"I went to a school like the one depicted in this film for a year of my life and that was enough—any longer and I too might have resorted to revolution! Even though this film is so specifically about boys in a British public school, it hits so many themes that are relatable to anyone: adolescence, lust, rage, and rebellion. Plus, the dream sequence in the café is so fun!"

"Along with ‘Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk, here are the two novels from the end of last century which have not been overtaken as the seminal works in defining America in this century. One deals with the out-of-control greed and power lust of the 1%, the other with the lost generations of the 99% — poorer than their parents for the first time in American history. Read them together and you have the USA"

"The Japanese New Wave is almost synonymous with Nagisa Oshima. His film In the Realm of the Senses outraged critics and audiences alike with its many scenes of unsimulated sex. Here he takes similar themes of lust and murderous passion and explores them through the supernatural, crafting a ghost story that puts Japanese society and cultural conventions on trial in a masterful way. Who are the criminals here? Those who dare to pursue their feelings and impulses, or the society that forbids them the freedom to do just that?"