In early 2021, writing about Godfrey Cheshire’s book of interviews, Conversations with Kiarostami, I bemoaned the fact that there were so few decent books (in English, at least) about the late and very great Iranian filmmaker, photographer, poet and artist Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016). Several years on, the situation has hardly changed, which is why I’m … Continue reading Cinematic Genius Surveyed: ‘In the Time of Kiarostami’
Now in UK cinemas and by far the finest fiction film I’ve seen this year, About Dry Grasses is utterly characteristic of the longer, more recent works by the great Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan; at the same time it’s so engrossing throughout that it feels remarkably fresh from beginning – a brazenly Ceylanesque long … Continue reading ‘About Dry Grasses’: the superb new film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
The last couple of months have seen ECM release four wonderful albums by some of my favourite jazz musicians. There was September Night with the late, great trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, his Polish quartet – its members later the Marcin Wasilewski Trio – recorded at their peak in a Munich concert in 2004. (I recall seeing … Continue reading A Musical Cornucopia: Five Great New Jazz Releases
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 