Starred Up film review – Brutal & haunting British prison drama
The words 'British', 'gritty' and 'prison drama', when used in close proximity, don't tend to lead to packed out cinemas. That Starred Up is also brutalising, horrifying, and highly uncouth (with a particular fondness for using 'see you next tuesday') rather compounds...
Fire in the Blood film – Tackling AIDS Onscreen Part One with Dylan Mohan Gray
To coincide with the home entertainment releases of Dylan Mohan Gray’s Fire in the Blood and David France’s How to Survive a Plague this month, FLUX will feature a two part interview special with the filmmakers to discuss tackling AIDS onscreen. The last twelve months...
Under the Skin review – Scarlett Johansson as killer alien – but does a film need a story?
Does a film need a story? Or a character arc? Does a film even have to entertain? Jonathan Glazer, the director of Under the Skin, is certainly making the case that it doesn't.His latest is pure art. [gallery link="file" itemtag="div" icontag="span" captiontag="p"...
Michaël Borremans: ‘As Sweet As It Gets’ BOZAR, Brussels
The figure of a barefoot man looms over visitors as they enter this major retrospective for Michaël Borremans, one of Belgium’s preeminent contemporary artists - not to mention one of Europe’s foremost living painters - held at Brussels’ principle institution for...
Ones to watching 2014: Loom – Raw, ominous grunge band
Brooding, grunge band, five-piece Loom have been hailed as one of the next ‘bands to watch’. With over two years of chaotic shows along with the announcement of a debut album ready and waiting, Loom could soon be set to allow their raw, ominous and dark rock ‘n’ roll...
Phantom of the Paradise DVD Review – Brian De Palma’s Faustian Rock Horror
Before unleashing his heavy artillery, future American auteur Brian De Palma fired a shot across the bow of the music world with his rock-horror Phantom of the Paradise. A re-imagining of Faust, disfigured composer Winslow (William Finley) sells his soul to music...
The Grand Budapest Hotel film review – The magical world of Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson's latest is a confection that looks like a pop-up book, by way of a stage play, which got turned into a film. In other words it's a Wes Anderson film; only this time even more so. Picture the exacting, ostentatious set design of his previous films, then take...
Sticks’n’Sushi: London restaurant review – Danish and Japanese fusion
It’s easy to forget just how far London has come in its gradual development of a world-class array of restaurants. Not so long ago, your choice was either an over-priced imperialist private members' club in central London with thick white tablecloths heavier than a...
Safety Not Guaranteed film review (DVD) – Strangest classified ad turned into a movie?
To the best of my awareness Safety Not Guaranteed is the first - and thus far only - film to take a real classified ad as its inspiration. Although 'real' might not be the right word. The ad was filler for a magazine, but it was well written filler; it had a good hook,...
Mister John Film Review: Confronts death to see the beauty and pain in life
If there is a meeting point between the escape from the physical and the escape from the emotional, Ireland’s leading man Aidan Gillen retreats to Singapore in search of this metaphysical crossover. The Great Escape, the escape from Alcatraz and New York and Toy Story...
A Perfect Contradiction – Paloma Faith talks about her new album, hope & Pharrell Williams
It takes listening to precisely five seconds of Paloma Faith’s comeback single to realise that you are already in the company of one of the best pop tracks that you are going to hear all year. By the time it gets to the chorus of Can’t Rely on You, with its defiant...
Platterform – Sea Adventure Series – Ever fancied yourself as a pirate?
Sometimes coincidence has a habit of making you smile. And it seemed like a wonderful piece of happenstance that I was mired halfway through Herman Melville’s magnum opus, ’Moby Dick’ the same week that I was due to visit Platterform’s newest extravaganza – the...
Launching People Initiative – Rankin, Paloma Faith and Idris Elba mentor new creative talent
If you seriously fancy yourself as a talented young creative and you’re just looking for that one chance that could spark off your career than this initiative could be the answer. Samsung has developed the Launching People scheme and it aims to do exactly what it says...
Stranger by the Lake film review – Passion fuelled paradise turns to dread
The dance between lust, sex, violence and death is deeply rooted in cinematic history. In Alain Guiraudie's sixth feature film fiery passions meet the darkest and most permanent of fates. There...
Interview with Alain Guiraudie – Director of Stranger by the Lake
One wet Friday afternoon in Covent Garden where we lay our scene, found FLUX Magazine attempting to get under the skin of Alain Guiraudie’s sixth feature film Stranger by the Lake. Joined by the writer-director we entered a discussion of his tale of lust, sex,...