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Saturday Review

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Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe and guests offer sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events

Saturday Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, LS Lowry

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, LS Lowry

29/06/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, LS Lowry

Sam Mendes' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and LS Lowry at Tate Britain.

Sam Mendes' new musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a major new exhibition of the works of LS Lowry at Tate Britain.

Sam Mendes' production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been years in the making and had to be juggled with his Skyfall directing duties. Now at last the musical has arrived at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with Douglas Hodge taking the role of Willy Wonka.

Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life at Tate Britain is something of a response to critics in recent years who have suggested that the gallery should show more of the Lowrys it owns. He's a painter who divides art lovers: some say he's an underrated genius who's dismissed because he depicts the Northern working classes; others that his paintings lack depth. What kind of case does this exhibition make for him?

Stories We Tell is a film made by the Canadian actress and director Sarah Polley about her mother Diane. Talking to different members of her family she uncovers an extraordinary story about her own birth. Using fake Super 8 footage as well as real, the film includes reconstructions of the past as well as interview in the present.

Another documentary, The Act of Killing, made by Joshua Oppenheimer, tells the chilling story of the killings that went on in Indonesia in 1965 in an anti-Communist purge. Oppenheimer allows the killers to make their own movies about what they did - what do the results tell us about the power and possibilities of film?

And A Thousand Pardons is the latest novel from Pulitzer Prize shortlisted author Jonathan Dee. It's an American story about saying sorry in a difficult world.

Joining Tom are the musician and presenter Cerys Matthews, writer Aminatta Forna and critic David Benedict.

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