One of the Conrad Botes’s works has Jesus, the "Good Shepherd", bringing home the lost sheep of the flock — except the sheep is a giant phallus. Botes’s first solo show in Johannesburg is as provocative as ever. He spoke to Shaun de Waal.
BIG-BUDGET MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Monster action film Van Helsing may be the ultimate pastiche movie. Not only does it borrow liberally from a thousand other movies, it is also largely made up of computer-generated imagery or CGI, meaning that, at the most fundamental level, practically every shot is patched together. Shaun de Waal takes a look.
Will Troy do for ancient Greece what Gladiator did for Rome? Shaun de Waal ponders the narrative possibilities.
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With his new movie, veteran Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci returns to the city he used in Last Tango in Paris (1972). But where that film staged a sexual tragedy of despair, The Dreamers investigates a youthful, innocently decadent sexuality that could stand at the start of the sort of tale that ends with the desperation and disgust of Last Tango in Paris. Shaun de Waal reviews.
The succession struggle within Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF has resurfaced with increased intensity amid speculation that President Robert Mugabe will announce his retirement at the party’s crucial congress in December.
NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: American playwright/writer/ director Neil LaBute’s <i>The Shape of Things</i> reshuffles his familiar themes, except this time he’s out to prove that women can be as manipulative as men. Shaun de Waal reviews.
Mel Gibson’s Jesus movie, <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>, is stirring up, ahem, passions all over. But, more than anything, it demonstrates the way communal myths can be reworked again and again. Gibson’s version is just the most single-mindedly gory and reactionary to date, writes Shaun de Waal.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: I walked out of Tim Burton’s new movie, <i>Big Fish</i>, feeling a little lighter. This is a boon not to be gainsaid in these days of <i>Monster</i>, the remake of <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> and, God help us, <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.
This year, in celebration of its 10th anniversary, the Out in Africa film festival combines new releases with old favourites. It also has, this year, a distinctly Latin flavour. Shaun de Waal takes a look.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Written by screenwriter Peter Hedges of About a Boy and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? fame, Pieces of April is sparky and spiky and, like April’s eyes, a little black around the edges. Shaun de Waal reviews.