Matt Haig

Midnight and embarking on a sequel to a book I wrote.

Elon Musk is the world’s dumbest critic but he makes up for it by also being a terrible human being

À Lyon avec le Bruce.

The Guardian covering our plans for @thegoldenbookshop

Wow. A masterpiece. Genuinely. Something happens while watching this film and I don’t know how he did it. A stirring. An awakening. What I mean is it feels as close as a movie can get to conveying the ancient. Something timeless is being untapped. Handmade. Human. Samantha Morton as Circe - astounding. Her scenes are UNFORGETTABLE. Robert P and Eliot P - two other standouts. The sound is incredible, which fits a tale that was heard before it was ever written/read. The music, the mixing. Even one of the most controversial casting choices - rapper Travis Scott as a bard - makes sense. A rapper’s voice being the first words of dialogue nods to the fact that The Odyssey was meant to be HEARD and by ALL. Nolan has opened up Homer. The classist classicists aren’t happy. Boris Johnson says the poem is ‘much better’. Ancient Greek literature has mainly been the preserve of people who went to expensive schools. More so than, say, Shakespeare. And yet, the thing Boris is forgetting is The Odyssey was originally just stories being passed down. And now cultural gatekeepers tell people the ‘right’ way to experience it. What Nolan does in some ways is truly, originally Homeric or pre Homeric. Even down to the use of informal dialogue like ‘dad’ which is no more out of place than ‘father’ would have been. (Ancient Greeks didn’t speak English. Not even formal English.) It’s beautiful. Even, somehow, the Cyclops. Like something out of Goya. And yes, it is annoying to think of thoroughly modern celebrity words like ‘Matt Damon’ or ‘Tom Holland’ while watching an Ancient Greek tale that modern Greeks should have appeared in but they again are perfectly cast in ways that their former work actually adds meaning to their roles. I hate long films and this is nearly three hours and yet I wanted it to be LONGER. It builds and builds. And there have been moans that some poetry has been lost. Sure. But some has been added. Visual poetry. The sirens, the cave, the lotus flowers, the sea and the sky. Immense art. Deeply human. Told, as it always was, for everyone.

Es verdad