As a purveyor of art-house cinema, films with long poetic titles become something to be wary of. Generally these are examples of films that are either overwhelmingly didactic or gratingly obsessed with the (self-assessed) brilliance of their style or ideas. The Sky Trembles… teeters at the edge of the cliff of pretension, but manages for Read More
Peter Greenaway was one of the great European arthouse directors, lighting up the British film scene of the 1980s. His talents then faded, creating disjointed films more interested in using formalistic gimmicks than telling a good old-fashioned story. Or so the story goes. The general British critical scene has little time for Greenaway these days; Read More
Delivered in response to their cultural exchange in Shanghai last summer, Poster Club’s latest exhibition, “NEW Wheat NEW Mud NEW Machine”, curiously explores the realms of collaboration through the medium of printmaking and playful typography. The artists involved with Poster Club have come and gone throughout the years, but the aim has always been the Read More
As an avid movie goer, I was not disappointed when I recently watched Kung Fu Panda 3 for the first time. The movie itself may be more of a child centric film, but it appeals to the child within all of us no matter how old we are. The lead voice actor, Jack Black, reprises Read More
In the endnotes of New York Drawings, Adrian Tomine asserts that he is a cartoonist, “not just an illustrator.” However, it is precisely that tension between those two artistic identities that define Tomine’s work. Indeed, his two most recent publications, New York Drawings and Killing and Dying, emphasise his versatility, demonstrating that, in spite of Read More
If you like post-apocalyptic novels, then this is the book for you. If you like them very gory and brutal, then this is not the book for you. Even the deaths are gentle. Russell himself said that, although he had a ‘‘fascination with Armageddon,’’ he ‘’wanted to devise one…based on human technology rather than something Read More
“Sit anywhere you want, but try stick to the front to keep the intimate feel,” were the words said to me as I collected my tickets. I thought nothing too much of it – not expecting anything out of the ordinary. Instead, in true Rep fashion, I was greeted by an absolutely beautiful stage. A Read More
Ahmet Altan is a murderer. At least, he is in the eyes of the unnamed, enigmatic narrator who, having recently taken a life, spends his own final hours musing about the relationships between God, an author, and his characters. Part existentialist essay and part murder mystery, Endgame is a story that slowly but surely draws Read More
Lindsay Parnell’s debut novel Dogwood is not for the faint hearted. The novel begins with the main protagonist, Harper, writing a letter to her younger brother Job telling him about the execution of Tara Hackett, a murderer whom she met in prison. The explicit descriptions of violence and sheer horror presented serve as a warning. Read More
Jackie Copleton’s first novel is ambitious in its themes and in the spread of history it encompasses: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding is set mainly in Nagasaki across the years before, during and after the dropping of the atomic bomb. The plot revolves around Amaterasu, a mother and grandmother, whose desperate search to find her Read More