Far Away review: Chilling Caryl Churchill drama staged in 45 minutes is a breath of fresh air February 14, 2020 In our current theatrical landscape, where three-hour plays are the norm and two-part, seven-hour epics are the height of sophistication, there’s something thrilling, almost transgressive about the sentence “45 minutes, straight through”. Caryl Churchill’s 2000 play Far Away is a poster-child for short-form story telling, trimming every ounce of fat, wasting not a single word. [...]
Emma film review: Stylish Austen adaptation is lacking in substance February 14, 2020 Not unlike a cabinet reshuffle, Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma follows a group of largely unlikeable people being shunted around in different permutations, at the whim of an aristocratic blonde who’s used to getting their own way. In this case it’s in the pursuit of matchmaking, something in which the titular character, 21-year-old provincial heiress [...]
Birds of Prey review: Margot Robbie sparkles in this diamanté-encrusted take on the superhero movie February 10, 2020 Margot Robbie was the saving grace of 2016’s dire Suicide Squad, so it was welcome news that her character Harley Quinn would be thrust into centre stage in DC’s new spandex adventure, Birds of Prey. It’s a diamante-encrusted take on the superhero film, in which Quinn sets out to prove herself as a supervillian in [...]
Collect 2020 presented by the Crafts Council February 10, 2020 | Sponsored VIP Tickets to the exclusive Collectors’ Preview of the International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design: Collect 2020 presented by the Crafts Council The vanguard of growing global appreciation for crafted objects, Collect, is moving to a striking new home at Somerset House. The Fair includes the work of 400 international artists presented by galleries showcasing exceptional and breakthrough [...]
Underwater review: Kristen Stewart’s wet monster movie is part Alien-homage, part environmental warning February 7, 2020 In her latest attempt to escape the fading shadow of the Twilight franchise, Kristen Stewart heads to the one place vampires fear to tread: the bottom of the ocean. In subnautical science-fiction horror Underwater, she plays a mechanical engineer aboard an imperilled deep sea drilling station, tasked with rescuing herself and her dwindling crewmates after [...]
British Baroque at Tate Britain review: A compelling journey through an unsung period of history February 7, 2020 At some point over the past few years, you might have fantasised about going back to a time before politics as we know it existed. To do that, you’d have to set your time machine about as far back as the Baroque period. Running from the late 17th to early 18th century, it began with [...]
Radical Figures at the Whitechapel Gallery review: Is painting really dead? February 7, 2020 “This is an exhibition that testifies against the death of painting,” says Lydia Yee, curator of Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium at the Whitechapel Gallery. “Since painting was pronounced dead in the 1980s, a new generation of artists has been revitalising the expressive potential of figuration.” So painting died in the 1980s? Yes – [...]
Endgame at the Old Vic review: Samuel Beckett double bill is delightfully taxing February 7, 2020 There was a club night in Glasgow in the early 2000s called Optimo, which occasionally used the slogan: “You won’t like it, sugar” (taken from the lyrics of a Whitehouse track that you really shouldn’t google). It always struck me as a brilliant bit of marketing, at once embracing and ridiculing musical elitism. I can [...]
Daniel Isn’t Real review: Arnie Jr stars in this neon horror mashup February 7, 2020 ‘Keep your friends close and your imaginary friends closer’ could be the tagline for this psycho-horror starring the handsome young progeny of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It follows introverted law student Luke, whose childhood-trauma coping-mechanism, an invisible pal called Daniel, reemerges with violent intent. While Daniel Isn’t Real’s budget is relatively meagre, it brings to mind an [...]
Parasite movie review: Bong Joon Ho’s surreal social commentary is a work of rare genius February 7, 2020 Over the last 90 years, the Academy has deigned to nominate just 10 foreign language films for the Best Picture gong, with none of them walking away with the gold statue. There’s an 11th in the running this year: Bong Joon Ho’s superlative Parasite. The director, whose oeuvre spans both Korean- (The Host, Mother) and [...]