Close-Up Culture

Independent journalism on the things we love

Death is the Bond – The Death of Louis XIV and A Man Called Ove

The Death of Louis XIV – DEATH is the theme that bonds films The Death of Louis XIV and A Man Called Ove. Both are worth watching although their approaches to the issue of death are diametrically opposed. The Death of Louis XIV lives up to its title as it tracks the last days of…
Land of Mine – Outshines Dunkirk in Matters of War

Dunkirk – 3/5 – ALTHOUGH Dunkirk is winning all the summer cinematic plaudits, Land of Mine is more than its equal. Both films have the Second World War as their theme. But while Dunkirk looks at an event that is a key part of British war time history – the evacuation of troops from the…
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill – Staggeringly Wonderful (Theatre Review)

THERE can be few more commanding and dynamic performances in the West End than that currently being delivered by Audra McDonald. From the moment she weaves (staggers) on to the stage at Wyndham’s Theatre, she captivates and enthrals the audience as Eleanora Fagan, better known as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar &…
Risk Producer Brenda Coughlin talks Assange, Censorship and Criticism

WE live in tense, volatile times. Trump, Brexit, Venezuela, artificial intelligence, North Korea, internet privacy, ISIS. Need I say more? For many of us, the cinema can provide a space to escape to, at least momentarily. Currently, the riotous fun of Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver gives us this (go and watch it, please). Conversely, cinema can…
Glorious Gloria – A Killer of a Play (Theatre Review)

GLORIA. Glorious Gloria. There is no other way to describe this marvellous play from the hugely talented Branden Jacob-Jenkins that is showcasing at the Hampstead Theatre in North London. It runs until July 29. I urge you to go and see it. You will not be disappointed. Jacob-Jenkins is in a rich vein of London…
Sibling Rivalry as the Aussie Bacon Sizzles – Food (Theatre Review)

FOOD is one of two appetising plays currently playing at the ambitious Finborough Theatre in London’s Chelsea (the other is Mr Gillie). As its title implies, the backdrop to the play is food, (not quite) glorious food – cooked in a takeaway situated along an Australian highway, beside a river and north of a big…
‘ALL OUR CHILDREN’ – CHILDREN. OUR WONDERFUL CHILDREN (THEATRE REVIEW)

THE TERRIBLE CRIMES committed against the Jews by the Nazis are well documented – and rightly so. Extermination camps such as Auschwitz still stand testimony to the wickedness that mankind can bestow upon mankind. But what is less known is that between 1939 and 1941 some 100,000 people – primarily children – were exterminated by…
RIOTOUS FARCE AT THE ORANGE TREE (THEATRE REVIEW)

GREAT plays stand the test of time, even if they need an occasional lick of paint to freshen them up. Such is the case with Le Jeu De L’Amour Et Du Hassard, a play written by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux and first performed in 1730. Marivaux, a Frenchman from good Parisian stock, was…
FAMILY RUPTURE IN A HEALING BELFAST (THEATRE REVIEW)

NORTHERN Ireland is the backdrop to Everything Between Us, the award winning play by David Ireland that is now getting an airing at the Finborough Theatre in London’s Chelsea. Predictably, its theme is the troubles – and the painful journey to a near state of political and religious reconciliation (although more recent events suggest otherwise).…
Late Company – The Destructive After Shocks of School Bullying (Theatre Review)

SCHOOL bullying is a sad fact of life. Most of us experience it at some stage in our youth, even if only on a minor scale, and then move on none the worse for it. A minority are scarred by it, occasionally resulting in tragic outcomes. Such is the backdrop to Late Company, the latest…