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Month: April 2019

Photo: theglobalpanorama @Flickr

Review: Love, Death & Robots

Written by williamrobinson on . Posted in Film.

Netflix’s aptly named Love, Death & Robots is the latest take on the growingly popular anthology-style of television. Made up of 18 “shorts” — creator David Fincher prefers this term to “episodes” — this series manages to accomplish succinct yet gratifying storytelling across a range of genres and animation styles. From gladiatorial monster fights to sentient yoghurt overlords, the scope of this show is enough to entice any Netflix-viewer seeking something fresh.

Despite quick pacing and relatively simple plots, each short is unique in the story it creates, with seamless world-building — which is no easy feat for episodes rich in science fiction — and, for the most part, presenting characters in which the viewer becomes invested in. It’s a triumph that the show can simultaneously create a world while introducing and propelling characters through stories that are surprisingly gripping — I personally found myself heavily invested in the farmers’ struggle against the alien pests in episode 4, SUITS.

The uniqueness of the shorts is undoubtedly founded in the aforementioned plethora of animation styles which seem to accompany their specific corresponding short’s tone. The shorts of bleaker nature are animated with photo-realism (the precision of which is reason enough to click away from this review and head over to Netflix this instant) while the more wacky and comical ones are equally light-hearted in their animation — cartoon-y and colourful. To top it all off, since the style is (almost) never the same twice in a row, the show maintains a newness that is carried throughout.

Netflix veterans or, at least, those who have been on the platform for the last couple of years, might find Love, Death & Robots to be rather thoughtless compared to one of the current jewels of Netflix, Black Mirror. It certainly does not include some of the rich and thought-provoking social commentary offered by Charlie Brooker’s anthology series, and the various twists littered irregularly throughout its 18 shorts are less impactful due to being confined, unlike in Black Mirror, to short and basic stories. However, it would be unfair to judge these two shows too strictly by comparison, and viewers must go into Love, Death & Robots less tense than they would a Black Mirror episode; enjoy the dazzling visuals and the variety of stories, and don’t expect much more than that. It is, ultimately, an easy watch, something equally as binge-worthy as it is a show one can leave for a while and pick up at their leisure.

Overall, I had a lot of fun watching Love, Death & Robots. When the comedy landed, it was refreshing, and, as I’ve stressed, the visuals were fantastic throughout. This is definitely worth a watch, even if you don’t love every short. Think of it as a fun experiment, a 10 minute break from studying — nothing that requires attention or thought, just a brain and a Netflix account.

 

3.5/5.

Photo: Indy Burgess

Review: Lotus Vegetarian Chinese

Written by indyburgess on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Lotus, in Withington, is an entirely vegetarian Chinese restaurant and takeaway. It boasts a large menu of tofu, vegetable, and fake meat dishes. Even including a vegetarian eel main (though we’re unsure whether anyone has actually ever ordered it). Becca is a meat-eater and Indy has been vegetarian since last Easter, so we came to the food with two different perspectives.

On a price point, Lotus is on the higher end of a student budget; most mains are around £10, and starters about £5. We shared ‘duck pancakes’, two mains, and a rice for £31.50. They did give us free prawn crackers though, which is always a bonus. Takeaway is also 10% off – worth bearing in mind for a cosy Friday night in.

We’d booked our table for 7pm on a Friday, but were starving by 6. We rocked up at 6.20pm, and they were more than happy to seat us straight away. It was empty when we arrived, but the restaurant quickly filled up and was full when we left at 7.30pm. It’s definitely worth booking on a Friday night. They don’t serve alcohol, but the restaurant is BYOB with a corkage fee of £3 for a bottle of wine and £1 for beer. Not bad.

We started the meal with ‘duck’ pancakes – a classic.

Indy: They tasted pretty much exactly as I remember actual hoisin duck pancakes tasting — soft in the middle and crispy on the outside. The ‘meat’ blended well with the rich hoisin sauce and crunchy cucumber sticks.

Becca: From a meat-eater’s perspective, I’ve found that Quorn substitutes often have quite a solid texture. This reminds me I’m eating a meat alternative more than this duck did. But I did find that in the pancake the duck tasted really good and was really crispy on the outside like the original.

Overall: When mixed together and eaten as a roll, all of the ingredients work for a sweet, crunchy, chewy result. Also, good to bear in mind that the duck costs £10 even if you’re a party of up to 4 people. So you can save money by splitting it between a bigger party.

The mains arrived almost immediately after the starters were cleared away. The service was very prompt, and the waiters were very attentive.

Indy: They’d misheard my order of salt and pepper chicken as sweet and sour, but apologised for the mistake and happily replaced the dish quickly and politely. When I saw the salt and pepper chicken, I baulked slightly as there was no sauce with the dish. It didn’t say whether there was or not on the menu, so it’s worth asking if it’s a game-changer for you!

The ‘chicken’ was very realistic. It came fried in a crunchy batter and dusted in a tasty seasoning. Without sauce it was dry, but luckily Becca let me steal some of her ‘beef’ sauce. I wouldn’t get it again, just because I’m a sauce person, but would recommend the flavour and texture. Becca thought that the salt and pepper chicken had a much better and more realistic texture than the beef.

Becca: I ordered the Szechuan chilli beef, which had a perfect batter on the outside like the real beef version. I found that the texture inside was quite soft but with the sauce and rice it had a nice flavour and feel overall. Indy found that it filled a comfort food sort of hole — and as she couldn’t really remember what the real-meat version tasted like, thought it was a very good replica of actual Szechuan beef. Admittedly, it was mostly batter, but we’re not complaining!

Service was super speedy, bordering on over-keen to clear our plates, but with accommodating and approachable staff. The meal was slightly expensive for a student meal out, but portion sizes were generous and prawn crackers were on the house. The vegetarian thought the meat was realistic, and the flavours and textures worked well together. The meat-eater found the meat somewhat less convincing, but it was still delicious and is an easy way to reduce meat intake.

(Lotus is cash only; there’s a cash machine in a nearby Sainsburys if you forget to prep in advance).

7/10

Photo: JordanStimpson @ Pixabay

Review: ‘Late in The Day’ by Tessa Hadley

Written by Sade Omeje on . Posted in Books.

In her subtle, intimate explorations of people and their relationships with others, Tessa Hadley has become known as one of the best British novelists working today. She is known for capturing the tender emotions behind our actions — or inactions — within our relationships to those closest to us. Her latest novel, Late In The Day, was recently published on Valentine’s day.

The novel explores the lives of the four main characters, Christine, Alex, Lydia, and Zachary and how their lives turn tumultuous after Zachary’s premature and accidental death. Hadley explores the tremendous loyalties we attach to friendships that have lasted decades; she shows the cogs that work in the framework of married life and the way that grief alters everything.

As in some of her previous novels, a contrast of age with youth is continuous in the narrative, with a sequence of vignettes that linger momentarily on both the younger and older characters, as well as the past and present of the main four.

“Children threaded tactfully through the adults’ solemnity; patches of sunshine bloomed and withdrew on the floor tiles like tentative reassurances.” The language is poetic and beautifully crafted, with moments like these conveying the way children are all things innocent and joyous in the world only to, unsurprisingly, end up similar to their parents, with their children threading through their solemnity in the future.

When Alex tells Grace, the daughter of Lydia and Zachary, about the loss of his own father; “she could hardly make any connection between what was happening to her, tearing up her life, and his old story worn smooth in history.” It is the measured intimacy of Hadley’s language that allows her to capture in so few words, the whirring emotions that stir beyond the surface.

Alex is the husband of the somewhat successful artist Christine; he is characteristically small and brooding, seeming to grow smaller and more restless with age. The loss of his father, smoothed into the groove of history does not capture the immediate, raw and unhinged sense of grief currently plaguing Grace. It is this common interaction between the people we love, of reassuring those experiencing grief or loss only to fall short of that person making the comforting connection we intended, that demonstrates the poetic subtlety of Hadley’s work. It is the type of language that swallows you whole, that carries you off to places.

Late In The Day looks at who we are when we grieve, who we could have been if things had worked out differently. Hadley explores the desires that rattle in the cages of our own making. Zachary’s death comes as a shock, the event that “undid them all.” As the most charismatic, self-assured individual of the four, his lightness often kept the group in good spirits, pulling them back from conversations of despair, bitterness or stoked tension.

The characters are presented as self-absorbed and indulgent in their own battles. Though aren’t we all? I felt no sense of warmth for any particular character in the novel and at times I wondered whether they lacked a sense of authenticity, seeming pretentious or indulgent in their own thoughts and feelings without much baring for the consequences. There is a stoic sense of passivity which seems to affect their lives in the wake of adultery, a theme as strong in the novel as marriage and death.

Yet I was taken by the reality that Hadley depicts. We are not all the time authentic beings ourselves, at times we are self-indulgent in our own troubles and in the face of adversity and grief, despite our beliefs otherwise, we may be passive and unresisting to the unforeseen circumstances thrown our way. With the loss of Zachary and the loss of her friendship with Alex and Lydia, Christine is left to piece her life back together, which she does so through her art. “Now at least she had made the first mark, she had begun something.”

Photo: @zhangcc_photography

Review: Seussical the Musical

Written by ellamarsden1 on . Posted in Theatre.

A fantastical feast for the senses, Seussical transported us from the Jungle of Nool, to the tiny planet of Who on a journey of raucous laughter and magical musical numbers. It is by no means a small feat to undertake the creatively complex task of capturing the ever-enthralling world of Dr Seuss and his wondrous stories. However, this slick and energetic performance of Seussical the Musical did so nimbly and with undeniable vivacity and tenderness.

The Cat in the Hat (Hugh Summers) narrates the story of Horton the elephant (Roman Armstrong) who hears the Who people calling for help on a small speck of dust and embarks on a mission to rescue them, despite being mercilessly mocked by the rest of the animals. The only people who believe in him are Gertrude McFuzz (Ellie Klouda) his admiring neighbour and the self-interested Mayzie LaBird (Hebe Church).

Meanwhile, the son of the mayor of Whoville, Jojo (Ottilie Nye), is in trouble at school for his “Thinks” and is chastised by his parents and sent to bed, which does not stop his imagination running wild. Seussical is a light-hearted yet meaningful tale illustrating the power of imagination and the importance of friendship and kindness. After all: “a person is a person, no matter how small.”

Photo: Zhang CC Photography
Photo: @zhangcc_photography

Balancing the humorous and whimsical characters and stories with the tear-jerking moments and moral lessons was a great success within this production. I somehow found myself welling up as the play ended with Horton pulling out a baby elephant with bird wings from Mayzie’s egg. The physically impossible and totally ridiculous was injected with warmth and emotion thanks to the commitment and aptitude of the entire cast.

The ensemble was incessantly energetic and never faltered to utter a line or make a move. Every number was polished to perfection and I particularly enjoyed the lively and efficient choreography (Georgina Rosser).

Nye’s performance as the mischievous and adventurous Jojo was nothing short of fantastic, as she captured the free and unlimited nature of the imagination of a child with a simultaneous show of maturity and youth. Armstrong gave a fantastic performance as the endearing, kind and slightly naïve Horton. It was impossible not to root for Horton on his quest to save the Whos, whilst Hugh Summers’ Cat in the Hat sneaked in and out of the action to excellent comic effect. Jordan Jones as the Sour Kangaroo had the audience in stitches and in awe of his powerful vocals.

Photo: @Zhang CC Photography
The cast of Seussical the Musical Photo: @zhangcc_photography

The creative team of co-directors Freya Parry and Nick Bond, with co-musical directors Parry and Dexter Drown truly outdid themselves. This was shown in the playful use of set: props were incorporated smoothly and effectively within the choreography (Rosser) to give the impression of the wondrous goings on of the play.

Seuss’ worlds of primary colours burst through in this larger than life production of Seussical. All of the cast had an abundance of energy and humour without losing the sentimental value of the catchy musical numbers. If you had the pleasure of seeing this show, think to yourself “How Lucky You Are”.

Photo: Ethan Davies @ The Mancunion

Anti-climate protest graffiti quashed by Uni

Written by Ethan Davies on . Posted in News.

Student activists have seen their anti-climate change graffiti washed away merely hours after it was put down.

People and Planet used chalk to cover the Oxford Road pavement with messages urging the University of Manchester to divest from fossil fuels, claiming the institution has £10 million in companies that produce such resources.

The graffiti, which People and Planet say is for ‘Fossil Fools Day’, also claimed the University was ‘funding human extinction’.

They say the University cleaned the graffiti because of one use of a swear word.

Similar student activism has seen Oxford Road blocked in protest of the lack of University action on divestment.

At another protest, Students’ Union Activities Officer, who is a member of both People and Planet and Extinction Rebellion was arrested for “wilfully obstructing the highway”.

On the chalk protest, Haughton said: “We wanted to raise awareness of the University’s complicity in ecocide, and call them out on their lack of commitment to divestment, especially when they boast about their Social Responsibility policy.

“We’ve done similar protests before and it’s not been washed off this quickly. When we were speaking to security guards this morning, they didn’t mention anything about us not being able to do it.

“The excuse of swearing is pathetic, they just want to cover up their poor excuses for divestment.”

One anonymous a third-year student said: “The University should allow people to express themselves and their views, especially on divestment as it has a real impact on our futures.”

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University recognises our students’ right to protest peacefully, providing that this does not unduly disrupt the conduct of the University’s normal business.”

Photo: BDS.

BDS, antisemitism, and why the left needs to do better

Written by nimoomer on . Posted in Opinion.

In the last few years there has been a big spotlight put on “the left”, and the antisemitism that seems to run rampant within it. With this in mind one would assume that existing left leaning groups would proceed with caution and vigilance. I guess BDS didn’t get the memo.

Recently, campaigners from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group stormed a meeting of the Board of Governors for the University of Manchester demanding that they divest from Caterpillar, who manufacture equipment for the Israeli Defence Forces. 

The University claims “that Caterpillar’s stance continues to be that it does not have the practical ability or the legal right to determine how its products are used after they are sold and that it does not have plans to boycott sales to any country that is not sanctioned by the international community”.

BDS posted a video of their action on their Facebook page which caught the eye of a certain Asa Winstanley. Now, this name probably doesn’t ring a bell with most people but let me tell you a little bit about him.

Amongst many things, he has accused Miriam Mirwitch, the Jewish head of Young Labour, of belonging to a front group for the Israeli embassy. He has suggested that the antisemitism crisis in the Labour party is entirely fabricated by Israel. This isn’t about one isolated incident but a near pathological fixation with Israel, and dog-whistle conspiratorial antisemitic tropes.

Now, you may wonder what this has to do with BDS. Well, Mr Winstanley wrote a piece in The Electronic Intifada about their protest, an article which BDS then shared. “Superb coverage” as they put it. 

Understandably, I assumed that this was some sort of oversight. An overzealous reaction to getting some coverage that extended beyond the confines of the University campus. I could not imagine that they would knowingly share someone like this. 

Quite the contrary; upon alerting BDS about this, I was met with a frosty reception. In defending their choice to share the article, they cited a Jewish academic, Dr Eyal Clyne, and the group Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine.

Dr. Eyal Clyne had said, “it is not clear to me what is antisemitic about a student society sharing an article that covered their own action”.

Now I am not accusing BDS of antisemitism. It is their response to me, in trying to honestly point out Winstanely’s history, that I am objecting to.

Dr. Clyne understandably said that “crying wolf about antisemitism is dangerous”. However, I argue that so is ignoring it.

After a quick search I found a long blog post by Dr Clyne called the “the lost context of the holocaust”. And whilst the title alone is cause for concern, the actual content was even more worrying. It is a long winded text that seem to attempt to relativise the horrors of the Holocaust, at one point comparing Nazi Germany’s violence against Jews to the Allies’ bombing of German cities.

BDS also quoted The Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine group in their response to me. Quite understandably, they draw a distinction between antisemitism and opposing the actions of the Israeli State: “As Jews, we cannot accept the Israeli state speaking in our name. To claim that such a regime represents us, or that criticising Israel’s lobbying abroad is somehow against all Jews, is itself antisemitic, because our Jewish values have nothing to do with [Israel’s] policies”.

However, they also maintain an unbelievable blind spot when it comes to Winstanley. They wrote: “As Jews in Manchester there is absolutely nothing antisemitic about the writing of Asa Winstanley, especially his work on Israel’s lobby in the UK”.

This group should be the most cautious of all about falling prey to antisemitism. However in a 2018 article, they called the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance “racist” and designed by “Israeli propagandists to aid their many mass lobby attempts to stop international solidarity with Palestinians.”

What is alarming in this whole situation, is BDS’ total resistance to reflect. The defensiveness and lack of sensitivity. Why are they so reluctant to even entertain the possibility that perhaps they made a mistake?

As someone who has always supported and felt deeply about Palestinian emancipation, it’s incredibly distressing to see a preeminent Pro-Palestine group, not taking antisemitism seriously. 

In the name of self aggrandising faux radicalism any critique is taken as attack rather than as a means of self improvement. I think this speaks to a wider menace within the left, and if we don’t address it with the urgency that we do other forms of racism we will see devastating repercussions.

Photo: courtesy of HOME

¡Viva! 2019: Tiempo Después (UK Premiere)

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Through the medium of absurdist comedy, legendary Spanish auteur José Luis Cuerda critiques the current state of affairs in Spain, and the globe, in Tiempo Después. One of Cuerda’s signature traits is his ability to bring together an all-star cast. For this film, Roberto Álamo, Blanca Suárez, Andreu Buenafuente and Miguel Herrán — who reached global fame in his role in La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) — are all enlisted by the director for a two-hour trip of ‘serious fun’.

Despite being set in the distant future of 9177, Tiempo Después could well take place in 2019, judging by how little society seems to have evolved. The whole population of our planet is split into the rich, who live in a concrete skyscraper with a phallic aura, so to speak, and the poor, who live in a slum in the forest. A touch of Orwell is present throughout the dual-class system in which social escalation is impossible.

The seeds of revolution are planted by a lemonade seller who is sick of being a “parado” (unemployed). He wants to move up in the world, but the governing elite tell him that if he finds a job, he will no longer be unemployed, thus eliminating the essence of being unemployed. This is one of the not-so-thinly veiled criticisms of Spanish society.

In the crazy world of Tiempo Después, routine is sanity, poetry is the humour of the elite, who monologue passages of contemporary, classic and cult literature — or film scripts which, to my humour, played with the legendary final monologue of Blade Runner: “And all will be washed away, like urine in rain.”

The script is an intricate web of intellectual humour that remains self-aware at every beat, making it evident that this film is what Cuerda has strived to make throughout his career. The cast has been picked perfectly, bringing chemistry to the screen and presented with symmetrical (and very pleasing) camerawork.

As someone who has lived in Spain for 16 years, I found the humour to be spot-on, but as I laughed out loud, I noticed that the majority of the audience weren’t as enthused as I was — potentially as the film is so rooted in criticism of Spanish life that the magic of it is, quite literally, lost in translation. The absurd visual humour and global themes will be appreciated by global audiences, I’m sure, but to truly appreciate the film, you had to be there.

Despite this, I believe the result of Cuerda’s work is a film that will soon be a cult classic — much like his previous work, namely Amanece, que no es poco — which hasn’t been moulded to please the world; it stands on its own two feet, presents itself as it is and welcomes you to engage with it.

Yet, this is what makes Spanish cinema so special: it’s unique, it’s bold and it doesn’t give a fuck about what the world thinks of it.

3.5/5.

The film was followed by an insightful Q&A with the film’s producer, Félix Tussell.

¡Viva! Spanish & Latin American Festival 2019 returns to HOME Manchester from Friday 22nd March to Saturday 13th April. The full programme and tickets are available HERE, on HOME’s website.

Photo: Tobias Soar @ The Mancunion

Review: Grimmfest “Japanese Horror” Double Bill

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Manchester’s very own Grimmfest crew put on a Japanese Horror double bill for their March edition of monthly horror showings. Hosted at the fantastic Plaza cinema in Stockport, the films of choice were Ringu — many have called it the greatest horror film of the 21st century — and Battle Royale, both of which I hadn’t seen before.

Ringu is the pinnacle of “urban myth” horror. The plot is common knowledge: if you watch the cursed tape, you get a call which says “seven days”. Seven days pass and you die to a creepy ghost girl. Simple yet effective.

Unlike its American remake, the original Ringu takes itself seriously and doesn’t overstay its welcome. With creeping camerawork, convincing performances from the cast — including the child actor, who seems to have the soul of a 40-year-old man — and, best of all, Sadako (Rie Inō) makes brief appearances throughout, allowing the feeling of dread to be built by the cursed tape.

Having seen the American Ring a couple of years ago, I can say that I much prefer the original — the remake isn’t terrible, honestly, I quite enjoyed it.

For a comprehensive review of the 20th Anniversary restoration of Ring, check out Mancunion writer Carl’s review.

The second, and final, film of the evening was Battle Royale. Based on a book of the same name, this is the story that has spawned countless re-imaginings from Hunger Games to Fortnite. Again, the plot is simple: in a dystopian future, adults are losing their power over children. To stop the youth from skipping school, a class of 42 children is selected at random to be sent to an island to participate in a free-for-all fight to the death.

The plot is ridiculous and Kinji Fukasaku is very aware of this. The action is over-the-top, the dialogue is ridiculous to the point of comedic gold and the pacing of the film never drags at any point in its 122 minute runtime. More of a thriller than a horror flick, Battle Royale doesn’t try to be edgy — unlike other films — which I’m sure is one of the reasons why it was the highest-grossing Japanese-language film for six weeks after its initial release.

To the general public, a film which depicts school children killing each other is understandably disturbing and highly immoral, but horror fans have seen so much worse than this. If you can look past the arguably cruel plot, its absurdity makes the story all the more sweet to witness.

A whirlwind of blood, guts and laughter, Battle Royale is now one of my favourite Japanese films, by far, and a must-watch for lovers of the action genre.

In regards to the double bill format, I actually quite like it. I never watch two films in a row but a comfy cinema, a bottle of water and a 20-minute pee break between films make the format thoroughly enjoyable. It’s worth a try, and thanks to Grimmfest, every month they host a different double-bill.

Coming up at the end of April is the Alien Invasion Sci-Fi Horror event featuring The Faculty and Attack the Block.

Tickets are available on the Grimmfest website.

Ring: 3/5.

Battle Royale: 4/5.