A Poet at the Pictures

Choice in Retrospect, Agency as Alternative in 'Moonlight' and 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost
Choice in Retrospect, Agency as Alternative in 'Moonlight' and 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost
The choices we make can be enough to sink or strengthen us. They help shape our futures, mapping out new terrain or returning us to earlier situations or horizons. Whilst... Read more...
Grief As Ritual, Tradition As an Altar in 'Hamnet' and 'Leaving the Old Gods'
Grief As Ritual, Tradition As an Altar in 'Hamnet' and 'Leaving the Old Gods'
‘Grief porn’ is, without question, one of the most bizarre phrases that has populated the 2020s. In recent months, the phrase has found itself regurgitated on social media when referring... Read more...
The Edited Self in 'A Single Man' and 'Saraband'
The Edited Self in 'A Single Man' and 'Saraband'
In both ‘Saraband’ and A Single Man, survival is framed not as triumph but as negotiation. McCullers’ imperative to “select,” “edit,” and “adjust” finds visual embodiment in George’s careful self-curation,... Read more...
Inherited Absence in 'Home After Three Months Away' and 'Sentimental Value'
Inherited Absence in 'Home After Three Months Away' and 'Sentimental Value'
Sadly enough, when the word ‘parent’ finds itself propped up in my mind, the words of the miser poet, Philip Larkin, fountain into existence from the furthest regions of my... Read more...
Desire, longing and dreams in 'Queer' and 'Love and Sleep'
Desire, longing and dreams in 'Queer' and 'Love and Sleep'
Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem, 'Love and Sleep', and Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film, Queer, both explore longing as something that thrives in fantasy rather than reality. In each work, desire retreats... Read more...
In Awe and Fright of Modernity in 'Train Dreams' and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'
In Awe and Fright of Modernity in 'Train Dreams' and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry'
It appears that, for cinema, things will never be the same again. Does that sound a tad dramatic? Perhaps, but undoubtedly, the truth is that cinema has been reshaped this... Read more...
The influence of the past in A Christmas Carol and The Holdovers
The influence of the past in A Christmas Carol and The Holdovers
Both A Christmas Carol and The Holdovers see the past as, however traumatic, confronted and partially redeemed through connection, but the latter emphasises that such redemption is fragile, unfinished, and... Read more...
Reflections on Hamlet's Soliloquy and Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein
words by J.A.G. Mabbutt   To be or not to be? A question often recited and orbited by academics, actors, directors, and creatives across the centuries since Shakespeare first etched it onto parchment. At a distance, we can now agree that Shakespeare’s message or philosophy, first found bound within the confines of Hamlet’s famed speech, was ahead of its time, a literary Moon landing where both existentialism and absurdism crossed paths and from their tryst, found itself pregnant with that almighty question. But does Hamlet answer it? Not really. Sure,... Read more...
Human transgression and natural consequence in I Kicked a Mushroom and The Green Knight
Human transgression and natural consequence in I Kicked a Mushroom and The Green Knight
words by J.A.G Mabbutt   Causality dictates that every action, in effect, is bound to have a consequence. As humans, we cannot ignore this principle because we have enough power... Read more...
Depression, chaos, and clarity in Melancholia and Coney Island of the Mind 8
Depression, chaos, and clarity in Melancholia and Coney Island of the Mind 8
 words by J.A.G. Mabbutt   Do depressed people react better to disaster? Do they inhabit a calmness that is lacking in others? Is judgment day just another day in the... Read more...
Liberating Cinematic and Poetic Narratives of Black Female Revolutionary Identity
words by Josh Mabbutt   If someone had told me that the best film of 2025 would be a Thomas Pynchon-inspired, thunderously dynamic work that borrows its protagonist’s quirks from The Big Lebowski, channels the revolutionary energy of Rage Against The Machine, and delivers a sharp critique of the Trumpian era’s assault on immigrant communities, I would have found it hard to believe. Pulling off such a feat seems nearly impossible for any filmmaker today. Yet, Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t just any filmmaker. His latest film, One Battle After Another,... Read more...
Black femininity, biopower, and the whiteness of romantic narratives
Black femininity, biopower, and the whiteness of romantic narratives
words by J.A.G. Mabbutt    The absence of ‘blackness’ in both cinema and classic literature is unquestionable. While arts and cultures have yearned to craft and nurture a reflection of... Read more...