The first 100 or so pages of Normal People flow like water. Sally Rooney's etchings of Marianne and Connell refuse to be typified; they emerge fully formed and sidestep the large majority of the usual high school clichés. Her first chapter immediately keys in, without orientation, on the exact peculiarity of their arrangement, unconventional as it is revealing: a working-class boy picking up his mum from her job as a house cleaner for the privileged girl's family, a cross-socioeconomic meet…
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Children of Men 2006
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
It is only after a mere 290 or so pages that P. D. James finally allows us a glimpse inside Theo Faron, an extended sequence of action where he must fumble through the armed robbery of a car to facilitate the escape of the first pregnant women in decades. He points the (unloaded) gun clumsily, forgets to switch on the television to drown out the captives' cries, and in his hesitation to leave an elderly couple trussed and hungry, we…
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Dog Day Afternoon 1975
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Initially, we believe Sonny is an accomplished and capable criminal. He knows all the tricks of the trade that the tellers employ. There's humour in the way he dismissively scatters the decoy bills, as if he has done this a hundred times and is sick of all the charades. Pacino's character is a great mystery and intimacy at once. His bravado persona is played up for the crowd and all the media scrutiny that accompanies the stakeout. His jaded, weary…
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The Piano Teacher 2001
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One night as Erika Kohut returns home, she is immediately confronted with a barrage of questions and accusations and insults by her mother. It turns physical as the pair exchange slaps, and then her mother tearfully relents and guilt trips her into a heartfelt embrace and make-up. We sense that this is a frequent cycle of events in this troubled household. And then slowly, as Haneke always does, the uptight, business-first piano teacher is revealed to be some sort of…
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