This film is currently unavailable
Listen Up Philip
Jason Schwartzman is a hotshot writer with pathological intimacy problems in this caustic comedy of over-achievement.
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Overview
Philip (Jason Schwartzman) is a truculent, angry person who’s habitually incapable of holding down a relationship. He’s also a prominent young novelist, named in the ‘35 under 35’ issue of the New York Literary Review. (‘Nobody reads that anymore,’ he retorts to his exasperated editor.) Things are stalling badly with his current girlfriend, Ashley (a wonderfully astute Elisabeth Moss) and if past break-ups are something to go by, he’ll be leaving little behind but scorched earth when he inevitably walks out. The perfect excuse arrives when an avuncular Great American Novelist called Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce, channelling Philip Roth) extends an open invitation to his country retreat. But where does contentment figure in all this?
Alex Ross Perry gives us a wickedly sharp comedy of literary pretensions and emotional retardation – a rare one that gets everything spot on, from egotistical career tips to eerily perfect book jackets.
strong languageRelated
Everybody in Our Family Everybody in Our Family
Drama 2012 103 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude delivers on the promise of his first feature, The Happiest Girl in the World, with this superb black comedy.
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies
Drama 1963 91 mins Director: Peter Brook
Peter Brook’s Palme d’Or-nominated adaption of the classic novel by William Golding.
Certain Women Certain Women
Drama 2015 107 mins Director: Kelly Reichardt
Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone and Jared Harris star in Kelly Reichardt's acclaimed portmanteau of women's stories; winner of Best Film at BFI London Film Festival 2016.
Evil Does Not Exist Evil Does Not Exist
Drama 2023 106 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to Drive My Car is a hauntingly enigmatic eco-thriller. Winner of Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival.
Suspiria Suspiria
Horror 1977 101 mins Director: Dario Argento
Dario Argento’s phantasmagoric gothic nightmare blends operatic violence, disorienting dream logic and hyper-real visuals to create a horror classic.
8½ 8½
Drama 1963 138 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Fellini triumphantly conjured himself out of writer's block with this magnum opus about a film director experiencing his own creative crisis.
Room 237 Room 237
Documentary 2012 103 mins Director: Rodney Ascher
Rodney Ascher's enigmatic essay film weaves together the contrasting theories of five different narrators who believe Stanley Kubrick deliberately buried hidden messages in his 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
Me without You Me without You
Drama 2001 103 mins Director: Sandra Goldbacher
Anna Friel and Michelle Williams star as two troubled girls whose tumultuous friendship takes many twists and turns.
The Housemaid The Housemaid
Thriller 2010 107 mins Director: Im Sang-soo
An enigmatic housemaid and her wealthy, totalitarian employer begin an affair that will have disastrous consequences for them both.
Under the Skin Under the Skin
Melodrama 1997 83 mins Director: Carine Adler
Carine Adler’s sexy and dark debut, starring Samantha Morton in her first major feature film role.
The Square The Square
Comedy 2017 151 mins Director: Ruben Östlund
From director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure) comes a satire on the hypocrisy of the art world, starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. Winner of the Palme d'Or.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Comedy 2023 163 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude’s follow-up to the Golden Bear-winning Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is a pin-sharp, caustically funny critique of workplace culture and oppression.
Everybody in Our Family Everybody in Our Family
Drama 2012 103 mins Director: Radu Jude
Radu Jude delivers on the promise of his first feature, The Happiest Girl in the World, with this superb black comedy.
Night Tide Night Tide
Fantasy 1961 85 mins Director: Curtis Harrington
A young Dennis Hopper is on shore leave from the Navy when he falls for a mysterious woman who performs as a mermaid, in this intoxicating cult classic from underground filmmaker Curtis Harrington.
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
The White Reindeer The White Reindeer
Horror 1953 68 mins Director: Erik Blomberg
The wife of a reindeer herder acquires a potion to make her an irresistible object of desire, but at a terrible cost, in this extraordinary vampiric fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland.