The Painter and the Thief review: A brilliant, moving documentary October 29, 2020 Premiering at Sundance in January, Norwegian documentary filmmaker Benjamin Ree (2016’s Magnus) brings us The Painter and the Thief, an unusual tale of crime and reconciliation. We meet Barbara Kysilkova, a Czech painter based in Oslo, as she learns two of her most celebrated paintings have been stolen during the night. The authorities bluntly inform [...]
Turner at the Tate Britain: An Imax-sized naval blockbuster October 28, 2020 Tate Britain’s first major exhibition since the onset of our present crisis, Turner’s Modern World, is an Imax-sized naval blockbuster screened across a hundred canvases. This collection of works from across the span of JMW Turner’s career is a wild, terrifying documentary about a world turned on its head by industrialisation and war. Turner’s 19th [...]
The City A.M. Weekend – how to have fun in the age of Covid October 24, 2020 During these testing times it’s more important than ever to take pleasure in the things London still has to offer, and more important than ever to support the people out there offering us the chance. In this new regular column, we update you on the ever-changing restrictions and give you a list of ways to [...]
Pixie review: Tarantino meets Sligo in charming Irish heist October 23, 2020 Certain images can sell a movie almost without context: Jack Nicholson grinning through a hole in a door, or John Travolta and Uma Thurman doing the twist. Pixie may not be as iconic as those movies, but its accompanying show of Alec Baldwin, dressed as a priest and brandishing a firearm is certainly enough to [...]
The Secret Garden review – death by 1,000 adaptations October 23, 2020 Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden has been adapted numerous times for film, television and the stage, with the most recent being a 1993 version produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Times have changed, but the allure and magic of The Secret Garden was enough for the producers of the Harry Potter and Paddington [...]
Summer of 85 – François Ozon’s latest is a nostalgia ride October 23, 2020 French director François Ozon (Frantz, By The Grace of God) goes back thirty five years for his nostalgic teen drama Summer of 85. Félix Lefebvre plays Alex, a 16-year-old facing a serious police charge relating to the death of his friend, David (Benjamin Voisin). With the help of his teacher, he is able to piece [...]
Robert Zemeckis The Witches is a dark Dahl triumph October 21, 2020 Readers over a certain age will remember losing sleep over the 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The Witches, in which Anjelica Huston donned hideous prosthetics that are still unsettling to this day. It perfectly captured the spirit of Roald Dahl’s storytelling, which always towed the line between wonder and abject terror. Robert Zemeckis (Back [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? October 21, 2020 Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? JOIN THE DEBATE. Emma Sayle, founder and chief executive of social network Killing Kittens, says YES. When lockdown started, traffic to the Killing Kittens website went up 300 per cent. We had 150 per cent more photo uploads and 425 per cent more messages — [...]
Barbican Theatre to reopen with The Ghost Light, a mystery production for audiences of one October 17, 2020 The Barbican Theatre will reopen next month with The Ghost Light a show performed for audiences of just one guest and up to five of their friends. The theme of new show The Ghost Light, the first production at the Barbican Theatre in seven months, will remain a mystery until audience members take their seats, [...]
Over the Moon film review: This family Netflix animation has heart and colour October 16, 2020 Netflix looks to get in on the booming appetite for family content with this whimsical animated trip to space. Cathy Ang voices Fei Fei, a young Chinese girl fascinated by science, as well as the stories of the Moon goddess Change’e (Phillipa Soo) told to her by her mother (Ruthie Ann Miles). When her mother [...]