Film - Cell 211 - directed by Daniel Monzon

Star rating 9/10

This is a pacey, thrilling, and exhilarating Spanish prison drama that makes the likes of ‘A Prophet’ look very introspective and calm by comparison. It is set on quite an original premise – new prison guard Juan Oliver (Alberto Ammann) is having a tour round the prison before his first official day working there, and finds himself at the heart of a prison riot with seemingly no way out.

He has the quick wit and nerve to pass himself off as newly arrived murderer, and has to win the respect and trust of his fellow inmates, especially the ferocious self appointed leader of the gang Malamadre (Luis Toscar). Both actors are terrific in these highly charged parts. With his beautiful looks and intelligent acting, Ammann looks set to be the next Garcia Gael Bernal. And Luis is fantastic as the terrifying hard man with the inevitable soft side if you look deep enough.

The prisoners have to negotiate with the authorities to try to get their demands met, and Juan has to endure his pregnant wife being endangered in the mêlée. The prisoners are not all bad and the guards are certainly not all good either. It is tense, exciting and extremely fast and furious. The story line slightly stretched credulity in places - I won’t spoil it by saying exactly how. Just go along for the ride, suspend any minor elements of disbelief you may have, and be thoroughly entertained.

Film - A Separation - directed by Asghar Farhadi

Star rating – 8/10

This painful, Iranian family tragedy won many awards at the Berlin Film Festival, and is poignant and very touching. The story starts with a middle class couple who face a dilemma. Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to take her 11 year old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi) abroad so that she has more of a chance to study and grow up in a less oppressive society for her gender. Her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) refuses to accept the plan, as he feels the understandable filial weight of obligation to look after his elderly father, who lives with them and has Alzheimer’s.

Simin leaves to go to stay with her mother, with her daughter staying at home with her father and grandpa. Nader hires a woman to look after his father and to do the housework whilst he is at work. But things start to go very wrong as the woman, who is pregnant, has to go to the doctor’s urgently, and leaves the old man tied to his bed.

This is an almost Shakespearian tragedy, but without a real villain. Director Asghar Farhadi shows each character in the piece to be human, fallible, and with a great sense of either moral or religious duty and sometimes both. It is painful, and very convincingly acted by all. Special mention must go to Sarina Farhadi playing the daughter, torn between the parents she so loves, and watching their actions tear themselves, and unwittingly others too, apart. It almost feels like watching a documentary in places it is so real. And there are no saccharine filled happy endings here, just a very moving and intelligent film, which explores complex religious, gender and class divisions in great detail.

Classical - Alina Ibragimova/The Quay Brothers - Chetham's School and Library

Star rating – 8/10

Before this year’s Manchester International Festival, I vowed to go to more events this time, and to sample some that were not my on my usual cultural agenda. And this classical solo concert by Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova was one such personal experiment. Part of the reason I chose it was that its setting, the beautiful Chetham’s School of Music and Library, which was founded in 1653, was one of the hidden gems of the city that I had never been inside.

This was a fabulous afternoon of music so beautiful and haunting, played by the young virtuoso; a building that did not fail to disappoint, with all its history and charm; and an interesting film backdrop to some of the programme by the Quay Brothers. Being so close to someone of such brilliance, who can make unbelievable sounds come out of her instrument is quite an experience. The first piece by Berio, performed whilst the small audience stood in a reception room, was not particularly to my taste, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

But when we moved into a seated slightly larger room, with its beautiful paintings and fascinating architectural detail, we were treated to a hauntingly beautiful piece by Bach, his Ciaccona from Partia No. 2 in D minor. I am no expert in classical music, but this was mesmerising in its range, and emotion. And Ibragimova is beguiling to watch as she totally engages with the violin and the music, oblivious to the audience so close to where she is playing.

After this we got to explore the library and other parts of Chetham’s, whilst Ibragimova played a simple and spiritual piece from Biber, which wafted through the building through grates and crevices. The tour was fascinating, containing as it did the alcove where Karl Mark used to study in, and converse with his friend Engels as they no doubt discussed the condition of the working classes of Manchester. There is also a desk with the alleged hoof print of the devil, said to be branded there by Doctor John Dee, of Damon Albarn’s MIF operatic fame, during his time at Chetham’s.Then it was back to the seats for a final sonata by Bartok, again a bit heavy for me really, but performed alongside a film by The Quay Brothers about death that felt like an early silent black and white picture.

This was a really invigorating and life affirming afternoon, and well worth stepping out of my comfort zone to experience something so different and uplifting.

Film - Bal - directed by Semih Kaplanoglu

Star rating – 7/10

This is a beautiful and very touching film about a six year old Turkish boy, and his relationship with his beloved father, and the wider world.

Bora Atlas is outstanding as the lonely young boy Yusef who stammers at school, hardly speaks to his mother, but can communicate deeply with his loving father Yakup by whispering into his ear. The family are poor, surviving only on the increasingly precarious business of beekeeping in the remote forests of northern Turkey. And Yakup is forced to seek out the bees that keep his family in farther flung and more dangerous pastures.

It is a poetic and beautiful film, possibly a little over long and in need of a bit more judicious editing, but one which is refreshing and simple in its images and message.

Exhibitions - 1395 Days Without Red - Whitworth Art Gallery

Star rating – 7/10

The siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996, and how such a thing could occur in a civilised, modern, western city which such a little time before hosted the Torville and Dean triumphing Winter Olympics, is fascinating and horrifying in equal measure. And if only the film makers Sejla Kameric and Anri Sala had not fallen out so irrevocably during the making of this piece, it might have been even more powerful. But they did, so we are left with two films, which are very much like each other, each featuring a woman dodging snipers to the beautiful backdrop of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Maribel Verdu is the actress who brings the horror of that time to life so poignantly, as she waits on street corners with other ordinary citizens of the war torn former Yugoslav city, simply to cross the street without getting a sniper’s bullet in her body. She hums the music that she has heard of the orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s beautiful and haunting Symphony No. 6 Pathetique, as she makes a desperate run for her life. And her plight is interspersed with shots of the actual orchestra rehearsing.

And also well worth catching in this Archangel collection at the Whitworth as part of the Manchester International Festival, is Catherine Yass’s ‘High Wire’. This consists of four giant canvasses with films projected on each showing a daring hire wire walk among condemned Glasgow high rises from different angles. It is fascinating, and a very heart in mouth experience, as you are there with Didier Pasquette as he walks the high wire so high up in the blustery sky.