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.