A serial killer novel with a difference and a less usual location. Set in Portland, Oregon, the novel deals with the police search for a killer of teenage schoolgirls with the task force being led by a detective who had captured a different serial killer two years earlier - or rather, had been captured by the killer and tortured almost to death before she chose to give herself up.
This has given him some degree of celebrity and he has agreed to be the subject of an extended profile written by a woman
reporter in her twenties. The present-day search is interspersed in the book with details of his capture and torture. He also
visits his captor every Sunday in part to learn details of other killings (he was the 200th victim apparently). The story moves along easily even with a number of apparently irrelevant digressions though it is not that well written (as is the case with many such novels). An interesting twist at the denouement which is just about believable. I won't go out of my way to find
anything else by this author but would read her again.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Larsson, Stieg: The Girl Who Played With Fire
The second book in the trilogy continues where the first left off with Salander, of course, as the focus while Blomkvist has a
less central role. Opening with her holidaying in the Caribbean, Salander returns to Stockholm to become the prime suspect in three murders. The book becomes the story of the police investigation which is helped by her previous employer who has
a separate motive in trying to find out if it is Salander who is guilty with Blomkvist running his own search. The book is nearly 600 pages long and this does show. The pre-Stockholm sequence is superfluous to this book and the mechanics of
Salander's setting up home secretly and then the minutiae of the police investigation create a slowly paced feel. For example, Salander has access to, among others, Blomkvist's computer but will not meet him so he works out that he can send
her messages by creating a file on the computer which she will read; this she does in the chapters focussing on Blmokvist's
efforts but this is repeated verbatim when the focus changes to her. The villains of the piece are truly scary and the action
well done once it occurs with the pace and vigour of the closing chapters much in contrast to what has gone before. Despite
the imbalance in the book, it kept me engrossed and I have decided to read the final book very shortly.
less central role. Opening with her holidaying in the Caribbean, Salander returns to Stockholm to become the prime suspect in three murders. The book becomes the story of the police investigation which is helped by her previous employer who has
a separate motive in trying to find out if it is Salander who is guilty with Blomkvist running his own search. The book is nearly 600 pages long and this does show. The pre-Stockholm sequence is superfluous to this book and the mechanics of
Salander's setting up home secretly and then the minutiae of the police investigation create a slowly paced feel. For example, Salander has access to, among others, Blomkvist's computer but will not meet him so he works out that he can send
her messages by creating a file on the computer which she will read; this she does in the chapters focussing on Blmokvist's
efforts but this is repeated verbatim when the focus changes to her. The villains of the piece are truly scary and the action
well done once it occurs with the pace and vigour of the closing chapters much in contrast to what has gone before. Despite
the imbalance in the book, it kept me engrossed and I have decided to read the final book very shortly.
Glauser, Friedrich: The Chinaman
Glauser is always better when writing about events around Bern and the Bernese Oberland where this excellent thriller is set.
Sergeant Studer meets a man he calls the Chinaman because of his appearance even though he is a local man returned home after years away. The man tells him he is going to be killed within three months, something Studer does not accept but this
does happen when the man's body is found shot dead across the tomb of the wife of the local poorhouse superintendent who
had died on gastric flu, supposedly, a while before. Studer establishes firstly that the man did not shoot himself and then that the dead woman had also been murdered. Over a number of chapters which seem at times tangential to the plot, Studer gets his cast of suspects, all related to the dead man who turns out to have been fairly wealthy, and proceeds to eliminate them as such or help them incriminate themselves. The language is spare yet telling with the different characteristics of the
suspects and others coming through effortlessly. Studer himself is decidedly idiosyncratic in his methods without neglecting to follow proper procedure when he deems it best. Overall, it is easy to see why Glauser is held in such high esteem.
Sergeant Studer meets a man he calls the Chinaman because of his appearance even though he is a local man returned home after years away. The man tells him he is going to be killed within three months, something Studer does not accept but this
does happen when the man's body is found shot dead across the tomb of the wife of the local poorhouse superintendent who
had died on gastric flu, supposedly, a while before. Studer establishes firstly that the man did not shoot himself and then that the dead woman had also been murdered. Over a number of chapters which seem at times tangential to the plot, Studer gets his cast of suspects, all related to the dead man who turns out to have been fairly wealthy, and proceeds to eliminate them as such or help them incriminate themselves. The language is spare yet telling with the different characteristics of the
suspects and others coming through effortlessly. Studer himself is decidedly idiosyncratic in his methods without neglecting to follow proper procedure when he deems it best. Overall, it is easy to see why Glauser is held in such high esteem.
BFI London Film Festival 2010
With only 10 films seen from the hundreds on offer it is unreasonable to make comparisons although, following much the same criteria as before, I found my overall reaction was that there was not as much to excite. Having said that, 'La Princesse de Montpensier', 'Biutiful' and '13 Assassins' were very good with 'The Book of Masters' deserving a special mention as well.
The others were disappointing to a greater or lesser extent with 'End of Animal' taking the wooden spoon closely followed by 'Kaboom'. The remaining four had some good points but were not really satisfying. Best actress - Melanie Thierry in 'La
Princesse de Montpensier' in which Lambert Wilson almost gets Best Actor though this must go to Javier Bardem in 'Biutiful'.
Best cinematography a three-way tie between my top three films. Weirdest performance - Gerard Depardieu in "Mammuth'.
Most gratuitous nudity - 'Kaboom'. Most desirable female - Melanie Thierry with a close second in Roxane Mesquida in 'Kaboom'. Most boring film - 'End of Animal' even if I did sleep almost as much in 'Sleeping Beauty'. Oddest single scene by a leading player - Janet Gaynor's dance in 'Sunny Side Up' which film also claims the most outre scene in 'Turn Up the Heat'
The others were disappointing to a greater or lesser extent with 'End of Animal' taking the wooden spoon closely followed by 'Kaboom'. The remaining four had some good points but were not really satisfying. Best actress - Melanie Thierry in 'La
Princesse de Montpensier' in which Lambert Wilson almost gets Best Actor though this must go to Javier Bardem in 'Biutiful'.
Best cinematography a three-way tie between my top three films. Weirdest performance - Gerard Depardieu in "Mammuth'.
Most gratuitous nudity - 'Kaboom'. Most desirable female - Melanie Thierry with a close second in Roxane Mesquida in 'Kaboom'. Most boring film - 'End of Animal' even if I did sleep almost as much in 'Sleeping Beauty'. Oddest single scene by a leading player - Janet Gaynor's dance in 'Sunny Side Up' which film also claims the most outre scene in 'Turn Up the Heat'
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Kaboom: Gregg Araki (LFF)
Pulled from this year's Frightfest by the director, the film tells of a bisexual college student sharing a room with a surfer stud
with a lesbian best friend at the same college. She takes him to a party where she immediately goes off with her latest desire
and he is almost as immediately approached by a girl who is sick over his shoes. While cleaning these in the men's room, he
is accosted by another girl who wants to fuck so he does. The film goes down from there with his having weird dreams, seeing the girl who was sick over him kidnapped by men in animal masks, having sex with the second girl frequently while his
best friend finds she cannot stop her sexual activities either. Brightly lit with reasonably good-looking females and an out-of-sight plot, all that can be said in the film's favour is that it is fairly short, well lit and pacy.
with a lesbian best friend at the same college. She takes him to a party where she immediately goes off with her latest desire
and he is almost as immediately approached by a girl who is sick over his shoes. While cleaning these in the men's room, he
is accosted by another girl who wants to fuck so he does. The film goes down from there with his having weird dreams, seeing the girl who was sick over him kidnapped by men in animal masks, having sex with the second girl frequently while his
best friend finds she cannot stop her sexual activities either. Brightly lit with reasonably good-looking females and an out-of-sight plot, all that can be said in the film's favour is that it is fairly short, well lit and pacy.
Biutiful: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (LFF)
A strong and inspired central performance by Javier Barden playing a hustler who is dying of cancer holds the film together.
He cares for his two children on his own while dealing with illegal African immigrant street sellers, Chinese sweatshop workers and labourers and a divorced wife with a bi-polar condition. The cinematography in the poorer parts of Barcelona add to the downbeat tone of the film which Bardem's efforts at treating the immigrants fairly fail to overcome. There is a
more coherent film to the film because it focuses on Bardem then was apparent in Inarritu's last two films 21 Grams and Babel
but this is more a film to be admired than liked.
He cares for his two children on his own while dealing with illegal African immigrant street sellers, Chinese sweatshop workers and labourers and a divorced wife with a bi-polar condition. The cinematography in the poorer parts of Barcelona add to the downbeat tone of the film which Bardem's efforts at treating the immigrants fairly fail to overcome. There is a
more coherent film to the film because it focuses on Bardem then was apparent in Inarritu's last two films 21 Grams and Babel
but this is more a film to be admired than liked.
Sunny Side Up: David Butler (LFF)
A 1929 film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, this is considered the first musical that had a story line, albeit a rather
stilted one. It is the 4th of July and preparations for the celebration in Yorkville are contrasted with those at a house party in
Southampton where Farrell, the rich son of Mary Foster, leaves the party in annoyance at the behaviour of his fiancee.
As the Yorkville celebrations reach the evening peak, Farrell drives in and causes a ruckus though this is not his fault as he
has crashed his car to avoid and young girl in the street. He hears Gaynor sing and decides she should go to Southampton to sing at an upcoming charity concert his mother has organised with the aim of having her make his fiancee jealous in the process. He pays for her to be suitable dressed, for her three friends to join her as her servants - butler, maid and chauffeur - and rents the next door mansion for them. The plot succeeds though Gaynor has fallen in love with him so is not too happy at this. On the evening of the concert, one of the local socialites overhears two of the friends let slip that Farrell is
paying the rent next door. The whispers start and, following a bizarre routine with 36 of the local girls dressed in furs before
they appear in swimming costumes and fountains play (shades of Busby Berkeley to come), Marjorie White tells Janet Gaynor to leave immediately. Gaynor does, however, sing her song first and then goes back to Yorkville to mope. She realises she has left her diary behind so she goes off by train while her three friends try to catch up with her by road. For some reason,
White goes to the rented house, finds and reads the diary and realises she has wrongly maligned Gaynor. So it all ends
happily. What is proved without doubt is that Gaynor can neither sing nor dance, Farrell could not act and speak in the same
film and second leads in musicals then seemed to bellow! The songs are standards - Sunny Side Up, If I Had a Talking Picture of You and I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All the main ones - and these save the film from what otherwiss would be well-
deserved oblivion.
stilted one. It is the 4th of July and preparations for the celebration in Yorkville are contrasted with those at a house party in
Southampton where Farrell, the rich son of Mary Foster, leaves the party in annoyance at the behaviour of his fiancee.
As the Yorkville celebrations reach the evening peak, Farrell drives in and causes a ruckus though this is not his fault as he
has crashed his car to avoid and young girl in the street. He hears Gaynor sing and decides she should go to Southampton to sing at an upcoming charity concert his mother has organised with the aim of having her make his fiancee jealous in the process. He pays for her to be suitable dressed, for her three friends to join her as her servants - butler, maid and chauffeur - and rents the next door mansion for them. The plot succeeds though Gaynor has fallen in love with him so is not too happy at this. On the evening of the concert, one of the local socialites overhears two of the friends let slip that Farrell is
paying the rent next door. The whispers start and, following a bizarre routine with 36 of the local girls dressed in furs before
they appear in swimming costumes and fountains play (shades of Busby Berkeley to come), Marjorie White tells Janet Gaynor to leave immediately. Gaynor does, however, sing her song first and then goes back to Yorkville to mope. She realises she has left her diary behind so she goes off by train while her three friends try to catch up with her by road. For some reason,
White goes to the rented house, finds and reads the diary and realises she has wrongly maligned Gaynor. So it all ends
happily. What is proved without doubt is that Gaynor can neither sing nor dance, Farrell could not act and speak in the same
film and second leads in musicals then seemed to bellow! The songs are standards - Sunny Side Up, If I Had a Talking Picture of You and I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All the main ones - and these save the film from what otherwiss would be well-
deserved oblivion.
13 Assassins: Takashi Miike (LFF)
In the dying years of the Shogunate, the council of elders decide they must act against Lord Naritsugu who is the present
Shogun's favoured successor, a position which allows him to behave as he will. They instruct a retired samurai to assemble
a team to make him disappear when he next returns to his domain. He does this even though a former dear colleague is now the head of Naritsugu's troops. His usual route to his domain is blocked by a nobleman who resents his behaviour so he
has to detour but is then persuaded to take a less direct route which throws the assassins' plans out. They go cross country
but get lost until they meet up with an outlaw who leads them over the hills to the town of Ochiai through which Lord Naritsugu musr pass. They chase the inhabitants out and fortify the town so that when he turns up with his escort of 200 men they are able to isolate them into smaller groups and mayhem ensues. During the extended fight, the assassins are
killed off one by one until only three remain though by now they are fighting near enough the same number. The lead
assassin fights and kills his former friend and then the evil lord before dying from his wounds. This leaves his young protege and the outlaw who has become the unfficial 13th assassin alive in the ruins of the town. A slowish build-up though not
without interest is more than offset by the prolonged battle in the final reels. Brilliently executed.
Shogun's favoured successor, a position which allows him to behave as he will. They instruct a retired samurai to assemble
a team to make him disappear when he next returns to his domain. He does this even though a former dear colleague is now the head of Naritsugu's troops. His usual route to his domain is blocked by a nobleman who resents his behaviour so he
has to detour but is then persuaded to take a less direct route which throws the assassins' plans out. They go cross country
but get lost until they meet up with an outlaw who leads them over the hills to the town of Ochiai through which Lord Naritsugu musr pass. They chase the inhabitants out and fortify the town so that when he turns up with his escort of 200 men they are able to isolate them into smaller groups and mayhem ensues. During the extended fight, the assassins are
killed off one by one until only three remain though by now they are fighting near enough the same number. The lead
assassin fights and kills his former friend and then the evil lord before dying from his wounds. This leaves his young protege and the outlaw who has become the unfficial 13th assassin alive in the ruins of the town. A slowish build-up though not
without interest is more than offset by the prolonged battle in the final reels. Brilliently executed.
Surviving Life: Jan Svankmaier (LFF)
A married man dreams of a beautiful woman and goes to a psychcoanalyst to try and resolve his confusions. Following the
usual Svankmaier mix of paper cut-outs, claymation and real life action, there are a series of surreal scenes during which his
mental state is explored. Probably well up to standard but I was in the wrong frame of mind for it.
usual Svankmaier mix of paper cut-outs, claymation and real life action, there are a series of surreal scenes during which his
mental state is explored. Probably well up to standard but I was in the wrong frame of mind for it.
The Sleeping Beauty: Catherine Breillat (LFF)
A sort of feminist update on the fairy tale with the princess being cursed to die at 16 but three young witches, first seen in
the nude bathing, convert this to falling asleep for 100 years, being able to move around in her dreams and then for the curse to run from 6 to 16 as childhood is the boring part of life. This happens and the young princess goes through a series of
adventures, falling in love with a young lad who is taken by the Snow Queen, living with gypsies and other events until she
reahces 16 when she wakes up and meets someone she takes to be the long-lost boyfriend but is actually his great-grandson. She is now old enough to do something about the love she had as a 6 year old for a protective older boy which she does to end up pregnant - end of film. Boring.
the nude bathing, convert this to falling asleep for 100 years, being able to move around in her dreams and then for the curse to run from 6 to 16 as childhood is the boring part of life. This happens and the young princess goes through a series of
adventures, falling in love with a young lad who is taken by the Snow Queen, living with gypsies and other events until she
reahces 16 when she wakes up and meets someone she takes to be the long-lost boyfriend but is actually his great-grandson. She is now old enough to do something about the love she had as a 6 year old for a protective older boy which she does to end up pregnant - end of film. Boring.
The Book of Masters: Vadim Sokolovsky (LFF)
A fairytale princess out picking flowers with her grandmothers touches a magic stone which turns her into a Stone Queen who
is trapped in a tower for eternity so she vows revenge on all humans and creates an army of stone warriors who lay waste to
the surrounding area. It turns out that there is a resolution to the curse which involves a stonecutter remodelling the magic stone though this can, if done wrongly, give the Stone Queen the ability to end the world. A rather dopey looking boy has
followed his father's trade and learns all there is to know about stone cutting having read the Book of Masters. After a number of adventures including a beautiful young maid with whom he, of course, falls in love, he ends as the hero of the hour and all live happily ever after. The production does from time to time cut from live action to a printed page which then
comes to life to move the story on - very effectively done. A charming film.
is trapped in a tower for eternity so she vows revenge on all humans and creates an army of stone warriors who lay waste to
the surrounding area. It turns out that there is a resolution to the curse which involves a stonecutter remodelling the magic stone though this can, if done wrongly, give the Stone Queen the ability to end the world. A rather dopey looking boy has
followed his father's trade and learns all there is to know about stone cutting having read the Book of Masters. After a number of adventures including a beautiful young maid with whom he, of course, falls in love, he ends as the hero of the hour and all live happily ever after. The production does from time to time cut from live action to a printed page which then
comes to life to move the story on - very effectively done. A charming film.
End of Animal: Jo Sung-Hee (LFF)
A girl is travelling by taxi to her mother's home in the country and agrees to give a hitch-hiker a lift. He seems to know all about the driver and the girl as well as forecasting some sort of disaster. This duly happens and the driver goes off to find
help, leaving the girl in the cab. The stranger vanishes and the girl finds herself in a twisted loop where she is bullied by
others and gets nowhere until finally giving birth by the roadside - although her pregnancy is established early on, she does not look that advanced at the start. The stranger, who has appeared again from time to time, turns up again and takes the baby leaving the girl sitting by the roadside reciting a list of things she wants. I confess i fell asleep at times during this very odd film in which so little actually happens. The director is overly fond of over-long distance shots which make Bela Tarr come across as almost an action helmer.
help, leaving the girl in the cab. The stranger vanishes and the girl finds herself in a twisted loop where she is bullied by
others and gets nowhere until finally giving birth by the roadside - although her pregnancy is established early on, she does not look that advanced at the start. The stranger, who has appeared again from time to time, turns up again and takes the baby leaving the girl sitting by the roadside reciting a list of things she wants. I confess i fell asleep at times during this very odd film in which so little actually happens. The director is overly fond of over-long distance shots which make Bela Tarr come across as almost an action helmer.
Mammuth: Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern (LFF)
The previous two films by these directors were more than a little odd, one a wheelchair road movie and the other a mixed up revenge movie. The attraction here is the two leads - Gerard Depardieu and Yolande Moreau. They play a married couple with his retirement from the local abattoir kicking the film off. He discovers that he needs to obtain paperwork from previous employers to get a pension and the film becomes a combination of a road movie and nostalgia. The opening fe
scenes are farcical, especially the ones in the local supermarket but the film seems to lose its way though there are several
amusing sequences - and at least one very sick one. Isabelle Adjani appears as a ghost from the past with her face rather
damaged which turns out to be the result of Depardieu having crashed his motorbike while she was a passenger - he lived,
she didn't. Mammuth, incidentally, is the make of bike he rode which turns out to be worth a lot of money. A strange and
somewhat disappointing film.
scenes are farcical, especially the ones in the local supermarket but the film seems to lose its way though there are several
amusing sequences - and at least one very sick one. Isabelle Adjani appears as a ghost from the past with her face rather
damaged which turns out to be the result of Depardieu having crashed his motorbike while she was a passenger - he lived,
she didn't. Mammuth, incidentally, is the make of bike he rode which turns out to be worth a lot of money. A strange and
somewhat disappointing film.
La Princesse de Montpensier: Bertrand Tavernier (LFF)
Based on a story by Madame de Lafayette, this historical film is set during the religious strife in 16th century France. The
cinematography is excellent both in the outdoor and indoor scenes and the acting, particularly by Melanie Thierry in the
eponymous lead and by Lambert Wilson, her tutor, first rate. She is in love with her cousin though engaged to his brother
but is marroed off to another noble for political reasons to further her father's ambitions. Needless to say, although she tries to be faithful to her husband she has sex with the cousin she loves and also develops a strong attachment for Lambert
Wilson. The film ends in tragedy after a number of well-constructed and highly charged scenes both at her husband's castle and at the royal court. A really good film.
cinematography is excellent both in the outdoor and indoor scenes and the acting, particularly by Melanie Thierry in the
eponymous lead and by Lambert Wilson, her tutor, first rate. She is in love with her cousin though engaged to his brother
but is marroed off to another noble for political reasons to further her father's ambitions. Needless to say, although she tries to be faithful to her husband she has sex with the cousin she loves and also develops a strong attachment for Lambert
Wilson. The film ends in tragedy after a number of well-constructed and highly charged scenes both at her husband's castle and at the royal court. A really good film.
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