Hanif Kureishi was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1954, the son of a "Subcontinental" father (read: Pakistani) and an English mother. Growing up in the suburbs, he watched his father's obsessive efforts to write his way out of discrimination and obscurity -- efforts that went unrecognized outside the fami

Cool, Gritty, Post-colonial literature, Quirky, Urban

"To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about," flamboyant filmmaker John Waters has said. "If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation." Just check out the infamous scene in the cult classic "Pink Flamingos" (1972), in which a 300-pound transvestite cheerf

Gritty, Grotesque, In-your-face, Ironic

"My characters are not violent or vile. They're everyday people. They have some money, but find themselves discontented with their own loneliness, their own mortality, the sameness of life." Championing a gritty, unencumbered approach to filmmaking, John Cassavetes directed his art toward a new front

Anxiety, Event, Gritty, Intense, Intimate, Open-ended, Psychological, Sincere, Sprawling