Anna
dir. Luc Besson (2019)
One of Besson’s better films, albeit offering nothing new either to the genre or within his own oeuvre. Sasha Luss brings emotionally versatility to a role that shouldn’t require any, her performance elevating the nested-dolls Cold War plot-shuffling. Lera Abova also impresses.
The Waler: Australia’s Great War Horse
by Russell Vines & Barry Strickland; dir. Russell Vines (ABC, 2015)
documentary narrated / audiobook read by William McInnes (Bolinda, 2015)
A short, solemn documentary about the Australian Light Horsemen who served at Gallipoli (sans horses) and then in the Middle East during the First World War. The Waler horses suffered but endured, underpinning a victorious campaign… only to be shamefully cast aside.
Dark Angel, Season 1
(Fox, 2000-2001)
Near-future SF set in a dystopian Seattle. Dark Angel rests very much upon Jessica Alba (who carries its action intrigue and embodies the broader assumption of female empowerment), yet also develops its minor characters and encompasses near-standalone episodes within the season-spanning arc.
Lords of Uncreation
by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit, 2023); audiobook read by Sophie Aldred (Tor, 2023)
A long book that for its first half promises little progression. Tchaikovsky does, however, repay the faith, escalating the military-political conflict (social commentary turned catharsis) and then plunging his characters deep into the void—and having them all contribute to the resolution.
Dangerous Remedy
dir. Ken Cameron (ABC, 2012)
A disquieting if murky ‘based on’ historical drama centred around Australian abortion laws and police corruption in the late 1960s. Medical campaigner Dr Bertram Wainer (Jeremy Sims) acts almost as an antihero, evincing bullying manipulation in single-minded pursuit of a just cause.
Edges
by Ashley Herring Blake
Fools in Love, ed. Ashley Herring Blake & Rebecca Podos (Running Press Teens, 2021)
A YA short story focussing less on queerness as an identity issue, more on the precariousness of teen romance, and how relationships can be brought undone (self-sabotaged) by faulty preconceptions and negative self-image. As ever, Blake affords her protagonist a cogent backstory.
Legenda Maris
by Tanith Lee (Immanion, 2015)
A collection of fantasy short stories linked by ocean settings, merfolk, otherwordliness and loss, remoteness, death, and the murky, mist-laden borders between realities. Lee writes dreamily and somehow without burdening the reader. Unfortunately the two new stories (five pages total) are non-events.
Sugar Skull
by Charles Burns (Jonathan Cape, 2014)
To his credit, Burns ties all the loose threads together and brings the trilogy to a coherent close. On the downside, everything weird, dark and seemingly portentous in the previous volumes is revealed to have mundane origins, rather cheapening the overall experience.
Opal
by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic, 2018)
audiobook read by Will Patton (Scholastic Audio, 2019)
A wistful, dreamy novelette that serves more as a link between The Raven Cycle and the Dreamer trilogy than as any sort of standalone (non-fans beware). Opal’s POV drips with otherness. Patton’s by-now-familiar drawl lends a seductive quality to the audiobook reading.
Prince of Thorns
by Mark Lawrence (Voyager, 2011)
audiobook read by Joe Jameson (HarperCollins, 2012)
Lawrence’s debut is an impressive piece of genre subversion, casting adolescent antihero Jorg Ancrath against every convention of what is appropriate from a fantasy protagonist, yet still retaining the reader’s backing. Jorg’s conversational sociopathy is particularly well served by Jameson’s audiobook reading.