take it or leave it

Weekend Combo: Jack Nicholson losing his mind, psychedelic pumpkins and Marilyn Monroe’s love letters
26 May 2016
Above:

Still, ‘The Shining’ (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick

This article is part of Weekend Combo – What to do this weekend

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 27th MAY – SUNDAY 29th MAY 2016

Film

Here’s Stanley!
The lovely folks over at Prince Charles Cinema are kickstarting our bank holiday weekend with a Kubrick double whammy, screening two of the director’s cult classics back to back, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. These two cinematic classics are carved into every ‘films to see before you die’ list, and deservedly so.

A real horrorshow film
When Anthony Burgess published his seminal novel A Clockwork Orange back in 1962 it was met with public outrage due to its candid depiction of violence. However this public outcry was nothing compared to the response to Kubrick’s 1972 film adaptation.

The dystopian story of ultra-violence focuses on Alex, his dear droogs, and their day-to-day life in London, which includes opiate-enhanced nights at the milk bar, sprees of sexual and unprovoked violent crime and other unsavoury activity.

In his movie adaptation Kubrick vividly brings the characters to life, wholeheartedly embracing the nihilistic narrative within his own stylish vision. Using the fictional slang, Nadsat, created by Burgess, the film creates a whole world that draws you in and leaves you dazed and bruised.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
Nobody does paranoid psychopath quite like Jack Nicholson, and in Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), he’s on top form. Built loosely around the Stephen King story, we see Jack (Nicholson), his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd) taking on caretaker duties at The Overlook Hotel. Seemingly alone, they are in fact sharing the residence with the hotel’s ghostly memories, including a previous caretaker who killed himself after chopping up his wife and children.

Featuring iconic scenes such as the blood-filled elevator and those creepy identical twins, it’s the subtle details that make this film so great (for Kubrick, OCD came in handy), notice how the typewriter very gradually becomes darker as Jack looses his mind, or that WTF scene featuring a dog-bear-man giving head. Yeah, that’s a weird one alright.

The Kubrick double bill is screening at Prince Charles cinema on Friday 27th May, tickets are available here.

Exhibition

House of mirrors
87-year-old Japenese artist Yayoi Kusama has always had a thing for pumpkins. It all stems from childhood, her family cultivated seeds for a living so she grew up surrounded by fields turned orange by the globular squash, it’s been a recurring motif ever since.

In her latest exhibition at Victoria Miro gallery – and for the first time since Tate Modern’s 2012 retrospective – Kusama’s famous mirror rooms are back on London soil, and it’s her All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins room that realises her latest pumpkin fad. Like halloween on acid, the room is packed full of trippy, glowing pumpkins, all reflecting in the mirrored walls to create a stunningly hypnotic scene – and oh so Instagram friendly.

Along with two other mirrored rooms, the exhibition also features paintings and sculptures by the prolific artist. Be sure to visit and lose yourself in the mirrored mayhem – think Charlie Chaplin in The Circus.

Yayoi Kusama: sculptures, paintings & mirror rooms runs at Victoria Miro, Wharf Road until 30th July.

GALLERY

Gig

Broadcast this
You might recognise these bright haired LA-natives from Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent catwalk and diary – think back to Slimane’s mega SURF SOUND COLLECTION, soundtracked by SWMRS’ track Like Harry Dean.

Touring their latest album, Drive North, the foursome are hitting the UK roads and they’ve brought their A-game in tow. From angst-y hard-hitters to romping pop earworms, SWMRS put on a live show that’ll have you sweaty, sticky and gagging for more. The incentives are clear – this is what’s referred to as an ‘easy sell’ down at Peckham market on a Saturday morning.

SWMRS play at The Old Blue Last on Thursday 26th May

Gig

One gig not enough for you?
We’re sure you all recognise the name Faris Badwan from his shoegaze-y goth group, The Horrors. But are you familiar with his side-project Cat’s Eyes?

Having teamed up with Canadian Opera soprano Rachel Zeffira back in 2011, the duo released their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album and stunned the music world with their delicate, emotive aesthetic. Mixing hazy reinterpretations of Joe Meek-esque 1950s and 60s pop, with layered classical orchestration, Cat’s Eyes produce a sound that haunts and lulls in equal measure.

Back with their sophomore record, Treasure House – set for release 3rd June – Cat’s Eyes invite you to Rough Trade East for a special album release gig, prepare yourself for a truly goosebumps-inducing sonic experience.

Cat’s Eyes play at Rough trade East on 28th May, tickets are available here.

Exhibition

Some like it hot
Marilyn Monroe is undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s most revered icons. Between turns in classic films such as Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the original Blond Bombshell’s rollercoaster social life read like a film script itself, from her speculated secret relationship with John F. Kennedy to her death in 1962, caused by a drug overdose at the young age of 36.

A new exhibition at the Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour showcases the highs and lows of her career including the dresses she wore in some of her biggest screen performances and a series of hand-written letters and poetry that show a glimpse of the star’s loneliness.

Perhaps the most iconic item on show is that sheer black souffle and nude embellished cocktail dress that Monroe wore to sing I’m Through With Love atop a grand piano in Some Like It Hot (1959). Thought to be worth $400,000, the risqué dress (well, it was in the pre-Kardashian days) is Hollywood costume royalty. Distract the security and slip it on, we dare you.

Marilyn Monroe: The Legacy Of A Legend runs until 20th June at Chelsea Harbour.

Marilyn Monroe in ‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959) © AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Food + Drink

Park your ass here
Wait, what’s that? It can’t be…it is! We’d almost forgotten what the sun looked like it’s been so long since mercury levels have risen from their lowly hibernation. But this weekend London looks set for a mini heatwave (don’t get too excited, we’re talking 21°C here – sun lotion not necessary), so – as all good Brits do at the slightest sight of sun – make your way to the highest building you can find and sizzle with a tinnie in hand.

With apt timing, everyone’s favourite Peckham-based carpark-come-bar (it’s a niche category), Frank’s, is open again for it’s annual summer vacancy. With a mouth-watering new menu and a neat 2016 revamp, you’ll feel like you’re in Beverly Hills luxe…until a pigeon gives you a face-full and someone spills their drink on you.

Frank’s Peckham is located at 95a Rye Lane, SE15 4ST

TAGGED WITH




Read Next