Joanna Di Mattia
Joanna Di Mattia is from Readings Carlton
Review — 6 Sep 2020
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Last year, when I heard that a new Elena Ferrante novel was imminent, I experienced palpable waves of excitement through my body. That’s the kind of writer Ferrante is –…
Review — 23 Feb 2020
Parasite
When Bong Joon-ho won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019, Parasite was the first South Korean film ever awarded the festival’s top prize. Almost a year later, director Bong…
Review — 20 May 2020
Square Haunting by Francesca Wade
I love women’s history. I love group biographies. I love English social and cultural history in the period between the wars. And I love Bloomsbury, the place and its lore…
Blog post — 14 Nov 2019
The best DVDs of 2019
Every year our staff vote for their favourite books, albums, films and TV shows of the past 12 months. Here are our top 10 DVDs of the year, voted for…
Review — 21 Oct 2019
My Brilliant Friend (Series 1)
Two young girls stand before the door of the town loan shark, fiercely clasping hands. This image of female solidarity and defiance endures all the way through HBO’s adaptation of…
Review — 21 Oct 2019
Find Me by André Aciman
If, like me, the final lines of Call Me by Your Name – André Aciman’s swoony summer tale of first love on the Italian Riviera in the 1980s – left…
Review — 19 Aug 2019
Killing Eve (Season 2)
The first season of spy thriller Killing Eve established a tense cat-and-mouse game between two flawed, obsessive women – MI5 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and the target she is…
Review — 21 Jul 2019
Top End Wedding
A romantic comedy wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without an obstacle or two to overcome on the road to happily ever after. In this respect, Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding…
Review — 24 Jun 2019
Destroyer (DVD)
Karyn Kusama’s first film, Girlfight, had quite an impact on me back in 2000. Her most recent film, the crime thriller Destroyer, hit me just as hard. I…
Review — 26 May 2019
Green Book by Peter Farrelly
We only get a brief glance at the ‘Green Book’ referred to in the title of Peter Farrelly’s Oscar-winning film. Regardless, that book, The Negro Motorist Green Book – a…