STEF LYONS is stirred by a new opera that toys with ecological themes, but doesn’t get properly polemical

JOHN GREEN recommends an entertaining, if harsh and instructive, study of bullying, discipline and power dynamics in schools and at work

CHRISTINE LINDEY welcomes a film that focuses exclusively on women war artists, but deplores its omission of feminism, political context and Soviet anti-war art

BRETT GREGORY speaks with TOBY MANNING, author of Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music

by Lorraine Voss

DENNIS BROE points out that Apple is part of the corporate and state surveillance network which the new series Prime Target rails against

In an exhibition of the graphic art of Lorna Miller, MATT KERR takes a lungful of the oxygen of dissent

PAUL DONOVAN applauds a timely play that explores the resonances of McCarthyite nationalism in today’s US

Given the global plague of Agent Orange, the bard channels his energy into community self-help

The Star's critics review The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru, Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other, American Dreamer, When Autumn Falls, and Flow

ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China

by Steven Taylor

GEORGE FOGARTY is mesmerised by the messages made when jazz is played by people who grew up steeped in jungle and hip-hop

MARK TURNER is thrilled by the the British singer’s tribute to the late great Sarah Vaughan

RITA DI SANTO speaks to Laura Carreira about her study of workers in an Amazon warehouse,  On Falling

NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly

MATTHEW HAWKINS appreciates an interpretation in dance of James Baldwin’s landmark novel of doomed homosexual desire

New releases from Jenn Butterworth, Liz Overs, and Gigspanner Big Band

SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the translation of Jane Eyre into a ballet that preserves the drama of her formative years

STEF LYONS is swept along by the infectious energy of an ex-con single mother’s dreams of Nashville

STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie

MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right

STEVE ANDREW welcomes a political interrogation of the contradiction between ecological awareness and a dietary crisis in today’s food consumption

Festival Coordinators TRISH MEEHAN and DODIE WEPPLER introduce some of the highlights of Screen Cuba Film Festival 2025

HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work

WILL PODMORE recommends an excellent and useful introduction to a lesser-known giant of the scientific revolution in Britain

JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party

The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State 

The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a deliciously dark thriller that explores the complex loyalties within a marriage

DEE HUEZ contemplates the cruelty of the Chancellor

by Tracey Rhys

RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water

JON BALDWIN appreciates the way Steve McQueen has curated the evidence of our resistance, and is inspired by their cumulative effect

SETH SANDRONSKY appreciates a fresh take on a 100-year-old novel that helps to contextualise the current moment of conspicuous wealth, waste and climate chaos

A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley

Reviews of Ella Fitzgerald, My Morning Jacket, and Toria Wooff