The incredible true story of 20th-century Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, "Frida" is told from the artist's own perspective. The film is based on primary sources including Kahlo's illustrated diaries, essays and interviews.

The two-decade survey of paintings by John Bankston, now at the Rena Bransten Gallery through April 20, features prime examples of the cartoony figurative work that's brought him renown, along with more recent work reflecting shifts in media.

Stephen McCauley is a master of the comedy of manners genre. His eighth book, "You Only Call When You're In Trouble," follows a similar template, but is not formulaic, with new shibboleths to slay.

"The most controversial thing I've done is to stick around," says Madonna in a recorded segment from the dizzying array of montages that document her 40-year career in her Celebration Tour, which dazzled audiences at two sold-out Chase Center concerts.

We've got the most comprehensive LGBTQ and queer-friendly nightlife info in the Bay, along with dozens of arts events. Check out our online listings, this week and every week in Going Out.

"Big Data," the funny, itchy, nerve-jangling new play by Kate Attwell, commissioned by American Conservatory Theatre, now plays in a world premiere production at the company's Toni Rembe Theater.

"I have a lot in common with James Baldwin," says Greig Sargeant, who portrays the author and activist in "Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge," a work he conceived and will perform as part of the Cal Performances series in Berkeley.

In San Francisco, the city often used as a setting in film noir, a new reinterpretation of Black people in cinema will be explored in Kayla Farrish's "Put Away the Fire, dear," an evening-length work at ODC Theater March 8-10.

Lesbian mystery and thriller authors have carved out a unique niche within the genre. Authors J.M. Redmann and Terry Wolverton discuss their writing in and outside genre expectations.

Newly available on Blu-ray and including special features such as four of Pat Rocco's short films, as well as audio commentary by film historian Finley Freibert, the classically low-budget "Drifter" may finally find an audience.

"Standard Time: Live in New York" is a live album, recorded at the Metropolitan Room in New York City in October 2008. It's Russ Lorenson's fourth album, and likely his last.

For the first part of our Spring books roundup, we've got an amazing debut by a Southern writer, a welcome return to the "Tales of the City," a drag icon's life story, and a poetically written memoir by a celebrated Black writer.

The play's the thing, but so is the music, the dance, the painting, the bartender and the drag queen. We've got it all, and all the world's a stage. Check our online listings, this week and every week in Going Out.

"The New Look" chronicles how Paris reclaimed its title as the capital of haute couture, launching modern fashion by dueling designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel after the disastrous World War II Nazi occupation.