Arts
Dunkirk (1958)
I watched this film yesterday. Although a traditional war movie in terms of cast, you can see it was made 18 years after the event as, especially at the beginning, there was much and merited criticism of the hapless British military initiative resulting in the rescue of some 338,000 of the [...]
In Order of Disappearance (2014)
This is a Norwegian film reflecting Skandi noir at its best and most gory. The story is relatively simple. A noble citizen Nils Dickman (Stellan Skarsgard), who clears the snow with his snow plough , receiving a civic award for his work , has his son shot as he is mistakenly assumed to have [...]
And another thing …
I got up this morning to greet a sunny day, so here’s another offering from Tuba Skinny to get everyone in the mood. As usual, they’re playing at their usual pitch on Royal Street, New Orleans in February of last year (hence the wintry clothes), and in typical style – note the [...]
COPENHAGEN/MICHAEL FRAYN/RADIO 3
I had reservations about listening to the broadcast last night on Radio 3 of Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen for 3 reasons. Niels Bohr 1) It is based on the meeting in 1941 of two leading physicists Niels Bohr, a Jewish Dane, and Werner Eisenberg, a Jewish German who headed up the Nazi nuclear [...]
A hard choice to make
Spotted today, a choice by Clemencé Michallon of essential Bob Dylan’s songs that everyone needs in their lives, selected upon the occasion of his 79th birthday – see here – THE INDEPENDENT Whenever making a musical list, it’s sometimes a tough and subjective task to choose [...]
Lust, Caution
Ang Lee is now an international director of renown ( Brokeback Mounatin) but the Taiwan cineaste plied his trade with Far Eastern movies which I prefer to his more commercial works like Hidden Tiger, Crouching Tiger . One such I watched for the third time yesterday, namely Lust, Caution. Some [...]
A pleasing find
It’s a fact of life that when you have some time on your hands and access to the internet you can come across some interesting or fun stuff. Shaye Cohn Today – as the first in an occasional series – I’m going to feature Tuba Skinny a busking jazz band previously unknown to [...]
Another of Life’s little veils is stripped away
For all obvious reasons the global coronavirus crisis has not only given humanity a sharp jerk on the ‘training reins’ but provided time for reflection – and for some – a general re-think (if not quite yet ultimately a re-set) – of who we all are and what is really [...]
Creative paradoxes
Donald Macleod on BBC Radio 3 has been presenting an excellent programme on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Perhaps the most significant aspect of a composer widely acclaimed as the greatest of all was that from 1814 he was totally deaf. Not only could he not hear his music but it’s [...]