october book and film review

BOOKS

HAIL TO THE CHIEF, by Ed McBain. A street cleaner finds six dead bodies in a roadworks. They have been carefully shorn of identifying features. The cops have to find out who they are, then somehow bring their killers to justice. Ed McBain wrote countless books in his "87th Precinct" series, and they're all strong on authentic police detail, which brings them to life in a way a lot of detective-type thrillers don't. I fear, however, that this was not one of his best. Still pretty good though.
PHINEAS FINN, by Anthony Trollope. A young Irish politician is gifted a seat in Parliament and finds himself drawn into the highest echelons of London society. My wife, who has read the entire canon of Trollope's work, selected this one for me as an "entry level" Trollope. And bloody good it is too. Trollope was a master of dialogue, and today, perhaps like Dickens, he would be at home writing for Corrie or Eastenders. I greatly enjoyed his meticulous style, and look forward to delving more deeply into the good postmaster's oevre.
SELECTED POEMS AND LETTERS OF JOHN KEATS, edited by Robert Gittings. My wife and I were watching Jane Campion's biopic of Keats called "Bright Star" the other night. We both found it so irritating we turned it off after 20 minutes. But it tweaked my interest. I (who know little of Keats) asked my wife how she rated him in the pantheon of English literature. She replied: "Massive". OK then, I thought. Time to investigate the guy. I looked him up in our Oxford Companion of English Literature, which was as effusive as my spouse in his praise, and includied a quote from TS Eliot, who pronounced his letters "the greatest written by any poet at any time". Good then, that my book included a number of his letters as well as extracts or complete versions of his greatest poems. What can I say? What can I add to the reams that have already been written about one of our greatest word magicians? Only, perhaps, that I was entranced, transported and moved, and profoundly so.

FILMS

INCEPTION (2010) D-Christopher Nolan. In a world where the technology exists to enter someones dreams and manipulate them, a master operative is hired to place sub-conscious thoughts into a business rival's mind. Things do not go according to plan... Mark Kermode pronounced this the best film of 2010, and who am I to argue with the good doctor? It is undeniable that the film looks great; the production values are peerless, and the acting and direction are top drawer. But it is a little confusing. Right from the opening sequence I found myself thinking that annoying thing: "hang on, what's going on here, exactly?", and it never went away. OK, maybe that's the directors intention, to keep you guessing in order to somehow simulate the strange, unreal landscape that is a dream. But for me, excellent film that it is, it is not cinematic art at the highest level.
VIVRE SA VIE (1962) D-Jean-Luc Goddard. An intelligent, middle class young woman makes a conscious decision to explore the world of prostitution. Now, this is what I'm talking about! Here is a really terrific film, full of innovative and imaginative bravura, laden with surrealist and even Dadaist symbolism, it leaves one almost breathless at the end of its brief run. Goddard keeps unsettling you in unexpected ways, filming subjects from behind, jump-cutting just where anyone else wouldn't even think of and generally staying a couple of steps ahead of the viewer. Now THIS is truly great movie making.
DAY OF WRATH (1943) D-Carl Dreyer. And so is this. In 17th century Denmark, a repressed parson leads a witch-hunt against local women, but the real witch is much closer to home... Frightening and powerful story of love, lust and black magic set among the night and fog of Scandinavia. Brilliant.
DESPICABLE ME (2010)D- Pierre Coffin and Chris Reynaud (animation) Gru, an aspiring super-villain, needs money to carry out his fiendish plans, but along the way somehow adopts a couple of kids from a local orphanage. Highly successful cartoon which has proved a great hit with "the young people" and even I, a has-been old git enjoyed it rather a lot. Steve Carrell's voicing of the anti-hero is excellent, though Russell Brand's casting was probably a mistake.
HOUSE OF CARDS (1968)D- John Guillermin. A young American man is employed as tutor to the son of a Parisian socialite, but becomes involved in a neo-nazi plot. I am thinking of writing an essay about Inger Stevens, the Swedish beauty who was making a big impact in 1960s Hollywood when she was found dead in mysterious circumstances in April 1970, and this might be considered part of my "research". This was perhaps one of her best roles as the slightly unhinged wife of a Parisian scion, who sees in George Peppard a way of escaping her private hell. Although the film has dated a lot since it was made, the chemistry between the two stars shines vividly, and it is indeed a shame she was never to achieve her full screen potential.
THE FRONT (1976)D-Martin Ritt. A blacklisted Hollywood writer uses Woody Allen as a "front" to get his work out there. A highly authentic and troubling insight into the terrible world of fifties Hollywood, where McCarthy's witch hunt against all things "Un-American" destroyed the careers of many a talented, but slghtly left of centre film maker. Martin Ritt himself was blacklisted as was the screenwriter, Walter Beernstein, so they should know...
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1978) D-John Schlesinger. An aspiring screen writer tries to carve out a career in 1930s Hollywood. A stange mix of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Sunset Boulevard". Yet again it seems to take a foreigner (like Louis Malle with "Atlantic City") to hold a mirror up to the American dream and show what a soulless thing it is at heart. A very fine movie.
GREENBERG (2010)W-D-Noah Baumbach. A recently released mental patient struggles with life on the outside. Ben Stiller shows that a good comedic actor has to be a plain good actor deep down, as he turns in a terrific performance as the on-the-edge loonie given every opportunity to settle into "normal" life, but for whom demons from the past and from within threaten to destroy everything he values. Excellent.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (animation) (1978) D-Ralph Bakshi. Bakshi established his reputation with a screen version of Robert Crum's "Fritz the Cat" and after years of hard work shmoozing the money men, he finally got the cash to make his animated version of Tolkien's classic tale. The money ran out about half way through;
the intention was originally to make a scecond film, though in the event that never happened. Using the "rotoscope" method, an extremely laborious technique which, frame by frame, blends live action with animation, this film ends about halway through the second book, but still leaves us with a fragment of remarkable skill and power. Required viewing for LOTR fans, and anyone else interested in the movie art.