December book and film review

BOOKS

THE CARRETA, by B Traven. A young Mexican Indian boy makes his painful way in the world; a world where only money and power matters, and he has neither. The first of Traven's "Jungle" series of novels set in Mexico. With their intense humanity and strong libertarian bias, this is a cracking little read, with a political message that is as relevant today as when it was written in the 1930s.

PAUL SIGNAC, 1863-1935, by various authors. This elegantly produced coffee table book was made to accompany a major retrospective of the Artist's work at MOMA in New York. Everyone knows about Georges Seurat, the founder of "pointillism", that artistic technique whereby the image is composed of little spots, or "points" of colour to produce a magical, nacreous effect. Less is known about his greatest admirer and emulator, a man who, following Seurat's untimely death in 1891, took up the baton of the "neo-impressionist" movement as it was also known, and produced a series of scintillatingly beautiful images in that style. But it's the usual thing with all these books: enjoy the pictures: the text is far less important.

THE CHINESE GOLD MURDERS, by Robert van Gulic. Judge Dee, a newly appointed magistrate in an 8th century Chinese provincial town, is faced with solving the murder of his predecessor. Van Gulic was a Dutch diplomat and scholar who spent his life in the Far East and became fascinated by this series of "Judge Dee" mystery stories he unearthed. He wrote several books where he adapted those ancient stories for a more modern audience, sticking to their format with only a few exceptions, like revealing the identity of the murderer at the end, rather than the beginning as was the medieval custom. Interesting stuff...

FILMS

LE CORBEAU (1943) D- George-Henri Clouzot. In a rural French village, someone is writing poison-pen letters to various dignitaries. The community all but tears itself apart trying to uncover the source. A mystery thriller which owes a debt to Hitchcock, even though it was relatively early in the latter's career. One wants to see it through to the end, but the journey is a slightly uneven ride.

WIN/WIN (2011) D- Thomas McCarthy. A struggling lawyer agrees to care for an elderly man, but dumps him in an old people's home and pockets the fee. Then someone finds out what he's doing. A sweet, low-profile little movie Hollywood is getting gradually better at, with the estimable Paul Giametti very strong (isn't he always?) in the lead.

PHILADELPHIA (1993) D-Jonathan Demme. A young lawyer tries to conceal his HIV status from hos employers. When they find out, he is fired. He then sues for wrongful dismissal. The film that made Tom Hanks a megastar (for better or worse; we haven't been able to get rid of him since) All the horror about AIDS looks a bit odd to us now, but the appallingly judgemental way those hapless individuals were treated at the time should not be forgotten.

PRIMARY COLORS (1998) D- Mike Nichols. An idealistic lawyer assists a presidential hopeful in his race to the White House, but finds he has feet of clay... Opens tremendously well, with Travolta at his best, but the last half-hour deflates alarmingly and leaves one slightly unsatisfied. Shame; it could have been a masterpiece.

NO GREATER LOVE (2010) D- Michael Whyte. The lives of a community of Carmelite nuns, living out their lives of silent prayer and contemplation. For 7 years Michael Whyte tried to persuade the Mother Superior of this Notting Hill nunnery to allow him to make this film. At last they relented and we are the winners, as we witness the slow, totally ordered lives of these brides of Christ. They reveal themselves (in the brief periods each day when they are allowed to speak) as highly intelligent, deeply pious and infinitely gentle human beings. The pace of the film reflects the pace of the community itself: slow, sedate and exuding a sense of perfect calm.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTRED JOURNEY (2012) D- Peter Jackson. They're back! All your old favourites: Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel et al, set in a time sixty years before the LotR cycle, though oddly looking slightly older (how that?- Ed) and ready to fight ancient evils or whatever. I mean, it all looks splendid, but haven't we seen all this before somewhere? And how come they need three films to cover a book which isn't half the length of even one of the LotR books. The answer, I fear, is filthy lucre, and in this case I imagine, literally tons of the stuff. Just don't ask me to see the other two.

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) D- Gary Ross. In a post-Apocalyptic world, a number of young people are brought together to fight to the death for the entertainment of the masses. Owing something to The Running Man, and rather more to the Japanese film Battle Royale, this film has gone down well with the "young people" and at one level I can see why- it is fast-paced, and features a strong leading woman in the shape of Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone). But for me, the style is not to my taste:: the camera work is made to look like shaky hand-held work, and I couldn't help thinking after it had begun to make me feel faintly nauseous, they spent a fortune developing steady-cam technology, why would they leave it in the cupboard now?

DARK HORSE (2012) D- Ted Holonze. A geek who at 30 is still living at home and unhapplily working for his dad, thinks he can see a way out when a pretty girl appears to fall for him. But it ain't that easy...Another one of those acutely observed little set-pieces (like Greenberg) which as I pointed out in my review of Win/Win, is the kind of movie Hollywood is slowly learning to make and market successfully. Jordan Gelber is excellent as the overweight cuckoo in the nest.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) D- Ernst Lubitsch. (written by Sam Rafaelson) In high society Paris, a con artist and a pick-pocketess realise they can work together and maybe make a killing. Or maybe not... Now here we go! This is what I'm talking about! An absolutely stunning movie, funny sweet, clever, extremely saucy and with such innovative cinematography we are still seeing echoes of it in movies made today. Terrific.