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o/t: Burning Love and Bleeding Hearts charity anthology
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 20, 2020
Burning Love and Bleeding Hearts is a charity anthology of original short (in fact, short-short) stories, from humorous to dark, of love that goes ‘orribly wrong; it’s being published on Valentine’s Day by the Australian press Things in the Well. All profits from the anthology wil read more
book: The Stranger (1942; trans 1988 Matthew Ward) by Albert Camus
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 18, 2020
Albert Camus’s L’Étranger/The Stranger/The Outsider is one of the most written-about books of the 20th century, so I doubt that any jejune thoughts of my own are going to add much to the sum of human understanding. It’s a book that somehow I didn’t read during my schooldays read more
Affairs of a Gentleman (1934)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 18, 2020
US / 65 minutes / bw / Universal Dir: Edwin L. Marin Pr: Carl Laemmle Jr Scr: Cyril Hume, Peter Ruric, Milton Krims Story: Women (1928 play; vt The Women in His Life) by Edith & Edward Ellis Cine: John J. Mescall Cast: Paul Lukas, Leila Hyams, Patricia Ellis, Phillip Reed, Dorothy Burgess, Onslo read more
book: Jar City (2000; trans 2004 Bernard Scudder) by Arnaldur Indriðason
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 16, 2020
This is the third I’ve read in Indriðason’s longish Inspector Erlendur series: my first encounter with it, Silence of the Grave, left me distinctly underimpressed, so it was quite a number of years before I read another, Outrage, which I enjoyed very much more. In the interim I watched read more
Tendre Poulet (1977)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 15, 2020
vt Dear Inspector; vt Dear Detective France / 106 minutes / color / Ariane, Mondex, GEF–CCFC Dir: Philippe de Broca Pr: Alexandre Mnouchkine, Georges Dancigers, Robert Amon Scr: Philippe de Broca, Michel Audiard Story: Le Commissaire Tanquerelle et le Frelon (1976) by Jean-Paul Rouland and Claude read more
book: Based on a True Story (2015; trans 2017 George Miller) by Delphine de Vigan
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 14, 2020
A slow-starting but eventually mesmerizing tale of writer’s block, identity theft, the nature of memory and the purpose of fiction. The fact that the narrator is a successful novelist called Delphine and is clearly based on de Vigan herself has led some to believe this is autobiography rather read more
Drugoe Litso (2008 TVM)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 11, 2020
vt Another Face Russia / 93 minutes / color, with some sepia & white / Mostelefilm, Star Media Dir: Igor Shternberg Pr: Aleksandr Razarionov, Valentin Opaliov, Vlad Riashin Scr: Yelena Gustova Cine: Yan Voronovskiy Cast: Aleksandra Afanasyeva-Shevchuk, Ilya Liubimov, Dmitri Volkov, Elena Ruchki read more
book: The Swimmer (2013; trans 2015 Elizabeth Clark Wessel) by Joakim Zander
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 10, 2020
The publisher seems keen to make us believe that this novel represents the emergence of a new John Le Carré or Graham Greene. Their copywriters should read a bit more Le Carré or Greene before making such comparisons, because they’re not doing Joakim Zander any favors. You won’t find in read more
Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 8, 2020
US / 79 minutes / color / Afilmco, Zodiac Dir & Pr: Marc Lawrence Scr: Ted Thomas, Fanya Lawrence Story: Marc Lawrence, George Fass Cine: Stanley Cortez Cast: John Derek, Aldo Ray, Arthur O’Connell, Ursula Andress, Sammy Davis Jr., Allyn Joslyn, Keenan Wynn, George Tobias, John Marley, Lurene read more
book: Once on a Moonless Night (2007; trans 2009 Adriana Hunter) by Dai Sijie
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 7, 2020
In the aftermath of China’s Cultural Revolution a young French student (our anonymous narrator) is studying in Peking/Beijing when she falls in love with a local greengrocer, Tumchooq. But this isn’t any old greengrocer: he’s the estranged son of the French linguist Paul d’A read more
book: The Potter’s Field (2008; trans 2011 Stephen Sartarelli) by Andrea Camilleri
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 6, 2020
I’ve read perhaps half a dozen of Camilleri’s Montalbano novels before and generally enjoyed them, but for much of the time while reading this one I felt as if the author was rather doing things by numbers. Yes, Montalbano’s dimwit junior Catarella mangles the language and makes a read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #12: Night of the Slasher (2015)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 5, 2020
US / 11 minutes / color / We Make Movies Dir & Scr: Shant Hamassian Pr: Adam Lesar, Eve Constance, Shant Hamassian Cine: Eli Tahan Cast: Lily Berlina, Scott Javore, Adam Lesar, David Swann, Eve Constance. A teenager, Jenelle (Berlina), has a score to settle with a psycho. We read between the li read more
book: When It Grows Dark (2016; trans 2017 Anne Bruce) by Jorn Lier Horst
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 4, 2020
A prequel to a series of Norwegian police procedurals that I have not read. Thirty-three years ago, in 1983, series protagonist William Wisting is just a humble patrol cop with a young wife, infant twins and too many bills. Trying to catch a habitual car thief, he and his partner make a discovery t read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #11: He Took His Skin Off for Me (2014)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 4, 2020
UK / 11 minutes / color / LFS, Fruit Tree Media, Cungkeel Dir: Ben Aston Pr: Fiona Lamptey Scr: Maria Hummer, Ben Aston Story: “He Took His Skin Off for Me” (2013 Devil’s Lake) by Maria Hummer Cine: Yiannis Manolopoulos Cast: Sebastian Armesto, Anna Maguire, Oli Fenton, Sarah Barker, Danyèle read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #10: The Detectress (1919)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 3, 2020
US / ~21 minutes / bw silent / Bull’s Eye, Reelcraft Dir: Gale Henry, Bruno C. Becker Cast: Gale Henry, Milbourne Moranti (i.e., Milburn Morante), Hap H. Ward, Eddie Baker, Richard C. Currier. One of the few surviving movies made by a comedienne who was in her day enormously popular—she has sometim read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #9: L’Amore Non Ha Confini (1998)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 2, 2020
Italy / 15 minutes / color / Indigo Dir & Scr: Paolo Sorrentino Pr: Nicola Giuliano Cine: Pasquale Mari Cast: Gianni Ferreri, Gaetano Amato, Giovanni Esposito, Caterina De Regibus (i.e., Caterina Deregibus), Luigi Petrucci. Gianni Ferreri as Beato A piece of Mafia-related surrealism that’s pecul read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #8: The Attachment (2003)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Jan 1, 2020
US / 18 minutes / color / Anics Productions Dir & Pr & Scr: Alex Nicoll Cine: Brandon Trost Cast: Sean Gray, René Moranno, Sean Riedy, Vanessa Vander Pluym, Heather Toonen, Dai Ngyuyen, Alex Nicoll. René Moranno (left) as Scott and Sean Gray as Ryan Normal-seeming creep Ryan Morris (Gray) read more
o/t reblog: The charities who were cheated
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Dec 31, 2019
***Author Christoph Fischer, who with a bunch of others was recently scammed in a book venture they’d launched to raise money for charity (see here), has put out a plea to try to ensure that at least some of the charity monies can be raised. writerchristophfischer Many of you know the authors read more
book: The Face of Trespass (1974) by Ruth Rendell
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Dec 31, 2019
Ruth Rendell’s earlier novels, especially those in her Wexford series (but let’s not forget Master of the Moor), can be a bit of a lottery, but this one, The Face of Trespass, is a tautly told winner. Gray Lanceton wrote a successful novel but then, because of the onset of a torrid love read more
The Twelve Shorts of Christmas #7: L’Esecuzione (2012)
Noirish Posted by John Grant on Dec 31, 2019
Italy / 15 minutes / color / Zazen Film Dir & Pr & Scr: Enrico Iannaccone Cine: Umberto Manente Cast: Pasquale Fernandez, Giorgia Palombi, Umberto Longobardi, Domenico Di Vivo, Vincenzo Marotta, Lina Semioli, Eva Giardina, Aldo Crispino. A short movie about an exceptionally unpleasant indivi read more