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King of the Travellers
22 Mar 2013
Underwhelming tale of torn loyalty, forbidden love, revenge and betrayal
Writer-director Mark O'Connor ambitiously attempts to draw on elements of Shakespearean drama and tragedy as well as the classic American cinema of the '70s for his latest film, King of The Travellers, with moderate success. For while his film does…
The Odd Life of Timothy Green
22 Mar 2013
Misguided combination of emotionally sensitive adult themes and Disney fairytale coating
Disney's The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a film as peculiar as its name suggests. But while certainly ambitious and well-meaning in concept, its execution feels a little too sentimental and contrived to be taken seriously. The film follows devoted…
Baise-Moi
22 Mar 2013
The low budget, sex and violence-filled movie is available uncut in the UK for the first time
When it comes to splitting opinion straight down the midriff, few films from the last couple of decades have been quite so marmite as Baise-Moi. For some, this low-budget French movie from 2000 was simply a porno with a bit more story than usual. For…
Patrick Ness - The Crane Wife
22 Mar 2013
Haunted novel about stories and the way they change from teller to teller
Known best for his young adult fiction, there’s little surprise that Patrick Ness’ latest book for ‘grown-ups’ leans heavily towards the magical. If you’re familiar with the original Japanese fable, then you’ll immediately recognise the opening scene of…
Robert Swartwood - Real Illusions
22 Mar 2013
First story collection of works of unreal fiction
Robert Swartwood’s first story collection is a world of small, ordinary miracles: a father escapes from the car wreck that kills his wife, but discovers that he is now immune to physical harm; two boys on the run are saved by a vengeful ghost; a…
TV series Boss is a fine addition to More4’s US drama roster
22 Mar 2013
Kelsey Grammer stars in a non-comedic role as the brutish mayor of Chicago
If you think of Kelsey Grammer as either Frasier Crane or Sideshow Bob, it might be tough to accept him as Tom Kane, the brutish mayor of Chicago. There isn’t a single laugh to be had in the opening episode of Boss, unless you have a Lynchian soft spot…
Mission to Lars
22 Mar 2013
Documentary about a Fragile X Syndrome sufferer's obsession with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich
This isn’t really a film about Metallica. Even though the metal behemoth’s shadow looms large over the entire documentary, don’t expect the warts and all melodrama of Some Kind of Monster. However if you do love the mighty ‘tallica you might find even…
Rodge Glass - LoveSexTravelMusik
22 Mar 2013
Compelling collection of short stories breathes new life into cities
Rodge Glass’ eagerly awaited new book LoveSexTravelMusik is potentially one of the most perceptive pieces of modern writing to date. With bright, bold prose, Glass breathes new life into the exotic cities that have been reduced to a few empty paragraphs…
Podcast review: For Books’ Sake #1
22 Mar 2013
The first episode of the feminist books podcast makes up for lack of polish with passion and pride
As a List reader, it’s a fair bet that sex and books both rank high on your list of interests – so the sex-and-love theme of the first For Books’ Sake podcast should be just your cuppa. It begins with exciting news about Margaret Atwood and Naomi…
Karen Russell - Vampires in the Lemon Grove
22 Mar 2013
Author's second collection is unpredictable, tense and compulsive
In a world saturated with vampire lore, you could be forgiven for thinking there was nothing left to say on the subject. So it’s all the more impressive that the title story of Karen Russell’s second collection feels completely fresh: a melancholy…
Tendai Huchu - The Hairdresser of Harare
22 Mar 2013
Intriguing novel explores realities of contemporary Zimbabwe
Vimbai and Dumisani are two ambitious hairdressers hiding secrets and jealousy in this intriguing novel. Its language is simple, even utilitarian: the descriptions verge on cliché and major events in the characters’ lives are glossed over quickly and…
Eels, O2 Academy, Glasgow, Tue 19 Mar 2013
20 Mar 2013
Mark Oliver Everett and co deliver a wandering set that doesn't do tribute to their back catalogue
Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, or 'E' as he’s affectionately known, is often viewed as a complex character, delicately wearing heart on proverbial sleeve while providing an insight into his ponderous psyche, which is peppered with love, loss and…
Jutta Koether - Seasons and Sacraments
19 Mar 2013
Large-scale reimagining of Nicolas Poussin back catalogue
The back catalogue of 17th-century painter Nicolas Poussin isn’t the most obvious frame of reference for German iconoclast Jutta Koether, but when she was taken to see his The Seven Sacraments at the Scottish National Gallery, something clicked. The end…
Broken
19 Mar 2013
Wildly melodramatic and stereotypical issue-based drama, starring Cillian Murphy and Tim Roth
Single parent families, sexually aware teenagers, people with mental health issues; they’re all just short-fused firecrackers ready to explode in director Rufus Norris’s frustratingly issue-based drama. Funded by the BBC and the British Film Council…
Ongoing art project Economy explores relationship with commerce and transactions
19 Mar 2013
Meticulously curated two-site exhibition
Economy isn’t so much an exhibition. It’s not even two exhibitions. It’s an ongoing project, a conversation and a meticulously-curated attempt to build an echo chamber of ideas and artistic experiments about our relationship with commerce and the…
Flying Blind
19 Mar 2013
A quietly intriguing drama about an English aerospace engineer with a young, Arab boyfriend
Professional reserve crumbles in the face of an overwhelming romance in Flying Blind, a modest but engrossing micro-budget first feature from director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz. Although there is nothing here that would not sit comfortably on the small…
Jack the Giant Slayer
19 Mar 2013
Bryan Singer's adaptation is a decent enough storybook yarn, if a little too earnest
Judging by the early word from the US, where this blockbuster fairytale has performed poorly at the box office, you’d think it was a flop of gigantic proportions. It may not be on a par with director Bryan Singer’s X-Men films, but Jack the Giant Slayer…
Tickling Jock
19 Mar 2013
Billy Connolly, Ronnie Corbett and Stanley Baxter feature in this comedic portrait exhibition
It would be thoroughly glaikit for anyone to criticise Tickling Jock for not including much in the way of the modern Scottish comedian. For this is very much a portrait of the way our nation’s funny men and witty women once were: knee-deep in the music…
Wendy Ramshaw: Room of Dreams
19 Mar 2013
Touring exhibition celebrates work of artist, designer and jewellery-maker
Reflecting Miguel de Cervantes’ belief that to ‘protract great design is to ruin it’, artist, designer, jewellery-maker and goddess of the festooned gate Wendy Ramshaw is contemporary applied art’s elusive matriarch. Ramshaw’s extraordinary career is…
Group exhibition Ink celebrates art of drawing
19 Mar 2013
Includes works by Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Guercino, Poussin, Goltzius and Alexander Runciman
This powerful exhibition showcases a variety of works from a diverse collection of artists including Rembrandt, Rubens, Piranesi and William Henry Playfair. From fast, energetic sketches depicting movement and form, to the meticulous draughtsmanship of…
Flickering Lights
19 Mar 2013
Rachel Maclean cartoon pop-vid bravura a highlight of film and video show
`Up in the Lower Church Gallery end of Summerhall, three very different video works are in motion as part of this superb arts space’s latest exhibition programme. David Bellingham’s ‘An Object Revolving Around a Day / An Object Revolving Round Events…
Foals - Barrowland, Glasgow, Tue 5 Mar 2013
18 Mar 2013
Band limber up for festival summer which could prove the making of them
Over the next horizon may lie arenas for Foals, and tonight they look like they well know it. Their epic entrance – members filtering on one by one, silhouetted against turquoise-tinted strobe lights as a bass drone rumbles, to progressively raise up…
Post Tenebras Lux
18 Mar 2013
A probing, ambitious and frequently exasperating work from Mexican visionary Carlos Reygadas
The marvellous Mexican director Carlos Reygadas (Japon, Battle in Heaven, Silent Light) is a filmmaker given to making films that jar. Whether it is a suicidal solitary having sex with a woman in her mid-seventies or the aloof sex club where the central…
Nina Nesbitt, Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, Sat 16 Mar 2013
18 Mar 2013
A homecoming gig for the teen popper from Balerno
The crowd in the Liquid Rooms are chanting Nina Nesbitt’s name as she comes onto the stage, guitar in hand. No introductions are needed tonight - the 18-year-old, candyfloss haired Scottish / Swedish singer-songwriter is playing to her hometown audience…
Time and the Conways
18 Mar 2013
Impressive performances in production that delays arrival at play's key material
The nature of time, identity and fallibility lie at the heart of JB Priestley’s Time and the Conways, a new co-production between the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and the Dundee Rep Ensemble. Directed by Jemima Levick, and first written and performed in…
