feminism
Harlots, BBC Two review – sublime, ridiculous, and always entertainingThursday, 05 November 2020Back to Georgian brothels, now – at least, for those of us who don’t have a Hulu subscription. The BBC’s airing of the second series of Harlots over the summer felt strangely timely. Barely an episode in and an angry crowd was hammering at the local... Read more... |
Shirley review - hothouse art film about American horror writerThursday, 29 October 2020Shirley is one of those films that the mood you’re in when you watch it will dictate whether you think it’s a great psychological horror movie or overheated and pretentious. Go to the cinema wanting to be plunged into a fever dream of gothic... Read more... |
Enola Holmes review – a new Sherlock-related franchise is afootWednesday, 23 September 2020It’s no secret that Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation lays claim to more appearances on screen than any other fictional character. Over the past several decades, we’ve seen Sherlock as a pugilist action-hero, a modern-day sleuth, and in a... Read more... |
Ava review - Sadaf Foroughi powerhouse drama about teenage rebellionSaturday, 22 August 2020Canadian-Iranian director Sadaf Foroughi offers up a gut-wrenching tale of adolescent rebellion set against the strictures of an oppressive Middle Eastern society. It rivals the work of Asghar Farhadi in quality, telling the story of a 17-year-old... Read more... |
Blueprint Medea, Finborough Theatre online review – well-meaning but clunky updateThursday, 16 July 2020Medea is the original crazy ex-girlfriend: the wronged woman who takes perfectly understandable revenge on the man who made her life hell. In Blueprint Medea, a new adaptation premiered at the Finborough Theatre in May 2019 and available on YouTube... Read more... |
Mrs America, BBC Two review - how a conservative revolutionary scuppered the Equal Rights AmendmentThursday, 09 July 2020In the midst of our increasingly confrontational politics of race and gender, it was a timely move to make this series (on BBC Two) about Seventies radical feminism and the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the USA, even if some of the... Read more... |
On the Record review - #MeToo turns its lens to the music industry, gives the mic to women of colourFriday, 26 June 2020On the Record, the latest documentary from Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (acclaimed directors of The Hunting Ground), dives into the sexual misconduct allegations against music mogul Russell Simmons, the so-called ‘Godfather of Hip Hop.’ It... Read more... |
Album: Nadine Shah – Kitchen SinkThursday, 25 June 2020Why don’t you have children? Why aren’t you married? Why don’t you own your own home? Why are you a failure? These are the societally enforced questions that, as a 34-year-old woman, Nadine Shah finds inescapable. Much like the rest of us. When... Read more... |
The High Note review - Tracee Ellis Ross shines in so-so music dramedyThursday, 28 May 2020Nisha Ganatra’s musical dramedy, penned by first time screenwriter Flora Greeson, isn’t going to win any prizes for originality and is almost unforgivably corny. But the feel-good vibes and winning combination of Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson... Read more... |
Women Make Film: Part Two review - two steps forward, one step backFriday, 22 May 2020The second half of Mark Cousins’ documentary on films by women filmmakers starts with religion; it ends with song and dance. This is a second seven-hour journey through cinema. It reconfirms Women Make Film as a remarkable feat of excavation and... Read more... |
Women Make Film: Part One review - a mesmerising journey of neglected filmThursday, 21 May 2020Equally ambitious in scope as his 900min ode to cinema The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Mark Cousins’ latest work, Women Make Film, is a fourteen-hour exploration of the work of female film directors down the decades.Cousins’... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 5: Foals, Claptone, Luke La Volpe, Minecraft's music festival and moreWednesday, 06 May 2020Way into lockdown now and, as the music world adjusts, so what artists are attempting becomes, in some cases, more sophisticated. In others, many impressively make the most of whatever tech they have to hand. Either way it’s always fascinating to... Read more... |