Saturday Review

Colombian film Birds of Passage explores the emergence of illegal drug trading in the 60s and 70s and it's ghastly effects and lasting legacy on family. Corporate black comedy White Pearl has opened at London's Royal Court. About 6 Asian women in an office in Singapore who try to fix a problem when their advertisement goes viral by mistake. And then things spiral out of control. New novels from Thomas Harris - Cari Mora: set in Miami, monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival. And also from Denise Mina - Conviction: about a woman whose complicated secret past begins to catch up with - and then threatens to overtake - her. A Tale of Two Empires at Birmingham's Barber Institute looks at the coins from the same period of Rome and Persia. Also we take a look at their permanent art collection. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Tom Holland, Arifa Akbar and Danielle Thom. The producer is Oliver Jones. Podcast Extra recommendations: Tom H: Linda Grant - A Stranger City and Game of Thrones. Arifa: Rejoicing at her Wondrous Vulva, the Young Woman Applauded Herself at The Oval House and Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins. Danielle waxed lyrical about the joy of mending and making things by hand and of psychogeography. Also the imminent Secret Rivers Of London exhibition at The Museum of London. Tom S: The Longdrop by Denise Mina and Years and Years on BBC1.

The latest production at London's Young Vic Theatre is Death of a Salesman. It recasts the Lomans as an African-American family with Wendell Pierce as WIlly Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway play female con artists in Chris Addison's directorial debut, The Hustle. It's a gender-swap reworking of 1988 comedy film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; but is it funny? Shane Meadows has created a new 4 part drama for Channel 4: The Virtues, starring Stephen Graham as a traumatised young man who grows up and becomes a loving dad but can't quite let go of his past Mark Haddon's new novel The Porpoise reworks Shakespeare's Pericles, weaving a contemporary story with the classic tale An exhibition of David Nash sculptures in Cardiff is a look at a long career collaborating with nature to make predominantly wooden works. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Stephen Hough, Sarah Churchwell and Louise Doughty. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra choices Stephen: Chocolaterie Luc Van Hoorebeke in Ghent Louise: The Author's Club Best First Novel Award Sarah: Orson Welles' The Stranger

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen star in Long Shot playing an American presidential hopeful and a lovable doofus. Take a wild guess who plays which part? Howard Brenton's new play Jude -at The Hampstead Theatre - is a re-imagining of Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure with a Syrian cleaner who possesses a prodigious skill set in the classics and ancient languages - as the title character Writing: Making Your Mark is the newest exhibition at The British Library. It charts 5,000 years of human innovation from hieroglyphs to emojis Sandra Newman's novel The Heavens can be seen as five works in one - a time travel story, historical fiction, political allegory, social realism and a love story. How satisfyingly do the component parts combine into a coherent whole? Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Tom Shakespeare, Helen Lewis and Katie Puckrik. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations: Tom Shakespeare - Phyllida Barlow at the Royal Academy and The Porpoise by Mark Haddon and The Bodmer Library in Geneva Helen Lewis - Ritblatt Treasures at The British Library and Patrick Melrose on NowTV Katie Puckrik -Clique on BBC3 and Tom Sutcliffe -Barry on NowTV

Youtube star/standup comedian Bo Burnham has now turned his hand to film directing and his debut work is a coming-of-age tale: Eighth Grade. It's about a 15 year old girl dealing with the trials and tribulations of high school life, discovering how the world works and why. Arthur Miller's All My Sons was his breakthrough work when it debuted on Broadway in 1947. A new production at London's Old Vic theatre stars Sally Field and Bill Pullman Lux is the latest historical novel by Elizabeth Cook, it continues her fascination with exploring classical themes; this time the story of David and Bathsheba interwoven with the life of 16th century poet Thomas Wyatt There's a new exhibition celebrating the work of film director Stanley Kubrick which has just opened at The Design Museum in London. On display are items from his personal archive directly related to his long career on groundbreaking films including 2001 A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket and Spartacus Curry House Kid on Channel 4 is a documentary about Akram Khan's upbringing above a curry house and his desire to dance. it includes a new work about the world of the migrant Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Amber Butchart, Bob and Roberta Smith and Kerry Shale. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations: Bob: Sister Corita Kent at The House of Illustration Amber:Canterbury Archaeological trust the margate Caves Kerry: David Hepworth - a Fabulous Creation and Space Odyssey... by Michael Benson and After Life on Netflix Tom: documentary "Room 237"

Josie Rourke returns to the work of Cy Coleman, who wrote the music for City of Angels; with the Broadway classic Sweet Charity. With choreography from the world-renowned Wayne McGregor, Rourke reunites with Anne-Marie Duff as Charity, and Arthur Darvill makes his Donmar debut as Oscar, for her farewell production as Donmar Artistic Director. During Sweet Charity, multiple guest actors will play the role of Daddy Brubeck including Shaq Taylor, Adrian Lester, Le Gateau Chocolat, Beverley Knight and Clive Rowe. Ian McEwan’s subversive and entertaining new novel Machines Like Me poses fundamental questions: what makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives? Could a machine understand the human heart? Machines Like Me occurs in an alternative 1980s London, where Britain has lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence. The novel's narrator Charlie drifts through life making his money by playing the stock market when he becomes involved in a menage a trois with a difference - one of the three is one of the first synthetic humans. It is not long before this strange love triangle inhabiting an even stranger alternate reality have to confront some profound moral dilemmas. Smoke and Mirrors The Psychology of Magic at the Wellcome Collection in London explores how magicians have achieved astonishing feats of trickery by exploiting the gap between what we think we perceive and what we actually perceive. Recently scientists have begun to appreciate this ability as a powerful tool for the study of human psychology. This research has emerged from an extraordinary history that stretches back to the 19th century, where a fascination with the paranormal coincided with the birth of science as a profession and the flourishing of the entertainment industry. Italian writer/director Paolo Sorrentino’s new film Loro - which means "them" - focuses on the controversial life of the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi around the time of the “bunga-bunga” parties and the earthquake in L’Aquila. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Geoffrey Durham, Naima Khan and Stephanie Merritt. The producer is Hilary Dunn. Podcast Extra Selections: Naima recommends Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations Geoffrey recommends the Swedish fantasy film Border and movie Leave No Trace Stephanie recommends the following Kate Atkinson 'Jackson Brodie' novels: One Good Turn, Case Histories, Started Early Took My Dog, When Will There Be Good News, Big Sky Tom recommends the Jon Ronson podcast 'The Last Days of August'