emma.simmonds
Bio
Emma is a film and TV critic whose words have appeared in Time Out, Radio Times, The Observer, Empire, Total Film, Little White Lies, The Spectator, Virgin Movies, MovieMail and Popmatters, amongst many others. She is also a contributor to the London, New York and Glasgow volumes of the World Film Locations book series. She is The List magazine's current Film Reviews Editor and The Arts Desk's former Film Editor.
latest in today
Returning to the West End to celebrate two decades since those strange muppetty posters went up on London buses, I’m still laughing along…
Just now, everything WNO does inevitably bears the mark of their Arts Council-imposed financial troubles, and this new Flying Dutchman…
Carsie Blanton & the Burning Hell, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - a fine revolutionary singalong
In these times of genocide, illegal invasions and a class war which the ultra-rich are emphatically winning, we clearly need a woman to…
The Southbank Centre’s second Multitudes festival – which commissions artists ranging from filmmakers to acrobats to shine new light onto…
Antonio Pappano’s pairing for last night’s Barbican concert intrigued – and, initially, baffled – me. Shostakovich’s Fifth: a clear choice…
Across seven decades, Alan Bennett has revealed a great deal of himself through plays and screenplays. In 1994, with the publication…
“Since when was getting older an honour?” asks Tereza, rightly suspicious when she finds officials nailing up a cheap garland around her…
Record Store Day 2026 is this Saturday! At theartsdesk on Vinyl we’ve been playing through exclusive RSD goodies. Check the reviews. Then…
One of the most resonant contemporary slogans is “Build bridges not walls”. Because it applies to the personal as well the political, it…
This entertaining, gorgeous-looking film within a film, directed and written by multi-talented Turkish-Italian Ferzan Özpetek (he’s also…