Archive for February, 2022


What now for Ukraine and the world?

February 27th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

I’ve hesitated to blog about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I was embarrassed by the role of Londongrad – my home city – as a laundromat for dirty money from Russian oligarchs and plutocrats. The situation in Ukraine seemed too horrific and heartbreaking for comment. I wondered what I could write when so much has […]

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A review of the triple Academy Award nominated film “The Lost Daughter”

February 26th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

This psychological drama is based on a novel by a woman (the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante); it is both written and directed by a woman (the debut role for actor Maggie Gyllenhaal); and the three leading roles are taken by women (Olivia Coleman, Jessie Buckley and Dakota Johnson). It deals with an incredibly sensitive subject: the […]

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A review of “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman

February 25th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

I know that crime is an immensely popular literary genre but I generally avoid it. However, I made an exception for Osman’s first book because it has been such an incredible success and I wanted to be part of the zeitgeist. By the time I read the novel, it had achieved sales of over a […]

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Word of the day: irredentism

February 23rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Irredentism is a political and popular movement whose members claim (usually on behalf of their nation) and seek to occupy, territory which they consider “lost” (or “unredeemed”), based on history or legend. The term comes from Italians seeking ‘lost’ parts of Italy occupied by the then Austria- Hungarian Empire. Vladimir Putin is a modern-day irredentist.

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A review of the 2017 film “Tulip Fever”

February 20th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Set in Amsterdam during the 17th century ‘tulip mania’, this is a romantic drama involving interconnecting relationships that looks splendid but suffers from excessive plotting. A lot of talent went into the production of this film: it is based on a novel by Deborah Moggach and the script was co-written by her and Tom Stoppard; […]

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Does the Earth need its own flag?

February 19th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

Sounds like a good idea to me. But what would it look like? You’ll find one possible design in this short piece.

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A review of the 2019 film “Last Christmas”

February 18th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

This is a Christmas rom-com with lots of singing by the late George Michael – hence the title – with the main roles being an elf in a Santa shop who has issues (the cute and talented Emilia Clarke) and her mysterious saviour on a bike rather than a horse (affable but bland Henry Golding). […]

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A review of the new book “Bond Behind The Iron Curtain” by James Fleming

February 16th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

In October 1962, I was 14 when I went to see the new film “Dr No” which introduced me to James Bond aka special agent 007. For the next 60 years, I went to see each new Bond movie as it was released in a franchise which has now reached 25 outings for MI6’s top […]

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A review of the 2019 film “21 Bridges”

February 13th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

The critics were quite hard on this movie but I found it entertaining enough. The plot centres on a New York Police Department detective on the hunt for two cop killers who persuades the authorities to close all the bridges from Manhattan for the night in order to track down the villains. Of course, there […]

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A review of the new Spanish film “Parallel Mothers”

February 11th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

I’ve seen a number of art house films recently which characteristically were very slow and very opaque. So it was a not-so-guilty pleasure to view “Parallel Mothers” which moves at pace and has a clear narrative. Of course, I would have expected nothing less from the Spanish master Pedro Almodóvar both wrote and directed this […]

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