‘There is a spectre inside every photograph.’ – Deborah Levy, The Man Who Saw Everything Haunting I am haunted by Polaroids. After I have taken one, I feel I have bottled something. Under my bed is a box in which I store them. It is sealed tight with a stone atop to keep the spirits locked inside. At night, I swear I sometimes hear the … Continue reading Presence, or Polaroid Ghosts (Part 1)
“But to learn to dye is better than to study the ways of dying.” – Sir Thomas Browne Writing He stalks with a lens, Short hair and floral dresses: Red, Deep red. The lens is a recollection, Occurring at a wooden desk, With a typewriter, Tapped by fingers, clothed in black leather; Dead skin masks for desperate hands. No prints. Writing violence. The lens is … Continue reading Deep Red; or Renditions of Murder
In spite of the unending calamity of the 2020s, films, books and television have still kept me going throughout 2022. Here are my highlights. Film Throughout the period of December 2021 to December 2022, I’ve watched just over 270 films. In general, I’ve focussed on my usual deep dive into the handful of national cinemas that I’m really invested in, though this year has seen … Continue reading 2022 Review
2021 has been a strange year. I’ve found it harder than 2020, in spite of getting more work and generally doing more things as we (briefly) returned to normal. It still just didn’t sit right. Perhaps it was simply because my previous years have been focussed around big projects coming out like book releases and this year was characterised by sitting on one until its … Continue reading 2021 Review
I was in a cafe in the Alésia area of Paris in 2017 trading horror stories about school days with the writer Édouard Louis when the novel potential of some of my own childhood memories became apparent. I had met Édouard through a mutual producer and we were discussing film projects that were never to materialise. Having read The End of Eddy and loved it, … Continue reading Nettles (2022, Influx Press) – Preview
This article was originally commissioned as part of an ongoing series for Little White Lies. As the photograph was damaged by rain, and not wanting to revisit to re-do the photograph, the article is published here. Further installments of the column are ongoing and can be read here. One of the great screen presences of cinema’s Golden Age, Jean Simmons forged a strong career on … Continue reading Beginnings: Jean Simmons
In what has undoubtedly been a cursed year, I have been thankfully kept sane by a number of things, namely films and books but also a few other outlets of frustration. Suffice to say, when you’re taking solace from a hobby for which the tagline is ‘In the grim darkness of far future, there is only war’, you can bet it has been a pretty … Continue reading 2020 Review
How Pale The Winter Has Made Us is my third book and was released on the 13th February. This means that, as of today, it has been out for three months. With a lot of the publicity and events collapsing around the book due to the ongoing Coronaviris situation, I thought I’d collate all of the things that have managed to happen surrounding the book … Continue reading How Pale The Winter Has Made Us (Influx Press)
Best of Film Un Singe En Hiver (1962) – Henri Verneuil Last Train From Gun Hill (1959) – John Sturges Histoire De Marie Et Julien (2003) – Jacques Rivette Paper Moon (1973) – Peter Bogdanovich Peppermint Soda (1977) – Diane Kurys Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) – John Sturges Montparnasse 19 (1958) – Jacques Becker Cadaveri Eccellenti (1976) – Francesco Rosi Maigret Et l’Affaire … Continue reading 2019 Review
I’ve very happy to say that, after five years since the very first frame was shot, the film adaptation of Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood’s Ness is finally finished. Started before the book was even written, the project has been on and off since late 2014 when first gaining permission to visit the famous site of Orford Ness; once a semi-fictionalised place in my mind’s … Continue reading Short Film – Ness (Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood)
Celluloid Wicker Man 