Month: June 2023

Gurkha

12/06/23

Broughham Place, Edinburgh

Traditional curry houses have been going through turbulent times lately, with many customers preferring to turn their attention to Indian street food-style cafes. Local favourite The Bombay Bicycle Club is now under new ownership as Gurkha, which offers Indian and Nepalese cuisine. (A bit further down Brougham Street, The Nilgiri Spice is in the early stages of a similar transformation.)

We’ve actually opted to visit on opening night, lured in by a money-off voucher, and – as it’s the hottest day in Edinburgh so far this year – we’re half expecting the place to be quiet.

But there’s a lively vibe when we arrive, with balloons festooning the entrance and a veritable crowd inside, celebrating the occasion. As we’re currently having a break from the booze, we’re delighted to note that in addition to alcohol free beer, Gurkha also offers zero percent wine in white, red and even rosé, which is something we haven’t found on any other menus in the city, so we promptly order a drink each.

We share a mixed starter, comprising chicken tikka, lamb tikka, seekh kebab and (best of all) a couple of crispy, chewy king prawns. The dish is perfectly cooked, the flavours and aromas inviting and the dish is nicely presented with generous swirls of different sauces in which the meat can be dipped. It’s a great start to the meal and proves to be the highlight.

For mains, we’ve chosen a lamb tikka saslik and a chicken makhani, which again are nicely done, though perhaps lacking the impressive presentation of that starter – though to be fair, it’s hard to know how you might make a chicken makhani (a big dollop of brown sludge) look beautiful. It tastes good and that’s the main thing, right?

To accompany the dish there’s a lovely peshwari naan, thin and crispy, with a delicious mango and coconut filling – and a bowl of coconut and pineapple rice, which, on reflection, may be a tad too sweet when coupled with the naan. But that’s on us for not thinking it through, and I should add that not one single grain remains after we’ve applied ourselves to the task.

And that’s us done, far too full to think about a pudding and happy to slip out to enjoy the rest of a sunny afternoon in Edinburgh, leaving the celebration in full swing. Here’s wishing Gurkha a happy and prosperous future.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Reality

11/06/23

Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh

You may not be familiar with the name Reality Winner. And if you think it sounds like a nom de plume, invented for a would-be game-show participant, let me assure you that she’s a real person, who only recently finished serving a four year jail sentence for… well, here’s the thing. Some would say that she betrayed her own country. Others would argue that she went to jail for daring to expose something that really should have been in the public domain in the first place.

I know which camp I belong to.

And anyone who would suggest that a well-written screenplay can easily swing a viewer in its preferred direction should note that Tina Satter’s intriguing film (her debut as a director) cannot be accused of misrepresentation, because the actors in this true life drama speak words taken verbatim from a transcript of the original FBI interview tape.

We meet Reality (Sydney Sweeney) as she returns from a shopping trip to be confronted by Agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchant Davis), who show her their ID badges and then announce they have some very important questions to ask her. Its 2017, shortly after Donald Trump has fired James Comey. Reality is ex-airforce, now working for a government contractor as a translator of Farsi (though she’s actually much more proficient in Pashto). The two agents are investigating the recent leak of classified documents to online publication, The Intercept – documents that claim to provide proof of Russian interference in the 2016 United States election.

The interview gets under way, the two agents continually pushing and prodding their suspect. They are by turns genial and menacing and, under their combined onslaught, Reality’s confident stance soon begins to crumble…

There are no real surprises here – the case is already a matter of record – and this is a deceptively simple piece but, as the interview progresses, I form the powerful conviction that Reality Winner has been used as a sacrificial lamb in order to deter others from going down a similar path. Found something dodgy? Pretend you never saw it! Think you’ve found proof of underhand behaviour? Look the other way! Or face the consequences.

Sweeney’s portrayal of the titular character is extraordinary, offering an equal mix of vulnerability and self-conviction. There are flashes of directorial brilliance when lines of dialogue, redacted by the FBI from the tape, cause the characters themselves to vanish temporarily from the screen, the ultimate unreliable narrators. I’m pretty sure I’ve ever seen this idea done before but it’s an extraordinary flourish in an important film that deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible. Judging by the sparse crowd at this afternoon’s screening, that may not be happening – but it should.

I leave the theatre seething with indignation, reflecting that American politics is sinking ever deeper into the mire and that British politics (based on news received while actually writing this review) seems to be heading in the same direction.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

ChildMinder

10/06/23

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Edinburgh-born Joseph lives in New York, where he is a celebrated child psychiatrist. He seems to be living his best life, with a beautiful, clever girlfriend, as well as a stellar career. But Joseph’s success is built on shameful foundations and a reckoning looms. Reparations need to be made on both the micro and the macro level – for his own transgressions as well as his country’s.

There are two distinct strands here, each echoing the other, their links compelling if not always quite clear.

On the one hand, we have a pretty straightforward ghost story, its origins laid bare in the opening scene, where Joseph (Cal MacAninch) is confronted with a repressed memory from when he was five years old: his baby brother’s murder. This shocking revelation opens the door to other carefully-buried feelings of guilt, and Joseph soon finds himself tormented by the ghost of a thirteen-year-old patient, Sam (Ben Ewing), who holds the doctor accountable for his death.

On the other hand, we have a meditation on the nature of colonisation, symbolised by Joseph’s relationship with Cindy (Mara Huf), a Native American anthropologist. Cindy’s culture, all-but erased by white settlers, has now been commodified for their entertainment, and the couple indulge in an ‘authentic’ 1700s dinner in a fancy Manhattan restaurant. At first, the pair are in celebratory mode. After all, Cindy has just completed her PhD. But, as Joseph insists on sharing a long and rambling fantasy, a feeling of unease begins to grow, and it’s a relief when Cindy calls him out, and the allegorical nature of his proprietorial daydream is made evident.

This is an ambitious piece of theatre, and the actors are clearly revelling in its complexity. Ewing is particularly striking, both as the mysterious “wait”-er and the troubled Sam. The set, by Kenneth MacLeod, is stark and simple, the squares of light redolent of the glass-box apartments on Edinburgh’s Quartermile, ex-home of the Royal Infirmary, where Joseph used to work. These borders also serve to hem the characters in, trapping them in a claustrophobic nightmare.

For the most part, Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir’s direction is flawless, imbuing the piece with all the gravitas it requires. Even the scene transitions are eerie, each prop moved with intent – all carefully choreographed for maximum impact. However, all this precision makes the use of dry ice especially irritating. It adds nothing; it’s just invasive, obscuring the stage and making the audience cough.

I like what McClure is trying to achieve here. It’s an exacting script with a vast scope. I’m not sure it always comes off – a little more transparency wouldn’t go amiss – and it’s certainly not a crowd-pleaser (there are five walk-outs in tonight’s show). But we need theatre that pushes boundaries and challenges our expectations, and ChildMinder certainly gives us that.

3.7 stars

Susan Singfield

The Covenant

09/06/23

Amazon Prime

Since the glory days of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie’s cinematic status has steadily declined, reaching its nadir in his truly dreadful King Arthur epic, Legend of the Sword, a film that had me laughing for all the wrong reasons. So I approach this Amazon Original with some caution, despite having heard good things about it.

I’m happy to report that this powerful and propulsive war movie, based on a true story, represents a solid return to form for the director.

It’s March 2018 and, deep in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan, Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhall) is carrying out a routine vehicle inspection, which results in the detonation of an IUD device that claims the life of his interpreter. His replacement is Ahmed Abdullah (Dar Salim), a man disliked by many of the American troops, but Kinley is impressed by his quiet authority. He employs Ahmed and quickly learns to trust the man’s instincts. He also appreciates that, because Ahmed’s son was murdered by the Taliban, he’s not going to compromise his role. Like all the other native interpreters, Ahmed is lured by the promise of an American visa and passport for himself and his immediate family.

When Kinley’s team raids a possible insurgent arms cache North of Bagram air base, they find themselves overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of Taliban reinforcements. All but Kinley and Ahmed are killed in the ensuing carnage, while Kinley is so badly injured that he is close to dying. But Ahmed saves his life, loads him aboard a wooden cart and pushes him for miles across mountainous territory, risking everything in his heroic determination to get Kinley to safety.

When, weeks later, Kinley awakens in a hospital in California, he is told – much to his horror – that Ahmed is still back in Afghanistan, where he is on the Taliban’s ‘most wanted’ list. The offer of repatriation has been conveniently overlooked. Kinley owes Ahmed a debt that he feels must be repaid. After months of trying to arrange a rescue through official channels, Kinley realises that this is something he’s going to have to organise himself…

The Covenant is a tightly-directed action movie that manages to generate genuine suspense in the telling. A lengthy sequence representing Ahmed’s epic journey – framed through the memories of Kinley as he travels through the mountains of Afghanistan – shows considerable directorial flare as the events come back to a drunken Kinley in a series of near-hallucinatory images. If I’ve a criticism, it’s that neither Kinley’s wife, Caroline (Emily Beechum), nor Ahmed’s wife, Basira (Fariba Sheikhan), are given enough to do or say in the screenplay, which is written by Ritchie with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. A female perspective would be a useful addition, I think – particularly considering that Caroline is a major factor in the decision to launch a rescue attempt.

The movie’s postscript points out that hundreds of interpreters were cruelly abandoned when the American military pulled out of Afghanistan. Many of them were executed by the Taliban, while others are still in hiding. The Covenant is therefore more than just a well-directed ‘shoot ’em up.’ It’s also a damning indictment of yet another shameful chapter in recent American history.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Thelma & Louise

07/06/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

I bloody love Thelma & Louise. Doesn’t everyone? I live by Louise’s famous mantra, “You get what you settle for.” So now, thirty-two long years after its initial release, I’m beyond excited to finally get the chance to see it on the big screen (I was living in Germany when it first came out, and only had it on a grainy VHS). This 4k restoration is an absolute treat, the vast American landscapes bathed in sunlight and glorious in their bleak beauty.

The eponymous duo have planned a weekend away. Louise (Susan Sarandon) is pissed off with her boyfriend, Jimmy (Michael Madsen), and wants to shake him out of his complacency, while Thelma (Geena Davis) is desperate for a break from the shackles of her unhappy marriage to pig-about-town, Darryl (Christopher McDonald). It’s just supposed to be a couple of nights at a friend’s cabin – fishing, swimming, chilling out. But when a pitstop turns ugly and a thug called Harlan (Timothy Carhart) tries to rape Thelma, Louise sees red and shoots him. From then, they’re on the run.

The genius of Ridley Scott’s film lies in the ordinariness of its two heroines. They’re not high-flyers or especially skilled, and neither of them has ever asked for much. But Harlan’s transgression is the final straw: like most women, these two have endured a lot from men, and they know the law won’t help them. And, having crossed the line, they’re surprised by how much fun there is on the other side. As Thelma puts it, “Everything looks different now. You feel like that? You feel like you got something to live for now?”

In a way, it’s a shame that Callie Khouri’s magnificent script stands the test of time so well. I had hoped it would feel dated, that I wouldn’t feel the need to cheer for women calling out catcalls, or find myself nodding at the frustrating truth that nobody is going to find a man guilty of assaulting a woman who’s been seen dancing with him. But here we are in the future – and when a woman’s crying like that, she still isn’t having any fun.

Despite all the serious stuff, I’d forgotten just how funny this film is, with scores of laugh-out-loud moments. Thelma and Louise are both wonderfully sassy and unabashed, and there are likeable men here too, in the form of avuncular cop, Hal (Harvey Keitel), and the world’s most handsome and politely-spoken armed robber, JD (Brad Pitt).

This re-release is every bit as much of a treat as I hoped it would be, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. For a deeper dive into its magic, you could also listen to Episode 4 of the latest series of Karina Longworth’s excellent podcast, You Must Remember This: Erotic 90s, where she shines a light on its enduring legacy.

5 stars

Susan Singfield

War Pony

06/06/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

War Pony makes for harrowing viewing. Set – and filmed – on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, it chronicles the everyday lives of the resident tribe, the Lakota. It’s clear from the outset that their traditional way of life has all but disappeared, brought out only occasionally in a splash of sound and colour to entertain the tourists. The film focuses mostly on the lives of two young men, who are trying their best to deal with the blows that their existence throws at them.

Matho (Ladainian Crazy Thunder) is perhaps twelve years old, living with his father, a meth dealer. A bit of a dreamer, Matho drifts aimlessly through school, preferring to read an obscure book about magic that he carries with him everywhere than to focus on the curriculum. By night, he and his four best friends run amok around the reservation, making drug deals, getting wasted and generally causing mayhem. After a violent row with his father over some pilfered drugs, Matho is kicked out and winds up bunking in the home of another dealer. But then his father dies under suspicious circumstances (something Matho may have inadvertently caused) and now he must fend for himself any way he can.

Bill (Jojo Bapteise Whiting) is in his twenties, already the father of two sons (to two different women, one of whom is in jail). He gets by with a sleepy grin and a relaxed WTF manner, but he too has to wheel and deal to make ends meet. In his world, everything has a price and, when he finally hits on his game plan, it’s fairly unconventional. He will purchase a female poodle and become a dog breeder, selling the resulting puppies for big profits. Meanwhile, a chance encounter with a local white farmer leads to him obtaining a paid position – not bad for a kid from the ‘res’.

But unfortunately, part of that job is to act as a chauffeur to the various young Native American girls whom his new employer likes to sleep with…

Though the two lead characters have nothing in common and only meet in one brief scene, the film is quick to point out that Matho is somehow already in rehearsal to be exactly like Bill one day, provided he manages to survive long enough. The repeated (unexplained) reappearance of a bison, the creature around which the Lakota’s lifestyle once centred, strikes a powerful and thought-provoking element. The creature no longer has any place here: he has become an almost surreal symbol of a lost identity, just as Matho and Bill too, are stranded. The latter no longer even knows how to speak his own language.

Utilising a cast of mostly non-professionals and written by Native Americans, Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy – in collaboration with directors Riley Keogh and Gina Gammell – War Pony feels totally authentic, a gritty and realistic piece that highlights the plight of a displaced people with absolute authority. Though there are occasional snatches of humour in the twists and turns of the story, most of what happens to the characters here is profoundly distressing.

But this is an important story that deserves to be seen by big audiences and the sizeable crowds at this Unlimited screening suggests that there are plenty of people ready and willing to watch it.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

The Boogeyman

04/06/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Horror movie The Boogeyman is one huge unsubtle metaphor – but it’s none the worse for it. The eponymous villain represents negative emotions – sorrow, misery, rage, etc. – and he needs dealing with before he kills you.

Sisters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) certainly know all about negative emotions. It’s only a month since their mother was killed in a car crash, and they’re struggling to adapt. Sawyer can’t sleep until her dad, Will Harper (Chris Messina), has checked her closet for monsters, and even then she needs her ball lamp next to her. Sadie is trying to put on a brave face, but her school friends aren’t really there for her. Meanwhile Will – a therapist, no less – completely refuses to talk about their mom at all.

When Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) shows up at Will’s home office one day, he brings more than his sadness with him. His children have been killed by a mysterious boogeyman, he says, but the police suspect Lester has murdered them himself. He’s frantic with grief and wants Will’s help to cope. Instead, the insidious monster that’s following him turns its attention to the Harper family and begins to wreak havoc…

Based on a short story by Stephen King and directed by Rob Savage, The Boogeyman builds suspense well. The family dynamics are convincingly drawn, and the just-out-of-sight boogeyman feels genuinely scary (as ever, he’s a little less frightening once made corporeal).

There are a few plot holes that let the film down overall. Lester’s widow, Rita (Marin Ireland), for example, seems to be surviving on candlelight and bullets. No one’s eaten in that kitchen for some time, that’s for sure, and why haven’t the neighbours reported all the gun shots? If the police think Lester’s a killer, why isn’t he in custody? And, if the monster can only get you in the dark, why does no one ever turn on a room’s main light?

All in all, this is a fun little film. It doesn’t bear much scrutiny, but it assuredly entertains.

3.5 stars

Susan Singfield

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

04/06/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

In 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse caught a lot of people napping. At that time, the Marvel Universe pretty much dominated the public movie-going imagination and here was something completely unexpected: Lord and Miller’s animated extravaganza – which had the temerity to take on the big guys. It was, quite literally, like nothing we’d seen before.

A lot has happened over the intervening years. Marvel are not quite the force they once were, with recent offerings (though still profitable) failing to reach the dizzy heights they’ve previously climbed to. And the weight of expectation for Across the Spider-Verse is palpable. Can this Sony Studios sequel really hope to put lightning into the bottle a second time?

Well, yes, as it turns out, it can. The credit sequence alone offers more imaginative filmmaking than we’re used to seeing in the average Marvel feature.

Sixteen months after the events of Into, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfield) is having a hard time getting on with her life on Earth-65. After accidentally killing Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), she’s understandably depressed – and she can’t help but miss her old pal Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), who is inconveniently stranded in a completely different dimension. On Earth 1610, he’s still negotiating everyday life with his cop father, Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry), and his nurse mother, Rio (Luna Lauren Vélez), whilst continuing his secret adventures as our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

But when Gwen is visited by another couple of Spider-People, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), they give her a handy bracelet that allows her to slip easily between dimensions. Time to give Miles a quick visit? Well, why not? Doing so couldn’t possible mess up the old twisty-turny-timey-wimey configurations… could it?

It would be pointless to try and convey more of the plot here because it’s complicated and mind-bending in the best possible sense. It’s to Lord and Miller’s credit (they wrote the script with Dave Callahan) that at no point do I feel bewildered by what’s happening onscreen. The true triumph, however, is the ever-changing beauty of the many different art techniques used to illustrate the story: from realist to impressionist; from pastel shades to psychedelia. Across the Spider-Verse is a mesmerising, eye-popping spectacle that feels like being plunged headlong into a fabulous maelstrom of sonic fury.

And it’s also more than that. The sprightly script keeps throwing snarky one-liners at me, the story counterpoints teenage angst with the minefield of parental responsibility and, with the arrival of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), I’m offered a super-villain like none I’ve ever seen before. Best of all, I’ve rarely seen a film that feels more inclusive than this – that gleefully throws in a pregnant, afro-wearing, motorbike-riding Spider-Woman, just because it can.

My only real criticism? In a film with a running time of two hours and twenty minutes, surely the story arc could have reached some kind of standalone conclusion? When the ‘To Be Continued’ message hits the screen, I let out an audible groan. I can only hope I won’t have to wait another five years for part three, because I’d be happy to sit down and watch it right now. But hey, if my one negative comment is that I am left wanting more, that’s a good thing, surely?

Miss this one and weep. And folks, I know I say this a lot but please, please don’t wait for streaming. If ever a film was designed to be seen on the biggest screen possible, this is the one.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

31/05/23

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

I was a big fan of Deborah Moggach’s books back in the 80s and 90s. You Must Be Sisters, in particular, made an indelible impression. Although I didn’t read These Foolish Things, when it hit the silver screen in 2011 as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I was primed to enjoy it – and I kind of did. Under John Madden’s direction and with a stellar cast, it struck me as a good-natured, feel-good slice of cinema.

It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that a successful, ‘uplifting’ film should be adapted into a touring play, so it’s no surprise to find TBEMH added to the roll call. This gentle comedy tells the tale of the widowed Mrs Kapoor (Rekha John-Cheryan) and her hapless son, Sonny (Nishad More), owners of the dilapidated titular hotel. His mother wants to sell the failing business, but Sonny has another idea. He’s been reading about the way old people are treated in the UK: abandoned by their families; ripped off by care homes. Why not repurpose their building as a residential hotel, where elderly white English people can see out their days?

Enter a rag-tag of pensioners: mousy Evelyn (Tessa Peake-Jones), recently widowed and terribly timid; smug married “been-there-done-that” know-it-alls Jean (Eileen Battye) and Douglas (Paul Nicholas); mysterious ex-broadcaster Dorothy (Paola Dionisotti); would-be comedian Norman (Graham Seed); sexy Madge (Belinda Lang), on the hunt for a fourth husband; and Muriel (Marlene Sidaway), ex-cleaner and current bigot. Of course, they’re all on journeys of self-discovery, and India provides the perfect exotic backdrop…

The jokes land well with tonight’s audience and there is much laughter in the auditorium but, in all honesty, it’s an uncomfortable watch. It’s 2023, and we’re all more aware than we were back in 2011. Now, the white saviour narrative feels dated and horribly self-aggrandising. I wince as Muriel points out the inequity of the caste system, thus enlightening Mrs Kapoor and convincing her to promote the ‘Untouchable’ sweeper (Anant Varman). I cringe as the old white women solve Sonny’s relationship problems by telling him to marry for love and reject the idea of an arranged marriage. I squirm as Evelyn educates the lively call-centre workers (Shila Iqbal and Kerena Jagpal), smashing their sales targets with a bit of good English common sense. There is the occasional attempt to temper this (“It was the young people’s idea”), etc., but – basically – it’s the Indians’ role to inspire the Brits by smiling through adversity, and it’s the Brits’ role to show the Indians how to get things done. Sigh.

I’ll file this one under ‘A’ for ‘Awkward’.

2.5 stars

Susan Singfield