Young Ahmed review - jihadist drama misses the mark

★★★ YOUNG AHMED  Jihadist drama misses the mark

Cannes Best Director-winner has its moments, but focuses on the wrong parts

Belgian filmmaking duo the Dardenne Brothers have long been darlings of Cannes Film Festival, winning awards for hardhitting dramas like La Promesse, Le Silence de Lorna and The Kid with the Bike. Their latest offering Young Ahmed is no different, a domestic terrorist tale which won them Best Director at 2019’s festival.

Blueprint Medea, Finborough Theatre online review – well-meaning but clunky update

★★★ BLUE PRINT MEDEA, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Well-meaning but clunky

Updated Greek tragedy has some good ideas but doesn't fully deliver

Medea 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 until 2nd August, writer-director Julia Pascal gives us a 21st-century reworking of Euripides’ tragedy. 

Album: Fra Fra - Funeral Songs

★★★ FRA FRA - FUNERAL SONGS Wild songs for the dead

Wild songs for the dead

Rituals of death call for music: to see the spirits of the dead off on their journey to the other side, to express the grief of those left behind or to celebrate the cycle of life and death. Fra Fra are a quartet from the predominantly Muslim northern part of Ghana - a much drier region than more forested areas of the south.They specialise in music that's performed at traditional funerals

Drawing the Line, Hampstead Theatre online review - modern history becomes dark farce

★★★★ DRAWING THE LINE, HAMPSTEAD THEATRE Howard Brenton's play offers a lucid account of the Partition of India

Howard Brenton's play offers a lucid account of the Partition of India

This week’s gem from the Hampstead’s vaults is Howard Brenton’s political drama from 2013, telling the extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story of Cyril Radcliffe and his 1947 mission: to arrange the Partition of India in just five weeks.

Imran Perretta, Chisenhale Gallery review - a deeply affecting film

★★★ IMRAN PERRETTA, CHISENHALE GALLERY Testament of growing up in London as a young Muslim arouses enormous empathy

Testament of growing up in London as a young Muslim arouses enormous empathy

“I forgive you,” he said. “I forgive you… for the bombs.” Spoken by a young Muslim in measured tones that can’t hide his fear, these chilling words recall a random encounter with a stranger. 

Sons of Denmark review - political thriller stirs cauldron of hot-button issues

★★★ SONS OF DENMARK Political thriller stirs cauldron of hot-button issues

Ulaa Salim's debut feature asks pointed questions about racism, terrorism and fascism

The first feature by Copenhagen-born director Ulaa Salim dives boldly into a cauldron of hot-button issues – terrorism, racism, nationalism and fascism. It’s set in 2025, in a Denmark suffering from bomb attacks and violently polarised politics. This climate has spawned the titular Sons of Denmark.

Alkaline, Park Theatre review - faith, friendship and failure

★★ ALKALINE, PARK THEATRE Female friendship comedy drama is occasionally bright, but lacks plot and depth

Female friendship comedy drama is occasionally bright, but lacks plot and depth

Britain is rightly proud of its record on multiculturalism, but whenever cross-cultural couples are shown on film, television or the stage they are always represented as a problem. Not just as a normal way of life, but as something that is going wrong. I suppose that this is a valuable corrective to patting ourselves on the back about how tolerant a society we are, but do such correctives make a good play?