May book and film review

BOOKS

A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME, by Anthony Powell. Volume VIII: THE SOLDIER'S ART.
Nick is still in the army, though he still finds time off to lunch with his friends at the Café Royal. Then a bomb falls and everyone's life is changed forever: rich and poor alike. Any more info at this point could be construed as a spoiler, so I won't. Read and savour for yourself. You won't regret it. Powell's writing is finely wrought, but eminently readable. Put another way, he's my kind of author..

MARCH TO THE MONTERIA, by B Traven. A young Mexican Indian is diddled out of his pay check by exploitative agents of a local landowner and forced to take part in a trek through the jungle to deliver goods to the Monteria (a mahogany logging operation). He seems placid enough on the surface, and this option is certainly preferable to a lengthy stay in prison, but inwardly he is planning a terrible revenge on the people who wronged him. Traven's ongoing preoccupation is to chronicle the terrible fate of the Mexican poor, who are ripped off by cynical capitalists at every turn, amd he does so eloquently in this book. The committed politics aside, this, like all Traven's novels, is also a gripping tale of hardship and sudden violence. Good stuff.

THE ROSE OF TIBET, by Lionel Davidson. In 1950, a young man journeys to Tibet to rescue his brother who has apparently disappeared into the eternal snows of that land, now embattled by incursions from the land-grabbing Chinese. Once there, he finds to his astonishment that he is recognised as some sort of living god. Not only that, but the local abbess, virginally pure, gets the hots for him. Big time... Graham Greene thought this book was a breath of fresh air in the field of "pure works of the imagination" and it is hard to argue with that verdict. Reading like a rather better written novel of Dan Brown, with symbols, mysticism, and even a touch of the preternatural as well as a fair salting of violence.  The action is unrelenting and described in horrifying detail, like the moment when our hero encounters a bear in the high ice deserts of the Himalaya. Nasty...

A HERO OF OUR TIME, by Mikhail Lermontov. An aristocratic, rather self-centred young soldier is exiled to a regiment in the Caucasus where he has a number of exploits. The tales are told, not by him but by the people he encounters, or extracted from diaries the young man kept at the time. We see him trick a vulnerable young beauty into falling in love with him, carelessly snubbing an old comrade, then tricking another man into a duel he knows he can't lose. Written and structured in a manner which seems contemporary to us even today, it must have been thought revolutionary at the time. This, quite simply, is one of the greatest short novels ever written. Not just my opinion: Tolstoy and Gogol thought the same.
The introduction highlights the subtlety and multi-layering of the book, stating that there is much within its pages to appeal to the most discerning of critics as well as the "ordinary reader simply seeking entertainment". By these criteria I am clearly in the latter category, but this pedestrian reader's life has been actually moved by this marvellous book. In fact the real tragedy is Lermontov himself, who at the age of 26 embarked on a hasty duel with an old friend and was run through on the spot. Considering that he wrote this incredible book at the age of just 24, the loss to the world of literature is incalculable

FILMS

THE CAPTIVE CITY (1953) D- Robert Wise. A young newspaper man in a small town works to expose an organised crime racket that is blighting his community. They're none too pleased by his efforts, and seek to eliminate him- and his family. Effectively directed by the estimable Wise, who approaches his subject in an almost documentary style, it stars a very good John Forsythe (that's right; he did more than play Blake Carrington in Dynasty and doing the voice-over for Charlie in Charlie's Angels) and the result is an understated, near-classic product.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (2002) D- Phil Aiden Robinson. CIA man Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) struggles to foil the evil plans of a terrorist group who want to ferment a world war by exploding a dirty bomb in America's heartland. Adapted from Tom Clancy's book, this is exactly what we might expect: a competently made thriller, not very probable, but no less entertaining for that. And Affleck convinces more than he often does. Not bad.

TED (2012) W-D- Seth McFarlane. A teddy-bear comes to life and provides a life-long companion to Mark Wahlberg. But when Marky gets hitched, Ted becomes jealous and hilarious consequences ensue. A kind of modern fairy tale, and with Seth McFarlane's stamp over every frame, we inevitably see strong echoes of Family Guy. You'd think that I, a big fan of Peter Griffin and his long suffering family, would love this; I mean, I like a good fart joke as much as the next man, perhaps more, but somehow there's something missing. What am I saying? It just isn't funny enough, despite the high production gloss. Shame. Perhaps he'll do better next time.

PROMETHEUS (2012) D- Ridley Scott. A crew of astronauts is sent to a distant planet where, allegedly, there be aliens. A prequel to Scott's 1979 masterpiece Alien, this is clearly the film he has wanted to make for years. There are frequent references to his earlier film, including a highly humanoid android who hides a dark secret. Nothing could equal the shock value of his original, but even so Scott creates another fine, frightening and highly disturbing movie. If you liked the first one, I'd say you've pretty much got to see this one.

THE MESSENGER (2009) D- Oren Moverman. A young army sergeant (Ben Foster) is drafted, against his will, into a squad (led by the excellent Woody Harrelson) whose job it is to inform relatives of  the death of their loved ones in combat in Iraq. And they must do their job quickly, before the news makes the media. But everyone involved already appears traumatised by their own experiences of war, so whether they are best fitted for this grim task is open to question. This film has moments of greatness, especially in the scenes where Harrelson and Foster confront the bereaved: some of these cameos, almost little "filmlets" in their own right, are almost unbearably intense. But then the film is spoiled for me by some worrying scenes in which the characters suddenly behave out of character: for example, after appearing in every scene as the epitomes of sartorial elegance, they turn up at the wedding of Foster's ex-wife in torn jeans and filthy tee shirts. Maybe the director is seeking to show us the damaging effects of PTSD on one's personality, but it didn't work for me.

THE HUNT (2012) D- Thomas Vinterberg. A kindergarten teacher slightly upsets one of his charges, who extracts her revenge by accusing him of abusing her. She is believed over his protestations of innocence, and he is fired (though not prosecuted) From then on the small town community in which he lives ostracises him. Absolutely terrific and terrifyingly authentic account of small town prejudice given free rein by an atmosphere of crushing political correctness. And Madds Mickelsen (you'll remember him as Daniel Craig's nemesis in Casino Royale) is superb.

MIDNIGHT RUN (1988) D-Martin Brest. A bounty hunter (Bob deNiro) is commissioned to bring in an accountant (a very good Charles Grodin) who has ripped off the mob (though he has given the money to charity). However there's a big bonus if he delivers the suspect, not to the authorities but to the mob itself, so they can take their awful revenge personally. Bob takes the job, but moral issues cloud his normally incisive actions... A well made feature with strong performances all round, even if the ending doesn't quite jive with what we have seen already. Or maybe it's me. Watchable

PRIMER (2004) D- Shane Caruth. Workers at an IT firm accidentally make a time machine, which they use, firstly to make some money gambling, but then to alter the past to improve their present lives. But they keep making mistakes and having to go back to make further adjustments. Soon it all begins to fall apart, as we might expect. They should have read Einstein's writing on time paradoxes. I had a hard time remembering anything about this film only three weeks after seeing it, which I think says less about my incipient Alzheimer's than its essentially lacklustre nature. At least that's what I believe and I'm sticking to it.

TOTAL RECALL (2012) D- Len Wiseman. In the near future, a remarkably buff Colin Farrell buys some artificial memories, only to discover he has walked into a complex web of crime and murder. Then... Oh, why am I bothering? You know the plot already don't you, having seen the excellent original crafted by a Paul Verhoven at the top of his high-octane game. So why do we need this remake, and a remake which is only a dim shadow of its progenitor? I'm going to admit it: I gave this film only 60 minutes before saying enough is enough. And I don't do that very often. Seriously, don't bother wasting 2 hours of your precious life on this one.

THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (1998) D- Antoine Fuqua. Hitman Chow Yun Fat is hired to kill a gangland boss's enemy, but when he sees him playing with his little boy he can't bring himself to go through with it. Enraged, the gang boss sends assassins to do him in. And when they fail, a replacement set are brought in- geddit? I like Chow Yun Fat a lot: I mean he's a Chinaman who's name isn't Lee, which is a change. Seriously, I enjoyed this romp which manages to keep the energy up throughout. The body count is kind of high though, so be warned.

THE CHANT OF JIMMY BLACKSMITH (1978) D- Fred Schepisi. In turn of the 20th century Australia, a young aboriginal boy is nurtured by a local teacher who teaches him to read and write; something a lot of the ruling white community can't do. But he soon finds that being literate provides no escape from the Apartheid-type system that operated in those days. Gradually his sense of resentment builds... Sensitive, beautiful and ultimately savagely horrific, this is a quite stunning piece of movie making as well as a comprehensive condemnation of man's inhumanity to man. Brilliant.