Saturday, September 25, 2010






See Danny Boyle remorselessly slagged off and Danny Dyer mildly praised! Witness low-budget British hooligan movies get a slap on the back while Mamma Mia gets a kick in the teeth. Discover the bleak brilliance of Irish junkie comedy Adam and Paul! Be dismayed to realise you hadn’t understood why Steven Frears’ The Queen is the best film of the past ten years and now you have to pretend you’d always really liked it! Be dazzled by the seemingly unstaunchable flow of ant-Blairite bile and vitriol directed at perfectly innocent little films! Grow exasperated by the author’s insistence on reading everything through the lens of neo-liberalism! Succumb to the ravishing onrush of his polemic and moan damply at the pungency of his critique! Leapfrog grotesque errors that he was too negligent to winnow out of the final draft with your pedantry held firmly in check*! Arrive exhausted but inspired on the final page!



“Classless” has appeared in quality bookshops the length and breadth of the country I’m informed by the Earl of Woolwich (i.e. Owen**, who actually does crazy stuff like move about in the world and go to places outside Greenwich) and so, I assume, is generally available.

Here’s a bit which didn’t make it into the book itself, on “The Beach”.

What a shit film that is, eh?

Anyway, if you don’t like this bit you can rest assured that the stuff that did make it in there is much, much better, and if you do, well imagine just what an embarrassment of giddy riches awaits you.




*We’ve sorted that out now, so I’d snap it up quickly if you want to be indisputably and demonstrably One Who Knows Before Everyone Else Does.
**Who kindly provided the image that now graces the cover. That’s right, it’s a converted modernist cinema in, surprise, surprise, Woolwich!

4 comments:

Benjamin said...

I really enjoyed it, and it reminded me again of the 90s as vitual wasteland/non-decade (perhaps not helped as I was writing a PhD at the time, which does not encourage venturing beyond the library/desk). I thought the Mike Leigh kicking might go in, can I request a parallel volume? I don't want to force you back into that debate, but can't stand Leigh myself.

Nice to see a positive mention for Essex Boys, surprisingly good and close to my heart for the representations of Southend as 'glamorous' location

I haven't seen the Queen, but think I should. Not very keen, I must say.

carl said...

cheers Ben! my own weighty cogitations on (the bits of) The Persistence of the Negative (i understand)will be up as soon as time allows...

BenSix said...

"Here’s a bit which didn’t make it into the book itself, on “The Beach”.

What a shit film that is, eh?"


You've expressed everything I wanted to about this film. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

if only all films could be dealt with in such a way...

nice blog!

carl