Everybody has their swansong, whether they know it or not. But for Alex Cox, his latest film Dead Souls – a darkly comic western loosely based on Nikolai Gogol’s 1842 novel – is billed as his final film.

If it really is his last film, the fiercely independent British film-maker can look back on a helluva run. He broke through with 1984 punk classic Repo Man, then went on to direct Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy. He made the political “western” Walker in 1987, starring Ed Harris – then from 1988 to 1994 introduced viewers to cult and overlooked films as the original presenter of BBC Two’s Moviedrome, essentially doing film nerd YouTube decades before YouTube existed.

He ended up making films in Mexico in the 1990s, including the brilliant Highway Patrolman, then returned to his home town of Liverpool for Three Businessmen and The Revengers Tragedy.…