The 2007-2008 financial crisis stands alongside 9/11 as one of the most impactful events of the last decade. But, while the after effects of the latter were subsequently made obvious to the public by a deluge of media analysis and the spectacle of two foreign wars, the financial crisis remains largely unanalysed and un-commemorated. Despite Read More
Spotlight‘s sensitive subject matter would be incredibly easy to mishandle. However, director Tom McCarthy has succeeded in providing a gripping yet grounded portrayal of the child abuse scandal The Boston Globe exposed in 2002. Devoid of visual frills, the film relies on an outstanding cast to carry it over the potential pitfalls. McCarthy and co-writer Read More
“This book begins and is made of gifts” writes Alan Riach in the introduction to Ian Brown’s new collection of poetry – a sentence that in it own curious syntactical imbalance strikes exactly the note of spontaneity and uncertainty that dances through every page of “Collyshangles in the canopy”. For is it that the book Read More
Should you wish to be transported into a fairytale world of Nordic myth then Transparencies by Meg Bateman may be just your thing. There are moments when one receives an antidote, often in an art form, which clears your mental fog. In this case it comes in the guise of poetry. Meg Bateman has a Read More
Laced with the sexuality and the associated violence we have come to expect from Angela Carter, her somewhat forgotten poetry does not disappoint. Editor Rosemary Hill highlights that very frisson in her new collection of Carter’s published verse Unicorn. Much like Carter’s earlier novels Several Perceptions and Heroes and Villains, her poetry has been neglected Read More
In his latest collection, seasoned poet and scrupulous “life critic” Alan Brownjohn writes candidly of modern life and the human experience. His penchant for the trivialities of la vie quotidienne manifests through an acutely realist and, at times, satirical lens. These thirty nine poems might be said to emulate the values of European cinema’s Neorealist Read More
In a snug, lamp-lit, yellow-stoned vault underneath St. John’s House, StAnza hosts a series of poetry readings under the title, “Border Crossings”. These events, in which two poets read consecutively, stage not only the boundaries between poetic practices, but the national and cultural boundaries that many of the poets have crossed in order to be Read More
Les Animots: A Human Bestiary is Gordon Meade’s eighth poetry collection. Taking animals – a perennially popular topic in poetry – as his theme, it quickly becomes apparent that Meade is playing with our preconceptions. The book initially appears to be a field guide with “68 species described with black & white drawings”, a hardback Read More
The DCA is a wonderfully apt setting for their latest exhibition, Grey Gardens: one of many celebratory events for the national Festival of Architecture. And it’s no coincidence that the arts centre has itself been recognised as one of the top contemporary Scottish buildings in the last century: it’s light and airy space houses the Read More
I have an admission to make: I went to see A Bigger Splash entirely for one of my favourite actors, Tilda Swinton. In the Swinton watching review, this is a very interesting and entertaining film. Swinton plays an aging rock star who has temporarily lost her voice, meaning most of her performance is either silent Read More