Culture Diary w/c 17-09-12
Monday – Edward Scissorhands 8.30pm @ FACT
If one film stands above all others as the archetypal Tim Burton movie, perhaps it is Edward Scissorhands. Starring Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder (Burton’s ideal of love’s young dream?), it tells the tale of a naive and sensitive young man who, well, has scissors for hands. Gentle, romantic, tragic and funny, we wonder, is this Burton’s most autobiographical movie? A quiet, sheltered young man desperately wanting, but feeling unable to enter the real world, Edward began life as a sketch made by a teenage Burton.
Tuesday – Holy Motors inc. Satellite Q&A 6.30pm @ FACT
The first feature in 13 years from enfant terrible of French art house, Alex Oscar Dupont (aka Leos Carax), Holy Motors follows a day in the life of Monsieur Oscar. Sounds simple enough, but throw in Lynchian riffs and numerous parallel Oscars’ (played by Denis Lavant), and we have the makings of a very modern nightmare. Described earlier this year by The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as the film“we have all come to Cannes for”, this should prove a fascinating viewing and Q&A.
Wednesday – The Lodger 7.30pm @ the Liverpool Philharmonic £6/£7
In a fine week for film screenings in the city, perhaps this is our pick. Restored as part of the BFI’s Genius of Hitchcock season, and starring Ivor Novello, The Lodger is the tale of a spate of murders, all of women with golden hair. Investigations coincide with the titular lodger taking a room with a family, who, you guessed it, have a golden-haired daughter. It is truly a classic of the silent era, and here comes with a live soundtrack from organist Dave Nicholas.
Thursday - Paul Du Noyer’s The Art of The Album Cover 6.30pm @ The Bluecoat £12
With over 30 years of writing about music under his belt, Paul Du Noyer turns his attention to The Art of The Album Cover this Thursday. Sure to touch on famous pieces of art – Peter Blake’s Sgt Pepper for one – created down the years for album sleeves, Du Noyer will get to grips with the popular art-form that recently looked to be passing into history; but with ‘proper LP’ fetishism on the up-turn, it will be interesting to hear his opinion on what happens next.
Friday – Intravenous 8pm @ the Unity Theatre £6/£8
We’ve all struggled with crippling shyness, often in moments we could really have done with being the gregarious beasts we sometimes yearn to be. What would happen if, as a neuroscientist, you had the skills to hand to liberate previously hidden impulses? This is the jumping-off point for Red Panda’s retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde where we should expect the unleashing of a ‘seductive monster without conscience or remorse’.
Saturday – 10 bands 10 minutes: One hit wonders/Gold Soundz disco 8pm @ The Kazimier £5
As the names suggests, 10 bands get 10 minutes each to blast through a set that will include at least one 1-hit wonder. Featuring Married to the Sea and The Loose Moose String Band, the mind boggles at the tracks they’ll choose and how they will be reinterpreted. Between, and following those shenanigans, DJ Ellis Samizdat will be on hand to play a winning selection of indie, new wave and whatever else he fancies on the night.
Sunday - Rebecca 6pm @ FACT
Well we did say that it was a fine week for film screenings, so what better way to round things off than to settle down to another classic from the canon of Alfred Hitchcock? Part melodrama, all psychological thriller, Rebecca is the result of Hitch wringing everything and more out of Daphne Du Maurier’s bestselling novel dealing with many a lingering spectre.
Biennial Diary Picks
For the 11 week duration of the Biennial, we shall be pointing you in the direction of one or two things happening just once. So if talks, events and happenings are your bag, it’ll hopefully prove useful.
Thursday - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown lunch date 12pm – 2pm @ Metal
Throughout the Biennial, Metal will be transforming Edge Hill Station into a pop up cafe/salon where artist commissions, events and discussions will take centre stage. Our pick this week is journalist, writer and thinker Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (the Guardian, Time Magazine and The Independent), who describes herself as a “… leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani, and … a very responsible person”. Expect all of those things and more to make up the thrust of her conversation.
Saturday – The Medium is The Medium 2pm – 5pm @ Camp & Furnace
When we were invited to be part of this year’s Biennial public programme we were thrilled, honoured and nervous, in that order. After we got it together and decided we wanted to analyse why critical writing is important in a mature and thriving arts landscape, we were very fortunate to be able to enlist the help and expertise of industry professionals. It’s a great mix, we think you’ll agree: Miranda Sawyer (the Guardian, the Culture Show), Cherie Federico (managing director and editor of Asethetica Magazine), Goldsmiths lecturer Edgar Schmitz and our very own Rachael Jones are our guests and the panel debate will be chaired by Francesco Manacorda (pictured), artistic director of Tate Liverpool.
