Following the development of a touching relationship which develops between two strangers, Saajan Fernandes (Irfan Khan) and Ila (Nimrat Kaur), The Lunchbox is Ritra Batra’s tranquil debut feature as both writer and director. The story begins when the lunchbox Ila made for her husband accidentally arrives at Saajan’s desk instead. Saajan is a lonely and Read More
The Catholic Church’s dark history of sexual abuse is a well-documented topic that, within the past twenty years, has become an identity-defining scandal , serving as a damning modern symbol of religious corruption. This has produced many works, both drama and documentary, which have come out in condemnation of such abuse and its subsequent cover ups. However, Read More
Richard Ayoade’s strikingly evocative directorial style was clearly evidenced in Submarine. Though his second film is markedly bleaker, his artistic talent is still palpable. The Double is adapted from Dostoevsky’s 1846 novella of the same name, in which a timid titular councillor is confronted by his own extrovert doppelgänger as he descends into madness. Ayoade’s Read More
“Quit fucking black cops or get booted from the Communist Party.” The opening line of Jonathan Lethem’s ninth novel delivers a stark warning of the somewhat indelicate prose that lies ahead. Dissident Gardens is a modern American epic that follows the people involved in the alternative political movements of the last century, from Communist cells Read More
“Help this story live. We kindly ask that you keep the ending a secret. We wouldn’t want to spoil the ending for other theatregoers and we wish to preserve the ongoing mystery of this iconic murder mystery masterpiece!” So says the programme for Dundee Rep’s masterful performance of Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery And Then Read More
Positively narcissistic, Xavier Dolan’s newest film is a stylish and suspenseful tale of homoeroticism in rural Canada. It focuses on the eponymous Tom (Dolan himself) and his psychological journey as he becomes trapped in a sadomasochistic relationship with Quebec farmer Francis (Pierre-Yves Cardinal). Tom journeys to the farm for the funeral of his boyfriend Guillaume, Read More
A.L Kennedy has a well-deserved reputation as one of the best writers working in Britain today. In her latest collection, All the Rage, Kennedy turns her gaze toward the wretched aspects of love: the fault-lines where the erotic becomes violent, where love degrades into betrayal, and where the edges of language rise up, rendering her Read More
Thomas A. Clark has published his second collection of poems with Carcanet Press entitled Yellow and Blue (2014). Like his other volumes this book works within the minimalist tradition he has developed in relation to the Pittenweem Gallery that he now runs with Laurie Clark in the East Neuk of Fife. These short poems of Read More
All the Beggars Riding, the third novel by Lucy Caldwell, demonstrates an impressive command of complex emotional narratives and a playfulness with the technicalities of truth and story-telling. Its predominant theme is that of families and their destructive secrets which echo down generations. It also asks if and how we might break free from the Read More
(France 2014) 21-27 March, DCA Jalil Lespert’s Yves Saint Laurent is one of two 2014 biopics about the famous fashion designer who was born in 1936 and died in 2008. Pierre Niney, as Yves, delivers a performance which movingly captures the shy, mischievous insouciance of the Algerian-born gay artiste whose rise from Christian Dior’s assistant Read More