The Independent Recommends
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Five Best Films
The Third Man (PG)
A front-runner for the greatest-film-of-all-time award. Carol Reed's thriller leads us around post-war Vienna, through which slithers Orson Welles's smirking racketeer.
West Beirut (15)
Involving rites-of-passage debut from former Tarantino collaborator, Ziad Doueiri, all played out in a divided-up, war-riven Beirut. A vibrant and authentic-looking walk on the wild side.
Last Night (15)
Don McKellar's warm, witty, oddly intimate meditation on the end of the world as we know it (right). Genevieve Bujold crops up as the sort of French teacher you always wished you'd had.
It All Starts Today (12)
A French Blackboard Jungle, delivered in hard-ball, high-minded fashion by writer-director Bertrand Tavernier, and a timely reminder of how impoverished political film-making has grown of late.
Ten Things I Hate About You (12)
Armed with a TV director, rookie screenwriters and an untried cast, Ten Things... plays Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew as a high-school comedy, and gets away with it.
Xan Brooks
The Five Best Plays
The Merchant of Venice (Cottesloe, National, London)
With the magnificent Henry Goodman as Shylock, Trevor Nunn's 1920s-style production finds a rich complexity in a play too often simplified on the stage. In rep to 11 Sept
Floyd Collins (Bridewell Theatre, London)
Floyd Collins represents a giant leap forward for musical theatre. The slightly dodgy production has knock-out performances from Nigel Richards and Craig Purnell. To 31 Jul
Look Back in Anger (Lyttelton, National, London)
Five tremendously alert performances make this revival of Osborne's iconic play (right) completely riveting. A production of enormous subtlety and power. In rep to 11 Sept
The Family Reunion (Swan Theatre, Stratford)
A masterclass in electrically incisive verse-speaking from Greg Hicks, who gives utter credibility to the Furies-haunted Harry in Adrian Noble's skilful revival of this rarely performed TS Eliot play. In rep to 7 Oct
Noises Off (Theatre Royal, York)
The second act, set backstage during a performance of a tired sex farce, is one of the funniest things ever written. To 31 Jul
David Benedict and Paul Taylor
The Five Best Shows
Rembrandt by Himself (National Gallery, London)
The self-portraits. The first and most searching autobiography in paint. The great pictorial statements of honesty and mortality, of the human depths. To 5 Sept
Joseph Beuys (Royal Academy, London)
Beautiful and mysterious: 456 drawings using blood, fat, pencil and gold leaf, offer clues to Beuys's mythology. To 16 Sept
Helen Chadwick (Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield)
Photographic pieces of nature, death and pleasure from Chadwick's short career - animal skins, flowers, embryos and unexpected fluids (she used chocolate and Windolene). To 28 Aug
Notorious (MoMA, Oxford)
One hundred years after his birth, Alfred Hitchcock lives. This group show looks at his legacy in art (right), with the likes of Douglas Gordon, Cindy Sherman and Atom Egoyan. To 3 Oct
W Eugene Smith (Dundee Contemporary Arts)
Retrospective of an American photojournalist with an increasingly campaigning eye: see the terrible images of industrial poisoning victims in Japan. To 27 Aug
Tom Lubbock
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments