December 2018 film review

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018) P/D- The Coen Brothers

Netflix presents their production of this collection of 6 ‘penny-dreadful’ type stories from the American West, all told in the Coen brother’s distinctive style, and a very engaging whole it is too.

          This film was financed and distributed by Netflix, which to me says a lot about the way the motion pictures industry is going. More and more mainstream film makers are going to go down this road, because this is where the money is. Last year the BBC’s annual budget was about 6 billion pounds. Netlix’s Budget was 12 billion. See what I mean? Someone was trying to persuade me to buy Netflix shares in 2014. I declined their advice, as I don’t speculate in shares. On this occasion I wish I had. They’re worth more than 3 times their 2014 price today...

WONDER WHEEL (2018) D- Woody Allen
In 1950s Coney Island, an aging fairground worker and his family are placed in turmoil when a young woman seeks their help. For she is on the run from a failed marriage to a mob boss, and he would like to reclaim his lost property...
          Woody Allen once said of sex: “When it’s good it’s very good, and when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” The same can be said of Allen’s movies. When they’re good, like Crimes and Misdemeanors, Broadway Danny Rose or Hannah and her Sisters they aspire to being some of the greatest offerings of post war American cinema. And when they’re not so good, like this film, they’re still worth watching. All the performances, from Kate Winslett to Justin Timberlake, are spot on, and as always Allen’s observation is acute.
           Small point: this film was made with Amazon money. No longer do we see the names of Rollins and Joffe in the producer’s credits of a Woody Allen film. And hence, once again, we see how cinema is changing. Netflix and Amazon are now calling the shots, and just when Disney thought it had the entertainment business by the throat. Must be annoying for them...

ROMA (2018) W/D- Alphonso Cuaron
A well-to-do family in Mexico City is torn apart when hubby leaves for a conference, then doesn’t come home again. Despite being paid virtually nothing, the maid stays on to ensure at least a vestige of continuity for the children and their embattled mother. But the maid has her own problems. She falls pregnant to a ne’er-do-well who has no interest in taking responsibility for his actions...
        Shot in crisp black-and-white, with a beautiful, languorous cinematography that allows the action to unfold before a remarkably static camera, this film is a revelation. Everything about it is noble, from the stately unwinding of the plot, to the stunning acting of all the players; this, along with The Happy Prince, is definitely the best of the 92 new films I have seen this year.

BIRD BOX (2018) D- Susanne Bier
A strange plague has afflicted the world: if you even look at, something (what, we’re not completely sure), you immediately become suicidal. Except those who are already insane, who then try to force all the others to look at...it. Only solution: keep your eyes wide shut or cover them with blindfolds. This, it has to be said, makes life a little difficult, but, what the hey, Sandra Bullock manages it for several years, hell, she even manages to steer a boat down a river for days at a time without being able to see a thing. Exciting or what?
           Actually, only for so long. This film is over 2 hours long yet would have been better at 70 minutes. They used to make films that long, but of course that wouldn’t hack it with today’s audiences. Or so we are led to believe. After a very brief theatrical run, this was acquired by Netflix (yeah, them again), and I have it on good authority it was streamed by no less than 45 million people over the Christmas period alone. You can see why DVD sales and ‘live’cinema are in trouble right now, and why I should have bought those Netflix shares 4 years ago...

Happy new year film watch

December 2018 book review part 2

THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES, by Siddhartha Mukhergee
Subtitled ‘A Biography of Cancer’, this Pulitzer-Prize winning book is indeed a rundown of cancer, from its earliest apprehension by Hippocrates and other physicians of antiquity, to the most modern genetic therapies for that most terrible of plagues on mankind.
          Now, as a doctor, I consider myself something of an expert in this field, as do all doctors, even if they are not oncologists (cancer specialists), because cancer is just about the commonest life-threatening disease we encounter. But cancer, as Dr Mukhergee is quick to remind us, is not a single disease, but hundreds of very different types, so the question “Can we find a cure for cancer?” Is the same as saying “Can we find 500 different cures for cancer?” Having said that, there are certain things that are common to them all: they are groups of cells that cannot stop dividing, and are, worryingly, immortal. Recent work in genetics has worked out why this is the case. Cancer cells have genes in them which do one of 2 things: either they ‘press on the gas’, accelerating the growth of cell division, or they ‘cut the brake cables’, inhibiting the usual mechanisms that limit cell growth. In either case, the results are the same: uncontrolled growth. Also cancer cells possess a gene which inactivates processes which make cells age and die - conferring immortality on them. All this is bad for us, their hosts.
           The bulk of this book is about humanity’s (or at least America’s, for this is above all a book about America) attempts to combat this awful disease, and, it turns out, the future does indeed lie in genetic modification treatments, which is good for us, because the predecessors, anti-cancer drugs and radiation therapy, inflict so much damage on healthy cells it was often a case of ‘the cancer was cured, but the patient died’.

AUSTERLITZ, by W.G. Sebald
An academic runs into a rather interesting man at a railway station and they chat. Later, entirely by coincidence they meet again and their conversation continues as if it had never been interrupted. Then they decide to meet again intentionally, and slowly the story of Austerlitz is revealed. Turns out he was part of the “Kinder Transport” scheme in 1939 and found himself living with a nonconformist priest and his wife in, of all places, Bala in North Wales. But he is not told of his origins until much later, when he makes the decision to find out what he can of his lost parents and the life he left behind at the age of four.
           Like all Sebald’s books, the text is littered with blurry photographs which augment the often strange but always beautiful text. (Interestingly, Edmund de Waal opted to use the same device in his book - see previous blog) And as is usual with Sebald, what emerges is a book of great depth and subtlety, but which remains disarmingly easy to read - this despite the entire book being composed of only 6 paragraphs in its 300-odd pages, and, even more amazingly, often composed of 4, 5 and 600 word sentences; indeed one is nearly 4000 words long, and covers 16 pages of text! This may be a record, I’m not sure. I certainly haven’t seen anything like it outside Ulysses.
In summary, may I say this: everyone should read Sebald, and I mean everyone. Start, like me, with The Rings of Saturn, go on to The Emigrants, then Vertigo, and round it off with Austerlitz. You won’t regret it for a second, I guarantee it.

December 2018 book review part 1

PEREIRA MAINTAINS, by Antonio Tabucci
A man gives an account of his recent life and activities - to whom? Police investigators? We aren’t told; all we know is that what we are reading is what happened, or what “Pereira maintains” at any rate. But what did happen?
          An editor of a literary journal leads a quiet enough life until a young writer accosts him and asks him to publish something, anything he has penned, for he needs the money bad. He submits a couple of obits, but they are totally unpublishable because of their political content. For Periera lives in a Portugal under the spell of the far-right, and dissent is frowned upon. But Pereira feels sorry for his down-at-heel would-be employee, and pays him an honorarium out of his own pocket. Meanwhile his peaceful life goes on. He chats to his dead wife often, even asking for her advice about various issues. Obviously this is something of a one-sided conversation... Eventually the writer goes into hiding, only a step ahead of his fascist persuers. What will Pereira do? Ask his late wife?
          This book is what I call a ‘creeper’; that is to say, you read it quickly, move on but then finding yourself thinking about it again and again in the coming weeks. This is truly a little masterpiece of a novella, superbly written, with an intriguing and highly disturbing plot. Highest recommendation.

THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES, by Edmund de Waal
The hare in question is a netsuke, a small carved object from Japan designed to fit in the palm, made of hardwood, ivory or ebony and usually executed to the highest standards of craftsmanship. They became collector’s items in 19th century Europe as Japan opened up to the West, and the author’s great-great grandfather, Charles Ephrusi, a fabulously wealthy Jew living in Paris made a collection of 264 of them. And it is these, along with the wider story of the Ephrusi family, that makes up the substance of this fascinating book.
          It all began in Odessa in the 18th century, when Ephrusis began to export grain from ‘the breadbasket of the world’ ie Ukraine, and made themselves the billionaires of their day. Later, one branch of the family established themselves in Vienna, the other in Paris. All went swimmingly for a long time; bigger and bigger mansions were built, and more and more lavish art collections were amassed. Then the Nazis arrived, and it was all taken from them - by force. You want to know the real meaning of anti-Semitism? That’s it. Fortunately, money talks, and most of the family escaped with their lives, though not all.
          I loved this family biography, which at times almost resembled Proust, who was in fact a friend of Charles (see above). A unique window on another world.

Please See next blog for more books...

Are you an anti-vaccer? Please tell me you’re not

I was chatting to a neighbour the other day about Trump, and she came up with something I actually agree with him about, namely the power of ‘Big Pharma’ and its egregious policy of pushing opioids on American doctors, who have created thousands of addicts in the process. But then she went a step too far. She also agreed with him in his distrust of immunisation generally, admitting she had not had her children immunised against anything.

I took exception to this, as you might imagine. After all, I have been immunising people, especially children, throughout my 40 year medical career, and see it as perhaps the most useful single activity I ever undertook. I pointed out to her that what she getting was “immunisation for free”: that her children were being protected by all the other children in the community who had been immunised; therefore she should acknowledge a debt of gratitude to all the parents who had taken a tiny risk in having their kids immunised, whereas she had not. I’m not sure she got what I was saying.

There was a piece in last week’s Guardian which looked at the growth of these ‘anti-vaccers’ as they are known, not only in the US (remember, Trump actually invited Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced British doctor who was struck off for his unethical research programmes, to his inaugural ball), but in Britain, Europe and around the world. As libertarians from the left and populists from the right come together to foist on a gullible public the lie that immunisation is some sort of evil government conspiracy, politicians who support this pernicious view are winning elections and thereby in a position to effect anti vaccination laws. What do these people really want? Do they want to go back 200 years, to a point where nobody was vaccinated against anything? Don’t they realise the terrible genie that would let out of the bottle? Within a generation a whole set of hideous diseases, currently on the verge of extinction, would make a dramatic comeback. Smallpox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, all manner of meningitis types - the list is long and lethal. Yet all that would come to pass in just a few decades if we stopped immunising children and adults.

This is all part of the ‘anti-science’ movement which is becoming so powerful these days- headed up by that arch anti-scientist, Trump himself. The same sort of thinking will tell you climate change is a con. That billions are being wasted on pure science research. I could go on. But I’m getting too depressed. Happy New Year peeps!

The Best least worst deal on offer

Pelagius doesn’t blog much about Brexit. It’s all too depressing, he says. But today he’s having a go.

Teresa May’s deal (“there is no other”) is, almost in her words, the best deal we could get from the EU, that is to say, the deal which would do the UK the least amount of damage when we exit the European Union. The only better deal we could get, then, would be to not leave the EU at all. Oh dear. Because if we do that, we will be betraying the will of the great British People, those who voted to leave the EU. Yes, those people who voted in their millions in order to be able to give the NHS an extra 350 million quid a week - allegedly.

Those people who were hoping that very soon after the vote all those awful immigrants, those immigrants who actually contribute more to society than they take in benefits, to say nothing of their role in keeping the NHS from collapsing altogether, would be quitting the country in their droves - and not just Poles and Romanians (such awful, awful people) but the darker skinned ones too, with any luck. They didn’t consider the problem of the Northern Irish border, because no one did. It never came up in the campaign, or if it did I certainly missed it. yet now it has turned into one of the most critical issues.

 A no-deal would be a bit of a problem in Northern Ireland. Some sort of special arrangement would be required to deal with a land border between the EU and a non-EU country. And don’t think the DUP will be of any help in solving that little conundrum. They are so committed to their views - as fundamentalist in their own way as IS, that I believe they would be perfectly happy to build a Berlin-like wall right along the 350 mile border, risking the wrath of the entire Republican movement and possibly sparking off a full-scale war. Oh sure, they want to be part of the UK, except in matters of gay marriage, access to abortion and a few other human rights issues we addressed long ago on the mainland.

Well they’re getting what they wished for already. EU citizens are indeed leaving en masse causing a burgeoning labour shortage - no matter - as long as we get our precious sovereignty back, right? Funny thing: you don’t hear the French, the Germans, the Italians, bleating on about losing their sovereignty, even though they gave up their Francs, Marks and Liras. They still, as I understand it, feel French, German and Italian and not part of some hideous Euro-polyglot.

It seems there are now 2 main factions abroad in society: those who are pushing for no deal- what the ‘fundamentalists’ want, regardless of the fact that it could see our economy shrink by 10%, with the predictable effect that would have on the most vulnerable in our society - and those who are lobbying for a 2nd referendum, with 3 choices on the ballot: no deal, Teresa’s benighted deal and- surprise surprise: staying in the EU. Guess which way Pelagius is going to go..

November 2018 film review

HACKSAW RIDGE (2016) D- Mel Gibson
Being the (more or less) true account of one Private Desmond Doss, an American soldier in WW2 who refuses to take up arms against the enemy, but does agree to put himself in harm’s way by acting as a paramedic.
           The principle action of this extremely violent film (think of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan: this is even more horrific) takes place during the Battle of Okinawa, a battle which for some reason is given less attention than other less terrible conflicts, but was in fact the biggest air/sea/land battle in history.
           American troops must ascend a steep escarpment to get at the enemy, who have plenty of opportunity to prepare for them. The result is a protracted carnage of almost unprecedented magnitude, shown in loving detail by director Gibson. I have a pretty strong stomach, but some of this was hard to watch, even for me. But the story still shines through, with PFC Doss showing the most incredible bravery in his attempts to rescue his comrades, bravery that won him the Congressional Medal of Honour despite his non-combatant status.

DARKEST HOUR (2017) D- Joe Wright
Summer 1940. France has fallen, the British Expeditionary Force has been forced onto the beaches at Dunkirk, awaiting its fate, while at home, Neville Chamberlain has been forced from office and replaced by the wild card that is Winston Churchill. Decisions made now will affect Britain, and perhaps the whole world, for hundreds of years to come. Better get them right then...
          Gary Oldman’s performance as Churchill has become the stuff of legend, and rightly so, but is this film really any good? I fear not. It doesn’t really add much to the wealth of material we already have on the subject, and some of it is palpably untrue. The writers simply made stuff up to make it look good on screen, and that is a dangerous policy, I suggest...

GAME PLAN (2017) D- John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein
In suburban Atlanta, a couple attempt to spice up their lives by playing a realistic “murder weekend” game. Turns out it’s a bit more realistic than they anticipated, as real bad guys become mixed up with the fake ones, causing confusion and terror to all involved, with often hilarious results for us, the viewers. People keep getting blown away by high-calibre weapons - or do they? Nothing is as it seems in this crazy caper, which is very well directed (though it took 2 guys to do it, apparently) and acted with great style by all the players, particularly the leads Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman.
            The best line, among many top class zingers, comes from Rachel when she is being threatened by gunmen:
“Please don’t kill me. I have children at home.”
Gunman: “Not with that ass you don’t.”

PETERLOO (2018) D- Mike Leigh
In 1819, disquiet grows throughout the land as the price of staples (bread especially) goes through the roof and the government, the one for whom the term laissez faire might have been invented, doesn’t appear to give a damn. And when the authorities learn that certain parties are agitating for reform, fearing some sort of revolution akin to the one across the Channel only a few years before, they begin to work out how to nip it in the bud. But the people don’t want revolution, they just want a bit of food on their table and a wage that will enable them to secure it.
             Mike Leigh’s film dissects out the events of one of the most notorious events in British history with his characteristic skill and subtlety. It has been criticised for being a bit heavy on rhetoric and short on narrative pace, but rhetoric was what it was all about - winning the hearts and minds of ordinary people in their struggle to win a few basic human rights. Highly watchable, for me at any rate.

November 2018 book review

THE INHERITORS, by William Golding
Being an everyday story of country folk, living in the Home Counties, circa 40,000 BC. An extended family ekes out a precarious existence, never far from starvation or the predations of larger, more dangerous animals than them. Then another band of people, very different from them, kills one of the group and kidnaps a child.
            Golding leaves it to us to work out what is going on in this strange, troubling tale of Neanderthals encountering Homo Sapiens. And that isn’t always easy, for we are placed inside the minds of the former, whose brains seem to have hypertrophied right, or instinctual brains, strong on emotion, imaginative powers and even a touch of SEP, but tiny left brains, leaving them short on logical deductive ability and problem solving. No wonder they had to give way to the more aggressive, inventive and resourceful sub-species of Man. Us.
            Golding sets down a challenge for the reader in this book, which requires patience and application, but the result, as with all his works, is immensely satisfying.

THE EMERALD PLANET, by David Beerling.
When we think about evolution, our attention is naturally caught first by the animals, dinosaurs, whale-eating aquatic monsters and other equally sexy creatures. Hardly surprising really: plants don’t move around much (except, as Marge Simpson famously pointed out, those Mexican fighting trees - sorry) But as David Beerling explains in this fascinating book, understanding the evolution of plants is key to understanding the evolution of the Earth as a whole. It is plants, remember, that have made huge contributions to the composition of the atmosphere, enriching it with life-giving oxygen, so much so in the Permian Period (300-250 million years ago) that oxygen levels were 50% higher than today, enabling the appearance of giant insects; metre long centipedes, scorpions as big as labradors and dragonflys the size of buzzards.
            To be fair, without the basic scientific background I have had this book may have been hard to follow, but it is well written and designed for the well-informed layperson. Intriguing stuff.

THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER, by Kate Summerscale
In a small Wiltshire village, a well-to-do family is stunned when their five-year-old son is abducted in the night, and later, found with his throat cut. With no clues apparent, the local constabulary calls in Inspector Whicher of Scotland Yard, noted thief-taker and model for detectives fashioned by such luminaries as Wilkie Collins (Inspector Cuff in The Moonstone) and Charles Dickens (Inspector Bucket in Bleak House). After interviewing all the main players, Whicher comes to the disturbing conclusion that a family member is responsible for this dastardly deed; worse she is a 15 year-old girl. How can this be? A young girl capable of such a terrible crime?
            And Inspector Whicher doesn’t just have universal incredulity to contend with: soon class sensibility rears its ugly head. There are rumblings that a working class artisan, albeit a talented and successful one, is hardly the right person to delve into the dirty linen (literally in this case) of an upper middle class family. Will the truth ever come out? Read on...
            A tremendous success when it came out in 2008, Kate Summerscale’s book is now seen as one of the finest ‘true crime’ books in English, and in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the best pieces of ‘creative nonfiction’ I have read in a long time. Highly recommended.

A LEGACY OF SPIES, by John le Carre
A retired MI6 agent is disturbed in his reverie on a farm in Brittany by the news that he is about to be sued over an operation that went wrong nearly 50 years before.
             Like everybody else, I read Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold a very long time ago, but it is the action of that book which forms the backdrop to this latest foray into the mysterious lives of George Smiley’s people. The main protagonist of this tale being a former spy who as part of his job is used to lying all the time, so will lying his way through this see him in the clear? Not if the new guard at MI6 have anything to do with it, because they need someone to throw under the bus, and our man seems tailor-made for the fall-guy.
            If you like Le Carre, and let’s face it nearly everyone does, you will savour this tale of the past entwining itself with the present. Give it a try.