Dance pop with brains, humanity
MONDAY
á Destroyer Watch this if: You don’t need no preening frontman. Under the Destroyer banner, now into its third decade, deadpan Dan Bejar continues to write songs of cryptic lyrics and shifting moods that can be entirely different listening experiences depending on whether he’s flying solo or not. On this visit, a seven-piece band of regulars will fully flesh ’em out. Besides, with Bejar on break, perhaps permanently, from his longtime gig with the New Pornographers, this may be the last chance for a while to get caught up with one of the country’s artiest of shape-shifting rockers. (Doors 8 p.m., Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne St.) —Chris Young á Mosaic Watch this if: You like stories with multiple threads. Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh returns to TV with this six-part series starring Oscar nominee Sharon Stone as cynical children’s book author Olivia Lake. You might need a scorecard to keep track of the victims and villains in the show with its themes of seduction, deception, delusion and greed. We begin with the understanding that a murder has been committed then begin to figure out the how and why of the apparent crime. The series also stars Garrett Hedlund ( Tron), Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman), James Ransone ( Generation Kill), Beau Bridges and Frederick Weller ( In Plain Sight). (8 p.m., HBO) —Debra Yeo
WEDNESDAY
Brodsky/Baryshnikov
Watch this if: You want two Russian icons for the price of one. Despite the Luminato Festival’s turn toward local artists and Canadian productions under Josephine Ridge, it still has its flashier, bigbudget, A-list moments like this one. This sold-out wintertime sighting of the summer festival, presented by Show One Productions, features world-famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov performing the poetry of Joseph Brodsky, a friend and Nobel Prize winner who died in 1996. The personal connection between the two men has earned the production praise from Latvia, where it premiered in 2015, and New York City. (Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St., until Sunday) —Carly Maga
THURSDAY
á The God of Cookery
Watch this if: Popcorn just doesn’t cut it when you’re at the movies. The Revue Cinema’s tastiest screening series, Food on Film, presents an especially delicious pairing for devotees of Hong Kong cinema and Asian cuisine this week. The movie on the menu is The God of Cookery, a wild satirical comedy that was an early hit for Kung Fu Hustle creator Stephen Chow. He stars as a disgraced celebrity chef whose hopes for redemption may depend on some Shaolin secrets and some exceptional beef balls. Chow’s movie will be well matched by the Southeast Asian-inspired flavours provided by Katie Bradley and David Le, the team behind the Revel Food pop-up restaurant. (6:45 p.m., Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Ave., advance tickets required) —Jason Anderson
á Night of Ideas: To Sleep or Not to Sleep
Attend this if: You get energized by stimulating conversations, less so by sleep. Initiated in Paris, the Night of Ideas occurs simultaneously in over 50 cities around the world, and artistic thinkers in Toronto can meet for the best sleepover ever in the 2018 edition. The program includes a mix of sleep-related activities, from a panel on the cultural significance of dreams to the social impact of sleep deprivation, a night mask-making workshop and pyjama fashion show, performance art and a night swim in the Hart House pool. (7 p.m. to 7 a.m., Art Museum at the University of Toronto, 7 Hart House Circle) —C.M.
Flint Eastwood Watch this if: Energy, community and intensity pique your curiosity. If this week’s other music pick Destroyer is a little, well, banter-averse, there’s no such reticence with Jax Anderson. The singer-songwriter’s project with her producer-brother Seth has evolved in the past five years from bolo ties and Ennio Morricone-loving beginnings to hardedged, glossy dance-pop of considerable brains and humanity. With Anderson a dramatic frontwoman, the four-piece retains some of Detroit’s dirt under their fingernails — quite literally, having bought a 150-year-old church with some friends and painstakingly converted it into an arts hub and place to let the creative juices flow. From the evidence of last year’s Broke Royalty album, those juices are gushing. (Doors 8:30 p.m., Horseshoe Tavern, 370 Queen St. W.) —C.Y.
FRIDAY
á Eve of St. George Watch this if: You like vampires and love im- mersive theatre. The immersive dance theatre performance Sleep
No More is marking its sixth anniversary in New York City this March and has become the landmark of a new cultural obsession with sitespecific and immersive art experiences across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Coming this week for a very limited run is Toronto’s own Sleep No More- inspired production, which takes over the multiple stories of the Great Hall. While Sleep No More draws on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Eve of St. George is a take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, created, directed and choreographed by Julia Cratchley. (7 and 10 p.m., until Jan. 28, Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. W.) —C.M.
SUNDAY
Itzhak Watch this if: You want to see a great musician who’s a true mensch, too. Itzhak Perlman may be nearly as famous for his warmth and generosity as for his music-making skills. That makes the 72-year-old superstar violinist and humanitarian a terrific documentary subject. Director Alison Chernick made the most of her intimate look at Perlman’s life and work in this new portrait of the Israeli-American musician that was made for PBS’s American Masters series and has its Canadian premiere in the Toronto Jewish Film Festival’s monthly Chai Tea and a Movie program. (1 and 4 p.m., Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, 5095 Yonge St.) —J.A.
Searching for Winnetou Watch this if: You’d enjoy a surprisingly lighthearted look at cultural appropriation. Ojibway writer Drew Hayden Taylor decided to get to the bottom of the swarms of German tourists who come to Canada’s north every year in search of an authentic Indigenous experience. He discovers that a series of books about an Apache warrior by 19th-century German author Karl May have spawned an obsession with Indigenous North Americans among May’s countrymen. Hayden Taylor even visits a theme park in the Bavarian forest where thousands of Germans go every year to pretend to live as Indigenous people. It’s a fascinating, troubling but also rewarding journey. (9 p.m., CBC Docs POV, CBC) —D.Y.