Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of “Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
October 18th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I was attracted to this novel by its intriguing title, its wonderful cover, and the awareness that it has become a global bestseller. The title is a reference both to the possibility of infinite rebirth offered by video games and to the soliloquy about the meaninglessness of life in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. Spanning two and a […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the bizarre new movie “Poor Things”
October 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I struggled with the last work from director Yorgos Lanthimos, the 2018 film “The Favourite”, as I found the treatment of historic British characters just too off-beat and his whole style just too dislocated. But I warmed much more to “Poor Things”. Aurally, visually and narratively, this is an unsettling film but […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the coming film “One Life”
October 15th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The 2000 documentary “Into The Arms Of Strangers” was a harrowing account of the Kindertransport, the transfer from the Nazi terror of Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Britain of some 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children in the nine-month window of opportunity between Krystalnacht and the outbreak of war. “One Life” is the story of how one […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A new film honouring the lifesaving work of Nicholas Winton
October 14th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This week saw a very special occasion as I walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall and attended the European premiere of the British film “One Life”. The film tells the story of Nicholas Winton who, in 1939, saved the lives of 669 Jewish children by organising kindertransport from Czechoslovakia. I attended the […]
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “The Old Oak”
October 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Ken Loach is a singular British director who addresses social issues that few others consider and does so in a characteristically humanist, even socialist, style. so it’s rather sad to learn that this is probably the last work from the 87 year old filmmaker. Following “I, Daniel Blake” (the benefits system) and “Sorry We Missed […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the streaming film “The Unforgivable”
September 18th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This story started out in 2009 as a British miniseries written by Sally Wainwright and titled “Unforgiven”. Then, in 2012, it was turned into a film and transposed to the United States as a starring vehicle for Sandra Bullock who was a co-producer. Bullock plays a woman, released from prison after 20 years for killing […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new action movie “The Equalizer 3”
September 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been a fan of Denzel Washington since he played young Steve Biko In “Cry Freedom” in 1987. Back then, I would never have imagined that he would be portraying an action hero in his late 60s, but this is an actor with charisma as well as ability. Since 2001, when he starred in “Training […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new film “Love At First Sight”
September 16th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I guess that many would call this a chic-flic. After all, it’s directed by a woman, written by a woman, and based on a novel by a woman. But I’m a bit of a sucker for rom-coms, especially those filmed in my home city of London. I didn’t expect much from this Netflix offering but […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of “Act Of Oblivion” by Robert Harris
September 7th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Over a period of three decades, British novelist Robert Harris has written 15 bestselling novels, mostly works of historical fiction, many set in Ancient Rome or around the Second World War. “Act Of Oblivion” is the eighth that I have read. It is classic Harris but set in a different time period: the two decades […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1953 classic film “Tokyo Story”
September 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
When film critics worldwide are polled on the best films ever made, this Japanese work directed and co-written by the famous Yasujiro Ozu usually comes in the top batch. It is a classic art house movie: black and white, slow, minimalist, portentous and shot in a very distinctive style (lots of static, low shots and […]
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)