Zadie Smith’s latest novel, The Fraud, is her first foray into the world of historical fiction. The result is a stunning, well-studied examination of Victorian colonial England and some of its inhabitants. As with other works by Smith, the novel takes a patchwork approach, with several interwoven plots taking place over a period of about… Continue reading The Fraud by Zadie Smith — a dazzling depiction of Victorian colonial England
Knife is Salman Rushdie’s account of how he narrowly survived an attempt on his life in August 2022, in which he lost his right eye and partial use of his left hand. The attack ironically came when Rushdie was delivering a lecture on “the creation in America of safe spaces for writers from elsewhere”, at… Continue reading In Knife, Salman Rushdie confronts a world where liberal principles like free speech are old-fashioned
Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) — affectionately known as “Gabo” — started his career as a journalist, but is best known for the novels and short stories that earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Alongside Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa and Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, he was the best-known member of the triumvirate… Continue reading Gabriel García Márquez’s last novel is a moving testament to his genius
People tend to rejoice in the disclosure of a secret. Or, at the very least, media outlets have come to realize that news of “mysteries solved” and “hidden treasures revealed” generate traffic and clicks. So I’m never surprised when I see AI-assisted revelations about famous masters’ works of art go viral. Over the past year… Continue reading How AI is hijacking art history
2001: A Space Odyssey is a landmark film in the history of cinema. It is a work of extraordinary imagination that has transcended film history to become something of a cultural marker. And since 1968, it has penetrated the psyche of not only other filmmakers but society in general. It is not an exaggeration to… Continue reading 2001: A Space Odyssey still leaves an indelible mark on our culture 55 years on
“Drugs, crime, sex and absolute debauchery”, said the expectant moviegoer. “Screen 1”, replied the dazed usher — a brief interaction that may very well have occurred between 1981 and 1993 just around the corner from King’s Cross station. Why may this have occurred? Well because Scala cinema was the ultimate cinema of sin. Founded by… Continue reading Cinema of the debauched — Scala!!!
It is the centenary of the cinema premiere of the German horror film Nosferatu. Now recognised as a classic of the silent era and one of the first examples of cinematic horror, it used elements of gothic style to present a dark dream world. Ripe with undertones that link it not only to contemporary troubles,… Continue reading Nosferatu at 104 — how the seminal vampire film shaped the horror genre
The history of cinema as an art parallels its history as a technology. Ever wondered why the colour in The Wizard of Oz is so saturated? Well, it wasn’t the first Technicolor film, but it was the first to effectively advertise MGM’s new three-strip colour process to a global audience. Why advertise something at half-mast?… Continue reading Films made for Netflix look more like TV shows — here’s the technical reason why
It’s one of the most famous climactic scenes in film: a tense and shocking denouement that sees a series of brutal assassinations intercut with the central character calmly renouncing Satan as he becomes godfather to his nephew. Considered one of the great classics of American cinema, the triple Oscar-winning The Godfather turns 50 on 14… Continue reading The Godfather at 56 — celebrating the mob saga that raised the bar for gangster films
Fresh from All of Us Strangers (2023), Andrew Scott plays the title role in Netflix’s new series Ripley, a miniseries based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. News publisher Out claimed Scott’s Ripley for gayness. However, Scott’s own aspirations are more ambiguous, saying “he’s a queer character, in the sense that he’s… Continue reading Is Andrew Scott’s Ripley mesmerising or charmless — exactly as Patricia Highsmith wrote him?
