Reviews

Inferior rival to Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters

Watch Mr Bowie's greatest creation take his curtain call

Nick Broomfield's documentaries are as much farcical as investigative, with the director affecting the role of bumbling, plummy-voiced faux-naif, Kurt & Courtney (1998) was no exception. He looks hilariously out of place trailing around grungey Seattle, politely interrogating a series of eccentrics, conspiracy theorists and whacked-out dopers. He examines the possibility that Courtney murdered her husband, but witnesses prove so unreliable he drops the charge.

Psychiatric patient Prot (Kevin Spacey) seems remarkably sane, except for his assertion that he's really an alien visitor from a distant planet named K-Pax. It's Starman meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (in a nicely ironic piece of casting, Jeff Bridges plays the psychiatrist determined to discover Prot's real identity), and works nicely even if it does err on the side of sentimentality.

Missing link between Yokota's soulful ambient and upbeat house projects

On-U Sound master and former Clash DJ makes debut solo foray

The avant-garde Bee Gee goes boldly into the realms of R&B

Accomplished seventh album from Finnish multi-instrumentalist

Imagine if the Cheeky Girls were as good as retro-kitsch archivists will probably one day pretend they are. 200 km/h In The Wrong Lane is that sort of record. The two lead singles off this fantastic piece of pop product—"Not Gonna Get Us" and "All The Things She Said"—are produced by Trevor Horn. Suffice to say they represent the latter's finest work since Grace Jones'"Slave To The Rhythm" in 1985. Despairing, frantic and caressing are the twin vocals of latest tabloid shock sensations Lena Katina and Julia Volkova; one soft, the other strident.

North London fops' third album, remastered for 20th anniversary