tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174955022024-03-18T21:13:36.978-07:00Jezza's BlogRamblings on politics, technology, culture and poultry.Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.comBlogger1108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-34406521121984751762024-03-15T00:41:00.000-07:002024-03-15T00:41:20.887-07:00Review of "97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement" by Jane Ziegelman<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTc5S2mJQFFs4shvGdio9KFNutAlnAmCN2byMiuRmJHq9I9AM4oo-JyR7v0phxDv1xIxgO9O_xquKu8kwve1rqwyjRzfInYQbKP27kcSGs6g0jNPIH6pnLpvjMWswioiVMvVEklpVEafwBx0qU9D8yiPfWJQ5uHpfhYM0CNyIgsw256utJY_boQ/s400/97%20orchard.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="266" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTc5S2mJQFFs4shvGdio9KFNutAlnAmCN2byMiuRmJHq9I9AM4oo-JyR7v0phxDv1xIxgO9O_xquKu8kwve1rqwyjRzfInYQbKP27kcSGs6g0jNPIH6pnLpvjMWswioiVMvVEklpVEafwBx0qU9D8yiPfWJQ5uHpfhYM0CNyIgsw256utJY_boQ/w133-h200/97%20orchard.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div>A nice idea - a history of immigration to the US (and New York's Lower East Side in particular) told through the stories of five families who had all lived in one building at different times; made easier by the fact that the building in question has become the Tenement Museum. <p></p><p>To my surprise I learned quite a lot, about the different waves of immigrants...I'd thought that I knew most of it, but I was wrong. In particular, I learned how much more assimilation-oriented the German Jews who came in the 1850s were - Jewish cookbooks with recipes for ham, pork and shellfish, and justifications for why oysters were kosher; and I learned about how poor and despised the second wave of Italian immigrants had been, and how they had done the dirtiest jobs and lived in the worst places, and still believed themselves to be culturally superior (or at least superior in terms of food) to the "native" US population.</p><p>And lots more too. I read this on kindle, but I think it's going to be bought as a present for various friends. </p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-55214596328945049852024-03-13T09:47:00.000-07:002024-03-13T09:47:11.718-07:00Review of "In the Skin of a Lion" by Michael Ondaatje<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-2mQ6sjE8Y043kXyTetaBroAC3aX7VjxY6m-Ee6GGUoJzngLuXvj68IdRZ8Dg-mL81zAODmhSbdrD3_QtTR3tfPpa48Rk46X8PuuMFaAoO6oLiListgRNuu-01ZeS191-C0G6SLvT9kyM0h-BDXW54lUBZYXR-k-qtITAjp6kQzMFzaQuU5wRg/s500/9780140113099.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-2mQ6sjE8Y043kXyTetaBroAC3aX7VjxY6m-Ee6GGUoJzngLuXvj68IdRZ8Dg-mL81zAODmhSbdrD3_QtTR3tfPpa48Rk46X8PuuMFaAoO6oLiListgRNuu-01ZeS191-C0G6SLvT9kyM0h-BDXW54lUBZYXR-k-qtITAjp6kQzMFzaQuU5wRg/w128-h200/9780140113099.jpeg" width="128" /></a></div>Beautifully written historical novel about the immigrants who built Toronto, with good characters, a slightly confusing plot, but fantastic descriptions of buildings and places - well, it is about construction and infrastructure. Definitely worth a read.<p></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-1706135950973657512024-03-13T09:34:00.000-07:002024-03-13T09:34:18.117-07:00Review of "Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped our Nation" by Mitch Horowitz <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiOJIQtJTKV0IYJB9vtgG-0LPXYXk7FEvzkfRw_Mwk57pztFbSP1kpkSTlRhm_fshQKMZxRjjTMEeFtPxl7tb4cldFEAXtKzzPa012brkk2_DkJ-IdXaO_0HGjdVYpaTn_ufQijKIk35NfDWAJJesUT0TaDl6WN80cXH7X8mvCwVRLLJEuVvs9Yw/s1500/91pIrucsjtL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1003" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiOJIQtJTKV0IYJB9vtgG-0LPXYXk7FEvzkfRw_Mwk57pztFbSP1kpkSTlRhm_fshQKMZxRjjTMEeFtPxl7tb4cldFEAXtKzzPa012brkk2_DkJ-IdXaO_0HGjdVYpaTn_ufQijKIk35NfDWAJJesUT0TaDl6WN80cXH7X8mvCwVRLLJEuVvs9Yw/w134-h200/91pIrucsjtL._SL1500_.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>A nice, readable ramble through the undergrowth of the American mind, with lots of stuff about weird sects, cults, communities and religions. <p></p><p>The author is more than a little sympathetic to the claims of alternative religious movements, and while he's critical of the worst excesses of some exploitative leaders I think he tries hard - perhaps too hard - to be fair to most of them.</p><p>There's some bonkers stuff towards the end that might be categorised as metaphysics, but it's mainly readable and enjoyable.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-29104970823155890222024-03-13T05:20:00.000-07:002024-03-13T05:20:32.337-07:00Review of "The Solutions are Already Here Strategies for Ecological Revolution from Below" by Peter Gelderloos<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrYlokjUsmhTGJsCHHScPWZm30ors_YSTXZMNrQnpINCG8bqQ6q1OkrnkVBmWYULcA4sv879oTIk-lZVdH9m5cFxSqVNYw3zMsCanGldDk3qOZXmw7Y4LYkV5zRY7rdp92Cq6Lvtz1jbQcU3t6uySFiq-JmwAsLNvPx6N2joiRz-CbZWsC6LJpw/s400/solutions.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrYlokjUsmhTGJsCHHScPWZm30ors_YSTXZMNrQnpINCG8bqQ6q1OkrnkVBmWYULcA4sv879oTIk-lZVdH9m5cFxSqVNYw3zMsCanGldDk3qOZXmw7Y4LYkV5zRY7rdp92Cq6Lvtz1jbQcU3t6uySFiq-JmwAsLNvPx6N2joiRz-CbZWsC6LJpw/w126-h200/solutions.jpeg" width="126" /></a></div>It seems a bit unfair for me to write a review of this, because I didn't read all of it - just the first and the last chapters. The first was a decent run through of a lot (though not everything) that's wrong with our current technical-economic system, though without much new, and in the manner of books already a bit out of date. <p></p><p>The last bit, that was supposed to be a vision of how things could be better, seemed disappointing. I don't want a catalogue of techno-fixes that promise a continuation of our present way of life without the environmental costs, but this seemed to be mainly a repetition of "we won't want all that stuff once the miseries of capitalism have been abolished", and I didn't find it satisfying or convincing.</p><p>I want to like anarchist approaches to strategies for system change, and to the future organisation of society, but I rarely find much likeable. This wasn't an exception. </p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-38681425757285817792024-03-13T05:13:00.000-07:002024-03-13T05:13:48.721-07:00Review of "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57AEyC32Hyre4b0ICpusq94QL9_syOKlQ9TPv844OiC-jtEYrcrET1Nt9xWDzTPMBIqKd76lypWY0sYSV0DHucCoqefY_SQl-SSMq4F-_LIn2Df_2hsYxRa80_9IXqaWHkDY_Ran2H3WeGdfUOhHTopXDKyOvbrotYYnWmzmv-i3pibSE7MoCRQ/s1000/91MBNyp411L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="652" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57AEyC32Hyre4b0ICpusq94QL9_syOKlQ9TPv844OiC-jtEYrcrET1Nt9xWDzTPMBIqKd76lypWY0sYSV0DHucCoqefY_SQl-SSMq4F-_LIn2Df_2hsYxRa80_9IXqaWHkDY_Ran2H3WeGdfUOhHTopXDKyOvbrotYYnWmzmv-i3pibSE7MoCRQ/w131-h200/91MBNyp411L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>A distillation of the toxic masculinity in the world, with all the violence and resentment that implies. I'm not entirely sure whether it's supposed to be a satirical critique of all that or a paean to it - in the manner of such things, it seems to want to have it both ways. I watched the film a long time ago, and so I remembered the images of that as I read the text - I couldn't imagine Marla except as Helena Bonham Carter, for example. <p></p><p>I think that in some ways the film was more subtle, and more ambiguous about the apparent merging of the two main characters - was Tyler Durden always a version, or a personality disorder, of the first-person narrator? </p><p>One major difference, at least as far as a remember the film, was the prominence of a castration theme - more than one character is threatened with castration in the book, though it doesn't seem to actually happen. All part of the ugh factor.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-71795619345366800052024-03-13T03:59:00.000-07:002024-03-13T03:59:10.877-07:00Review of "Trouble is my business" by Raymond Chandler<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSEd12MfHnH5eh6xFbCHjqA_XBt3dzSw7me_uaV5oyIAq5_jgbrytAWGPiOD59rCycj5u8kkyhlWgCxaK_Gu8aKj0-ouZ2an8jYFQaB27vGPCDuZH7PhyphenhyphenhiQ8tS0cnSjPPwmRGvmyV0L8MwcgGRsYuE2wO7sjhdJuV6HEcv5m154X0uw0UWwmbw/s274/trouble.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="184" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSEd12MfHnH5eh6xFbCHjqA_XBt3dzSw7me_uaV5oyIAq5_jgbrytAWGPiOD59rCycj5u8kkyhlWgCxaK_Gu8aKj0-ouZ2an8jYFQaB27vGPCDuZH7PhyphenhyphenhiQ8tS0cnSjPPwmRGvmyV0L8MwcgGRsYuE2wO7sjhdJuV6HEcv5m154X0uw0UWwmbw/s1600/trouble.jpeg" width="184" /></a></div>I'm a big fan of Chandler, and while I was reading this Ruth and I were listening to an audio version of "The Black-Eyed Blonde", which is a sort of sequel to The Long Goodbye. That felt a lot like a pastiche, but after reading a succession of Chandler short stories I am more aware of how formulaic Chandler's writing for the pulps was. <p></p><p>His heroes are always mopping their sweaty necks, and they get hit over the head with monotonous regularity - leaving them with similar wounds on the back of their heads. And they drink all the time from similar sized bottles, and the women are all ciphers rather than proper characters. There are two flavours of cop, corrupt and repulsive or decent and career-blocked. Once or twice I'm pretty sure that the same descriptions popped up in more than story.</p><p>I was a bit surprised, though I shouldn't have been, by the casual racism. Some characters - not fully drawn ones - are "heebs", and when there are stereotypical black people they are referred to with a series of racist epithets that I hadn't even heard before - "shine" was one. This isn't to say that race is important in Chandler's fiction (as it is say in Sax Rohmer or John Buchan), but he's certainly not better than the time he lived in.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-37884778636695429822024-03-12T08:58:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:58:35.102-07:00Review of The Noel Diary<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHY7sogj7Zxp6xdyzp-eqT06L0-frEIMfV7DoIy6RQMZnECLDfc3D-UNrf3j5NyPo1Ky5nZkmg40H9f6U0Zh9xUztsRxc7x1obzpZGzeDhTtKN2O4bPG00t5pqm9NvgJ6u98bE4C5j3st6Cd7ktFKGhD7tlWIEJpPhKR7ELXyPJcACy-MfpwrW3Q/s1440/noel.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHY7sogj7Zxp6xdyzp-eqT06L0-frEIMfV7DoIy6RQMZnECLDfc3D-UNrf3j5NyPo1Ky5nZkmg40H9f6U0Zh9xUztsRxc7x1obzpZGzeDhTtKN2O4bPG00t5pqm9NvgJ6u98bE4C5j3st6Cd7ktFKGhD7tlWIEJpPhKR7ELXyPJcACy-MfpwrW3Q/w133-h200/noel.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div>Slightly soppy but enjoyable romantic drama, a bit self-knowing (characters say things like "If this was a rom-com"). A best-selling author goes to clear up the house of his recently-deceased mother from whom he has been estranged for years, and there meets a young woman searching for her own mother, who gave up for adoption and had been a nanny in the parents' house.<p></p><p>It was a nice 90 minutes, and I did have a lump in my throat from time to time.</p><p>Watched on Netflix, which seems to have finally got some half-decent films on board.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-81065028696340128412024-03-12T08:54:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:54:14.531-07:00Review of Poor Things<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzrQfx6i7D_jSAFDxhatMcQw0A4oKHZ0TBH_ooJl998wnoBWicPj0tFDJAOw3Gge3_N4CpNnz-EN0yVS1Ckpjzbbbh6c4QjQXrHuX2RBOKBDsDqLO5HlV6D6FnhyDWxqvRoun0I3ssm8VkUuQJSTfzB3Qtij8qReDX_H07OlFkZ0tu1zjd-Wcyg/s376/poorthings.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzrQfx6i7D_jSAFDxhatMcQw0A4oKHZ0TBH_ooJl998wnoBWicPj0tFDJAOw3Gge3_N4CpNnz-EN0yVS1Ckpjzbbbh6c4QjQXrHuX2RBOKBDsDqLO5HlV6D6FnhyDWxqvRoun0I3ssm8VkUuQJSTfzB3Qtij8qReDX_H07OlFkZ0tu1zjd-Wcyg/s320/poorthings.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div>Amazing film - every time I watch a Yorgos Lanthimos film I think "that's the weirdest film I am ever likely to see", and this one was no exception. Visually stunning, with some fabulous real sets in Hungary and elsewhere, and some CGI creations too. The scenes on a cruise ship were particularly attractive, the more so because we got on a dreary Brittany Ferries ship the following day, which was comfortable enough but might as well have been an airport lounge.<p></p><p>The plot was implausible (is the book different?) but that didn't really matter - it felt much like a fable or a dream. There have been some nasty comments online that it's a "male gaze" film, but it didn't feel like that to me (or to Ruth, thankfully). </p><p>Some great acting, especially by Emma Stone, who manages to make the intellectual and physical development of her character from baby-brain in an adult body to fully grown ersatz human seem entirely believable.</p><p>We watched this at a cinema and you should too.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-11029598655884788452024-03-12T08:47:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:47:28.748-07:00Review of The Monuments Men<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDcZ0aAf3GXQ2zXbmq_5etWs8fqAxOtCjIKZrns46prd6PSXq3l9A1uqm7pVacq-JZ1ZAqh6SAr0cjAtPcYmvETD0QKqpH89yjr7CwCbEQ909F0hrNBaLoOOJooxG6biU4QKZUXyF8fxz0ad-zJge8J_uaR2wjsoP-juw5f-BGrV6SYWwNCSzZg/s325/The_Monuments_Men_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDcZ0aAf3GXQ2zXbmq_5etWs8fqAxOtCjIKZrns46prd6PSXq3l9A1uqm7pVacq-JZ1ZAqh6SAr0cjAtPcYmvETD0QKqpH89yjr7CwCbEQ909F0hrNBaLoOOJooxG6biU4QKZUXyF8fxz0ad-zJge8J_uaR2wjsoP-juw5f-BGrV6SYWwNCSzZg/w136-h200/The_Monuments_Men_poster.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>Ruth stopped watching after ten minutes, but as a completist I had to see whether it got any better. It didn't. Lots of good actors, great sets and locations, and what looks like a big budget, totally wasted. Boring, bad dialogue, plot without suspense or interest. <p></p><p>Watched via BBC iPlayer I think - I have mainly suppressed the memory.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-50502255473685331392024-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:002024-02-09T03:11:09.873-08:00Review of "Bleeding Edge" by Thomas Pynchon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBr4Clxecd0bBMfRdMvRBIFBXm0qJ-7gHYUa2wG3iI5QFKLv6VlorNl_iMMKqFCSgla1IjP2lvMxHlWjn4vml9Wge2RMIGvLuI5clsyB7hcZCxEJ1cQxQgE3XpnUDxfxSIhz3QqNhL_NeGgNew0A8l2YqX14HLv9iVI9XztvRLlttQXCrpABJ69A/s1000/91ulhzRYSfL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="631" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBr4Clxecd0bBMfRdMvRBIFBXm0qJ-7gHYUa2wG3iI5QFKLv6VlorNl_iMMKqFCSgla1IjP2lvMxHlWjn4vml9Wge2RMIGvLuI5clsyB7hcZCxEJ1cQxQgE3XpnUDxfxSIhz3QqNhL_NeGgNew0A8l2YqX14HLv9iVI9XztvRLlttQXCrpABJ69A/s320/91ulhzRYSfL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>I loved this, though a week after finishing it I'm not entirely able to express why. It's Pynchonesqe in its plotting, and its language, and there are some great characters - perhaps too many characters, because I did begin to feel like I was losing track.<p></p><p>It's very Jewish, and though there are some Israeli characters it's mainly a paean to New York diaspora Jewish culture, though I don't think Pynchon is Jewish. He's got it down really well, though, the language, the preoccupations. </p><p>The plot takes place against the background of the dot.com crash, and the Twin Towers attack, and a complex financial fraud (the main character Maxine is a fraud investigator, working freelance and on her own time for most of the book), so it's sometimes hard to follow. I suspect I missed some of it, but it doesn't seem to have detracted from my enjoyment. It even made me want to visit New York again, which probably isn't going to happen.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-54921686030084368872024-02-09T03:05:00.000-08:002024-02-09T03:05:03.597-08:00Review of Dolly Parton: Here I am<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1B_CtJcJDHKhc26I_mBRBBHjZUokCH5Ng40tVlkUhVcKOr050BjbTwMo7DADG3tRhWRyUcG6divx8oiIt-GnRQrtR_EvL_Hj1UdedgilvfZ2qkZ5pL_39uFgLna-6Tmkhr4oqh2VQk8Rj6kJCBPVMvOvtaLCnpafIhkSp7qGs0MVjeUSS8h0a2w/s281/dolly_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="190" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1B_CtJcJDHKhc26I_mBRBBHjZUokCH5Ng40tVlkUhVcKOr050BjbTwMo7DADG3tRhWRyUcG6divx8oiIt-GnRQrtR_EvL_Hj1UdedgilvfZ2qkZ5pL_39uFgLna-6Tmkhr4oqh2VQk8Rj6kJCBPVMvOvtaLCnpafIhkSp7qGs0MVjeUSS8h0a2w/w135-h200/dolly_.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>Slightly dull but informative documentary about Dolly Parton and her career. Almost nothing about her private life, which she keeps private; she's been married to the same bloke for fifty years, after they met at a laundromat at her first day in Nashville. She's unashamed about her working-class rural roots, and connects with a variety of very different audiences - rednecks, gay men, drag queens...to some extent because she's careful not to say or do anything to offend any of them.<p></p><p>Which makes for a somewhat boring film. She's clever, talented (she's written some great songs), and opaque - a wise decision in an industry that eats people up and spits them out. But she's not great documentary material. We don't even learn anything about her friendships, outside of work relationships.</p><p>Watched on BBC iPlayer via Chromecast.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-41280098671151115322024-02-09T02:59:00.000-08:002024-02-09T02:59:25.299-08:00Review of Millie Lies Low<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4pLilk68GJR3WWpM5F28a8S3WgRtu6BPJmxBDDO1aEX5fiYAH-feUrFcVPuvCZDvoharcKKusXscvcbs9giNILK0a2YTtql9nScFasaL414DgxFWhGY2_ouZQMdzcqWWAndiS3bD1ZEitGSfuFCAO24mG4hElnCRbMmWdbZrn2Rr2pvGmTkb29w/s1029/MILLIE_PINK_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4pLilk68GJR3WWpM5F28a8S3WgRtu6BPJmxBDDO1aEX5fiYAH-feUrFcVPuvCZDvoharcKKusXscvcbs9giNILK0a2YTtql9nScFasaL414DgxFWhGY2_ouZQMdzcqWWAndiS3bD1ZEitGSfuFCAO24mG4hElnCRbMmWdbZrn2Rr2pvGmTkb29w/w140-h200/MILLIE_PINK_web.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>Sad New Zealand comedy about a young woman who's about to go to New York for a prestigious architecture internship, but panics on the plane and then sneaks back into her home town (Wellington) but doesn't want anyone to know. It's occasionally funny, but mainly painful - her relationships with her mum, her boyfriend and her best friend are challenged and exposed, and don't emerge well. There's some stuff about the nature of talent, and about the relentless pressure to post positive stuff on social media. <p></p><p>The film was just over 90 minutes but felt longer, though it wasn't bad - just painful.</p><p>Well worth watching - we watched on Channel 4 via Chromecast.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-79520065270713993572024-02-05T09:31:00.000-08:002024-02-05T09:31:12.053-08:00Review of Anatomy of a Fall<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_v73evSyhz-r_2llYMruG3QWoVV22jqWgpfTP5hUMc9JVRJ-KLfsyHDL-cwjL6_Gp8KtJeEYilU5lmo7-Ub4m6MpBia6GJqOFzoWpVXM2o9OrXd0wzMTvysXFDcQOEQKJMjrtGelbCAZhtrfyUhAG_klqDviUSqLynBdowFK9EhpMM-mnOcA-w/s687/fall.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_v73evSyhz-r_2llYMruG3QWoVV22jqWgpfTP5hUMc9JVRJ-KLfsyHDL-cwjL6_Gp8KtJeEYilU5lmo7-Ub4m6MpBia6GJqOFzoWpVXM2o9OrXd0wzMTvysXFDcQOEQKJMjrtGelbCAZhtrfyUhAG_klqDviUSqLynBdowFK9EhpMM-mnOcA-w/s320/fall.jpeg" width="212" /></a></div>Atmospheric tense French drama about an accidental (or is it?) death in an alpine chalet, where a key witness is a blind ten-year-old boy. Hard to say much more about it without spoiling, but it's really good, and manages to get to the end of the story without definitively resolving all of the unknowns. In that sense it rather reminded me of <a href="http://jezzascuriousblog.blogspot.com/2023/11/review-of-night-of-twelfth.html">The Night of The Twelfth,</a> another French drama (though that's more a police procedural), which also tells a story of death without resolving the question of who did it. Strangely both films are set in Grenoble. <p></p><p>Watched via informal distribution - our new TV has a slot for USB drives, which makes that rather easier.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-47480763584638758932024-01-17T09:08:00.000-08:002024-01-17T09:08:56.759-08:00Review of Rustin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIVmbEEHXjoBxRX_3OsXoHeHIoB2GRQucWcCYvfEu32Lv307AA6SUbKwmJZm7ZAQ0zWZG7MBDolDBzPVDmFb66UEjYb2xi8UZ1WKuyVbsziv9tW1e8_4RknwAzXZMnZSfYs1aDU1KsqX7mNvCQR8crPzkW6Euh0iY2H8A5CTG-sgd5cHUn8yNMg/s326/RUSTIN_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIVmbEEHXjoBxRX_3OsXoHeHIoB2GRQucWcCYvfEu32Lv307AA6SUbKwmJZm7ZAQ0zWZG7MBDolDBzPVDmFb66UEjYb2xi8UZ1WKuyVbsziv9tW1e8_4RknwAzXZMnZSfYs1aDU1KsqX7mNvCQR8crPzkW6Euh0iY2H8A5CTG-sgd5cHUn8yNMg/w135-h200/RUSTIN_poster.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>Enjoyable biopic about Bayard Rustin, black gay socialist pacifist who did most of the organising for the 1963 March on Washington, at which Martin Luther King spoke and made his "I have a dream" speech. This film is for all the people who do the organising but don't get to make the big speak. Rustin was clearly a wonderful leader who inspired people to give their all, despite the movement's disapproval of his sexuality. The film shows lots of behind the scenes manoeuvring in the Civil Rights movement, as well as giving a quite good potted history of the actual political processes and outcomes.<p></p><p>It (probably rightly) doesn't reveal that Rustin in his older years remained committed to workers' rights but became a neoconservative and was praised by Reagan after his death. </p><p>Watched on Netflix.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-57839326616688602992024-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:002024-01-17T09:01:10.183-08:00Review of "Cole Porter" by William McBrien<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3apghNfRIYEHeIbSGno9qZtQc7UF7A53J5nZmtnGUXOeNkzKX84bvzGBgC-8tZUz5anTUKxjNbhlkb2FOfHx0Cix54SMNWfyjL1f2mmbTyA2TM_t9se4uxIo3DmSM-mlNUNfLn9_nesiTU5VNMfHB5vcUKWtKZiTIqFwGrsbauZUa_lmRC6wjhw/s278/porter.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="181" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3apghNfRIYEHeIbSGno9qZtQc7UF7A53J5nZmtnGUXOeNkzKX84bvzGBgC-8tZUz5anTUKxjNbhlkb2FOfHx0Cix54SMNWfyjL1f2mmbTyA2TM_t9se4uxIo3DmSM-mlNUNfLn9_nesiTU5VNMfHB5vcUKWtKZiTIqFwGrsbauZUa_lmRC6wjhw/w130-h200/porter.jpeg" width="130" /></a></div>I gave up on this. I kept going to page 150, which I think is absolutely giving it a fair chance, but it was so boring that I could only read a few pages at a time without falling asleep. Cole Porter is an absolute genius, and I love his work - his songs and his lyrics. But his early life is so dull - doting mother, rich grandfather, nonentity dad who barely features in the story; good at school, athletic and popular, nothing goes wrong...and then he's gadding about with other rich Americans in Paris, and cruising backwards and forwards across the Atlantic. And I just could be bothered anymore.<p></p><p>Maybe it's just what reading biographies is like, and I should remember not to read them.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-74055809578225028252024-01-09T03:12:00.000-08:002024-01-09T03:12:42.043-08:00Review of "The Honourable Schoolboy" by John le Carre<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQao9V5v6h5ls9yv0gc3JqIC974oniI-U_gvc9OLwi0S913h3E7VoJ_cgsOePml7NGz6IkuZTXzLp_e3AYtmCO4mfuPdb2g_xmIrvFTBvHCPgzFY4PQq_g7F9Q1O3cS0sj2tO1YaDN4M1ay5s5gxx902N-2THbHKuAXS9X8aqn341plT6x36-lkQ/s276/schoolboy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="182" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQao9V5v6h5ls9yv0gc3JqIC974oniI-U_gvc9OLwi0S913h3E7VoJ_cgsOePml7NGz6IkuZTXzLp_e3AYtmCO4mfuPdb2g_xmIrvFTBvHCPgzFY4PQq_g7F9Q1O3cS0sj2tO1YaDN4M1ay5s5gxx902N-2THbHKuAXS9X8aqn341plT6x36-lkQ/w132-h200/schoolboy.jpeg" width="132" /></a></div>Another good one from le Carre, though it took me a while to get into it. Whereas "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" is taut and economical, this is a bit flabby, and some episodes seem to take forever, to no really obvious purpose. I won't attempt to summarise the plot, which is really convoluted and defies a quick description.<p></p><p>Eventually I was hooked, though, and engaged with most of the characters (though there were some that were a bit fuzzy for me, so that I had trouble remembering who they were). There's a lot of stuff about the nastier aspects of the Cold War, and no punches pulled about the bad things that "our side" did - in particular involvement in the opium trade. The parts set in Hong Kong, and Indochina, are really evocative - I can actually smell the places he describes.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-25358588438851966802024-01-08T08:45:00.000-08:002024-01-08T08:45:09.610-08:00Review of Leave the World Behind<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlG1tj72KNIcnSAtyAye937mEihGsZZVAbkLE-7ZFE-VoQuE164Xhw6Dz62Db6NI-J-t1NK0RJCTSaTIMTc3-wbV1mH9Ul_SQZOKnNnMF6lE29ze3hzICJSSlRY79rg1-6IMkadcgbu9DM0XazMpE-O8VH7mRsEihX0fZAf0RGYn1OOXTmiDfjkw/s370/Leave_the_World_Behind_film_poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlG1tj72KNIcnSAtyAye937mEihGsZZVAbkLE-7ZFE-VoQuE164Xhw6Dz62Db6NI-J-t1NK0RJCTSaTIMTc3-wbV1mH9Ul_SQZOKnNnMF6lE29ze3hzICJSSlRY79rg1-6IMkadcgbu9DM0XazMpE-O8VH7mRsEihX0fZAf0RGYn1OOXTmiDfjkw/s320/Leave_the_World_Behind_film_poster.png" width="216" /></a></div>An unsatisfying dystopian end-of-the-world film, in which a family of white liberals travel to a holiday home in upstate New York for a short break just as there's a cyber attack and associated real attack on the US by unnamed and unspecified enemies. The film illustrates well how fragile our civilisation is and how dependent on a few pieces of technology we've become, and there's some interesting dynamics between the white family and the prosperous black family who own the luxurious holiday-home and turn up to reclaim it as the catastrophe unfolds. <p></p><p>But there's lots that doesn't make any particular sense and seems just added in for pointless menace...the house is surrounded by oddly courageous deer, for example. And the underlying narrative seems like something from the Qanon playbook - secretive powerful elites, leaflets dropped from planes that are written in Farsi and Korean, and so on.</p><p>I was sucked in rather after the fashion of "Lost" (now our reference points for initially intriguing and mysterious narratives that ultimately turn out to be load of meaningless crap), but ended up really disliking this film, despite some good acting and interesting cinematography.</p><p>Watched on Netflix.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-47023589549611291792024-01-08T06:04:00.000-08:002024-01-08T06:04:54.251-08:00Review of Go!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfnXcw42GmKxcq4TatbkQ7R6cKR6ujj8rmVoVXZ88sCDAFGu4XqgZCIjRLURiH8YS_M5Zo5weYAgAiGZ72xZryq_4hpKqnxq4PuD6BETLQNzmsU6C1Au3zrUydwvgwj4zEofeh4quurtEBrLbKxwqgycIygds5z7xTvf9m3SomvevUDJf3Y_DJQ/s392/Go_1999_film.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="254" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfnXcw42GmKxcq4TatbkQ7R6cKR6ujj8rmVoVXZ88sCDAFGu4XqgZCIjRLURiH8YS_M5Zo5weYAgAiGZ72xZryq_4hpKqnxq4PuD6BETLQNzmsU6C1Au3zrUydwvgwj4zEofeh4quurtEBrLbKxwqgycIygds5z7xTvf9m3SomvevUDJf3Y_DJQ/s320/Go_1999_film.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>Surprisingly good crime/drug film that manages to be both gripping and funny, about young adults blundering into club scene drug dealing. It's structurally quite complex - we see the same events several times over through the eyes of different characters, so it takes a while to work out what is going on. Nice dialogue, editing, acting...not short but it felt really tight.<p></p><p>Watched this one on a USB stick via informal distribution.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-85637080230653480932024-01-08T05:59:00.000-08:002024-01-08T05:59:05.069-08:00Review of Marry Me!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncLBucNlc9b8b_FePFXXSPvVRuxXidFqR9IByR4I2Wq0ttraMesC_lq_qyOkK1iPfYbHN3Bx2Ww7eGe88ui8J6UVx0_dcbi2R865GG2elWHLSTKTXWl8V_9l5PW0jDI3hSo83u_lBaaobIY4EoipWHApfKovA0EP8yzNazT-ApcnDaqDlNBIKQw/s398/Marry_Me_(2022_film).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncLBucNlc9b8b_FePFXXSPvVRuxXidFqR9IByR4I2Wq0ttraMesC_lq_qyOkK1iPfYbHN3Bx2Ww7eGe88ui8J6UVx0_dcbi2R865GG2elWHLSTKTXWl8V_9l5PW0jDI3hSo83u_lBaaobIY4EoipWHApfKovA0EP8yzNazT-ApcnDaqDlNBIKQw/w126-h200/Marry_Me_(2022_film).jpg" width="126" /></a></div>Absurd rom-com with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Lopez, which was nevertheless quite enjoyable on an over-full Xmas stomach. She's going to marry another Latino singer during a big concert at which they will sing their joint hit "Marry Me!", but just as she's about to she sees a shared video of him carrying on with her assistant, so she impulsively decides to marry Wilson's character instead - he's a maths teacher who has been dragged to the concert by a friend because his teen daughter likes Lopez's character.<p></p><p>Yeah, it's that stupid. But it wasn't as bad as it sounds, and there were a few nice moments. And Wilson's character isn't as stupid as some he has played.</p><p>Watched on Netflix.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-1940526496884118862024-01-08T05:50:00.000-08:002024-01-08T05:50:52.253-08:00Review of The Courier<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8zYCmogRceUSSqYW2WdYhbTgiAHTBujWI-EoYKmekAjB149_bSz4baGu6C-IkmpPCpxTbVObQSHcoDPuO_iDuK4nTa8a9CDIi5VUH_lCZ5m0GcgPuviL2vxJgyuxqkg7d5hRnD5AyFw2ddvlzgUv5miPB3t8K-4E_CPX1R5YZGiof0roa3NoZA/s384/The_Courier_poster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8zYCmogRceUSSqYW2WdYhbTgiAHTBujWI-EoYKmekAjB149_bSz4baGu6C-IkmpPCpxTbVObQSHcoDPuO_iDuK4nTa8a9CDIi5VUH_lCZ5m0GcgPuviL2vxJgyuxqkg7d5hRnD5AyFw2ddvlzgUv5miPB3t8K-4E_CPX1R5YZGiof0roa3NoZA/w135-h200/The_Courier_poster.jpeg" width="135" /></a></div>Straightforward cold war spy thriller about the KGB double agent Oleg Penkovsky, who was giving Soviet secrets to the west, especially during the Cuban missile crisis. The film focuses on the relationship between Penkovsky and the British businessman Greville Wynne, who acted as courier for his drops of material. It doesn't address any of the complexities of the affair, including who betrayed Penkovsky, how long the Soviets knew that he was providing material to the west (some say that it was within two weeks of his defection), or even whether he might have been a fake defector, as Peter Wright suggested in his book Spycatcher.<p></p><p>Some interesting filming and camera angles, but not much narrative complexity.</p><p>I note in passing that at the end there's some footage of the real Greville Wynne, and that he (unlike his portrayal in the film) spoke in a cut-glass upper class accent that absolutely no-one uses any more...though Queen Elizabeth continued to talk like that until her death. What does it mean that a way of speaking can die out so thoroughly?</p><p>Watched on BBC iPlayer.</p><p><br /></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-88420740262044884772024-01-08T05:40:00.000-08:002024-01-08T05:40:09.781-08:00Review of Resistance<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCsndQMHEcc-hXOzi13Cs8YIrG7B4j9yyXlG9r0lK1SVYBKtviJd1ZY1NI06zUUY8OcCkSdcMpKPWpVvjwz6QoPvwCU7viSgvq4u6i84Cm9Hogzlk9Am6XNEMyTO5NZnjjRw7jlBZFVMkus4uOI0fyn8nA0eitlbSUj-W4sgJXbdpEA9xn7j7lJw/s383/Resistance_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCsndQMHEcc-hXOzi13Cs8YIrG7B4j9yyXlG9r0lK1SVYBKtviJd1ZY1NI06zUUY8OcCkSdcMpKPWpVvjwz6QoPvwCU7viSgvq4u6i84Cm9Hogzlk9Am6XNEMyTO5NZnjjRw7jlBZFVMkus4uOI0fyn8nA0eitlbSUj-W4sgJXbdpEA9xn7j7lJw/w135-h200/Resistance_poster.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>Very straightforward biopic about Marcel Marceau's time in the French resistance, about which I had known absolutely nothing. The Nazis are very nasty, especially Klaus Barbie, who is depicted in some detail. There's some suspenseful moments, and it held our attention, but it's not a great film. <p></p><p>The Jewish children are in some sort of scout uniform, though this is never explained or even referred to - are they scouts, or is a Jewish (even Zionist) youth movement? </p><p>Watched on Channel4 online - I don't think it's called All4 any more.</p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-80438437787053268362024-01-08T01:06:00.000-08:002024-01-08T01:06:36.996-08:00Review of Outside In<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3tmjWGdpbwbfH8eBzUQj-potu2kpCJipx5l7PaQFfXZVL0DwNOIHnpXAReK5blOmxGbjaZYFyDh9x5bQaVPrr2wFhnz1PaEbmAb_EB0uWD1mJ00aDb7oY5mtAPDrpYCJiUi1tOQqJYxyiq0x_Fhi4hauAM1_TRMc8kovtY6PMrfSj9fGFivD1A/s326/Outside_In.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3tmjWGdpbwbfH8eBzUQj-potu2kpCJipx5l7PaQFfXZVL0DwNOIHnpXAReK5blOmxGbjaZYFyDh9x5bQaVPrr2wFhnz1PaEbmAb_EB0uWD1mJ00aDb7oY5mtAPDrpYCJiUi1tOQqJYxyiq0x_Fhi4hauAM1_TRMc8kovtY6PMrfSj9fGFivD1A/w135-h200/Outside_In.png" width="135" /></a></div>Nice thoughtful film about a young man out on parole after twenty years in prison for his minor part in a crime - as a result of a mandatory minimum sentence. There's relatively little excitement, but lots of examination of relationships, particularly the one between the man and the older woman teacher who supports his case while he's inside - he seems very confused as to whether there is a romantic dimension to this, though she's insistent that there isn't. That brief summary doesn't really do it justice - it's worth watching...on Netflix.<p></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-80844163679003884362023-12-17T04:58:00.000-08:002023-12-17T04:58:47.033-08:00Review of "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdSlrQpYThWpFl9y7M7WesqIAwB-o4-v4qiKvhsbpC-zdLVR72gcAgQkM3pmrAVWCZhhDr8QZhNIWLnLPrUdRsjsazmNUQgiAXQVKxEX_vkojEsd0BRuQDSCcDVwuYb-61O3P6AK7VBlG2La4vLhemLEhPAWTkfDbZ1X6Ak__cGXDf2wGgCs56Q/s334/Burial_Rites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdSlrQpYThWpFl9y7M7WesqIAwB-o4-v4qiKvhsbpC-zdLVR72gcAgQkM3pmrAVWCZhhDr8QZhNIWLnLPrUdRsjsazmNUQgiAXQVKxEX_vkojEsd0BRuQDSCcDVwuYb-61O3P6AK7VBlG2La4vLhemLEhPAWTkfDbZ1X6Ak__cGXDf2wGgCs56Q/s320/Burial_Rites.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Gloomy but very well written first novel about a murder and subsequent execution in early C19th Iceland. That's not a very promising summary, but the book was really compelling...though I can't say it was enjoyable, it did hold me the whole time, even though I knew how it would end. The life depicted is almost impossibly grim - not much good old days here, with filth, freezing to death, miserable food, back-breaking work. <p></p><p>The book is very modern, with multiple narrators and time periods, and inserts of official documents and other found material. There's some background material about how it came to be written...but why was a woman from Adelaide studying Icelandic in the first place? We're not told that.</p><p><br /></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-19127263796166754492023-12-15T07:39:00.000-08:002023-12-15T07:39:27.161-08:00Review of Napoleon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvwkaNxSJqXkrmrAE-ouwlxd-F7pHhmnK5x7ArX51RulTHJBlF9li_R6rr7M_a0ti699hymBEBpY8VmKKHxX1LW7nShxdAvb_ptnx-M0gW0bMvCFo8LIuBga78p2Bnbq3QaXg_b3O0FhzOsRnQFgauSBenH9yCBLDr62r5PjC_MXvMebZUWAfQg/s330/Napoleon_Film_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvwkaNxSJqXkrmrAE-ouwlxd-F7pHhmnK5x7ArX51RulTHJBlF9li_R6rr7M_a0ti699hymBEBpY8VmKKHxX1LW7nShxdAvb_ptnx-M0gW0bMvCFo8LIuBga78p2Bnbq3QaXg_b3O0FhzOsRnQFgauSBenH9yCBLDr62r5PjC_MXvMebZUWAfQg/w133-h200/Napoleon_Film_poster.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>I'm afraid this lived down to expectations. Very long, a bit boring. No good acting, no good dialogue, and no insights into the history depicted. Nothing useful about the French revolution, and nothing in the depiction of the battles that actually explains how they went and how Napoleon's generalship contributed to the French victories. The depiction of Waterloo is mainly just a mess, unlike the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(1970_film)">1970 film </a>with Rod Steiger as Napoleon.<p></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17495502.post-75156611486552429952023-12-12T07:54:00.000-08:002023-12-12T07:54:29.837-08:00Review of Maestro<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKrd5qQAKvYSe-urnNw0pjHl3gQ_9ukHYSKuyqESGsW9G-NbaI-aHxBDTzlFjyttUpyfrO5grix9Fv2lj_t1GYI-P-GX-3Mu-uGqnAgnq-driWIm2tBGbipaMqfz62asxe-THtMf6SJtPmKtIRckqxteSDWqd5jKEm_JWGZ37gnt-Z2JW4-2mnQ/s681/maestro.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="453" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKrd5qQAKvYSe-urnNw0pjHl3gQ_9ukHYSKuyqESGsW9G-NbaI-aHxBDTzlFjyttUpyfrO5grix9Fv2lj_t1GYI-P-GX-3Mu-uGqnAgnq-driWIm2tBGbipaMqfz62asxe-THtMf6SJtPmKtIRckqxteSDWqd5jKEm_JWGZ37gnt-Z2JW4-2mnQ/w133-h200/maestro.jpeg" width="133" /></a></div>Long and not entirely satisfactory biopic about Leonard Bernstein. It doesn't mention any of his political engagement or activism, but that's not my main gripe. It was quite boring (had a little doze) despite really good actors. It was boring in a rather special way, in that it didn't feel as if the dialogue mattered at all. It was often quite hard to hear, and the narrative was mainly carried by facial expressions. It didn't really feel like there was a story or a script. Stuff just happened, as if what we saw on screen were the linking shots between the real (somehow excised) scenes that were supposed to make up the film.<p></p><p>I'm sure that this was deliberate - this is a work of one man's passion, with lots of other big names (Scorsese, Spielberg) behind it, so it can't have been omission. So I just don't get it.</p><p>Watched at the cinema - Crouch End Art house - and beautiful to look at on a big screen, and yet that still wasn't enough.</p><p>BTW the 'Jewface' thing didn't bother me at all, the nose prosthetic was really good, though Cooper's whiny voice was annoying.</p><p><br /></p>Jeremy Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07657204289331648516noreply@blogger.com0