Granta is a paperback mag out of Britain of new writing that picks a subject for each issue; war zones, loved ones, London, to name a recent few. Of course film has come in their crosshairs and ol boy was # 86 a good one. Writing on or inspired by film from Atom Egoyan, The diary entries of John Fowles while The French Lieutenant's Woman was being made, art and storyboards from Peter Greenaway, Alfred Hitchcock, and Satyajit Ray, essays from Jonathan Letham, etc. It is the coolest compilation of writing on film I have seen in a long time. Here is a favorite excerpt from Colson Whitehead's "Down in Front."

 "..This is the part with the impossible odds and the backs against the wall. Outnumbered and outgunned, out of bullets and passports and safe houses. Minor plot complications compared to the fact that you no longer love me. Screenwriters call these twists of fortune reversals but loss is one brute syllable and works for scale. All those cellos, I think the soundtrack is trying to tell us something. After ninety minutes of comic relief, the sidekick finally has something to constructive to say. He says, You can make it. Not much, but his inflection really sales it. And this is my favorite part. This is the part with the final showdown between good and evil. Still time to gather my weapons before you surprise me with one last trick. Turns out this part of the country is chock full of cliffs.."

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