Going out: Cinema
Anora
Out now
The juicy premise of Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning comedy wouldn’t feel out of place in Succession: a Russian oligarch’s son impulsively marries a sex worker (Mikey Madison, in a universally acclaimed performance), teeing up all manner of farcical wrangling.
Heretic
Out now
Paddington 2 showcased a PG version of Hugh Grant’s delicious ability to vamp it up as a villain, and here’s the 15 certificate horror version. Grant plays Mr Reed, a sinister man who initially seems welcoming when two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East) show up on his doorstep.
Juror #2
Out now
Clint Eastwood is no slouch – at 94 years old, he’s still acting and directing, with this legal thriller being his latest. Nicholas Hoult plays a family man who finds himself confronted by a moral dilemma while serving as juror in a high-profile murder case. Toni Collette also stars (making this her big-screen reunion with Hoult; they played mother and son in About a Boy).
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Out now
This documentary tells the story of how Christopher Reeve donned the Man of Steel’s blue tights and flew into the spotlight, before the accident that saw him evolve into a campaigner and activist in the pursuit of a cure for spinal cord injuries. Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Pitchfork music festival London
Various venues, 5 to 10 November
Kae Tempest, Empress Of, Tierra Whack and Sega Bodega are some of the highlights of Pitchfork’s annual trip to London. Spread across numerous venues, the lineup also includes a night curated by mercurial Brit award winner Casisdead. Michael Cragg
Ezra Collective
5 to 15 November; tour starts Nottingham
In 2023, a joyous mix of jazz, Afrobeat, hip-hop, grime and Latin grooves made Ezra Collective the first band to win the Mercury prize for a jazz album. They launch their new release, Dance, No One’s Watching, with this UK tour, winding up at Wembley Arena. John Fordham
Mother Tongue
Royal Festival Hall, London, 6 November
No doubt it will be the prospect of Vikingur Ólafsson playing Brahms’s First Piano Concerto that will make this concert by Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic into a hot ticket. But it’s the new work at the centre of the programme, an LPO commission, that’s more intriguing, for recent works by Freya Waley-Cohen have marked her out as a composer with something to say. Expect a world premiere of her latest work, Mother Tongue. Andrew Clements
Interpol
2 to 10 November; tour starts Manchester
Released in 2004, Interpol’s second album, Antics, afforded the New York miserabilists a seat at rock’s main table, with support slots with U2 and the Cure quickly following. Twenty years later and they’re showcasing its highlights, including the excellent Slow Hands, on this special anniversary tour. MC
Going out: Art
Julia Margaret Cameron to Eileen Agar: The Hewat Collection
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, to 12 January
The powerful photography of Julia Margaret Cameron shines brightly out of the torpor of British Victorian art. Her portrait of the astronomer Sir John Herschel, included in this exhibition, is surely her masterpiece, with Herschel’s Rembrandtesque face surrounded by what seems like a supernova. This show also includes Agar’s surrealism, and works by Cyril Edward Power.
Vivienne Westwood
The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, to 2 March
From her early splash as an inventor of punk style to her fame as a flamboyant couture designer and posing nude for Juergen Teller, Vivienne Westwood was a truly brilliant cultural star. This show from a private collection also reveals her fascination with the 18th-century rococo.
Medieval Women
British Library, London, to 2 March
Authors, composers, feminists – the women of medieval Europe included famed individuals who broke through the inequalities of a feudal world. Christine de Pizan, author of The City of Women, and Sybille of Flanders, who went on the Crusades, feature here along with evidence of ordinary lives from nunneries to childbirth.
Discover Constable and the Hay Wain
National Gallery, London, to 2 February
The Hay Wain is often dismissed as a patriotic icon but that cliche won’t survive a proper look at the painting. Constable’s knotty colour and texture make this scene as alive as when it was painted. He takes you into the mystery of a moment in memory, under fickle clouds.
Jonathan Jones
Going out: Stage
Tatty Macleod
3 to 29 November; tour starts London
Britons have an almost masochistic need to laugh at themselves, an impulse Macleod – born in France to British parents – exploits expertly with her Anglo/Franco culture-clash comedy. But she also underpins it with weightier themes, such as the lack of belonging engendered by her cross-Channel background. Rachel Aroesti
Guards at the Taj
Orange Tree theatre, London, to 16 November
Every year the Orange Tree hosts a production by the winner of the JMK award, a prestigious prize for directors. This year’s winner is Adam Karim, directing Rajiv Joseph’s thrilling new tale of beauty and betrayal, as two imperial guards oversee the final day of construction on the Taj Mahal. Kate Wyver
Birdsong
Chichester festival theatre, 5 to 9 November
Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation brings the heart of Sebastian Faulks’s tale of love and loss to the stage. Trevor Nunn directed it 14 years ago; now Alastair Whatley leads the way. Taking us through the Battle of the Somme as men cling to the memories of their loved ones, this new production marks the extraordinary novel’s 30th anniversary. KW
A Christmas Carol
Lyceum, Sheffield, 7 to 9 November, then touring
Northern Ballet revives one of its hits from the 1990s, created by director Christopher Gable and choreographer Massimo Moricone – the same team behind its Romeo & Juliet, another recent successful revival. A family show with an atmospheric Victorian setting (designed by the brilliant Lez Brotherston) and everyone’s favourite Christmas misery guts. Humbug! Lyndsey Winship
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Staying in: Streaming
The Day of the Jackal
Sky Atlantic/Now, 7 November, 9pm
After the cutting-edge thrills of Top Boy, writer Ronan Bennett returns with a slightly more old-school crime drama. Based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel, this nail-biting series stars Eddie Redmayne as a prolific and consummate lone-wolf hitman who is pursued across Europe by Lashana Lynch’s obsessed intelligence officer.
Lucan
BBC Two/iPlayer, 6 to 8 November, 9pm
In 1974, Lord Lucan was accused of murdering his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett. Then he disappeared. Even now, the mystery of his whereabouts looms large in the public imagination, but nobody remains more fixated on the case than builder Nick Berriman; Rivett was his mother. This documentary charts his efforts to find Lucan.
Junior Taskmaster
Channel 4, 8 November, 8pm
The Taskmaster universe just keeps expanding: hot on the heels of the launch of the quirky gameshow’s “live experience” in London comes a kids’ spin-off with a refreshed hosting duo: ex-contestants Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak play the merciless taskmaster and her mild-mannered assistant.
Citadel: Honey Bunny
Prime Video, 7 November
The Russo Brothers are best known for their contributions to the Marvel cinematic universe; now they’re bringing that franchise mindset to TV. October brought an Italian spin-off of their spy thriller Citadel; now there’s an Indian version, starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu as a couple whose secret agent past catches up with them. RA
Staying in: Games
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Out now; PC, PS5, Xbox
The former princes/princesses of role-playing games at BioWare have had a rough decade – we are all hoping that this long-anticipated fantasy sequel will be a return to form.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Out 7 November; Nintendo Switch
Join the plumber brothers on a ship in this island-hopping comic, book-styled comedy adventure. It looks cute but it’s also got some story and turn-based combat chops. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: Albums
Mxmtoon – Liminal Space
Out now
Mxmtoon, AKA 24-year-old Californian Maia, first released songs anonymously in 2017, but her fanbase grew too big to keep things secret. Seven years later and the streamer, podcaster and graphic novelist is on her third album, which features the country-ish strut of single I Hate Texas.
The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
Out now
The enduring goth legends, led by Robert Smith, first confirmed the existence of this 14th album, their first since 2008, via a series of postcards sent to fans back in September. These followed the premiere of five typically bleak but melodic new songs while on tour in 2022. All that teasing finally comes to an end now.
Mount Eerie – Night Palace
Out now
Phil Elverum, purveyor of heart-aching lo-fi folk experiments, returns to his Mount Eerie moniker for this follow-up to 2019’s Lost Wisdom Pt 2. The storm-lashed I Walk features a swirl of distorted guitars, but it’s the short Broom of Wind that unnerves, pairing a jaunty melody with unsettling reverb.
Willie Nelson – Last Leaf on the Tree
Out now
Produced and curated by his son Micah, 91-year-old Willie Nelson’s 76th album, featuring covers and one original, is about “facing death with grace”. Opener Last Leaf, written by Tom Waits, sets the tone, while the country legend also interprets songs by Beck, Nina Simone and the Flaming Lips among others. MC
Staying in: Brain food
Better Offline
Podcast
Tech writer Ed Zitron’s analytical series takes a fascinating look at how developments in the tech world affect our everyday lives. Along with expert guests, Zitron discusses everything from the AI bubble to Silicon Valley fashion.
Lillian.com
Online
The late digital artist Lillian Schwartz was a pioneer of animation, using early computing technology to create strangely beautiful abstract visuals. Her website features a range of distinct work, including 1975’s Escher-inspired jazz odyssey, Kinesis.
Documentary: The Boy Who Can Fly
BBC One, 8 November, 7.30pm
Filmed over the course of a year, this vertigo-fuelled documentary follows 23-year-old Scottish Base jumper Liam as he prepares to launch himself off Männlichen mountain in Switzerland in nothing but a wingsuit. Ammar Kalia