Left Hand Column: Book and Film Reviews

I wanted to watch The Sheep Detectives and specially went down to the cinema to watch it during a public holiday.  I know, to most people, a flock of fluffy sheep solving the murder of their shepherd George (played by Hugh Jackman) sounds like the kind of premise that could easily go wrong.  However, I personally found The Sheep Detectives interesting and entertaining. I loved the show.  It is funny, gentle, and touching. It also has one of the most unusual detective teams I have ever seen in a movie. I mean, how often do you get a murder mystery where the main investigators are sheep?  One of the heroes in the film even says, “Do you know what humans call stupid people who can't think for themselves?”  Plot summary The movie is based on Leonie Swann’s novel Three Bags Full. Hugh Jackman plays George Hardy, a kind shepherd who reads detective stories to his flock every night. He thinks the sheep do not understand him, but of course, they do. One of the sheep, Li...

I watched The Housemaid partly because I occasionally enjoy a good thriller.  My brother, however, had a simpler explanation. He thought I watched it because of Sydney Sweeney’s "good genes", if you get what I mean. I laughed, because there is probably some truth in that (un)flattering characterization. But to be fair to the movie, The Housemaid is not just about watching Sydney Sweeney in steamy scenes. It is also a glossy, entertaining, and rather mad thriller. Plot summary Based on Freida McFadden’s bestselling 2022 novel, The Housemaid follows Millie Calloway, played by Sydney Sweeney, a young woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a live in housemaid for the wealthy Winchester family.  Nina Winchester, played by Amanda Seyfried, appears fragile, difficult, and deeply unstable. Her husband Andrew, played by Brandon Sklenar, appears calm, collected, and attractive, the sort of gentlemanly man who seems to offer safety and gentle support in a house full of tension. O...