A growing appreciation for Quadrophenia (the album)…

Another week, another excellent BBC documentary revealing the story of a classic 70s rock album: a few week's back it was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here; last week it was Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane; this week it's The Who's double album Quadrophenia. When Quadrophenia was first released, back in 1973, I liked …

Bowie, Ziggy, and my teenage years…

Thanks to an older brother's fairly extensive record collection, the soundtrack to my '70s teenage years was supplied by the likes of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Bowie, Black Sabbath, John Martyn, ELP, The Beatles, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, The Stones, The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Hendrix, Yes, The Who, Led Zeppelin, …

Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen

A fascinating book. The opening sentence:- When I was seven years old, my father told me the Nazis had turned Jews into lampshades. This book tries to... ...examine why some people become capable of cruelty, and whence a loss of empathy inevitably has this consequence. This book goes deeper into the subject than I have …

Rosenbaum on Dreyer…

I have just come across this good short piece by Jonathan Rosenbaum on Carl Dreyer; it eloquently captures some of the mysterious potency of the Danish director's films. As Rosenbaum says:- ...most of his films haven’t dated, even though reactions to his works have fluctuated quite a bit over the years.... One might ... argue …

Shohei Imamura’s THE INSECT WOMAN

I became interested in Japanese director Shohei Imamura's THE INSECT WOMAN after hearing or reading Mark Cousins talking about it. It is now out on Blu-ray, and is quite extraordinary - provocative, perplexing, and beautiful. Here is Cousins talking about it in Capital Celluloid:- The Insect Woman, by Imamura Shohei, isn't all that well known, …

Bela Tarr, a brief retrospective

THE TURIN HORSE finally recieving it UK release a week or two back in London and is to be released in my favourite cinema - the Arts Picturehouse Cambridge - this Friday. To celebrate, here's my retrospective on Bela Tarr's films which was published in Take One:- Hungarian director Bela Tarr’s latest film, THE TURIN HORSE, …

Charles Dickens: A Life – Claire Tomalin

This is one of a number of books about the great author published in this bicentennial year of his birth, and the latest in a long line of Dickens biographies. Tomalin's depiction of Dickens is a fascinating one: a man with prodigious talent and enormous energies (it's exhausting just to read about his multiple, overlapping …

Troyka – Moxxy

Troyka - a fresh sounding, exciting trio comprising the excellent Kit Downes (keyboards), Chris Montague (guitars), and Joshua Blackmore (drums) - are back with a great second album. The LondonJazz site capture the spirit of the album well in their review:- Troyka [describe] their music as ‘a visceral mash-up of rock, jazz and dance music …

…some thoughts on criticism…

Fredrick Gustafsson, in this good blog post, touches on a subject which fascinates me - criticism (and by extension, understanding what makes great cinema). When I write about a film I am always very much aware of my inadequacies. Even after having seen a film three times there might still be things that I have …

…some thoughts on Las Acacias…

I saw this film in the cinema at the end of last year; it's now out on DVD. A second viewing has confirmed first impressions: Las Acacias is a perfectly formed, subtle, moving, and heartwarming little gem. Philip French doesn't agree; he flatly dismisses the film in his short Guardian review:- In this widely praised …