The Man in the Hat
starring Ciarán Hinds, directed by John-Paul Davidson and Stephen Warbeck
There’s a theory, when it comes to reviews – of anything – that the reviewer needs to have a background, some level of expertise, to be able to effectively assess that which they are reviewing. In food writing, food critics will insist that to write a good review, there should be an understanding of how the food was made, flavoured, grown, etc. Meanwhile, sites like Yelp thrive on reviews based on whether or not an individual liked the taste of what they ate and little more. Does knowledge change our level of enjoyment and understanding of something?
I bring this up here because it’s an important point when it comes to The Man in the Hat as well as the reviews of this film published so far.