Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Culture

Matt Bochenski’s pick of this month’s film, book and music releases

IMAGE ALLSTAR

FILM

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Director Oliver Stone
Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LeBeouf, Charlie Sheen

This film sees Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas return to the scene of some of their finest work, and their timing could scarcely be better. Wall Street shark Gordon Gekko has watched from prison as a new generation of hustlers has made ‘greed is good’ look like the last word in civic responsibility. Now he’s out, looking to reconnect with daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan) and her fiancé, Jacob (Shia LaBeouf). And if he can settle some old scores along the way, so much the better.

Douglas is perfect as Gekko – those cold, killer’s eyes now beginning to recede behind tired lines, and the hair not quite as slick as it once was. He’s ably matched by LaBeouf as a young hot-shot, and for an hour or so the film cracks along at a glorious pace. But it slowly succumbs to a number of ham-fisted cinematic moments, along with an overly sententious finale. While you might not enjoy it quite as much as the cast and crew clearly did, however, Gekko is still the man.

BOOK

100 Journeys for the Spirit

Various

What with queues, unruly kids and volcanic ash clouds, modern travel can be almost as stressful as work. If you long for a return to the relaxing days of yesteryear, help is at hand: read 100 Journeys for the Spirit and you’ll be transported to some of the most uplifting places on earth.

This is a travel book with a difference. It isn’t about the ‘best’, the ‘biggest’ or the ‘highest’. It’s a guide to those places that move the traveller at a more profound level. It isn’t a religious guide, either – although it takes in temples, churches and monuments. Rather, it’s a celebration of natural and man-made beauty in all its forms, from the collection of megalithic stones around the village of Carnac in Brittany, to the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran.

The book is further enlivened by essays from a range of writers, including essayist and novelist Pico Iyer, The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje and former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion. They offer a unique collection of insights that entirely befit this vivid book.

MUSIC

The Bear That Wasn’t

Sophy Grimshaw meets Belgian indie singer-songwriter Nils Verresen

“I wanted to see if it was possible to travel for a year without money. People say, ‘What a great way to promote your music’, but it didn’t start that way,” insists Nils Verresen, who records under the name The Bear That Wasn’t. Fans gave him food and shelter throughout his European tour and he is one of the few Belgian artists getting attention from the international pop community at the moment. Hipster magazine Vice applauded him for cycling all the way from Belgium to his gig at Denmark’s SPOT festival (as he couldn’t spend any money on transport).

So, does the Bear, who returns home to tour Belgium from 2 October, maintain that this wasn’t a publicity stunt? “Honestly. After I had the idea for this trip without money, embarking on a European tour the year after didn’t make sense, so I thought I’d combine them.” He does hope his tour could be good PR for the music of his country, though: “We’ll too often describe a band as ‘Belgium’s answer’ to someone or other. It seems like it’s never enough to simply be Belgian!”

For Belgian tour dates in October, and to hear the album, visit www.thebearthatwasnt.be

COMING SOON

Film The Social Network will tell the story of Facebook, with a brilliant performance from Justin Timberlake
Pop princess Taylor Swift will urge everyone to Speak Now
Iain M Banks’ new Culture novel, Surface Detail, promises to be as bamboozling and brilliant as the rest

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