Coach to Vienna / The Ear (Blu Ray) Second Run 2020 /2022. Review by Alan Price. The creative partnership of director Karel Kachyna and screenwriter Jan Prochazka was one of the most remarkable to have been allowed to operate in communist Czech cinema of the 1960’s.
Poetry Review – THE WINDMILL PROOF: Adele Ward enjoys the beauty of mathematics in this polished collection by Stephen Payne
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman) 50th anniversary re-release. Review by Alan Price. Whenever people mention Cries and Whispers (1972) they cannot escape talking about its use of the colour red. Sven Nykvist’s Oscar winning photography saturates, without recourse to red colour filters and employing lighting from one source only, the red interiors, of a period manor house, to create a place with as much soulful character as its three female inhabitants.
Poetry review – THE REAL WORLD: Charles Rammelkamp enjoys an original and unusual collection by Emma Winsor Wood
Poetry review – THE FOX’S WEDDING: Louise Warren ventures into some dark fairy-tale poems by Rebecca Hurst
Poetry review – LOVE AT THE END: Charles Rammelkamp comments on the syntax and the substance of Wade Stevenson’s poems
Poetry review – IS, THINKS PEARL: Kate Noakes enjoys Julia Bird’s fanciful collection of poetic adventures featuring an imaginary and imaginative heroine
Poetry Review – SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING: Merryn Williams greets an important anthology which celebrates the 200th publication from Smokestack Books
South (BFI Blu Ray) 3 disc set 2022. Review by Alan Price. I think “heroism” is an important attribute to highlight whilst watching these fascinating films. The Antarctic was the last and largest land mass on our planet to be explored. All that effort, given such harsh conditions, resources and equipment, compared to modern scientific exploration, is extraordinary
HIDDEN SUN: James McGonigal explores James Fountain’s perceptive study of the poet Joseph Macleod
Poetry review – MIRROR, MIRROR: IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE HEAD: Alwyn Marriage looks squarely at Sam Smith’s uncompromising poems about mental health patients and those who care for them
Poetry review – VINEGAR HILL: John Forth considers Colm Tóibín’s move from prose to poetry
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, poetry reviews, year 2022 • Tags: books, John Forth, poetry