If you think this is a spoiler, then don’t panic. This is actually the film’s opening gambit, its very first line – because what counts in Chilean director Cristián Jiménez’s Bonsái is not the future, but the past. What lies ahead is taken care of from the off; we already know exactly where its characters [...]

The National Portrait Gallery opens its doors to a public exhibition of Lucian Freud portraits this month. Freud worked closely with the gallery before his death, last July, and was said to be excited that his show would exhibit in the same year as the Olympics. Admittedly, I am an art novice; so much of [...]

The first thing you notice upon entering the Barbican’s exhibition on Dutch architectural collective OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), led by famed architect Rem Koolhaas, is that everything has been reoriented: the reception and shop have been moved so that you have to walk through weird passageways, hemmed in by transparent walls and surrounded by [...]

The soundtrack to the best 1970s sci-fi film never made, Oneohtrix Point Never’s Returnal was one of the finest unheralded records of 2010. With Brooklyn-based artist Daniel Lopotin’s alter-ego falling into the same avant-garde electronica niche as contemporaries including The Field and former labelmate Emeralds, few may have heard Returnal, but its synthesis of music [...]

The best portraits are always revealing and intriguing at the same time. Revealing because the photographer has managed to capture some sort of essence, something  fundamental about the person being photographed. Intriguing because the viewer never quite manages to find everything out, never quite got to the point of knowing what he sees. The Taylor [...]

UNLESS you’re a master forger the idea of art and crime mixing together might not spring instantly to mind. However a quick duck in to the Southbank Centre this autumn may have you scurrying to re-evaluate that idea and your perceptions of prison life. Introducing Arts by Offenders; both fascinating in theme and remarkable in [...]

Don’t let the clunky title put you off. A three-part drama piecing together a complex portrait of Catalonian identity; Ramon Térmens’ Catalunya über alles! is a extraordinary melting pot of plots, languages and genres. Getting the ball rolling on debates about identity, morality and citizenship, Térmens does not shy away from tackling the tougher questions. [...]

After an encouraging debut at the Cannes Film Festival, Liza Johnson’s first feature film about a wife and mother returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan has made its way to British screens at the BFI London Film Festival. With a unique take on an established storyline backed up by striking cinematography and extremely [...]

It is the 1950s and one of London’s busiest restaurants prepares for Friday night service, ready to deal with over a thousand customers. Glamorous waitresses weave expertly between the tables, glasses are raised and the clientele is happy. At least this is what we assume because the action in this play is actually set firmly [...]

Céline Sciamma’s 2007 Water Lilies is undoubtedly a hard act to follow. With her debut feature film selected for the Cannes ‘Un Certain Regard’ as well as winning the prestigious Louis-Delluc award, Sciamma is a promising new contender on the French cinematic scene. But rather than swaggering up to the plate, her second offering follows [...]