Going out: Cinema
Elio
Out now
In this new Pixar animation, the eponymous Elio, a young orphan, is accidentally mistaken for ambassador for Earth to the universe by some aliens. Hell, after Musk and Trump, he couldn’t do worse, right? With voicework from Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña and Shirley Henderson.
28 Years Later
Out now
Just in case the title alone has given you a jumpscare, no, the original fast zombie hit 28 Days Later is not yet 28 years old; don’t panic, you haven’t aged quite that much (it came out in 2002). But this horror sequel is indeed set 28 years after the Rage virus leaked out of a medical research laboratory and, surprise, surprise, things are not too peachy.
Queer 70s
Barbican, London, to 16 July
Looking at LGBTQ+ cinema in the decade following the Stonewall riots, this new Pride Month season is curated by Alex Davidson and includes the bisexual love triangle melodrama Badnam Basti (Neighbourhood of Ill Repute), AKA India’s first queer film, by Prem Kapoor.
The Last Journey
Out now
Who’s for a family road trip? This documentary follows a father and son’s journey through the south of France as the son attempts to inject some joie de vivre back into his ageing father’s worldview. From the humorous Swedish film-making and TV-hosting duo Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson. Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Faye Webster
26 June to 2 July; tour starts Bristol
On the US singer-songwriter’s 2024 album Underdressed at the Symphony, songs were built from freewheeling jam sessions, with its breakup theme softened by meandering string arrangements and soft instrumental passages. Her voice is still a thing of beauty, as this run of gigs should showcase. Michael Cragg
Diana Ross
22 June to 2 July; tour starts Birmingham
Backed by her band plus, for the first time, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the revered Diana Ross arrives in UK arenas with her decades of hits in tow. Expect sequin-encrusted reworkings of Motown favourites, plus Upside Down, I’m Coming Out and Chain Reaction. MC
Penarth chamber music festival
Various venues, Penarth, 21 & 22 June
The long weekend of the Penarth festival regularly pushes the definition of the definition of “chamber music” to its limits. The closing two days of this year’s programme squeeze in a Mahler symphony and a concert through the town, before ending with Enescu’s rarely heard Octet for strings. Andrew Clements
Brad Mehldau Trio
Saffron Walden, 22 June; Bristol, 23 June; London, 24 June; Dublin, 25 June
The great contemporary pianist has collaborated with stars including Joshua Redman and Pat Metheny, plus classical and electronica luminaries. But uncannily intuitive jazz trios, such as this one with bassist Felix Moseholm and drummer Jorge Rossy, have always stretch Mehldau’s unique gifts the furthest. John Fordham
Going out: Art
Liliane Lijn
Tate St Ives, to 2 November
There’s nothing like modern art to complete a day at St Ives between surfing, swimming, pasties and ale. Liliane Lijn has her own style of kinetic art that sculpts light and space and casts shadows of confusion on the mind. Her luminous work should resonate with this museum’s abstract paintings.
Mike Nelson
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 27 June to 5 October
Don’t look now, as the entire Fruitmarket Gallery becomes the stage for one of Nelson’s unsettling, many-layered installations that tell unfinished stories and give off peculiar atmospheric vibes. His starting point is a series of photographs of urban spaces in Britain and Turkey. Picture a Borges fiction in three dimensions.
Abstract Erotic
Courtauld Gallery, London, to 14 September
Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse are famous for their richly organic sculptures that inject sexuality and the carnal into dry modern artistic styles. Alice Adams is less well known, but in the 1960s these three artists were grouped together by critic and curator Lucy Lippard, who called their work “abstract erotic”.
Mumbai + London
British Museum, London, to 11 January
Mysterious and fascinating parallels in the art of the ancient world, from Greece to India, are held up for contemplation in this small show that makes a nice chaser to the BM’s Ancient India blockbuster. How does the classical Greek wine god Dionysus compare with India’s Vishnu? Are they related? Jonathan Jones
Going out: Stage
Wanda Sykes
Manchester, 26 June; London, 27 June; Brighton, 29 June; Dublin, 30 June
In the US, Sykes has been a big deal for a long time. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly crowned her one of the 25 funniest people in America and during her career she has racked up 17 Emmy nominations. Now, the standup’s gutsy comic stylings finally get a proper airing this side of the pond on her first ever UK tour. Rachel Aroesti
Showmanism
Hampstead theatre, London, to 12 July
A kaleidoscopic journey though the history of theatre, from Greek tragedy to nightclub drag queens – with Dickie Beau lip-syncing a cacophony of voices and all but summoning a series of stage and screen legends back into the theatre. Miriam Gillinson
Through It All Together
Leeds Playhouse, to 19 July
A Yorkshire couple with a passion for Leeds United are living with dementia – can new manager Marcelo Bielsa help them through? Written by Leeds playwright Chris O’Connor and developed with members of Leeds’s Dementia Engagement and Empowerment project. MG
Estuary festival
Various venues, Essex and Kent, to 29 June
Who knew the Thames estuary was the place for cutting-edge arts? This week-long festival features eclectic performances, installations and events including two unusual dance-theatre shows: Salt, taking place in a tidal pool on Canvey Island, and aerial show Anchored, performed on a ship at the Historic Dockyard Chatham. Lyndsey Winship
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Staying in: Streaming
Squid Game
Netflix, 27 June
After a three-year gap between seasons one and two, the South Korean late-stage capitalism satire returns a mere six months later to wrap things up entirely. Teased horrors from this final instalment include a deadly skipping rope wielded by two giant dolls – but who will win the contest’s ultimate 45.6bn Won (£25m) prize?
Smoke
Apple TV+, 27 June
In 2021, true-crime podcast Firebug retold the bizarre and horrifying story of the serial arsonist who plagued southern California in the 1980s. Now that series has been loosely adapted into an atmospheric new drama. Taron Egerton, Rafe Spall and Greg Kinnear lead the cast.
Transaction
ITVX, 24 June
Once trans shelf-stacker Liv finds out she’s merely a diversity hire, she realises she’s essentially unsackable – and begins to push the boundaries of workplace etiquette to their very limits. Garlanded standup Jordan Gray writes and stars, alongside Doon Mackichan and Nick Frost, who plays the supermarket’s boss.
The Kim Kardashian Diamond Heist
iPlayer/BBC Three, Wed, 9pm
It would have been a shocking crime regardless of the victim, but when thieves stole millions of pounds’ worth of jewellery from a Paris apartment in 2016, they held one of the world’s most famous women hostage. Now, following last month’s criminal trial, this documentary can finally tell the full story. RA
Staying in: Games
Rematch
Out now; PC, PS5, Xbox
A colourful and futuristic 5v5 football game whose creators have clearly played a lot of Rocket League. Restores the fun and arcade feel that EA Sports FC’s realism has left behind.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Out June 26; PS5
The star-studded latest game from auteur director Hideo Kojima is, as always, indescribable. But here’s an attempt: you play a post-apocalyptic delivery man searching for human connection through Mexico and into the Australian outback. Keza MacDonald
Staying in: Albums
Haim – I Quit
Out now
Haim return with their first album in five years. Co-produced by Danielle Haim and erstwhile Vampire Weekender Rostam, it touches on hip-hop-accented bops about confusing men (first single Relationships) and cathartic introspection, as on the 90s rock of Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out.
Loyle Carner – Hopefully!
Out now
Three years after his Mercury-nominated third album, Hugo, south London rapper and singer Loyle Carner strips things back, exploring alternative music on a personal record that digs into ideas around fatherhood, self-doubt and trying to find simple pleasures in life.
Matmos – Metallic Life Review
Out now
Having previously utilised the sounds of freshly cut hair and “the amplified neural activity of crayfish” to create their experimental electronic opuses, US duo Matmos turn their attentions to metal objects on this 15th album, with single The Rust Belt making eerie soundscapes with pots and pans.
Yungblud – Idols
Out now
After gradually scaling back the cartoonish pop-punk of 2020’s Weird! over the last few years, Doncaster’s finest Dominic Harrison goes full Serious Musician mode on Idols. If that wasn’t apparent from the topless black-and-white cover art, epic lead single Hello Heaven, Hello, is a nine-minute rock opera. MC
Staying in: Brain food
Therapy
Podcast
DJs Logic1000 and Heléna Star host this insightful series talking to artists balancing parenthood with their musical careers. Wide-ranging guests include Little Dragon frontwoman Yukimi Nagano, BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Jamz Supernova and the broadcaster Raji Rags.
Feed Me
Substack
Writer Emily Sundberg’s daily newsletter on US business might seem like a staid topic but her incisive reporting uncovers the lasting impact of everything from beauty industry takeovers to the growing popularity of “hustle podcasts”.
Grenfell: Uncovered
Netflix, out now
Seven years on from the tragic tower block fire, this emotive and often enraging film speaks to survivors and firefighters to analyse how early interventions could have led to proper construction practices and ultimately saved lives. Ammar Kalia