Arjun Sajip
@arjsaj.bsky.social
Digital Editor at Apollo magazine. Formerly at Sight and Sound. Arts writer, mostly film (bylines at BBC Culture, the FT, IndieWire, ArtReview, Cineaste, Little White Lies and others)
The stage was his great love, but Tatsuya Nakadai gave some of the most vivid screen performances of the 20th century. His Kurosawa collabs are indelible but ‘The Human Condition’, in which he embodies an attrition of the human spirit over several years and 10 hours, might be his masterpiece
Tatsuya Nakadai, Japanese actor of Ran, Yojimbo and Harakiri, dies aged 92
Star of Japan’s cinematic golden age, who collaborated with Kurosawa and played the lead in Kobayashi’s Human Condition trilogy, died from pneumonia
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:07 AM
The stage was his great love, but Tatsuya Nakadai gave some of the most vivid screen performances of the 20th century. His Kurosawa collabs are indelible but ‘The Human Condition’, in which he embodies an attrition of the human spirit over several years and 10 hours, might be his masterpiece
“A Long Winter” is the last and longest story in Colm Toibín’s excellent collection ‘Mothers and Sons’; where most of the stories are set in Ireland, this one memorably decamps to Catalonia and ups the psychological ante. Looking forward to seeing what Andrew Haigh does with it
October 29, 2025 at 3:29 PM
“A Long Winter” is the last and longest story in Colm Toibín’s excellent collection ‘Mothers and Sons’; where most of the stories are set in Ireland, this one memorably decamps to Catalonia and ups the psychological ante. Looking forward to seeing what Andrew Haigh does with it
Very much enjoyed speaking to Kelly Reichardt about her favourite museums, the first artwork to rock her world and the joys of filming an art heist
In ‘The Mastermind’, Kelly Reichardt steals the show
Ahead of the UK release of ‘The Mastermind’, the director sat down with Apollo to talk about the thrills of making an art-heist movie
apollo-magazine.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Very much enjoyed speaking to Kelly Reichardt about her favourite museums, the first artwork to rock her world and the joys of filming an art heist
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
The prolific singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis died on Friday at age 88. Curtis had performed with Buddy Holly, opened for Elvis Presley and written hits like “I Fought the Law,” “Walk Right Back” and “Love Is All Around” — the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which he also sang.
Sonny Curtis Dies at 88; His Songs Included Mary Tyler Moore’s Theme
www.nytimes.com
September 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
The prolific singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis died on Friday at age 88. Curtis had performed with Buddy Holly, opened for Elvis Presley and written hits like “I Fought the Law,” “Walk Right Back” and “Love Is All Around” — the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which he also sang.
That Supertramp was a great band is one of my most unfashionable opinions. Hodgson may have sung the best-known songs but Davies’s solo here – backed by an incredibly tight band, sans Hodgson – is a high point of live rock piano
September 8, 2025 at 11:56 PM
That Supertramp was a great band is one of my most unfashionable opinions. Hodgson may have sung the best-known songs but Davies’s solo here – backed by an incredibly tight band, sans Hodgson – is a high point of live rock piano
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
Napoleon was born #onthisday in 1769. After the collapse of his empire in 1815, “le petit caporal” was imprisoned on St Helena, and while there started learning English. One resident of the island called his English “the oddest in the world” — publicdomainreview.org/collection/n... #otd
August 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Napoleon was born #onthisday in 1769. After the collapse of his empire in 1815, “le petit caporal” was imprisoned on St Helena, and while there started learning English. One resident of the island called his English “the oddest in the world” — publicdomainreview.org/collection/n... #otd
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
have sensed some confusion re: the origins of stomp clap that i'm all too happy to clear up maxread.substack.com/i/170106944/...
August 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
have sensed some confusion re: the origins of stomp clap that i'm all too happy to clear up maxread.substack.com/i/170106944/...
If you’re London-based and have no plans tomorrow, the endlessly beguiling mystery epic ‘Trenque Lauquen’ is screening at the ICA and I cannot recommend it enough. I wrote about it here
Trenque Lauquen review: a hymn to the unclassifiable
A woman is pulled into the mysteries of a small Argentinian town after discovering a stash of erotic love letters in Laura Citarella’s intoxicating four-hour film.
www.bfi.org.uk
August 2, 2025 at 10:51 AM
If you’re London-based and have no plans tomorrow, the endlessly beguiling mystery epic ‘Trenque Lauquen’ is screening at the ICA and I cannot recommend it enough. I wrote about it here
This was a daunting task, but I had a great time unpicking how Kubrick borrowed from 18th-century art to make one of the most beautiful films ever made.
‘If Kubrick invokes Hogarth’s satires in the service of cynicism, the way he uses setting and landscape is no less cutting’ – Arjun Sajip on the art of ‘Barry Lyndon’, as the film turns 50.
Rogue’s gallery: the art of Barry Lyndon
The painterly splendour of Kubrick’s film is widely recognised, but its relationship with 18th-century art is thornier than it seems
buff.ly
July 26, 2025 at 12:12 PM
This was a daunting task, but I had a great time unpicking how Kubrick borrowed from 18th-century art to make one of the most beautiful films ever made.
Beautifully written piece.
‘If Keats’s existence was dominated by uncertainty, the same is true of the house he lived in’ – Michael Delgado on the unlikely survival of Keats House in Hampstead, which this year celebrates its centenary as a museum
How John Keats found himself in Hampstead
The poet lived at Wentworth Place for only 17 months, but it was the site of some of his greatest achievements and lowest moments
buff.ly
July 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Beautifully written piece.
Fun fact of the day: Mr. T's pastor is called Eric Clopton
June 20, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Fun fact of the day: Mr. T's pastor is called Eric Clopton
Exactly the kind of precision I want from my weather forecasts
June 16, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Exactly the kind of precision I want from my weather forecasts
‘Scenes from a Repatriation’ at the Royal Court is invigorating stuff. I spoke to its writer, Joel Tan, about how statues embody power, how art can play in spaces where hard politics cannot, and how China’s attitudes to its own historic artefacts have changed
www.apollo-magazine.com/joel-tan-sce...
www.apollo-magazine.com/joel-tan-sce...
Restitution drama: an interview with Joel Tan | Apollo Magazine
The Singaporean playwright talks to Arjun Sajip about dramatising the return of a fictional Buddhist statue from the British Museum to China
www.apollo-magazine.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:06 PM
‘Scenes from a Repatriation’ at the Royal Court is invigorating stuff. I spoke to its writer, Joel Tan, about how statues embody power, how art can play in spaces where hard politics cannot, and how China’s attitudes to its own historic artefacts have changed
www.apollo-magazine.com/joel-tan-sce...
www.apollo-magazine.com/joel-tan-sce...
Interviewed Wes Anderson for the magazine; chatted about billionaires, Buñuel and Benicio del Toro. Goodies aplenty in this issue
www.mmslondon.co.uk/shop/p/sight...
www.mmslondon.co.uk/shop/p/sight...
Sight and Sound June 25 — MyMagShop
On the cover: A world exclusive interview with Tom Cruise Inside: The latest edition of Black Film Bulletin, Wes Anderson on The Phoenician Scheme, the career of Mai Zetterling, the legacy o...
www.mmslondon.co.uk
May 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Interviewed Wes Anderson for the magazine; chatted about billionaires, Buñuel and Benicio del Toro. Goodies aplenty in this issue
www.mmslondon.co.uk/shop/p/sight...
www.mmslondon.co.uk/shop/p/sight...
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
new Pynchon novel!!!! about a 1930s private eye!!!! named Hicks McTaggart!!!!
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon: 9781594206108 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The new novel from Thomas Pynchon Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation busines...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
April 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
new Pynchon novel!!!! about a 1930s private eye!!!! named Hicks McTaggart!!!!
Saw an accidentally perfect double-bill last night: ‘Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’ and ‘The End’. Both single-location movies; both about the lies we can so easily tell ourselves as individuals and communities; both sorely under-appreciated on release.
April 2, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Saw an accidentally perfect double-bill last night: ‘Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’ and ‘The End’. Both single-location movies; both about the lies we can so easily tell ourselves as individuals and communities; both sorely under-appreciated on release.
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
“Sister Midnight is an attempt, first and foremost, to channel its protagonist’s wild sensibilities’
@arjsaj.bsky.social reviews Karan Kandhari’s darkly funny debut feature about an unhappily married Mumbai woman whose life takes a surreal turn. In cinemas now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
@arjsaj.bsky.social reviews Karan Kandhari’s darkly funny debut feature about an unhappily married Mumbai woman whose life takes a surreal turn. In cinemas now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Sister Midnight review: deranged marriage
Karan Kandhari’s wild debut feature about a newly married Mumbai woman whose life takes a surreal turn when she is bitten by a mosquito is bursting with cinephilic enthusiasm, but at times puts the im...
www.bfi.org.uk
March 14, 2025 at 10:25 AM
“Sister Midnight is an attempt, first and foremost, to channel its protagonist’s wild sensibilities’
@arjsaj.bsky.social reviews Karan Kandhari’s darkly funny debut feature about an unhappily married Mumbai woman whose life takes a surreal turn. In cinemas now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
@arjsaj.bsky.social reviews Karan Kandhari’s darkly funny debut feature about an unhappily married Mumbai woman whose life takes a surreal turn. In cinemas now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Was thrilled to contribute an article to the Blu-ray booklet of one of last year’s most beautiful films. Thoroughly worth seeing if you missed it on the big screen
March 12, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Was thrilled to contribute an article to the Blu-ray booklet of one of last year’s most beautiful films. Thoroughly worth seeing if you missed it on the big screen
I can count on one finger the bands who’ve made two scene-defining albums, disbanded, and reunited over 32 years later to deliver their greatest LP – which was also their first to entirely comprise originals. ‘Take a good look at my good looks’ indeed: how many frontmen are so witty about mortality?
David Johansen, frontman of New York Dolls, dies aged 75
David Johansen, frontman of New York Dolls, dies aged 75
Flamboyant singer helped point his city’s music scene towards punk, before a successful solo career and eye-catching acting roles
David Johansen, the swaggering, peacocking frontman with glam rock band New York Dolls, has died aged 75.
Last month he had…
www.theguardian.com
March 3, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I can count on one finger the bands who’ve made two scene-defining albums, disbanded, and reunited over 32 years later to deliver their greatest LP – which was also their first to entirely comprise originals. ‘Take a good look at my good looks’ indeed: how many frontmen are so witty about mortality?
Watched ‘Women in Love’ and ‘Nosferatu’ (2024) on consecutive nights and in several places the latter felt strangely like a remake/remodel of the former
February 21, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Watched ‘Women in Love’ and ‘Nosferatu’ (2024) on consecutive nights and in several places the latter felt strangely like a remake/remodel of the former
Reposted by Arjun Sajip
Ugh, Piero della Francesca sliding into my DMs again with his unsolicited diptychs.
February 21, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Ugh, Piero della Francesca sliding into my DMs again with his unsolicited diptychs.
Tomasi di Lampedusa, menswear guy avant la lettre
February 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Tomasi di Lampedusa, menswear guy avant la lettre
Garth Hudson’s playing on this track transformed my teenage idea of what an organ could do; his solo here remains one of my all-time favourites on any instrument. Whenever I think of the Band it’s always his face I picture first. Guess he had to go sometime
youtu.be/3ozaFzDrTwU
youtu.be/3ozaFzDrTwU
Bob Dylan, The Band - Bessie Smith (Official Audio)
YouTube video by BobDylanVEVO
youtu.be
January 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Garth Hudson’s playing on this track transformed my teenage idea of what an organ could do; his solo here remains one of my all-time favourites on any instrument. Whenever I think of the Band it’s always his face I picture first. Guess he had to go sometime
youtu.be/3ozaFzDrTwU
youtu.be/3ozaFzDrTwU
One of the most Indian things to have happened in recent years is a ‘personal emergency’ (a shortage of idlis) leading to a revolution in idli technology
January 20, 2025 at 5:05 PM
One of the most Indian things to have happened in recent years is a ‘personal emergency’ (a shortage of idlis) leading to a revolution in idli technology
Enjoying the meta-title gag (hat-tip to the BFI’s Patrick Fahy) almost as much as I enjoyed writing this review
“Eisenberg came up with the story after seeing an online ad offering ‘Holocaust tours (with lunch)’, and though this seems a launchpad for a satire of late capitalism, A Real Pain takes a warmer, less trenchant tack”
Arjun Sajip reviews A Real Pain, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
Arjun Sajip reviews A Real Pain, out now. www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-so...
A Real Pain review: touring test
Jesse Eisenberg’s story of two cousins who go on a ‘Holocaust tour’ doesn’t quite work as a road-trip movie, but the electric pairing of Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin brings wit and sensitivity to the f...
www.bfi.org.uk
January 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Enjoying the meta-title gag (hat-tip to the BFI’s Patrick Fahy) almost as much as I enjoyed writing this review