Green Book review: Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen shine in a bromance that’s as insightful as it is charming February 1, 2019 A Best Picture nominee about racism in the USA isn’t usually an uplifting experience. On paper, Green Book, the true story of a New Yorker chauffeur tasked with safely getting an African American pianist from gig to gig in the segregated South, sounds like it could be a long, hard grind. But Viggo Mortensen and [...]
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the V&A is a thorough investigation of the haute couture brand, if not the man himself February 1, 2019 By 1955, over half of all haute couture exported from France was designed by Christian Dior. Not bad for someone who started out selling sketches outside his house for 10 cents apiece. Not that you’d know that having been to this exhibition as, unlike the V&A’s blockbuster retrospective on the late Alexander McQueen, this show [...]
Leave to Remain play review: Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke brings sparkle to this relationship drama February 1, 2019 Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke and co-star Matt Jones play a pair of troubled young lovers in this touching, physically impressive play that dwells far less on Brexit than its title suggests. If follows smitten couple Obi and Alex who, after 10 months together, risk being parted when Alex’s company posts him to the Middle [...]
Burning film review: Lee Chang-dong’s Haruki Murakami adaptation is more proof he’s the best director you’ve never heard of February 1, 2019 Lee Chang-dong may be the best director you’ve never heard of. He has made just six films, each of them wonderful and largely unknown to Western audiences, over a peripatetic career that has also included a stint as culture minister in the South Korean government. Burning, adapted from a Haruki Murakami story, is his best [...]
Can You Ever Forgive Me? film review: Melissa McCarthy shines in this odd-couple heist movie February 1, 2019 The normally jovial Melissa McCarthy completely transforms herself to play Lee Israel, a New York biographer who finds a new stream of income forging personal letters from famous writers of the past. It’s a fascinating premise (adapted from the real life Israel’s 2008 memoir), playing out as a simple but well executed heist movie. The [...]
Opinion: Sadiq Khan should be careful what he wishes for when it comes to rent controls in London February 1, 2019 The recent news that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is moving ahead with plans to impose rent controls on London’s housing market comes as no surprise. Khan’s been contemplating regulation for some time and it featured in his 2016 pre-election manifesto, but nearly three years later, we still haven’t actually seen a concrete policy. Khan [...]
Property of the Week: Leinster Gardens, the HQ of Andreas Papadakis’ publishing house Academy Editions goes on sale February 1, 2019 Faithful followers of fashion in interior design and architecture will have heard of Academy Editions. Leinster Gardens, Bayswater, £7.95m Back in the 1970s, it published over a thousand influential books and magazines dedicated to architecture and the decorative arts, drawing artists like Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Charles Jencks to the Bayswater headquarters of the [...]
New homes: Our pick of the new builds going on sale in London this weekend February 1, 2019 New developments on the market this week South Quay Plaza, Docklands From £685,000 The last penthouse goes on sale this week atop the third tallest residential tower in London. Filled with British manufactured custom interiors by Design Haus Liberty with Asian influences, this £2.875m three bedroom lateral apartment sits on the 65th floor of a [...]
Escape Room is a fun, trashy but ultimately gutless horror flick that deftly tunes into a booming trend January 31, 2019 When future historians look back on the twenty-teens, perhaps on a nostalgia-fuelled talking head show called ‘I Love 2018’, they’ll remark on the popular trends that characterise our present day. “Who remembers flossing?” the cadaver of Victoria Beckham will rasp, what remains of her body elegantly propped up in a Christian Dior gurney and kept [...]
The Drinks Master: What should you drink on Chinese New Year to celebrate the Year of the Pig January 30, 2019 On Chinese New Year next Tuesday we’ll segue from the Year of the Dog to the Year of the Pig, which may be good news for us all given pigs are a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture. The question is: what should you be drinking with your celebrations? Chinese food consists of eight broad [...]