MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
Latest editorial
One for Almodovar fans
ALAN McGUIRE recommends an autobiography that is an intriguing mix of short stories and personal sketches
Pedro Almodovar, 2017
[Ruben Ortega/CC] ![REBELS: Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in Nadia Fall’s powerful debut feature Brides [Pic: IMDb]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-09/round%20up%20web_0.jpg.webp?itok=41xI6jhN)
MARY CONWAY recommends an early Shakespearean tragedy that feels so contemporary that it mirrors our daily news
A ghost story by Mexican Ave Barrera, a Surrealist poetry collection by Peruvian Cesar Moro, and a manifesto-poem on women’s labour and capitalist havoc by Peruvian Valeria Roman Marroquin
DAVID NICHOLSON recommends a dazzling production of Bernstein’s opera set in a world where chaos and violence are greeted by equanimity
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by a new play that loses its drama amid the moral dilemma of re-settling children in the aftermath of WWII
Acclaimed as a masterpiece when it premiered, this study of story-telling in an Irish pub more than lives up to expectations, says MARY CONWAY
SYLVIA HIKINS relishes a comedy that dives deep into Liverpool’s divided loyalties
The Last Dream
Pedro Almodovar, Harvill Secker, £16.99
PEDRO ALMODOVAR is a Spanish film-maker known for his vibrant, emotionally charged films that often explore themes of identity, sexuality, family, societal taboos and human relationships.
Coming from the deeply religious and bare landscape of Castilla la Mancha to the vibrant capital of Madrid in the throes of la movida, a counter-cultural movement following the death of Spain’s dictator Franco in 1975, Almodovar is himself a mixture of the various Spanish cultures.
In his work he breaks mainstream stereotypes of Spaniards, often with images and realities that the country’s conservatives would rather forget.
Similar stories
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes an exuberant blend of emotion and analysis that captures the politics and contrarian nature of the French composer
SARAH TROTT explores short fictional slices of life in the American midwest from a middle-aged and mostly female perspective
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
CHRIS MOSS is gripped by the account of a city that is point of embarkation for conquest and adventure, and arrival stage for dreamers and despots