‘people with […] pay are rubbish’ — J. H. Prynne

New Serge Daney translation: The Diagonale Archipelago. From the 2nd issue of new quarterly film magazine Narrow Margin. sergedaney.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-...

Stellan Skarsgård looks more like my late father than he looked like himself

commiserations to all the people who, being British, for some reason have to have a conversation about ‘the trans issue’ around the dinner table today

letterboxd.com/samwm/list/d... Christmas films!

I encountered Silkworm young enough for their music to be my first exposure to aft, retsina, rapacious, hauteur, recidivist, contrite, obfuscate, and more I’m forgetting.

‘Aesthetics must not play at delivering graveside sermons, certifying the end, savoring the past, and abdicating in favor of a sort of barbarism that is no better than the culture that has earned barbarism as recompense for its own monstrosity.’

At least this year (going theatrically) there were new films by two of the only filmmakers who are in touch with any kind of reality: Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Alain Guiraudie.

In case any of you missed it on the other platforms, here's what's what www.narrowmarginquarterly.com/shop

it’s I need you to be so serious right now november and hardly any of you are being so serious right now

one thing I like to learn about is 17th century guys with non binary rock climbing enthusiast names

RIP Tatsuya Nakadai nnmore.substack.com/p/its-all-in...

TWO NARROW MARGIN ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1) I have curated a three night programme of some of Luc Moullet’s films and shorts at the ICA next month: www.ica.art/films/in-foc...

a GREAT READ for FILM BUFFS in their EARLY FORTIES

since it's the season I asked on the film discord for ‘something genuinely scary’, and someone replied ‘finding yourself to be identical in certain ways to your parents’

It’s the law in the UK and possibly the anglophone world in general that you can only have good taste in literature or in films, not both at the same time, which is why I no longer check whether I know what a good book is

Here’s two

Great moment in class 1 of Macmahonism school was Bruno pointing out that without Macmahonism we wouldn’t know about King Hu, Kiarostami, Yang or Hou. You can also add Hong to that list.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNQt... This is the song from which, as a 13 year old, I learned the words 'hauteur', 'contrite' and 'recidivist'.

all our acts aspire to the condition of music, don’t look back, don’t look back.

Changing Landscapes www.kickstarter.com/projects/cha...

It was fun to do these

that’s not what commodity fetishism means

Narrow Margin 1 is out. >80k words of real cinema, for free, for you. www.narrowmarginquarterly.com/01

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Er5z... Everything they say seems so insubstantial, a word of caution

it's funny that Britain is more obsessed with class than any other nation yet English has no word equivalent to déclassement. Like it's too scary to think about.

Here is the mag and our series with M. Moullet mentioned in Criterion’s daily transmission. Our enemies will continue to appear ever more foolish.

A rave review for my latest book COCKFIGHT in @sightsoundmag.bsky.social!! Now available from @fabpress.bsky.social and in regular distribution catalogues in North America courtesy of SCB. So grateful for such a thoughtful piece, I've been lucky with the few reviews it's gotten so far.

unbelievable film from the 27 year old (I’m gonna kms) Allan Dwan

virtually all of your irritation with mediocrities and worse in ‘the arts’ can be assuaged by remembering that in the long run sucking is its own punishment

I don’t want to be hyperbolic. But this is one of the greatest things that has happened during my lifetime.

passion chef d'oeuvre tardif de John Ford

im built like this

The Red Snooze Gone to Sleep 40th Wink I Know Where I’m Going! (To Sleep) A Catch-Some-Z Tale One of Our Viewers is Napping The Thief of Eye-Baghdad Sleeping Tom Tales of Nodding Offmann

New issue on Sabzian! Serge Daney and the Promise of Cinema With contributions by Pierre Eugène, Mónica Delgado, Mohammad Reza Amiri, Emmanuel Burdeau, Christine Pichini, Jun Fujita Hirose, Daniel Fairfax, and a new Daney translation.

Coming soon at the ICA in London (no details yet): In Focus: Serge Daney (29 August–4 September), a ten-film programme exploring the legacy of the influential critic in collaboration with @sabzian.bsky.social

Ocean Vuong Take me by the huong Lead me to the luong That you understuong

Bald white middle aged English men should be subject to at the very least a robust cull

radio friendly unfit shitter

New York: Narrow Margin, the magazine I edit, is holding some special screenings at Anthology in August. Program(me) is not public yet but I assure you it is nuts.

”I saw a film by… who is the official British film director?” “…Mike Leigh?” “Yes, him.”

Anyone in London: come and see these Jacques Rozier films at Ciné Lumière! www.institut-francais.org.uk/festivals-an...

‘Rice strike’ was once a phrase that struck terror into the hearts of magistrates across the prefecture. But now it is apt to elicit joy and approbation from fans of Arsenal Football Club.

um ACTUALLY I think you’ll find John Ford was something of a CONSERVATIVE

New Serge Daney translation: two hours of discussion with Jacques Rivette (1989). Thanks to Ted Fendt. sergedaney.blogspot.com/2025/05/micr...

One of the main things for an affair to be is ‘torrid’

m.youtube.com/watch?v=NMeQ... one of the most beautiful songs ever written, hope everyone’s had a good weekend

Possibly a reference to Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil‘s response to hearing her husband Samuel Beckett had won the Nobel: ‘Quelle catastrophe’.

I have been reading and mostly enjoying eccentric ultra-conservative Roberto Calasso but whenever he winds up to something that might be a general political thesis you get a paragraph like this. I would be genuinely grateful if someone could tell me what this means.