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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Elephant Man (1980) in Movies

Apr 27, 2020  
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Elephant Man (1980)
1980 | Drama, History
7
8.3 (19 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Rather fictionalised bio-pic from David Lynch and Mel Brooks. A surgeon in late-Victorian London discovers a man with extreme deformities being shown as a sideshow freak. The surgeon realises this man's case could make his name, but is he really any less of an exploiter than the owner of the side-show?

Very good-looking and well-acted by a fine cast. However, the film seems a little ambivalent about what kind of effect it's going for - the build-up to the big reveal of Merrick's deformities is almost done like a horror movie, only for an abrupt change of tone to take place once it is revealed that he is a gentle, almost saintly individual (the film simplifies the facts of Merrick's life: in reality, it was his idea to join the sideshow). There's also the fact that the story is short on incident once Merrick moves into the hospital and a kidnap-and-escape subplot has to be contrived. A well-made film and very watchable, but it is in the end just a bit simplistic and sentimental.
  
    Fairyland

    Fairyland

    Paul McAuley

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by nanotechnology...

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ClareR (6256 KP) rated Sharp Glass in Books

Jan 5, 2025  
Sharp Glass
Sharp Glass
Sarah Hilary | 2024 | Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I listened to Sharp Glass on audiobook through Xigxag, and I absolutely loved both the story and the narrator, Imogen Church.

A woman wakes up to realise that she’s being held captive by a man - and she has to work out how she’ll escape.

Over the course of the story, we learn who she is, why she’s captive in a cellar and who’s holding her there. The fact that the cellar is in complete darkness made my imagination run wild - as well as the imagination of the main character! What had she done? Was this revenge? Or something even more sinister?

This is a claustrophobic read and I was right there in the cellar with the woman. They all seem to be thoroughly unreliable characters: no one seems to be telling the truth. I felt that my job as the reader, was to try and detect who was lying the least!

It’s a sad story with some dark, violent themes. This novel was a really good tale, executed really well.