One of the very best things I saw last year; devastating stuff. Great to see so many top-tier neo-noirs getting rereleases after decades of neglect. Despairing films for despairing times
‘What is described as abundant storage space is really a set of high-security vaults. We fill them with our memories and then we throw away the keys, or someone else does.’
A fascinating read for fans of Chris Marker
So much fun, I re-subscribed.
Gorgeous! Do read.
He coulda been one hell of a qawwali singer
This is not a painting. It is made entirely of wood, its surface flat. A detail from the 15th-century "Studiolo Gubbio", one of the finest examples of intarsia, the masterful art of fitting together pieces of wood to make images: publicdomainreview.org/essay/e...
Some months ago, ahead of ‘The Phoenician Scheme’, I had a long chat with Wes Anderson about billionaires, Buñuel, Benicio del Toro and the nature of patronage. That interview is now online
The hideous presentation is a given by now, but it’s sadder that among its many vast genre blindspots, Spotify doesn’t seem to know the difference between calypso and soca
The stage was his great love, but Tatsuya Nakadai gave some of the most vivid screen performances of the 20th century. His Kurosawa collabs are indelible but ‘The Human Condition’, in which he embodies an attrition of the human spirit over several years and 10 hours, might be his masterpiece
“A Long Winter” is the last and longest story in Colm Toibín’s excellent collection ‘Mothers and Sons’; where most of the stories are set in Ireland, this one memorably decamps to Catalonia and ups the psychological ante. Looking forward to seeing what Andrew Haigh does with it
Very much enjoyed speaking to Kelly Reichardt about her favourite museums, the first artwork to rock her world and the joys of filming an art heist
The prolific singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis died on Friday at age 88. Curtis had performed with Buddy Holly, opened for Elvis Presley and written hits like “I Fought the Law,” “Walk Right Back” and “Love Is All Around” — the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which he also sang.
That Supertramp was a great band is one of my most unfashionable opinions. Hodgson may have sung the best-known songs but Davies’s solo here – backed by an incredibly tight band, sans Hodgson – is a high point of live rock piano
Napoleon was born #onthisday in 1769. After the collapse of his empire in 1815, “le petit caporal” was imprisoned on St Helena, and while there started learning English. One resident of the island called his English “the oddest in the world” — publicdomainreview.org/collection/n... #otd
a genealogy of stomp clap
have sensed some confusion re: the origins of stomp clap that i'm all too happy to clear up maxread.substack.com/i/170106944/...
If you’re London-based and have no plans tomorrow, the endlessly beguiling mystery epic ‘Trenque Lauquen’ is screening at the ICA and I cannot recommend it enough. I wrote about it here
My biggest surprise on rewatching was how many belly-laughs it got out of me. Leonard Rossiter is exquisite
Thanks Lou – you too!
The pace can take some getting used to. But now’s a good time to give it a chance on the big screen – and if you still don’t like it, at least you’ll have seen it more or less as intended!
Thank you Caspar!
This was a daunting task, but I had a great time unpicking how Kubrick borrowed from 18th-century art to make one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Beautifully written piece.
Fun fact of the day: Mr. T's pastor is called Eric Clopton
Exactly the kind of precision I want from my weather forecasts
‘Scenes from a Repatriation’ at the Royal Court is invigorating stuff. I spoke to its writer, Joel Tan, about how statues embody power, how art can play in spaces where hard politics cannot, and how China’s attitudes to its own historic artefacts have changed
www.apollo-magazine.com/joel-tan-sce...
Interviewed Wes Anderson for the magazine; chatted about billionaires, Buñuel and Benicio del Toro. Goodies aplenty in this issue
www.mmslondon.co.uk/shop/p/sight...
new Pynchon novel!!!! about a 1930s private eye!!!! named Hicks McTaggart!!!!
I've seen neither but am keen to see both. TS is the Tarkovsky that keeps eluding me – one of these days I will catch it!
Saw an accidentally perfect double-bill last night: ‘Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’ and ‘The End’. Both single-location movies; both about the lies we can so easily tell ourselves as individuals and communities; both sorely under-appreciated on release.
