It’s officially light out when leaving the office after work and we couldn’t be happier, as the days are getting longer it naturally means you need more things to fill them with – we’ve got you covered. 

Highway to hell
Academy-award-winning auteur Ethan Coen is no stranger to dark comedy or eccentric characters and his latest cinematic offering Drive Away Dolls has both in abundance. In a nutshell, it’s a lesbian road trip gone wrong, Jamie and Marian hit the highway on a mission to get Marion laid in a hire car which may or may not have something some gun-wielding hitmen want to get their hands on stashed in the trunk. As for the cast, Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan take on leading roles alongside Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, Colman Domingo and a trippy appearance from Miley Cyrus.

Drive Away Dolls is out in cinemas now. 

Surreal sunflowers
Last year, Omar El Lahib’s work christened the reopening of a brand-spanking new Saatchi Yates space and this year the Lebanese artist has returned with eighteen large-scale paintings of hypnotic sunflowers. El Lahib’s practice meditates on the symbiotic, blurring lines between light and dark, figuration and abstraction, time and space as he conjures a world revelling in the fantastical.

Omar El Lahib runs at Saatchi Yates until April 10th, more info here. 

Spoilt for choice
BFI Flare is back for its 38th edition at BFI Southbank, compiling a ten-day programme of the best new LGBTQ+ cinema from across the globe. There are plenty of gems to keep an eye out for in this year’s schedule including romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding starring Kristen Stewart, Marc Saltarelli’s love letter to queer disco Studio One Forever and Luke Willis’ documentary Lady Like, telling the story of RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Lady Camden. Outside of the screening rooms, a series of talks with actors and filmmakers including the likes of Elliot Page and Jeffrey Schwarz will also take place across the festival.

BFI Flare runs until March 24th, more info here. 

Guest chefs
Kicked off last month by It’s Bagels, The Barbary Next Door is welcoming a different guest chef every month until June to reinvent the humble borkea. Inspired by the cuisine of Moorish Spain and North Africa, The Barbary has become best known for perfecting the flaky filo-pastry sweet treat and this month welcomes award-winning food writer and chef Sabrina Ghayour into the kitchen. Dishing up a boreka inspired by her Chicken Bastilla, a Moroccan pie made with flaky filo pastry, filled with chicken and peppered with fruits and nuts. The borekas are made fresh on-site each morning, so make sure to head down early and grab one when they’re fresh from the oven.

The Barbary Next Door is located at 16A Neal’s Yard, WC2H 9DP, more info here. 

SEEN! 
South-London-based artist and musician Cato’s debut solo exhibition is taking over Cooke Latham Gallery until the end of the month, bringing his multimedia practice to visitors IRL. Merging his musical background, ideas of belonging and the Black experience into a visual language punctuated with airbrushed paint strokes and abstract collage. The recurring figures in Cato’s works are inspired by found images and photographs of local characters near his studio in Peckham, distorted in form and placed in fictional jazz bars or playing dominoes around the kitchen table.

Cato’s solo exhibition runs at Cooke Latham Gallery until March 28th, more info here. 

Picky bits for tea!
Bermondsey Beer Mile’s favourite aperitivo bar These Days has perfected negronis, Venetian spritz’s and Americanos which naturally means it’s time for the team to turn their hand to food. This weekend marks the opening of the bar’s kitchen, offering up a menu of small plates inspired by Italy’s Cicchetti culture including cured trout with blood orange ponzu, veal escalope with sauerkraut, popcorn cockles and celeriac with miso and radish – all washed down with a spritz, obvs.

These Days is located at 11 Druid Street, SE1 2HQ, more info here.