Reviews of A New Kind Of Wilderness, The Marching Band, Good One and Magic Farm by MARIA DUARTE, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA
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Bitter truth sweetened by light-hearted humour
MARIA DUARTE is uplifted by a comedy that tackles racism head on
SCOTT ALSWORTH foresees the coming of the smaller, leaner, and class conscious indie studio, with art as its guiding star
MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
Blinded by the Light (12A)
Directed by Gurinder Chadha
SET in Margaret Thatcher’s austere Britain, against the rise of racism and the National Front, a Pakistani teenage boy’s life is transformed by his discovery of Bruce Springsteen’s music in this fun and uplifting comedy drama.
The film, directed and co-written by Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), is inspired by the memoir of journalist Sarfraz Mansoor and the words and music of the Boss which speak directly to 16-year-old Javed (Viveik Kalra) in 1987 Luton as he battles to find his own voice.
A political animal, he writes poems and songs in protest about Thatcher and Reaganomics for his best friend and aspiring singer Matt (Dean-Charles Chapman, a Jamie Cullum lookalike) but his dream is to leave his home and become a writer.
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