Spring/summer fashion highlights

Crystal Antlers Robert Ballagh Pete Doherty Beers of the world Marble at The Abbey tn2’s pick of the most exciting things to Calendar of fun do in Dublin this coming fortnight Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 Sam Shepard’s Ages of Looking for some “high- Tonight is the last night Hooray For Humans, The very excellent Hockey and Passion So, I know it’s been on the Moon has its world energy mega electro of Martin McDonagh’s with support from Kidd Four Tet is to be found Pit are riding a pretty since September, but premiere tonight, with rock?” Good, because The Pillowman at The Blunt, you say? Happy tonight in Andrew’s Lane massive wave of hype Exquisite Corspe at Stephen Rea and Seán Le Galaxie are around Helix. days. with Sunken Foal, among at the moment – now’s IMMA is over at the end McGinley starring. tonight (and are rather The Helix, 7.30 pm, €10 Eamonn Doran’s, 8 pm others in support. your chance to see if of the month and is The Peacock Theatre, 8 fun indeed). Andrew’s Lane Theatre, they’re any good. worth a look. pm, €22 Whelans, 8 pm, €10 10 pm, €25 Whelans, 8 pm, €15 IMMA, until 31 March 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Clonmel-born John The Choice Music Mark Geary is in Whel- OrphanCode play a Peter Bjorn and John Watchmen went on Self-taught artist Stano Brennan has an exhibi- Prize is announced ans tonight. Daguerreotype fund- have a new record out general release over has an exhibition in Axis tion in the Hallward tonight, with lots of the Whelans, 8 pm, €20 raiser tonight. Go out fairly soon and are play- the weekend. Is it really Ballymun until May. Gallery until the end of nominees performing. and support your local, ing tonight no doubt in so wrong to be excited Axis Ballymun, until 28 the month. Vicar Street, 8 pm, €27 poverty-stricken artist. an eff ort to promote about this one? Probably. May Hallward Gallery, 65 Mer- The O’Reilly Theatre, said record. Yes indeed. Cinemas nationwide rion Square Great Denmark Street, The Button Factory, 7 pm, €10 8 pm, €18 xkcd.com Contents

Spring/summer fashion picks 4 Issue Catriona Gray talks to Pete Doherty... 6 ... and also Crystal Antlers 7 9 Rise up 8

A beer odyssey 9

The censorship debate 10 The spectre of my thesis deadline hangs ominously on the horizon, Reading the world 11 dear readers so I’m going to be brief. This issue, we talked to all sorts of interesting characters: Pete (or is that “Peter” now?) Do- Caroline O’Leary meets Robert Ballagh 12 herty, Robert Ballagh and Jonny Bell from Crystal Antlers among them. Fashion looked ahead to what we’ll all be donning this sea- Loneliness in West Germany at the Goethe Institut 14 son (special mention must go to Sinéad Mercier for her lovely illus- trations). Theatre took in productions from The Abbey to Players. Current exhibitions at the Douglas Hyde 15 Books got all debate-y about censorship. Food and Drink got blee- din’ wrecked, tasting many delicious beers from all over the world. Marina Carr’s latest 16 Art took in a number of exhibitions around the city. Film reviewed an awful lot of movies. And then there were the rather cool pictures Joker Choker at Players 17 that Lenka Špryslová took of Rise Against’s gig last week. Lamenta- bly, we couldn’t print them all, but you can see more of her concert The real deal? 17 pics at www.lenulino.net. All that remains for me to do, then, is to bid you farewell until our Reviews 18 next issue in Trinity term and get back on this thesis-writing buzz. Stupid thesis.

Your studiously,

Hugh Editor [email protected]

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tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 3 Getting seasonal Ana Kinsella relentlessly pored over the catwalk shows for Spring/Summer 09 to bring you the rundown of the top trends for this spring... whenever that starts

eeping up with the never-ending skin jeans, purple stiletto-heeled cowboy quiere, decked out their models in hard- merry-go-round of this fashion boots and a pink leather stetson” to quote edged sequined shifts that look like they world is a diffi cult business. The Marian Keyes’s Angels. This season, rock came straight from a 60s sci-fi fl ick. Not rules change so quickly, and as chic is more luxe denim, accented shoul- the most wearable stylings, but an unde- Ksoon as you’ve gotten used to the cur- ders, crystals and bandage dresses, best niably innovative and awe-inspiring col- rent season, the next one rushes showcased in Christophe Decarnin’s col- lection. in to transform everything lection for Balmain. His iconic rehash- However, many of these trends will not once again. Well, never fear, ings of eighties pieces such as top heavy translate to the high street. That’s why for I’ve combed through the military jackets, ripped acid wash jeans it’s important to look at micro-trends – Spring/Summer 2009 col- and tight bandage dresses, all infused small aspects that get repeated across lections looking for trends with sequins and crystals, have won him collections. Louis Vuitton, Dries Van so that you don’t have to. a place at the top of many fashionista’s Noten, Marc Jacobs, Matthew William- The fashion industry is wishlists. On paper it sounds a tad gaudy son all favoured the fun kinds of prints scheduled in such a way that but the collection is immaculately pro- which can be easily emulated on the high it casts its nets six months into duced, and has been seen on celebrities street – Dries Van Noten’s black-and- the future – the Spring collections as diverse as Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate white squares are a personal must-have. show in September, the Autumn Moss, as well as the impeccably turned- Zippers also featured prominently, with collections in February – giving out Vogue Paris team. Elsewhere, we can Phillip Lim, Versace and YSL using them pundits a full half-year to place see leather, denim, and quite a lot of black to accent and edge otherwise feminine their bets on the dominant trends from Elise Overland, Givenchy, Ann De- frilly designs. Soft, shiny metallics made to follow. This sea- meulemeester. an appearance at Prada, Vivienne West- son, the Spring col- This trend spills over into the wide wood and globetrotting favourite Sophia lections were shown world of shoes, with extreme shoes tak- Kokosalaki, and I hope to see this in some in tremulous times, ing centre stage like never before. The short shiny shapes from Topshop in a with Lehman Broth- term has been bandied around for a month or two. Annoyingly, some of the ers collapsing as the few seasons but a number of designers most prevalent microtrends were also the fashion pack headed from New showed barely wearable heels, includ- most unwearable. Prada have been push- York Fashion Week to London. But the ing Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Prada, ing the exposed midriff “bra-top” look show must go on, since the mid nine- apparently, and Avant-garde Maison Martin Margiela, ties, and the likes of so for four weeks Alexander Wang and the catwalks of who embraces recycling and Proenza Schouler New York, Lon- are also trying to put don, Milan and deconstruction in his collections, sent his a chill in our kidneys Paris revealed to by exposing fl at us what we must – girls out with their faces covered in tummies and scary and must not – be coloured material. I won’t be placing bets rib cages on the run- wearing this sea- way. Something tells son. on this one appearing in the Arts Block me this one’s not for What is fashion everyone. supposed to do in a recession? Distract where a number of models toppled from Over the past two years we’ve seen a us, with shiny fabrics and bright colours? their heels, with one taking them off and turnaround in the levels of popularity of Or play along with the mood, and turn to walking barefoot. Such extreme heels certain designers, and the Spring 09 col- droopy drawers and fl oppy hats? Well, have also already begun to trickle down lections confi rmed the status of newer it seems we’ll be wearing both. Colour to the high street, with Zara and Topshop designers like Alexander Wang, Rodarte, blocking is an unavoidable trend this sea- churning out knock-off s of Balmain’s and Basso & Brooke and Karen Walker over son, seen at Lanvin, Gucci (a personal Louis Vuitton’s skyscraper shoes. established stalwarts like Chloe and favourite is a jade green pantsuit with Runways turned into treadmills at Givenchy. These newbies have been win- matching fedora), Michael Kors and times as several designers decided to ning praise from editors and celebrities Calvin Klein, and will have us decked advocate sportswear for Spring, with alike, and it’s pretty obvious that these out in bright solid minidresses, boxy DKNY, Louise Goldin, Stella McCartney guys will be exerting a palpable infl uence jackets and pants from now until next and it-boy Alexander Wang all are doing over how the fashion-conscious dress winter. On the other hand, if you lis- sporty clean edges on pieces like cropped over the next few seasons in terms of ten to the likes of Marni, Marc Jacobs leggings, tank tops, supertight bodysuits colour choice, hemlines and the biggest or Burberry Prorsum, it’ll be dowdy and oversize hoodies. trends. coats, midi skirts, ankle socks and The look here is glamourous gym wear Of course, many catwalk trends won’t check patterns for us – all in bland paired with killer heels and slicked back trickle down to the high street at all. shades of beige, mustard and grey. hair. On the more avant-garde end of Avant-garde Maison Martin Margiela, An antidote to this sartorial things, sportswear evolves into fashion who embraces recycling and deconstruc- misery lies in my favourite domi- from the future at Balenciaga, Jil Sander, tion in his radical collections, sent out his nant trend – superglam rock ‘n Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh. girls with their faces covered entirely in roll. Gone are the days when the In particular, Balenciaga, who have had stretched coloured material. I won’t be term “rock chic” conjured up a run of good collections the last few placing bets on this one appearing in the Illustrations: Sinéad Mercier images of “bandage tight snake- seasons under the genius Nicolas Ghes- Arts Block in the months to come.

4 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Something for the boys

Cillian O’Connor endorses springing out of bed this season (no pun intended) in pinstripe pyjamas, the happy colour yellow, sophisicated blue and seriously scoop neck tees

on’t get me wrong. I relished in no way intended for those who could be menswear, any small change designers the recurring, blanketing deemed the “faint-of-dress,” and design- can provide gives hope that one day we’ll snowfall of early February just ers such as Tommy Hilfi ger, Paul Smith, be off ered the multitude of ingenious as much as the next person but Dries Van Noten and Emporio Armani (a creations womenswear boasts. DSpring/Summer 09 has fi nally arrived and personal favourite – midnight blue, which Prints were particularly well exe- I, for one, am more than ready for perus- was threaded throughout the majority of cuted this season with Alexander Mc- ing what’s on off er. No more cumbersome the collection) provided more accessible Queen’s pistol motif which seemed to cable knits, gargantuan overcoats and alternatives for the understated man. draw on the deadly sultriness of fi lm sweat-inducing scarves. Now’s the time Not only did these favoured tones ap- noir, the proliferation of polka dots to usher in the unadulterated easiness of pear alone but they also shone brightly in (no longer just for indie-Cindys!) the coming months, at least sartorially. colour-blocks and panels. Jil Sander dem- at Ann Demeulemeester, and the For that’s what designers from Do- onstrated it perfectly where aforesaid abundance of fl orals from several menico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana to electric yellow was intermingled with others. As Meryl Streep caustical- Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta envi- steely grey and softer tea rose. ly quipped in The Devil Wears Pra- sioned for SS 09: a reckless abandonment Does this abundance of feminine da, fl orals aren’t exactly “ground- of the conventional formalities of dress, colours have you fearing emasculation? breaking” for the season now upon perhaps simultaneously encouraging an Well, brace yourselves, the machismo’s us. Nevertheless, the reinterpreted abandonment of worries and woe regard- about to fade even further. Regarding fl orals designers showed this time ing the economic collapse. In short: ditch shapes, SS 09 saw the emergence of some ‘round are certainly worth consid- the suited daywear and don your favou- subtle gender-bending. At Prada, Miuccia ering. Frida Giannini’s fl ora were rite pinstripe PJs. sought to further castrate us with seri- appliquéd, embroidered and even Yes, gentlemen, no longer need you ously scoop-neck lightweight knits while airbrushed at Gucci, while at Givenchy, worry yourselves with such bothersome Christopher Bailey of Burberry Pror- the garish, hot pink, embroidered and questions such as “What will I wear to- sum boldly went where few heavyweight abstract variety was preferred. day?”. Simply spring out of bed and be menswear designers have gone before by Although accessories are not, and on your merry way. Well, that’ll only con- lowering necklines to abdomen-skim- probably never will be, as slavishly ob- vince if you’re the privileged owner of ming depths. I guess this means more served by men as by the fairer sex, mens- some Dolce & Gabbana satin sleepwear crunches then... wear designers still proff er plenty of or Ann Demeule- choice. SS 09 saw meester’s pinstriped Christopher Bailey of Burberry the introduction pajamalike pants. of the simply yet But that’s just one Prorsum boldly went where few stylishly adorned of menswear’s latest man with a wide innovations, and heavyweight menswear designers have range of meth- most likely a ten- ods to embellish dency which won’t gone before by lowering necklines to an outfi t. There fi lter into the high- abdomen-skimming depths. I guess this were light scarves street destinations in Tisci’s, trade- you and I frequent. means more crunches then... mark gothic tones What’s much more at Givenchy and plausible is sporting the colours of the Alas, it wasn’t only necklines that were messengers of the fi nest leathers at Fendi. season. Despite the fi nancial crises we’re subject to the ball-busting but also the As for the advent of the “mlutch” (read: currently tackling, designers have band- overall structuring of most garments. man clutch), I’m as speechless as you are. ed together this season to off er some po- Softer, more rounded shoulders could However, shoes were especially enticing tential source of happiness – sometimes frequently be seen in pieces as tradition- this season. With lesser-known labels like neon, sometimes muted but invariably ally masculine as smoking jackets (Ste- Red by Wolves and Common Projects, covetable: yellow. From the sober mus- fano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent). Also, the boundaries of mens footwear are un- tard and marzipan at Prada and Burberry the skinny silhouette pioneered by Hedi doubtedly being eradicated. For those of Prorsum (sometimes only culinary com- Slimane during his sojourn at Dior Hom- you that don’t plan on prancing sprightly parisons will suffi ce) to the lemon pastels me doesn’t appear to be dying out any to secure the nearest available beaded, at Missoni and the unabashed electric- time soon though we ourselves might run yellow, chest-revealing scoop-neck tee, ity of Jil Sander and Costume National’s a chance considering the relentless star- then try branching out with footwear. Pat- shades, it was undoubtedly the colour du vation which would be required to fi t into ent leather comes highly recommended. jour. It was tailed closely, though, by the the now ubiquitous skinny suits (I’m look- Of course, what’s key to remember most variegated shades of blue, another ing at you Gucci). Further feminisation this season is that we should be at- Spring/Summer staple. At Bottega Vene- was achieved through embellishments tempting to adapt our consumption ta, it appeared in suits and weekenders of like beading which appeared along the patterns to the current economic en- the most sophisticated royal blue whilst necklines of cardis and tees at Burberry vironment. In other words, the big- at Lanvin, Lucas Ossendrijver’s ruching and Alessandro Dell’Acqua, respectively. gest trend for SS 09 is avoidance of was illuminated by an almost pulsating Although this easier, more feminine aes- the fad and investment in pieces cobalt, an impactive hue which also fea- thetic won’t have enormous appeal, it’s that off er longevity. Ditch the tured heavily in another of Kris Van Ass- good to consider the signifi cance of this cheap and naff and opt for qual- che’s collections for Dior Homme. Ad- movement from the staid conservative to ity, even if it does come at a mittedly, the aforementioned shades are the more modern masculine. As always in slightly higher price. tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 5 Back from the dead

Photo: Caroline O’Leary

to him all expectant and he just put it in his you get strip-searched after dinner and Catriona Gray somehow managed to get past the pocket and looked at me a bit strange… I was that’s the highlight of the day really.” asking him about some of the things they Doherty also spoke at length about his hoards of slightly mental fans and have a word with used to get up to on tour with the Beatles. music and his new solo album: “I’ve revert- You hear about the Rolling Stones and the ed back to where I came from, where I start- Pete Doherty when he visited the Phil recently total decadent rock bands, but the Beatles ed out. Songs like ‘Albion’ and ‘Music When were the baddest of all, but it was all kept The Lights Go Out’, they were quite ballady espite the two and a half hour de- time but when you do work it out, it’s gen- quiet… they were bumming everything in and slow and they were the fi rst songs. Then lay, Pete Doherty’s appearance erally quite insightful and yeah, he’s taught sight.” The Strokes came along and our manager at the Phil two weeks ago still me a lot. He’s quite into his history as well.” When asked who were the people who said “Look, you’re going to have to speed caused quite a stir. The prospect Doherty’s year got off to a good start, have infl uenced him the most, Doherty re- everything up if you want to get signed.” So Dof seeing the ex-Libertines and Babysham- when he played with the legendary Roger plied: “No-one really, I’ve done it all on my we did that. bles singer created the biggest queue since Daltrey, from The Who: “[Daltrey] got in own. I’m quite a lonely character. Most of When we fi rst got in the limelight, we Al Pacino paid a visit to Trinity, with the line contact with me through the Teenage Can- my friends are dead and have been for hun- were so deranged and angry and a bit twist- of people stretching all the way from the cer Trust, he’s quite heavily involved with dreds of years. I quite like cats... (pause) Do ed, that we’d just get on stage and turn it up steps of the GMB to the Dining Hall. that. A couple of years ago he said some- you know what, I don’t actually like cats so as loud as we could, whack it out and get off This wasn’t Doherty’s fi rst trip to Trin- thing quite hurtful. He said I was a waste of much... it started off fi ne but now they’ve as quickly as we could. There was a lot of ity, as Babyshambles, along with Kate Moss, space, and I wasn’t big or clever and it had all just taken over, they’ve just expanded. It’s frantic, nervous energy and it was all a bit made a memorable appearance at the Trin- been done before and all this. And then he like lemmings. I’m trying to keep the popu- more aggressive and chaotic, and then we ity Ball back in 2005. According to Doherty phoned me up after I’d been to the funeral lation under control, it’s about 12 now. But I just calmed down a little bit, sadly.” it wasn’t the best of nights: “it was a bit of a of a young man, who’d died of cancer and he mean, they’re so smelly, it’s disgusting. I’m When asked what was his favourite song disaster, that one. My guitarist got the fear said, ‘Well Pete, I don’t take back what I said, trying to get to grips with the philosophy of that he’d written, Doherty replied: “Maybe mid-way through, he said I was looking at but you’ve proved yourself now in my eyes, cats, as it were. I’ve bought a book about the ‘Back From the Dead’, just because I tend to him funny and threw down his guitar and what sort of man you are, so if you need any- psychology of cats, trying to get inside their fi nd when I’m lacking in inspiration I tend ran off … terrible night it was.” thing, anything, just call me.’ So I said, ‘can heads, but they just piss on the duvet.” to go back to them chords, it’s just some- Doherty also talked about his friendship you do a gig with me?’” Doherty was unsurprisingly quite reluc- thing about them… it’s just kind of mourn- with Pogues frontman Shane McGowan. Doherty also spoke about his experience tant to talk about his time in Wormwood ful and sad and no-one’s worked out where When asked where he fi rst met McGowan, of interviewing Paul McCartney: “My mum scrubs, but said: “You’ve got to make the I’ve nicked it from. And ‘Don’t Look Back Doherty replied: “Honestly, it was on the had given me this chip fork to give him, ‘cos best of a bad situation. To be honest, every- into the Sun’ I quite like as well.” fl oor at a party. He said, “congratulations, she’s from Liverpool and she was like, ‘what thing I did write in there, or most of what I Doherty also played a short acoustic set, you’re now the most obnoxious man in are you going to give to a Scouser who’s got wrote, makes for pretty depressing reading, which included “Last of the English Roses”, pop.” Those were his fi rst words to me… It’s everything – a silver chip fork,’ and I was like, just self pity and wallowing in it, just sat on the fi rst single from his new album, Grace/ hard to understand what he says a lot of the ‘yeah that’s a great idea, mum.’ So I gave it that bed all day every day and if you’re lucky Wastelands.

6 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Crystal Bell

Catriona Gray talked to Crystal Antlers’ Jonny Bell about the “Crystal” craze and chimney sweeping

ith only one EP behind them, Crystal Antlers are al- ready causing quite a stir. Currently in the midst of a gruelling European tour, singer Jonny Bell looked a bit exhausted as he took a break from soundchecks beforeW their gig in Whelans. The tour is to promote their debut album, Tentacles, which was recorded in a mere week. Bell looks, if possible, even more exhaust- ed as he describes the experience, saying, “during the last few days of recording, I slept maybe an hour a night, just staying up, and our engineer Joe, he just stuck with us because we knew we had to get it done. And it was also stressful because we went into the studio directly after a thirty day tour of the US without really taking a break at all. We also slept in the studio and didn’t really leave for more than fi fteen minutes at a time.” The recording of the album saw original guitarist Errol Davis rejoin the band, although he wasn’t able to make the European tour, which has caused some speculation. Bell quickly dispels the rumours: “He’s actually in Thailand right now again. It sort of just happened too late for him to come on this tour, so he’s just waiting in Thailand until we get back and then he’s going to meet up with us and tour with us from then on.” It’s too tempting to resist asking Bell whether he’s irritated by the constant references in the press to the growing popularity of calling your band “Crystal Something.” Bell takes the question surprising well, probably due to the number of times that he’s had to answer it: “It was irritating, but now I’m just numb to it, it’s just like ‘okay, what a great coincidence.’ But it seems like there’s some attention from that, to all three of the bands, Crystal Stilts, Crystal Castles and us, and I dunno, it might be helping us in some way.” A surprising fact about Crystal Antlers is that while they were still a three-piece, they all worked as chimney sweeps. Seriously. When asked about this, Bell becomes progressively more enthusiastic: “We all worked for this really crazy, acid-casualty guy and then I had my own company too. We still do it: when we’re not on tour, I still sweep chimneys to try to earn some extra money.” When asked if sweeping chimneys is diffi cult, Bell replies: “Yeah, parts of it are. I do full on masonry work too, so I can build a chim- ney, rebuild them and all that kind of stuff . It’s really hard work but I love it, it’s so rewarding to work for twelve hours and there’s this structure that could be there for hundreds of years.” Shortly after this, the conversation turned to whether Bell had had any traumatic experience with chimneys: “Yeah… so many, so many, especially because the guy that we were working for before was so crazy and irresponsible, he was just like a child. He was kind of like a cartoon character in a way: once he was trying to get a bee- hive out of a chimney and started spraying a hose down the chim- ney. I should preface this by saying that he gets all of his work by going door to door and talking people into doing this, because it’s California and people don’t really use their chimneys so much. And so the customers are always a little apprehensive to begin with. And so he’s up there, spraying water down this chimney at a beehive and all these bees start fl ying out and attacking him and stinging him. He’s just rolling all over the roof, screaming. I was trying to spray him down with the hose and the customer’s out there on his front lawn and there was a school across the street and the school had just gotten out and all the kids were all standing there watching and laughing.” Bell pauses for eff ect before continuing: “I’ve been at- tacked by a possum before too.” At this point, the tour manager decided that the ten minutes were up. It was probably a wise decision on his part, given the way the conversation was going. Crystal Antlers’s debut album, Tentacles, is out on 6 April. tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 7 Photo: Lenka Špryslová (www.lenulino.net) The shape punk can become With this in mind, the choice of second a little too much. Tomas Kejmar headed down to see Chicago’s supporting band was a little surprising. After thirty fi ve minutes of sophisticated Paranoid Visions, known for the anti-U2 sonic torture and additional twenty fi ve Rise Against in The Academy last week and was campaign they waged in the late 80s, are al- minutes of waiting, the much anticipated ready legendary and infamous enough and headliner took to the stage. The set-list con- impressed by the melodic hardcore four-piece their allegiance to the anarcho-punk tradi- sisted of a fair selection of old and newer tion of the likes of Crass and Confl ict only songs with an emphasis on the last three ast week, American hardcore-infl u- stretched almost hundred meters, well up increased the already sharp contrast with albums. Although it might seem rather sur- enced outfi t Rise Against, managed to the junction of Middle Abbey and Lower both the other bands on the bill. The eight- prising, it wasn’t the older, time-proved hits to draw a crowd of approximately Liff ey Street. The slightly amused looks of piece band, featuring a duo of female singers that provoked the strongest responses. In- seven hundred ecstatic, mostly passers-by were attracted not only by the and a keyboard player in addition to classic stead, the crowd, most of whom apparently Lteenage, fans down to The Academy for size of the crowd that had gathered but, rock band line-up, eff ectively divided the knew the band mainly from their music vid- a show that lived up to the high standard more signifi cantly, by the impressive range audience. eos and MySpace, seemed to welcome most they’ve set over the last decade or so. of fashion excesses exhibited. Recruited There were certainly some that had the singles from band’s last two albums The In order to make the Dublin show hap- from all age brackets, from early teenage come to see them, but the crowd, consisting Suff erer & the Witness and Appeal to Reason. pen, expenses had to be cut somewhere and kids to hardcore grown-ups in their early mostly of teenage Rise Against fans, didn’t Despite the fact that Rise Against are in the end it came down to the support acts. thirties, the impatient crowd must have seem to be prepared to face the version rather skilful songwriters and that McIl- Irish fans could have easily feel cheated be- been quite a sight on its own. of punk-rock off ered by these guys. Rise rath’s voice is really versatile, much of their cause instead of rather brilliant Strike Any- By the time I got in, the fi rst opening Against’s music is rooted in melodic branch material nevertheless stays within the con- where and Rentokill, who have opened all band had already played most of their set. of punk, as displayed by the likes of Bad Reli- straints of mid-paced punk-rock music with of Rise Against’s dates on the continent, or Judging from the last three songs, The De- gion, The Adolescents, NOFX or Dag Nasty, pop overtones, which can be entertaining Flobot and Anti-Flag, who will be sharing mise play a modern take on melodic hard- whereas the model Paranoid Visions work for only so long. the stage with them on the entire upcoming core and punk-rock, which wasn’t unlike from springs from signifi cantly rawer foun- The semi-acoustic intermezzo as the fi rst UK tour, they got two local bands. However, the style of the headliner. The sound man dations. part of encore thus proved refreshing, and that isn’t to criticize The Demise or Para- could have done a better job but the crowd The afore-mentioned Crass, Confl ict or showed that Rise Against, in this case mean- noid Visions in any respect. These acts, es- seemed satisfi ed nonetheless. other 80s anarcho-punk acts, like Dirt or ing Tim McIlrath, are capable of maintain- pecially the latter, did a great job in creating The fact that the event was 14+ was a suf- Subhumans, are undoubtedly among their ing atmosphere with as little as one acous- an intense atmosphere at the gig. fi cient excuse for such an early start and per- sources of inspiration. On the top of that, tic guitar. Overall, the craftsmanship Rise Prior to getting to the venue, fans had to haps also for the fact that the bar didn’t off er their sound also gives the impression that Against exhibited live was certainly worth exhibit extraordinary patience. The queue anything but cups of free ice-cold water. somebody had been listening to Killing Joke the ticket price alone.

8 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Photo: Melanie O’Reilly

Melanie O’Reilly sampled some of the best A beer odyssey beer the world/local off licence has to off er eer. The poor man’s champagne. It has a very pale yellow hue and a light, non- (obviously whilst abroad) with your typical that is not a big lover of beer as it is fl avour- Now, you may wonder why on overpowering scent and the corn gives the holiday food treats or simply some great some but the hops are not overpowering earth a pronounced beer hater beer a refreshing twist. Nastro Azurro is seafood. I will admit that by this stage my like in other heavier beers. would write an article on the bev- defi nitely a good option for Beer beginners. friend and I had given up on food and beer I also feel I should mention Chimay Red erage.B Well, for starters I recognise that not Pravsky is a Czech beer which I feel is an- pairing and were simply knocking back the which is a Belgian Trappist beer. It is quite everyone has my impeccable taste, and I’m other easy-to-drink option. It has a golden beers and tortilla chips. But my brothers an interesting bitter and fruity red ale, with told beer is rather like wine in that it is an tint, without the overly strong scent of hops agree that Tyskie is a great lager and that is a pleasant head to it. There is a real apricot acquired taste (that takes an eternity to ac- and would be ideal for grilled fi sh or chicken quite a recommendation. fragrance to it. The fact that it doesn’t look quire). Or so I thought. with a leafy salad. Staying with Poland, I will pass on anoth- like a typical beer makes it all the more ap- Have you ever wondered what on earth is Svyturys, a Lithuanian beer, is once again er recommendation: Zywiec, a pilsner-style pealing, along with its fruity scent and fl a- the diff erence between lager and ale? Well, very drinkable. It has a very light taste with lager that is light but still full of fl avour. The vour. Unfortunately, I can not think of the my research tells me it is all about the fer- an almost zingy after-taste that is quite re- girl in me feels the need to emphasise the perfect meal for this beer, but we had it with mentation. Lager tends to be less fruity or freshing – something I did not expect as word light, and to also mention that the bot- some traditional savoury treats like bacon spicy, lighter in colour and if you want to it has a rich golden hue and quite a strong tle’s label looks quite cool. When it comes to fl avoured crisps, something you’re probably sound really knowledgeable then remem- smell of hops. Svyturys is a good choice to Eastern European beers, my research seems quite likely to be eating when drinking beer. ber, the main distinction is yeast. Lager When I fi rst started the research for this yeast ferments at a lower temperature than I guess everything takes a while to get article, I was literally dragging my heels at ale and fl occulates on the bottom of the the thought of drinking vast amounts of beer vessel, unlike ale. A word of warning, lager used to, and maybe my taste isn’t as (most of which I haven’t even had the space tends to be the less sweet of the two main to discuss). I must admit that my choices types of beer. impeccable as I thought! But a person unable here are a little biased as I found that I am Ale has many diff erent varieties: pale, more of a lager girl than an ale one. Apolo- light, red, brown, dark, old… it can really get to change and admit defeat is a lost cause. gies to the ale lovers. I hope you can enjoy quite confusing! And that doesn’t even take So, ladies, get off your high horses and throw a bottle of Chimay Red whilst complaining into account the country of origin. Stout, in about my incompetence. case you’ve always wondered, is a term for yourselves an elegant beer bash! But I do feel the need to say that I can the strongest, darkest type of ale, for exam- sort of see, and taste, the appeal of beer for ple Guinness. drink with stir fries, white fi sh dishes or to indicate that the colder the better as they certain occasions. I was quite surprised at Beer is basically trial and error, or at least Japanese cuisine. tend to have quite a metallic after-taste if how easy to drink some beers actually are. that’s how I felt when sampling these beers. Staropramen, another Czech beer, is a not chilled nicely. My Polish workmates I guess everything takes a while to get used The ones that I would defi nitely recommend delicious lager with a strong golden hue. have told me that Zywiec goes down a treat to, and maybe my taste isn’t as impeccable trying are: Nastro Azurro; Pravsky; Svyturys; It must be said there is a rather prominent with some ‘kielbasa’ (Polish sausage). as I thought! But a person unable to change Staropramen; Tyskie and Hofbrau Original. scent of hops but, thankfully, no strong The last beer that I would recommend and admit defeat is a lost cause. How noble Czech beer tends to be a fairly safe option after-taste. Staropramen is quite easy on trying is Hofbrau Original a German beer am I. So, ladies get off your high horses and for drinkability, however, there are always the palate and it is possible to drink on its from Munich. It is quite bitter, which is re- throw an elegant beer bash! Kegs-a-ready! the classics from Germany and Belgium. A own. It is a great party lager, and goes down freshing and perfect when chilled. Now, the Here are a few other beers worth sam- good off -licence for beers of the world is the a treat with tortilla chips and any savoury very golden hue and stereotypical “beer” pling: Kirin (a delightful Japanese beer that Molloy’s liquor store chain. They have quite party foods. Although I think it would work look is a bit daunting to the wine lover, but oddly enough works perfectly with Japanese a large and interesting selection of beer quite well with Tex Mex dishes as well. it is surprisingly easy on the palate. It does and Asian cuisine), Moosehead (a Canadian from Japan to Canada with many Eastern Tyskie, a Polish lager, has a bit of a kick have a strong smell of malt and hops, but lager), Victoria Bitter (a very popular Aussie European countries in between. to it and is perhaps not the best idea for an this scent is not refl ected in the actual taste lager), and Salitos (a Mexican lager that has Nastro Azurro is an Italian beer which is all-night session as you will more than likely of the beer. Once again, this beer would be a a shot of Tequila and lime added to it – per- easy to drink and would be an ideal choice regret it in the morning! It is the perfect la- perfect summer’s evening choice. Hofbrau fect for a party or barbecue). Go on, you to have at a barbeque or with grilled meats. ger to have chilled on a warm summer’s day Original is also a good choice for someone want you want to! tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 9 Jean Morley and Rebecca Long I’ll burn my books! go head-to-head on censorship Censorship: a tool of moral oppression by a select few

rguing against censorship does not make sent the opinions of the state. It’s easier to imagine pose? Allowing people a variety of informa- one a chaotic anarchist, contrary to popu- a trusted civil servant on the board than a teenager tion promotes critical thinking, we would lar belief (not if you already are one, that with a penchant for Grand Theft Auto. not be sitting in university if we thought oth- is). It is an argument for freedom; for the It can happen that when writers are in the act of erwise. I cannot argue that the actions of Mark entireA population to break loose from the moral being most groundbreaking, most vehemently op- Chapman (John Lennon’s killer), for instance, and intellectual control of a select few. Censorship posed to the abuses before them, they are also most were not infl uenced by his reading J.D Salinger. But might be defi ned as a governing authority protect- in confl ict with a censoring body. Maya Angelou’s it could be argued that, rather than the fatal fault ing “a social moral code,” but, one wonders, the award-winning semi-fi ctional autobiography, I existing within the pages of a book, it was his ter- social moral code according to whom? Tellingly, Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a stirring account rifying single-mindedness, his severely distorted the defi nition does not address where exactly the of deep-South racism. Containing many scene of sense of judgement and radical misinterpretation social code stems from. Does a tiny censoring body explicit physical and sexual violence, it horrifi ed of Salinger’s aims. A similar one-minded interpre- have the ability to key into the morality of the ma- Kansas authorities on its publication in 1969 and tation drives men to jority? Or is it defi ning the social code itself? an attempt was made to ban it. Luckily, logic pre- construe a religious Censorship does not rely on the opinion of the vailed over prohibition and the novel went on to be text into a justifi ca- masses; we have never been asked for our say in nominated for a National Book Award. We cannot tion for invading a whether we ought to be allowed to read violent acts simply argue that censorship ought not to be exclu- country. It is sin- in fi ction. Rather, we must rely on the censoring sionist and essentialist, that’s what it is by defi ni- gle-mindedness, body; one small group of people and their judge- tion. It is the exclusion of material in fi tting with a not a prolif- ment of the material. Take the situation in Ireland, certain moral code. eration of for instance: a Censorship of Publications Board, It is with a certain degree of reticence that a third texts, which made up of fi ve members may prohibit the sale of year undergraduate contradicts the great Aristotle, ought to periodicals and books they consider obscene. The particularly one who, until recently, believed that be feared. shiny Citizen’s Information Website happily tells Erasmus was a fun-fi lled year in Paris, not a Renais- J e a n us that they are members of an independent board sance Humanist. But can we accept that the “light Morley and that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law argument of shameful words leads to shameful ac- Reform has no power over their decision. But the tions?” In that case, most modern comedy; made point remains that these members are appointed up of extreme, exaggerated situations and brash by the state. Yes, they are likely to be informed and language, ought to be x-rated. Is it not possible that fair-minded people, but they’re also likely to repre- the obscenities presented can serve a social pur- Censorship: Qualifying people’s freedom

ensorship. If you look it up in the diction- we must censor our behaviour: human beings are ary you’re confronted by words like “ob- weird, you know. Without a certain degree of cen- jection” or “suppression,” which, in turn, sorship, I’m willing to bet there would be chaos. mean the forceful prevention of some- Let’s look at the relationship between the Mod- thing,C a state of constraint, the painful repression ernist movement of the early 20th century and of thoughts or emotions. Still don’t know what cen- censorship. Beyond the fact that writers such sorship means? Me neither. Maybe we could call it as Joyce, Woolfe and Lawrence were dogged by the “process of restricting the public expression of it, some maintain that without the infl uence ideas, opinions, conceptions and impulsions which of censorship and the obstacle it presented, have or are believed to have the capacity to under- Modernism would not have had the infl uence mine the governing authority or the social moral or the depth that it did. Censorship forced code which that authority considers itself bound writers to articulate their aesthetic and social to protect.” Harold Lowell might know what he’s goals both to themselves and their audiences. on about but I don’t. Basically, when you think of Without the discourse created between cen- censorship you think of intolerance: intellectual sorship and the writers that were forced to and political. But if you think about it some more, respond to it, classics such as Ulysses might the existence of a policy of censorship, depending, have been completely diff erent. They might of course, on the form it takes, does not necessar- even have been shorter. ily mean the absolute control of people’s public In a way, censorship can be used as a opinions. Rather, it means the limitation or quali- measure of how far we’ve come as a society, fi cation of that freedom. But “limitation” isn’t a both nationally and internationally. Sure, nice word is it? Especially when we’re talking about it promoted isolationism, anti-intellectu- freedom. alism and a whole lot of other bad “isms” According to Aristotle “the light utterance of in a country that was once known as the is- shameful words leads to shameful actions” and, land of saints and scholars but that surely to be fair, the guy kind of has a point. If we allow just makes a case for what censorship ourselves to become desensitised to language, to should not be: exclusionist, essentialist, the primary medium through which we express arbitrary and excessively moralistic. The ourselves, doesn’t that open us up to an even more form censorship takes in a society marks extreme desensitisation? If we can speak and write the intellectual evolution of that society, about something like extreme violence and not be for good or ill. Ironically, given that it’s aware of the inherent power of those words, don’t supposed to be silencing us, censorship we deserve to be censored? We censor ourselves tends to say more about us than we’d like everyday: in order for us to function in society to hear. Rebecca Long

10 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Eye witness wonders It’s a crazy world, but can we understand it? Jean Morley, Rebecca Long and Conor Murray seek a few expert opinions

ow is the winter of our discon- of interviewing politicians. tent, with the threat of fees and But for any stoic analysis, Little inter- increasing unemployment, even jects a quite literary, even fl amboyant turn us lazy students are taking to of phrase. A personal favourite is the com- theN streets. But before becoming too im- parison between America’s dodgy immigra- mersed in the inadequacies of recessionista tion policy and a “punch-drunk boxer,” both Ireland, it’s imperative we consider a wider lurching back and forth in sickening ease. world view. Although the declining Ameri- With any other journalist, the repetition of can economy deserves media attention, concepts like Baby Boomers and Millenials questions of foreign policy are becoming would scream at generalisation, but Little ever more pertinent. justifi es his use of the terms by matching We’re poised in a pivotal moment of phrase with researched facts. time; as refl ected by a recent proliferation The new America has reality but is essen- of “state of the world” books. This week we tially a myth; its fearsome economic condi- don our ‘sceptical’ spectacles and view three tions and clash of cultures are part of a larg- social commentaries with a critical gaze. er cyclical process of opposing types. By this logic all problems can be understood as a The New America process; a surge of immigration will, neces- Mark Little (New Island, 2008) sarily lead to anti-immigration sentiments. America is commonly perceived as a na- But also, the American model is equally tion of opposites; from obesity clinics to applicable elsewhere, “This is America but size zero Jeans, Californian sand to New it could be Ireland” becomes the writer’s England’s green landscapes. Mark Little mantra. Although Mark Little chooses not does not occupy himself with this obvious to back up the Irish comparison, he invites assertion, but summarises two particularly an interesting reassessment of our own na- tear gas attack giving people onion slices for cidental Millionaires are sitting securely on American opposites. Frontier is the spirit tion. Where are our own complex frontiers their noses, we get a vivid sense of the area their mortgage-free mansions to deliver an of individual pursuit, embracing “personal and are they compatible with our rituals? and its diverse inhabitants. Lynch is clearly industrial drubbing to those desperate new- freedom and innovation” but also isolation, Jean Morley trying to do justice to the stories of the peo- comers caught out be the collapse, the thir- insecurity and ruthlessness. Conversely, ple he met, stories which personalise a high- ty-something Jugglers, whose willful mis- Ritual is the “spirit of the community; in- A Divided Paradise: An Irishman in the ly complex political and military confl ict. management of money has depraved our volving cooperation, law and patriotism but Holy Land, He states himself that “that the primary glorious nation. McWilliams may well have also self-righteousness. Key to understand- David Lynch (New Island, 2008) role of journalists should be both to bear “the zeitgeist by the scruff of the neck” as his ing old America, but also anticipating the Based on his stay in the Summer of 2005 witness to the complexity of events and to cover triumphantly declares, but his relent- new, is unlocking the creative tension be- in the West bank Palestinian town of Bir attempt to write truth in the face of power” less classifying seems to me to have a ris- tween these individualistic and communal Zeit, David Lynch’s book A Divided Paradise and to a certain degree he succeeds. While ibly bourgeois emphasis. We’re given whole forces. is subtitled An Irishman in the Holy Land. It he admits, forthright, that his foot is squared bibleworths of detail on such worthies as Interestingly, Little sees the Frontier as draws on his experience to create a solid completely in the Palestinian Camp, Lynch the Bono Boomers and the Jagger Genera- not merely a physical entity but as a recog- and engaging account of the human aspect manages to give us an objective view of an tion, but where are Mr and Mrs Struggling nisable geographical line. Running across of a political confl ict spanning decades. The extremely complex and volatile situation Saxophonist, or the Brothers Helplessly- the Southern “sunbelt states” it protects book combines personal experiences, anec- lacking any condescending, writerly tone. Improvident, or Jemima Junky and Clarissa Americans from the “the savage certainty of dotal evidence and acute insight and analy- Rebecca Long Crackhead? Where is Jimmy No-Job, that the wilderness”. At worst, frontier mentality sis on life nder occupation in Palestine. It perennial staple of the Irish pub? and physical space collide, creating people is undeniably well-informed, written while The Generation Game And strangely, sadly, success has soured like Carmen Mercia. A self-appointed bor- Lynch was studying Arabic in the Bir Zeit David McWilliams (Gill & MacMillan, poor Mr McWilliams. No longer the cheery der guard, totting a Colt .45 she stands at the University. 2008) cherub of his cover, more a Jude Law than frontier, shooting at stray immigrants. But Lynch’s style is both conversational and David McWilliams is the culprit responsible an Eddie Hobbs, his writing now seeps and ritual is equally frightening; as we visit an provocative, allowing him to describe the for populist bestseller The Pope’s Children, lounges through the gutter to a depth of Evangelical church in the town of Radiant. traumatic and violent events like protests and eager young hopeful The Generation bitter disgust, a sordid cynicism we associ- The spirit of community and god-fearing with an admirable objectivity. Placing us Game. I know nothing of economics, popu- ate more with Chuck Palahniuk. Ireland is love has been transformed into a market- in the centre of the action, he forces us to list or otherwise — as a classicist, I hanker portrayed as a crass and cash-obsessed hin- able brand by tycoon-like Pastor McFar- confront the violence. As that objective ob- back to a simpler time when people wore terland, on the make and mad for migrants, land. Equally two-sided is the living breath- server he tries to convey a sense of the life their money round their neck and bards a seedy magnet for the likes of such stereo- ing American spirit, helping the desolate to he lived in Bir Zeit but cannot help revealing struck more fear than banks. But after skim- types as “four English forty-something men cling to hope, it also fi rmly lodges them in his own deep experiences and the eff ect of ming his book, I feel I know slightly less. with shaved heads… chirpy in a still-drunk an underprivileged position. “Every citizen the people he knew around him. It is a sear- Whereas before I’d assumed economics had type of way, heading home following a sec- is entitled to an equal shot at the American ingly honest account. At his fi rst protest as some vague relation to money and that, his ond-time-round stag weekend in Dublin. dream but not everybody is entitled to an the book opens, Lynch shakes himself, tells particular brand seems the showy facade for The Slovak check-in girl with bad teeth who equal share of America’s wealth.” himself to stop worrying about himself and a compulsive obsession with facile analysis, sleeps four to a box-room in Hazelhatch is Mark Little’s style vacillates as much as start acting like a professional journalist. his pigeonholing of poverties and litany of in no mood for their jaded double enten- his opinions. Analytical, appealing to our In the preface, Lynch states that “Israel is labels. dres.” For all that his associates may fl atter modern desire for accountability, all sup- not a country just like any other” and from The premise of the book is that we Irish him as an excoriating exposer of vice and positions are backed up by dates, polls and the Israeli man who protests for Palestin- are clashing in what he calls a Generation folly, a latterday Juvenal, McWilliams’ glib fi gures. The writer has a weathered sense of ian freedom and frequents Irish bars in Tel War. Nothing new there, but teenagers for tirades are about as savage as a wild egg. the necessity of fact, perhaps from his years Aviv, to the young boy who runs about in a once play no part. The fi fty-something Ac- Conor Murray tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 11 As one of the country’s leading artists, Robert Ballagh has had a profound infl uence on modern Robert Ballagh in conversation Ireland’s culture and iconography – Caroline O’Leary met him at the recent Trinity Arts Festival

rganising art interviews is al- art career. well as the occasional quirk such as a 3D ways a tricky task in Ireland, Chatting to me afterwards, he cheerfully, pint of Guinness. “I just don’t this I would mostly due to the fact many and at great length, answered my ques- be happy doing this bourgeoisie person sit- of the country’s artists and art tions, doling out amusing anecdotes along ting in a chair.” Often having to work from Ograduates tend to emigrate to the bright the way. Part of what is so impressive about photographs, he takes pains to meet and lights and culture of London, Paris and New Ballagh’s career is his involvement in such a converse with the subject to really gauge York. At the start of the year I was asking cross-section of Irish artistic endeavors, yet both them and their personality in order to people for suggestions of potential candi- it seems this was not always initially the design the best portrait, a part of the job he date and one name that came up again and plan. “I have been fairly fortunate in that a enjoys. “Yes I do like that, particularly when again was Robert Ballagh. Though the name lot of the things that proved really exciting I am working from a photograph I like to be may not ring a bell for some people, in his and challenging and diffi cult were not things able to take the photographs myself because 40 years working as an artist in Ireland, Bal- that I picked to do but was asked to do; like when you can meet the person and take the lagh been involved in nearly every facet of the stamps, like the banknotes, like the photographs, when looking at them after- modern Irish art and culture. As well as his Riverdance thing, like working in theatre. I wards you are able to judge exactly which ample painting work, Ballagh has designed would never have thought of doing theatre photographs actually best represent that theatre sets for the Gate, been stage design- and then just one day I was called up by The person. Where as if you are handed photo- er for the touring Riverdance performance, Gate and asked to design a set and said, ‘well graphs and you haven’t met the person, it’s created the country’s largest murals, de- a hopeless situation.” This method in the signed nearly 70 stamps for An Post and, I hate when I hear past has led to several problems, “I remem- most signifi cantly for those of us ancient ber I had to do a commission portrait of Gay enough to remember the pre-euro years, people saying, ‘We Byrne and it was going to be given to him as the banknotes for the Irish pound. Trinity a surprise and so he couldn’t know about it. College students should particularly be fa- have to have more I said to the people that I had to have pho- miliar with his work, as anyone who has ever tos. And for a man that was very famous exited the Lecky library through the arts courses geared to then they produced these really kind of old block door will have encountered Ballagh’s jobs.’ How dull, more black and white photographs! Particularly mural of life size art admirers studying a the one thing that changes over the years reproduction of one of Jackson Pollack’s computer skills and is hairstyles and these were just 60s or 70s drip paintings, part of a collection he did in hairstyles, so I had to kind of imagine diff er- various buildings around Dublin. He is also commerce and ent kinds of hair! I found that a really non- considered one of the country’s foremost satisfactory way to do a portrait.” portrait artists and even had several of his entrepreneurial skills. Also quite unique to Ballagh’s portraits is design works reproduced as murals in West You should just open their actual shapes, ranging from standard Belfast. rectangles to diamonds, circles, frames Having just completed a portrait of pio- people’s minds. within frames and many others. Though neering molecular biologist James D. Wat- interesting, these have caused problems in son for Trinity’s Hamilton building, and on That’s what I thought the past. “Well, it almost happened by ac- the verge of revealing a new (and reportedly cident, I’m certainly fascinated by unusual controversial) new painting, I was eager to universities were for; shapes which are easy to design and even meet the man in the fl esh on the last day of open people’s minds easy to paint, but I tell you they aren’t easy this year’s Trinity Arts Festival. Speaking in to frame!” One particularly famous situa- the auditorium of Trinity’s Science Gallery, and they can adapt to tion involved Ballagh’s portrait of the late Ballagh exhibited a slideshow selection of Dr. Noel Browne, a former politician and his works while discussing his life, career anything friend of Ballagh’s, which now hangs in the and taking any questions fi red at him by the National Gallery of Ireland. In 1974 as Min- audience. A slightly wild haired man in his I never thought of that! I wonder would I ister for Health, Browne had attempted to 60s, Ballagh chatted easily with the crowd be good at it?’ So that’s a nice thing.” What- introduce the “Mother and Child Scheme” about everything from art to genetics and ever he has done, most of his works have providing free health care to what he saw the experience of forming a drinking group retained a particularly Irish feel including were the country’s the most vulnerable peo- with Peter O’ Toole during a spell working Celtic designs and local backgrounds, that ple. This caused outrage and an enormous ble. So, it took me ages, I was painting these of his works, especially in his own self-por- I really enjoy, which you come across in the an art course or whatever, they might not that’s geared to jobs? Now we are in a reces- at Ardmore Studios as a set painter. is now rare often rare in modern art. “What I outcry from the Catholic Church, eventu- stones for about a month and it so happened traits. These include Number 3 which shows writing and stuff like that which some peo- end up as a professional artist but the skills sion, there are no jobs and they haven’t been Ballagh was fascinated by images from try to respond to is the reality I fi nd, I’m liv- ally causing Browne to retire his post. Many, that I had designed the picture in a kind of a him engrossed in a book entitled “How to ple don’t like but which I fi nd hysterical.” and the abilities and the prising open of the educated to move in any other direction. It’s an early age, choosing art books on child- ing in Ireland and so it is inevitable. If there including myself, believed that Ballagh’s grid system and I suddenly said, ‘Oh wait, Make Your Art Commercial” and Upstairs It would not be too much of an over- imagination will be of extraordinary benefi t terrible!” hood trips to the library with his father be- are Irish elements in my work and national- cross-shaped composition of Browne’s well those panels on the side, I don’t need Number 3 which includes an image of him- statement to suggest that as well as being to them whatever area they choose to move Coming up, Ballagh has been commis- cause they had the best pictures. However, ist elements that’s because I live here and portrait was a public dig at the situation. those, his legs are there and that’s the for- self as a classical male nude (in all his glory) talented, Ballagh has had a fortunate time into.” sioned to do portraits of murdered Belfast unsurprisingly, his mother didn’t see art as it’s what I respond to, I think if I was living However it seems the truth is slightly more mat,’ and I realised I could loose those and I which caused ridiculous amounts of public in his career, with the opportunities such He is particularly concerned about the solicitor Pat Finucane and, rather bizarrely, an appropriate career for her son and so af- in Spain people would say, ‘well why is your practical. took away those canvases and then thought, controversy, including one print in a Galway as his apprenticeship, his composition and growing obsession with “practical” jobs and former Cuban President Fidel Castro for a ter school he studied architecture for three work so Spanish?’” “Well the cross, believe it or not, was al- ‘Well the sky is just blue up there, I don’t gallery being confi scated by the police. Bal- his variety of jobs often arising by chance. fears that the results of this attitude could British collector, “I did try to get a meeting years until a dispute with his tutors caused Despite his array of work, Ballagh is now most accidental. People, or anyone, looking need that but I do need the cottages going lagh simply smiled at the question. “I don’t Of course few of us can think about the arts be grim for our society as a whole. “I hate with him but the ambassador told me he is him to drop out and spend the next few particularly sought out as a portrait painter, at it now say ‘Oh, he’s making this statement across,’ and then I stepped back and said ‘Oh see why art shouldn’t be funny, some people these days without taking into account the when I hear people saying, ‘We have to have no longer receiving guests.” years touring Ireland, the UK and America having taken the likeness of everyone from or that statement.’ One critic even wrote god look what’s coming out here! Huh!’ And take it very seriously but, that’s not to say I current economic shambles and the fact more courses geared to jobs.’ How dull! Yet despite all his talents, achievements with his very Irish show band. After eventu- Gerry Adams to Louis le Brocquy, John B. ‘Robert Ballagh crucifi es Noel Browne’ but it turned out that that was a wonderful com- don’t take it seriously but I do think there that any student currently training in art is More computer skills and commerce and and extremely friendly demeanor, it is those ally tiring of the musical lifestyle, he hap- Keane and his own mentor Michael Farrell. what happened there was I had this con- position. I’d love to say I honestly though of has to be a bit of space for humour, a bit of almost certainly looking at a tough foresee- entrepreneurial skills. You should just open last comments on the necessity of art in pened to meet artist Michael Farrell in the These portraits are much sought after not cept about the painting, I wanted the stones that from the word go but I didn’t! It came space for irony. I do think that’s part of the able few years. Ballagh, however, is indig- people’s minds. That’s what I thought uni- our society that really resonate as I leave. then very bohemian Toner’s pub on Baggot only for Ballagh’s skill but also his unique to literally spill out into the gallery. Now I out for very practical reasons.” Irish psyche, Irish people love storytelling, nant at the suggestion that careers in art versities were for; open people’s minds and With our artists emigrating and galleries Street, who, on the recommendation of a style of depiction, which usually includes realised that to make the work, the painted During the interview, I particularly want- jokes, humour and so much Irish visual arts might well be neglected or even abandoned they will be able to adapt to anything that’s struggling, is Ireland really doomed to a mutual friend, off ered Ballagh an appren- objects or backgrounds that represent and stones had to look as realistic as the real ed to enquire about the slightly tongue-in- in Ireland don’t have that aspect of the Irish in these times of trouble. “You might as well thrown in their way. What happens when population of businessmen and computer ticeship on the spot and began his belated signify the sitter and their personality, as stones, so, diffi cult to do but not impossi- cheek humour that seems evident in many character and I think that’s a shame. There’s go into art, as your not going to get a job we really focus things down to the extent of programmers? Personally, I am going to the also a lovely kind of dark Irish humour that anyway! I always felt for that people doing education in a very defi ned way, in a course next life drawing class I can fi nd. 12 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 13 Into the west

Declan Clarke’s Loneliness in West Germany at the Goethe Institut is a fearless and rewarding show according to Conor O’Kelly

aving been invited to assemble a media group the Springer press. This repro- show for the Goethe-Institut on duction of the physical result of protest - Merrion Square, Irish artist De- titled It Was Beautiful and Terribly Sad - is an clan Clarke has responded with eff ective and theatrical work, and adds a vis- videoH works, photographs, and a series of ceral element to a show which is otherwise interventions, all engaging with the Ger- concerned with a historical and mediated man June 2nd and Red Army Faction terrorist perspective on the eff ects of violence. movements. Staged over four fl oors of the There are two original video work in the Goethe’s public and private workspaces show, the fi rst Loneliness in West Germany the show achieves the eff ect of leading the documents the artist’s visits to the sites of viewer through a multi-layered medita- the most famous events from the history of tion on the causes and eff ects of ideological the RAF and June 2nd movements, juxtaposed commitment. with contemporaneous newspaper articles. History is a nebulous aff air; the eff ects of This is a literal piece which historicises, and time, memory and point of view all conspire in many ways diminishes, any drama of the to render the interpretation of historical protest movements achievements and fail- events an unreliable pursuit. In this context, ures. The only present day mementoes of the fame – and infamy - of the various ter- the actions taken and the lives lost are non- rorist groups that sprang up in 1970s Ger- descript kerbsides where bodies fell and many has grown over the years, much to the yellowing newspaper headlines. The era- dismay of the families of their victims. The sure of signifi cance and meaning is a theme release in Germany last year of The Baader- that seems to run through this exhibition. Meinhoff Complex, a fi lm which examined the In his other video piece – We Missed Out On most notorious perpetrators, brought the A Lot - Clarke demonstrates the process of subject to the boil again, with accusations making a Molotov cocktail. It’s an instantly of stylisation of violence and terrorist chic recognisable process and banal in its sim- levelled at the director. Conversely, support plicity. While the title of the work seems for the political expression of these groups to imply mourning for the passing of more philosophises - class warfare, socialism, revolutionary times, the work itself reduces rejection of American military imperialism the revolutionary act to a simple recipe, and - are experiencing a resurgence in cachet one that doesn’t countenance the ideologi- not seen since the fall of the Berlin wall. All cal meaning or end result of the act. While of which serves to make Clarke’s show rel- the revolutionary act is emptied out in this evant and timely. piece, nonetheless the appropriately do- Starting inside the Goethe’s reading mestic setting of the Goethe Institut’s top room on the ground fl oor a booklet is pro- fl oor fl at gives the gestures an eerie and vided to orientate the viewer and contextu- uncanny eff ect. Like the revolutionary who alise the show. I Don’t Ask That Much is the is habituated to his own commitment to transcript of an interview between Clarke violence, the viewer is invited to commune and ‘AN,’ a former member of the June 2nd with an everyday process of bomb making. movement. The interview itself, framed It’s a haunting eff ect. as a covert meeting, is a thoughtful, engag- Within the Goethe’s library Clarke has ing and believably honest account of how a positioned a slide projector to display imag- seemingly unexceptional individual might, es of political and cultural currency specifi c in the name of political belief, be driven to the history of Germany and the develop- to acts of extreme violence. While this is a ment of Marxism in general. These images, useful orientation piece it is also, it must be neatly sandwiched between shelves of Bach said, the sort of platform that victims of the and Benjamin give the visitor a chance to re- June 2nd activists can fairly protest against. fl ect on the deeper roots of political unrest While AN is contrite for the innocent vic- in 1970s Germany. Elsewhere, Clarke dis- tims of his violence, he is still committed plays photographic prints of the architec- to his cause and his methods. In this sense, ture of Berlin. Clarke’s interview gives a very real insight This is a very rewarding exhibition and into the unshakeable beliefs of a lifelong one that uses the full space of the Goethe- committed “anarcho-marxist.” The booklet Institut to good eff ect. It is dangerous terri- I Don’t Ask That Much is as much a facsimile tory in the sense that tackling such an overtly of the clandestine political pamphlets cir- political subject risks deifying and mytholo- culated by these organisations in the 1970s, gizing the individuals involved. Clarke has as it is an original. balanced the exhibition well in this aspect; In the car park behind the Goethe-In- the work provides context and comes at the stitut Clarke has installed a car on its side. events from a number of angles. Smashed and upturned it is evocative of the Loneliness In The West runs until 30 Photo: Conor O’Kelly actions that the June 2nd movement took March at the Goethe-Institut, 37 Mer- against the delivery vans of the right wing rion Square, Dublin 2.

14 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Karin ‘Mamma’ Andersson (photo: Mattias Ahlm) The jewel in the arts block crown lery 1 tends to house the major exhibition of nately their photography mixed sculpture Continuing her mission to encourage people work, while the displays in Gallery 2 often throughout the gallery. This will be accom- include media such as textiles and ceram- panied by a collection of ethnic Asafo Fante to drop by the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Caroline ics and has featured exhibitions as diverse Flags in Gallery 2, an art form developed as Japanese Tea Bowls and jewellery made in Ghana where various gangs within local O’Leary talks to curatorial assistant Barry White from poison bottles. Though far smaller and tribes adopted the Western concept of de- more constrained than the main space, Gal- signing their own unique fl ags as a symbol s yet another friend, in their third initially run, slightly haphazardly, by stu- lery 2 is important to remind viewers that of their power and independence year of college, expressed their dents following a rather disorganised exhi- there is indeed more to art than just the con- As well as exhibitions, I was particularly shock on discovering the Douglas bitions programme, ranging from contem- ventional, as White says “I guess it’s gener- surprised to learn that the Hyde regularly Hyde was an art gallery, I decided porary Irish artists to graphic shows. It was ally a way of getting us to think outside the prints books in conjunction with collec- itA was high time I took an in depth look at the only when director John Hutchinson took box.” tions and artists. Especially intriguing is little gallery that is literally on our doorstep. over in the early 90s that the current pro- In the coming year the Hyde is poised the notebook sized publication The Bridge Curatorial Assistant Barry White happily sat gramme of specifi cally international stan- to display an immensely varied, yet inter- composed by director John Hutchinson as a down with me last week to chat about the dard contemporary art was put into place. esting and impressive collection of works. collection of thoughts and images that have gallery and their exciting new programme Many fi rst time visitors to the gallery Currently on show until 18 March are paint- contributed to the creating of the Gallery’s of events for the coming year. A Trinity Art seem surprised at the small size. Working ings by acclaimed Swedish artist Mamma tone and collections over the years. History graduate, White worked part time within the constantans of tall, open Gal- Anderson, which predominantly feature Despite the high standards and acclaim, in the gallery during his degree and has now lery 1 and small specifi c Gallery 2, it seems richly coloured and detailed cross sections the Hyde is still seems slightly hampered by been involved for nearly 9 years, making unusual that when compared to other, larg- of interiors while Gallery 2 features “The the fact that it is a gallery located within a him an ample authority on all things to do er gallery spaces in Dublin that the Hyde Paradise” a collection of organic based, college campus where exposure tends to be with the Gallery. should be so successful in their acquisitions garden-like installations by fellow Swede minimal. White admits this can be a prob- The Gallery is run jointly between the and achievements. Yet I was assured that Nina Canell. Following on from this will be lem but is optimistic “Some exhibitions are college, who provide the space and utilities, this has rarely been a problem, “Well some, a collection of works by Fischli & Weiss, two certainly less accessible to students who are and the National Arts Council who pay for some we can’t physically fi t through the of Switzerland’s most renowned artists who not interested in art, but many are and they the maintenance and running of the Gallery. doors, but have had some very large instal- last year were featured in a major retrospec- should keep visiting to see for themselves. What is probably surprising to many Trinity lations. It doesn’t hamper us usually.” tive at the Tate Modern. Though known for Our aim is to provide the best exhibitions students is that the gallery has a signifi cant Exhibitions in both galleries are often co- their frequent use of diff erent media, rang- possible for both the public and the student international reputation and the standard ordinated to provide a connection between ing from fi lm to photography, art-books, population.” of the exhibitions there is of the highest in- the two rooms, while retaining a diff erentia- sculpture and multimedia-installations, More information can be found at ternational standard. Opened in 1978, it was tion through media and other methods. Gal- the Hyde exhibition will feature predomi- www.douglashydegallery.com tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 15 Photo: Colm Hogan Dreams of marble

True to form, Marina Carr’s Marble deals with dour subject matter but is no less life-affi rming for it says Kathy Clarke

t the interval of Marble, the Marina to sleep and you and I are a dream, a frag- Carr play currently premiering at ment, diffi cult to remember on waking. Be- The Abbey, the woman next to me ing awake is no longer important.” couldn’t take it anymore. She’d As in Carr’s other plays, the women are escapedA to the foyer, read the last page of the wild and unconventional (unlike the men, play, and then made the decision that she who are basically talking props), unable to wouldn’t waste anymore of her short life on fi nd a place in the mortal world. The strik- this nonsense. In a way, that’s exactly how ing diff erence in Marble, however, is that the female characters in Carr’s play feel. this isn’t the typical midlands backdrop reg- Despite my general soft spot for the work ularly employed by Carr, but a much more of Ireland’s most prolifi c female playwright, contemporary Ireland. I could empathise with this disgruntled au- Revisiting themes and issues from previ- dience member. Like most of Carr’s work ous plays and developing them in a new way, Marble – directed by Jeremy Herrin – deals the set is indicative of a “yuppy” apartment with issues and ideas surrounding death by the docks where the furniture is retro- and the realm of the dead, not exactly up- chic and wreaks of Habitat. These issues beat subject matter. of displacement and anomie suddenly feel Marble further develops many of Carr’s all the more unsettling when juxtaposed previous themes and obsessions- the myth- against this aesthetic backdrop. The ab- ic and the mundane, and, of course, how it sence of the rural landscape is not lost on is that we die. Carr has in fact discussed at Carr’s characters. Catherine talks about length her interest in the process of death “rural, open parts of the country that are re- and her ideas of what death essentially ally just asylums.’” means. She tells Melissa Sihra, “We are of While the play is marketed as taut, funny time, but also be- and incisive, I found yond it… The fact At the interval of these self-refl exive that we are dying references to pre- probably is the only the play, the woman vious works much signifi cant thing for more amusing than all of us. And how next to me couldn’t the gags centred we live, and how we around the battle of die… I have always take it anymore the sexes. Another thought that death example of these is just a moment, like two seconds. It is just references could be identifi ed when Carr’s the end of your world here. It is almost like themes of incest were parodied by Anne’s the starting block of the race.” reading of a book she described as being Essentially a play about dreams, the nar- about “tasteful incest.” rative surrounds two couples – Catherine Special mention must be made of the and Ben, Anne and Art – both have kids, both set design by Robert Innes Hopkins, which, are happy. Thing are disrupted, however, in addition to the retro-chic apartment when Catherine and Art start having erotic vibe, included a huge marble column that dreams about one another, set in a marble stretched up majestically out of the audi- room, with marble windows. As the line be- ence’s line of vision. tween real life and the dream world blurs, In the fi nal scene of the show the column jealousy grips and life for both couples be- emerges from the theatre fl oor, leaving a gins to unravel. Catherine can no longer gaping crater reminiscent of a tomb or even bear to live in the living, mortal world, full the gateway to hell, water dripping down of supermarkets, restaurants and wine bars. into darkness. Smooth transitions were Cynical and disgusted with life, she is sim- made possible by remote control, sofas slid- ply waiting for it all to end. ing effi ciently into place without the help of Central to these themes is the idea of stage hands. liminality and an in between place, the If there was one thing I took from this threshold between two spheres or states play, it was a greater respect for life and a of being- dreams and reality, death and life, sense of human mortality of which Marina mortality and immortality. Employing a sort Carr has always been acutely aware. Some of heightened hyper-realistic style in her ex- might emerge from The Abbey wanting to ploration of these themes and ideas, Carr make the most of every second, climb the places her audience at a critical distance Himalayas, sail down the Mississippi on a from the work, off ering an “oblique access home made raft. Then again, if you don’t to the culture and society in question,” as fancy going skydiving, “I know it’s not living is suggested by Sihra. Catherine explains: on the edge but then, there’s not room on “It’s as if my real life is happening when I go the edge for everyone.”

16 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Brian Martin has produced a number of his own plays in college over the No joke last few years. Michael Carroll assesses his latest eff ort, Joker Choker nce, I read part of a book on ex- with fi lthy old skin reaching out to grab him. him. Rather, throughout the play, opposites characters were stable, they were constant- perimental theatre, but it was This also happens to Mark, the thirteen year were mixed randomly and with intensity. ly mixed around, and the play’s greatest very boring so I stopped. Prior old boy at the centre of Joker Choker. It’s There were lines straight out of Disney achievement was that they somehow were to seeing the show, I feared called sleep paralysis and happens when (“Do you know what I am?... Your imagi- believable. Siobhan Cullen’s prostitute Lor- OBrian Martin’s new play Joker Choker, on in your mind has woken up but your body nation.”) and lines straight out of a poetry raine subtly mixed childishness and world- week four of this term in the Players theatre, hasn’t and your muscles are still sedated by reading in a basement (“everything denied weariness. might be experimental. The line between the your brain. The old person is a hallucina- is liquefi ed in streams of molten magma Most disturbingly, Tom Williams’s ap- Real and the Unreal might become blurred tion. But at the start of Joker Choker the old that erupts out your mind when you least parition changed from something inhuman before our eyes – the possibilities inherent man and lady are replaced by someone more expect it”). Hamsters committed suicide to something as troubled and human as the in fi ction might even be exploited. sinister, a nameless apparition of some spe- and fathers threw children down the stairs. rest of them. Then on the bed before us he Brian Martin’s play was experimental, cies or other. An apparition fl ew out the window and re- had a spine-chilling seizure like a wild ani- but not, on the whole, in a way that off ended This play was at its best when it was clear entered through a shining wardrobe. And mal. Jim, the owner of the bungalow played one’s refi ned sensibilities. It was at its most its playwright wasn’t thinking at all, when it all in an extraordinarily detailed and life- by Manus Halligan, came through the bed- eff ective when sensibilities weren’t at issue had nothing to do with theory. It was at its like bungalow bedroom from the 70s Irish room door but for fi ve seconds he wasn’t Jim at all. These were moments that aff ected worst when social realism of the culchie al- countryside. but Lorraine because he wore her clothes members of the audience viscerally: some- coholic domestic abuse kind mixed with sur- Somehow, among these immediate and and walked like an imitation of a prostitute. times the girl beside me squealed. But I’ll realism of the “that’s absurd!”, this-must- jarring rather than neatly theoretical con- The girl beside me squealed but then she get back to that. be-a-French-play variety. These moments fi gurations there were characters. Kate laughed because it was very funny. Like the Brian Martin is a very strange person. were thankfully rare. Brian has a strange Brower, for example, was heartwarming play, this moment wasn’t theoretical – it Sometimes when he wakes up he can’t move condition, so abstract that binaries such and endearing as Lucy, a 19 year-old girl who was disgusting, like a messed-up thought in and he sees either an old man or an old lady as Real and Unreal probably don’t interest is also Mark, a 10 year-old boy. None of the a troubled brain.

The Real Thing at The Gate is great at points, but A really good eff ort not unmissable says Barbara Alice McCarthy

om Stoppard’s The Real Thing is of words for her which down spirals in at- scene and set changes are fl awless. This is a think was not a wise decision as the audi- about love, passion, honesty and tempts to make him jealous. play for lovers of the theatre and all things ence became restless towards the end. We articulacy, or rather, inarticulacy. The Real Thing is scored to a vintage theatrical, we are constantly reminded that see resonances of the play in act one in the Our protagonist Henry is a play- soundtrack of pop tunes from the 1970s and the show is indeed a performance. reality of act two, which links us back to the Twright, involved with an actress, Annie and 80s as Henry decides his ‘Desert Island Top The fi rst act is greatly entertaining and question of art infl uencing life. likes to think of himself as highly intellec- Ten’ which is a complete guilty pleasure for we are hit with wit for its entirety. The Real Overall, I think The Real Thing is worth a tual, believing his art as a writer is sacred both Henry and the audience and allows for Thing touches on dark issues such as adul- look if you like theatre and its workings, you and that language should be treasured. This seamless scene changes. This play is highly tery, infi delity, jealousy and deceit but we will fi nd yourself awed by the set and Denis role is executed superbly by Stephen Bren- theatrical, beginning from the tiny signifi er are never asked to face them head on. Stop- Clohessy’s sound design. The dialogue is nan, whose comic timing makes the play of a red curtain, we see “a play within a play,” pard’s language shrouds the issues and quirky and funny, but at times can be a bit highly witty, and helps the audience digest there is a blur between reality and acting, art while this can lead to funny and lighter cir- overbearing, particularly towards the end of the wordy nature of the play. Henry may and life. It questions whether art can infl u- cumstances, I was left feeling that nothing the second act. The Real Thing is immensely have all the words, but he is unable to put ence life. Designer Conor Murphy has mir- was fully confronted – be it Henry’s love funny at times, heartbreaking at others and them together when he wants to express to rored the theatricality of the text to the set for Annie or Annie’s deceit and attempts at sometimes just a bit wordy. I would recom- Annie what she means to him. We see Annie with his use of a revolving wall for all scene making him jealous. The second act is weak- mend it for an enjoyable night out to the getting increasingly frustrated by his lack changes. The set works remarkably as the er, a half hour longer than the fi rst, which I theatre but it is not unmissable. tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 17 Restaurant reviews

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Chez Max is hidden at the side of Dublin is so often a feature of “French Onion Walking into Ukiyo Bar, I couldn’t help lery). There was also a portion of maki- Castle, and when you step inside you re- Soup”. The soup itself was delicious and pausing for a moment to just inhale and zushi (rolled sushi) served with ginger. ally feel you are in a diff erent world. We perfect for a Winter evening. For mains enjoy. It smells exactly like an Asian res- Not being an expert and lacking a menu went on a cold and rainy Wednesday and we stuck to the classics- I had Moules taurant should; warm, spicy and…well, or a comprehensive explanation from I can think of no better antidote to a cold Frites and La Copine had Boeuf Bour- just yummy. The soft music and muted our waiter, I couldn’t say exactly what rainy Wednesday in Dublin than this guignon. The Bouef Bourguignon was a lighting create a relaxed vibe, while the was in it, but I can say that it involved cosy little French restaurant. The Early winner- a stew of beef, mushrooms, ba- quirky décor oozes eff ortless cool. squid and that as someone who has nev- Bird is on off er from 5.30 to 7 Sunday to con and onions all cooked for about for- Our waiter was friendly; however, he er really had much of a taste for sushi, I Thursday and at €19 for starter and main ty years in wine, so that everything tastes only provided us with full price menus enjoyed it. However, there weren’t any course off ers excellent value for money. of each other in the best possible way. It and didn’t mention an early bird. Lucky particularly strong fl avours or textures, Choice is limited to three starters and came with some new potatoes in a side I asked, as Ukiyo off ers one of the best and for the more adventurous sushi fan, three mains, but on the plus side the dish so as not to detract from the main early birds available in central Dublin – it would possibly seem quite bland and portions do not appear to be altered for event. The only criticism is that it was a bento box and a beer for €15. (For read- boring. The salad was very pleasant, a the Early Bird. bit too salty. I love seafood, so I was a lit- ers unfamiliar with the idea, a bento con- simple dish of sliced red and yellow pep- For starters, I had the goats cheese tle disappointed when the mussels were sists of samples of a few diff erent dishes pers, onions, carrots and cucumber; it and roasted vegetables “en aumoniere” tasteless and slightly dry-the trademark usually served with miso soup and rice.) complemented the other dishes per- (basically encased in some crunchy fi lo of reheated molluscs. The sauce was Given that the bento box alone is priced fectly and added a lovely sweetness to pastry). When this arrived, I had a mo- gorgeous though and they came with €17 on the main menu, this is a pretty the meal. mentary panic- the plate was drizzled the best chips I have had in ages. Slightly sweet deal; and is also available at lunch- Overall, it was a very enjoyable dinner. with the scourge of Modern Ireland- thicker than matchstick, crispy but still time for an excellent €10. But the star attraction of Ukiyo has to be pesto. I am a huge fan of good pesto in fl uff y inside, and piping hot, we were I was a little disappointed that our its private karaoke booths, which are lo- the right context, and I didn’t envision fi ghting over these even though we were bentos were served in individual dishes cated downstairs and cost just €25 per this being one of them. However, it was full to bursting point. When I say full to rather than the traditional partitioned hour. The website states that each booth not overpowering and was more like a bursting point obviously all I mean is boxes, but cheered up rapidly when I can accommodate up to ten people, but salad dressing. On approach with a fork that we had to share a dessert. This isn’t started eating. The fi rst dish I tried was a we had a few more and there were no the whole thing descended into what included in the menu but at €5.50 per delicious beef chop suey. The sauce was objections. It does get extremely warm, became essentially a salad with veg bits, dessert it’s not too much of a stretch to seductively smoky and managed not to but luckily there’s a direct line to the cheesy bits and crunchy pastry bits mix- share one. We chose gateau au chocolat, overpower the fl avours of the perfectly bar, and anyway when twelve friends are ing into the obligatory bed of rocket. It which was basically just a bog-standard cooked beef and vegetables. The other belting out “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was strangely fi lling, and thankfully, my chocolate sponge, nothing to get excited main dish was lemon-marinated mack- after a few rounds of sake, no one cares fears were unfounded. La Copine de- about, and two coff ees. We felt in no rush erel, also delectable. This was a relatively if it gets a bit sweaty. There’s a surreal cided to run with the French theme and to go anywhere and they put no pressure plain dish; no heavy sauce, just a lemon contrast between the tranquil dining ordered French Onion Soup. This came on us to leave, even thought the restau- slice and the beautifully fl avoured fi sh experience upstairs and the uninhibited with grated cheese on the side for you rant was fairly full. The French music itself. It was served in fi llet pieces, but butchering of power ballads and 80s pop to form your own goopy layer, which I and French waiting staff really added to fl aked into lovely bite-sized chunks with tunes downstairs, but the combination thought was a nice touch as there is noth- the atmosphere. I would defi nitely go very little persuasion (good news for makes for a truly memorable night and ing more gross than the lukewarm layer back to Chez Max, even just for a quick uncultured souls who fi nd chopsticks is perfect for birthday celebrations or of pre-congealed stringy cheese which lunch in town. Melanie O’Reilly tricky but are too proud to ask for cut- just a bit of fun. Melanie O’Reilly

18 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 CD Reviews

News inity N artist Handsome Furs ty artist Bell X1 Tr ew ni s ri T

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The second album from husband and an eighteenth century mass grave in Bell X1’s last album Flock garnered best lyrical quotes to be had. You can’t wife duo Handsome Furs sees the Mon- Helsinki, they decided to develop their great reviews both at home and in the help but feel that Bell X1 have found treal band looking to Eastern Europe for sound in the process of writing Face Con- US, the question is: can Blue Lights on the their winning formula of piano ballads inspiration. Face Control got its name trol, creating a more upbeat album, that Runway live up to the expectations set and should perhaps have tried to de- from the somewhat bizarre practise has far more instrumentation and fuller by its predecessor? With rhythm guitar- velop this more throughout the album. in Russian bars of admitting people arrangements than its predecessor. ist Brian Crosby’s recent departure from “Breastfed” recalls debut album Neither based on whether or not the bouncers The low-key dance beats and melodic the band fans will be interested see will Am I and brings some welcome variety like their appearance, even though they tunes make this album very easy to lis- there to be much of a noticeable change to the album. “A Better Band” is also one might have booked and paid for their ten to, with several tracks really stand- to the band’s sound. of most radiofriendly tracks, you can tables in advance. Thank god the bounc- ing out. The opening track, “Legal Ten- Opener “The Ribs of a Broken Um- expect it to receive just as much airplay ers in Dublin don’t have similar powers, der” fuses cold, metronomic electronic brella” shows the album’s inclination as “The Great Defector,” its chilled bas- given the fact that they’re quite obnox- beats with jagged dissonant guitars, as towards a softer synth sound, the sound- shook and rhythmic drums are paired ious enough already. But anyway, the does “Radio Kalingrad”, another unmis- scape brings Achtung Baby-era U2 to well with Noonan’s clever wordplay. entire album is loosely based around the takable highlight of the album. Another mind. “The Great Defector” is the lead “Light Catches Your Face” is one of the idea of living in a Soviet state, although song that’s strangely addictive is “Of- single from the album, one of the most most heartfelt tracks on the album ‘ light several of the tracks sound undeniably fi cer of Hearts (It’s Not Me, It’s You).” upbeat tracks on off er, altogether a great catches your face, your smile, this must American, especially “Talking.” The al- The track is short, clocking in at just track however at just 5 minutes it begins be what one of us is about’ is the refrain bum also explores the idea of life in the over a minute and a half, and is purely to drag out a bit towards the end. In fact which cant help but grab you as the track twenty-fi rst century as being irrevoca- instrumental, with the bold anthemic this is a reoccurring theme throughout draws to its end, however yet again a bly enmeshed in a panopticon culture synthesisers pushing the track closer to the album, though Bell X1 are known for great moment is hampered by an overly controlled by the internet. trance than the indie-rock sound that their unpolished, raw sound you can’t long ending. Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and dominates throughout the rest of the al- help but wonder what a tighter produc- In summary this album has its great short story writer Alexei Perry have bum. The release date of Face Control has tion may have added to the album. The moments, it doesn’t represent any ma- placed travel – whether it’s the exten- been delayed to March, due to band ref- new album has its electronic infl uences jor changes in direction for Noonan and sive touring or location-themed albums erencing a New Order song on the track yet is reminiscent of Talking Heads in Co but their songwriting ability is with- – at the heart of Handsome Furs. After “All We Want, Baby, is Everything”. The many ways. “The Blow Ins” is one of the out doubt improving with every album, their 2007 debut album, Plague Park, album is well worth the wait, though. highlights on the album, “I’m Tuesdays sadly however it’s just proven too diffi - which was named after a park built over Catriona Gray child without the grace” being one of the cult to surpass Flock. Keith Grehan tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 19 Film reviews

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“I can sum up the problems of this band dictable mix of tragic and hilarious mo- Gran Torino is the story of Walt Kow- ily.” Thao brings great disrespect to the in one word. Maybe two words. Actually, ments that lift the documentary from a alski (Clint Eastwood), a veteran from family by attempting to steal the car three words: We Don’t Have Good Man- standard tour travelogue to something the Korean War and a retired Ford auto- and is forced to work for Walt to repay agement.” truly special. worker. The fi lm tells of an embittered, the debt. An inevitable bond of mutual If such unintentional comedy gems Central to the appeal of the fi lm is the impenetrable widower and his battle respect ensues and with the further were all Anvil! The Story of Anvil had to brotherly relationship of Kudlow and with the world; Walt Kowalski is the last help of Thao’s smart and able sister Sue off er, the fi lm would still be a triumph. Reiner, whose compelling personalities man left of his kind, defending his prop- (Ahney Her), Walt’s wall of bitterness Thankfully, however, Sacha Gervasi’s are immediately engaging. Lips Kudlow erty in a neighbourhood of immigrant crumbles. ode to his beloved heavy metal heroes is the ideal frontman, a bundle of en- Asian Americans. Walt is now embroiled in Thao’s has much more depth, pathos and hon- ergy and optimism who communicates The fi lm opens with Walt at his battle to avoid his own pitiful destiny, esty than its “Spinal Tap for real” de- through his excited rants and pained ex- wife’s funeral, barely able to tolerate where among Hmong people “ the girls scription would suggest. pressions the sacrifi ces they have made the annoyances of those close to him: go to college and the boys go the jail”. All The fi lm charts a year in the life of to follow their shared dream. Reiner, on his sorely disappointing kids and his the while Eastwood is tempted by the lo- aging rockers Steve “Lips” Kudlow and the other hand, is thoughtful, practical, thoughtless, selfi sh grandkids. They re- cal punks to don the Dirty Harry gun and Robb Reiner, lifelong friends who from and yet passionate; a perfect foil to Lips’ ceive no more than grunts and snarls; holster and go out in a blaze of glory. age 14 have had their sights set of rock histrionics and top-notch drummer ma- even the young freckled-faced parish Walt Kowalski in many ways epito- superstardom. In 1982, their band Anvil terial. priest (Christopher Carley) is shown mises Eastwood’s hard-nosed, gruff burst onto the world stage with the al- Anvil! expertly balances the inher- the door. Walt desires to be alone. He is persona, and the fi lm is haunted by the bum Metal on Metal, infl uencing a gener- ent humour of their predicament with a diffi cult man isolated in a time that is ghosts of his previous roles. Lines like ation of musicians including Metallica’s a genuine fondness for the two men, no not his. Other than his dog Daisy, all that “Get off my lawn” and “Ever notice how Lars Ulrich and Slash of Guns N’ Roses doubt due to the director’s experience he cherishes is a relic of better times: a you come across somebody once in a fame. While other bands from that era as a roadie for the band during their 1972 Ford Gran Torino. while that you shouldn’t have messed went on to great fi nancial success, Anvil brief heyday. The fi lm respects the dedi- Walt’s implacable fortress of isola- with? That’s me.” serve as testimony disappeared into obscurity. cation both the band members and their tion is breached by his new immigrant to the fact that at the grand old age of Now in their fi fties, the fi lm joins Lips families have shown in spite of count- neighbours. When Thao Vang Lor (Bee 78, Eastwood can still pull it off . How- and Robb in the snowy suburban sprawl less false starts and setbacks. But just Vang), the young teenager from next ever it must be said that the fi lm does of Toronto, as they work dead-end jobs when it seems that life has got the best door is dared by a local gang to trespass much more than rehash stereotypes; it and play to local audiences they know by of them, a magical moment occurs that on Walt’s property and steal his beloved is a touching story of a man’s realization name. After a brief glimpse of their som- is truly heart-warming and uplifting: car, Walt is unknowingly dragged out that life is not a war and that he is a dif- bre daily lives, the fi lm kicks into gear as a rare chance to see a real life story of of his misanthropic exile, while poor ferent man from the one who fought in they make one last-ditch attempt to be- someone’s dream (sort of) coming true. Thao nearly gets his head blown off for Korea: he’s simply too old to lose friends come successful: an ill-fated European They say any band that takes them- the stunt. The archetypal Eastwood mix anymore. The fact that Walt manages to tour followed by a reunion with Metal selves too seriously should watch This of blue-collar values and bare knuckle purge his demons without resorting to on Metal producer Chris Tsangarides Is Spinal Tap, and true as this may be, for methods, Walt emerges from seclusion pseudo-redemption or easy violence is for their new album, This Is Thirteen. At any would-be musician who doesn’t take and becomes reluctantly involved with an affi rmation of both Eastwood’s cre- almost every stage of their journey, mis- his or her dream seriously enough, Anvil! Thao’s Hmong family, remarking: “I’ve ative development, in both performance haps and arguments lead the band to the The Story of Anvil is not to be missed. more in common with these gooks then and direction, and the overall quality of brink of dissolution, creating an unpre- Michael Armstrong I do with my own spoiled, rotten fam- the fi lm. Andrew Grant

20 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Film reviews

y New nity New nit s ri s title The Class ri title Friday the 13th T T

director Lauren Cantet director Marcus Nispel

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François Bégaudeau, Franck Keita, Nassim Amrabt Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti x

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s running time 128 minutes n running time 97 minutes

The Class, directed by Laurent Cantet and verb tense exercises. Friday the 13th, the latest “re-imag- impossible to care whether they live or and winner of the Palme D’Or at Cannes A small triumph for both Mr. Marin ining” of a classic slasher franchise, is die. There is zero suspense in wonder- in 2008, is a wonderful fi lm about a Pa- and his students comes in the form of loosely based on the fi rst three instal- ing who will make it to the fi nal scene risian teacher and his class of thirteen ‘personal portraits’ that each student ments of the series, opening with a re- and the only question is who’s next for year-olds from diverse racial and ethnic creates. This exercise allows Mr. Marin minder of how it all began at Camp Crys- the chop. This would be almost forgiv- backgrounds. to get know these kids, yet more impor- tal Lake. Back in 1980, Mrs Voorhees able if there was any tongue-in-cheek el- The fi lm is based on the memoirs of tantly, allows them to assert their indi- was decapitated by the sole survivor of ements behind the depravity, but its just François Bégaudeau, an actual high- viduality. On the last day of school each her murderous revenge on a group of the same tired old clichés with no eff ort school teacher, who assumes the lead student is given a booklet containing camp counsellors. She sought retribu- to inject any humour whatsoever, un- role in the fi lm, playing a fi ctionalized each portrait – a tangible achievement tion for the death of her son Jason, who less you count the lonely hillbilly victim version of himself. Similarly, many of that embodies a mutual respect. Bé- drowned almost 20 years previously whose sole purpose is to raise the body the students are actual students who gaudeau’s plays himself not as some per- while the counsellors at the time were, count and contrive a situation for Jason use their real names. These techniques, fect plaster saint or paragon of virtue; he ahem, otherwise engaged. Fast-forward to pick up the iconic hockey mask. coupled with the documentary-style makes as many missteps as he does bold almost another 30 years and ten (yes, Obviously there was never any pur- direction of Cantet combine to give forward moves. This fi lm manages to ten) sequels of varying quality later, and pose behind this project other than to the fi lm a realism and relevance that be inspirational without the typical hit- a typical bunch of vacuous morons ar- squeeze a few more cents out of one of separates it from the myriad of inspira- you-over-the-head speech that magi- rive at the abandoned camp, only to be the most lucrative horror franchises tional-teacher/deprived-student fi lms cally reaches the students. Instead, we welcomed by the ever-inexplicably alive ever. But surely someone could have that Hollywood has produced over the are shown real life teaching by trial and Jason and his trusty machete. And this is made a little eff ort to give us a scare, or years. The Class outclasses such fi lms in error. all before the opening credits. at least a giggle? its honest portrayal of teenagers. It does What is most enchanting about this We then meet yet another group of It goes without saying that the script hint at certain traits in characters, but fi lm is its ability to subtly grasp and hold all-American college brats, on their way is painful and the acting is average at allows them to be more than the usual your attention without you realizing you to Daddy’s lakeside cabin for a weekend best, but even the gore isn’t particularly stereotypes. ever gave it away. For the majority of the of sex, beer and bongs. Along the way shocking or inventive. The makers seem The Class manages to fi rmly capture fi lm, there is no signifi cant plot, event they encounter Jared Padalecki roam- unaware that unlike audiences of the what it is actually like to be in a class on or action that spikes your interest, only ing the area on a motorcycle and looking 1980s, today’s viewers have been desen- a day to day basis. The teacher, François an ever-fl owing, well-paced dialogue be- typically broody, in search of his sister sitised by torture porn of the Saw and Marin (Bégaudeau), struggles to get tween teachers and students that slowly (who was among the pre-title bunch). Hostel variety, and gratuitous stabbing through the day’s work, yet, much like entwines you in its grip. The fi lm peaks The kind-hearted girl in the group (i.e. just doesn’t have the same shock value Socrates, never allows the students away near the end, when a rebellious Malian the one who’s not going to get naked) any more. with off -the-cuff remarks about race or student, Souleymane (Franck Keita), is falls for his heartbroken puppy-dog eyes Worst of all, in a move that disap- sexuality without demanding a rational- threatened with expulsion even though and the pair go rummaging around the points at least half of the potential au- ization that makes the kids think. As a this almost certainly means he will be forest in the falling darkness while her dience, Jared Padalecki does not at any white teacher in a class that is predomi- deported back to Africa. The students friends get down to some good old-fash- point remove his shirt. However, three nantly fi lled with French-born students take his side against François, who is ioned debauchery. ample-chested young females are more of African or Caribbean descent, Fran- torn. Cantet, as he has throughout, takes Do I really need to describe this “plot” than happy to expose themselves for our çois is keenly aware that more is going no clear side, and this is the beauty of any further? It’s laughable to consider enjoyment. Go fi gure, ladies. on in his schoolroom than just grammar The Class. Robert Grant these sitting ducks as characters, as its Áine Boyle tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 21 Film reviews

y New nity New nit s ri s title Doubt ri title The Young Victoria T T

director John Patrick Shanley director Jean-Marc Vallée

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Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoff man, Amy Adams Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany x

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Like Meryl Streep’s character in Doubt, Aloysius seems content that this deci- I have always been partial to a good peri- assiduously. Until her coronation she we only witness small, almost insignifi - sion proves his guilt. This ambiguity od drama. There’s something indulgent is virtually under house arrest; never cant details surrounding a possibly inap- and indirection serves to make the fi lm about nestling in on a Sunday afternoon allowed in public and rarely allowed to propriate relationship between Father appear deep, and defi nitely engages the and watching the likes of Pride and Prej- socialise. The few occasions she does, it Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoff man) and a audience by puzzling them. udice or Vanity Fair. It’s the extravagance is only with company of their choosing. young student of his. Set in the 1960s, The fi lm, however, suff ers from per- of the costumes, the graceful dances and However, once safely on the throne and the student, as the only African Ameri- haps one too many “telling” oblique the romance of a by-gone era which we free from Conroy’s shackles, Victoria can pupil, is having diffi culties adapting angles and references to bad weather, fi nd so seductive. However, I think that falls prey to the charming but equally to life in a strict Catholic school. Father which, rather amateurishly, mirrors the the dramas that are most cherished go manipulative Lord Melbourne (Paul Flynn acts both as a mentor and friend narrative’s tension and drama. The end- far beyond aesthetic frivolity. What is Bettany) who successfully haunts each to him, but this relationship is brought ing feels tacked on, too, with Streep’s also alluring is the wit and intelligence decision she makes. Meanwhile Prince into question after Sister James (Amy character crying literal tears and confi d- which shines through the dialogue. The Albert (Rupert Friend) attempts to woo Adams) witnesses Flynn putting the ing in Sister James that she “has so much heroes and heroines are usually very her and it is excitement of the delicacy of boy’s undershirt into his locker. She doubt.” Perhaps an attempt to humanize witty, making them as admirable for Albert and Victoria’s courtship, twinned later tells her superior, Sister Aloysius Sister Aloysius, the scene feels unneces- their brain as well as their beauty. None- with the interplay of power and politics (Meryl Streep) what she has seen, which sary and odd, leaving the viewer bewil- theless, beauty and romance still helps. which drives the fi lm. leads to the head nun attempting to dered as the credits begin to roll. I was therefore surprised at the Scripted by Julian Fellowes (Gosford prove Flynn’s guilt. The ending also undermines the choice of Queen Victoria as an unlikely Park), this is a witty and heart warming The real achievement of Doubt lies in most enjoyable element of the fi lm: muse for such a drama. When I think of fi lm. Victoria’s youth is an arguably un- the dubious nature of the crime, which watching Streep play a venomous and Queen Victoria, I think of the portrait of told story and Fellowes and Vallée man- becomes the fi lm’s intriguing cipher. self-righteous character, placed in di- her looking big bird and beaky; a round age to capture the strength and energy There are no scenes of molestation, rect confl ict with Phillip Seymour Hoff - and sturdy matriarch at the helm of the of the young Queen. Bettany is suitably nor would one suspect any impropriety man’s warm and aff able Father Flynn. British Empire. It is exactly this image unctuous as Melbourne and Strong ap- from the interactions between Flynn Her strict and merciless character is the which the director, Jean-Marc Vallée so propriately threatening in his latent am- and the student. The crime itself is nev- type one would typically identify with assiduously tries to deconstruct. Hence bition to become Regent. er even verbally articulated; instead, the villainy, yet Doubt inverts this concept the title: The Young Victoria. The sets are faultless, as are the cos- characters discuss the issue with vague, and the result is that we sympathise and The fi lm starts the year pre-ceding tumes, which are just modest enough to although impassioned, statements of align ourselves with Flynn while viewing Victoria’s coronation. Played by Emily be appropriate for Victoria, but beautiful accusation and innocence. Streep as the enemy. blunt, the future Queen is only seven- enough to be interesting. Emily Blunt, At the beginning of the fi lm, Aloy- Doubt is only the second fi lm of John teen but is the heiress presumptive to however, defi nitely steals the show. She sius witnesses a student fl inch as Flynn Patrick Shanley, who also wrote the her Uncle, William IV (Jim Broadbent). manages to capture the complexity of touches his shirt. This is enough to screenplay and the original play, which Should he die before her birthday, her the young Princess, her sense of respon- convince her of Flynn’s crime and fu- won the Pulitzer Prize. A generally en- mother, the Duchess of Kent and Strat- sibility and kindness with a twinkle of els her aggression against him for the tertaining if somewhat heavy-handed hearn (Miranda Richardson) would as- rebelliousness shining through. Vallée entire fi lm. By the end, there is no cli- fi lm, the great cast allows Doubt to re- sume the role of Regent, and all the au- said of Victoria, “it was her humanity matic revelation of innocence or guilt. main entertaining and engaging in spite thority and power that role implies. The that attracted me the most”, and this Instead, Flynn abruptly resigns his post of its more melodramatic moments. Duchess, under the infl uence of Sir John is perfectly captured within the fi lm. and transfers to another church, while Christopher Kelly Conroy (Mark Strong), guards Victoria Gabrielle Hales

22 24 February – 9 March, 2009 tn2 Film reviews

y New nity New nit s ri s title Push ri title Vicky Cristina Barcelona T T

director Paul McGuigan director Woody Allen

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I’m not the biggest fan of sci-fi fl icks. For perately evading capture by Division in In the depths of winter, sometimes it’s Bardem is hilarious as Juan Antonio, a me, there is little point in sitting quietly the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong a little hard to remember what summer- man torn between his insatiable libido in the dark theatre for two hours listen- when he is tracked down by a grungy, time feels like. Afternoons at the Pav, and the puppy dog devotion he bestows ing to some insane, implausible and teenage ‘watcher’ called Cassie (Dakota dead-end temp jobs and holidays in the upon his ex-wife. Often just his sleepy- catastrophically written mumbo jumbo Fanning). She seeks his help in fi nding sun can feel a long way away on a wet and eyed expressions are enough to raise a about quantum death rays and interstel- Kira (Camille Belle), a pusher who she windy Monday morning in February. For laugh, while Penelope Cruz excels as the lar time warps. believes may hold the key to defeating anyone in need of a reminder, thank- dangerously unstable object of his aff ec- Naturally, however, there are some Division. Soon, however, the pair are be- fully Woody Allen is back on form with tions. In fact before his entrance the two exceptions. The Matrix, for instance, is ing hunted by the nefarious agent Henry his latest eff ort, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, other central characters are not exactly a fi lm I could watch repeatedly for the Carver (Djimon Hounsou), a ‘pusher’ in a fi lm about everything a great summer compelling; it is unclear whether their simple reason that it defi es the pitfalls the employ of Division, who will stop at can be. over-intellectualised conversations that normally plague fi lms like it and nothing to prevent them from reaching The fi lm follows two best friends on are a sideways jab at the pretensions of delivers an original concept, enough their goal. a two-month vacation in Barcelona, a Manhattan’s upper-middle class, or a re- superhuman orientated violence to sate Naturally, you would expect this fi lm welcome break from their lives back in fl ection of Woody Allen’s revered place even the most murderous of action- to be full of psychic ass kicking and excit- New York. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is about in the very same privileged elite. The ir- junkies and a well-written script. Enter- ing chase scenes. Well, you’d be wrong. to marry her fi ancé Doug (Chris Messi- ritating narration by Christopher Evan taining is the word I’m looking for. No Instead, Push commits the cardinal sin na), a yuppie businessman who at fi rst Welch unfortunately seems to suggest matter how ludicrous and implausible a of its genre and sacrifi ces thrills for te- appears to be the perfect match for the the latter option. sci-fi fi lm may be, as long as it entertains dious, cumbersome, dialogue-heavy levelheaded yet sensitive young wom- That the fi lm recovers from such an with an eff ect-laden plot, gratuitous ex- scenes and a meandering and convolut- an. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is the underwhelming start is an impressive plosions and elaborate fi ght scenes, I’ll ed plot. Even Dakota Fanning engaging complete opposite to her friend, a pas- feat, as it goes on to explore themes be sound as a pound. Push does not and in a healthy spot of underage drinking sionate and impulsive person searching of creativity and sexual desire with an if anything it’s guilty of being contrived, fails to raise a smile. Perhaps its because for love and artistic inspiration during honesty and frisson typical of the best borrowing heavily from TV shows like I’d be hitting the bottle hard too if I was her time in Spain. After taking in the ar- of Allen’s work. Both Vicky and Cristina Heroes and fi lms such as X-Men. cast in movies like this. Meanwhile the chitecture of Gaudí and some Spanish eventually develop into well-rounded The fi lm’s opening exposition tells impressive special eff ects seem redun- guitar performances, their holiday takes characters worth caring about, while the story of the shady government or- dant amidst the stifl ing lack of excite- a bizarre turn after a chance encounter throughout the fi lm the rich cinematog- ganization known as Division, which ment. When the action scenes fi nally with Juan Antonio Gonzalo (Javier Bar- raphy creates a vibrant world of primary seeks to turn psychically gifted young do arrive, they fail to exhilarate and the dem) who whisks them both off for a colours and sun-drenched locales. Fur- people into an army of super-warriors, frenetic, shaky camerawork is confus- romantic weekend in Oviedo. Soon both thermore, the fi lm provides no easy res- a project that was pioneered by Nazi ing rather than thrilling. As Push lurches women become entangled in Juan Anto- olutions to matters of the heart, display- scientists. These psychics range in slowly towards its climax at just under nio’s love life, and the arrival of his bor- ing an emotional maturity reminiscent their abilities from ‘movers’, who can two hours, it jerks between a series of derline psychotic ex-wife Maria Elena of Truff aut’s classic Jules et Jim, while move objects telekinetically, to ‘push- incomprehensible plot twists, which are (Penelope Cruz) causes all concerned to avoiding any po-faced soul-searching. ers’, who implant thoughts in people’s as frustrating as they are clichéd. “So, reassess what they truly want from life. All in all, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a re- minds, to ‘watchers’, who can see into Fancy going to see Push? Nah, to be hon- What could have been a distinctly av- freshing and life-affi rming fi lm; the per- the future. Nick Gant (Chris Evans) is a est I’m not too pushed.” Feel free to use erage rom-com is saved by a witty script fect antidote to a dreary day in Dublin. second-generation ‘mover’ who is des- that one. Alan Henry and an excellent ensemble cast. Javier Michael Armstrong tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 23