MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Politically charged prizewinners
The gongs struck for film-makers tackling big issues at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, says RITA DI SANTO
Film first: Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
WITH a focus on poverty and social inequality, Bong Joon Ho’s darkly satirical thriller Parasite carried off the top Palme d’Or prize in Cannes.
It follows the daily battle of a poor family in Seoul today as they scurry around their squalid basement flat and try to earn money with humiliating jobs.
Their situation starts to improve when they begin working for a rich household but when another poor family appears on the scene, a ferocious war among the have-nots begins. Parasite was certainly the best film in competition, demonstrating that Joon Ho is a major talent.
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