So beautiful, so affecting. Makes sense that it was produced by Barry Jenkins but totally its own thing.
2. White Noise (Noah Baumbach, 2022)
As a Don DeLillo fan, I had high hopes for this but it is a mess. The dialogue needs David Mamet to work and Adam Driver looks like Alan Partridge half the time.
3. Glass Onion (Rian Johnson, 2022)
Laura is a fan of detective novels and chose this leaden bit of fluff. Quite insufferable.
To paraphrase Simone Weil: "A housewife left in an apartment on her own would have no rights, but she would have obligations."
It's 3h21m of everyday life that you can't help but be absorbed by.
5. The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)
Deliciously funny satire of pretentious fine dining, karmic inequality, and artistic obsession.
6. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022)
When I wrote about falling out with a friend (), Ian texted to ask if I'd watched this film. Well, I have now and can totally relate to the feelings evoked by it. Strange, unique, resonant. neilscott.substack.com/p/unclear-fall…
7. The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes, 2021)
The first hour is utterly sublime as rock meets avant garde to make the coolest band ever. The second hour is bittersweet as they drift towards being a normal-if-still-great band.
8. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook, 2022)
Not really sure what to make of this Hitchcockian romantic detective mystery. While the plot and motives are confounding, the relationships are compelling.
9. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras, 2022)
I adore seeing photography on the cinema screen and Nan Goldin’s pictures are so beautifully tender and raw. Connecting it to the opioid crisis gives the film contemporary emotional relevance, but the photos are the star.
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1. Art School Orgy by Stewart Home
Originally started as an exercise in style for a creative writing course he was teaching, Art School Orgy is written in Home's jaunty fashion but with the subject matter being the most depraved acts imaginable. Intense start to the reading year!
2. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
I remember seeing this in the cult classics section of HMV and Fopp, as if it were celebrating alt lifestyles. Read between the lines, though, and it is a sharp critique of the freaks, while still remaining loyal to Ken Kesey.
I went to the Tech Adventures Festival in Queen’s Park with an open mind.
Maybe these were the people who could show me that web3, the metaverse, NFTs, and crypto are worth my time rather than just being the backdrop for an elaborate ponzi scheme.
Maybe it was the crypto crash, being on a workday, or the Glasgow weather, but the first thing you notice is that there’s basically no one there.
What was it Gandhi said: “First, they ignore you ...”
Perhaps this is what happens when you bring the digital future into the analogues world. But it is a shame that all the hype around this tech has got no traction.
As @broderick the other day, there is huge amounts of money floating around looking for projects to invest in …