Reviews

Sad, funny and cynical, Billy Wilder's 1970 movie presents a classically Holmesian mystery—a missing person case which ends with the Loch Ness Monster—as cover for an exploration of the great detective's myth, seeking to identify the crippled man behind the machine-like facade. Beautifully shot, the movie was cut by the studio and ignored by critics, but it's gorgeous. Robert Stephens is a complex Holmes, Colin Blakely a most human Watson.

Impeccable 1948 Hollywood swan song from Preston Sturges detailing the destructive effect of marital infidelity on suave millionaire Rex Harrison (brilliantly unhinged). Naturally, there's polished badinage, snappy one-liners and physical comedy aplenty. But it's also curiously dark and modern—see Harrison mutilating his wife with a cut-throat razor, and forcing her to play Russian roulette.

A companion piece to last year's sensual reimagining of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, Bozulich's latest offers two tasters from there ("Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain"; "Can I Sleep In Your Arms?", with Nelson duetting) alongside the outré experimentalism of her live work. The ex-Geraldine Fibber revisits both 1997's "Arrow To My Drunken Eye" and the epic "Outside Of Town", sharding them with amplified strings, dissonant guitar and a voice like velvet studded with razor blades.

New Pornographer jumps into classic singer-songwriter stream head first

Succinct and soothing second album by Parisian quartet

Pure pop perfectionists have got a ticket to Ryde and they don't care

Final demos of Alabama's doomed blue-eyed soul boy

Telex chap's 1977 Moog-driven disco mini album

Brad Pitt grabs a shield and gets all mythological

Ten-year-old Paul (Harry Eden) is at home in a world of pimps and pushers, bargain basement hookers and fly-blown market cafés. He has to be—since his widowed mother traded mourning for a regular numbing dose of heroin, it's been Paul who has kept the family running, even if that means fetching Mummy her 'medicine'. Gillies Mackinnon's drama is admittedly bleak, but excellent performances and restrained direction make this a rewarding, if heart-wrenching, experience.