My films are intended as polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. They are an appeal for a cinema of insistent questions instead of false (because too quick) answers, for clarifying distance in place of violating closeness, for provocati

Psychological, Sensual

Iris Murdoch's fiction has a way of exposing fears and insecurities; suspense and an impending sense of death drive the plots of many of her novels. Dark, uncontrollable forces are abroad in her world, and keep her readers shifting, looking over their shoulders, and counting the shadows on the wall.

Classical, Contemplative, Elegant, Expansive, Post-war literature, Psychological

Lynne Ramsay has the qualities of a good ghost: she swings open doors and pulls back curtains, not to nag or threaten but just to remind the present of the values of the past. In her short career as a director and writer, Ramsay has brought a beautiful, slowed-down sensibility back into contemporary

Depressive, Gritty, Moody, Psychological, Urban, Young british/kitchen sink/free cinema

In 1961, seven years after J.D. Salinger began his lifelong, self-imposed exile from public life, John Updike described the author as "a uniquely relevant literary artist." Whether Salinger thought Updike's statement was a compliment or a slight is irrelevant. Criticism, publicity, or praise -- Salin

Angry, Dark, Dystopic, Post-war literature, Psychological, Rebel