June 2015 book and film review

BOOKS

THE FLASHMAN PAPERS and ROYAL FLASH, by George Macdonald Frazer
The beastly bully of Tom Brown's Schooldays is expelled from Rugby School for drunkenness by an exasperated Dr Arnold, and pursues a career in the army. Can we expect him to become a reformed character and lead an unblemished adulthood? Not likely. In his first foreign assignment in the lawless and bloody Afghanistan of the 1840s we find him to be the well-bred lowlife we might have expected: cowardly, dishonest and not above raping women who don't say yes immediately to his lascivious advances, And having escaped the routing of British forces in Kabul he returns to the old country with a completely undeserved reputation as a hero. Later, in Royal Flash we find him ensnared in a plot to screw the Danes dreamed up by a certain Otto von Bismark, owing to his uncanny resemblance to a Danish prince.

Urged to give the Flashman books a try by my brother, I finally came across this two-in-one edition going for 50p in a charity shop and felt it was a sign. I have to say I was expecting it to be a case of "Trashy Flashy", but I soon discovered I was wrong. Frazer's "creation" turns out to be a complex and well drawn character, and the plots are fascinating. The author stays as close to historical fact as possible, introducing many real figures from history into his stories, like the celebrated Irish tart Lola Montez, who carved out a successful career as an exotic singer and dancer and even shacked up with Germany's mad king Ludwig, who built palaces in her honour. Truth is, I enjoyed these books and will probably read more. No problem there, there are plenty to choose from...

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, by Junichiro Tanizaki
In the Japan of the 1930s, four sisters attempt to find happiness amidst a culture dominated by men, and where custom and tradition rules every step they take. Literally. As the book opens we find the eldest two sisters are already married and living in their own houses, one in Osaka, an ancient city 300 miles to the west of Tokyo, and the other in Ashiya, a small suburb just outside Osaka. It is the two younger sisters that are the problem. The youngest, Taeko, is something of a free spirit; she even ran off with her boyfriend while still a teenager, an act so chocking it made the papers. Her problem is that custom dictates that she cannot marry until her older sister, Yukiko, does, but she's so choosy that all the efforts of her family and friends to find a suitable spouse have come to nothing.

And there you have it. This book might be called "Marrying Yukiko", because it is around this central conundrum that all the characters orbit, in a quite marvellous book which offers a unique insight into the sense and sensibilities of pre-war Japan. In a gloriously relaxed style, the reader is immersed in Japanese culture as deeply as anything written by Jane Austen or Charles Dickens immerses us into the world of 19th century England. Quite simply, this is a masterpiece

FILMS

THE EQUALIZER (2014) D- Antoine Fuqua. A man (Denzel Washington) leads a quiet life working in an American version of B and Q. But there is something strange about him: he has a keen sense of right and wrong, and when he sees, for instance, a nearby restaurant being extorted by corrupt cops he displays extraordinary martial skills to put things right. Turns out he's an ex company man, and even when it comes to taking on the Russian mob he is equal (geddit?) to the task.

Based on the 80s TV series "The Equalizer" which was made in America but starred Edward Woodward as the Jaguar XJ6 driving righter-of-wrongs and sometimes criticised for its excessive violence, this film lives up to the spirit of its progenitor, and then some. When it comes, the violence is extreme and lifelike, but the fact is this is a very good film. I couldn't take my eyes off Denzel, in one of his best roles as the knight in shining denims fighting some of the nastiest villains ever seen. There's nothing like a Russian villain, am I right? Skillfully directed and tightly edited, this was a joy.

LUCY (2014) W/D- Luc Besson. Lucy (Scarlett Johannsen) is tricked by her scumbag BF into being a drug mule to carry some new super-speed which has been surgically implanted into her abdomen. The package bursts and she gets the high of her life. Astonishingly, she doesn't die; indeed, when she comes out of her coma she's 50,000 times more intelligent than she was. And she wants more stuff: lots more stuff. A neuroscientist (Morgan Freeman) examines her and concludes she is now using 90% of her brain as opposed to the 10% the rest of us have to cope with, resulting in her attaining not just intellectual, but paranormal excellence. As for Lucy, she is convinced that she only has to take a few more kilos of the stuff and she'll be using 100%.

This film is highly professional and went down well at the box office, making back more than five times what it cost to make, but it is based on false premise that I found it hard to get past, namely that human beings only use 10% of their brain capacity. I heard this factoid trotted out in my medical school days back in the 70s, but more modern research has shown that it simply isn't true. Never mind, eh? Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, I say.

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (animation) (2011) D- Barry Cook and Sarah Smith. Despite a super-high tech delivery system, Father Christmas and his army of Elves fail to deliver a present to one little girl, causing shock waves to resound across the North Pole. It falls to Arthur, Santa's grandson, to save the day.

With a massive cast of mainly British talent including such luminaries as James McEvoy, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Lawrie, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Eva Longoria, and co-written by Peter Baynham, who often collaborates with people like Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci, this film definitely has a touch of class. Funny then, that I wasn't overly impressed at the time and find it hard now, only a couple of weeks later, to remember much about it. What is wrong with me these days?
I say, give me Elf any day.

BROKEN EMBRACES (2009) D- Pedro Almodovar. A Spanish auteur is making a film starring his lover Penelope Cruz (who has never looked more sultry) when he is involved in a car crash which leaves him blind. His lover happens to be married to the film's producer, who takes advantage of their absence to deliberately put out a dog of a version, using all the worst takes. Naturally the film is panned and the director swears revenge on his nemesis- not the easiest task now he has to rely on a white stick.

The film is a lot more complex than that, however. It dances back and forth between various time lines, creating a strange atmosphere reminiscent of Hitchcock and in particular one of his most famous offerings, Vertigo. Like that earlier classic, the colour is vivid and almost surreal at times, and also like Vertigo, one is never quite sure what is going on. Some have called it one of Almodovar's best films, though others have been less convinced. My view: watchable throughout,despite being perhaps 20 minutes too long.

THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK (1971) D- Jerry Schatzberg. "God help Bobby and Helen" cried the posters for this film, addressing the  plight of two young heroin addicts on the mean streets of Manhattan. Bobby, played by Al Pacino in his first leading role, is already an experienced junkie when he meets Helen (Kitty Winn in pretty much her only film) and they fall quickly and hopelessly in love. Before long the strait-laced Helen is on the stuff herself. The consequences of this disastrous relationship are horribly predictable. They will do anything to get their next hit, even sell their own friends and co-addicts down the river if they have to. And they have to...

Produced by Dominick Dunne, one of the scions of American culture in the latter half of the 20th century, and co-written by Joan Didion, renowned novelist and literary journalist, this film threatened to be a deeply insightful piece of work, which it definitely is, though with the perspective of over forty years what stands out most vividly is the performance of Al Pacino. His aura of irresistible charm combined with an inner tension like a pressure cooker about to explode is perhaps unique in modern cinema, and this film was the first in a series which would establish him as one of America's greatest actors.A deeply troubling film, but utterly compelling.

SUSPECT (1987) D- Peter Yates. A deaf-mute man (an early, but already charismatic Liam Neeson) is accused of murder, and public defender Cher is press-ganged in to defend him in what seems to be an open and shut case. As the case proceeds Cher gets the impression other, darker forces are conspiring against her client beyond the simple facts. She is not wrong...

Panned for its deus ex machina ending by some, this film does succeed in holding the attention as well as demonstrating that Cher can act. It was not Peter Yates's finest hour though. As everyone now knows, that honour is held by Bullitt, one of the finest films ever made about America by a non American, though Atlantic City would also be a contender for that accolade.