"Sorry To Bother You"

Boots Riley’s “Sorry To Bother You” is that rare thing – a film by an avowedly socialist American writer-director which offers a coherent, satirical critique of capitalism.

It stars Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius “Cash” Green, a discontented young black man who takes a soul-sucking job at a call-centre and, by learning to use his “white” voice, manages to make enough sales to see him promoted to the next level in the company – a level where the product on offer is something rather more sinister than magazine subscriptions.

"Sorry To Bother You" 

The film manages to skewer several aspects of capitalism – ruthless exploitation, the incorporation of dissenters, public acceptance of its excesses – all the while maintaining a down-to-Earth tone of surreal humour which calls to mind Lindsay Anderson and Alex Cox as much as Spike Lee. Refreshingly, for an African-American film, it does not focus on guns, gangs and racism, although these are tangible elements of the background; and the soundtrack, largely by Riley and Tune-Yards, is more hippyish indie than hip-hop. 

The supporting cast – including Tessa Thompson as Cassius’ artist girlfriend, Steven Yeun as his revolutionary workmate, and Armie Hammer as the ultimate dude/boss (alongside an all-too brief appearance from Danny Glover) – is impressive, and the comedy is pointed and bitter rather than shallowly uproarious, leaving a bad taste in the mouth for all the right reasons. And the turn towards nightmarishness is a masterstroke.

"The Last Five Years" / "Saturday Night Fever" / "Cheer" / "Frankenstein"

The big cultural news at the moment, locally, is the cancellation, through a bizarre set of circumstances, of the Wales Theatre Awards, about which it would be unwise to pontificate in public. This, added to continuing criticism of National Theatre Wales (I was lucky enough to be one of a group of writers who met with the Arts Council of Wales to discuss this very issue a few weeks ago), seems to paint a picture of a toxic atmosphere. There does seem, however, to be a great deal of solidarity amongst artists, which can only be a good sign in terms of future developments.

In terms of actual theatre-going, I’ve seen two musicals set in New York at the Wales Millennium Centre in the past few weeks: firstly, Leeway Productions’ bold reinvention of Jason Robert Brown’s off-Broadway doomed-relationship drama “The Last Five Years” as a piece inclusive of deaf performers (and audiences), exploiting the theme of mis-communication; and a lavish touring version of “Saturday Night Fever”, with all the grit of the original film, but the Bee Gees music intact.

"Saturday Night Fever" (photo: Pamela Raith)

My first festive show of the season was “Cheer”, from Big Loop at The Other Room – a clever, Orwellian take on Christmas. Then came Cascade Dance Theatre’s “Frankenstein” at Chapter – an exploration of the themes of Mary Shelley’s original, boasting some startling imagery and an excellent, largely electronic score played live.

"Cheers" (photo: Tess Seymour)