Miriam Balanescu
balanescumiriam.bsky.social
Miriam Balanescu
@balanescumiriam.bsky.social
Books, film + general culture writer BBC Culture Guardian Sight & Sound AnOther i-D Prospect Mag miriambalanescu(at)outlook(dot)com
last week was my second time chairing a Romanian Cultural Institute event with Mircea Cartarescu - this time in-person! - for his UK book tour of Blinding/Orbitor: The Left Wing. An amazing evening (and surprisingly hot, which is why my face is so shiny)
November 27, 2025 at 4:16 PM
everything I saw at LFF this year (thank god it’s over)

boxd.it/PEl8U
October 20, 2025 at 7:53 PM
With Honey Don’t! out now, I wrote about this year’s coterie of onscreen cult leaders for @curzon.com

www.curzon.com/journal/why-...

Thanks to @yasminomar.bsky.social for the commission and astute edits
September 7, 2025 at 10:35 AM
loved Thomas McMullan’s Groundwater - a departure from his Betty Trask Winner but with the same backdrop: eco-anxiety, global crises and the world’s general precariousness

I reviewed it for @ftweekend.com, in the paper today. Published by @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/064d...
July 26, 2025 at 9:05 AM
had fun writing about the dubious evil orphan trope and Bring Her Back over on @curzon.com

www.curzon.com/journal/horr...
July 24, 2025 at 10:32 AM
July 2, 2025 at 11:28 AM
I’m in @ftweekend.com mag with a heatwave-appropriate interview with Rebecca Lenkiewicz about her upcoming directorial debut Hot Milk (adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel)

www.ft.com/content/5ab3...
June 21, 2025 at 2:32 PM
June 18, 2025 at 8:50 AM
have a little review in today’s @observeruk.bsky.social of Rowe Irvin’s Life Cycle of a Moth
June 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I defy you to find a better email sign-off
June 11, 2025 at 10:24 AM
I wrote for @curzoncinemas.bsky.social about Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of The Wedding Banquet, which also reimagines the queer romcom genre

www.curzon.com/journal/the-...
May 8, 2025 at 7:23 PM
on the topic of Sinners - Autumn Durald Arkapaw is also the cinematographer behind The Last Showgirl, and I talked to her about shooting the film for a recent Definition Magazine cover story (my first ever!)

definitionmagazine.com/features/the...
April 20, 2025 at 7:33 PM
re Sinners never have I heard a more sinister rendition of Wild Mountain Thyme
April 15, 2025 at 9:08 PM
didn’t spot Ryan Coogler (apparently in attendance) at this Sinners event but it was fun anyway
April 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM
was very cool to see Viola Davis at this evening’s screening
April 1, 2025 at 10:46 PM
And Sam Taylor-Johnson & Jack Lowden too
March 12, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Luca Guadagnino in Mayfair this evening !
March 12, 2025 at 9:52 PM
a very impressive range of ways the show’s name was incorporated into food & drink at last night’s Sky Gangs of London event
March 12, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Range
March 7, 2025 at 5:07 PM
For my Men’s Health Mag debut, I ranked every sad man in space movie - with Mickey 17 arguably adding another 18 to the list

www.menshealth.com/entertainmen...
March 7, 2025 at 3:03 PM
FINALLY
March 3, 2025 at 6:48 PM
The Last Showgirl is out today! I reviewed it for @empiremagazine.bsky.social

www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...
February 28, 2025 at 5:02 PM
It was a pleasure to review Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy for my @ign.com debut - the best of the sequels by a country mile
February 12, 2025 at 11:09 AM
having a pretty good run actually
January 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
For @newscientist.bsky.social I reviewed Robert Zemeckis’ Here, an utter train-wreck of a film

(Amid the AI backlash to The Brutalist, this also feels oddly timely)
January 24, 2025 at 12:44 PM