Arctic Blast

Books and films to redisover, plus stories that play games with identity

Ah - there you are.

I hope this finds you well, etc., etc. Allow me to wish you a very happy new year, etc., etc. 

Anyhoo, here's what's new at thehaughtyculturist.com, encompassing books, film and, er, Columbo. As always, it's with an eye on the stories we tell, and how we tell them.

6 things to read right now

New to the site and worth your time

1. Rebecca (1940)
The ghost, the devil and Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock's Gothic chiller

2. Columbo | Short Fuse (Season 1, Ep. 6)
Roddy McDowell is a chemistry wiz with murder in mind

3. Taxi Driver
The two faces of Travis Bickle

4. So You Want to be a Producer
The career manual that's also an ode to a vanished Hollywood

5. Arrival and the tyranny of choice
Why a movie about aliens is also the story of us

6. Violent Night | Review
Ho, Ho ... Oh?

Twisted identities

If stories that play games with identity are your thing, make these your latest obsession

1. Vertigo (1958)
Is the cop the real killer in Hitchcock's celebrated psychothriller? 

2. Unknown (2011) 
Making sport of the identity war

3. A Kiss Before Dying 
Ira Levin's thriller borrows du Maurier's narrative trick

4. The Departed (2006)
Dirty rats and the double theory ...

5. Infernal Affairs (2002)
... but Infernal Affairs got there first

6. Gattaca (1997)
Two characters, one man

7. Moon 
One character, hundreds of men

8. The Usual Suspects (1995) 
Maybe we're all Kaiser Soze?

Thanks for reading!

The HC

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Pic credit: thank you Rakicevic Nenad via Pexels

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