Executioner review – sleazy MP hams it up with sex worker in darkly comic blackmail thriller

Based on actor-director Peter Benedict’s own play this tiny-budget thriller has the feel of a stagey recording as the double-crosses pile up higher than an MP’s promises The fictional shadow cabinet minister at the centre of this darkly comic blackmail thriller is offended when the male prostitute he has hired describes his reputation as “colourful”. Colourful MPs support bloodsports and wear bow ties, he says; he prefers the term “maverick”. It’s never said out loud, but clearly he sits on the right in political terms; you can tell from the sneer in his voice as he utters the word “proletariat”. Executioner is adapted by Peter Benedict from his play Deadlock, with a staginess that feels a bit much for the screen. Benedict also co-directs and stars as the MP, called Robert Marlowe, giving a lip-smacking performance that makes Hannibal Lecter look like a character from kitchen sink realism. The entire film is set in the basement studio of Marlowe’s country pile, where he dabbles in pott...

The moment I knew: ‘I pledged I would go to mass for 30 days to understand what I was feeling’

After years of friendship, Josie still wasn’t sure whether she was into Chris. So she struck a deal with God

I was 18 when I first met Chris at a church youth group. Although we came from the same ethno-religious group, Chris wasn’t strictly religious. For him, youth group was a way to socialise with people from our community.

I never really paid him any attention, but one night after youth group he walked me to my car. He was trying to get to know me – he told me later that he had noticed me playing Scrabble at our camp and that was the kind of life he wanted with someone. I summed my interests up for him very clearly: pizza, ice-cream and making lists. He must have liked that answer because suddenly, it felt like he was everywhere.

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from Love And Sex | The Guardian https://ift.tt/wrQyOov

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