Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the new blockbuster movie “Killers Of The Flower Moon”
October 31st, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Such is my admiration for them that I would see any film directed by Martin Scorsese or starring Robert De Niro or Leonardo DiCaprio, so I am never going to miss a work like this that combines the talent of all three. A few statistics: this is Scorsese’s 26th feature, it is the ninth film […]
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A review of the 1973 classic film “Mean Streets”
October 28th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Somehow, in spite of my lifelong love of the movies, I managed to miss this classic film for half a century, but then I saw a 50th anniversary showing at the British Film Institute. It was only the third feature from director Martin Scorsese – who, in this case originated the story and co-wrote the […]
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A review of the philosophy book “How To Be Good” by John Harris (2016)
October 24th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I don’t read books about philosophy very often because I find them too abstract and removed from the real world, but this book was given me by the author (Emeritus Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester), it is commendably short (less than 200 pages), and the title intrigued me. It is a thoughtful […]
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A review of the classic Indian film “Pather Panchali”
October 19th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
The story of the little Bengali boy Apu started as the first of three bestselling novels by Bhibuti Bashan Bannerjee and became the first of three films by acclaimed Indian director Satyajit Ray: “Pather Panchali” (“Little Song Of The Road”) in 1955, “Aparajito” (“The Unvanquished”) in 1956, and “Apur Sansar” (“The World Of Apu”) in […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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