Casablanca Beats is a hip hop story with soul to spare May 6, 2022 There’s often an extra dimension to films that are inspired by the director’s own life. Nabil Ayouch (2015 drama Much Loved) draws on his own life in this story of a Anas (Anas Basbousi), a former rapper living in the Sidi Moumen suburb of Casablanca who takes a job teaching young people his craft at [...]
Downton: A New Era is nostalgic, predictable fun May 6, 2022 Familiarity is king when it comes to cinema at the moment. Superheroes, video games, and even the Jackass crew have all found success prodding at our nostalgia over the last few months. It’s the perfect time for the return of Downton Abbey, the cosy TV drama which led to an even cosier 2019 film. The [...]
Age of Rage review: Ivo van Hove sprawling Greek epic is a hot mess May 6, 2022 You wait a lifetime for a play retelling the fall of Troy through the medium of interpretive dance and then two come along at once. Following hot on the heels of Punchdrunk’s immersive The Burnt City comes Age of Rage, the first post-pandemic work by Dutch auteur Ivo van Hove (The Network, Hedda Gabler). From [...]
House of Ife review: Effective balance of grief with levity May 5, 2022 You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family, goes the old saying. House of Ife is a damning case for why we feel this way. We’re presented with a split of explosively divisive personalities in the Ife family, showing how far removed we can be from the people we’re birthed by, or [...]
UK’s first queer museum founder: ‘It’s not just another bar, you know?’ May 5, 2022 Queer Britain, the UK’s first ever queer museum opens its doors today, taking over the grand old industrial building in King’s Cross’s Granary Square that was once home to the House of Illustration. The intimate space is the first iteration of Queer Britain, with director and co-founder Joseph Galliano hoping to gain funding for a [...]
The A-Z of wine: F is for… Furmint, the wine variety of tomorrow May 5, 2022 What’s this then? Furmit is an Eastern European grape variety, most commonly associated with Hungary but also grown widely in neighbouring Slovenia (where Napoleon’s army gave it the ‘c’est bon’ seal of approval that evolved into the grape’s alternate name, Sipon). If you’ve ever drunk the iconic sweet wines from the Tokaj region of Hungary [...]
Angelina is an Italo-Japanese delight with some fine wines to die for May 4, 2022 A place this special was worth the cross-London travel. Strikingly stylish in black and white and hung with Japanese paper lanterns, the warmth of the welcome and the buzz of the open kitchen makes Dalston’s Angelina instantly inviting. Seated along the marble topped bar above the main restaurant floor, we got a perfect view of [...]
Sink the pink: How to make the most of Great British Rosé Week May 4, 2022 Sunshine and spring blossoms are thankfully becoming a more regular occurrence, heralding that crowd-pleaser, Rosé Season. You could be a fan of the pale pink of Provence or the juicy Garnacha of Spain, but English rosés are increasingly coming to the award-winning fore and right now we are in the middle of Great British Rosé [...]
Can Mayfair’s Park Chinois combine dinner and cabaret and make it good? May 4, 2022 There are lots of things in life that could reasonably be described as ‘a lot.’ Visiting the in-laws can be ‘a lot,’ as can indulging your drunk uncle in conversation when he’s offering his take on cancel culture. Marzipan is also ‘a lot’, and so is trifle. All of these over-stimulating experiences pale by comparison [...]
Porsche goes retro with new 911 Sport Classic – yours for £210,000 May 3, 2022 Inspired by the classic Carrera 2.7 RS, the limited-edition 550hp Sport Classic is the most powerful Porsche 911 with a manual gearbox.