First published on The Quietus (April 21st 2013) //
Nothing New For Trash Like You:
On Harmony Korine’s Debut Novel
First published on The Quietus (17th March 2013) //
Declan Tan finds himself caught in the whirlwind of this latest offering from, perhaps, one of the most unique literary voices of a generation
First published on 3:AM Magazine (25th May 2012) //
Pig Iron, Benjamin Myers, Bluemoose Books 2012
First published on 3:AM Magazine (7th March 2012) //
First published on Spike Magazine (8th November 2011) //
Lynne Ramsay’s deranged adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s equally deranged novel (which Shriver quite garishly lauds on the film’s poster) is a decent stretch of film that concentrates more on the director’s ambition than it does on the novel’s. The result is a sometimes over-stylised but darkly entertaining genre-mix of gallows humour, psychological horror and suspense; likely to resonate more with shit-scared parents out on ‘date night’ than with their demonic kids, who have probably seen it all before, in more detail, and probably with gory special effects.
Continue reading “We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) Review”
First published on Don’t Panic (23rd October 2011) //
Until recently, the promise of Steve Aylett’s £750 foray into feature-length film productions had seemingly been wandering desultorily around the Internet for quite some time, indulging in some shallow vanishing since 2009, popping up here and there on blogs, before triumphantly reappearing for its premiere in Brighton earlier this year. Followed closely by a London screening, it has since been saddled up for a couple more dates, in Northampton (October) and Portland at Bizarro Con 2011 (November).
First published on Spike Magazine (July 5th 2011) //
Colourful comfort blanket for social misfits or tacky cult-by-numbers debut? Declan Tan reviews J.B. Ghuman’s debut
First published on Spike Magazine (June 28th 2011) //
Yuletide films are a risky proposition (and reviewing them in summer equally so). Can a Norwegian director of note make his mark? Declan Tan finds out
First published on Snipe //
Mahamet-Saleh Haroun’s third cinematic feature, sparse and emotionally kinetic, tells the modern-day allegorical tale of a Chadian man, Adam (Youssouf Djaoro); once unchangeable by the world, and content in his life, while seemingly devoted to his family (but more so his past), who begins to disintegrate as a result of pressures outside his usually taut control; forces which jolt him out of his still-water complacency.
First published on Snipe //
Neds (short for Non-Educated Delinquents in the film) charts the viscous trickle of one gifted boy’s eventual adhesion to the 1970s Glaswegian gang culture, a fate that Peter Mullan (writer-director), now into his third feature, so narrowly avoided in his youth.
Internet Present 