september book and film review

BOOKS

ORIENTALSIM, BY EDWARD SAID. Somehow appropriate as we are off to the Holy Land tomorrow,(and by the way, please be gentle if I find it difficult to post regular blogs over the next 2 weeks), as Said himself hails from the West Bank, before he left for America to launch a highly illustrious career in the halls of Academe. Basically his thesis in coining the term "orientalism" is to highlight the deeply ingrained racism that exists in the west against all non-occidental culture, and has indeed existed at least since the Crusades.
Whether it be Islamic, Hindu, Chinese or whatever, we like to package them, compartmentalise them and generally reduce them: oriental culture is fascinating, colourful but essentially inferior to our own. From this it is logical to exploit it for our own purposes as we see fit. Uncomfortable, but essential reading for anyone who flatters themselves that they have no prejudice.
THE REPRIEVE, BY J-P SARTRE. The second in Sartre's "Roads to Freedom" trilogy, which owes a debt to Proust and also the American writer John dos Passos. In this book a revolutionary new technique emerges, where the stories of a number of different characters are interwoven so tightly that sometimes a sentence begins in one setting and switches to a second or even a third before the full stop comes. The effect is disturbing, and not altogether easy to read, but once one has got used to the style it is as magnetically absorbing as the first book.
LA SYMPHONIE PASTORALE and ISABELLE, BY ANDRE GIDE. 2 famous novellas from the fin de siecle Francais by an arch-wordsmith of the highest quality. Gide is one of those people, like George Orwell or Mikhail Bulgakov, where I find myself thinking: "Boy! I wish I could write like that"

FILMS

DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, W-D WOODY ALLEN.(1997) Allen's films fall into 3 broad categories: great (Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanours), outstanding (Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose) and, the smallest group, terrible (Match Point, Interiors) This falls very much into category 2, funny, insightful and beautifully crafted.
THE RED BALLOON, W-D ALBERT LAMORISSE (1955) Alfred Hitchcock once said movies should be about evoking an emotional response in the audience, and this superb film, one of the greatest short films ever made: it makes ones FEEL right the way through every one of its all too brief 33 minutes. Wonderful.
LORD OF THE FLIES (William Golding), D PETER BROOK (1963) In his famous style, later emulated by Mike Leigh, Brook shot more than 600 hours of improvised action with his cast of non-actors, before editing down to just 93 minutes. The result does justice to that amazing book, authentically conjuring the atmosphere of heat, fear, threat and murder. Gripping and powerful.
SHERLOCK HOLMES, D GUY RITCHIE (2009) A really quite creditable attempt at creating a new persona for the great detective, admirably realized by Robert Downey Jr, who is a genuinely powerful screen presence. Jude Law, on the other hand, who plays Watson, appears not to know quite what he is doing or even why he is there at all.
BLADE TRINITY, W-D DAVID S GOYER (2004) The Blade series tapped into a deep vein of vampirophilia which exists to this day (Twilight) though I think it is close to being mined out by now. Wesley Snipes is certainly the right man for the job of vampire with a heart, a bit like Angel in Buffy, but a lot more edge.
BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT (1998) D-EMIL KUSTERICA. A cult classic from Yugoslavia, where a wide boy needs the help of a local crime boss to steal a trainload of petrol. The deal: he must marry his son to the crime boss's midget daughter- with hilarious and unforeseen consequences. There are several moments of high farce and genuine hysteria in this highly watchable offering.