Film review: Far from the Madding Crowd is rushed, but Carey Mulligan sparkles May 1, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ In 19th century England, the line between fancying someone and marrying them was terrifyingly thin. Or so you might think from Thomas Vinterberg’s new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, in which the twinkly Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) hurdles marriage proposals like a Victorian Colin Jackson. All [...]
Theatre review: Ah, Wilderness! April 24, 2015 Young Vic | ★★★★☆ The life of American playwright and Nobel Laureate Eugene O’Neill was often tragic but in Ah, Wilderness! he mines his youth for comedy, and the results are unexpectedly delightful. The action takes place over the 4 July weekend, 1906, mostly at the Miller family’s Connecticut beach house. They suffer [...]
Theatre review: Carmen Disruption April 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Carmen Disruption asks two big questions: 1) what becomes of a performer who plays the same role over and over again for her entire life, and 2) what happens when a culture becomes obsessed with disruptive, distracting technologies? Prolific playwright Simon Stephens obviously thinks one informs of the other – [...]
Film review: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence April 24, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★★ “We just want to help people have fun,” intone two ashen-faced salesmen of crummy novelty items. Lord knows the people in this film need the help. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the third part of Swedish director Roy Andersson’s trilogy “about being a human [...]
Film review: The Falling April 24, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ Jean-Luc Godard once said that a story should have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order. The Falling has several middles, even more beginnings, and an end that doesn’t resolve any of them. This is no feat of narrative ingenuity – just a mess. The setting [...]
Art review: Prunella Clough April 17, 2015 Osborne Samuel | ★★★★☆ One of Britain’s most important and undervalued 20th century painters gets her first major show in many years. The exhibition, which is taking place at Mayfair’s Osborne Samuel gallery, consists of paintings, collages, drawings and reliefs, many of which focus on Clough’s favourite subject: women at work. At a time [...]
Film review: Child 44 April 17, 2015 Cert 15 | ★☆☆☆☆ According to Child 44, post-war Soviet Russia is a place where the walls have ears and the woods have marauding killers addicted to the blood of children. Little rings true in this collage of Cold War nightmares, but nothing offends reality quite as much as the absurd Reeushyan icksshyents adopted by [...]
Film review: A Little Chaos April 17, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★★☆ Upon waking, King Louis XIV is greeted by his son who has just passed wind in his majesty’s bedchamber. This opening scene accurately sets the tone for A Little Chaos, a period romp with a keen sense of the absurd. Alan Rickman may not be the first person you’d choose to [...]
Film review: The Salvation is a Viking cowboy fable April 17, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ The Salvation is the tale of a Viking cowboy, which is reason enough to see it right there. Mads Mikkelsen (pictured above) is a war veteran, who fled Denmark for a peaceful life in the American West. After seven years he is joined by his wife and child, but when [...]
Bordeaux: Why the 2014 vintage is the best since 2010 and which wines you should invest in now April 10, 2015 Bordeaux 2014 We consider the 2014 vintage to be the best vintage since 2010; quality ranges from good to truly exceptional. The Left Bank overshadowed the Right Bank, with wines from St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe particularly superb and Margaux variable. The Right Bank was more uneven in quality, except amongst the leading estates. [...]
