Review

A book that reveals shifting attitudes between sympathy and exclusion in society’s treatment of learning disability

Carlos Acosta’s ballet celebrates a band that is woven into Birmingham’s cultural soul

The new David Bowie Centre fails when it reduces his ambiguities to tidy lessons – and soars when it simply shows off stagewear and possessions

Once shocking, Mr Sloane now feels quaint - but still fun

Sensational and deeply cerebral, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th feature film is a stone-cold masterpiece

A new book on the role of the whips office raises an exasperating question about the role of politicians

The actor excels as a pub philosopher in Conor McPherson’s The Weir

Indhu Rubasingham banishes the doldrums of her predecessor with a big, bold Bacchae

This year’s long list boasts parental bonds, family dynamics and an entry I cannot get my head around

Today’s worldwide boom follows decades of resistance – but the battle for equal status is far from won

Winnie M Li’s novel brought back painful memories of sibling resentment and hurt

Mr Bates vs The Post Office touched a nerve among the public with its revelation of the suffering of ordinary people who lost everything. ITV’s new drama lacks suitably likeable victims

Mick Herron’s spy thriller series and Will Smith’s magnificent adaptation have become pitch-perfect accompaniments to the shabbiness and disillusionment of Britain today

Jonathan Buckley’s female protagonist only exists to validate the male characters around her. She’s utterly unbelievable

In What We Can Know, our greatest living novelist sees the UK slip beneath the waves – and looks for light in a drowned world

Major Tom may be gone, but the new David Bowie Centre at V&A East displays the extraordinary treasures he left behind

The wartime artist who lampooned Hitler gets his first exhibition

The uncanny art of Jane and Louise Wilson uncovers the future hidden inside surveillance footage, irradiated film and ancient wood

Four generations of women inhabit a landscape of wolves, fascists and devils in the Catalan writer’s haunting novel

A book that collects the dreams of Germans – Jews and gentiles alike – during the 1930s

A new exhibition charts humanity’s long, losing battle – there’s either too much or too little, and it’s always in the wrong place

Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is a masterfully savage comedy of murder and capitalist ruin

The film-making pair have already won the Palme d’Or twice – can they win a third?

Aronofsky can miss the mark when he over-conceptualises. But this very entertaining gangland caper is infectious

Norway’s new wave is winning awards and acclaim. But will funding problems kill off the boom just as audiences take notice?

Benjamin Markovits’s Booker-longlisted The Rest of Our Lives wants us to cheer on a tedious man’s journey of self-discovery. I loathed every moment

A crime writer’s memoir goes from New Jersey to Venice via Iran and LA – and features an apology to her most famous character

A new film captures the awkward, brittle reality of late-life male companionship

New York in the 1980s was riven by disharmony, corruption and excess. Jonathan Mahler’s new book explains how the city forged a would-be dictator

The German philanthropist spent big on daring art and a stunning gallery – then waited for the world to catch up

A selection of New World writers and editors choose the books they can’t stop recommending

In back rooms, tiny pubs and even horse boxes, lesser-known standup comedians keep the eccentric spirit of the Edinburgh Fringe alive