This week sees Tom Vowler on a blog tour and today he visits us to tell us of his top ten films and books. Tom is the author of What Lies Within and The Dark Remembered Day of which Maryom said "It's very much a page-turner of a read... once things are put in place, they proceed with
the same unstoppable force as a boulder rolling downhill." It's also nice to see favourites of ours amongst his lists.
Of course, any such list, aside from
being gloriously subjective, merely draws attention to its omissions. It was
impossibly hard to get down to ten, both for films and books, so to keep it
manageable I focused on stuff I’ve watched and read in the last decade or so.
But, yes, I hate myself for not finding room for such gems as Sideways or
Adaptation et al.
Top Ten Films
21 Grams
I could have chosen any of Mexican director Iñárritu’s
films, but Penn, Watts and Del Toro are superb in this chronologically fragmented
masterpiece of lives crushed by a moment’s tragedy, the title coming from the
supposed loss of weight upon death, suggestive of a soul were it not a
scientific apocryphal tale.
No Country
for Old Men
Violent noir thriller adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s
book. Who can forget Javier Bardem’s cattle gun? Brilliantly shot.
Léon
Luc Besson’s intensely beautiful tale, with Jean
Reno’s finest role as The Cleaner and a precocious Natalie Portman learning the
rigours of a hit man, which apparently includes drinking lots of milk.
Fargo
Now-vintage comedy crime noir from the inimitable Coen
brothers.
Dead Man
Unforgettable, stylish outing from Jim Jarmusch.
Worth it for Neil Young’s haunting soundtrack alone. Great cast.
The Lives
of Others
Remarkably affecting film of a Stasi agent’s moral
awakening. Cinema at its finest.
The Usual
Suspects
Crime thriller with so many great performances
from emerging talent. The final scene in the police station has rightly become
iconic.
Withnail
and I
‘We’ve come on holiday by mistake.’ Uniquely
brilliant.
Before
Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight
See how I snuck 3 into 1 here? This poignant
romantic trilogy invests the viewer so deeply in Celine and Jesse’s lives. Beautifully
shot, exquisite dialogue. Quiet and powerful.
Let the Right One In
Elegant art-house Swedish vampire tale of love and
revenge. As ever, avoid the US remake.
Top Ten Books
The Secret
History – Donna Tartt
Epic, elegant and cerebral tale of morality among
a group of classics students.
Goat
Mountain – David Vann
Astonishing book, which I reviewed
here.
Julius
Winsome – Gerard Donovan
Classic story of unhinging and revenge set in the
wintry wilds of Maine. Taut and brilliant.
We Need to
Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
A ballsy book, original and brave, the antithesis
to formulaic guff.
The
Beautiful Indifference – Sarah Hall
Prize-winning short stories from a master of the
form.
Touch –
Graham Mort
See above.
Disgrace –
J M Coetzee
Coetzee’s finest novel about a disgraced professor
in this political portrait of post-apartheid South Africa.
A Widow for
One Year – John Irving
Typical Irving territory: grief, humour, love and
sex. And squash.
Engleby –
Sebastian Faulks
My favourite Faulks, something more playful and
subversive here. Extraordinary voice.
Harvest –
Jim Crace
Bewitching tale of landscape and myth. Wonderfully
immersive.
Cheating at
Canasta – William Trevor
Twelve perfectly wrought stories from the doyen of
this most demanding form.
Bio
Tom Vowler is a
novelist and short story writer living in south west England. His debut
collection, The Method, won the Scott
Prize in 2010 and his novel What Lies
Within received critical acclaim. He is co-editor of the literary journal Short Fiction and an associate lecturer
in creative writing at Plymouth University, where he’s completing a PhD looking
at the role of the editor in fiction. That
Dark Remembered Day is his second novel. More at www.tomvowler.co.uk
from Amazon