My Cultural Life - London

Tarsem Singh follows the critical flop The Cell with a fairytale for grown-ups that shows a more thoughtful side to the director.  The Fall is set in a Los Angeles hospital in 1915, where a chirpy Spanish girl befriends a patient in the men’s ward, and manages to dodge doctors and nurses in her efforts to cheer him up and hear more of his story – the ‘epic’ as he calls it.

The mostly hotly anticipated film of the year, with twilight screenings at the IMAX selling out weeks before the film’s release, The Dark Knight looks set to light up the summer with the crime thriller fireworks of its stellar cast. Remember the adrenaline that was pumping through your veins during The Bourne Ultimatum? Times that by five and you’ll have some idea of what to expect.

I imagine I’m one of a handful of people left in Britain who still make compilation tapes. Yes, tapes. Readers Recommend, the weekly Guardian column which nominates a subject for discussion one week and gives its chosen 10 song playlist for readers to download the next, isn’t exactly aimed at me. But composing lists with a view to creating a compilation has a wider appeal to Rob Flemings everywhere, and The Guardian Book of Playlists, which features 100 Readers Recommend columns, embraces fans of artists from Françoise Hardy to Rachel Stephens.

Emma Rice marks the centenary of David Lean's birth with a stage production inspired by his film 'Brief Encounter' and Noel Coward’s play 'Still Life', Shamini Sriskandarajah reports.

The popular brief description of Heath Ledger as the actor Oscar-nominated for his role as a 'gay cowboy' hardly does justice to the complexity he brought to his character through his posture, accent and tone. Shamini Sriskandarajah takes a closer look.

One of the strangest films we’ll see this year, Harmony Korine’s first film in eight years is a cocktail of beautiful landscapes, nouveau iconic images and kamikaze nuns.

This year’s London Film Festival featured North American offerings from artsy-slacker film 'Hannah Takes the Stairs' to Disney’s self-parody 'Enchanted', while 'Grace is Gone' covered the Iraq war without being political and 'Juno', out this February, dealt with teenage pregnancy with a sense of humour.

'When I first read reviews of Postcard Teas, I relished the prospect of sampling tea at Tim D’Offay’s shop since the tea came highly recommended, but I never imagined that the experience in itself would be so enjoyable'. Shamini Sriskandarajah visits one of London's tea havens.

 
The V&A's comprehensive exhibition shows the development of fashion in the years after the second world war, from a classic black Dior suit to a huge turquoise Givenchy cape, featuring everything from designers sketches and fabric samples to miniature doll shoes. Shamini Sriskandarajah investigates.

'Julie Delpy has created a glowing film with Two Days in Paris, a sharp comedy of neurotic lovers breaking their journey back to the States in the world's 'romantic capital', proving her talent doesn’t just lie with acting, but also writing, editing, directing and composing.'