Inspired by a series of traumatic acid trips that led to a bout of psychosis, Sara Soininen’s ‘Transcendent Country of the Mind’ is a a strange and appropriately trippy series of photos. She doesn’t attempt to recreate what she went though. Instead she questioned the nature of the reality around her by making images that …
Sherwood
You don’t often see a television program based in a part of the country you know well about an incident you remember. Such a program for me is ‘Sherwood.’It concerns a series of murders committed in a Nottinghamshire mining town or, as we would say, Pit Village. The murders are assumed to be connected with …
Cloud 10
British artist Chip Wickham is from Brighton but is part of the Manchester jazz scene that includes such luminaries as Matthew Halsall. His new album ‘Cloud 10’ is one of my favorites of the year and represents something progressive yet accessible. The track ‘Winter’ is perhaps the album’s centerpiece and is a good introduction to …
Paris Texas
A man walks out of the Mojave Desert to reclaim a relationship with his son, Hunter, and the wife he abandoned.The fact that his son has been brought up by his childless brother and his wife only adds to the emotional drama. Such is the basic outline of Wim Wenders ‘Paris, Texas.’ This is my …
Foster
In the heart of rural Ireland, Claire Keegan sets her tale of a girl fostered by a family in a neighboring village while her mother is about to give birth.Over a scant 90 pages, the story weaves its spell revealing little by little the pain at the heart of this simple act of kindness. Told …
The Last Sitting
Will we have alive in a time when Marilyn Monroe is totally forgotten? I’d venture to say that no other film actress from any period has the enduring power of Monroe. And it’s almost entirely, in my opinion, based on image, which perhaps explains the reissue of the Bert Stern photography book, which features the …
NORTHMAN
I’ve seen Robert Eggers’s The Northman three times now. An everyday tale of marauding Vikings, it features Alexander Saarsgard as Amleth, a man hell-bent on revenge after his father is slain by his brother. Clearly, forgiveness was not a big thing in Viking society because Amleth goes through the world slaughtering anything that comes across …
Making Monty Clift
In the 1950s, three young actors were considered part of a new breed challenging the orthodox masculine stereotypes portrayed by the likes of John Wayne.James Dean and Marlon Brando are known to many, but the third, Montgomery Clift, considered by many to be the best of the three, is starting to fade into history. Luckily, …
Keats: A Brief Life
Wearing school uniforms, eating semolina, and being force-fed romantic poets are all familiar to anyone who attended a high school in England any time in the last fifty years.The sight of pimply adolescents stupefied with boredom as someone read out sections of Christabel by Coleridge or ‘Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey’ by …
Echoes
French musician Wally Badarou is not a name familiar to many. But as part of the Compass Point All-Stars band, he played on incredible records with the likes of Grace Jones, Level 42, Tom Tom Club, Gregory Isaacs, and Mick Jagger.He also produced some fantastic music under his own name. My favorite is the ‘Echoes,’ …
Ode
One of the side effects of attending school in England back in the day was a tendency to remember several lines of poetry that had been drummed into you for the -purpose of answering exam questions.Usually, that meant it was romantic poetry; Coleridge, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Keats. Consequently, I can still to this day write …
Running up that Hill
Some years ago, I was driving from Seattle to new york in the dead of winter. I was passing through Southern Idaho on an empty road with only the occasional farmhouse to let you know there were any humans around.On the car stereo, I played a recently released album by Kate Bush called ’50 words …
Misfits
Film Forum has been showing a season of films featuring Montgomery Clift, one of which is The Misfits. Filmed at the very beginning of the sixties and released in 1961, the title refers to two things. First, the wild mustang horses that once roamed the Nevada landscape, and secondly, the principal characters, who cannot fit …
Somebody’s Watching You
The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola has been showing at Film Forum recently and though I’ve seen it a couple of times I decided to revisit the seventies classic. It didn’t disappoint. Harry Caul is a surveillance expert, one of the best in the business, and is asked to follow a young couple meeting in …
Parallel Mothers
No matter how hard you try to silence it, human history never shuts up – Eduardo Galeano This is the quote that ends Pedro Almodovar’s latest film ‘Parallel Mothers’ and it fits a film whose principal theme is the recovery of truth. The plot is simple . Two mothers a pregnant at the same time …
Drive My Car
Drive My Car is a 3-hour film, based on Haruki Murakami short story. Needless to say, that story has been blown in all directions and made infinitely more complex. An actor/author, Yusuke Kafuku, is married to a screenwriter, Oto, who he discovers making love to a young man acting in one of her scripts. He …
Mass
The subject of mass shootings like Columbine has been the subject of a few films like Gus Van Sant’s Elephant. Mass is another attempt to look at such tragedies but this time from the point of view of the parents. Two couples meet in a local church in order to heal the terrible psychological wounds …
Cruisin’
The Mexican-American customized car community of Los Angeles is the subject for Kristin Bedford’s colorful imagery in ‘Cruise Night’ a book that captures the scene in all its tricked-out glory.
Birds
Tim Flach has cornered the market in animal portraits with books like ‘Dogs.’ Last year he moved from the furry to the feathery with a book devoted to birds with beautiful results.
The Last Duel
‘The Last Duel’ has been criminally underseen and is probably Ridley Scott’s best film for many years. It deals with a famous duel that took place because of an alleged rape of a nobleman’s wife by a colleague. Scott divides the film into three parts first the story from the perspective of the husband, Jean …
Time Calls ‘Cut’
Peter Bogdanovich died today. He’s a figure that will be equally famous for what he didn’t achieve as what he did. The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon are masterpieces and still hold up today fifty years after they were made. But though ‘What’s up Doc’ is interesting and ‘Targets’ ahead of its time, there …
Amazonia
For four decades Sebastiao Salgado has been documenting the human and natural world, from gold mines in South America to migrants in Africa his images have shown parts of the world rarely seen by most humans. His latest gigantic work is Amazonia, which takes us on a journey through an Amazon basin threatened by climate …
Lady Blackbird
Fans of Nina Simone and torch singers of the Jazz era torch singers will fall in love with Lady Blackbird who revives the tradition with modern stylings. the LA-based singer has developed a following over the last few years and her debut album is sure to increase her number of admirers.
Lost Not Found
Elliot Erwitt is 93. That’s a lot of time to take photos. Some of his images are the most iconic of the twentieth century but some never made it into print before the book ‘Found Not Lost.’ It gathers unseen shots from his vast portfolio. Many have all the trademark wit and lightness of touch …
Slouching Towards Heaven
Joan Didion is probably among the very best journalists of the twentieth century. The White Album and Slouching towards Bethlehem explained California in a way that only an insider could. Whether she was hanging out with The Doors or working for Vogue in New York she seemed not only super smart but effortlessly chic. One …
Talk Memory
BadBadNotGood are joined on their latest album by Brazilian legend, Arthur Verocai, renown for his self-titled 1972 album beloved by all Brazilian music enthusiasts. The psychedelic opener is a nine-minute jazz fusion track produced by Floating Points, while other collaborators include drummer Kerriem Riggins. Yet the album is more than oddball virtuosity, there are melodies …
Flor
Gretchen Parlato has one of the most unique voices in music. Her jazz stylings are wonderful live, and sound just as good recorded. Her latest album features a heavy (or perhaps a better word is light) Brazilian influence with Airto Moriera joining her on one track. Elsewhere, Gerald Clayton and drummer Mark Guilliani join the …
Squint
Julian Lage can play jazz guitar. Very well. He’s the heir to the throne occupied by previous guitar gods like Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, and West Montgomery. His new album, Squint’ is currently affording me much pleasure and is the perfect mellow late-night listen
State Funeral
Watching the documentary State Funeral I find myself looking at Stalin’s Russia and being not at all surprised at what I see. Grim concrete buildings? Check. Lots of snow? Check. Mournful music? check. Lots of announcements over loud hailers? Check. Smiling and all colors apart from red appear to have been rationed and everyone is …
Legacy
Anyone interested in photography probably recognizes a Helmet Newton photo. The statuesque, amazonian women, the graphic classic styling, and the biting wit often missing from most fashion images. The book ‘Legacy’ is an attempt to collect some of the best images from a career that spanned decades and prove that style will always triumph over …
Preston Bus Station
Probably most of you reading this have never been to Preston. You’re not missing anything. A northern western town in England with a football team that used to big in the nineteen fifties, it doesn’t have too much to recommend it. Yet Jamie Hawkesworth thought different. He spent many days in Preston Bus Station, which …
Pigeon Racing in Leeds
For over 40 years, Peter Miller has had a consistent photographic mission to record the buildings and people of his hometown Leeds. In some hands, pictures of a decaying industrial city would have led to a rather depressing, humorless ‘it’s grim up north’ vibe. Miller avoids this with sharp humor. If he shoots a racing …
Driving in the Eighties
Time can make almost anything seem interesting. Those pictures of your cousins in leisure slacks , the family picnic with its multi-colored tupperware containers, the neighbors dog; things that would seem to be hardly worth noticing become a thing of fascination Take Chris Dorley-Brown’s pictures of drivers in eighties London. Suddenly a moment in time …
See/Saw
Geoff Dyer is one of the best essayists working today. Whether he’s talking about jazz, art or film he always manages to think that little bit harder and yet still makes his discoveries easier to digest, and even easier to be inspired by. His book See/Saw deals with one of his greatest passions, photography. He …
Poolside
Is La Piscine the most stylish film ever made? It certainly has a good case to put. The outfits of its lead actors Alain Delon and Romy Schneider could be worn now without appearing dated (with perhaps the exception of the unbuttoned to the navel shirts worn by Delon and his love rival Maurice Ronet. …
De Seta’s Sicily
Vittoria De Seta is not to be confused with the Italian film director of ‘The Bicycle Thieves,’ but in a way, his documentary shorts are true neo-realism. All but one is set in Sicily, and they all endeavor to show the working life, customs, and habits of the 1950’s that had not changed for a …
The Transmigration
I missed this film when it came out. If I’m honest, I don’t even remember seeing a review of it. It’s a very odd concept based on a theory of Pythagoras, who I think lived in the same region of Italy. He claimed he had lived four lives and believed in the transmigration of souls …
Nightrider
Talented jazz guitarist Tom Misch is responsible for 2018’s Geography, a melodic and groovy album that shows off Misch’s abilities to the max. This year he teamed up with drummer Yussef Dayes to produce a looser, more improvisational album, which still benefits from a good ear for melody. It’s probably my favorite of the year, …
Weird Fishes
Lianne La Havas has had dinner with Presidents, counts Stevie Wonder among her fans, and has sung on a Prince album. Her latest self-titled work follows a full five years after her breakthrough album ‘Unstoppable.’ I prefer this album because it is something you leave on and let repeat with not a weak track amongst …
The Station
Chris Killip is known for his superb book ‘Sea Coal,’ which showed the desperate side of eighties England. Yet Killip also took pictures of the anarcho-punk scene in the north-east of England. His son discovered some old forgotten contact sheets lying in a cardboard box and so ‘The Station’ was born. Named after the venue …
Big Tree, Small Axe.
I grow in Britain during the seventies, eighties, and nineties, and I watched the country as it struggled to deal with immigration.I still remember the arrival of the first West Indian immigrant in my school vividly and watching as two boys set upon him, kicking him the head several times. When my friend and I …
Sunset Years
The contemplation and acceptance of aging is a tricky business. Particularly if you make your living in an industry that is all about youth.Incredible as it may seem to me, Paul Weller, the angry man of The Jam and stylish angry young man of The Style Council, is now sixty-two.I can still remember standing in …
Midnight in Main
Daniel Freeman traveled across America capturing small town streets at night for his book ‘Midnight in Main.’ In the pandemic year these pictures of eerily empty streets strike a chord.
Here Comes the Sol
The wonderfully named London-based singer Cleo Sol is a contributor to the Sault collective, who have been topping many end of year music polls. Her debut solo effort ‘Rose in the Dark’ is a little reminiscent of Sade and sounds to me like the beginning of an amazing career.
The Coast
The strange world of the Indian night is the subject for Sohrab Hura’s 2019 book ‘The Coast.’ It features a series of startling juxtaposed images that vividly expose the secrets of the darkness. Documentary in feel, the images also have a highly emotive fine art quality that rises them above the average photojournalism.
Cuba Libre
The Netflix series ‘Cuba Libre’ is a timely reminder of how a small group of dedicated extremists can take over a country. I’m guessing you probably didn’t know that the ‘army’ took Havana in 1959 led by Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara, comprised of just 300 men. Even though the army of the military dictator, …
Shelter
Thomas Barlett has played piano on records for everyone from The National to Sufjan Stevens. He is classically trained and for some reason felt a little embarrassed by it. When his girlfriend returned to England and left him alone in lockdown, he felt moved to write a series of classic piano pieces, which he has …
Words of Love
There’s surprisingly little buzz around Nick Broomfield’s documentary ‘Words of Love’ but it’s one of the best things I’ve seen this year. It’s about the love affair between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian lover, Marianne Ihlen. It turns out that Broomfield had been Marianne’s lover at one point and this gives the whole enterprise a …
Hons and Rebels
The Mitford Sisters are iconic siblings who managed to put themselves at the heart of politics in the 1930s and have an enduring mystique. Unity Mitford became a confidante of Hitler while her sister Diana married the British Fascist leader Oswald Moseley. However, their sister Jessica choose a different path. She veered violently to the …
The Contender
The current explosion of radical politics made me turn to a Marlon Brando biography I’ve had on my shelf for a few months.‘The Contender’ is a fascinating delve into the life of one of the centuries best actors and most exciting cultural figures.Even before he was famous for his stage performance in Streetcar Named desire’, …
Sol Set
A Brazilian style album courtesy of Detroit? Yup, courtesy of the collective Sol Set. It has a beautifully mellow jazz vibe, while still having those samba rhythms that are like a burst of sunshine on aplomb fringed beach. There are multiple vocalists and a range of styles that somehow still fit together perfectly.
Fabulous Fabiano
Brazilian music is justifiably famous for bossa nova and Tropicalia in the sixties and seventies. But even today they are still producing excellent musicians such as Fabiano do Nascimento, a guitarist who has captured my imagination with his paired back sound. On his 2015 album ‘Danca Dos Tempos’ he teams up with the legendary Airto …
SICKERT
Walter Sickert was German-born but lived his life in Britain, creating realist/impressionist paintings. Influenced by the likes of Degas, he was obsessed with what was considered low culture; the bars, shops, and musical theatre of London. Maybe it was the sombreness of some of his work that led some time to believe Sickert was, in …
Popgun 