Enda Walsh ‘s Disco Pigs as both stage play and film adaptation, the latter directed by Kirsten Sheridan, launched the career of a certain young Cillian Murphy. I’ve seen a pretty underwhelming recent version of the play, to be honest, but the 2001 film is wonderful: a blistering and beautiful concoction, with Murphy as Pig/DarrenContinue reading “Disco Pigs: A Twisted Irish Fairytale”
Category Archives: Film
Woody Allen’s Dialogue Problem
Culture war issues aside, there are many reasons to dislike Woody Allen these days. It’s frustrating, as regardless of his less than healthy attitudes to women and certain ethnic groups (what did Armenian people ever do to him? Seriously?) he made some good films from the seventies -nineties, and did great stand-up in the sixties.Continue reading “Woody Allen’s Dialogue Problem”
Overlooked Classics: Alice In The Cities
We all love Paris,Texas and Wings of Desire. Ask any film aficionado about European cinema and nine times out of ten, Wim Wenders will pop up as an auteur of choice. But as fond as I am of these two classic films, there’s another one which preceded these that’s also wonderful: Alice In The Cities.Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: Alice In The Cities”
Just Step Sideways: Conspirators of Pleasure
Jan Svankmajer had always dabbled in the perverse in his short films, but his third feature film, Conspirators of Pleasure from 1996 goes full tilt. It’s hilarious, pointed and downright unnerving, even by his own surreal standards. All of the main preoccupations are present and correct here: bizarre puppetry; food, ritual and the act ofContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Conspirators of Pleasure”
Overlooked Classics: Stage Beauty
Richard Eyre ”s 2004 film, with a wonderful screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher, is a gem which still never seems to get the acclaim it deserves. I’ve never been quite sure why. The 17th century has often been mined for parody (think Blackadder, Monty Python etc) but this film, while often bawdy and hilarious, is exploratoryContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Stage Beauty”
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Angela Carter… So much to answer for. I first read The Bloody Chamber in 1987 as a young teen, exactly the right time to discover her voluptuous, gory, evocative prose. Her descriptions of sex, death, circuses, films, literature and the theatre were vivid and lucid, patently original. Without het, I question if Guillermo del Toro,Continue reading “The Company of Wolves (1984)”
Film Review: Moonage Daydream
There is a shot of David Bowie travelling on an escalator in Japan which seems to sum up the otherworldly aesthetic of this unique film – he seems to float like an angel. Eschewing the usual cliches of talking heads, song clips and cultural commentary, Brett Morgen’s vibrant visual patchwork is more like a PopContinue reading “Film Review: Moonage Daydream”
Just Step Sideways: Dogging Tales
Like a fever dream taken directly from the pages of Viz comic but created by Chris Morris, Dogging Tales from 2013, remains one of the most unforgettable TV documentaries of the last twenty years. Screened as part of Channel 4’s True Stories strand, and in actual fact directed by Leo Maguire, it was more JeremyContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Dogging Tales”
Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple
This beautiful short film follows Butoh performer Emiko Agatsuma as she crawls like a little sprite of the afterlife clad in a white bodystocking and white wig, through bustling streets, eventually entangling in a billowing pile of plastic. At once a dance and ritual, Agatsuma is a capricious figure, with human and animalistic characteristics. SheContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple”
Annie Griffin’s Festival
It’s that time of year again. The Edinburgh Festival is both a blessing and curse, as it can make or break careers. Even The Guardian recently acknowledged that it’s increasingly pricing out young actors, playwrights, directors and so on as landlords hike prices up to astronomical levels, meaning you’d better have rich parents or patronsContinue reading “Annie Griffin’s Festival”
Hit The North 