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Jonathan Empson writes ‘mercifully short reviews’, the best of which we republish here on The Story Department.
The Loneliest Planet Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson A lovey-dovey couple are backpacking in Georgia, with all its picturesque post-Soviet crumbling concrete. Presumably they’re here because they’ve been absolutely everywhere else in the world already, but don’t expect any explanations. They hire a dodgy-looking guide and head to the hills. Where they walk. And … Read more
Mama Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson A businessman flips out, kills his estranged wife and goes on the run with their three-year-old and one-year-old daughters. They wind up stumbling through the woods until they find an abandoned cabin. Or at least, it has no living occupants… Five years later, the girls are discovered there, … Read more
Great Expectations Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson Young Pip faces a dull future as a blacksmith, but his life gets some excitement with a chance encounter with an escaped convict, and then a summons to the crumbling manor of crumbling eccentric Miss Havisham. She wants a playmate/plaything for her ward, Estella, an ice queen … Read more
Cloud Atlas suffers from an increasingly frequent problem: being critically hyped as a perfect storm of great screenwriting, powerful action and innovative storytelling techniques, and then falling flat on its face because it can’t live up to its own bloated reputation. (I like to call it Inception Syndrome. You like it? It’s yours). by Jamie … Read more
Anna Karenina Mercifully Short Review by Jonathan Empson Anna is the dutiful wife of St Petersburg statesman Karenin; he’d look a lot like Jude Law if he grew his hair back, but he’s passionless. She’s called to Moscow to rescue the marriage of her brother Oblonsky, an incorrigible philanderer who’s not as square as his … Read more