DAVID YEARSLEY is fascinated by the account of four composers who transformed their experiences of the second world war and the Holocaust into deeply moving works of art
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Film Round-up: March 1
This week the Star's critics review A Fantastic Woman, Erase and Forget, Red Sparrow, and Monster Family
PETER MASON thrills to the sound of south London-born Yussef Dayes, and the galaxy of musicians drawn into his orbit
From post-human revolution in Puerto Rico to trans poetics and queer mythmaking, these three books that imagine new ways of being together
JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
Re-releases from Iain Matthews, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and The Charlie Daniels Band
JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
A Fantastic Woman (15)
Directed by Sebastian Lelio
★★★★★
THE CONTINUING bigotry displayed against the LGBT community by both conventional media and online commentators makes Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s profoundly humane story about a trans woman’s battle for acceptance even more powerful and moving.
Lelio, who co-wrote the film with Gonzalo Maza, unforgettably brings a compelling blend of credible characters and honest emotion to life in a gripping drama that has its moments of spot-on comedy too.
The eponymous fantastic woman Marina Vidal, played to perfection by Daniela Vega, lives in Santiago — stunningly photographed by cinematographer Benjamin Echazarreta — where the young transgender waitress-singer is engaged in a mutually happy love affair with the formerly married 57-year-old textile company executive Orlando (Francisco Reyes).
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