Pairic

Queer: This film surprised me, I thought it was going to be about William Lee (Daniel Craig) hanging out in 1950s Mexico, drinking, injecting heroin and chasing after younger men. Well it was, but also much more. Touches of Magic Realism combine with dream and hallucination sequences to make this film just as esoteric as Naked Lunch. Naked Lunch was also written by William S. Buttoughs in which he was again represented by the character William Lee. In Queer, Lee has twin obsessions one being Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), who has just finished his military service and is also living in Mexico City, the second being finding yagé, a plant said to offer telepathic abilities to those who consume it. Though engaging in a relationship with Lee, Allerton is diffident towards him but agrees to go on an expedition into the amazon jungle to find the plant. There they meet the bizarre botanist Dr Cotter (Lesley Manville). A love story, a fantasy, a quest for a holy grail, a sort of Road Movie. Much drinking and drugging occurs along with Lee cruising before he hooks up with Allerton. There is a touch of David Lynch to some of the sequences along with what looks like two homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. 8/10.

The Listeners: A strange noise disturbs a teacher, none of her friends or family can hear it. Eventually it afects her sleep and health. She discovers that a pupil at her school can hear it and together they explore possible causes. This causes problems for her as the boy's mother presumes the worse about their outings. A mystery thriller which involves a cult dedicated to exploring how the noise impacts on people. Strange occurrences, possibly hallucinations take place but contact may be happening. Contact with an alien entity, or their might be a rational explanation but that might just be explaining it away. I'm still not sure. It's difficult to say mire without giving away how the narrative unfolds. Well worth watching. Four episodes on BBC. Directed by Janicza Bravo, Screenplay by Jordan Tannahill, based on his 2021 novel of the same name. 8/10.

Black Doves: Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is a Black Dove, The Black Doves are a private intelligence organisation which plants it's agents with potential political high flyers. It's a long term posting, Helen has been with her partner for 10 years and he is now Secretary of State for Defence. Things are going smoothly until one night three people are murdered, including Helen's civil servant lover. The Chinese ambassador to the UK also dies the same night, apparently from a drug overdose, and his daughter goes missing. An intriguing political conspiracy series involving the aforementioned Black Dives, MI5, gangsters, assassins and political corruption at the highest levels. Quite violent with multiple murders, some from a distance, others close up. The tension is well maintained throughout the series, characters are suddenly killed and more than one leading actor has a short lived cameo role. Flashbacks are judiciously used to inform and advance the narrative. It's preposterous at times if you stop to think about it but I found that suspension of disbelief was easy to maintain. Outstanding performances from Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw as an enigmatic assassin and a great supporting cast. It has a fine vein of dark humour running through it. Created and Written by Joe Barton, Directed by Alex Gabassi and Lisa Gunning. Six episodes on Netflix. 8/10.