Rura, Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Celtic Connections

When the Kinnaris Quintet walked on stage in sparkly tops they immediately marked themselves out as a different kind of folk band, but would they be all flash and no pan?  There was immediate reassurance in spotting Laura-Beth Salter of Shee fame, so it was clear these would be serious musicians.

It's one of life's great joys to go to a gig and be presented with a support act you've not previously heard of, and who prove to be an unexpected delight.  So it was with Kinnaris, who delivered a performance strong in musicianship, a sense of fun and, most importantly, imagination and originality.  Anchored by Jenn Butterworth's clever guitar work and percussive left boot, and Salter's nimble mandolin and tenor guitar playing, the three fiddlers deliver a deep warmth of sound and interplay.  The tunes are a mix of their own compositions and other contemporary sources, but the influences come from a wide range of genres.  Whilst clearly based in Scottish traditional music they range across classical, bluegrass and much more in developing a style that is very much their own.  I look forward to the release of their first album later this year.

Rura nowadays lack a vocalist, so their set was entirely instrumental.  A shame, as they have some excellent songs in their back catalogue, but easily forgotten when they start playing.  Aided by a minimum of electronic trickery, they produce a powerful sound from their four man line up, and there is no more rousing musical noise than Stephen Blake's full-fat Highland bagpipes.  Much of the set was given to new material from their as yet unrecorded third album, due out later this year, and it's clear they are becoming more experimental in their approach.  What's also clear on stage is how much they enjoy working together, and the musical empathy that exists.  There's a lot of subtlety in the arrangements, and a willingness to play around with tempos and some elements of discordancy in building a new sound.  But they remain at their best when delivering a powerhouse of traditional style music, pipes, fiddle, driving guitar and the smart percussive effects of David Foley producing one of the most exciting and distinctive contributions in the world of folk.

My one regret - no bodhran solo from the amazing Foley, something I hope they will consider returning to in future live performances.  But that's a small carp to make in what was an excellent show.

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) was a big Hollywood star in the forties and fifties.  By the end of the seventies, following several failed marriages and treatment for breast cancer, she is appearing on stage in low key production in London.  In her boarding house she meets a young struggling actor, Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), and they fall into a fast paced love affair that lasts several months before Grahame brings it to a close for reasons which she hides from Turner.

They are reunited under grimmer circumstances, as her illness hits home and she turns to Peter to give her life meaning again.  She spends most of her remaining days in his family's home in Liverpool, a world where she feels safe.  This could easily become an over sentimentalised tale, but script and direction, and the two leads, avoid any hint of mawkishness and give us a very human story of anger, frustration, laughter and, above all, love.  This is a proper romance, and touches the heart of the viewer.

There's great support from Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham as Peter's welcoming, caring parents, and Vanessa Redgrave's cameo as Grahame's sharp, cynical mother.  But the screen is lit up by the performances of two great actors at different stages of their careers.  Bening is as outstanding as ever, but Bell matches her every step, and their age-gap relationship is never less than entirely believable.

Highly recommended.

How To Disappear, Traverse

Robert hasn't left his small bedroom in over a decade, sister Isla his only contact with the outside world, their mother having died and dad has left the country.  He's a man damaged by life, trapped within his obsessive habits and agrophobia.  Teenage Isla has her own problems, with the money running out and being bullied at school.  Into this claustrophobic dynamic comes Jessica, a DWP benefits assessor, come to find out the truth about Robert, and a jarring presence in their routine of existence.

What looks like being a straightforward critique of the uncaring benefits system, and the brutal way it treats mental illness, becomes something more magical when a portal to a parallel existence gives us an alternative Robert, one whom life has treated less cruelly, and has had a chance to be the person he should be.  It's funny, dark, compassionate, and with a sense of wonder appropriate to the Xmas season.  Owen Whitelaw impresses as the disturbed and disturbing Robert, and although Sally Reid looks way too young to be the hardened civil servant she claims to be, her performance is key to our understanding of the play.

Dean Owens and the Whisky Hearts, Traverse

Dean Owens is another performer I've reviewed several times before, and remains a dependable favourite.  This time he had the full Whisky Hearts band on hand, with drums, bass, keyboard, lead guitar, fiddle and Owens himself on rhythm guitar.  With the excellent Liz Jones adding backing vocals on occasion.

A lively home town crowd made for a great atmosphere from the moment the band were announced and set the tone for a rowdy gig.  With a well established back catalogue to call upon, and a new album launch imminent, the set was a crowd pleasing mix of old and new, and the inevitable and joyous singalong on the wonderful Raining In Glasgow.  The band were tight, with the underrated Craig Ross delivering some excellent guitar work, while Jones' occasional vocal contribution added an extra sweetness to the sound.

As enjoyable, friendly and entertaining a gig as ever.

Lau, Queens Hall

I've reviewed Lau so often before that there's little new to be said here.  As always this was the finest musical occasion of my year and the lack of a new album did nothing to change that.  The trio are celebrating their ten year anniversary in style, looking back at the work that's given us four amazing studio albums, a couple of atmospheric live LPs, and numerous collaborative works.  Both in studio and on stage they remain supreme musicians and entertainers, with their loyal following, at what has become their regular 'home' gig, passionate and enthralled.

An acoustic set, stripped back to the basics of guitar, fiddle, accordion and Kris Drever's vocals, brought some new arrangements of well known numbers and a chance to revel in the power of the musicianship.  The second half brought out their electronic innovations, density of sound and imagination.  A new and very strange electronic device called Morag saw all three band members gathered round to produce a soundscape like no other, and in the classic Hinba the usual discordant passage turned into an electronic car crash.  Even revisiting their old material Lau always manage to throw up something new.

Still the best.

Marie Curie, French Film Festival, Dominion

Appropriately played by Polish actress Karolin Gruszka, this biopic sketches out the life of the famed double winner of the Nobel Prize.  It begins at the start of the 20th century, with Marie long since departed from Warsaw and now well established as a research scientist in Paris working with her husband Pierre.  In 1903 the pair were jointly awarded the Nobel for Physics.  Three years later Pierre dies in a street accident and Marie is determined to carry on their work without him.

With the scene thus set the greater part of the film tackles Curie's constant battles to find acceptance, and the equipment and facilities she needs, in a scientific establishment that was heavily prejudiced against women and foreigners.  (And rumours that Curie was Jewish - she wasn't - harmed her greatly in a country still suffering the after shocks of the Dreyfus Affair.)  An affair with a married man was seized on by a hostile press too, and the film spends a bit too much time on the relationship.  Nonetheless the results she produces make her impossible to ignore, and she goes on

Curie is an important  figure deserving of a great film, but this isn't it.  Gruska is excellent and there's a strong period feel to the action, while the frustrations she faced are well carved out.  Despite some lovely moments, like her flirting with Einstein, it feels too ambitious, attempting to shoehorn in every aspect of her life, to the detriment of her work itself and the major influence she had on medical history.

Beautiful, Playhouse

I am not, I know, the right person to be writing a review of a musical, a genre and format that I have rarely found entertaining.  Too much song and dance, not enough story for my tastes.  But I do like Carole King's music so I tried to keep an open mind in approaching Beautiful.

It tells the story of the teenage King, looking to get her songs published, her songwriting partnership with Gerry Goffin which also resulted in their marriage, and the first steps in her subsequent solo career as a singer/songwriter.  Also the friendship and rivalry between the Goffin/King partnership, and that of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann who had a a string of hit songs working for the same publisher.

With most of the first act given over to songs that the two couples wrote for other acts and zipping through most of the sixties the actual dialogue is limited and the trauma of the Goffin/King breakup is made to appear like an afterthought in their lives.  With such poor material it's really only Amy Ellen Richardson as Weil that is able to make any impact as a character that's not entirely 2-dimensional.

Things improve in the second act where the focus is more on King's burgeoning career as a singer/songwriter.  In part because the songs are so much better, and delivered with less of the dance antics that went before, and partly in giving Bronte Barbe a chance to shine as a singer (although Richardson continued to act her off the stage....).

As befits the genre it ends on a high and a strong feelgood factor, so I left with a smile, despite the thin quality of the fare on offer.