Issue 645

Corstorphine Road Nativity

4 Dec 2009

Playwright Tim Firth has scored huge hits with Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots. Now he’s bringing his comic talents to the Corstorphine Road. Kirstin Innes meets him

Eyes Wide Open celebrate their fifth birthday

4 Dec 2009

It’s been five years since Holly Calder and Sarah Quinn started Eyes Wide Open, although the first three years of the club’s existence were lived out under the wing of a late Glasgow institution. ‘We were friends with the guys who ran Funhouse at the…

Sunn O))) - Stephen O’Malley interview

4 Dec 2009

Named after a brand of amplifier, Seattle’s doom and drone merchants chat to Stewart Smith as they prepare to bring a beautiful black cloud of sound to Glasgow this fortnight

Tim Key dispels Wikipedia myths

4 Dec 2009

It’s been a whirlwind year for poet and stand-up Tim Key, what with him running off with the biggest prize in comedy. Brian Donaldson hears him nail a few internet myths

My Fabulous Tartan Frock

4 Dec 2009

It’s difficult to know exactly how to explain My Fabulous Tartan Frock, an event performance taking place over three days at the Arches as part of the annual 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women campaign. On publicity materials, where…

Me and Orson Welles - Richard Linklater interview

4 Dec 2009

Richard Linklater’s new film uncovers the ambition and talent of young Orson Welles. Kaleem Aftab meets a director with nothing left to prove.

First word - Har Mar Superstar interview

4 Dec 2009

Risqué performer Har Mar Superstar (aka Minnesota native Sean Tillman) is one of America’s most flamboyant pop exports. Ahead of his arrival in Scotland he admits his enthusiasm for both Susan Boyle and dental hygiene

Comedy On TV - Reunions, Oration and Urinations

4 Dec 2009

While Larry David may be genuine in his belief that reunion shows are lame, he knows how to spin the best out of a flimsy idea. Getting the key cast of Seinfeld back together for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm (More4, Thu 3 Dec, 10.40pm…

Déborah François

4 Dec 2009

While still at school in her Belgian hometown, 16-year-old François attended an open casting held by the Dardenne brothers. She was chosen ahead of 150 other hopefuls in the role of a teenage mother, whose new baby is sold by her boyfriend, and the film…

Christmas film playlist

4 Dec 2009

A quick look at your advent calendar will confirm the coming of the annual festival we know as Christmas, and what better way to celebrate than to gather the whole family around Ye Olde Computer Screen to enjoy a selection of online clips to fuel the…

Popping to the shops

4 Dec 2009

Who needs permanent premises? Shopping Editor Kirstin Innes profiles the newest trends in pop-up boutiques

Labels of love: Chemikal Underground

4 Dec 2009

Based in: Glasgow. Roster: The Phantom Band, Lord Cut-Glass, Emma Pollock, The Unwinding Hours, Adrian Crowley, Zoey Van Goey, Aidan Moffat, Angil and the Hiddentracks, The Radar Brothers. Bosses: Set up in 1995 by the four members of…

Tulpan

4 Dec 2009

(12A) 102min We never actually get to see the Tulpan of the title, who is the object of the affections of 22-year-old sheepherder Asa (Asat Kunchinchirekov). Having recently completed his national service in the Russian navy, he has returned to the…

Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates

4 Dec 2009

‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s panto tiiiime!’ The sense of excitement in the theatre is palpable long before the curtain rises. And no wonder: the dream team that brought us last year’s 3D thriller, Aladdin is about to spirit us off to…

Robin Ticciati – Scottish Chamber Orchestra

4 Dec 2009

Love affairs, even in the highly emotionally charged world of classical music, are not always shouted about from the rooftops. But in the love-at-first-sight relationship between the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and their new principal conductor…

Disgrace

4 Dec 2009

(15) 118min A white, middle-aged professor of literature at a Cape Town university, David Lurie (John Malkovich) is forced to leave his job, following an affair with a mixed-race student (Antoinette Engel). At the disciplinary hearing the divorced…

Peter Pan

4 Dec 2009

JM Barrie’s children’s classic is so familiar that it’s tempting to simply sit back and let it wash over you while ticking off the key elements in a mental check-list: The large nursery with the open window in Kensington Gardens? Check. Flying on wires…

Exposure: Codeine Velvet Club

4 Dec 2009

Like a Scots Last Shadow Puppets, chanteuse Lou Hickey has reformed Jon ‘Fratelli’ Lawler to a life of John Barry-esque epics with Codeine Velvet Club. Just don’t call them a side-project, says Lawler. How did Codeine Velvet Club get…

Five reasons to go see: Depeche Mode

4 Dec 2009

1 Enjoy the Silence It’s been 22 years since Basildon’s finest have graced a stage in Scotland, so the faithful have had to be mighty patient to see them live again. That, or make good use of Ryanair to see them in Europe, where they are still…

Me and Orson Welles

4 Dec 2009

(12A) 113min The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success. Nobody is greater testament to that than Orson Welles – broadcaster, actor and director who ended his days bloated, impoverished and doing voiceover work on…

Cathi Unsworth - Bad Penny Blues

4 Dec 2009

(Serpent’s Tail) The raw materials of its storyline may sound well-worn, but there’s something about the textured layers of Cathi Unsworth’s third novel that effortlessly draw the reader into the dark and disturbing environment she creates. Using…

The Box

4 Dec 2009

(12A) 115min As with his debut, Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly’s third film boasts an intriguing conundrum and an evocative period setting to complement it. Unfortunately, like his second film, Southland Tales, Kelly’s latest eventually unravels into an…

Paul Booth Quintet and Ingrid Jensen

4 Dec 2009

Neither English saxophonist Paul Booth nor Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen is a newcomer to these parts, but this will be the first time they have featured together. Booth was last here in the summer to work with trumpeter Ryan Quigley’s big band at…

Children's Classic Concerts: Let it Snow

4 Dec 2009

There is no shortage of role models at the Children’s Classic Concerts Christmas show. Not only will young audiences experience the boundless enthusiasm of percussionist hosts Owen and Olly, but their Glasgow concert also features internationally…

The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography

4 Dec 2009

Bringing together photography from both Scott’s South Pole expedition (1910–1913) and Shackleton’s later attempt to cross Antarctica on foot (1914–16), The Heart of the Great Alone is more than a collection of images – it is a narrative journey and an…

Unmade Beds

4 Dec 2009

Written and directed by Argentinean filmmaker Alexis Dos Santos, Unmade Beds unfolds against the backdrop of the East End of London’s modern day bohemian scene. It’s a world of rent-free accommodation in generously equipped warehouse squats, regular…

5 Things You Might Not Know About... Rob Brydon

4 Dec 2009

1. Educated at a private school in Swansea which he described as ‘not posh’ but ‘quite English’, it seems Rob Brydon was not particularly sporty, given that he was stupendously last in the sack race, still hopping on while everyone else had moved on to…

Sinbad the Pantomime Featuring the Little Mermaid

4 Dec 2009

Brunton Theatre’s panto tradition is in great health with several years of packed-out runs behind it. The detailed local references make the show all the more bespoke to its location, and about as far from an off-the-shelf show as you could…

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

4 Dec 2009

(15) 113min An enormous hit at the French box office, writer-director Remi Bezancon’s second feature explores the highs and lows of middle-class suburban family life. Split into five chapters, each of which offers the perspective of a different…

The Girlfriend Experience

4 Dec 2009

(15) 77min Steven Soderbergh returns to his roots with more sex and lies on tape (now disc) in this low-budget drama about a high-class hooker in New York who offers her clients the titular relationship facsimile. Hard-core porn star Sasha Grey plays…

Cracks

4 Dec 2009

(15) 104min Jordan Scott, daughter of Ridley Scott (nepotism, it’s a wonderful thing) follows the promise of her shorts Jonathan and Portrait with this ludicrous and feeble attempt to posit William Goldman’s Lord of the Flies in a 1930s girls…

Homecoming Live

4 Dec 2009

The cynic might have viewed this musical finale to the Scottish Government’s grand attempt to reel back a few ex-pat Kiwis and Canucks in terms of all the iconic and available Scots bands who weren’t playing. Where were Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas…

Paris Va Par

4 Dec 2009

(15) 95min (Artificial Eye) Long overdue reissue of above average 1964 portmanteau film featuring the youthful efforts of some of the French New Wave’s finest. The idea was to invite six directors to contribute a short film named after and set in a…

The Stepfather

4 Dec 2009

Reprising the unfortunate wine-into-water routine of his Prom Night remake, director Nelson McCormick performs a similarly unwelcome trick by blandly rehashing Joseph Ruben’s solid 1987 sleeper hit. TV staple Dylan Walsh steps into the role previously…

Undercover shopping in Edinburgh

4 Dec 2009

Last fortnight we did a round up of the unusual quirky markets springing up in Glasgow to make this heady season of consumerism that little bit more bearable. Now Edinburgh’s getting its shopping quirk on, starting off with the return of an old…

Carriers

4 Dec 2009

(15) 84min Having hit fame as Captain Kirk in JJ Abrams’ sprightly reboot of Star Trek, Chris Pine’s role as Brian explains the cinema release of Carriers, a low-budget horror-thriller largely filmed in New Mexico. Set after a pandemic has turned…

Gary Numan

4 Dec 2009

Genuine innovators who also become successful in their own lifetime are pretty hard to come by. Gary Numan not only wrenched the synthesizer from the grasp of the neo-classicist aesthetic of prog and retoolled a generation of artists disillusioned with…

Field Music

Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sat 21 Nov 2009

4 Dec 2009

‘Pretending to be a band since 2005,’ claims Field Music’s MySpace page modestly. Well, The List can reliably inform you that this is the real deal. Returning after a three-year hiatus, Sunderland’s Brewis brothers, along with their two new bandmates…

The Dreisburg Wunderhorn

4 Dec 2009

In the Middle Ages, Gunther the Quizzer travelled the Holy Roman Empire, leaving copious notes and drawings of the strange sights he encountered. This extraordinary legacy of baffling, incoherent waffle was recently collected by Edinburgh-based artist…

Gangster Story

4 Dec 2009

(PG) 65min (Brightspark) Walter Matthau had a handful of supporting roles under his belt (Bigger Than Life, A Face in the Crowd, King Creole) when he directed himself in this 1959 low-budget crime movie. But Matthau had yet to develop his trademark…

trioVD - Fill It Up With Ghosts

4 Dec 2009

(Babel) The Leeds-based trio take their name from having saved a laptop recording of their very first gig as ‘trioVD’ (the initials standing for Valentine’s Day rather than the more dodgy alternative that might have sprung immediately to mind). The…

Joe Gores - Spade and Archer

4 Dec 2009

It’s a tall order writing a prequel to one of the greatest American hardboiled crime novels. But if anyone was going to pull off a forerunner to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon it was Joe Gores, like his predecessor, a war veteran, former private…

Scared to Death

4 Dec 2009

(U) 65min (Network) This B-movie chiller from 1947 is chiefly distinguished for being the only colour film to star Bela Lugosi (he appeared but did not star in the 1930 Technicolor film Viennese Nights). Lugosi was long into his poverty row years at…

Oliver Postgate - Seeing Things: A Memoir

4 Dec 2009

(Canongate) When Charlie Brooker delivered a heartfelt five-minute tribute to Oliver Postgate in his Screenwipe show last year, his trademark acid-tongued sarcasm went right out the window. Instead, Mr Cynical looked like he might tear up as he…

CJ Box - Three Weeks to Say Goodbye

4 Dec 2009

(Corvus) He’s a rising star of crime writing in the States, but it’s only a matter of time before CJ Box explodes onto the UK’s radar, thanks in no small part to this storming British debut. Three Weeks to Say Goodbye is a smart place to start for…

Alan Grant & Simon Bisley - The Dead: Kingdom of Flies

4 Dec 2009

(Berserker) Belfast comics label Berserker has managed to secure three of Britain’s major talents – writer Alan Grant, artist Simon Bisley and Glenn Fabry for covers – for their first title with the first four issues of The Dead collected in this new…

The Last Thakur

4 Dec 2009

(15) 83min (Artificial Eye) This Bangladeshi Western directed by British filmmaker Sadik Ahmed is a clumsily realised tale of Oedipal tensions. The film focuses on Kala, a young man visiting a small town determined to find out who raped his mother.

Betty's Bath and Other Stories

4 Dec 2009

(18) 36min (Film First) If you like your erotica antiquated and a little bit naughty then this collection of eight short, silent black and white films shot in Hollywood in the early 1920s may be of archival (or other) interest. Filmed by some couch…

Ghana Special - Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968–81

4 Dec 2009

(Soundway) A thrilling soundscape of 33 tracks from Ghana between the ‘golden age’ of 1968–81, this maps the optimism and energy of new independence from British colonialism heralded by cutting-edge modern Afro-sounds and Ghanaian blues. Presented in…

Amy Millan - Masters Of The Burial

4 Dec 2009

(Arts and Crafts) As a break from her work with Stars and Broken Social Scene, Amy Millan has created a beautiful collection of warm, folksy tunes overflowing with well-polished brass and pedal steel guitar. The standout songs, though, are the ones…