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LRB Screen, the London Review Bookshop’s long-running film series, returns to the Garden Cinema in 2024 to continue its exploration of the art of literary adaption in partnership with MUBI.
American Psycho is the first of this year’s six special screenings: Mary Harron’s elegantly controlled adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis controversial – and bestselling – satirical horror novel, published in 1991. A vividly inventive feminist reading of the voids at the heart of consumerism, corporate capital and late-century metropolitan culture, it stars Christian Bale in his breakthrough role, with a score by John Cale and a supporting cast drawn from the finest US independent actors. The shadow of Donald Trump looms large throughout its prophetic account of American carnage.
Introducing the film, and discussing it afterwards with host Gareth Evans will be Harron herself (via video link), who co-wrote the screenplay and began her career as a writer – as one of the punk and post-punk eras’ most brilliant music critics, to be precise. Her filmography includes striking portraits of major counter-cultural figures – Valerie Solanas, Bettie Page and the Manson family, among others – as well as the Netflix adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace.
Trigger Warnings: Graphic Sex and Bloody Violence
Cast:
Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Chloë Sevigny