A Liar’s Autobiography is based on the autobiography of Graham Chapman, the most enigmatic member of the Monty Python team. Reflecting Chapman’s inimitable style, the film visually displays the random, disparate nonsense that inhabited the comedian’s consciousness. These wild, surreal fabrications come together to form some semblance of an autobiography; the commentary is provided by Chapman Read More
Hardeep Singh Kohli is a rare breed of comedian insofar as his act neither hinges upon nor hides from his cultural heritage. Political and cultural difficulties of the legacy of empire and migration are ever present, but Singh Kohli’s work refuses to be defined by its conflicts, and instead reflects a celebration of multiculturalism and also Read More
No archetype of recent Hollywood cinema is quite as insufferable as the idealised child, usually portrayed as unblemished, heavenly little bundles of perfection, too flawless, precocious and squeaky-clean to be genuine or sympathetic. So when a film arrives that paints children in a totally unsentimental light, thanks in large part to a young ensemble cast Read More
Bruno Dumont’s third feature film, Hors Satan, [trans.Outside Satan] (2011) sees the director dispense with the familiar elements of narrative and character development, making this his most radical and uncompromising work since his debut, la Vie de Jesus(1996). Dumont’s writing process is unique in that each story he brings to the screen is essentially an adaptation of Read More
As much as we do not like to admit to such trivial temptation, it is often the title or the cover design that draws us to a book. A History of Sarcasm does not, however, represent a history or catalogue of the word sarcasm and its meanings. Seventeen of Burton’s published stories have been collected Read More
Being a crime-fiction writer cannot be an easy job, trying to distinguish your work from so many others in an already crowded market. This pressure, coupled with the glut of crime shows like CSI or Criminal Minds that appear on television on a nightly basis, must make distinctiveness hard to come by. It is for this reason that I Read More
Sally Read’s new collection, The Day Hospital, comprises twelve monologues in the voices of elderly psychiatric patients inspired by patients at the London day hospital where she had previously worked. Of these twelve patients, two are indigenous Londoners, four are Irish immigrants, and four Jewish refugees. Separation from family and friends through migration is just one aspect Read More
Adapted from David Mitchell’s novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas is certainly one of the most ambitious films of recent years. The film was directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski, who brought us The Matrix, and Tom Tykwer, and has had previous experience interpreting novels for film, for example, Patrick Süskind’sPerfume: The Story of a Murderer. Nevertheless, Cloud Read More
Caesar Must Die is a film loosely based on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, performed by a mixture of actors and inmates from the high-security wing of Rome’s Rebibbia prison. The men are serving lengthy sentences, for crimes such as drug trafficking, involvement in the mafia, and murder. The film is shot in the style of a documentary, using Read More
An intriguingly insidious concoction of sci-fi, thriller and horror, Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral exudes discomfort from its first extreme close-up of a hypodermic needle to its last. The film’s disturbingly sterile production design and stark technical details render it worthy of much attention, especially considering its status as a debut feature. However, the real jewel in Read More