Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

Culture

Matt Bochenski is thrilled by a synthpop debut, staggered by mountain musings and meets director Anton Corbijn

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MUSIC

Hurts
Happiness

It’s hard to believe now, but the 1980s didn’t use to be cool. It was ‘the decade that taste forgot’ – only taste appears to have wracked its brains and remembered, because now you can’t move for 80s inspired fashion, film and, of course, music.

Enter Hurts, a synthpop duo from Manchester, former breeding ground for forward-thinking UK guitar acts like Oasis, The Smiths and Joy Division. Rejecting this heritage, Hurts come across as outlandish Pet Shop Boys fans with a love of cosmic disco, epic anthems and wildly ambitious pop classics. And Happiness is hands-down the finest debut of 2010. New single ‘Stay’ is a case in point: a plaintive opening melody breaking into a mammoth chorus about lovers walking away in the pouring rain. The album teeters on the brink of camp, dipping into pop with a Kylie duet on ‘Devotion’, and yet Hurts never fail to have courage in their heartfelt convictions. And so they create something of intense beauty, laced with sadness. Lyrics like “I’d rather be lonely than be by your side” on ‘Unspoken’ will have you crying all the way to the discotheque.

BOOK

Climbing Everest
George Mallory’s Writings on Mountaineering

“Why do you want to climb Everest?” “Because it’s there.” Often attributed to Edmund Hillary, this answer was actually given by British mountaineer George Mallory. A member of the first three expeditions to attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mallory went missing on Everest’s northeast ridge in 1924. His body was finally discovered in 1999.

Mallory was one of the first climbers to write about the allure of the mountain in spiritual terms. In private letters and public essays, he explored the emotional meaning of mountaineering, and the way it shaped his life. These writings – including letters found on his body – have been reproduced in an extraordinary book that offers a precious record of the great age of exploration. Part travelogue, part interior monologue, part Boy’s Own adventure, Climbing Everest is an intimate, lyrical and ultimately tragic insight into our capacity to look beyond the limits of the human body.

FILM

The American
We talk to Dutch director Anton Corbijn about his new feature film

Anton Corbijn made his name as a rock photographer working with the likes of Joy Division, Depeche Mode and U2 before making the switch to filmmaking in 2007 with Control, his Ian Curtis biopic. His second outing as a director, The American, is another bold success – a hitman movie set in Italy starring George Clooney. He described the experience to us:

Despite starring George Clooney, The American feels like a very European film?

For me, the film is rooted in 1970s European cinema in terms of pacing and look.

Americans often try to imitate this – and fail. Why do you think that is?

The problem is that very often you become a tourist in that environment. You have to always guard against that. I’m visually educated by the Dutch and the Germans in a way and that is a very strong visual culture. My film is called The American, but it’s a totally European film in almost every regard.

How did you find working with Clooney?

George is a very intelligent actor and I asked him for advice for certain things. His take on the scene was quite often the right direction. But the times when he was out of his comfort zone, that’s when it got interesting for me.

COMING SOON

The American remake of 2007’s Swedish vampire hit Let the Right One In, called Let Me In, opens on 5 November. Fans of the original expressed doubts, but the good news is that the film is an effective thriller in its own right
Jay-Z’s pop sensation Rihanna is getting Loud with her new album on 15 November
Kids rejoice! The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid novel, The Ugly Truth, is released on 10 November. 27 million people can’t wrong…

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