Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
The irrationality of war
RITA DI SANTO singles out that rare thing, a contemporary anti-war documentary, as the outstanding new film of the festival
invasion
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
SOMETIMES documentaries work better than fiction. This is certainly the case with Sergei Loznitsa’s new film, The Invasion.
Loznista was born in Belarus, grew up in Ukraine and studied film in St Petersburg. He has been an almost constant presence for the last 20 years at the Cannes Festival, bringing both documentaries and fiction features. His latest, The Invasion, is a documentary filmed over the two years since the beginning of the conflict.
It starts with a tragic prologue: the funeral of four soldiers killed in the war. A church crowded with mourners makes the impact of war immediately vivid. Loznitsa then follows the daily life of Ukrainians trying to find food and water. Unexploded mines render some places dangerous, but life must go on. A couple is getting married; the bride wears the traditional white traditional dress while the groom is in combat fatigues. A lady tells the story of her husband, a soldier now a prisoner of war in Russia.
More from this author
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
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
