Issue 629

Ludivine Sagnier - Fairy Tales

14 May 2009

Ingenue, starlet and disgracefully young-looking, Ludivine Sagnier is about to turn 30. In a dazzlingly high-quality career, she has packed in collaborations with many of the heavyweights of French cinema including Francois Ozon, Claude Miller and Alain…

Why Hip Hop show Breakin' Convention has the original spin

14 May 2009

In May 2007, hip hop came to Edinburgh. A laughable comment for those already immersed in the scene, but for many people it was the start of a beautiful friendship. Having taken London by storm every year since 2004, Breakin’ Convention finally branched…

Hip hop in Scotland - Taking the mic

14 May 2009

MC SOOM T Combining fierce vocal ability with commercial versatility, fast-rapping Glaswegian Sumati Bhardwaj has opened for Basement Jaxx and Aphex Twin, and performed diverse styles such as reggae with Mungo’s Hi-Fi and folk alongside The Burns…

Graffiti in Scotland - Creative writing

14 May 2009

From Loanhead to Glasgow there’s a rich heritage of graffiti art in Scotland. We speak to two of the key figures on the scene Elph and Derm

Heart of darkness

His Dark Materials

14 May 2009

Three novels, hundreds of characters and numerous parallel worlds – Philip Pullman’s imagination knows no bounds. Between them, Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass have captivated millions of readers worldwide. Fitting their…

Ladyhawke

14 May 2009

‘Well, it’s basically me just flying through the air, shooting cats, avoiding cats, and trying not to die,’ grins Pip Brown, abashedly. Better known as one-woman vintage pop behemoth Ladyhawke, the quietly-spoken, congenial New Zealander is detailing…

Jac Scott - Excess all areas

14 May 2009

Jac Scott’s new exhibition at the Collins Gallery couldn’t be more perfectly pitched to capture the credit crunch zeitgeist. At a point when many of us are reassessing our expenditure and desire for all types of goods, Excess: Experiments in Living…

Margaret Elphinstone: The Gathering Night

14 May 2009

Margaret Elphinstone has carved out a fine career as a purveyor of excellent historical novels, but for her latest offering she’s done something a bit different and gone prehistoric. The Gathering Night is set in Mesolithic Scotland, somewhere between…

Mad Decent records

14 May 2009

‘We look for people who are trying different things,’ says Jasper Goggins, New York-based manager of the Mad Decent label, ‘and who aren’t afraid to be a bit experimental with their sound. But more than that everyone on the label is friends, there’s…

Synecdoche, New York: Crisis of faith

14 May 2009

‘How many roads must a man walk down / before you call him a man?’ Is Bob Dylan’s most famous protest song really a surrealist riddle? What’s the road made out of, and will it hurt the tender soles of my feet? That’s the thing about the Jewish…

Reel Iraq

14 May 2009

The point of Charlie Brooker’s excellent Newswipe series, which ended recently, seemed to be that, far from being an honest and agenda-free information source, the news is just as much a constructed text as, say, a novel or a film. And for most people…

Scottish Arts Council award for St Peter’s Seminary development proposal

14 May 2009

The List is delighted to report on NVA’s announcement that they will play a ‘major role’ in plans to save St Peter’s Seminary and Kilmahew Woodlands. The Glasgow based environmental charity will use the £45,600 award fund given to them by the Scottish…

Go Faster Stripe

14 May 2009

Every November time an onslaught of comedy DVDs hits the nation’s shops and online retailers, almost as though there was some big occasion around the corner that stand-ups and their representatives wished to capitalise upon. Yet one wholly independent…

The Vaselines: Enter the Vaselines

14 May 2009

Things those under the age of 30 should know about The Vaselines: They were formed in Glasgow by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee. They were in existence from 1986 to 1989, and more recently on an occasional live basis. They are best known outside of…

Modern Life (La Vie Moderne)

14 May 2009

(PG) 90min The third part of Magnum photojournalist and filmmaker Raymond Depardon’s trilogy of films about the lives of France’s highland farmers receives a standalone release. We can only hope its predecessors will follow. The Cévennes region in…

Mark of an Angel

14 May 2009

THRILLER (12A) 91min It’s partly spoiling the experience of watching this impressively executed French film to reveal that what begins as an engrossing character study transforms into a riveting domestic thriller. But to not make reference to the…

Helen

14 May 2009

(PG) 79min Given that contemporary filmmaking in Britain continues to be comprised largely of stale costume dramas and gangster thrillers, cheap carbon copies of American horror movies and grim social realist stories either made by or made in the…

Theophilus London

14 May 2009

Midway through Hinterland festival’s first evening, the indie kids of Glasgow scuttle from one bunch of guitar-twangers to another. Leaning against the building site fence next to the Sub Club, a pair of Brooklynites in retro shades, skinny jeans and…

David Aaronovitch: Voodoo Histories

14 May 2009

Pearl Harbour was engineered by FDR so America could enter World War II. Princess Di was bumped off by MI6. And 9/11 was the master plot of a wicked American administration. All because TV documentaries, the internet or some bloke down the pub told us…

Lau: Arc Light

14 May 2009

Lau have established themselves as the hottest band out there on the Scottish folk scene over the last eighteen months on the basis of their gripping live performances, and if their recordings haven’t yet quite matched the on-stage excitement, Arc Light…

Colm Tóibín: Brooklyn

14 May 2009

Times are tough in Enniscorthy, a small job-scarce town in the south-east of Ireland where idle gossip and parish dances are the only entertainment on offer for the young and restless. Instantly likeable leading lady Eilis Lacey’s life is turned upside…

Laurence Hobgood: When The Heart dances

14 May 2009

Pianist Laurence Hobgood is a somewhat underrated figure on the jazz piano spectrum, perhaps largely because we have come to think of him as a masterly accompanist to singer Kurt Elling rather than a soloist in his own right. Hobgood appeared with…

Sucioperro: Pain Agency

14 May 2009

Friends in high places can be a blessing and a curse. This Ayrshire power trio’s association with Ayrshire’s only other spectral rock gods Biffy Clyro – Sucioperro’s JP Reid is the other half of Marmaduke Duke – means the two bands will always suffer…

Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

14 May 2009

Phoenix are really rather brilliant, it’s just a shame more people don’t know it. Criminally underrated for most of their career, the French quartet return with this fourth effort; which, cringey title aside, is by far their most accomplished and…

Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing

14 May 2009

They’re not from Manchester and they’re not an orchestra. Instead this young indie five-piece from Atlanta tap into the blue-collar rock ethic that’s spawned the likes of The Hold Steady and Kings of Leon, while also displaying plenty weirdness to keep…

Taste Edinburgh - Season to Taste

14 May 2009

Edinburgh’s tented food festival is back, with 14 restaurants, three cooking theatres and over 60 food and drink stallholders gathering in Inverleith Park for three days of meeting and eating. The List takes a look at what’s in this year’s picnic basket

The best medicine

14 May 2009

My sides really do feel like they’re splitting. I am in a room with 15 other adults, none of whom I’d met an hour ago, and we are all rubbing nice big dollops of imaginary ‘laughter face cream’ into our cheeks, chanting ‘ho ho ho,’ ‘ha ha ha,’ ‘hee hee…

In the loop - Glasgow Subway Festival

14 May 2009

It’s every commuter’s nightmare, being stuck in a carriage with a talker. The sort of person who simply won’t respect your need to privacy in a public place; who wants to ask you questions, or worse, tell you all about their life. Or worse. Try and…

Child’s Play

Imaginate festival

14 May 2009

Now that it’s settled into its new name, the event formerly known as the Children’s International Theatre Festival is finding bigger and bolder ways to spread its wings. This year, the Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival has shows in no less than seven…

FUEL - Pole position

14 May 2009

When you think racing games, you picture unaffordable sports cars tearing around tracks based on real-life circuits in exotic parts of the world. FUEL is different. It rips up the rulebook and delivers something more ambitious. Set in a future where…

Taste of Edinburgh - Stuart Muir gets out of the kitchen - Pressure cooker

14 May 2009

Brand Events, the company behind Taste of Edinburgh, run their restaurant festivals in a number of cities around the UK, as well as overseas in places such as Cape Town and Sydney. The concept is clearly popular with the public, but it also involves…

Café Bayan - Falling into steppe

14 May 2009

Entering Café Bayan, your eye is drawn to an enormous, mauve-toned mural depicting Scottish and Russian luminaries. In the Scots corner, Burns; in the Russian corner, Pushkin and Tchaikovsky; and, floating incongruously between the two, a tiny depiction…

Love's Time's Beggar

14 May 2009

If you were about to die, and could select one abiding memory to keep with you in the hereafter, what would it be? Hirokazu Koreeda’s film Afterlife dreamed up this intriguing premise about a decade back, and it stayed in director, writer and actor Cora…

Still and Signs of Life

14 May 2009

Cormac Quinn is fast distinguishing himself as a name to watch. The young Glasgow-based playwright won enthusiastic plaudits with his thematically linked two-handers, Still and Signs of Life, when the double bill was staged at the Ramshorn by director…

Willie Doherty: Buried

14 May 2009

First impressions of Buried, a film made especially for Willie Doherty’s exhibition of the same name at The Fruitmarket, indicate that the Northern Irish artist has had a change of subject matter. We see a forest and can hear birdsong and other sounds…

Singles and Downloads

14 May 2009

Take four kids from Northern Ireland and force feed them AC/DC from birth and you’d create The Answer, a scarily authentic gonzo rock outfit who create a fun fluster of riffage and shrieking on ‘ Tonight’ (Albert Productions) ●●● Brainless fun…

Glasgow Americana Festival

14 May 2009

Scotland in general, and Glasgow in particular, has had a long love affair with the dusty backroad heartbreak of Americana and anything with a folky bent from across the pond. In the past the Big Big Country festival run by late promoter Billy Kelly was…

The Grocer’s Son (Le Fils de l'Epicier)

14 May 2009

(12A) 99min The fatted calf is swapped for a mobile grocer’s van in documentarian Eric Guirado’s likeably breezy fictional debut, a take on the prodigal son fable. When his father becomes sick, Paris-based waiter Antoine (Nicolas Cazalé) agrees to…

R&S Records

14 May 2009

Weren’t they big back in the day? Not just big but huge. R&S were at the forefront of the European techno scene and helped cement Belgium’s standing in the world of the electronic beat with releases from CJ Bolland, Derrick May, Aphex Twin, DJ Hell…

Up the Glitter! and Queerbash

14 May 2009

Two nights are starting up this fortnight which aim to breathe a bit of fresh air into the queer clubbing scene in Glasgow. The first of these is named (in shamelessly outré style) Up the Glitter!, and is the brainchild of Dawid Penkowicz and Anne…

Scottish Opera: Manon

14 May 2009

All singing, all dancing might be a phrase originally applied to musicals, but it’s a description that well fits Scottish Opera’s new production of Manon. A chorus of 40, orchestra of 60-plus, fully choreographed ballet scenes and at least eight…

Lights, camera, action - Edinburgh International Film Festival launches programme

14 May 2009

The Edinburgh International Film Festival has launched its much-anticipated line-up boasting 135 features from 33 countries and 23 world premieres. Recent Oscar-winner Kate Winslet is expected to inject some glamour to the proceedings, work schedule…

First word: Jim Kerr

14 May 2009

First record you ever bought David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Last time you were chatted up This morning! First film you saw that really moved you Bambi. Last lie you told It’s been a while … honest! First movie…

Quadrophenia

14 May 2009

The current economic crisis has cast many minds back to the unemployment-wracked 1970s, so it’s perhaps apt that a new stage adaptation of The Who’s Quadrophenia – one of the decade’s most celebrated albums – is touring this year. Composed by The Who…

Various Artists: Limbo Live Volume 1

14 May 2009

Anyone fortunate enough to attend the live music night Limbo at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms on regular Thursdays will know that it’s run by people who know what’s best on the local musical landscape, and who have the luxury of applying some well-exercised…

Spirit of Jura

14 May 2009

While various coffee houses of the Scottish capital have taken credit for providing the caffeine-fuelled watershed for JK Rowling’s career, few places have such literary resonance as Jura. The iconic isle was the isolated spot where George Orwell, fresh…

Site Specifics: Edinburgh Castle

14 May 2009

What is it? Do I really have to answer this? It’s that gigantic castle thing on a rock dominating your capital city. Yeah, we know Look, it may seem like rather an obvious choice, but really, when was the last time you actually visited? May is the…

Everlasting Moments

14 May 2009

DRAMA (15) 131min Given veteran Scandinavian filmmaker Jan Troell’s latest is about a woman discovering her natural ability for photography in early 20th century Sweden, it’s wholly appropriate that the film is a masterclass in visual design.

Claude Von Stroke

14 May 2009

Like many teenagers in Detroit during the 1980s, Barclay Crenshaw (aka Claude Von Stroke) grew up listening to The Electrifying Mojo’s seminal Midnight Funk Association radio broadcasts, which exposed a generation of young producers to the music of…

Xplicit

14 May 2009

Wander through the doors of Edinburgh Uni’s Potterrow on 22 May and you might be in for a bit of a surprise. Over the last year or so the venue has once again started to host a growing number of club nights and large events run by some of the capital’s…

Stag & Dagger

14 May 2009

Even as some of Scotland’s smaller festivals-in-a-field take a sabbatical or call it a day in the current financial climate, new city events like Hinterland and now Stag & Dagger are enjoying their debuts this year. Could the way of the future for fans…

Awaydays

14 May 2009

DRAMA (18) 104min The Wirral, late 1970s. Middle-class Carty (Nicky Bell) is a 19-year-old art school dropout stuck in a pen-pushing office job. He’s in awe of The Pack, a gang of knife-wielding local football hooligans who dress in designer…

The Ducky

14 May 2009

Douglas Maxwell better watch out. Until last year the playwright had cornered the market in whimsical comedies about Ayrshire teenagers. Then along came DC Jackson with The Wall – in which a gang of Stewarton youngsters crossed the threshold from…

Chicago

14 May 2009

‘How can they see with sequins in their eyes?’ coos Richard Gere, as a wide-eyed Renee Zellweger seeks advice from silver-tongued lawyer, Billy Flynn. With a murder charge about to ruin her blossoming Vaudeville career, Flynn convinces Roxie Hart to…

5 Things You Might Know About: Blue Man Group

14 May 2009

BLUE MAN GROUP 1 The original Blue Men are Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink, New York street performers who established their own Club Nowhere outside the Copacabana in the late 1980s. Previously, they had hammered away at their plumbing pipes…

Phillip Lai: Introduction and Jargon

14 May 2009

London-based Phillip Lai’s new work for Transmission gallery comprises a two-screen video presentation. One part was filmed in the artist’s studio, the other in the upper gallery at Transmission. This was an attempt to bring together the two remote…

Hoors

14 May 2009

It’s inevitable that Gregory Burke’s new comedy will be considered in the light of multi award-winning international smash Black Watch, but, by any standards Hoors is a major disappointment. The main problem is one of tone. When grieving almost-widow…

Paul Towndrow and Nigel Hitchcock: Encounters

14 May 2009

This encounter between saxophonists Paul Towndrow and Nigel Hitchcock has its roots in the Celtic fusion of the Peatbog Faeries, where the Skye-based Hitchcock is a regular with his fellow island resident, trombonist Rick Taylor. Towndrow did some gigs…

Annette Ruenzler: The power to faint at will – or not

14 May 2009

It is often said you should talk to plants; in German artist Annette Ruenzler’s subversive yet subtle universe, her flowers talk back. A series of cut-out flower photocopies are ‘pressed’ on pages accompanied by tiny, flowing newspaper-cutting letters…

Neil Clements: Built. Lacking

14 May 2009

Formerly lauded for his painterly investigations into modernism and death metal, Glasgow-based artist Neil Clements evinces traces of a finely distilled practice. Gone are the guitars and idols; only Clements’ interest in formalist art production…

List Eating & Drinking Guide 2009 launched

14 May 2009

The launch event for the 16th annual List Eating & Drinking Guide celebrated the year’s finest dining experiences on offer in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The event, at Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts, saw four excellent restaurants receive Eating…

Music Routes Festival

14 May 2009

1: It’s folk music, but not as we know it Actually, despite being a compact and bijou seven-day music festival organised by the Leith Folk Club, Music Routes features an impressively eclectic range of sounds, all gigs hosted in the cosy confines of the…

Fighting

14 May 2009

(15) 105min Dito Montiel’s debut film, the semi-autobiographical A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, was a little-seen but extremely promising coming-of-age story set on the backstreets of Astoria, New York. Montiel has followed it up with…

Bramble Bar and The Saint amongst several new bars opening in Edinburgh

14 May 2009

A couple of Edinburgh’s bright young bars have added premises to their portfolio in recent weeks, with the guys behind Queen Street’s Bramble Bar opening up the Saint on St Stephen Street in Stockbridge, while the team running the nearby Hamilton’s Bar…

12 Rounds

14 May 2009

(12A) 108min With 12 Rounds, Speed producer Mark Gordon and Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin demonstrate just how completely adrift they are from popular culture. A so-bad-it’s-faintly-amusing trawl through a rag-bag of action-movie cliches…

Tormented

14 May 2009

(15) 91min Director Jon Wright wants his secondary school comedy horror to be the favourite pupil of Professor Shaun of the Dead and Ms Heathers, but his failure to study film history or show a basic grasp of storytelling ensures that Tormented makes…

Peter Wild (Ed): Paint a Vulgar Picture: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths

14 May 2009

These short story collections of Peter Wild’s are certainly well designed for grabbing fans’ imaginations. He gets a fistful of contemporary writers to extrapolate from the songs of a particularly iconic band with The Fall and Sonic Youth having…

Official Secrets Act

14 May 2009

Jerky English indie quartet Official Secrets Act’s debut album Understanding Electricity is suggestive of a band with intelligence and melodies to burn – like The Futureheads or Bloc Party, or Razorlight with their brains in the right place rather than…

Exposure: Benni Hemm Hemm

14 May 2009

Tell me about the new band. The last time I played with my band was with a youth symphony orchestra in Reykjavík with more than 40 people on stage. So trimming down to a trio with two wonderful Edinburgh-based musicians, Emily Scott and Owen Williams…

The Maccabees

14 May 2009

The new layout in independent record retailer Avalanche lends itself perfectly to an intimate instore gig. With young fans spilling onto Cockburn Street well before the music starts, by the time The Maccabees squeeze themselves onto the tiny stage the…

RBRBR, Yoshi and Supersonic Sims

14 May 2009

Another new night, another line up of new musical contenders and Edinburgh’s Supersonic Sims are clearly an eye and ear-catching new talent, although not quite the finished article. With bold images of the singer plastered across the video screen in the…

Also Released - Records

14 May 2009

A Hawk and A Hacksaw Deliverance (The Leaf Label) Delivering a multitude of musical influences from the Czech Republic, England, France, Romania and their homeland of New Mexico while still managing to produce something coherent, compelling and…

New British Comics No 1

14 May 2009

New British Comics does exactly what you’d expect by gathering together a selection of up-and-coming comics talent, with a particularly strong Scottish showing. Don’t let the admittedly striking Tim Rees cover fool you: this isn’t superhero or even…

Also Published: 5 Paperback Biographys

14 May 2009

John Peel The Olivetti Chronicles Chosen by Peely’s wife and kids, this mix of early journalism, diaries, letters and odds ‘n’ sods pretty much amounts to a second memoir. Corgi. Richard Madeley Father and Sons Judy’s fella turned to a distinctly…

Rachel Hair: The Lucky Smile

14 May 2009

Harpist Rachel Hair builds on her promising solo debut release, Hubcaps & Potholes, with this more expansive and subtly jazz-inflected disc. It is built around a basic trio featuring her harp, Andy Sharkey’s double bass and Paul Tracey’s guitar, with…

Manic Street Preachers: Journal for Plague Lovers

14 May 2009

Richey Edwards was the creative driving force in Manic Street Preachers until his disappearance in 1995. He left behind screeds of notes, ideas and lyrics, now these rough outlines have been given new life. It’s the most incisive Manics album for years…

Relentless

14 May 2009

Returning for a one off, Relentless will once again be unleashing its techno on the Glasgow masses. Last seen at the Subbie in 2007 they return with their very first guest, James Ruskin (pictured), and a very worthy cause. ‘Co-promoter in Relentless and…

My Latest Novel: Deaths and Entrances

14 May 2009

Now with a title like Deaths And Entrances, the long-awaited second long player from this Greenock-based bunch was never going to be a barrel of laughs. And right enough, it makes for pretty weighty listening; as gritty riffs, swirling strings…

Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know

14 May 2009

Heaven & Hell are essentially Black Sabbath ‘Mark Two’. After Ozzy was kicked out, Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio stepped into the breach way back in 1979. Now, for legal reasons, they tour and record as Heaven & Hell but it’s still legendary…

Danny Howells

14 May 2009

Musika continue to corral some of the best names in house and electro as Danny Howells brings his Dig Deeper roadshow to Edinburgh. He’s held down residencies at the likes of Renaissance, Bedrock and The End with mixes for Global Underground and his own…

Prefuse 73: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian

14 May 2009

Guillermo Scott Heron, aka Prefuse 73, has got stick in the past for creating overly complicated glitch; tricksy beats and hip hop samples stitched tightly into one big, incoherent clump. This latest, 29 tracks on an album less than 50-minutes long, is…

Pumajaw: Favourites

14 May 2009

Sounding like the whole thing was recorded in some mist-shrouded graveyard by night, the eerie, atmospheric Favourites is a round-up of Pinkie Maclure and John Wills, aka Pumajaw’s, favourite songs from their own back catalogue. Tracks like ‘Buttons…

The Breeders

14 May 2009

Kim Deal is an indie rock legend. Bassist in The Pixies, one of the most influential bands of the 80s/90s, she went on to form The Breeders back in 1988, originally with Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly, later replaced by Kim’s twin sister Kelley before…

Angels and Demons

14 May 2009

Ron Howard’s sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Yeah we know this is the biggest release of the fortnight, and yes it is a great improvement on its wretched 2006 precursor, with more action and a clearer plot, but it’s still full of cack portentous…

Museum of Dreams

14 May 2009

The Citizens’ Theatre’s joint director, Guy Hollands joins forces with puppeteer Ailie Cohen to create an innovative new work for 6–8-year-olds. Using not a single word, this multimedia performance takes us into the world of a lonely museum attendant…

Dance Film 09

14 May 2009

Following its debut in 2007 Dance: Film is back with a packed season of screenings, talks and workshops to get you up en pointe with excitement. The ten-day festival, jointly run by Dance Base and the Filmhouse, features classics like Swing Time, the…

Peer Gynt

14 May 2009

Colin Teevan’s irreverent adaptation of Ibsen’s classic play returns to the scene of its original triumph with a brief run at Dundee Rep before embarking on a tour of Scottish cities over the next couple of months. This thrilling, energetic…

Drag Me to Hell

14 May 2009

Life is good for ambitious LA loan officer Christine (Alison Lohman). She has a charming boyfriend (Justin Long) and great prospects. That is until she refuses an OAP an extension on her home loan, leaving the old woman shamed and homeless. In return a…

Glasgow Subway Festival

14 May 2009

While we’ve already outlined the best of the performances and activities for grown-ups in our feature (see page 27), there’s a lot of family-friendly activity happening both under- and above-ground. As well as some silly monsters in the trains, there’s…

Alun Cochrane

14 May 2009

The man who used to do stand-up in a comfy sitting down position with a Call My Bluff-style bell beside him and made probably the best joke about unemployed estate agents at last year’s Fringe heads north once more. Here, he’ll deliver a short set as a…

Under the Skin

14 May 2009

Inspired by Oran Mor’s hugely successful A Play, a Pie and a Pint theatre series, Glasgow’s CCA has come up with its own season of 30-minute lunchtime plays, helmed by the Fiendish Plot Theatre Group. This year’s collection of seven plays continues with…

Stage Fright

14 May 2009

Last chance to catch this exhibition exploring the relationship between visual art and the stage, testing the nature of theatricality within the framework of a gallery. Curated by acclaimed experimental theatre company Suspect Culture, the show features…

The Girl Cut in Two

14 May 2009

Chabrot’s film is based on a real-life case in 1900s America, transposed to contemporary Lyon. A sly playful satire of the haute bourgeoisie world of publishing with elegant direction and fine performances. The film is filled with women who know far…

Southside Festival

14 May 2009

After a triumphant debut last year, the local festival returns to Queen’s Park for music and festivities, following a Mardi Gras-style parade through the Southside. The programme also features comedy from the local likes of Bruce Morton, live music…

Pierrot Le Fou

14 May 2009

Jean Luc Godard’s delightful 1965 lovers on the run pastiche is reissued on a new digital print. This politically astute homage to American genre cinema marked Godard’s departure from the new wave to more political forms of filmmaking. If you haven’t…

Crystal Antlers

14 May 2009

Mixing up a stew of raw garage psychedelia Crystal Antlers come on like bad LSD: slabs of noise, guitar fuzz and primal screams looming out of the darkness. Think Nirvana meets Hawkwind on brown acid. Cosmic noise-rock and heavy grooves from…

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

14 May 2009

Silly but enjoyable sequel to 2006 comedy. Ben Stiller’s night watchman joins characters from the earlier film in a battle to save the Smithsonian museum. General release from Thu 21 May.

Synecdoche, New York

14 May 2009

Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut about one theatre director’s search for meaning in a meaningless world is an absurdist gem. Selected release from Fri 15 May.