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Year: 2016

Review: The Hateful Eight

Written by Jack Lunn on . Posted in Film.

Confusingly billed as Tarantino’s eighth film (either Death Proof is being cast aside like a shameful love child or two lots of box office takings is not enough for the Kill Bills to be treated as separate entities), The Hateful Eight comes straight from the Tarantino textbook and takes him into new thrilling areas.

After avoiding the leaked script, initial pre-viewing fears of Django Unchained being ripped off quickly subsided as the only similarities lay in sharing a post-American Civil War setting—the plot is one based on lies and mistrust. We are introduced to the stoic and phenomenally named bounty hunter John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt Russell), who is transporting his captive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a crook worthy of a lucrative payout if she reaches Red Rock to be hung.

But obstacles arise along the way, including a potentially hostile bounty hunter played by Samuel L. Jackson and the alleged sheriff of Red Rock before they all reach the checkpoint and main location of Minnie’s Haberdashery. It is here where we meet the remaining characters accumulating to the titular eight who bear hate and it becomes clear that some are not who they seem.

An atmosphere of suspicion is rife throughout. How far can the word of any of these dastardly and abhorrent individuals be trusted? Appearances can most certainly be deceiving and The Hangman must decide who are the biggest threats towards him claiming his payment. The slow burning first half sees the tension escalate and even though, uncharacteristically, there are no grandiose action scenes, the intrigue of a typically excellent Tarantino script more than makes up for this. Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue is on it’s usual masterful level, with Jackson’s Major Warren producing some purely golden lines and proving why he continues working with the director after all these years.

Having said this, a real drawback of The Hateful Eight is in its failure to fully develop its characters. Some are great, but a good number of the characters are missing any attachment to them, making their fates rather meaningless. Michael Madsen’s Joe Gage, for example, was simply making up the numbers despite an having an interesting past alluded to.

Trimming the number of central characters could have solved this as Tarantino may be guilty of allowing himself to get carried away here. Alongside this, at 187 minutes the film could have done with a bit of trimming, especially in the first act, considering that it features only a handful of locations. Thankfully this was no critical problem due to the rare and re-energising inclusion of an interval, and ultimately, can anyone really complain with being given extra Tarantino-directed screentime?

Like with all of Tarantino’s back catalogue, there are standout performers in his latest effort, with Samuel L. Jackson being his volatile, bad-ass self, Jennifer Jason Leigh excellently portraying the hillbilly Domergue by adding comedic touches—but the film’s surprise element came in the form of Walton Goggins. Despite only really having had supporting television roles and even smaller big screen ones, his take on the the sheriff provides plenty of humour and one of the most ambiguous backstories.

Introduced as a zealot of the Confederate cause, wariness and caution are needed towards this odious character, but in spite of this he manages to radiate a certain charm reminiscent of a young and southern Jack Nicholson. Goggins’ strong performance could well make him Hollywood’s go-to redneck in the years to come.

Naturally, when watching a new film of Tarantino’s you immediately compare it to his classics, though when judging The Hateful Eight on its own merits it should go down as being an early contender to sit amongst the finest films that will be released this year—if that can be said in January. Yet, ordering it amongst favourite films the director has created is a challenge—it would have to be ranked in the mid to lower region. That can only be taken as a compliment for the man himself though rather than being an unfair criticism of what can not be denied of being an enjoyable film.

4/5

Record Reappraisal: David Bowie – Low

Written by Joe Connell on . Posted in Music.

On the morning of the 11th of January, 2016, we all awoke to the news that the last son of Mars and planet Earth’s greatest pop star had died. I lay in bed distraught, listening to what seemed like an endless playlist of Bowie’s songs, each one wildly different from the last. I felt that bittersweet love for music you get every time an artist dies and you grieve through their work, those purgative sessions that sadly appear more and more frequently in our lives these days.

When I’d recovered a bit of composure, I turned to the peak of his avant-garde powers. His finest hour. Low was going on in full.

As ‘Speed of Life’ tore into my speakers like it’s from another dimension, making outer-space fare seem friendly and welcoming by comparison, I got thinking. Amid all the inhuman innovation, influence and mystique, is Low in fact Bowie’s most confessional album? An album that does what Blood on the Tracks does, only with an opposing kind of synthetic maximalism?

By this point, the album explodes into an iconic, utterly inimitable pop song that truly imparts “the gift of sound and vision” on listeners. I could write infinitely on this song because it’s forever in flux, forever changing each time you listen to it, and it never fails to surprise you. The most Bowie of Bowie songs.

Immediately after, we get to the crux of the record’s profound sense of weakness. On ‘Always Crashing in the Same Car’, one of Low’s underrated diamonds, Bowie’s quiet and understated vocals are almost forcefully carried away by heavy synths and thundering drums. Why do we keep making the same mistakes? Why can we do nothing to stop it?

A similar choked up confession echoes in the wordless harmonica howls of ‘A New Career In A New Town’, after the anachronistic clash of worlds on ‘Be My Wife’.  Though the frail human voices slowly drain away from the record, the humanity does not. The impressionistic, introspective and experimental pieces that figure on side two feel like the most cathartic thing he’s ever done. I’m getting choked up myself. Has this album always sounded so sincere?

We know that Bowie managed to produce this album escaping from the cocaine psychosis that led to vocal admiration of Adolf Hitler and support for British Fascism. Whilst that period epitomised the darkest of Bowie’s attempts to escape his humanity, the beginning of the Berlin trilogy portrays its finest hour.

Even with all the theatre—the performative death of the Thin White Duke, Visconti and Eno’s chasms of ambient production, the ultramodern sonic landscapes—it is David Jones who speaks to us.  Low is an album that paradoxically reveals the most of an artist when he is at his most oblique. It tells us that weakness and strength are not opposites: True strength can only ever come from weakness. The liminal space of Berlin in the 1970s sets the stage for recovery—a beautiful reaffirmation of Bowie’s mantra of a forever changing identity, and therefore his best album. Rest in peace.

Junior doctors strike for first time in 40 years

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

Up to 38,000 junior doctors have gone on strike today, joining picket lines outside hospitals up and down the country in protest of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s proposals to change their contracts.

Thousands of routine procedures were cancelled but emergency care was still available today, as junior doctors—that is, those at a level up to but not including consultant—walked out.

The landmark industrial action was called after 98 per cent of the 38,000 junior doctors who are members of the British Medical Association voted in favour of strikes in response to proposed restrictions to the working hours in which junior doctors are paid for overtime.

Outside UK hospitals junior doctors, medical students, other medical professionals and members of the public showing solidarity gathered and protested.

NHS England reported that 10,000 of a possible 26,000 who were scheduled to work turned up today did, totalling 38 per cent, though this included the emergency staff who were planning on working today as it was.

The Manchester Royal Infirmary saw a gathering of around 40 to 50 demonstrators. As well as medics out to protest, students from the Save Our NHS campaign, Manchester Labour Students, and Black Flag Manchester were present.

Passing drivers also showed their loud support, with many honking horns and waving out of their car windows as they drove past the picket line.

Rupa, a junior ophthalmologist, was out on the picket line today. She said, “I’m striking today because I have solidarity with all of the doctors, and we’re concerned about the future of the NHS.

“The contract proposals that are being imposed upon us we’re worried about because it’s based on fallible data which we don’t trust. We’re concerned about the safety of patients and of the future of the NHS, and we hope that more people support us.

“The hospitals and the junior doctors have all put plans in place to ensure that the emergency services continue, and also the consultants are in full support of us and our strike today, and they will also be helping out. There is a continuation of all services and patients should still come into hospital if they need to.”

Junior doctors will strike again, for 48 hours, on the 26th of January and again on the 10th of February, when medics—this time including emergency staff—will walk out between 8am and 5pm.

Student nurses and midwives march against bursary changes

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

Student nurses & midwives have marched in London, Manchester and Newcastle in protest of proposals to replace NHS bursaries with loans.

On Saturday crowds of NHS staff, angered at plans revealed in the Chancellor’s November Spending Review to replace current bursaries with a repayable loan, gathered at Grey’s Monument in Newcastle, Market Street in Manchester, and St. Thomas’s Hospital London to march in protest.

In London, the demonstrators marched to Downing Street where a rally was held, with speakers including Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing Janet Davies, who said: “Student nurses and midwives are the profession’s future, and their voices and concerns must and should be listened to.

“Over our 100-year history, the RCN has a long track record in the education of nurses and the government should listen to our knowledge and expertise as it consults on these ill thought out plans.”

In Manchester, protestors marched to Piccadilly Gardens and met with a group of junior doctors who had set up a “Meet The Doctors” event to try and raise awareness and understanding of their cause before they walk out on Tuesday.

According to the “Meet the Nurses & Doctors” Facebook page, the session was a chance for passers-by to  “Ask nurses why bursaries are so important; Ask doctors why the strikes are going ahead; Show support; [and] Share their ideas on how we can all save our NHS.”

Junior doctors will strike tomorrow after 98 per cent of the 45,000 balloted voted for industrial action. The walkout will last 24 hours and will be followed by a 48-hour strike on the 26th of January, and a nine-hour walkout on the 10th of February—during which all healthcare professionals including emergency will leave.

This comes in protest of contract changes which would increase the amount of time doctors must work without receiving overtime pay, leading to an overall cut in pay.

Manchester healthcare professionals will be at the picket line at the Manchester Royal Infirmary from 8am until midday.

To hunt or not to hunt? That is the question. But for who?

Written by Colm Lock on . Posted in Opinion.

The countryside of the British Isles is a collection of landscapes I would consider to be some of the most beautiful and awe inspiring in the world. From the Scottish Highlands to the beaches of the Solent, which I call home. They are all places of outstanding natural beauty that are not only home to immensities of wildlife but also to the Great British people. It is these people who have, for so long, been left out of the decisions that affect them and their particular and sometimes peculiar ways of living.

The culmination of this legislative exile was the Hunting Act of 2004. Ignoring centuries of tradition and practice within the countryside it was dictated to us by a government whose members came almost exclusively from metropolitan areas. They have little to no knowledge of what country life entails. If you are from a large town or city, you simply don’t understand.

I only bring up the subject—for which the debate has been put to bed these past 11 years—because of the current governments wish to see the repeal of the 2004 act and once again allow the hunting of animals with dogs.

Now, to those of you raised in the sheltered bubbles of urban life, the thought of this sort of practice may well make you feel repulsed. You will scream and shout about its “barbarity” and how it has no place in our society. Well I say to you, if you do not live in the countryside, why is it your place to decide? For years, legal drag hunting and to a lesser extent shooting has been plagued by the militant wing of a vegan cohort who would seek to usurp our long established customs and dictate to us their ideals. The threat of repeal has re-awakened a force that has been the bane of country sportsmen everywhere.

I speak of course of the hunt saboteurs or “antis” as they are known. These are people, not of the countryside, who have for decades disrupted our legal practices with total barbarity and ignorance, while at the same time continuing to believe the hunters are the savages when it is in fact the opposite.

They have beaten huntsmen with iron bars, kicked female hunters to the ground, defaced war memorials, maimed and killed dogs and caused the deaths of many horses. I remember hearing of how one group placed piano wire along an opening of a hedge they knew the hunt would pass through, resulting in the gruesome injury of the horses and likely their death.

I am sure that you are wondering where the proof of these acts is. Well, the most recent example would be that of a female hunt saboteur who has just been convicted on three charges of assault. One on a hunt supporter as young as 15. She was also a teacher and a special needs coordinator. You can’t help but question the dubious morality of these scoundrels.

Many in the anti camp and in the cities also fail to realise the pest control element involved. Foxes, while they might be cute and make a lovely background for a Christmas card, are vermin. I have lost many chickens to the beasts. Also, considering his extended absence, I fear I may also have lost my pet pigeon Oscar to them as well. Therefore in the countryside, with its limitless fox hiding places, the only way to catch such creatures is to use dogs to flush out, and if necessary, kill the fox. It would be a fruitless endeavour to try any other technique. If anyone can think up one, please contact me to let me know.

Of course, this is not the only country pursuit that comes under fire from the dread-locked metropolitan sort. Shooting of game birds also really grinds their gears. The shooting of grouse, partridge, pheasant, pigeon and so on, is still a perfectly legal practice across all of the UK. Most birds are reared for the purpose of being shot and will be released onto estates a couple months before their respective seasons begin. When it does, it is fair to say that they will have a better chance at survival than any industrially reared chicken and if they do snuff it, they will have had a much better life as well. There are such a multitude of game, that if the practice of shooting was to be abandoned, a massive cull would need to happen before hand.

Then there is the practice of culling deer in the New Forest that may also be detested by the urbanites upon first glance. But, you must think about the big picture. Deer breed like rabbits and so the population must be kept on top of because, should they be allowed to continue unchecked, they would destroy the forest I love. Deer enjoy rubbing their antlers against trees, removing the bark and killing said trees. If they were allowed to breed as they pleased, the New Forest would—I doubt—be worthy of the name for much longer. You have a choice, a whole forest or a couple thousand deer.

So, what have we learned today? Well, I would hope that after reading this article, you all feel a bit more enlightened about matters concerning our rural communities. I hope also that you will now not subscribe to the knee jerk reaction of disgust when someone mentions hunting. If you are from the countryside and wish to object then go right ahead. But, if you are from the suburbs of Birmingham or the boroughs of London, kindly sod off. The argument does not concern you.

I will however leave you with this thought. It was the work of meddling animal rights activists who brought about the apocalypse in “28 Days Later”. Do you want to be complicit in the downfall of humanity? I didn’t think so.

The New Year’s realistic resolutions

Written by Sophie Soar on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

The turkey was stuffed and the wine was drunk, the mince pies were filled and the pudding was lit. Nobody cares about just one more chocolate, or the turkey sandwiches, curries, and pies to finish the last morsel, mouthful and crumb…

The end of the festivities is a saddening time as we say goodbye to our relatives and holiday leave, to rediscover life responsibilities and the long lost sports bra at the back of the cupboard. The new tidings bring New Year’s Resolutions with the motivational jogging pants to facilitate such challenges.

However, at The Mancunion, we foresee all realistic outcomes. So for the resolutions that last (the compulsory minimum of) five days, we recommend some multi-purpose sportswear that can integrate further into your daily wardrobe aside from the sporadic jog around the park.

The ever-increasing range of sportswear is so loved when half price in the January sales to coincide with the end of January exams. To celebrate appropriately, look no further than Nike’s fluorescent sports bras or Fabletics’ Tribal Knot Bra for the ideal clubbing undergarments.

For those smarter occasions, complement your formal attire with Missguided’s rose bodysuit, or simply treat yourself to their Active Printed teal runner shorts to wear whilst recharging energy levels on the sofa with a much needed cuppa.

In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, “shopping is my cardio.” So if the dumbbells and weights, cross trainers, or rowing machines fail to enthuse you, shut down your Internet and return to shopping the old fashioned way.

Spectre & Speculation: Where will Radiohead go next?

Written by Jay Plent on . Posted in Music.

With the Christmas release of their rejected Bond theme ‘Spectre’, now seems as good a time as any to speculate on what Radiohead’s eagerly awaited follow-up to 2011’s The King Of Limbs will sound like. 

Radiohead are famed for taking daring and inventive sidesteps in their music, so naturally, when a band as diversified in their interests re-assembles after a nearly 5 year hiatus, there’s bound to be some shake-up. 

The possibilities following TKOL—a short, down-tempo affair scattered with electronic stutterings—seem endless. So where will Radiohead go next? What fresh musical indulgence will they deliver us?

This is my speculation; Radiohead are unlikely to continue with the folk-electronic feel of TKOL, primarily because Thom Yorke has been pursuing that with Atoms For Peace and his recent Bit-torrent release Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, and frankly doing so with far more finesse than on TKOL. There’s little chance of them returning to any OK Computer-era guitar rock (although it’s rumoured they’re re-working an old song called ‘Lift’ from that period), as the band have moved beyond such trivial attachments, and Thom Yorke is on record as saying that he hates rock music.

An untrained eye would suggest, then, that we’ve been given little clue as to where the next album will take Radiohead; not so.

Jonny Greenwood has been spending a significant amount of time with The London Contemporary Orchestra, and composing for films such as Inherent Vice. The conceptual pieces he has been creating for these projects could influence the next Radiohead album, especially given that the band recently shared images of them in the studio with a full orchestra.

Though the band’s use of orchestral instruments is not new, we should return, not just to ‘Spectre’, but also to their second most recent song ‘The Daily Mail’. Both of these tracks, unlike TKOL, feature a far more organic collection of instruments, prominent piano, horns and strings. They sound brooding, dramatic and natural, almost filmic.

As mentioned, this is pure speculation, but I believe the band are going to go in the direction of their most recent releases: A more gentle and growth-driven sound rooted in classical instruments, but given a contemporary twist. As a band with such expertise at crafting the most heartbreaking of music, it would be a natural fit to their talents. It’s also a style the band could sit in perfectly, given that they are aging (though gracefully, I should add). This isn’t to say that the band will totally abandon sampling and electronic elements, that’d be a tragedy, but I suspect they’ll be more in the foreground than centre stage.

Of course, this is merely conjecture. Only time will tell whether Radiohead follow through with another gorgeously rich album, or whether, in his spare time, Thom Yorke has got really into acid house…

Review: Animal Farm

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Theatre.

On Wednesday night, having ventured far beyond the all-too-familiar Fallowfield/Oxford Road corridor, I journeyed home with three peculiarly similar thoughts on my mind. As I considered how I could sum up the show I had seen at Ziferblat Café, I couldn’t stop thinking that:

a) I am a film student who has never seen The Godfather (1972);
b) I am a drama student who has never seen The Tempest;
c) I am an English student who has never read Animal Farm.

Suffice to say, having been thoroughly entertained by the Drama Society’s latest ‘Autumn Showcase’, I feel a telling urge to change the final of those three facts.

For that was what the stage version of Animal Farm seemed to do, it tantalised its audience with an enthralling and (especially, given recent political manoeuvres in our country’s foreign policy) highly appropriate story. Director Monique Touko opted to stage George Orwell’s familiar allegorical tale, where horn and hoof become hammer and sickle, in accordance with Nelson Bond’s 1961 adaptation. A story of revolution against the tyrannous humans leading to the birth and eventual decay of ‘Animalism’, the script certainly felt like a challenge, yet one that was wholeheartedly pulled off.

Touko and producer Lily Ashton deserve extensive praise for putting on this particularly chilling play with a palpable degree of restraint. It felt as though the script could have fallen into hyperbole quite easily, yet it was testament to the strength of their production that it in no way did. In what felt like an adherence to the theatrical mantra of ‘less is more’, the set was bare, the performances were understated, the lighting and sound were quietly sinister and the audience was on edge throughout. This was crucial in solidifying the plot’s dark and otherworldly feel, which might have been lost with too heavy-handed an approach.

When animalised communist workers talk about how old they are at age eleven, when they react with shock to others putting on clothes, when they describe the tyranny of humans who sleep in beds, the reaction could be comical. Yet the eerie atmosphere of the production, and indeed the entire studio space in which it was staged, ensured that the strength of Orwell’s original text was carried.

Despite this, I felt that in some ways the play itself wasn’t fully trusted. The decision to set the action amidst the 1984 – 85 miners’ strike, with references to contemporary politicians and slogans at the beginning and end of the show, for me, didn’t work. I felt that the allegory clouded the issues being discussed and, with some of the cast, the accents that were adopted got in the way of very strong performances. Touko and her production team clearly felt the need to highlight the relevance of the narrative, yet I felt as though the play would have succeeded in doing this based on its own merit. Nevertheless, with standout performances from the entire cast (to such a degree that I cannot specify anyone for individual praise) this was a strong and very enjoyable play. What more could I have expected from the same team behind A Number, which took place around the same time last year?

Review: Inkheart

Written by Hannah Foy on . Posted in Theatre.

HOME presents its first Christmas production with the opening of Inkheart. The production is a transformation of Cornelia Funke’s novel. Family friendly, full of humour and all the imagination of a child, this is a show to catch this festive season as an alternative to the pantomime.

The tale follows Meggie and her father Mo as the ink of the words of the books they’ve loved and looked after appear to have bled into the real world. Capricorn, known as the ‘baddest of bad guys’ is on the hunt for every remaining copy of Inkheart to ensure that he does not have to return to his world. Yet, there’s a further twist, as Meggie’s mother appears to have been transported and trapped inside Inheart’s book world. With a range of characters stuck in a world that they don’t belong in, it’s only Mo—the famous ‘Silvertongue’—who can attempt to put the world back in order. Following Mo, Meggie and her Aunt Elinor jump from England, to France and then Italy. The three embark on their mission to save Inkheart, and beat the bad guys.

It’s clearly a child-directed performance, but I did enjoy being taken back to my world of imagination of bad versus good and a quest of a story. The tale was cleverly self aware, with intertextuality twisted through the story’s narrative and re-emerging onto stage. The school group at the front of the theatre greatly enjoyed the interaction of the cast as they helped direct them to Capricorn. Mo himself appeared on my row in search of Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart, bringing the stage closer to the audience and carrying us into the story.

The stage transformed fittingly to each new narrative of the performance; a tremendous pile of books one moment, to a beach the next, before hiding Capricorn’s evil liar beneath it. Katherine Carlton, who played Meggie, was passionate, determined and brilliant in her portrayal, holding the stage and delivering the tale. The cast were eager, believable and amusing, capturing many laughs from the audience while portraying a range of traits, lives and passions.

Album: David Bowie – Blackstar

Written by Jacob Bernard-Banton on . Posted in Music.

8/10

There’s a reason why David Bowie failed to appear on Five Years, the 2013 BBC documentary chronicling his remarkable career. The 69-year-old is, as the NME recently claimed, “positively allergic to the idea of heritage rock.” He simply isn’t a man to look back down memory lane. Well, sort of. His 2013 album The Next Day was touted as a comeback, boasting cover art inspired by the famous sleeve for 1977’s Heroes with a white square obscuring Bowie’s visage.

Another sly reference to his past pops up on his newest album Blackstar, his twenty-fifth record. ‘Girl Loves Me’ features lyrics clotted with Polari gay slang and the Nadsat parlance of the droogs of Anthony Burgess’ dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange, forever a preoccupation of Bowie’s; it seemingly recycles the cut-up lyric technique he used for much of his mid-70s material.

But, by and large, that’s Blackstar’s only neat reference to the past. The rest of the album is a stunning, serpentine lunge towards the future. Sombre saxophone wheezes and wafts around the spellbinding title track, Bowie’s quivering, vulnerable vocals delivering a bleak doomsday portent: “On the day of execution, only women kneel and smile.”

The narcotic shifts in mood and texture within the song perfectly reflect Blackstar’s superbly ambiguous nature. Observant Bowie fans might detect some traces of the wired mania of 1976’s Station to Station in the sudden attack of guitar and shrieking electronics on ‘Lazarus’, albeit slowed down to a crawl as warm purling keys and mellow sax come in like a quiet breeze. But still it sounds like nothing else, a tune you want to totally immerse yourself in. Bowie’s tremulous vocals commanding a beguiling storm of hushed jazz-rock. It’s all so beautifully somnolent, you barely notice Bowie’s striking lyrics: “I was living like a king, then I used up all my money,” he sighs, “I was looking for your ass.”

At its most thrilling, Blackstar confirms that Bowie is the master of reinvention, even when it concerns the task of reinventing his own songs—the spectacular re-recorded versions of 2014’s ‘‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore’ and ‘Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)’.