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Reviews

The Comfort Of Strangers

Worth a look: Paul Schrader directs a Harold Pinter adaptation of an Ian McEwan novel, in Venice, in 1990. Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson are trying to revive their marriage on holiday, but fall under the sinister influence of sadomasochists Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren. Venice is deeply cinematic, but Schrader opts for much nudity and is clearly in love with Everett. Creepy.

Ulysses

Controversial in its day (1967), Joseph Strick's bold stab at Joyce's unfilmable novel was (echoing the book) banned in Ireland until as recently as 2001. This year will see the 100th anniversary of "Bloomsday": as a warm-up, watch this intriguing, prescient art movie, vividly stalking Bloom and Dedalus around Dublin, then committing the last half hour to Molly (Barbara Jefford) and her lusty soliloquy.

Daisy Miller

One of the turkeys which derailed Peter Bogdanovich's career. Hubris-fuelled on the back of runaway success, he cast other half Cybill Shepherd as the Henry James heroine who flits around 19th-century Europe falling in love and dying. The costumes are fine, but there's no feel for what was anyway a mediocre James story, and no momentum. Cybill's a fish out of water. A pretty folly.

Marianne Faithfull – Sings Kurt Weill: Live In Montreal

In tandem with her recent, more rock-oriented collaborative albums (corralling everyone from Damon Albarn and Jarvis Cocker to Billy Corgan), Faithfull has pursued her other career as a torch singer, the regal ruin of her pristine '60s folk voice now the perfect expression of seen-it-all wisdom/ennui. In the company of pianist Paul Trueblood and at the end of a world tour (recorded at the International Jazz Festival in '97), she's bawdy, wry and always wrenchingly expressive: in short, quite the best exponent of this sort of thing.

Max Richter – The Blue Notebooks

Outstanding neo-classicism from German composer/pianist

Eric Clapton – Me & Mr Johnson

That's as in Robert, the devil, and a hellhound, too...

Joy Zipper – American Whip

Belated arrival of American indie duo's second album

Now It’s Overhead – Fall Back Open

Second from Athens, Georgia quartet led by R.E.M. remixer/Bright Eyes engineer Andy LeMaster

Jim Croce – Classic Hits

Doomed US troubadour with the gentle touch

Welcome To The Jungle

Ex-wrestler does well in formulaic action movie
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