Trying to understand an epic poem 2,000 years after it was originally performed as an oral ballad is quite difficult. Especially when it is translated with various interpretations, commentaries and debates regarding words, grammar, syntax, structure or even how we are to perceive a certain character. I really enjoyed studying The Odyssey for IB English… Continue reading The Odyssey review — are we foreigners to time, distance or past versions of ourselves?
Book adaptations have always divided opinion, especially with texts as well-loved and hotly debated as Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, Wuthering Heights. Over the years the classic tale of the tempestuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine has seen countless film, TV and theatre incarnations, and has even been immortalised in song by the inimitable Kate Bush. Unsurprisingly,… Continue reading Wuthering Heights review — Emerald Fennell’s adaptation fails to capture the heart of the moors
“Art is free, shameless, irresponsible: the movement is intense, almost feverish; it resembles, it seems to me, a snakeskin full of ants… filled with meddlesome life” (Bergman, The Snakeskin). Travelling to an island in the Swedish archipelago from Stockholm Central Station requires a train and two buses. Or a train, a ferry and a bus.… Continue reading I want to go on like this — Sommaren med Monika by Ingmar Bergman
Die, My Love (2025) is directed by the brilliant filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, who has a fearless way of exploring motherhood on screen. She doesn’t show us the happy, gentle and joyful version of being a mother. Instead, she forces the audience to see the messy, uncomfortable reality — the postpartum depression, the internal chaos, the… Continue reading Die, My Love review — the uncanny side of motherhood
Daisy Greetham Very few TV shows can maintain a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score while delivering the most absurd lines and unjustifiably dramatic plot imaginable. But then again, very few shows are written by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin. Gloriously ridiculous and so far overblown is The Chair Company, the new limited series written by the… Continue reading The Chair Company — Tim Robinson’s profound ability to out-mortify the human experience
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s magnum opus, Frankenstein, has greatly influenced the arts over the past centuries, spanning novels, characters inspired by the creature and film adaptations that provide space for their own interpretation with artistic uniqueness and pioneering elements from the classic story. Among them is Guillermo del Toro (GDT)’s version, released this year, which amassed… Continue reading Frankenstein review — parental trauma themes and biblical allusions
“It’s a hard thing, realising people aren’t who you want them to be.” Such a poignant, sincere line was first heard in the trailer for Scott Cooper’s new Bruce Springsteen biopic, which sees The Bear star Jeremy Allen White tasked with embodying “The Boss”. Yet, it wasn’t until I was sat captivated in the cinema… Continue reading Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere — the man beneath the surface
I watched One Battle After Another in the same week that I rewatched Longlegs and Weapons. Following the double bill of cultish mind control and paranormal fascination, I oddly found myself much more disturbed and sweaty watching the plot of Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA)’s new film unfold. A loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel… Continue reading One Battle After Another review — mankind is scarier than any ghost
Alice Lowe’s Timestalker is an inventive, genre-bending dark comedy that traverses time, love and existential questions with her signature sharp wit and emotional depth. Following her critically acclaimed debut feature Prevenge (2016), Lowe returns with a more ambitious and stylistically experimental project. In Timestalker, she once again demonstrates her unique voice, blending comedy with moments… Continue reading Timestalker — Alice Lowe’s darkly hilarious journey through love and time
Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, struggled at the box office when it was released. It remains one of the director’s most under-appreciated films. Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining, which have been endlessly dissected in books and essays, Barry Lyndon has received relatively little scholarly attention —… Continue reading Barry Lyndon at 50: why Kubrick’s most overlooked masterpiece deserves another viewing
