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Saturday Review

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

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: The Farewell, Quichotte, Antony Gormley, Reasons to Stay Alive, Nomad:  In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

21/09/2019

The Farewell, Quichotte, Antony Gormley, Reasons to Stay Alive, Nomad:  In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, The Farewell, Quichotte, Antony Gormley, Reasons to Stay Alive, Nomad:  In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

Lulu Wang's Oscar-tipped film The Farewell reviewed

Lulu Wang's The Farewell, Salman Rushdie's Quichotte, Antony Gormley exhibition, Herzog's film Nomad:  In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin, and play Reasons to Stay Alive reviewed

Lulu Wang's personal film The Farewell stars rapper Awkwafina in its lead role as a granddaughter not sure whether she should collude with a lie about her grandmother's health.  Shot mostly in Mandarin Chinese, it's been a huge success at the US box office.  

Quichotte is Salman Rushdie's latest, Booker-shortlisted novel, a satire on contemporary life and politics.  Does its Don Quixote-style plot take the reader with it on its wild ride?

Antony Gormley's solo exhibition at the Royal Academy has involved flooding a room in the gallery and filling another with his trademark cast iron figures hanging in different directions from the ceiling, walls and floors.

Reasons to Stay Alive at the Sheffield Crucible Studio is based on Matt Haig's enormously successful book of the same name and explores the nature and impact of depression on those who have it and those around them, using choreography and creative staging.

Nomad:  In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is a new film by Werner Herzog.  His friend, the traveller and writer Bruce Chatwin, died in 1989 but left him his backpack.  Taking it with him he travels the world and considers his relationship with Chatwin.

This week's reviewers are Meg Rosoff, Bidisha and Patrick Gale.  Presented by Tom Sutcliffe.

Podcast extra recommendations:

Meg suggests wandering elsewhere at the Royal Academy to see the Félix Vallotton and Helene Schjerfbeck exhibitions: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions-and-events and Wilding by Isabella Tree
Bidisha:  Awkwafina on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqDpVfc2_sYFrdGZ8yhRk4Q
Patrick:  Better Than Us on Netflix
Tom:  Undone on Amazon Prime

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