The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times | Saturday December 4 2021 saturday review 3

Film

C’mon C’mon
Joaquin Phoenix plays a New York radio
journalist called Johnny who is unexpect-
edly landed with his estranged sister Viv’s
precocious nine-year-old son. The narra-
tive is familiar from any movie where a
slightly self-involved grown-up is hum-
bled by the company of a guileless child,
yet the details are different and the mood
more profound. It looks spectacular too.
In cinemas
Kevin Maher

TV

Wordsworth and Coleridge: Road Trip
with Frank Skinner and Denise Mina
After their series about Boswell and Dr
Johnson, the amiable comedian and
poetry buff Frank Skinner and his crime-
writing friend Denise Mina turn their
attention to the great Romantic poets. Like
them, they have an obvious chemistry and
fondness for each other as well as a genu-
ine, evangelising passion for their subject.
See feature, page 11. Sky Arts/Now, Tue
Ben Dowell

Theatre

Best of Enemies
James Graham’s new play is
inspired by the 2015 film docu-
mentary about the TV studio
duels between two pundits
who conducted their own bad-
tempered version of the culture
wars in the 1960s. The liberal
novelist Gore Vidal and the con-
servative magazine editor William F
Buckley, both patrician figures, went
toe to toe as the Democratic convention of
1968 descended into bloody chaos.
Young Vic, London SE1 (youngvic.org), to
Jan 22
Clive Davis

Opera

Tosca
After a few false starts — Jonathan Kent’s
handsome production was supposed to
come back last January before a fresh wave
of Covid killed it off, and the matinee
tomorrow has been cancelled because of
staff shortages — here’s Puccini’s thriller

back at Covent Garden with the Ukrainian

conductor Oksana Lyniv, making her

house debut. In cast “B” the Royal Opera

House is fielding 29-year-old British

tenor Freddie De Tommaso as Cavara-

dossi. Royal Opera House, London WC2

(roh.org.uk), Wed, and in rep to Dec 22; in

cinemas on Dec 15

Neil Fisher

Dance

Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!

In Matthew Bourne’s delightful 30-year-

old production, “reimagined for the 21st

century”, Clara faces a grim Christmas

in Dr Dross’s orphanage until she is

whisked away to an ice-skating winter

wonderland and a sugar-coated Sweetie-

land styled like a 1930s Hollywood musi-

cal. Bourne’s witty staging couldn’t be

more fun. Sadler’s Wells, London EC1

(sadlerswells. com), Tue-Jan 30

Debra Craine

Pop

Dave Gahan and Soulsavers

Having spent the past 30 years lending his

mournful but heroic vocals to Depeche

Mode, Basildon’s most famous export is

stretching out into new styles. Showcasing

his recent covers album, Imposter, Gahan

will, with any luck, be including his

mournful version of Neil Young’s A Man

Needs a Maid and the adultery-based

soul classic The Dark End of the Street.

Coliseum, London WC2, Sun; Shepherds

Bush Empire, London W12, Tue

Will Hodgkinson

Visual art

Grayson’s Art Club

The Channel 4 TV series Grayson’s Art

Club invited the public, established artists

and celebrities to respond creatively to

lockdown. The best artworks from season

two are being featured across three floors

in this chronicle of life in the pandemic.

Contributing artists include Banksy, Boy

George, David Bailey, Derren Brown,

Frank Bowling, Jane Seymour and Johnny

Vegas, with a special episode of Grayson’s

Art Club on Channel 4 on December 10.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol

(bristolmuseums.org.uk), to Sep 4

Jade Cuttle

Joaquin Phoenix

and Woody Norman

in C’mon C’mon.

Below: Matthew

Bourne’s Nutcracker

f

Cover story 4-5

Freida Pinto talks to Kevin Maher

about her new Christmas film; plus,

the best movies to watch this holiday

What the critics are watching and listening to

showing this week

Contents

Music 6

Los Angeles-based

band Gabriels tell

Ed Potton about

their celebrity fans

My culture fix 10

Bear Grylls lets us into his cultural life,

from Mamma Mia! to Flashman

Books 12-21

Part two of our best books of 2021,

including history, literature, art, politics,

self-help, comedy and children’s books

TV & radio 23-51

And Just Like That.. ., the Sex and the

City reboot, launches on Sky Comedy

Puzzles 52-55

Crosswords, sudoku, Scrabble and

your favourite brain teasers

Cover photograph

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

COURTESY OF TOBIN YELLAND/A24 FILMS

Hugo Rifkind 7

“It’s the ‘American’ bit that annoys me.

What, even your rust is special now?”:

American Rust reviewed

Interview 8-9

Rose Tremain talks to Alice Thomson

and Rachel Sylvester about censorship,

the problem with publishing and her

recovery from pancreatic cancer

Poetry 11

Frank Skinner talks to Ed Potton about

his new literary series and being a dad