To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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Hot mess
MARIA DUARTE endures three hours of overblown Hollywood narcissism and, strangely, recommends it
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
Babylon (18)
Directed by Damien Chazelle
LIVING UP to its name, Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle’s Babylon is an epic depiction of the debauchery, greed and narcissism of Hollywood in the 1920s.
Chazelle explores the dark underbelly of Tinseltown in an ambitious extravaganza that, with a running time of more than three hours, is an assault on the senses, bursting onto the big screen like an unstoppable juggernaut. You can neither catch your breath nor take everything in as Chazelle throws everything into the mix including an elephant, a chicken and a snake.
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