March 2014 book and film review

BOOKS


TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY, by Andres Neuman. A traveller arrives in a town in southern Germany intending to stay only one night. Curiously, despite his experience, he finds it hard to leave, or even to find his way around a town whose topography seems to change from day to day. He soon finds other reasons to hang around, including a young woman who lives near the inn he has made his temporary home. She is beautiful, very smart and finds him equally interesting. Only problem: she's betrothed to the richest guy in town. Along the way he strikes up other acquaintances: a factory worker, a farm labourer and a decrepit barrel-organ player and his faithful old pooch, Franz.


 But nothing is as it seems in this extraordinary novel. Are these characters allegories of European states, either now, or when the novel is apparently set, that is in the 1820s? Is it a comment on contemporary moral and sexual mores, or those of post Napoleonic Europe? It is hard to know. All we have is some of the most beautiful translated prose seen for many years and a story that arrests the attention from first page to last. Writers like Dan Brown and Tom Clancy ensured their success by the clever tactic of flattering the intelligence of the reader- we are given obvious clues, which we work out, making us feel clever. Reading this book, however, one doesn't feel clever enough. One needs to be conversant with the great thinkers of the 18th and early 19th century, Schlegel, Kant et al as well as the prominent writers and poets in order to keep up, and if  one is not suitably equipped, as is the case with me, it is easy to feel out of one's depth. But the narrative is always enough to keep one enthralled.


For me the most delightful passages occur during the covert wowing of Sophie by an ardent, but of necessity restrained, Hans. The two would-be lovers must confine their flirting to exchanges at the literary salon Sophie holds at her house every Friday. Here is a little quote:


...I don't see why higher emotions cannot spring from reason, why they need to be separated, said Sophie. For example? asked Herr Levin. For example, in chess, Hans agreed, his eyes fixed on Sophie's moist lips. I mean, don't you consider that thinking to the limits of our possibility ennobles our spirit? I don't know, said Sophie, staring at Hans's chin, if I'm able to play chess.
Sophie opened her lips to cool them. Hans's mind was no longer on Kant, although it was occupied with empirical knowledge...
Empirical knowledge indeed. Hans is thinking about how he'd like to plough her till next July, and precisely how he'd do it. Empirically.
A fantastic book.


DOTTER OF HER FATHER'S EYES, by Mary M Talbot and Bryan Talbot. Lucia was the daughter of James Joyce, whose needs were subjugated to the demands of her father's genius. Mary is the daughter of eminent Joycean scholar J.S. Atherton, who likewise struggles to find her identity in an atmosphere where everything comes second to her dad's writing. This graphic novel charts their strangely parallel lives, the big difference being that Lucia is driven insane, whereas Mary is lucky enough to escape, if not unscathed by her childhood, then at least retaining her sanity. And there's the problem with the book. After going into great detail about just how poor Lucia is driven off her rocker by her self-obsessed parents, the narrative then simply states: "And she spent the rest of her life in an asylum". Really? Is that it? No more detail, or do people's lives effectively come to an end after they're committed? Any answer to this question won't be found in these pages.


I like a good graphic novel, and this, I suppose, is a good one. The images are well drawn, and the story told effectively enough. The whole thing reminded me a little of Raymond Briggs's marvellous When the Wind Blows, though Talbot and Talbot are no Briggs, nor ever will be. Can be read in about one quite enjoyable hour.


THE SHOCK OF THE FALL, by Nathan Filer. A little boy is playing on the beach with his slightly older brother when the latter falls to his death from a cliff. The shock of this fall causes catastrophic ripples to reverberate through the lives of his loved ones. There. I've spoiled it. Not really. Nathan chooses to tell us all this in his opening chapter; the rest is a deeply absorbing and sometimes heart-wrenching account of Matt, the younger brother, as he descends into psychosis, fitting a pattern established by his mother who was also diagnosed with schizophrenia.


This book is like some kind of crazy wish-fulfilment for any aspiring writer: one's first novel being hailed as a masterpiece- with a subsequent bidding war involving 11 (count them, 11) publishers ensuring a 6 figure advance and the promise of millions more to come. This is the dream of every writer: critical acclaim plus financial success and here, Nathan Filer has done it. And you can't help admitting he deserves it. This is a good book, carefully written with a deceptively simple style. Not as good as The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night Time, with which it has been compared, but still pretty good




MURDER AT THE SAVOY, by Maj Stowell and Per Waloo. Number 6 in the celebrated Martin Beck series of detective thrillers from Sweden, finds a plutocrat shot in the head while he holds court in an exclusive restaurant in Malmo. The guy had numerous shady interests in the Third World (as it used to be called), so could it be a political hit, or does the answer lie closer to home?


 Another immaculate offering in the series which takes a cool look at the uncertain freedoms found in post-war Sweden as well as at the (dys)functioning of its police service. Once again we get under the skins of the cops, their preoccupations, their failings and their strengths in a way that brings them to life as strongly as anything Henning Mankel or Stig Larson ever produced. I think you'll find both of those acknowledged the role of Stowell and Waloo in helping them create their own style. And rightly so.


FILMS


DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (((2013) D- Jean-Marc Vallee. A fun-loving Texan is brought up short when he is diagnosed with AIDS and given a month to live. He is offered the best treatment available at the time (AZT)  but finds he can't tolerate the side effects and casts around for alternatives. Naturally he incurs the disapproval of his doctors and later, when he begins to import stuff from abroad, the authorities. Meanwhile his friends abandon him a) because he admits he has AIDS and b) because they equate that with being gay. Partly as a result of this, our hero evolves a more humane approach to gays himself, especially as many of them want to buy the products he brings in.


This is an excellent little film, to me exemplifying Hollywood at its best, and features a surprisingly strong performance from Matthew McConaughey, whom we have come to see more as supplying eye candy for the ladies than as a serious actor. That era is now officially over


THE MASTER (2012) D- P.T. Anderson. A vulnerable young man becomes involved with a cult led by an intensely charismatic man. The young man (brilliantly portrayed by Joakin Phoenix) doesn't understand the technicalities, but becomes entranced by the "master", played by Philip Seymour in a style which had already established him firmly as the world's leading character actor. Anderson said that he was originally going to make the film about Hoffmann's character, but was persuaded that telling the film from the disciple's perspective would make an even better film. It was a wise move. The film is powerful and disturbing, and there is an added sense of ennui knowing we have now lost the talent of one of America's best actors.


McCABE AND MRS MILLER (1971) D- Robert Altman. A young chancer (Warreb Beatty) decides he can make a good living running a bar and brothel in a gold mining town, assisted by a (false as it turns out) reputation for having killed a man. Business is slow until he meets an experienced harlot (Julie Christie) who offers to show him how to run his enterprise properly. But others covet his success and would take it away from him...


Some have said this is Altman's greatest film, and while I would say that accolade should go to Nashville. this remains a very fine offering: atmospheric, languid, almost dreamlike in parts. Definitely watchable.


BULLHEAD (2011, Belgium) W-D- Michael R Roskam. In rural Belgium, a group of steroid using farmers keep just one jump ahead of the authorities. One of them, who likes to use steroids on himself as well as his livestock, maintains a macho-man persona, but hides a dreadful past: in his childhood he was mutilated horribly by a bully who escaped punishment for his brutality. Our man would seek revenge, but there are complex reasons why he can't- yet...


A dark, forbidding atmosphere pervades this film from Belgium, which despite the bleak, featureless landscape in which it is set, is really rather gripping.


THE BLING RING (2013) D Sophia Coppola. A bunch of celebrity-obsessed teens in LA envy the lifestyle of their heroes so much they decide to burgle their homes and take some of their bling for themselves. It really happened. Many celebs were targeted, notably Paris Hilton, who was actually burgled five times before finally going to the cops, partly because she (and this turned out to be the case with others, including Orlando Bloom) had no security in her house and, believe or not, left her latch key where it could be found easily. I'll give her this though: Hilton actually agreed to take part in the film and to have some of it shot in her home, and being willing to be portrayed as an idiot with too much money, surprisingly, shows that she actually does have a touch of class about her.


 The film has been criticised because there is no analysis of the characters of the ring, but to me that is the whole point: they didn't really have characters: this was all about materialism and greed, pure and simple. Coppola portrays the hedonistic lifestyle of the perps in fine, coldly journalistic style. And Emma Watson, who plays one of the ring, can now definitely be seen to have escaped her Hermione label. Superior.


THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993) P-D- Merchant/Ivory. In the time of appeasement in pre-war Britain, the butler of an ultra right wing aristo serves his master with unthinking loyalty, while nursing a covert love for the housekeeper. Will he declare his secret love, or let her slip through his fingers? Will his master prevail or be swept away when the Nazis are defeated?


A film of great subtlety and beauty, based on the book by Ishiguro (small point: how could a Japanese writer get to know so much about the inner workings of Britain's class structure?) it features Anthony Hopkins in one of his greatest roles, admirably supported by Emma Thompson as the housekeeper. I was deeply emotionally affected by this film, which is as good as anything the Merchant/Ivory team have produced in over 30 years.


GRAVITY (2013) D- Alfonso Cuaron. An inexperienced astronaut becomes stranded in space after the space shuttle is hit by debris from an exploding satellite. By sheer guts, determination (and the most astonishing good fortune) she makes it back to Earth without being burnt up on re-entry. Followers of this blog will know that I have already reviewed this film, while admitting I hadn't actually seen it, and explaining why I wouldn't. Now, like all good anarchists I have broken my own rule and seen it anyway, and in 3D, though this last only because there was no option. Now, however, I wish I had stuck with my original gut feelings and not bothered. True, the film represents a technological breakthrough, in much the same way as Jurassic Park did 20 years ago. This is the cutting edge of digital graphic film making: the only things that aren't created inside a computer in this film are the actor's faces- everything else on the screen is. And yeah, that's frightfully clever, but it still isn't enough.


It isn't enough, for instance, to make up for how annoying and frankly unbelievable Sandra Bullock's character is- how anyone like her could have got through the vetting process for astronauts is beyond me, but hey, perhaps I'm being uncharitable. I seem to be, along with my wife, just about the only person in the Western World who didn't think it was bloody marvellous, so maybe I'm missing something. Oh, and by the way, the 3D adds nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except a headache.


PARADISE NOW (2005) D- Hany Abu Assad. Deep in the West Bank, two brothers sign up to be suicide bombers. Their target: a nearby military checkpoint, which symbolises the brutality of the Israeli occupation of their ancestral lands. But will they go through with their grimmest of tasks?


In a brilliant film, the director offers us, not political analysis, but a deeply human dissection of the players, their doubts and fears, their hopes and dreams. What does death mean? Is that what they really want? At their first attempt something goes wrong and the bombing is called off, giving them more time to think. Then it is re-scheduled... A moving and powerful document.


EAGLE (2011) D- Kevin McDonald In Roman Britain, Channing Tatum plays a soldier in search of a banner allegedly lost by his now disgraced father. His quest takes him across Hadrian's Wall into the savage land of the Picts. Director McDonald brings to the screen a workmanlike re-creation of Britain in the 2nd century, and Channing Tatum turns in perhaps one his best performances to date. But it's too long and the pace falters at several points in the movie.  Creditable, if not outstanding.


MY BROTHER THE DEVIL (2012) D- Sally Al Hosaini. On the mean streets of Hackney, two sons of an Egyptian immigrant struggle to assert their identities in a world they never made. The older brother is "cool" and has established himself in a drug gang, but doesn't want his kid bro to travel the same road. But can he prevent it?


A highly professional piece of film making, its portrayal of culture clashes in modern Britain won praise all over the world, including America where it won one of the most prestigious awards at the Sundance Festival. Deservedly.


DIVINE INTERVENTION (2002) W-D-S- Elia Suleiman. It is the occupied West Bank. A neighbour tosses his garbage into a neighbour's back yard. Later that day the neighbour returns the favour with his own trash. Further down the street, at sunset, a collaborator with the hated Israelis has his house firebombed. Nearby, in a car park, two lovers park up and make passionate love- by holding hands. The following day, the same things happen. And the day after that...


In a strange sort of time-loop, events re-create themselves again and again in a kind of surreal tableau that utterly transfixes the viewer. We are totally drawn into this strange world, where Mossad agents practice shooting up a cardboard mock-up of a female suicide bomber- which then transforms into a real-life ninja-type assassin, terrifying the agents who run in disarray.\surely we are in the world of fantasy and wish fulfillment. Or are we?


A hypnotic, unique film from Palestine which addresses all the relevant issues, but it in an entirely new and surprising way. This one you'll want to see, I promise you.