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The Tech In Return To Seoul
One of the many strengths of Davy Chou’s superb Return To Seoul is its depiction of our current dependence on technology for communication. Characters are constantly texting each other, or making video calls or using translation apps to say something to someone who doesn’t speak their language. This should bring all of them closer together,… Continue reading
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Buzzcut Season
She’s driving home and Lorde’s Buzzcut Season starts playing on shuffle. Her body recognises the song before her brain does. The tightening in her chest, the breathlessness, the pain gripping her throat: exactly the same as eight years ago, when she was on the very same stretch of road — with the Solent below her… Continue reading
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The Burden Of Story
I’ve just reached a wonderful part in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Desertion where the main plot appears to be abandoned and the author (or is it someone who’ll turn out to be a narrator?) reflects on what happens next in the story. He can’t fully explain the events, he says, but he knows they took place, implausible… Continue reading
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Knoops
This time, they decide to go in. They’ve avoided it for weeks — months, even — despite the recommendations of friends. But today, the time is right. And so is the nippy weather: perfect for a cup of hot chocolate. Except at Knoops it doesn’t come in a cup. (And no, paper cups don’t count.)… Continue reading
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Sharing
Some excuses are more valid than others. The one about not having enough time — which is probably the excuse he makes the most — is amongst the most valid. But then, even a lack of time, valid excuse though it may be, comes down to a question of choices: decisions to do X with… Continue reading
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Best Films Of 2022
I probably shouldn’t start the year by thinking about the things I didn’t manage to do in 2022, but logging on to this blog makes it impossible for me to ignore that the film reviews I’d hoped to write never quite materialised. Never mind — the time that could have been spent on updating this… Continue reading
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Best Films Of 2021 and Screen Time December 2021
And so another year comes to an end, this time with a bin full of (mercifully, negative) lateral flow tests. Despite a few difficulties along the way, the film review project survived intact: if we count this post, then every single movie I watched, either at home or at the cinema (when they re-opened) has… Continue reading
2021, Aaron Sorkin, Adam McKay, After Love, Aleem Khan, Alek Keshisian, Another Round, Being The Ricardos, best of, Blond Ambition, Chloe Zhao, cinema, Darius Marder, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Edgar Wright, Emerald Fennell, featured, film, In Bed With Madonna, Jane Campion, Jasmila Zbanic, Javier Bardem, Kevin Macdonald, Last Night In Soho, Lee Isaac Chung, Madonna, Minari, movie, Nicole Kidman, Nomadland, Passing, Promising Young Woman, Quo Vadis Aida, Rebecca Hall, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Screen Time, Sound Of Metal, Steven Spielberg, The Mauritanian, The Power Of The Dog, Thomas Vinterberg, Top 10, West Side Story, writing -
House Of Gucci, Spencer, Respect and others – Screen Time November 2021
Here’s one way to sum up November’s cinematic delights: four films about fascinating, real women, and two films about equally fascinating, fictional women. Tellingly, the latter were far more interesting than the former, with one important exception, as I’ll describe in a moment. Continue reading
2021, 25 Years Of Innocence, Agata Kulesza, Aretha Franklin, Ayten Amin, cinema, Colin Firth, Egypt, Eva Husson, featured, film, film review, Graham Swift, House Of Gucci, Jan Holoubek, Josh O'Connor, Lady Gaga, Liesl Tommy, Mothering Sunday, movie, Odessa Young, Olivia Colman, Pablo Larrain, Piotr Trojan, Poland, Princess Diana, Respect, Ridley Scott, Screen Time, Souad, Spencer, Tomasz Komenda -
Dune, The Silence Of The Lambs, County Lines and others – Screen Time October 2021
Not the cheeriest of months… well, as long as we don’t count the Paw Patrol movie. Although I am partial to kids’ fare (which, in my view, requires extraordinary skill to pull off well), I must point out that this particular cinematic offering was enforced viewing as part of a childcare stint. But rules is… Continue reading
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Annette, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and A Clockwork Orange – Screen Time September 2021
If September’s film viewing was bound together by an overarching theme, it was the idea of integrity. In Annette – Leos Carax’s memorably surreal musical – the main characters grappled with their attempts to remain true to their artistic lives – and their splintering selves – while singing their way through some deceptively banal songs.… Continue reading
About Me
I am a writer and award-winning perfume critic currently living in the south of England and working on a novel. For my perfume-related writing, please visit Persolaise.com.
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DARIUSH ALAVI 