If you thought Snake Plissken’s New York was a dangerous place... | Kevin McKenna

Trump in power; the farce of Brexit; dire warnings of power shortages - welcome to dystopia now

Film reviewers often reach for a clutch of well-thumbed words and phrases to convey a sense of time and place quickly. This is not a criticism. These reviewers are rarely given sufficient space to explore often complicated themes of several films at a time.

A familiar locution, understood by all readers, allows them to cut to the action, as it were. "Dystopian nightmare" is one of them and when I see this deployed by my favourite reviewers my interest is piqued.