Road to Perdition
Wow. I’m hugely impressed with this film, and even though obviously a review (or whatever the hell it is that this forms) is a personal perspective on it, well, I think it’s just stunning. And I’m trying to write this without too many superlatives in it, but it’s still a stunner of a film.

I loved American Beauty, so the decision to see the next one by the same director was always going to be a no-brainer. I’m not a fan of Tom Hanks in any way at all, yet even his presence is impressive in this film, even though to my mind Paul Newman steals every single scene he’s in.

On the technical side, the film is simply stunning. There were several scenes where I found myself thinking “how the hell did they light that in such a way?” – there’s no doubt, Genius was at work in this film. The lighting, the way the scenes are shot, the script, and the direction, all of it comes together to make something truly impressive. Even the story – which has plenty of opportunitys to turn into epic Hollywood vomit-inducing schmaltz works really well.

It’s odd, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film where I’ve thought simply “wow” at the way it’s done, but that’s now two films this week that have made me think that. Both Insomnia and Road to Perdition are truly impressive, and both by British directors. I wonder if there’s some kind of corrollary there, about the way Brits shoot films as opposed to how Americans do it?

Anyway, the film is fantastic. Go see it.

God,it’s now the period for gigs, shows and other stuff, so this will probably become Review Central as well as everything else. I’m going to see Road to Perdition this afternoon, then seeing

• Howard Marks on Wednesday
• Morcheeba on Saturday

and then, in no particular order :

• David Gray
• Soft Cell (with luck)
• Pink
• Firework displays for my birthday
• Alabama 3
• Nina Simone (ooops – knew I’d forgotten one, thanks H)
• several others I can’t remember just now

So it’s going to be a fun time, that’s for sure.