Close-Up Culture

Independent journalism on the things we love

Awash in an Islington bout of Sea Fret

SEA Fret is a term used to describe a wet sea mist. It is also the title of a new play at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington, North London. It lives up to its name, enveloping the viewer for two hours as relationships twist and the tide turns. It is written by Tallulah…
All This Panic (Film Review)

ADOLESCENCE is tough. There is no rulebook to follow, no escape and no redo. Just panic. Panic over parties, relationships, drugs, grades, sexuality, parents and – of course – the daunting transition into adulthood. Documentary All This Panic richly explores this time in the lives of a group of teenage girls growing up in Brooklyn, New…
Portuguese poetry a la 606. Obrigado Mr Forcione & Ms Weis

FOR lovers of jazz – and for that matter live music – there is no more atmospheric London venue than the 606 Club. Situated in an unassuming road in swanky Chelsea, this intimate club has been providing a musical platform for more than 40 years. Long may it thrive. Live music seven nights a week …
Kristen Stewart: Back from the Twilight

I HAVE a dark confession to make. Although I proclaim to be a cinephile, I have never seen a movie from the immensely popular Twilight series. As a sports crazed teen I was never tempted to sink my teeth into the romance-driven vampire saga. Despite this, I was aware of the intense fervour that the…
Arrival (Film Review)

Arrival is now available on Blu Ray, DVD and Curzon Home Cinema From the moment the soul-piercingly brilliant sounds of Max Richter’s ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ play at the beginning of Arrival you know that this is no ordinary alien invasion film. Director Denis Villeneuve stunned and mesmerised audiences last year with an artful betrayal…
Beauty and the Beast (Film Review)

DISNEY’S stellar run continues with their finest live action remake to date. Emma Watson takes the lead role as Belle, a beautiful and dignified bookworm who finds herself branded ‘funny’ by the village locals. One day Belle’s father, Maurice (Kevin Kline), goes missing and the hunt to find him leads her to a mysterious and…
The Love Witch (Film Review)

ANNA Biller’s follow up to her debut feature Viva (2007) is a deeply artistic study of female psychology, shot in spellbinding 35mm. The film focuses on Elaine (Samantha Robinson), a devastatingly beautiful witch who enjoys making ‘love potions’. It starts with her driving to a small California town to start life afresh following the suspect…
Full Metal Jacket Q&A with Producer Jan Harlan

THIS month marks the 18th anniversary of the death of visionary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. To mark the occasion Picturehouse Central in London put on a screening of Kubrick’s Vietnam War movie Full Metal Jacket (1987). It also invited the film’s producer Jan Harlan for an audience Q&A. There is arguably no greater authority on all…
Personal Shopper Q&A with Director Olivier Assayas

‘THIS is a ghost story. It deals with the invisible.’ So says Olivier Assayas, director of Personal Shopper, a film which boldly confronts perceptions of the supernatural. Maureen Cartwright (Kristen Stewart) is a young American woman in Paris who makes a living selecting clothes for a rich celebrity. The work is thankless and unfulfilling but…
In Other Words – A Play About Dementia That Hits Hard (Theatre Review)

LIVING longer is all well and good but it sometimes comes at a shocking price. It is a point vividly made by the latest play to come out of The Hope Theatre in Islington, London which quite rightly badges itself as ‘the little theatre with big ideas’. And a big heart too. The play, In…