Sunday 11 November 2007

Flatliners

In between novels, I write the occasional short story and catch up with other things. So I’ve finally watched the 1990 movie Flatliners starring Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts. It’s a spooky thriller about bringing the dead back to life, not a conventional crime film, but in some ways not too distant from my favourite genre. I was very taken with the photography which gave parts of Chicago a very Gothic feel. I enjoyed the movie a lot. It’s intelligently scripted, with something to say about the importance of forgiveness.

I’ve never visited Chicago, but it’s on my list of places to see. Not so long ago, a Bouchercon crime convention was held there, but I wasn’t able to make it. One of the incidental pleasures of overseas conventions is the chance to visit somewhere different. I’m not sure I’d ever have visited Seattle had it not been for this year’s Left Coast Crime convention. And I was so glad I did. Despite all the warnings I was given about the weather, it turned out to be bright and sunny (well, most of the time) and among many highlights was sailing around the harbour on a lovely crisp morning.

2 comments:

Ed Gorman said...

Try A Stir of Echoes, the great Richard Matheson mystery-supernatural novel and the movie with Kevin Bacon. The movie's especially interesting because it is set in contemporary working class Chicago. To me it's a better film than The Sixth Sense (though I liked that film very much), richer in character and odd Gothic detail. It got lost because it opened one week after Sixth and Sixth dominated the box office for weeks.

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