Am I an ABBA fan? You betcha. I love what they created. I adore their songs and their harmonies. And while the closest thing we are likely to see to them performing together again is the hologram concert ABBA Voyage, there is something mighty special in town. I refer to a dedicated choir established by ABBA The…
A divertimento is a light piece of music, written just to amuse. But it’s a slightly incongruous title for Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s portrait of the conductor and composer Zahia Ziouani, because the film tackles some pretty heavy themes. To use a current term, this is an “origin story”; telling how a teenage Ziouani went from the…
Sarah Perry returns to the locale of her hit novel (and TV series) The Essex Serpent to deliver another deep, dazzling book. Enlightenment takes place over three time periods and concerns itself with a historical mystery so that it becomes, like the comets that come into the narrative, an elliptical tale. While linear on the…
The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste) is a political thriller based in fact. Director Jean-Paul Salome and co-screenwriter Fadette Drouard craft their story around a trade union official and whistleblower who wasn’t believed after a violent personal attack. The central figure is Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert). In 2012, she worked for a Areva, a French multinational…
The unmissable nighttime visual spectacle Lightscape has returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens for a third winter with a reimagined trail and new installations. It is a glorious exhibition of creativity, featuring a stunning array of large-scale illuminated sculptures, many colour-changing. More than that, trees are lit up, there is fire, fog and projections along the two-kilometre…
She could light up a room like no other and yet her tragic fate was sealed early on. I speak of the sparkling, enthusiastic Lucia Joyce, daughter of famed author James (Ulysses – 1922). This is her story, as it is that of the relationship between her and Samuel Beckett, and between Beckett and James Joyce. Lucia…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 14 June 2024. John Grant began thinking about a new album in the autumn of 2022. Earlier that year, John had been introduced to Ivor Guest, producer and composer at Grace Jones’ Southbank show, the finale of her Meltdown…
– Sting – Only in cinemas from 18 July 2024 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to StudioCanal. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is…
How do you know when it is best to end a relationship? That question is highlighted and spotlighted in the compelling and highly creative new work Cutting Onions. A young couple has just moved into fresh digs. Their home is quite spacious, with a good size kitchen and a large, if overgrown, backyard. There are still unpacked boxes…
Finally, a sequel I can get behind! Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact Pixar have taken nine years to come up with a sequel to 2015’s Inside Out, but they’ve delivered something pretty special with Inside Out 2. I think the main reason this film works is that it actually makes sense….
