2010 Annual Cultural Tales of Two Cities Awards

Best Film

The Secret In Their Eyes - directed by Juan Jose Campenella

Absolutely deserved its best foreign picture Oscar. Classy film noir. Argentinian romance and crime – a knock out combination in my book.

Runners up

Made In Dagenham – a winning mixture of politics, style, and pure entertainment.

Inception – very clever but not too much for its own good.

A Prophet –violent but also classy and intelligent and thoroughly gripping.

Best Play

1984 – Royal Exchange
Full marks for this spellbinding and terrifying adaption of Orwell’s classic novel.

Runners up

Hamlet – National Theatre – a brilliant performance from Rory Kinnear deserved all the praise it received.

Macbeth – Globe Theatre – imaginative staging of a great tragedy.

Best Exhibition

Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead – British Museum
Made the Pharaohs and their beliefs come to life brilliantly.

Runner Up

Picasso – Peace and Freedom – Tate Liverpool
An unusual take on the master – beautifully done.

Best Book

How to Live – A Life of Montaigne by – Sarah Bakewell
A fascinating portrait of a man unafraid to express just how he feels – totally engaging in every minute detail.

Runners Up

The End of the Party – Andrew Rawnsley - in case you hadn’t realised it – New Labour sucks.

Alone in Berlin – Hans Fallada - a long lost classic which is still just as moving and revelatory today as it was when it was written.

Best Gig

I Am Kloot – Manchester Cathedral The masters at home – total perfection.

Runners Up

Belle and Sebastian – Manchester Apollo
An unexpectedly brilliant evening.

I Am Kloot, Bristol Thekla – my newly discovered brilliant ones again.


Thanks for continuing to read my blog in 2010 - I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as, sadly, I really enjoy writing it.

Happy New Year one and all......