Book Review: Ayoade on Top

‘Time and romance are inextricably linked because as soon as anything starts, it starts to end…’

Finally, FINALLY somebody has written a critical analysis of View from the Top – Bruno Barreto’s 2003 masterpiece starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Or at least, that is how Ayoade is selling it. In reality, of course, View From the Top is froth of the highest order. A little seen and mostly forgotten boilerplate comedy. The genius of Ayoade’s book is that he treats View from the Top as if it is Citizen Kane

Using his inimitable house style of extreme over confidence and biting self hatred, Ayoade on Top allows the British comedian to offer his treatise on the power of cinema, but it is buried deep within the Trojan horse of an absurdist commentary on a film that has been described as ‘harmless fun’.

This results in a book that had me darkly chuckling like a maniac whilst also finding myself pleasantly surprised by the breadth of Ayoade’s cultural reference points and philosophical musings. There is no doubting that cineastes may find more to enjoy here than the average schlub on the street, but Ayoade on Top also acts as a decent guide to narrative structure, cinematography and sound editing on a more general level. A feat that is particularly impressive when taking into account the surrealist conceit. As the man himself astutely points out “cinema helps us to remember that although we all have the right to shine, some of us must shine in the background, out of focus, and not too brightly.”

I had previously read and thoroughly enjoyed Ayode’s first ode to cinema Ayoade on Ayoade and I will now be circling back to his second book The Grip of Film. Occasionally, you encounter something that feels like it has been made specifically for you. Ayoade’s books feel like that for me. A must read for all film geeks.