september book and film review

BOOKS

VAN GOGH: THE FLOWERS, by Judith Bumpus. With art books, there is a reliable working rule: enjoy the pictures, don't bother with the text. Judith Bumpus (good name) has got round this here by quoting extensively from the Great One's letters. Van Gogh was a prolific and highly articulate letter writer, especially to his brother Theo, in which he often speaks of his love of nature and his struggle to do justice to it in his his paintings. But ultimately his pictures speak more eloquently than words ever could.
LIFE'S NEW HURDLES, by Colin Jackson. I read this at a single sitting; scarcely an achievement since it is barely more than 10.000 words in length. He writes of his superlative athletic record, shy only of the greatest award of all: an Olympic gold medal. And on this subject he is disarmingly honest, admitting that his obsession to achieve a world record as well as the gold led him to injure a stomach muscle in the heats, which handicapped him in the final. Colin then describes his career beyond athletics, with his work as a commentator for TV and his doomed attempt to win "Strictly" (well, he was Welsh, black and gay so he never really stood an earthly)
AUGUSTUS JOHN, by Michael Holroyd. Where Claire Tomalin was stymied by the paucity of letters that survived Jane Austen's death, Michael Holroyd had the benefits of literally thousands of missives that John fired off to his numerous friends and family members throughout his long life. And an extraordinary picture emerges of a man touched by the Gods but who somehow never achieved the dizzy heights his early promise might have suggested. But a handful of pictures, especially some portraits of his loved ones and the portrayals of gypsy life (which he so loved and attempted to emulate in his own life), stand as some of the greatest examples of British art in the 20th century. And what a life it was! The man for whom the term "Bohemian" might have been invented, he bucked convention to such a degree that even today, never mind 100 years ago, he would be thought of as an icon of counter-culture. And indeed, it is the "heroic nature of his personality" as Lord David Cecil described it, which will remembered as being just as important to posterity as the paintings themselves. A terrific book, and one of the best biographies I've ever read.

FILMS

SITTING BULL (1954) D-Sydney Salcow. Oh dear. This alleged story of the great Indian leader is in the event simply a backdrop for a romance played out between a general's daughter and a compassionate junior officer. Lamentable.
MIAMI BLUES (1990) D-George Armitage. A youthful Alec Baldwin plays a psychopathic thief who finds Jennifer Jason-Leigh, a charming tart-with-a-heart who (nearly) reforms him. Watchable.
COOL WORLD (1992) D- Ralph Bakshi. A cartoonist creates an artificial world, then finds there's a way into this world for real people... Following the success of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" they threw a lot of money at Ralph Bakshi to make this blend of animation and live action which is played less for laughs than thrills and glamour. Bakshi established his reputation through the subversive "Fritz the Cat" and an animated version of Lord of the Rings, but here he seems to have lost his way somewhere along the line, and the result lacks heart and conviction. Kim Basinger, however, remains gorgeous whether in life or in her cartoon incarnation.
WINTER'S BONE (2010) D-Debra Granic. When arrested, a father puts up the family home as bond, but then disappears. Realising her family are about to be evicted, his 14 year old daughter sets out to track him down... Absolutely superb piece of film making with an astonishing performance from the star, newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. Perhaps the best new film I've seen this year.
BOB LE FLAMBEUR (1956) D-J.P. Melville. An old lag with a gambling habit realises he can shorten the odds by robbing the casino. Splendid and highly atmospheric example of the French "New Wave", from the guy who, along with Jean-Luc Goddard, they invented the term for.
THE COURT JESTER (1955) D- Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. Danny Kaye showcases his enormous and varied talents in this nonsensical, but hilarious take on medieval England. My favourite Danny Kaye story? Jonathan Miller apparently idolised Kaye in his youth, but when they eventually met in New York during a run of "Beyond the Fringe", Miller found himself struck dumb in the presence of his hero. And I bet that didn't happen too often to Jonathan...
TIN STAR (1957) D- Anthony Mann. A green-horn sheriff (Anthony Perkins) is shown the ropes by a more experienced hand (Henry Fonda). Anthony Mann specialised in tough, realistic and supremely exciting westerns, and this is no exception. Superior stuff.
MILLER'S CROSSING (1990) P-D-The Coen brothers. Gabriel Byrne floats between rival gangs in a Chicago-like town, gets punched a lot, but avoids being shot, a fate that awaits almost everyone else in the cast, and emerges victorious. The IMDB reviewer though this their best film, even better than "Fargo", but that's wrong. The latter was one of the great films of the 90s, and while this is good, it doesn't have the class of its far more illustrious successor.
THOR (2011) D-Kenneth Branagh. Thor falls out with his daddy, Odin, who punishes him by projecting him, minus his super-powers, into the 21st century. Branagh must have pitched brilliantly to get Hollywood to pour millions into this project, and the result is certainly entertaining, though the film seems uncertain whether to play itself for laughs or thrills and spectacle. The result is a bit of a mish-mash. Kinda fun though...