Reviews

Rage and hope on new album from Parquet Courts

Until now this brilliant New York band’s most well-known song was called, “Stoned and starving”.

Shape of Light exhibition challenges perception of reality

Irish place names written in the occupiers’ language

Brian Friel’s play Translations is set in Ireland in 1833 as a new phase of intensified British rule is beginning.

Giuseppe Penone's sculptures explore links between nature and artist

Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s latest offerings are a poignant reminder of how we’re alienated from the natural world, says?Esther Neslen

Portraits that tell deeper stories about their subjects

Victoria Crowe’s portraits strongly reflect the emotional and intellectual relationship that she formed with her subjects.

Fascists can’t sing—banned songs a hit at Gate Theatre

A new musical collaboration between a west London theatre and the English National Opera sticks two fingers up to the Nazis, says Jasmine Fischer

Vanley Burke’s iconic images of Birmingham

It’s an iconic image. Winford Fagan in Handsworth, Birmingham, 1970.

Redoubtable—a flawed take on ‘68 through Godard’s eyes

A new film about Jean-Luc Godard and 1968 would be better if it focused a little more on the latter and a little less on the former, says?Bethan Turner

A brutal tale of profit and dispossession in Cambodia

This film focuses on life in Cambodia over a six-year period from 2009 to 2015, documenting the forcible evictions of poor families at the Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh.

Robert Kennedy’s hypocrisy on display in new TV show

A new documentary glosses over uglier truths, but shows how Robert Kennedy was forced to acknowledge the Civil Rights Movement, says?Antony Hamilton

The Woman in White's narrow plot fails to deal with sexism properly

History to date has been the history of Great Men.

Ai Weiwei’s new book celebrates our shared humanity

“Allowing borders to determine your thinking is incompatible with the modern era.”

Road movie of loneliness and loss in small town US

Great performances and a solid plot make Lean on Pete an enjoyable film that rotates on the myths of the American frontier

Kathe Kollwitz—powerful images of loss and struggle

KAthe Kollwitz (1867-1945)lived through some of the most turbulent years of the 20th century. They were years of great hope and terrible tragedy.

Education farce is at its best when it’s at its least serious

Some important issues are glossed over in a new play. But that does not stop the gags and performances from landing home, writes?Sam Lorde

Blackfish City is a gripping climate cliffhanger

This dystopian fable has been warmly received by science fiction and fantasy writers, and could be of interest to many socialists too.

What we know, and what we mustn’t forget, about Stephen Lawrence’s murder

A new documentary about the death of Stephen Lawrence and the 25 year fight for justice airs on BBC1 this week. Hassan Mahamdallie watched it

Hope to Nope at the Design Museum—graphics overload without context

Hope to Nope looks at political graphics in the tumultuous decade since the crisis hit

The Island and the Whales—a noble and melancholy tale of sea and whaling

The poisoned legacy of capitalism and pollution on the Faroe Islands is told in story-like fashion in new documentary film

Shakespearean drama meets Thomas Sankara in new play

Ricky Dujany’s ambitious debut play looks at a major figure in the 1980s battle for African liberation. It raises important questions, writes?Jay Williams