Good morning from London. Today is particularly significant as a new Prime Minister enters 10 Downing Street. Let’s hope that, unlike his predecessor, he brings a healthier interest in preserving the arts and culture—not just in our city, but nationally too. Regardless of who is in power (and Lord knows our mayor is doing everything to get in the way of our cultural institutions), Londoners are a plucky bunch who, through our multifaceted creative DIY spirit, can put together The Greatest Show on earth… at least once a week. From Jeeves and Wooster beneath the train arches to a proper pizza spot in East London and Homer at the IMAX, this is your week in London.
—Chris Cotonou, Deputy Editor
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is quite rightfully the Epic on everyone's tongues this week, but if you're tired of sirens, soldiers and cyclops's, march your trojan horse over to the Garden Cinema and catch a rare 4K screening of Akira Kurosawa's 1964 film Red Beard. The last movie he made with (my greatest actor of all time pick) Toshiro Mifune, this is a cinematic voyage of a more intimate kind than Nolan's film, though no less epic. It follows a young and arrogant physician (Yūzō Kayama) who is sent to a small Japanese village for tutelage under the short-tempered but principled Red Beard (Mifune), with the former first resenting then coming to appreciate his gruff teacher's methods. A deeply compassionate film, it remains one of my personal favourite Kurosawa's alongside Ikiru and High & Low—and will make for an interesting double feature with Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden when the acclaimed Venice feature arrives in cinemas this November. (Luke Georgiades, Features writer) The new 4K restoration of Red Beard is playing on Monday 20th July (17:15) and Wednesday 22nd July (14:30) at The Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker St, London WC2B 5PQ.
This weekend I’ll be heading down to the South Bank, where the Tate Modern are exhibiting an exciting double bill of two of Latin America’s most significant female artists. Frida Kahlo is celebrated in Frida: The Making of an Icon, a show that gathers the Mexican artist’s most significant paintings alongside other objects and ephemera. I’m even more excited to then head next door to see the new retrospective of Cuban artist Ana Mendieta (which many are lauding with 5 stars). Her art—ephemeral sculptures which outline and imprint her body in materials such as blood, feathers, fire, sand, flora and earth and are then documented in photography—still feels radical today. (Kitty Grady, Digital Editor) Ana Mendieta until 17th January 2027 and Frida: The Making of an Icon until 3rd January 2027, both at Tate Modern.
Forty-five years ago, Jeeves Takes Charge won an Olivier award. This adaptation of PG Wodehouse is now back on for a short run at the small Charing Cross Theatre, located under the arches in a particularly old-world way, and as a fan of all Jeeves and Wooster’s escapades in book form, I’m excited to watch my favourite characters on stage (especially Old Gussie). With all that’s happening in the world, nothing puts a smile on the face like Wodehouse. (CC). Jeeves Takes Charge is on until 6th September, Charing Cross Theatre, The Arches, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NL.
I’ve just returned from Italy, following a shoot for our 16th issue. One thing I’ve still got a taste for is pizza, so this week, I’ll be heading to the newly opened Bar Etna in Newington Green. Sure, it’s a part of a series of hyped London pizza spots, but this feels like the real deal: a collaboration between some of the city’s best restaurateurs and East Coast pizza icon Joe Beddia. Totally worth the trip out East to rub shoulders with hungry hipsters… (CC). Bar Etna, 47 Newington Green, London N16 9PX.
If you’ve read Issue 15 (our sci-fi special), you’ll remember our feature on groundbreaking French comic Métal Hurlant. Jean Pleyers' The Children of Light is a visually stunning science fiction epic, collected in English for the first time, once compiled in the magazine. Facing the destruction of their home planet by a looming supernova, the advanced alien race known as the Zors embarks on a thousand-year voyage aboard a hollowed-out moon transformed into a colossal spaceship. The artwork was praised by none other than Moebius. New York Review of Books has put together this version for the first time and I’m excited to get into this space opera epic over the coming week. (CC). The Children of Light by Jean Pleyers, available online at New York Review Books.
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