GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
Film round-up: June 6, 2024
An immigrant Western, a bearded lady in love, blueberry pie and a double act ripe for retirement: the Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews new releases The Dead Don’t Hurt, Rosalie, Riddle of Fire and Bad Boys: Ride or Die
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
The Dead Don’t Hurt (15)
Directed by Viggo Mortensen
★★★
ACTOR turned writer-director Viggo Mortensen takes one of my most hated tropes in the Western genre and gives it a fresh twist in this quietly powerful and slow burning drama about two star-crossed lovers and pioneers.
Like most Westerns it involves a woman being raped and killed to propel the action forward which is unacceptable today even if it is portrayed in a surprising way.
Set in the 1860s, it opens with Danish immigrant and former soldier Holger Olsen (Mortensen) watching the love of his life Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps), who’s French-Canadian, die from a terminal illness.
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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