill Bill. Here’s the reality behind the myth.
Jenny Holzer
20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, 31 January to 13 June
What are words worth? Quite a lot if they are a Jenny Holzer artwork. This radical American artist has been creating provocative, rhetorical text pieces since the 1970s and was a defining figure of 1980s “postmodernism”. Today her messages, from printed matter to massive neon signs, are once again resonant.
People Watching
Dorset Museum and Art Gallery, Dorchester, to 10 May
Dod Procter, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth and more star in a survey of British portraiture in modern times. The human image was questioned in the 20th century as never before. The very idea of a “likeness” was challenged by expressionists, cubists and others – yet artists still pictured people, often radically.
New Contemporaries
South London Gallery, to 12 April
It’s getting harder to capture the contemporary as it moves faster, from AI to Trump’s latest. The artists here are fresh out of college or still studying, and their takes on the shock of the now may surprise you. Participants include Kat Anderson, Hadas Auerbach, Deborah Lerner and many more. Jonathan Jones
Going out: StageCheeky monkey … Tom Rosenthal. Photograph: Jack Margerison
Tom Rosenthal
Exeter Phoenix, 1 February; touring to 25 September
In his high-concept new show, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am, relatably neurotic Friday Night Dinner star Rosenthal wrestles with his identity – his celebrity status, his Jewish heritage, his autism – while drawing parallels between his own career and that of indie greats the Arctic Monkeys. Rachel Aroesti
The Tempest
Shakespeare’s Globe: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, to 12 April
Following on from last year’s star-studded revival of his play An Oak Tree, Tim Crouch directs The Tempest. He stars alongside Naomi Wirthner in a show set to be full of storytelling, surprises and self-reflection. Miriam Gillinson
Macbeth
Hull Truck theatre, 5 to 28 February; touring to 18 April
This co-production from Hull Truck, Octagon and Derby theatres is designed to align with the GCSE curriculum and is set in a modern war zone. Oliver Alvin-Wilson plays Macbeth alongside Jo Mousley’s Lady Macbeth. MG
The Monocle
Arc, Stockton, 31 January; Westlands, Yeovil, 3 February; Ocean theatre, Bournemouth, 6 February
Choreographer Mathieu Geffré and his company Rendez-Vous Dance recreate the underground nightlife 30s Paris in this story of The Monocle, a renowned lesbian cabaret club. Six women find love, laugh, drink and dance the night away in a blur of freedom and sensuality backed by jazz singer Imogen Banks. Lyndsey Winship
Staying in: StreamingBrains trust … Alan Carr and Susie Dent. Photograph: Jack Barnes/Channel 4
Secret Genius
Channel 4, 1 February, 9pm
From gameshows to Mediterranean-themed property programmes, Celebrity Traitor extraordinaire Alan Carr is deservedly all over our screens at present. For his latest project the comic teams up with Countdown’sSusie Dent to hunt down the nation’s most extraordinary – and underappreciated – brainboxes.
Mock the Week
TLC, 1 February, 9pm
The Dara Ó Briain-helmed topical panel show has only been off our screeners for two-and-a-bit years but it has already been revived by the newly free-to-air channel TLC. Expect familiar faces (Hugh Dennis, Katherine Ryan, Russell Howard, Sara Pascoe) and an ambitious new 60-minute running time.
Long Story Short
iPlayer & BBC Three, 1 February, 9pm
This BBC initiative nurtures the showrunners of tomorrow by pairing new talent with local production companies and established actors (Corey Mylchreest, Iwan Rheon, Anjana Vasan). The result is a series of imaginative mini-dramas about everything from alpha male influencers to paranormal festivals and supermarket pineapples.
The Pushover
Channel 4, 2 February, 12.15am
A new slice of Nordic noir follows plucky Danish journalist Nora Sand as she investigates the death of a woman discovered floating in her own swimming pool. Could her boyfriend Tom – a notorious fraudster with another secret even darker than his scams – be the culprit? RA
Staying in: GamesHorror show … I Hate This Place. Photograph: Bloober Team
I Hate This Place
PS5, PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; out now
If a graphic novel take on old-school Resident Evil sounds like fun to you, take a look at this 1980s-camp survival-horror game based on the comic of the same name. Spend days prepping and crafting, and nights surviving the demonic horrors that come your way.
Cairn
PS5, PC; out now
In this beautiful-looking if somewhat pitiless mountain game. Aava wants to be the first person in the world to climb a particularly forbidding summit, and you must help her – carefully, by moving her individual limbs and puzzling out the least dangerous routes up the cliff face. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: AlbumsFloat on … Sébastien Tellier. Photograph: Jonas Unger
Sébastien Tellier – Kiss the Beast
Out now
Six years after exploring his interior world on Domesticated, stylish French electro pioneer Tellier ventures out on this eighth album. Featuring guest spots from Nile Rodgers and Kid Cudi, plus production from Oscar Holter (the Weeknd, Robyn), songs such as Copycat and Refresh are slinky dancefloor fillers.
AG Cook – The Moment (The Score)
Out now
Charli xcx taps up her regular collaborator AG Cook for the soundtrack to her Brat summer mockumentary, The Moment. The tellingly titled Dread turns xcx’s 2012 breakthrough smash I Love It into a creeping horror score, undermining the repeated joy of the title.
The Soft Pink Truth – Can Such Delightful Times Go on Forever?
Out now
Drew Daniel, who is also one half of bonkers electro duo Matmos, originally started this side project as a dare in 2003 after Matthew Herbert challenged him to make a house record. Six records in and its evolved to include the beautiful chamber pieces showcased here.
Labrinth – Cosmic Opera Act I
Out now
Ahead of the return of Euphoria – Labrinth is the HBO show’s long-term composer – comes the London polymath’s fourth solo album, his first in three years. Moody and cinematic, songs such as IMPLOSION and S.W.M.F., bolt expansive strings on to pounding hip-hop beats. MC
Staying in: Brain food
The Working Songwriter
Podcast
Folk songwriter Joe Pug hosts this longrunning series interviewing fellow songwriters on the practicalities of a creative life. Highlights include the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart on his collaboration with Bob Dylan and a caat with stringed dobro master Jerry Douglas.
WikiFlix
Online
More than 4,000 public-domain films are available to stream for free on this comprehensive archive. Explore digitised versions of early cinema masterpieces such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and FW Murnau’s Nosferatu.
Queen of Chess
Netflix, Friday, 6 February
Rory Kennedy’s engaging film on Hungarian chess prodigy Judit Polgár examines her rise to becoming the No 1 player in the world at age 12 and her lifelong ambition to encourage women into the sport. Ammar Kalia