Month: February 2017

Akva Smorgasbord

16/02/17

Fountainbridge, Edinburgh

We’re in the mood for lunch out and we’ve been promising ourselves we’ll try this smorgasbord for a while. Akva is a big, spacious, Swedish-style bar with a relaxed and friendly buzz about it. It’s pleasantly located in Fountainbridge at the top of the Union Canal, one of Edinburgh’s hidden treasures. They do a conventional menu, which we’ve sampled before, but they also offer a daily lunchtime buffet.

It’s all reassuringly simple. When you choose to ‘go smorgasbord’ you’re issued with a decently sized plate and invited to fill it from the buffet for a very reasonable £7.50. If you’re an individual with a particularly hearty appetite, another fiver will allow you to return for even more and the great thing is, you don’t have to decide straight away. (Just as well as it turns out, because even we have to admit that one plate is plenty even for seasoned diners like us).

It would take forever to list everything that’s on offer today, but the array includes smoked trout, smoked salmon, freshly sliced ham, smoked cheese and a multitude of brightly coloured salads , grilled vegetables and assorted pickles. In addition to this, there are two hot dishes – today’s choice is veggie sausage casserole and a three bean chilli, both with accompanying hot rice. There’s also a selection of breads to choose from (the black bread is particularly good). When you’re presented with such a cornucopia of delights to select from, you’ll find yourself trying a little bit of everything and that’s no bad thing, because it means that every forkful you taste is different. Though we try hard to pace ourselves we manage to devour everything on our plates in record time and feel pleasantly full, rather than stuffed.

This is a refreshingly different kind of lunch, a great choice if you’re meeting up with friends and family (particularly those hard-to-please veggie ones) and when you’re finished, you can always nip upstairs and enjoy the free-to-use ping pong table, which in my book is a great addition to any bar – or, weather allowing, why not try a walk along the canal where you can happily work of some of those calories?

Next time you’re stuck for lunch, you know where to go.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

 

The Winter’s Tale

14/02/17

Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

The Winter’s Tale is famously a play of two halves, and Max Webster’s production for the Lyceum exaggerates and develops this juxtaposition in every possible way – and the result is thrilling.

This is an modern-day version of the play: ‘Sicilia’ is now Edinburgh; ‘Bohemia’ is Fife. Although Leontes (John Michie) and Polixenes (Andy Clark) are still ostensibly ‘kings’, they are presented more as middle-class business men, rich and successful, with teams of staff assisting them. The set design helps to cement the contrasts between them: Leontes’ apartment, slightly raised and framed in black, looks exactly like the glass boxes lining Edinburgh’s Quartermile; a walled-off sound-booth reinforces this image. It’s an inspired idea: those apartments look like stage-sets anyway, their fourth walls removed to allow us to peep in. And they are sterile and hard, seemingly perfect but ultimately lacking – just like Leontes’ relationship with Hermione (Frances Grey). The pastoral scenes, on the other hand, are deliberately hokey. The fake grass is rolled out before us: there is no attempt at realism here. The props are more panto than serious Shakespeare, all bright-bunting and shopping trolleys and rickety wooden stuff. The costumes  all look hand-made, in a local am-dram kind of way. It’s hard to imagine we’re watching the same play. Polixenes  is a big fish here, but he’s in a very different kind of pond.

The contrasts are further underlined by both dialogue and acting style. While acts one, two, three and five retain Shakespeare’s original language, act four has been recast in Scots, an audacious undertaking performed with evident delight by writer James Robertson. The performances are mismatched too: whereas the Sicilian scenes are very serious and actorly, the Bohemian scenes are played for laughs, with comedic exaggeration and audience interaction; it’s beautifully done.

If I’ve a criticism of this play – and I haven’t much – it’s that the fayre goes on too long, without adding much to the plot. It is a lovely interlude, and the scene-setting is vital, but it starts to drag after a while: we want to know what happens next.

The performances here are universally strong, but Maureen Beattie’s Paulina is a definite stand-out; she imbues the character with warmth, vitality and strength. The musicians, led by composer Alasdair Macrae, deserve a mention too: their on-stage accompaniment is integral to the story-telling, and their presence adds a strange unearthliness that really elevates the play.

Do get yourself along to the Lyceum to see this: it’s really rather wonderful.

4.9 stars

Susan Singfield

A Judgement in Stone

13/02/17

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

The Classic Thriller Theatre Company’s adaptation of A Judgement in Stone is Sophie Ward’s play. Her performance as Eunice Parchman, the illiterate housekeeper, is astounding: she shape-shifts into an awkward, secretive, resentful old woman, and it is her subtlety and nuance that lend the piece its credibility.

Based on Ruth Rendell’s novel, AJIS is a pretty standard murder-mystery. There’s a large house, a rich family, a slew of servants – and some policemen too. But some of its effectiveness  as a whodunnit is undermined by the fact that there are four victims, which so reduces the number of potential killers that there’s not much element of surprise.

The set is stunning: the attention to detail is incredible, especially considering that this is a touring production. The wooden panelling, the leaded windows: it’s all truly remarkable. This naturalistic single-room setting works well, helping to create a sense of both the period (the seventies) and the isolation of the domestic realm.  And the regular shifts between times are well-handled: the chronology is always clear. It’s a shame, however, that there are so many exits and entrances; scenes are never allowed to overlap; the past never coincides with the present. The  constant stage traffic feels disruptive and unnecessary, and isn’t always timed quite right. It feels a little old-fashioned, all this ‘then they go off, and then they come on’ stuff, and there are moments when we’re left with an empty stage, which doesn’t help the pace at all.

Some of the characterisation feels odd: Joan Smith, for example, isn’t credible at all. To be fair, the problem doesn’t seem to lie with Deborah Grant’s gutsy performance (she’s lively and engaging and very funny at times) but with who the character is supposed to be. Maybe the source material is at fault (I haven’t read Rendell’s novel), but it’s hard to believe she and Eunice would ever become friends. There’s no sense conveyed of what connects them.

Overall, this is an entertaining piece, with some strong performances from the cast. But there are a few misfires: it’s too easy to spot the supposed twists, and the whole thing feels a bit, well, staid. That said, the theatre is almost full, and those around us seem to be enjoying what they see. Why not give it a try and make up your own mind?

3 stars

Susan Singfield

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

11/02/17

Let’s start with an admission: we’re watching Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in 2D, and at 24fps at our local Cineworld. So we’re not going to be able to comment on its technical wizardry, not on whether the 4K 3D 120fps makes Ang Lee’s experiment worthwhile, nor on whether we agree with the critics who claim it makes the film uncomfortable to watch. But, as only five cinemas worldwide are equipped to show this movie in its full glory, our experience is more likely to chime with that of our readers. And so we’ll focus on the film behind the tech.

Based on a novel by Ben Fountain, BLLHW tells the tale of a squad of young American soldiers, brought home from Iraq for a victory tour, following the circulation of video footage showing their doomed-but-heroic fight to save their sergeant’s life. Billy (Joe Alwyn) is struggling to cope, ambivalent about the war, and unsure of much except his loyalty to his squad. They are rewarded with a day out: they are guests of honour at a football game, trotted out to stand behind Destiny’s Child to wild applause during halftime. And there is talk of a film deal, too: they’ll be famous, wealthy, given everything they need.

Joe Alwyn’s performance is subtle and nuanced: his pain is palpable. The realities of his war are revealed through a series of short flashbacks, sparked by the flash of a firework or a poignant word. It’s a touching story: he hasn’t much to stay home for, but neither does he want to go back to Iraq. His sister, Kathryn (Kristen Stewart), tries to persuade him to see a psychiatrist; she’s scared of losing him and can see that he has PTSD. And it’s heartbreaking to watch him struggle with the decision. There are no easy answers here.

I enjoyed this film a lot, and not just because of the novelty of seeing Vin Diesel in a role where he’s required to act. It’s not action-packed, and there are no clichéd moments of wonder or revelation. It’s a slow, wordy piece about ambiguity, about what we ask young men to do, and how little we know of the toll it takes. The response to Bravo Squad on their return to the US is confused: they’re heroes, but they’re ordinary. They’re revered, but they’re mocked. They’re film worthy, but no one will pay them properly. In the end, they only have each other, and their instincts – and, if that’s not enough, well that’s too bad. It’s a fascinating story, and well worth two hours of your time.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Harvey Nichols Forth Floor Brasserie

St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

09/02/17

The Harvey Nichols Forth Floor Brasserie isn’t really on our radar, but first it pops up in T2: Trainspotting, and then we receive an email promoting their winter menu, offering us three courses and a cocktail for a more than reasonable £22 per head. It seems silly not to take advantage of the offer, so we book ourselves in and, a few days later, rock up for our meal.

We’re seated by the window, which definitely helps set the mood: not only is this where Mark Renton reprises his infamous ‘Choose Life’ monologue in T2, we also have an uninterrupted view of the cityscape and castle. And the free ‘Winter Storm’ cocktail – a Bacardi, lime and ginger concoction – is absolutely delicious. So far, so good.

We’re not let down by the food either. Okay, so it’s a little bit too quick arriving, making us feel slightly rushed. But the service is charming, and we take our time eating without anyone bothering us. And the wine we order (a Bordeaux sauvignon blanc) is cold and crisp, and we’re really rather happy here.

I start with the soup of the day, mainly because I’m cold after the walk here, and it’s a sweet potato soup, which I always like. It’s lovely too, with a fresh, citrusy tang that cuts through the creaminess. Philip has the cured Orkney herring, which comes with blood orange, chicory and a herb dressing. It’s sharp and fresh, a light and nicely textured dish, of which he heartily approves.

Philip’s main is honey-roasted Hawick ham, with grain mustard, baby carrots and mashed potato. This is the star of the day, those crispy flakes of pulled ham simply bursting with flavour. The creamy mash is delicious too. I opt for the gnocchi, with goat’s cheese, beetroot, rocket and lime preserve. This is intensely flavoured, and truly delectable, although it’s perhaps a little heavy after the soup, and I can’t finish what’s on my plate.

I still order a dessert though, opting for the chocolate rice pudding with satsuma and biscotti. This is the only disappointing part of the meal, being rather too runny for my taste, and with the satsuma not quite sharp enough to cut through the bitter chocolate. Luckily, Philip’s rhubarb crumble cake with rhubarb sorbet is marvellous, and he lets me share it: it’s warm, sticky and indulgent, and even comes with a little pot of custard, which is always a good thing.

All in all, this is a very positive experience. Would we come back? I don’t know. The vibe isn’t really us: it all seems a bit corporate maybe. But we enjoyed it anyway, and if you like that kind of thing, then it’s definitely worth checking out.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Cirque Berserk

07/02/17

Circuses aren’t what they used to be. Take Cirque Berserk, for instance. No big top and sawdust ring for them (although all the performers are well used to that discipline). You’ll find them onstage at the Festival Theatre, until Sunday the 12th February, offering a fabulous selection of circus skills, many of which have been given an intriguing new twist.

I guess the clue is in the name. This is a series of traditional skills taken to the very edge, sexed up with thundering music and state-of-the-art lighting effects, and delivered at a breathless pace. The opening act, Timbuktu Tumblers, race onto the stage and start flinging themselves around like madmen and from there, the show is never allowed to flag. As one act exits, the next comes racing on and the action doesn’t pause until the interval. After a short break, they’re back and the insanity continues…

It would be impossible to mention every act on the bill but tonight’s highlights for me, include Cuba’s Tropicana Troupe, a group of performers who use see-saws to catapult themselves impossibly high into the air: Odka, from Mongolia, who can squeeze herself into a tiny bottle and who can fire a bow and arrow with deadly accuracy, using only her feet: Toni, from Czechoslovakia, who hurls flaming knives at a confidently smiling assistant with uncanny accuracy: and most nerve-wracking of all, The Globe of Death, in which four leather clad motorcyclists hurtle recklessly around the interior of a metal sphere, passing within inches of each other, an act that I must confess I watched whilst chewing my fingernails. One false move and this could end very badly for all concerned.

Just to cover all the bases, there’s Tweedie, a slapstick clown with a penchant for tripping over things and the occasional unexplained appearance by a giant flame-shooting robot. It all adds up to a spectacular (and occasionally jaw-dropping) evening of family entertainment and it would be a picky individual indeed who claims they aren’t being given value for money.

Check out Cirque Berserk before they head off to their next engagement. You may occasionally be terrified, but I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

 

Toni Erdmann

05/02/17

Toni Erdmann is a genuine oddity of a film. Loved and trumpeted by many major critics and hotly tipped to lift this year’s Foreign Language Oscar, it’s had so much great word-of-mouth recently that we felt we had to seek it out at our earliest opportunity. We’d been led to expect a laugh-riot, but it certainly isn’t that. It’s a charming and quirky film, featuring a series of strange set-pieces, most of which work and some of which really don’t.

Winfried (Peter Simonischek) is a divorced father who has become somewhat estranged from his buttoned-up, workaholic daughter, Ines (Sandra Huller), an ambitious player in the world of corporate business. Winfried has a penchant for terrible practical jokes which generally involve him putting in a set of wonky teeth, something that his friends and family tolerate with knowing grimaces. When his elderly dog goes to the great kennel in the sky, Winfried decides to make an unannounced visit to Ines, who is working in Bucharest. He trails around after her for a day or so, saying and doing the the wrong things until she gets tired of dealing with him and asks him to leave, which he apparently does – but he returns, the same evening, wearing a dodgy wig and those teeth, introducing himself to Ines’s friends and workmates as life style guru, Toni Erdmann. Ines is initially appalled by his presence but for some reason, decides to play along with him and the resulting shenanigans help them to re-establish their bond.

The results are somewhat uneven. There’s a very funny ‘naked dinner party’ and I enjoyed the scene where Winfried forces Ines to perform a karaoke version of The Greatest Love of All to a room full of strangers…  but there’s also a misjudged (and frankly unbelievable) scene where Ines persuades a boyfriend to perform a sex act on a play of petits fours (yes, really!)  which seems to have wandered in from a different kind of movie entirely. Both Simischek and Huller give compelling performances and it’s to the film’s credit that despite a running time of two hours, forty-five minutes, it never really drags. But this isn’t the breakthrough German comedy that it’s been billed as. It’s fun, it’s unusual and writer/director Maren Ade has created a film like no other.

Just don’t expect the earth to move.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Fences

05/02/17

Fences is a compelling movie, with towering performances from each of its actors. Adapted by August Wilson from his play of the same name, it tells the tale of an African-American refuse collector, Troy Maxson, and is a searing indictment of the American Dream. The film wears its theatrical origins with pride; there’s little attempt here to render the claustrophobic domestic story more cinematic: we rarely venture beyond Troy’s half-fenced yard.

Denzel Washington is Troy, a Willy Loman-esque character, reflecting bitterly on a  lifetime of thwarted ambitions and unrealised dreams. Indeed, the whole piece is very reminiscent of Death of a Salesman, and just as unflinching in its exposure of the fallacies we are sold. Washington’s performance is stunning: Troy is just about as flawed as a man can be – he’s selfish, demanding, dictatorial and often wrong – but we are always aware of the insecurities that drive him; we can always see the vulnerability that lurks beneath the brute. We might not like him, but he has our sympathy.

Viola Davis is equally irresistible, exuding depth and dignity; the characterisation here is impeccable. Powerless to protect her son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), from his father’s injustice, she nevertheless holds up a mirror to her errant husband, and doesn’t let him shy away from the truth of who he is. When Troy betrays her, her anguish is palpable – but so is her love. And it’s this love, I think, that holds the piece together, and redeems Troy – sort of – in the end.

Denzel Washington’s direction is confident and assured. The film builds slowly towards the inevitable tragedy at its heart and, for the most part, this pace works well. I felt the last half hour dragged a little, with perhaps too much crammed in to what is essentially a coda – but overall, there’s not much to complain of here. It’s a fascinating, well-told, cautionary tale. The Oscar nomination is very well-deserved.

4.5 stars

Susan Singfield

Gold
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 04: Matthew McConaughey filming Stephen Gagham’s “Gold” on October 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/GC Images
GOLD

04/02/17

We’re getting used to those Matthew McConaughey mega-performances. In Gold, he goes full Jake La Motta, transforming himself into an overweight, balding, snaggletoothed chain-smoking alcoholic and yes, it’s the kind of impressive tour de force we’ve come to expect from the man, who used to make a living taking his shirt off in Jennifer Aniston comedies; but you can’t help wondering why he’s gone to such extreme lengths when the character he plays is semi-fictional anyway.

In Gold, he plays Kenny Wells, a down-on-his-luck prospector who gambles everything on one last-ditch expedition after having a dream about striking gold in Indonesia. (Let’s face it, we’ve all had that dream!) He hooks up with geologist, Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez), a man who talks a good game and Wells raises the money to finance a trip to the Indonesian rain forest. Once there they pitch their tents and settle down to the wearisome task of drilling soil samples and having them assayed. For a long, long time, nothing happens, (unless you count Wells’ debilitating bout of malaria) but then they do find gold and almost before you can say ‘yippee’ the entire might of Wall Street is rushing in to get their hands on a piece of the action…

We’ve all seem films that are ‘based on a true story.’ This one is ‘inspired by real events’ and sure enough, a little searching on the internet pulls up the story of a man called David Walsh, who founded a tiny mining company called Bre-X in 1989. In the early 90’s he and one Michael Guzman discovered gold in Indonesia and generated billions of dollars off the back of it, before it was discovered that the whole thing was built on a lie. Gold alters some of the facts and shifts the events firmly into the 1980s (which if nothing else, does give the excuse for a cracking soundtrack) but the film is rather dominated by McConaughey, relegating most of his fellow-actors to the sidelines (including Bryce Dallas Howard as his long-suffering wife, Kay) and, rather like the star’s waistline, the film does get a bit lumpy towards the middle section.

A firmer hand in the editing suite would have helped to streamline proceedings, but this is nothing like as bad as some critics have suggested and here and there, the film does manage to fizz into life. Mind you, if you were looking for something to improve your opinion of the American financial system, this one isn’t for you. You’ll leave the cinema with the impression that every last person in the industry is a venal, money-grubbing back-stabbing piece of excrement.

Just sayin’.

3.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Loving

03/02/17

Writer/director Jeff Nichols seems to favour outlaws. Take Shelter, Mud and Midnight Special all feature protagonists who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Loving is, however, the first time he’s based a film on a true story.

Virginia, 1958. Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) romances his sweetheart Mildred (Ruth Negga), gets her pregnant and then arranges a hasty marriage. So far, so everyday; but it’s not as straightforward as you might suppose. Richard is white and Mildred, African-American. Though they have travelled to the more enlightened Washington DC to get hitched, such a marriage is still deemed illegal in the state of Virginia and almost before they know it, they have been dragged from their bed in the dead of night and slung into jail. The upshot is that they are faced with a difficult choice. They can get the marriage annulled and forget that anything ever happened; or they can leave Virginia for a minimum of 25 years, risking long jail sentences if they are ever reckless enough to return. But the Lovings are made of stern stuff and they vow to live together in Virginia whatever circumstance may throw at them…

It’s staggering to think that only fifty years ago such laws could even have existed and the Loving’s case was eventually the basis of a major change to the American constitution, so this is an important subject. Nichols relates the story in his signature style, taking his own sweet time, steering clear of sensationalism and coaxing superb performances from his lead actors. Neggar has already been rewarded for her efforts with a well-deserved Oscar nomination, but in many ways it’s Edgerton who has the trickier role, portraying a gruff, monosyllabic man who bears the many crosses he is made to carry with exceptional stoicism.

The film’s gentle pace is clearly something that divides people. We’ve rarely witnessed so many walkouts from a movie as We saw on the Friday evening we viewed Loving. But I found the film powerful and eloquent, an excellent addition to Nichols’ growing canon of work. Nice too to see a cameo from the director’s favourite actor, Michael Shannon, as the photographer who takes pictures of the couple for an article in Life Magazine.

Some people change the world in the glare of publicity. Others do it quietly, avoiding the limelight, but their contributions are nonetheless every bit as valuable. Loving is an accomplished film that’s well worth your attention.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney