When Roman Abramovitch paid £140 million for Chelsea in 2003, probably out of petty cash, it was natural he would want one of the world's hottest coaches to guide his side to victory after victory. It was, therefore, a wise move when he appointed Jose Mourinho to the job. He had just come out of the dramatic success of leading Porto, an hitherto unregarded Portuguese side to the summit of European football. After all, he had probably bet one his Russian billionaire buddies a million bucks (or even 1 dollar; it doesn't really matter) he could be the first among his cohort to own a club that won the Champions League.
When Jose arrived on the scene he made an immediate impact. Describing himself as "The Special One" ruffled a few feathers, but I was happy to give it to him on the grounds he was probably being ironic. And as everyone loves a winner, Chelsea's winning of several Premier League titles and FA Cups hardly detracted from his claim as indeed being rather special. Sure, the most glittering prize eluded him for many years, and after what must have been a titanic clash of egos, he left Chelsea in 2008 to join Inter Milan, where he won that very title in 2010. The same year FIFA (remember them?) awarded him their coveted Ballon D'Or as best manager in Europe. Kind of special, huh?
He then went to Real and didn't do so badly there either, and finally in 2013, tempted by a pay packet doubtless in 8 figures, returned to Chelsea. But Roman had already won his bet the previous year under the leadership of Di Matteo, so it was hard to see what more Jose could do for them other than keep on bringing home the silverware, which, to be fair, he did.
But this season has seen a marked decline in the fortunes of Chelsea and the man who leads them. Languishing at a most unfamiliar 16th in the league, Jose won few friends when he attempted to countermand the wishes of his own team doctor and indeed the rules of the game itself, leading to Eva Carneiro's departure for an undisclosed sum (I do hope it was a very large sum) combined with a confidentiality clause. Let's make this clear: he thought winning was more important than the health of one of his players. That's disgraceful. And just yesterday he must have been so rude to the referee that he was exiled to the stands for the 2nd half of the match against West Ham United.
Thing is, Mourinho can now be seen as being guilty of believing his own hype. He clearly thinks he is so powerful that even Abramovitch, who can afford to lure pretty much any manager in the world to work for him, will not dare lose him. But football is all about winning, and if he doesn't start winning soon, he will be fired. Roman, the 137th richest man in the world with a mere $9.1 billion in assets, won't even raise an eyebrow when he gives him another 8 figure severance fee and gets shot of him. Perhaps then we'll hear a little bit less about how special he is, and realize that'she's just another talented football coach who lost his way. Boo hoo.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Sure, they're covering it now
I refer to the problems in the West Bank, which are now finally receiving some attention in the British media. But it's all: "another Palestinian has been shot by Israeli troops after a stabbing incident in East Jerusalem", or something like that.
My wife travels to Palestine regularly, and has made many friends in that embattled region; in Jerusalem itself, in Bethlehem and in the refugee camps which surround it. And from these correspondents a very different tale emerges. A virtually continuous curfew has been imposed on the Arab population in many "trouble spots", and a generous soul might even say this is for their protection. For the last several days Jewish settlers have been emerging from their mountain-top redoubts, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, and roiling through the streets of places like Bethlehem and Ramallah, bullying, beating and occasionally shooting any Arab they don't like the look of. The IDF, charged at least in principle with protecting all the citizens of Israel/Palestine, do nothing about this beyond basically telling the Arabs to stay indoors. It is probably good advice, but scarcely does much to address the situation which, with bitter irony, resembles in some ways the Germany of 1938, when blackshirts roamed the streets of German towns, beating and killing any Jews they could find and destroying any Jewish shops they came across. This sort of behaviour, best exemplified in the famous Cristalnacht, is not a million miles away from what is happening right now in the West Bank.
We hear daily reports in our media of soldiers killing Arab stabbers and would-be stabbers, and then the subject moves on. We don't hear how some of these knife wielders were not actually found in possession of blades at all when their bodies were examined, and even that blades have been planted on these corpses to add legitimacy to the soldiers' acts. It's hard to know the truth, but the reports from intelligent, reliable and not particularly radical contacts my wife has out there tell us that the situation is deteriorating into a kind of living hell for the occupants of the West Bank, and that it can't be surprising when some of them turn to acts of extreme violence in response to the oppression many of them have known all the days of their lives.
To put it another way, they're mad as hell and they aren't gonna take it any more...
My wife travels to Palestine regularly, and has made many friends in that embattled region; in Jerusalem itself, in Bethlehem and in the refugee camps which surround it. And from these correspondents a very different tale emerges. A virtually continuous curfew has been imposed on the Arab population in many "trouble spots", and a generous soul might even say this is for their protection. For the last several days Jewish settlers have been emerging from their mountain-top redoubts, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, and roiling through the streets of places like Bethlehem and Ramallah, bullying, beating and occasionally shooting any Arab they don't like the look of. The IDF, charged at least in principle with protecting all the citizens of Israel/Palestine, do nothing about this beyond basically telling the Arabs to stay indoors. It is probably good advice, but scarcely does much to address the situation which, with bitter irony, resembles in some ways the Germany of 1938, when blackshirts roamed the streets of German towns, beating and killing any Jews they could find and destroying any Jewish shops they came across. This sort of behaviour, best exemplified in the famous Cristalnacht, is not a million miles away from what is happening right now in the West Bank.
We hear daily reports in our media of soldiers killing Arab stabbers and would-be stabbers, and then the subject moves on. We don't hear how some of these knife wielders were not actually found in possession of blades at all when their bodies were examined, and even that blades have been planted on these corpses to add legitimacy to the soldiers' acts. It's hard to know the truth, but the reports from intelligent, reliable and not particularly radical contacts my wife has out there tell us that the situation is deteriorating into a kind of living hell for the occupants of the West Bank, and that it can't be surprising when some of them turn to acts of extreme violence in response to the oppression many of them have known all the days of their lives.
To put it another way, they're mad as hell and they aren't gonna take it any more...
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
We're breaking laws? What laws?
Don't try telling an Israeli they're in breach of international law. First, you'll be labelled antisemitic, because that is their standard response to any criticism of the Israeli state. If you try and press your point and they're still there to listen, and you mention that under international law their military occupation of Arab lands is illegal, they'll come back at you with the following killer argument: how can Israel be accused of an illegal occupation of a land which, under the name of Judea and Samaria, has been their property since the time of Abraham?
Ever since 1948, when the Zionists drove the Arabs from their lands and houses, the Palestinians have been counted among the world's forgotten peoples. Forgotten by the British, who were glad to wash their hands of the whole messy business, forgotten by the Americans, where the Jewish lobby has laboured night and day ever since that time to ensure the US's undying support, and forgotten even by those neighbouring Arab states whom you might have thought would be more active in publicising the plight of their fellow Arabs.
Now, with ever increasing incursions on their land, and ever increasing harassment from the fundamentalist settlers, some Palestinians have declared, and not for the first time, that enough is enough. A few have even taken the law into their own hands and attacked the interlopers with knives. Can we blame them? No one else is going to help them, so they're going to help themselves, even though they stand a very good chance of being blown away by the IDF within minutes of their deeds. Now that's what I call courage: being prepared to die for what they believe in: freedom and the right to basic human rights. And until they get it the murders are going to continue. The Palestinians aren't going to go away- indeed, they can't. Except for a fortunate few, most Palestinians are prisoners in their own land, denied the right to travel freely, squeezed by a burgeoning population of Jewish settlers who would love nothing more than to be given free rein to drive the Arabs right out of the West Bank and into Jordan, or to hell itself. They don't care... Do you?
Ever since 1948, when the Zionists drove the Arabs from their lands and houses, the Palestinians have been counted among the world's forgotten peoples. Forgotten by the British, who were glad to wash their hands of the whole messy business, forgotten by the Americans, where the Jewish lobby has laboured night and day ever since that time to ensure the US's undying support, and forgotten even by those neighbouring Arab states whom you might have thought would be more active in publicising the plight of their fellow Arabs.
Now, with ever increasing incursions on their land, and ever increasing harassment from the fundamentalist settlers, some Palestinians have declared, and not for the first time, that enough is enough. A few have even taken the law into their own hands and attacked the interlopers with knives. Can we blame them? No one else is going to help them, so they're going to help themselves, even though they stand a very good chance of being blown away by the IDF within minutes of their deeds. Now that's what I call courage: being prepared to die for what they believe in: freedom and the right to basic human rights. And until they get it the murders are going to continue. The Palestinians aren't going to go away- indeed, they can't. Except for a fortunate few, most Palestinians are prisoners in their own land, denied the right to travel freely, squeezed by a burgeoning population of Jewish settlers who would love nothing more than to be given free rein to drive the Arabs right out of the West Bank and into Jordan, or to hell itself. They don't care... Do you?
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Liars all
Liar 1: Vladimir Putin and the Russian government.
Putin has been honest about one thing. He has vowed to support the "legitimate government of Syria", that is to say the Assad regime and is definitely doing that. But he also said he wishes to join the west in its assault on IS. The truth is he has very little interest in doing that. All the evidence indicates he is actually targeting the opposition groups within Syria, people who simply want to live free lives and do not wish to be barrel-bombed and chlorine-gassed by their own leader. But they oppose Assad's leadership and are therefore legitimate targets for Russian bombs and missiles. You just wish Putin would come right out and say it.
Liar 2: the American military. Last week an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan was bombed, and bombed repeatedly, by American warplanes. First they said it couldn't have been them, then they admitted it and said it was a "mistake". Some mistake. They continued bombing it for nearly an hour after the hospital staff phoned the military and told them they were a hospital and could they stop killing their patients and medical staff. The truth here is that the US army had received intel that Taliban fighters were holed up in the hospital, making it another "legitimate target", without getting any on-the-ground confirmation of this. Turns out it wasn't even true.
Liar 3: David Cameron and the Tory party. Yesterday at the Tory party conference DC was trying to get us to believe that they are the party of the poor, whereas Corbyn's Labour party are terrorist-lovers and Britain haters. Lies.
Probably a lot of people in Britain do believe the Tories support the poor. Just no poor people. They've had to endure the bedroom tax, and will soon see their incomes further curtailed by the ending of tax credits. In fact the Tories are ideologically committed to make the lives of the poor worse, because why should the well-off subsidise a group of lazy, feckless individuals who would rather sponge off the state than do a day's work? Why make life easy for them? If they want a better life then they should go out and get a job, like the rest of us. As for Labour, why should a desire to talk to all sides in a seemingly intractable conflict be interpreted as a love for terrorists? Because that's what they want you to believe.
Liar 4: the BBC. All this week things have been going from bad to worse on the West Bank; Palestinians stabbing Jewish settlers, Israeli soldiers shooting dead children for stone throwing, thousands of Muslims being denied the right to worship at the Al-Aksa mosque. How do I know this? Not because I watch and listen to the BBC news, which has remained almost mute on the subject from the outset. Jeremy Bowen was almost fired for telling too much truth about the invasion of Gaza and has since been sidelined. Now you have to go to alternative sources to find out what's going on out there. Even Sky news has been more forthcoming. Why? Because there is an unstated agenda in the highest echelons of the BBC: to support our friends, the Israelis, and that's even more important than reporting the news honestly
Putin has been honest about one thing. He has vowed to support the "legitimate government of Syria", that is to say the Assad regime and is definitely doing that. But he also said he wishes to join the west in its assault on IS. The truth is he has very little interest in doing that. All the evidence indicates he is actually targeting the opposition groups within Syria, people who simply want to live free lives and do not wish to be barrel-bombed and chlorine-gassed by their own leader. But they oppose Assad's leadership and are therefore legitimate targets for Russian bombs and missiles. You just wish Putin would come right out and say it.
Liar 2: the American military. Last week an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan was bombed, and bombed repeatedly, by American warplanes. First they said it couldn't have been them, then they admitted it and said it was a "mistake". Some mistake. They continued bombing it for nearly an hour after the hospital staff phoned the military and told them they were a hospital and could they stop killing their patients and medical staff. The truth here is that the US army had received intel that Taliban fighters were holed up in the hospital, making it another "legitimate target", without getting any on-the-ground confirmation of this. Turns out it wasn't even true.
Liar 3: David Cameron and the Tory party. Yesterday at the Tory party conference DC was trying to get us to believe that they are the party of the poor, whereas Corbyn's Labour party are terrorist-lovers and Britain haters. Lies.
Probably a lot of people in Britain do believe the Tories support the poor. Just no poor people. They've had to endure the bedroom tax, and will soon see their incomes further curtailed by the ending of tax credits. In fact the Tories are ideologically committed to make the lives of the poor worse, because why should the well-off subsidise a group of lazy, feckless individuals who would rather sponge off the state than do a day's work? Why make life easy for them? If they want a better life then they should go out and get a job, like the rest of us. As for Labour, why should a desire to talk to all sides in a seemingly intractable conflict be interpreted as a love for terrorists? Because that's what they want you to believe.
Liar 4: the BBC. All this week things have been going from bad to worse on the West Bank; Palestinians stabbing Jewish settlers, Israeli soldiers shooting dead children for stone throwing, thousands of Muslims being denied the right to worship at the Al-Aksa mosque. How do I know this? Not because I watch and listen to the BBC news, which has remained almost mute on the subject from the outset. Jeremy Bowen was almost fired for telling too much truth about the invasion of Gaza and has since been sidelined. Now you have to go to alternative sources to find out what's going on out there. Even Sky news has been more forthcoming. Why? Because there is an unstated agenda in the highest echelons of the BBC: to support our friends, the Israelis, and that's even more important than reporting the news honestly
Friday, 2 October 2015
September 2015 book and film review
BOOKS
AGNES MARTIN: HER LIFE AND ART, by Nancy Princenthal.
Agnes Martin (1912-2004) grew up in the Great Plains of western Canada, but soon realised her artistic career would be better served in the United States, where she moved in 1931. From quite early on she started creating large (6 feet by six feet) canvases covered by grids of lines, often drawn in pencil and deliberately not perfectly executed. The spaces between the lines would be filled in by subtle colouring, creating a strange, other-worldly atmosphere that is hard to describe without actually witnessing them in the flesh. Critics and other artists began to call them outstanding examples of minimalism, though throughout her long life she resisted the classification, preferring to call her work abstract expressionism. And despite (or perhaps because of?) her recurrent schizophrenic breakdowns, she slowly attained a cult status as one of America's finest artists.
Art books are often worth looking at only for the reproductions they contain, with the text disappointing in the extreme. There are exceptions of course, like Hilary Spurling's superb life of Matisse, or Michael Holroyd's brilliant account of the life of the original Bohemian, Augustus John. I am pleased to say Nancy Princenthal's book may belong in this latter category. Intelligently argued, intimately researched and, despite its occasional excursions into the arcane world of artistic interpretation, still accessible to an unsophisticated reader such as myself, this book provides a unique insight into the life of one of the most talented but enigmatic artists of the 20th century.
STORMBREAKER, by Anthony Horowitz. An adolescent boy wakes up morning to find his dad has been killed in a car crash. Or has he? To Alex Ryder the facts don't add up, and when he is approached by MI6 to continue his father's work as a spy he realises he was right. What follows is a madcap caper into the world of industrial espionage with the highest stakes imaginable...
My wife suggested I read this as an example of superior fiction aimed at the 12-18 market, because she suspects my own forte may lie in that direction. And, much as I might like to think I have a Proust-like creation in me, I think she could be onto something. I could certainly do worse than write a book of this calibre, which rips along like a river in full flood, with almost every page packed with one kind of murder and mayhem or another. I read the whole thing in a single sitting, which has to be a good sign for any book. Anthony Horowtiz is carrying all before him at the moment. His Alex Ryder series of books have sold in their millions; he is in demand to write screenplays for the biggest movies, and the Ian Fleming estate has chosen him to write a brand-new James Bond book (Trigger Mortis). It doesn't seem to bother AH that his books are aimed at an adolescent market; maybe it shouldn't bother me either...
MARLBOROUGH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, by Winston Spencer Churchill.
Born into an ancient, well connected but scarcely wealthy family in the 1640s, John Churchill rose to become one of Britain's most illustrious (and wealthy) soldiers. A man of infinite good fortune, his first big break occurred when he became the favourite of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland and mistress to Charles II. She not only had the hots for him, but was extremely generous to him into the bargain, giving him the money he needed to launch a career in the army, at a time when that was a pre-requisite. Later he was to become a central player in some of the most important events in British history: the ousting of the Catholic King James II and later on the battlefields of Europe, fighting (and defeating) our old enemy, the French, not once but many times.
I decided to read this book as the latest in an occasional series of reading at least one book by every winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was written in 1930s, in Churchill's "Wilderness Years" while he was waiting for his dire predictions about the rise of Hitler to come to pass, enabling him to steady the helm at the moment of Britain's darkest hour and ultimately become her saviour.
Churchill's writing is meticulous, exhaustively researched, often witty and certainly pulls no punches. Obviously he is happy to admit his bias: the Duke of Marlborough, as John Churchill became, was Winston's great great grandfather, and it was his huge accumulation of wealth that enabled Winston, two hundred years down the line, to enjoy a life of privilege and luxury. But Winston is not afraid to tell of the warts in his personality: his legendary meanness (he would never take a cab in London, as did every other rich man, because he thought they were overpriced) and his moral conundrums (he betrayed King James despite swearing his undying allegiance). But about one thing Winston is unwavering: his ancestor was the consummate warrior: able, like all the greatest generals. to see the small as well as the big picture, and also possessing that most intangible but critical faculty: good luck.
I am only half way through the thousand pages of Book One in this four volume behemoth. Will I go on to read the others? Let's see how it goes...
FILMS
BLACK SNAKE MOAN (2006) W/D- Craig Brewer. A tenant farmer (Samuel L. Jackson) finds a barely conscious girl (Christina Ricci) lying in his driveway and takes her in to tend her wounds.Turns out she's some sort of nymphet and has already landed herself in big trouble with her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) because of it. When Jackson learns of this he decides to take a hand and chains her to a radiator, vowing he will not release her until she mends her ways. Sooner or later his novel form of therapy is going to be discovered...
Here we have an interesting premise, and the fact is that the players make a very good fist of bringing the narrative to life. Jackson of course is a well established class act, Ricci convinces as the horny teen, while Justin Timberlake does a creditable angry dude. And it is well enough written and directed to produce a satisfying whole.
HER (2013) W/D- Spike Jonze. Disappointed in love, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) seeks solace in the solid state charms of a hyper-intelligent, self-aware computer (yeah, that old chestnut again) voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Phwoar! What an operating system! Phoenix soon realises the awesome nature of "Samantha's" software (sic). She doesn't only talk exactly like a human being, she talks like a charming, intelligent, sympathetic and compassionate human being. What's not to like?
And that's not the half of it. "Samantha" is also designed to demonstrate a phenomenon (this is theoretical at present, but watch this space) known as technological singularity, in which a computer is capable of learning and refining itself at an exponential rate. In Samantha's case this goes all the way to becoming hurt when Phoenix starts seeing a real woman.
Her went down a storm in the US when it came out, receiving Oscar nominations for best picture and best screenplay. At the time I refused to have anything to do with it because of Johansson's involvement with the Sodastream company, which at the time had built a factory in one of Israel's illegal settlements on the West Bank. Now that they have been persuaded to see the error of their ways and pulled out of the occupied territories, I can now forgive Scarlett and enjoy this remarkable and thought provoking film. I have admired Spike Jonze ever since the extraordinary Being John Malcovitch, and with this film he proves he is now one of the most gifted writer/directors in America.
SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (1984) D- John Guillermin. Somewhere in darkest Africa, a little blond girl is abandoned and brought up by local tribespeople who harbour a great secret: the volcanic soil on their land is capable of curing all disease. Later, as the little girl grows into the gorgeous Tanya Roberts, the secret is uncovered by a ruthless dictator who would have the super-soil for himself, and kill whoever gets in his way. But Sheena, God bless her, isn't about to let that happen, and she uses her acquired super-powers (she can communicate telepathically with the animals, one step up from Dr Doolittle there) to foil her dastardly opponent.
OK. Nice plot, beautiful star, what could go wrong with that? Almost everything, as it turns out. Sheena: Queen of the jungle is a truly awful film, sloppily directed, poorly written and containing some of the worst acting I have ever seen in a film of this scale. And that's saying something. Not, I hasten to add, from la Roberts, who can act and whose beauty shines from first frame to last, but even there we find a problem. Not content with simply making the most of Tanya's abundant charms, director Guillermin chooses to make her wear the most ridiculous electric blue contact lenses, which produce an absurd, farcical effect.
John Guillermin has form. He made The Towering Inferno in 1974 at the height of the disaster epic vogue, and followed that woeful effort with the even worse remake of King Kong in 1976. He established a rep as someone who could handle the logistics of a big budget movie, sort of never mind the quality, feel the management. But seriously, unless like me you are a committed Tanya Roberts fan, you should avoid this one carefully.
EASTERN PROMISES (2007) D- David Cronenberg. In a London maternity hospital, a pretty young midwife (Naomi Watts) discovers a hand written diary on the body of a fourteen-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. Naomi is part Russian herself, but cannot read the Russian text, so she takes it to her Russian uncle. They don't know the identities of the people named in the diary, but there is pretty damning evidence against whoever they are. Meanwhile the London based Russian mob hears of the missing diary and are determined to recover it, as they are the ones mentioed in its pages. They send one of their most trusted lieutenants (Viggo Mortensen, Cronenberg's favourite actor) to recover it and exterminate whoever he thinks fit. But Mortensen, perhaps understandably, develops a soft spot for Watts and is reluctant to execute her and her family. The Russian mob, however, didn't get where they are by showing mercy to people who have in any way troubled them.
Made with the usual Cronenberg attention to detail and depicting the kind of horrific violence for which he has become famous, this is a gripping and frightening movie, with Naomi Watts convincing and Mortensen showing again he is so much more than a Tolkien hunk. But beware, blood alert, beaucoup blood alert.
MAPS TO THE STARS (2014) D- David Cronenberg. In LA, a hip therapist (John Cusack) has two children: one is a kind of Macauley Culkin type adolescent megastar, the other, Agatha (Mia Wasakowska) was sequestered away in a mental institution following a psychotic episode when she set fire to the family house with her family inside. She herself barely escaped with her life and was badly burned. As the film opens we find her looking for her family among the Bel Air homes of the rich and famous. When she finally tracks them down they are not exactly pleased to see her, but she lands on her feet when a fading Hollywood beauty agrees to take her on as her PA. But if she thought this would mark an upturn in her affairs, she is sadly mistaken...
This closely observed minor masterpiece follows in the wake of such movies as Nashville and Crash, with its overview of Hollywood denizens drifting through their confused, hypocritical and fucked-up lives. In his first movie made in the US, Canadian Cronenberg has for once forsaken his penchant for what Stanley Kubrick called "ultra-violence" and made an intelligent, thoughtful film with insightful performances from all its players. Quality film making from one of the world's most durable directors.
SOPHIE SCHOLL (2005) D- Marc Rothemund. In wartime Berlin, Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and a band of dissidents are engaged in the highly dangerous pursuit of leaving anti-nazi propaganda sheets inside public buildings. But on her very first day she is captured by the Gestapo. She is sent to the "People's Court" where she pleads guilty, even though knows her crime attracts the death penalty. But if she throws herself upon the mercy of the court?
And there you have it. A remarkably simple tale based on real events and covering much of the same ground as Hans Fellada's magnificent novel Alone in Berlin, this film is graced by fine acting performances throughout, but none more so than the incredible achievement of Julia Jentsch as the doomed Sophie Scholl. Her style is almost minimalist; her face barely moves, but all the emotion and raw fear is there on the screen in horrific detail. An exceptional if extremely harrowing movie.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012) D- James Watkins. A young accountant (Daniel Radcliffe) goes to a remote house in the country to wrap up the estate of a dead woman. The locals won't go anywhere near the place, though they won't say why. Then a friendly landowner explains the place is said to be haunted, and that children died there in mysterious circumstances. Radcliffe is a sensible soul and refuses to subscribe to the haunting theory to account for the various odd noises and even sights he thinks he sees. But it isn't long before he has no option but to review his assessment...
Based on the novel by Susan Hill and produced by Hammer studios (to date it has been their most successful movie ever) this is a truly gripping and frightening movie. I first saw a televised version of this tale way back in 1988 and had difficulty sleeping that night. This is a worthy remake, using a similar technique to that employed by Robert Wise in his celebrated thriller The Haunting, in that (at least in the early reels) we don't see much, but enough to scare the pants off us. Later the action is more upfront, and then it is really terrifying. If you like a good ghost story, this is one of the best.
MYSTERY ROAD (2013) D- Ivan Sen. In a remote township in the Australian bush a young girl is found murdered and dumped in a storm drain. It falls to the local cop, aboriginal Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) to track down the culprit. There are few clues to go on, and a culture of silence to break through. With a spot of free time, Swan gets in a bit of target practice. He places three beer bottles on fence posts and then drives away, hundreds of yards away, to a point where he parks up and gets out his Winchester 30.06 hunting rifle. Then with the aid of a telescopic sight he takes aim. From this distance he can't even see the bottles without the sight, but he picks one off, then the second. The third he misses... Turns out he is not the only member of the community who fancies himself a crack shot. It's one thing when you have a beer bottle in your sights, but what if it's a human being you're aiming at. What then?
What then indeed. This film winds up the tension in a relaxed, almost languid style that we know is completely deceptive. For, as we gradually learn, the stakes are high: 10 kilos of high grade ice have gone missing; the dead girl was involved in some way and the putative owners of the speed don't care who they have to off in order to get their merchandise back.
A highly satisfying Australian thriller.
AGNES MARTIN: HER LIFE AND ART, by Nancy Princenthal.
Agnes Martin (1912-2004) grew up in the Great Plains of western Canada, but soon realised her artistic career would be better served in the United States, where she moved in 1931. From quite early on she started creating large (6 feet by six feet) canvases covered by grids of lines, often drawn in pencil and deliberately not perfectly executed. The spaces between the lines would be filled in by subtle colouring, creating a strange, other-worldly atmosphere that is hard to describe without actually witnessing them in the flesh. Critics and other artists began to call them outstanding examples of minimalism, though throughout her long life she resisted the classification, preferring to call her work abstract expressionism. And despite (or perhaps because of?) her recurrent schizophrenic breakdowns, she slowly attained a cult status as one of America's finest artists.
Art books are often worth looking at only for the reproductions they contain, with the text disappointing in the extreme. There are exceptions of course, like Hilary Spurling's superb life of Matisse, or Michael Holroyd's brilliant account of the life of the original Bohemian, Augustus John. I am pleased to say Nancy Princenthal's book may belong in this latter category. Intelligently argued, intimately researched and, despite its occasional excursions into the arcane world of artistic interpretation, still accessible to an unsophisticated reader such as myself, this book provides a unique insight into the life of one of the most talented but enigmatic artists of the 20th century.
STORMBREAKER, by Anthony Horowitz. An adolescent boy wakes up morning to find his dad has been killed in a car crash. Or has he? To Alex Ryder the facts don't add up, and when he is approached by MI6 to continue his father's work as a spy he realises he was right. What follows is a madcap caper into the world of industrial espionage with the highest stakes imaginable...
My wife suggested I read this as an example of superior fiction aimed at the 12-18 market, because she suspects my own forte may lie in that direction. And, much as I might like to think I have a Proust-like creation in me, I think she could be onto something. I could certainly do worse than write a book of this calibre, which rips along like a river in full flood, with almost every page packed with one kind of murder and mayhem or another. I read the whole thing in a single sitting, which has to be a good sign for any book. Anthony Horowtiz is carrying all before him at the moment. His Alex Ryder series of books have sold in their millions; he is in demand to write screenplays for the biggest movies, and the Ian Fleming estate has chosen him to write a brand-new James Bond book (Trigger Mortis). It doesn't seem to bother AH that his books are aimed at an adolescent market; maybe it shouldn't bother me either...
MARLBOROUGH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES, by Winston Spencer Churchill.
Born into an ancient, well connected but scarcely wealthy family in the 1640s, John Churchill rose to become one of Britain's most illustrious (and wealthy) soldiers. A man of infinite good fortune, his first big break occurred when he became the favourite of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland and mistress to Charles II. She not only had the hots for him, but was extremely generous to him into the bargain, giving him the money he needed to launch a career in the army, at a time when that was a pre-requisite. Later he was to become a central player in some of the most important events in British history: the ousting of the Catholic King James II and later on the battlefields of Europe, fighting (and defeating) our old enemy, the French, not once but many times.
I decided to read this book as the latest in an occasional series of reading at least one book by every winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was written in 1930s, in Churchill's "Wilderness Years" while he was waiting for his dire predictions about the rise of Hitler to come to pass, enabling him to steady the helm at the moment of Britain's darkest hour and ultimately become her saviour.
Churchill's writing is meticulous, exhaustively researched, often witty and certainly pulls no punches. Obviously he is happy to admit his bias: the Duke of Marlborough, as John Churchill became, was Winston's great great grandfather, and it was his huge accumulation of wealth that enabled Winston, two hundred years down the line, to enjoy a life of privilege and luxury. But Winston is not afraid to tell of the warts in his personality: his legendary meanness (he would never take a cab in London, as did every other rich man, because he thought they were overpriced) and his moral conundrums (he betrayed King James despite swearing his undying allegiance). But about one thing Winston is unwavering: his ancestor was the consummate warrior: able, like all the greatest generals. to see the small as well as the big picture, and also possessing that most intangible but critical faculty: good luck.
I am only half way through the thousand pages of Book One in this four volume behemoth. Will I go on to read the others? Let's see how it goes...
FILMS
BLACK SNAKE MOAN (2006) W/D- Craig Brewer. A tenant farmer (Samuel L. Jackson) finds a barely conscious girl (Christina Ricci) lying in his driveway and takes her in to tend her wounds.Turns out she's some sort of nymphet and has already landed herself in big trouble with her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) because of it. When Jackson learns of this he decides to take a hand and chains her to a radiator, vowing he will not release her until she mends her ways. Sooner or later his novel form of therapy is going to be discovered...
Here we have an interesting premise, and the fact is that the players make a very good fist of bringing the narrative to life. Jackson of course is a well established class act, Ricci convinces as the horny teen, while Justin Timberlake does a creditable angry dude. And it is well enough written and directed to produce a satisfying whole.
HER (2013) W/D- Spike Jonze. Disappointed in love, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) seeks solace in the solid state charms of a hyper-intelligent, self-aware computer (yeah, that old chestnut again) voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Phwoar! What an operating system! Phoenix soon realises the awesome nature of "Samantha's" software (sic). She doesn't only talk exactly like a human being, she talks like a charming, intelligent, sympathetic and compassionate human being. What's not to like?
And that's not the half of it. "Samantha" is also designed to demonstrate a phenomenon (this is theoretical at present, but watch this space) known as technological singularity, in which a computer is capable of learning and refining itself at an exponential rate. In Samantha's case this goes all the way to becoming hurt when Phoenix starts seeing a real woman.
Her went down a storm in the US when it came out, receiving Oscar nominations for best picture and best screenplay. At the time I refused to have anything to do with it because of Johansson's involvement with the Sodastream company, which at the time had built a factory in one of Israel's illegal settlements on the West Bank. Now that they have been persuaded to see the error of their ways and pulled out of the occupied territories, I can now forgive Scarlett and enjoy this remarkable and thought provoking film. I have admired Spike Jonze ever since the extraordinary Being John Malcovitch, and with this film he proves he is now one of the most gifted writer/directors in America.
SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (1984) D- John Guillermin. Somewhere in darkest Africa, a little blond girl is abandoned and brought up by local tribespeople who harbour a great secret: the volcanic soil on their land is capable of curing all disease. Later, as the little girl grows into the gorgeous Tanya Roberts, the secret is uncovered by a ruthless dictator who would have the super-soil for himself, and kill whoever gets in his way. But Sheena, God bless her, isn't about to let that happen, and she uses her acquired super-powers (she can communicate telepathically with the animals, one step up from Dr Doolittle there) to foil her dastardly opponent.
OK. Nice plot, beautiful star, what could go wrong with that? Almost everything, as it turns out. Sheena: Queen of the jungle is a truly awful film, sloppily directed, poorly written and containing some of the worst acting I have ever seen in a film of this scale. And that's saying something. Not, I hasten to add, from la Roberts, who can act and whose beauty shines from first frame to last, but even there we find a problem. Not content with simply making the most of Tanya's abundant charms, director Guillermin chooses to make her wear the most ridiculous electric blue contact lenses, which produce an absurd, farcical effect.
John Guillermin has form. He made The Towering Inferno in 1974 at the height of the disaster epic vogue, and followed that woeful effort with the even worse remake of King Kong in 1976. He established a rep as someone who could handle the logistics of a big budget movie, sort of never mind the quality, feel the management. But seriously, unless like me you are a committed Tanya Roberts fan, you should avoid this one carefully.
EASTERN PROMISES (2007) D- David Cronenberg. In a London maternity hospital, a pretty young midwife (Naomi Watts) discovers a hand written diary on the body of a fourteen-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. Naomi is part Russian herself, but cannot read the Russian text, so she takes it to her Russian uncle. They don't know the identities of the people named in the diary, but there is pretty damning evidence against whoever they are. Meanwhile the London based Russian mob hears of the missing diary and are determined to recover it, as they are the ones mentioed in its pages. They send one of their most trusted lieutenants (Viggo Mortensen, Cronenberg's favourite actor) to recover it and exterminate whoever he thinks fit. But Mortensen, perhaps understandably, develops a soft spot for Watts and is reluctant to execute her and her family. The Russian mob, however, didn't get where they are by showing mercy to people who have in any way troubled them.
Made with the usual Cronenberg attention to detail and depicting the kind of horrific violence for which he has become famous, this is a gripping and frightening movie, with Naomi Watts convincing and Mortensen showing again he is so much more than a Tolkien hunk. But beware, blood alert, beaucoup blood alert.
MAPS TO THE STARS (2014) D- David Cronenberg. In LA, a hip therapist (John Cusack) has two children: one is a kind of Macauley Culkin type adolescent megastar, the other, Agatha (Mia Wasakowska) was sequestered away in a mental institution following a psychotic episode when she set fire to the family house with her family inside. She herself barely escaped with her life and was badly burned. As the film opens we find her looking for her family among the Bel Air homes of the rich and famous. When she finally tracks them down they are not exactly pleased to see her, but she lands on her feet when a fading Hollywood beauty agrees to take her on as her PA. But if she thought this would mark an upturn in her affairs, she is sadly mistaken...
This closely observed minor masterpiece follows in the wake of such movies as Nashville and Crash, with its overview of Hollywood denizens drifting through their confused, hypocritical and fucked-up lives. In his first movie made in the US, Canadian Cronenberg has for once forsaken his penchant for what Stanley Kubrick called "ultra-violence" and made an intelligent, thoughtful film with insightful performances from all its players. Quality film making from one of the world's most durable directors.
SOPHIE SCHOLL (2005) D- Marc Rothemund. In wartime Berlin, Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and a band of dissidents are engaged in the highly dangerous pursuit of leaving anti-nazi propaganda sheets inside public buildings. But on her very first day she is captured by the Gestapo. She is sent to the "People's Court" where she pleads guilty, even though knows her crime attracts the death penalty. But if she throws herself upon the mercy of the court?
And there you have it. A remarkably simple tale based on real events and covering much of the same ground as Hans Fellada's magnificent novel Alone in Berlin, this film is graced by fine acting performances throughout, but none more so than the incredible achievement of Julia Jentsch as the doomed Sophie Scholl. Her style is almost minimalist; her face barely moves, but all the emotion and raw fear is there on the screen in horrific detail. An exceptional if extremely harrowing movie.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012) D- James Watkins. A young accountant (Daniel Radcliffe) goes to a remote house in the country to wrap up the estate of a dead woman. The locals won't go anywhere near the place, though they won't say why. Then a friendly landowner explains the place is said to be haunted, and that children died there in mysterious circumstances. Radcliffe is a sensible soul and refuses to subscribe to the haunting theory to account for the various odd noises and even sights he thinks he sees. But it isn't long before he has no option but to review his assessment...
Based on the novel by Susan Hill and produced by Hammer studios (to date it has been their most successful movie ever) this is a truly gripping and frightening movie. I first saw a televised version of this tale way back in 1988 and had difficulty sleeping that night. This is a worthy remake, using a similar technique to that employed by Robert Wise in his celebrated thriller The Haunting, in that (at least in the early reels) we don't see much, but enough to scare the pants off us. Later the action is more upfront, and then it is really terrifying. If you like a good ghost story, this is one of the best.
MYSTERY ROAD (2013) D- Ivan Sen. In a remote township in the Australian bush a young girl is found murdered and dumped in a storm drain. It falls to the local cop, aboriginal Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) to track down the culprit. There are few clues to go on, and a culture of silence to break through. With a spot of free time, Swan gets in a bit of target practice. He places three beer bottles on fence posts and then drives away, hundreds of yards away, to a point where he parks up and gets out his Winchester 30.06 hunting rifle. Then with the aid of a telescopic sight he takes aim. From this distance he can't even see the bottles without the sight, but he picks one off, then the second. The third he misses... Turns out he is not the only member of the community who fancies himself a crack shot. It's one thing when you have a beer bottle in your sights, but what if it's a human being you're aiming at. What then?
What then indeed. This film winds up the tension in a relaxed, almost languid style that we know is completely deceptive. For, as we gradually learn, the stakes are high: 10 kilos of high grade ice have gone missing; the dead girl was involved in some way and the putative owners of the speed don't care who they have to off in order to get their merchandise back.
A highly satisfying Australian thriller.
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