I remember being dazzled a few years back by the technical virtuosity of Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas... but Black Swan Green is altogether different beast: a delicate, deeply human – and utterly mesmerising! – coming-of-age.

A year in the life of 13-year-old Jason Tyler in a sleepy 1980’s English village; set against a slow-motion divorce, burgeoning literary aspirations, the cruelty schoolyard intimidation.

The poetry of childhood, and no mistake!

An enjoyable, old school kind of read… I enjoyed the first half much more than the second (and the final quarter not at all), though the author’s (and, I guess, translator’s) unaffected and witty style saw me out…

Not for everyone.

A riveting nicely-played movie… I particularity liked the exploration of the differing approaches to detective work, the provisional grunt-work way or the big-city fancy-pants “use the head” technique!

The bloody tale of a Cochinese dynasty of spice merchants, artists, and crime lords; set against a fading world and the violent birth-pangs of the modern Indian nation.

This is a wildly inventive, magical, captivating book; sometimes surreal, always incredibly witty (utilising a fair dose of black humour). The prose is vivid, lyrical and beautiful. I loved the narrative digresions on art, religion, ethniticy, morality.

Playful, unforgettable, exuberant – reaffirmed my love of reading! :)

Fascinating and entertaining movie with great performances… especially Whitaker who is absolutely sensational (by turns charming, ruthless and very scary)

Acrid, pitch-black satire… deeply deeply funny!!!

The narrative acrobatics are startling, Amis is a formidably talented writer. Above all, I’m unlikely to forget the crass, profoundly repulsive, vice-addicted anti-hero protagonist, John Self, in a very very long time. Fantastic!

Brilliant article from Sight & Sound

I think it was first movie I saw that left a real, lasting, profound mark on me.

A day in the life of three underclass youths (one Arab, one Jew and one black) – in the banlieue, projects, outside Paris – as they basically lay about and talk nonesense. When a friend is beaten to an inch of his life in a police station after a riot, the housing estate erupts and our three protagonists are drawn into the festering violence.

Visceral, gritty, raw, important, real, energetic—and very funny! It successfully and entertainingly weaves the personal tales of the three youths/yobs into a wider social context. The black and white photography is both bleak and beautiful – and there is one staggering aerial tracking shot over the estate, as an amateur DJ fills the open space with sound from the decks at his high-up window.

The film seems to take on even further importance after the French riots last year… but, irrespective of all that, it is close to my idea of a perfect cinema experience! :)

IMDB

A grim watch, to be sure, but a fascinating and thought-provoking one. Isabelle Huppert is simply outstanding as a musician who sacrifices her humanity, and eventually her sanity, in an attempt to attain perfection in her art.

A bravura visual tour-do-force – one of the most astounding-looking film I’ve seen in quite a while – textured, detailed, believable. The numerous extended tracking shots get longer and more impressive, climaxing in an staggering, viseral siege sequence, where the characters are very much in the thick of things, as the camera swivels and turns and surges… as a refugee camp seems to come to pieces all around!

The recreation of near-future dysoptian England is scarily believable (and, weirdly, more satisfying therefore for a European audience than if it has been set in L.A. or New York).

I think that some people will be frustrated by the missing plot exposition – but I didn’t bother me at all, and it mirrored the confusion of protagonists. Maybe it was a little heavy on the religious allegory, though.