Lenny Abrahamson
From the top-notch performances and Alice Birch’s honest writings, every aspect in Normal People is brilliantly crafted.
The lesson of Frank is that mental illness is a hindrance, not a gift of inspiration, and romanticising it is a dangerous road to go down.
The Little Stranger is a demanding but absorbing thriller – it will not spoon feed you scares, and it’s all the better for it.
Based on the novel by Sarah Waters, The Little Strangers is directed by directed by Lenny Abrahamson and stars Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson.
Watching Frank recently, it occurred to me how often the creative process is shown on-screen, and how frequently this process is shown in a hackneyed, unsubtle way. Too often directors attempt to over-romanticise the writing process, and feature endless montages of their artists receiving some form of divine inspiration, as if writing was truly that exciting and easy. Admittedly, showing such a process on-screen is problematic.
The tale of survival is a common one in the world of film. These stories present harrowing experiences that an individual or group must overcome before finally seeking rescue by the end. What these films rarely discuss, though, is the aftermath of the experience: