The film to watch
It’s a quirk of awards season that while Oscar voters love to make a new female film star through the acting categories (think Jennifer Lawrence at 22, Mikey Madison at 25 last year and many, many more) it’s almost impossible to win as a young man. Adrien Brody is the only Best Actor to have ever won in his 20s. Previously nominated as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown and for Call Me By Your Name, third time lucky, can Timothee Chalamet, 30, win with Marty Supreme? And what’s more, would it be deserved? Ironically Marty Supreme examines ambition as a subject matter in itself… Make up your own mind before the Academy Awards on 15 March. Watch on ITV.
The tickets to buy
David Hare’s new play, inspired by the world of Victorian theatre Grace Pervades, opens at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 24 April until 11 July. Book now to see Ralph Fiennes (still due a best actor Oscar) on stage as Henry Irving.
Or go for the spring run of Dracula with all 23 characters inhabited by a shape-shifting (and singing) Cynthia Erivo directed by Kip Williams. The Aussie director is best known for his hit re-imagining of The Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook
The exhibition to see
You need to book your tickets for an electrifying encounter with Dame Tracey Emin at Tate Modern running till 31 August. Her first solo show at White Cube in 1994 was pessimistically entitled My Major Retrospective. The work she has made since then – and continues to make today – is a moving testament to her singular second life as an artist. There’s nothing like seeing so many of her confessional works across multiple genres in conversation with each other, even if you’ve been seeking them out since ‘My Bed’ was the star of the Turner Prize in 1999.
The event to attend…
Russel T Davies
Celebrating its 40th year on the London landscape, BFI Flare, the LGBTQIA+ film Festival, runs from 18-29 March. There are tickets from £10 along with many special events and talks, from a free celebration of Midnight Cowboy auteur John Schlesinger in his centenary, to Russell T Davies in a Screen Talk conversation.
The collaboration to look out for…
We do like to be beside the sea even in March especially if you’re wrapped up in Barbour. The new collaboration with Paul Smith is inspired by the British seaside and to celebrate, a custom Paul Smith fish-and-chip van has even been on a national tour. Chips with a side of cobalt Southwold stripes please… and look out for the fisherman bags too, great for the beach or the city.
The TV to watch
The performances and script divide opinion but you can’t fault the wardrobe. Thank Love Story on Disney+ (which includes Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy) for educating the next gen on JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy whose style is now being copied by 20-somethings. Maybe the CBK trend will get the youth vote out for Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, currently running for Congress in New York. And if it’s still sub-zero, have you tried Heated Rivalry on Sky Atlantic which is creating a surge of interest in getting off the sofa and taking up ice hockey... amongst other extra-curricular activities.
The album to listen to…
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, Harry Styles fourth solo album, is currently being teased by 'Aperture': his promising electronica single and its work-of-art music video. A further glimpse into the universe of the new record (out March 6) was seen this weekend, with a spectacularly synchronised dance routine at Manchester's Brit Awards.
The book to read
After coming out of acting retirement for a cameo in Marty Supreme, Gwyneth Paltrow is said to want to play Belle Burden, granddaughter of Babe Paley, and author of the bestselling memoir Strangers: A Memoir of a Marriage (Penguin). Get to know the startling book in its beautifully written original, before it heads to the screen in any form. It’s a haunting must-read and the centre of a bidding war for the film rights.
For something new, add the latest from Atlanta novelist Tayari Jones to your stack. Author of An American Marriage (winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction) her new book is Kin (Oneworld) out this month.