China
10 Questions for Broadcaster Bettany HughesSunday, 26 July 2015
How do you live a good life? Is wealth a good thing? How do you create a just society? The United Kingdom's electorate recently pondered such questions in the polling booth, and made their decision. The Labour Party is agonising over them as it... Read more... |
Black Coal, Thin IceSaturday, 06 June 2015
A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Winston Churchill’s famous words on Russia serve as a very apt verdict on Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai ri yan huo), the third film from Chinese director Diao Yinan. Its noir detective style pays homage... Read more... |
ExitMonday, 20 April 2015
Taiwanese director Chienn Hsiang has given his lead actress Chen Shiang-chyi a role of rare complexity in Exit, and she dominates this bleakly naturalistic slice-of-life film completely. Chen’s character, Ling, is a seamstress approaching middle age... Read more... |
DVD: Spring in a Small TownTuesday, 03 March 2015
The release of pent-up desire in a movie drains it of interest. Its withholding keeps the plot boiling, especially if moral considerations come into play. In Fei Mu’s Spring in a Small Town, the passion of former teenage sweethearts Zhou Yuwen (Wei... Read more... |
BlackhatMonday, 16 February 2015
From Michael Mann, the director of the monumental crime epic Heat and the original and best Hannibal Lecter movie Manhunter, this lumbering saga of cyberhacking is really rather disappointing. Not that it doesn't include several torrid action... Read more... |
Becker, RLPO, Ang, Liverpool Philharmonic HallSaturday, 14 February 2015
While there is, of course, safety in numbers, but five premieres on four continents is, perhaps, a little novel. Tan Dun’s new Concerto for Double-Bass, subtitled Wolf Totem, is a co-commission by five orchestras: the Royal Concertgebouw, St Louis... Read more... |
The GrandmasterFriday, 05 December 2014
Hong Kong master Wong Kar Wai has ventured into new territory with The Grandmaster. Many years in the making, his new film is a remarkable portrayal of martial-arts traditions, specifically the story of kung fu master Ip Man from his early life in... Read more... |
The spooky and the bold in the art of contemporary ChinaSunday, 19 October 2014
In China there are more than 100 million fans of Manchester United. At least that’s what I’m told when I get to the the city's National Football Museum. And in a sartorial decision unusual in the art world, we are greeted by artist Chen Wenbo... Read more... |
Ming: 50 Years That Changed China, British MuseumMonday, 29 September 2014
Here be dragons, and plum blossoms in moonlight, model chariots, 15th-century paper money, weaponry and armour, embroidered robes, blue and white porcelain, vivid portraits of the court eunuchs, obese emperors and impassive empresses. There is many... Read more... |
LiltingThursday, 07 August 2014
“Only connect!” E M Forster’s life-wish is reprised in Cambodian-born, London-based director Hong Khaou’s powerful debut feature Lilting. However, it’s not the hope for connection between lovers that his film explores, but between strangers after... Read more... |
Art of China, BBC FourThursday, 31 July 2014
If, like me, you switched this on feeling sheepish about your sketchy knowledge of Chinese art, you would have welcomed as a ready-made excuse the news that some monuments synonymous with Chinese culture are relatively recent discoveries. It seems... Read more... |
A Hundred Million Musicians: China's Classical Challenge, BBC FourMonday, 28 July 2014
A few years ago I sat high up in a rapt, sweltering Albert Hall as a lone pianist performed for two hours in the round. Neither before nor since has the BBC Proms treated a classical musician like a rock god. But then Lang Lang, whether his music-... Read more... |
