We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 24th – SUNDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2014

Excuse me while I kiss the sky
You would perhaps be quick to dismiss OutKast star André Benjamin’s acting performance but when it comes to his starring role in a rock ‘n’ roll biopic you shouldn’t write him off completely until you’ve watched it – on looks and swagger alone he absolutely nails his part in Academy Award-winning writer-director John Ridley’s All Is By My Side.

Covering a year in Hendrix’s life from 1966-67, with his beginnings as an unknown backup guitarist playing New York’s Cheetah Club to making his mark in London’s music scene up until his Monterey Pop triumph, the film presents an intimate portrait of the sensitive young musician on the verge of becoming a rock legend – with killer looks aplenty. 

Jimi: All Is By My Side (2014) - Trailer #1 from Spoilericity on Vimeo.

All Is By My Side, ‎1hr 56min‎‎, rated 15

A horror movie rated TERRIFYING. No, really!
It may not be the hallowed eve of death confrontation just yet but in the spirit of our Darkness Falls issue we’ve a truly scary second filmic suggestion for this weekend.

The Badabook is a cunningly powerful film which relies less on cheap scares but real horror amidst a heartfelt, genuinely moving story to scare us  shitless – revolving on the supernatural undercurrents happening amidst the live and struggles of a recently widowed mother and her unruly six year-old, Samuel.

With deep wells of howling grief and monstrous visitations at its centre, Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent’s new horror is a must watch in the run up to halloween, combining subtlety and psychological depth with crap-your-pants shock tactics. Best take a spare/go on your own to maintain your dignity.

The Babadook, ‎1hr 32min‎, rated 15

XXX rated, circa 1910
A man whose drawings – raw, fleshy and unflinching nudes – were criticised for their disturbing and grotesque; overtly erotic and radically explicit nature, Egon Schiele was no stranger to controversy. So much so in fact the Austrian artist spent months in a Viennese jail for his ‘offensive’ works.

New to Sommerset House’s Courthauld Gallery this weekd you can see some of the best drawings he made around 1910, charged with the mentorship of Gustav Klimt. Full of emotion and expression, they embody a powerful moment in Schiele’s career which continued up to his untimely death at 28 years old. His nude self-portraits, honest and inwardly critical, would inspire future works from the likes of Francis Bacon and Tracey Emin. The real deal alright.

Egon Schiele: The Radical Nude, Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 0RN
Until 18 Jan 2015

And who exactly are you?
If there is a singular current which runs through the vast and intricately built works of artist Grayson Perry it has to be the exploration into the mind of the Englishman, the Brit, the common man, the thoughts all we human beings share – ultimately seeking out what is it that makes us tick.

Grayson’s new exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery follows this theme, consisting of 14 portraits which also form part of his new Channel 4 series, Who Are You? in which he sets out to explore ‘our slippery sense of who we feel we are’.

In preparation for the project Perry spent time with Britons facing moments in their lives in which they needed to define their identity. He then distilled his impressions of the meetings into a portrait of some form; either a miniature, a tapestry, a statue or a pot. Now that’s the ultimate in modern portraiture, right?

Grayson Perry: Who Are You?, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Until 15th March 2015

Up on the roof
Nipping out for new threads this weekend? True to festive form London’s big hitters are already gearing their stores up for post hardcore-splurge chilling out. Selfridges’s Le Chalet up on their roof terrace is set to do just the trick with its candlelit alpine decor and generously cosy sets of fur covered seats featuring swerves of Nordic blankets, ideal for that mid-afternoon burger and cat nap you’ll be craving. Bubbly milk anyone?

Le Chalet, Selfridges rooftop, 400 Oxford Street, London, W1A 1AB