Eleanor Reviews

***** A poor family infiltrates the lives of their rich counterpart with disastrous consequences. You've undoubtedly heard of Parasite by now, but if you've somehow missed the furore about this strange, disturbing drama, allow me to bring you somewhat up to speed. Back in the summer of 2019, it picked up the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and rocketed into the spotlight. Since then, it's made history by becoming the first South Korean film to ever be nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards and, at last night's SAG Awards, it shocked the cinematic world by collecting the accolade of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (yeah, quite the mouthful!). Oh, it also picked up Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and has a handful of nominations for the BAFTAs. Phew! So, what's all the fuss about? In the opening few moments, we meet a family that's fallen upon hard times - all four o...

***** With their father at war, sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy navigate the difficulties of growing up, bumping into some colourful characters along the way. For many generations of readers, and hopefully many more to come, Little Women has been a treasured tale. For me, first gifted the audio book and then the novel, it's a story that instantly reminds me of my childhood. When I came to study the text for my degree, the class ubiquitously agreed that it was a nostalgic treat to revisit the book again - perhaps why so few of us chose to analyse it for our end-of-module exam. Sitting in a cinema, packed with women of all ages, that same sense of nostalgia washed over me as Greta Gerwig deftly and sensitively interwove two time frames (the youthfulness of the Little Women story with the bittersweet nature of the sequel, Good Wives ), whilst simultaneously reintroducing me to some of my favourite literary creations. Let's start with the elephant in the room - Gr...