‘If we’re going to save this life-giving world we’re squatting on, we need radical, grassroots change’ The future is uncertain with not only war, but environmental chaos, looming. It’s easy to give up or become desensitised, to cocoon or simply despair. But there is another option, and there’s a couple who seemingly have the answer, which they document in their ...
‘Joyous Black culture’ Bank Holiday weekend is upon us, and Carnival is flicking its feathers triumphantly around Notting Hill. But I realise the cacophony isn’t for everyone. Where else will you get your dose of joyous Black culture under the sun and stars? Well, Barbican Outdoor Cinema has got you covered! After the dust has settled Tuesday night has all ...
‘Show political films politically, and queer films queerly’ Like the vibrating water glass as the T. Rex thumps along in Jurassic Park, Pride unrolls its stomping boots, ready to rampage across the country. But does it have to be only frozen daiquiris, ageing pop stars, and endorsements from arms dealers? The Barbican (and I) say no! So, we, the artistic ...
‘A timeless, quietly important discussion of youth, love, and the city’ Dee Rees’s seminal 2011 queer drama finds an appropriately urban background within the Barbican’s brutalist amphitheatre in this summers 9th outdoor cinema experience. But what a film, one of the only selected from the 2010s for the United States National Film Registry. Winner of so many awards my fingers ...
‘Talented people, showcasing a fanatical and fantastic love of film’ The old saying don’t judge a book by its cover sometimes comes into splendid poignancy. Not a person by their designer handbag, or a play by its assumed budget, and certainly not a super short film festival on its snooker-hall-grotty-locale. Wandering down an unfamiliar and neglected road in Stokey, closed ...
‘Sensitive and vibrant slice of life’ Reality TV and artistically-minded documentaries sometimes share a key feature: a predatory hunt for “worthy” subjects to exploit. On the brighter side, they also exhibit a fascination with real people living their unique lives. The approach taken is very much guided by the producer or director. Shamira Raphaela’s latest piece, Shabu, is filled with kindness, ...
‘Glamour like only the Italians know how to do’ Despite you reading this in a hopefully sweltering August (the UK general release date) I crammed myself into the Curzon basement for the press screening in June. Now that might not seem relevant until we realise that the gay gods gifted British theatre critics with a coming-of-age trans story, set in ...
‘A quiet scream in the face of an increasingly heartless world’ “Growing old is not for sissies,” said Bette Davis at her most adroit. With rising healthcare and living costs, that statement is even truer now. Chie Hayakawa’s new film, Plan 75, shunts us a few years into the future and a few horrific steps forward along our current trajectory. Japan ...
‘A formidable lead performance let down by a disjointed story’ When you picture the mid-90s, what comes to mind? For me, it’s everything “gangsta”, drugs, bad haircuts, and liberally spray-painted surfaces. If you add all those to the world of dirt bikes and stunts, you have Rodeo – except it’s somewhat confusingly set in the present day. French writer/director Lola Quivoron’s first ...
‘Like turning a piece of topaz around in the sunlight’ We have all seen our most irritating friends Instagram posts; pruning in the blue lagoon, drenched in earth spit from geysers, drinking odd concoctions in Reykjavik’s bars. But Iceland’s history has always been tempered by depopulation, hardship, and natural ferocity. It wasn’t always a snowy playground for Europeans on a bucket list ...