entertainment
Films
Movie of the Month
© Sony P ictures Classics / Entertain men t One / Li ons gate
by tom b r ow n e
Adriana Ugarte in Julieta
■■drama: julieta This latest offering from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is a return to form after 2013’s disappointing I’m So Excited. Adapted from three short stories by Alice Munro, it tells the story of the title character in the present day (Emma Suárez) and in flashback as an 18-year-old (Adriana Ugarte), detailing how she met and fell in love with her husband Xoan (Daniel Grao), and the mystery of why her daughter Antía (Priscilla Delgado) ran away without explanation. Julieta never quite reaches the heights of Almodóvar’s best work, such as All About My Mother and Talk To Her, but he has a way with characters and narrative—staying just the right side of surreal—that’s quietly captivating. And although the story is more of a ramble than a coherent whole, there are plenty of moments that stay with you. ■■comedy: David Brent: Life On The Road After a number of rather
■■thriller: nerve This slickly
dodgy big-screen outings, Ricky Gervais returns to his most popular comic creation, this time in the form of a road movie. The Office had already hinted at David Brent’s musical ambitions, and now he’s hitting the road with his band Foregone Conclusion—with mixed results. Gervais has said that this is “not an Office film”, and will explore more of Brent the person.
shot roller-coaster ride follows a group of teenagers, headed by 17-yearold Vee (Emma Roberts), as they are drawn into an online version of “truth or dare” that rapidly gets out of hand. The appeal of this will depend a lot on your tolerance of the social-media generation (there’s a great deal of staring and tapping at phones here), but the thriller aspects certainly get under your skin, even when the plot veers into implausibility. 08•2016
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e n t e r ta i n m e n t
■■family: swallows and amazons
This latest version of Arthur Ransome’s beloved children’s book follows the Walker family—John, Susan, Tatty and Roger—and their adventures in the Lake District under the concerned eye of their mother (Kelly Macdonald— see interview on p20). Although already adapted in 1974, this version combines a heritage look with enough modern-day charm to appeal to a new generation.
Music
■■action: Suicide Squad It often feels like every film released these days is based on characters from DC Comics, and this one follows the trend of recent Avengers films in throwing a number of supervillains into a single movie. The “suicide squad” in question refers to a government agency that recruits these villains for secret blackops missions. Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie star.
by ma n di goodi er
When you aim to combine the musical stylings of Justin Timberlake and Nine Inch Nails, it doesn’t necessarily mean the result will sound like either. Given their pleasant pop-indie credentials, Wild Beasts are ambitious to take these as starting points, but Boy King has an oddly seductive and soulful grit. The atmosphere throughout is dark, with soul-bearing lyrics and fuzzy guitar licks, but its melodic riffs and duetting voices keep things funky. And caught somewhere between the shadowy content and androgynous vocals is Boy King himself: a man in crisis with ideas of masculinity that he can’t quite live up to.
DVD of the month ■■By the Sea*
Key tracks: “Alpha Female”, “2BU”, “Dreamliner” Like this? You may also like: James Blake, Passion Pit, The Maccabees
Angelina Jolie Pitt directs, writes and stars in this underrated drama.
Overlooked Record from the Past The Hissing of the Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell
Reading: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Vivid imagery
and unexpected plot twists make this hard to put down.
Online: i-D Great, edgy pieces on fashion and music. I learned about Raf Simons leaving Dior from this site. Listening: Greatest Hits by Eurythmics A rediscovered
classic. I can’t get enough of Annie Lennox’s strong, airy voice and the epic tunes on this album.
Fancy appearing in this section? Send your current cultural favourites, along with short descriptions, to readersletters@readersdigest.co.uk 18
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* TO BUY DVDS FEATURED HERE, GO TO SHOP.READERSDIGEST.CO.UK
© studiocan al / Warner Bros .
historical drama, which has made me newly interested in early England.
Album of the Month
Boy King by Wild Beasts
On Your Radar Shaniqua Benjamin, steward Watching: The Last Kingdom (BBC1) A dark
Reader’s Digest
If you picture Joni Mitchell, she’s undoubtedly onstage accompanied by a single acoustic guitar—a hippy woman singing earnestly into a microphone. Now replace that guitar with a moog synthesizer, put a jazz ensemble behind her, and you start to get close to The Hissing of the Summer Lawns. This gem of an album marked the beginning of Joni’s experimentation with jazz, “The Jungle Line” being its curious centrepiece. The intensity of her lyrics remain, however, often concerned with females trying to get by in a man’s world. listen to these albums at READERSDIGEST.CO.UK/LISTEN
On Our Radar Film4 Summer Screen, Somerset House, London, Aug 4–17. Watch a
film in the open air. Stendhal Festival, Derry, Aug 8–13.
Celebrating Northern Ireland artists. Bogsnorkelling Championships, Powys, Aug 20.
Take the dirty plunge!
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