Film noir has always held a fascination for the French -- for audiences, critics and directors alike. Despite the fact that the genre originated in Hollywood, the term (and an insatiable appetite for the films) is thoroughly French. Therefore Bertrand Tavernier, veteran director of noir and policier films since the '60s, is a natural to be the star guest at this year's TCM Crime Scene season. A retrospective of some of his finest (and darkest) crime films will be screened, including the seminal Coup de torchon (Clean Slate). Starring Philippe Noiret and the cult actress Isabelle Huppert, and based on a Jim Thompson pulp novel (written just a year after The Grifters, another of Thompson's novels that was destined for film adaptation), the film charts what happens when a police chief in a late '30s colonial West African small town gets ignored, mocked and pushed around just one too many times. A great portrait of bottled-up rage and warped moral logic, the vindictive chief Cordier makes up for previous perceived wrongs in a variety of inventive, but both shocking and unsettlingly funny, ways. After the screening, Tavernier will be chatting with Arian Wootton about his long career in cinematic crime and talking about his new film In The Electric Mist.

NB: on 27/09 (3:30pm) make sure you catch Bertrand Tavernier in conversation post the screening of Coup de torchon. This retrospective is part of the ICA's TCM Crime Scene season which runs till 28/09.

Now in its seventh year, TCM Crime Scene once again draws a chalk outline around a body of work within cinema's most satisfying genre, and considers the motives, methods and meanings that drive it. A selection of Q&As and a Bertrand Tavernier retrospective (previewed separately in this issue) complement a short season of films of various ages and styles at the ICA, addressed herewith:

Just Another Love Story + Q&A (25/09, 6:15pm)
A car-crash and mistaken identity leave protagonist Jonas with the chance to live a different man's life, a choice that at first seems thrilling but, in true Danish filmic fashion, soon turns sour as the dark touch of reality intervenes. Short, but curiously good.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies + Q&A (26/09, 6:15pm)
From the colour grading to the mannerisms to the extras, it's difficult to believe this spy-spoof is not a Connery-era classic. The titular secret agent is sent to Egypt to investigate the disappearance of a colleague and with Clouseau-eque incompetence prevails against the odds. Brilliant, brilliant.

The Unknown Woman + Q&A (27/09, 8pm)
Giuseppe Tornatore returns with a tense and well-paced mystery thriller. Young Ukranian Irena (Kseniya Rappoport) joins a wealthy Italian family as their nanny and all seems blessed, until little by little a dark past is revealed, building towards a fist-clenchingly stunning third act. Beautiful and shocking.

Gomorrah + Q&A (28/09, 7pm)
Based on Roberto Saviano's best-selling "fiction" about the Neapolitan mafia, this is an utterly compelling view of life in the suburbs of Italy's former first city. With a crushing sense of inevitability, each of its character's stories gradually unravels with no hope of deliverance or redemption, just more violence, bloodshed and betrayal. Bleak, but arresting and undeniably important.

NB: TCM Crime Scene 2008 runs from 25/09 till 28/09.

Disco revivalism isn't just one giant record crate excavation to the ends of the earth and the limits of musical history. There are a few acts out there doing it contemporarily and entirely live. Hercules And Love Affair excited more than a little interest by putting real drums and people in their grooves, but Crazy P can claim to have been walking this particular line around the same time Hercules' production don Tim Goldsworthy was just getting his spurs as a producer. For sure, their trajectory has been slightly beneath the radar, while his has been DFA-building meteorics, but it's reassuring to see them back at the coalface with a new album, Stop Space Return. The likes of Daniel Wang, Faze Action and Jacques Lu Cont have given them plenty of recognition over the years, but under the decidedly less commercial name Crazy Penis. Nominal circumcision complete, they're more than deserving of a ride on the nu-disco wave. Add Pete Herbert (Reverso 68) to the bill and there's plenty of reason to drop by early on -- especially since this is an on-the-door only affair.

NB: for Faze Action fans make sure you catch them on 27/09 when they play live at Cargo for the Go!Zilla party. And for disco fans make sure you catch Todd Terje on 26/09 at East Village.

Alexander Sokurov's latest film Alexandra is a slow-burner. You might be forgiven -- given that it is made by the director of the sumptuous Russian Ark -- for thinking that the film is a portrait of one of the last remaining Romanovs. Not so -- Sokurov's Alexandra is a salt-of-the-Earth woman who takes the long trip to see her only grandson at his barracks on the Russia/Chechnya border. Though set in an undeniably contemporary milieu -- the artillery and references to television and gold-digging Russian women is entirely modern -- still the film, with its sweeping score, has an old-world feel to it and could very well be a portrait of war in the time of Lermontov. Decked out in an array of fetching tent dresses, Alexandra spends her days wandering around her grandson's barracks chatting to all and sundry: forlorn man-child soldiers from the camp and, in an especially moving scene where she wanders into a Chechen settlement, a group of old dears from the "other side". Though little is said about the conflict itself -- except that it is older than all the characters -- Alexandra is a moving study of people surviving tough times.

NB: Alexandra is released in London on 26/09. Also released on the same day is Redbelt and I've Loved You So Long.

Criminally overlooked during his short lifetime (he died of an AIDS-related illness in 1992, aged 40), Arthur Russell has enjoyed a steadily escalating posthumous fame in recent years, courtesy of critically revered reissues and compilations on hip labels like Rough Trade and Soul Jazz. An acolyte of early Talking Heads, Russell had his hand in all manner of Manhattan musical pies during two prodigious decades in which he explored everything from cello-propelled, Nick Drake-like solo essays to euphoric electronic dance music and semi-orchestral chamber works. Eerily prescient, nearly everything he put to tape sounds like it might have been recorded this year. Russell's stock is about to rise still further thanks to Matt Wolf's Wild Combination, a compelling new film portrait of Russell's life explored through interviews with contemporaries and collaborators and artfully woven archive footage of the man himself. From his Iowa Corn Belt origins via the imprimatur of poet Allen Ginsberg and a complex relationship with a sometimes incredulous New York underground, it's the story of a gifted musical polymath -- many would say genius -- whose unquenchably lateral musical appetites always outweighed considerations of "career" and, as such, is refreshingly antithetical to the empty, X-Factor-ised narcissism of our times.

NB: after the screening catch a Q&A with Matt Wolf and Tim Lawrence (author of the forthcoming Arthur Russell biography Hold On To Your Dreams). Wild Combination screens at the ICA till 19/10. To accompany this special screening Twitch from Optimo will play a Russell-heavy DJ set in the ICA's bar (10pm - 1am).

The disco revival continues unabated across the London nightlife with Shoreditch venue East Village in particular providing ample opportunity for you to live out your Paradise Garage fantasies and pretend that blog house never happened. London's Stuart Patterson clearly knows his disco onions as the East Village promoter has secured a gem of a headline slot in Nordic edit wunderkind Todd Terje. Whilst the balearic Hawkind-esque noodlings of his Scandinavian peers Lindstrom and Prins Thomas are seemingly more revered by the music press, Terje's remixes, edits and original productions are all firmly rooted on the dancefloor. This year alone has seen him remix artists as diverse as Jose Gonzalez and Simon Baker, put out records on respected boutique labels such as Tirk and RVNG and sprinkle some discodust on certified classics by Chic and Stevie Wonder. Joining Terje in the basement is stellar support in the shape of Patterson himself, Olanskii (Sunkissed) and West London's Death To All Culture Snitches crew who do a good job of blurring the lines between techno and disco (tesco anyone?) Upstairs in the bar, the beat changes with the Version Excursion lot mixing up the ska, reggae and soul covers.

An impressive line-up of Rothko experts will provide curatorial and philosophical insights into the late work of the influential abstract expressionist artist. Christopher Rothko, son of the painter, will introduce the symposium and may hold the key to some more personal insights. Historian Irving Sandler and philosopher Nigel Warburton join curators Achim Borchardt-Hume (curator of Tate Modern's Rothko exhibition) and Stephanie Rosenthal (chief curator of The Hayward) to explore the influence of philosophy on Rothko's practice, specifically of Nietzsche whose The Birth Of Tragedy was instrumental to Rothko's existentialist paintings and his artistic quest to redeem man from the spiritual emptiness of modern life. The symposium will attempt to place Rothko's art within the political and art-historical context of the '60s. Rothko is the first major UK show of this complex artist in more than 20 years, and will unite for the first time key works from the America and Japan with his most iconic work the Seagram Murals, which Tate received on the day of Rothko's tragic suicide. Perhaps this symposium and exhibition will offer the chance to unravel some of the mysteries that still surround this tormented genius.

NB: Rothko runs at Tate Modern from 26/09 till 01/02/09. Catch broadcaster and author Simon Schama on 08/10 (6:30pm) and Achim Borchardt-Hume on 17/11 (7pm) when each gives a talk on Rothko.

There's an intriguing combination of Finnish and US sound artists at this event -- commissions and collaborations -- with a definite lean towards the chaotically psychedelic. Curated by London's [no-signal] and Newcastle's No-Fi, this is the climax of a UK tour, much of it based around musicians on the Fonal label -- renowned for being "a leading force in the evolution of music both ancient and futuristic, mixing folk... found- sound collage and ethereal hymnal". This live collision begins with Kemialliset Ystavat and Axolotl (aka Karl Bauer), as gong-influenced exotica meets hard-rain-driven drone, with a quantum physics set from Bauer. Following them are Es (aka Sami Sanpakkila) and Fursaxa (aka Tara Burke), both artists sharing a love of fresh free-flowing electronic folkiness. Then there's a threesome -- Islaja , Blevin Blectum and Samara Lubelski -- a fascinating coupling of lushness with amp fuzz, against Blectum's contorted electronica. Finally, Dream Triangle, a combination of Finland's Tomutonttu and America's Skaters, are threatening to re-invent Tangerine Dream's Alpha Centauri, but skewing it more towards dark matter. Bring on the chaos... or should that be entropy?

NB: from 11pm in Cinema 2 of the ICA catch a Approximately Infinite Universe special film programme with works by Sami Sanpakkila and Jonna Karanka.

With Rephlex in a semi-dormant state and Warp busy putting out music that actually sells, the mantle of defender of the electronica faith has fallen firmly on Planet-Mu's shoulders the past few years. Not that they haven't worn it well and the label has been formative in pushing many of the more interesting mutant strains of dubstep and drum n bass to have emerged recently, alongside their more traditional wonky fayre. Recent Mu parties have been roadblocked with huge queues so this weekend's edition, featuring the likes of Milanese, Ceephax, Mary Anne Hobbes, Boxcutter, Global Goon and most excitingly of all Mu's first Skweee superstar Eero Johannes, should be no exception. Room 2 is hosted by newcomers Tippex Records, an offshoot of Mu run by one of the label's former staffers, and showcasing the likes of Carl Brown, RL/VL and Remano Eszildn. Get there early, settle in by the Funktion-One soundsystem and get ready to dance.

Before the nights draw in, take a moment to reflect on what has quickly become a mainstay of summertime art projects in London: the artist designed pavilion. Whilst some provide venues for marathons and manifestos, some provide simple shelter. But who are they for? What do they do? Take a rare opportunity to listen to the words of Dan Graham, one of America's most influential artists, and grandaddy of the genre, who has been exploring the pavilion since the '70s. Reflection is, indeed, the name of the game in Graham's pavilions, one of which is currently in Holland Park as part of the Portavillion project. Graham's use of two-way mirrors, the transparency of which is affected by the weather conditions, muddles conventions of corporate building materials with social architecture and green parkland, and continues his exploration of the relationship between public and private seen in the seminal work Homes For America (1966). The space here is at once a goldfish bowl and a hall of mirrors in which it only takes a passing cloud to transform you from Peeping Tom to spectacle on show.

NB: Dan Graham's Triangular Pavilion With Circular Cut-Out Variation H is on view in the Dutch Garden, Holland Park till 28/09.

The "thinking-man's martial arts film" is not an epithet easily dispensed in a genre dominated by eastern acrobatic grandeur (Crouching Tiger, House Of Flying Daggers, Hero...) on the one hand and derivative western muscle flexing (No Retreat, No Surrender 2 anyone?) on the other. Written and directed by David Mamet, Redbelt just about earns it. The film tells the story of Mike Terry (played with serenity by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a jiujitsu instructor who values honour and respect above all else -- including good business practice. Like the proverbial butterfly's wing-beat, a single moment of chaos early on sends waves that reverberate through the plot. These return with interest as a series of mishaps that force Terry to enter the ring and fight for his livelihood. With less of his signature quick-fire dialogue but retainingl his unobtrusive directorial style, Mamet has delivered another intriguing essay on masculinity. Given the strong philosophy that underpins martial arts training and practice, it is refreshing to see it handled with intelligence and the result is both thought-provoking and intense.

NB: Redbelt is released in London on 26/09. Also released on the same day are Alexandra and I've Loved You So Long.

It certainly is a year of celebrations in the dance world. The Dance Umbrella festival turns 30 and one of the artists performing in this season, Richard Alston, celebrates his 60th birthday and 40 years of aesthetically pleasing, exceptionally honed, lyrical choreography (02/10 and 03/10). Other highlights from visionaries and mavericks who are now established institutions include work by Rosemary Butcher (03/11 and 04/11), Merce Cunningham (30/09 to 04/10), and Mark Morris (05/11 to 08/11). New boy, Tiago Guedes, presents his signature work Various Materials (14/10 and 15/10) -- akin to watching an alien assemble a flat-packed Ikea purchase -- and the hugely appealing Matrioska (18/10 and 21/10), a kids' show with bite. Braving the elements in previously uncharted territory for DU, Transports Exceptionnels will be performed at outdoor sites in east and west London (11/10 to 19/10). Described as "the romance of the season", the unlikely poignancy of this duet between man and JCB will hopefully be as surprising to 2008 audiences as it was to those who saw it in 2007. For the truly tender-hearted, Overture 2012 (01/11 and 02/11) promises an "uplifting and powerful" performance from 120 young Londoners aged 8-17. Bandwagon? Jumping on? Surely not.

NB: Dance Umbrella 2008 runs from 30/09 till 08/11.

To put Merce Cunningham into context, 9 out of 10 dance students around the world will study and be assessed in Cunningham Technique at some point during their training. The now 89-year-old man is a movement, a maxim; and very much like Marmite. Audiences at the Roundhouse were divided over Ocean, the last new, full-length work shown in the UK -- some walked out demanding refunds, some came away with a new idea of what contemporary dance was. In an article demystifying major dance figures, Sanjoy Roy advises 'Do say "The multiple focuses and overlapping space-time continua are almost homologous with the post-Einsteinian pluralist experience of modern life -- no?" Don't say "They don't even dance on the beat."' So, as if that wasn't clear enough, this Barbican triple bill is something of a known, unknown quantity. Previous collaborations will be reproduced alongside new works and a retrospective of Cunningham's pioneering work in dance film and the development of computer software for composition. The likelihood of someone fainting during the "meet the artist" session is extremely high. Attendance is worth your while, even if you're already convinced that you hate Marmite.

NB: runs from 30/09 till 04/10. On 01/10 you can catch Merce Cunningham for a post show talk. This event is part of Dance Umbrella 2008.

Based at SOAS and curated by InSight, this season of films provides an introduction to some of the lesser-known national cinemas, with free screenings and lectures discussing aspects of each of the country's changing cinematic traditions. Offering a variety of films that accurately capture contemporary life, and offer a mirror to reflect national anxieties, preoccupations and trends in emerging countries, the films chosen for each country are rarely-seen gems. Overall, the loose themes of the series include: films that express aspects of societal change and the tension between modernity and tradition. Chinese artist/filmmakers Ou Ning and Cao Fei's documentary Meishi Street (01/10) tackle the displacement of urban redevelopment as the Olympics streamroll through a historic inner-city Beijing neighbourhood. In Waiting For Happiness (26/11), Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako captures the emotional displacement that comes from the migration of the rural young to the cities. Iranian director Rakhshan Bani Etemad's The May Lady (12/11) is a (semi-autobiographical) examination of the changing role of women in Iran.

NB this season runs till 03/12. Films are screened every other Wednesday, followed by a seminar discussing the issues raised in the film on the alternate weeks. Other films programmed include Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Monrak Transistor (Thailand) on 15/10 and Atef Hetata's The Closed Doors (Egypt) on 29/10. All the screenings and seminars are free but you need to book via info@insighteducation.org.uk.

The moving image installation, The All-seeing Eye at the BFI, is the result of a unique collaboration between the visual artist Pierre Bismuth and the film director Michel Gondry. In microcosm, it captures the idea behind the Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004): the story of a couple, shy Joel (Jim Carey) and crazy, orange-haired Clementine (Kate Winslet), who try to erase the memory of one another as their relationship dissolves. Yet as Joel begins to embark on a strange and wonderful psychological experiment, he begins to rediscover the earlier passion that sparked him into life. The film encapsulates the notion that without communication and relationships we are stranded. This is played out in the installation of a room stripped to its bare essentials, and anchored by a scene from the film flickering across a television screen. To celebrate the installation, Bismuth will appear in conversation at the BFI. The only contemporary artist ever to have received an Oscar, he will talk about his ongoing collaboration with Gondry and his ability to extract profound insights from everyday life that destabilise our codes of perception.

NB: the talk is free but places are limited so you must call the box office (020.7928.3232) to secure a spot. The All-seeing Eye runs till 16/11.

This event is part of a double bill of talks curated by The Architecture Foundation, to tie in with the mammoth Francis Bacon Tate Britain retrospective. A multi-disciplined panel will look at the influences and themes found within the artist's work had on wider culture. At first glance the speakers -- Mark Cousins, Zaha Hadid, Tony Fretton, Patrick Hodgkinson and Joe Kerr -- do not appear obvious Bacon experts. They are not, in fact; they are however experts in the fields that Bacon's life and intense painting practice influenced, namely architecture and design. This talk is entitled "Texture" and seeks to forge a link between the beauty Bacon found in ugliness within his work and the rise of Brutalism in architecture. Brutalism broke away from the abstract, weightless planes of early modernism towards a fascination with the weighty, the substantial and the rough; in the same manner Bacon rejected the traditional manner of depicting beauty within portraiture, preferring a stark, painterly image instead.

NB: the second talk takes place on 22/10 (7pm) and participants include Joseph Rykwert, Ken Livingstone, Nigel Coates and Joe Kerr.

Domino pull out all the stops for their Crystal Anniversary as an indie label with a series of events at the Barbican showcasing the current talent on their roster. Whilst the three nights offer something for everyone, it is the opening gig on the Saturday that excites us the most. Pretty much a stonewall example of the phrase "better late than never", Manhattan's iconic punk funk outfit Liquid Liquid will be performing their first ever London show, following the release of a career retrospective earlier this year which also included unreleased material. Such a band requires no introduction and this event is essential for anyone who falls outside the description of a philistine. But there is added incentive for attendance in the shape of Berlin/Toronto based electropop duo Junior Boys flying into London for a one-off live performance ahead of their new album dropping on Domino. It makes perfect sense also for the Optimo crew to wrap up proceedings with a DJ set, given that Twitch and Wilkes named their club night after the Liquid Liquid dancefloor standard.

NB: the other anniversary concerts are Juana Molina + Max Tundra on 05/10 (7:30pm) and Tricky + Wild Beasts + Skream on 06/10 (8pm). Very few tickets remain for these two gigs so if you want to go act fast.

The work of Jonty Lees is contained in the back space of Cell. Beautifully simple, it comprises a coloured wheel of acetate on an OH Projector, a CD case placed in the middle to create a shadow, onto which a projection shows a girl twirling around and around in long skirts. Haroon Mirza's work provides the background noise -- a beat that can be heard through the wall to the main space, it keeps the dynamics of the show constantly shifting. His work is an explosion of different elements pushing and pulling at each other: a tangle of electricity cables; exposed printed circuit boards; water trickling from a hose pipe; the sound of 2p coins jumping on a vibrating speaker, amplified by a contact microphone. It could be the work of a mad professor and we are left in a puzzle as to what he is trying to figure out. Tom Humphreys' work surrounds the walls in the main space, and his canvases simultaneously appear careless and considered -- the dots and dashes across them suggesting possible communication or rhythm. All the work in this exhibition is refreshingly honest and keeps nothing back. In short, a really entertaining and well-curated show.

NB: runs till 05/10.

In the catalogue to this exhibition, contemporary abstraction is described in the following terms, "it is easy to get an effect, hard to get at something authentic". Painter James Howell makes graduated grey-scale paintings on square format canvases with only titanium white, ivory black and raw umber (the last in order to prevent the grey appearing blue). Exhibiting since 1969, Howell can be viewed as a contemporary with similar sensibilities to Robert Ryman and Ellsworth Kelly. A quiet authenticity, attuned as much to a constructive / concrete European approach as the minimalism of his native America (think here of Richard Paul Lohse and Max Bill), is what first comes across on encountering the six panel painting in the show. Beyond that, there is the impression of serendipity in the encounter between painting and space; where even when one knows the work was made in an immaculate New York studio, a directness in how it absorbs daylight and generates atmosphere, gives the impression of a deliberate and entirely preconceived installation full of light and space, reminiscent of James Turrell at his best. This is a timely exhibition given the current reconsidering of abstraction amongst younger artists. Howell's mixture of pragmatism and stated desire for art to be a transformative experience also sits well with the Mark Rothko Tate exhibition that opens this week.

NB: runs till 18/10.

Tennessee Williams created his own coterie of memorable, mad and emotionally crippled characters. His Small Craft Warnings is replete with misfits who cross paths on a foggy night at Monk's, a seedy waterfront pub. Leona, the aging trailer trash beautician has come to fetch her roving lover Billy, who is paying a bit too much attention to the childish and volatile Violet, whose respective partner Steve watches indifferently. The situation becomes even more precarious as Doc goes off into the night, highly inebriated, to deliver a baby and the unlikely couple, formed by Quentin the screenwriter and Bobby the young cyclist, enters the premises. Only Monk, the bartender, can maintain some semblance of composure. The elaborate set-design, a seaside bar replete with a trophy swordfish and postcards from the patrons, sets the tone. The direction doesn't attempt to fill in the narrative gaps, opting instead for a series of interweaving vignettes presenting the disillusionment and delusion of each character. The success of this approach relies on the performances of the actors, who do not disappoint. Indeed, Meredith MacNeill delivers a tic-ridden, slack- jawed Violet that is both repulsive and touching, while Greg Hicks is superb as a thinly veiled self-portrayal of Williams.

NB: runs till 18/10.

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