Reviews

This is a film you should watch if you a) like "weird stuff", b) know and care about terms such as mise-en-scene, or c) appreciate that film can be art.

This is a film you should not watch if you a) don't like "weird stuff", b) know that you watch a film, not read a film, or c) think that eating popcorn is essential to any film-watching experience.

You might love it or you might loathe it, or possibly both at the same time, but if you can stick with it to the end, it will at least leave an impression if nothing else. Personally, I haven't a clue if I like it or not, but at least I think about it occasionally, even months after I saw it for the first (and only) time... it's that sort of film.

The Young Poisoner's Handbook is a strange film. On the one hand, it is a very good black comedy, but on the other, it is based on the true story of Graham Young, The Bovingdon Poisoner. As I live a couple of miles away from Bovingdon, when not at University, I know people who worked at the same place as Graham Young, at the same time. Just as well they weren't in the same department. The tone of the film, which seems to want to empathise with Graham, and highlight the humour in the situation, is not really justifiable under the circumstances. Would a black comedy about the Yorkshire Ripper and his victims be acceptable? I don't think so.

I saw this film on the same day that I saw Trainspotting, and those two films made me realise what cinema can really do. This is a film that tells it EXACTLY as the film makers see it. The warped visuals say more about its subjects than words ever could. The travelling fair is as twisted and ugly as all travelling fairs seem to be, and the expressionist sets and lighting sum up perfectly the sense of urban alienation in a very unnerving way. It's story is simple enough to be accessible, but don't expect a straightforward film - just let it speak to you.