Lansdale, Joe R: The Thicket

A teenage boy is travelling with his younger sister and his grandfather to the latter's home after his
parents have died in a smallpox outbreak.   A ferry crossing has his grandfather shot by bandits,
his sister abducted and he nearly drowned.   He meets up with a midget and the son of a slave who
have a large hog with them.   He promises them his inheritance if they will help him get his sister
back even though he accepts she will have been raped and possibly even killed by her captors who
are a well-known bunch of evildoers.   The book follows the tracking down of the bad guys with a
fair amount of sidetracking including a lot of philosophising.   Jack, the young lad, loses his virginity
in a whorehouse while looking for one of the villains: the latter is caught, tortured and handed over
to the local sheriff.   The whore with Jack talks him into helping her escape the whorehouse which he
does and she joins up with him as does the sheriff when the villain escapes.   Lengthy but relatively
easy to read and wryly amusing at times, it seemed more diffuse than I recall other Lansdale books
having been but he does win a lot of awards whatever his style may be

Connolly John: The Lovers

Charlie Parker is a private eye who, in this book, is working in a country bar in Maine following
events detailed in earlier books.   He is haunted by what happened to his father who was a New York
policeman who killed himself having inexplicably shot two teenagers.   This book tells of Parker's
search for the truth behind the events.   In what I felt was an overlong telling, he becomes involved
in supernatural events as well as uncovering unsavoury details of the past involving his father's
colleagues.   It all sort of hung together but was not that easy a read and I may not read the other
books I have by the same author.

London Korean Film Festival 3 to 17 November 2016.

Having enjoyed some of the films in previous year's festivals, I was looking forward to this year's
offerings though making a selection was not easy.
The Last Princess seen on 9 November is based on the true story of the last princess of Korea who
was sent as a child to Japan which had just annexed Korea.   Although she is promised a return
visit to see her family she is effectively held captive and eventually married to a Japanese prince.
Meeting a childhood friend with whom she falls in love she tries, with the help of him and his
friends, to escape but the Korean general who took her to Japan and has become all but Japanese
thwarts their plans.   Even when World War II ends, her return is refused and she grows old in
exile until she is finally allowed to return to Seoul to be greeted by her former servants and friends.
A solid, well-acted film with a strong emotional end.
A Fish seen on 11 November in 'homemade' 3D has a troubled professor looking for his wife.   He
hires a psychotic private detective who traces her to an island where she is training to be a shaman.
A number of disconnected episodes follow in what is decidedly one of the odder films I have seen
for a long time.
Alone came the next day and was also directed by Park Hong-min whose 3D film we had seen the
previous day.   Set in the labyrinthine back streets of one of the older districts of Seoul, the lead is
a photographer who sees a murder take place across the rooftops but he is spotted and chased to
escape eventually winding up naked in an alleyway.   The rest of the film has him wandering around
while trying to piece together what has happened to him.   He meets the same people, including a
young boy who may or may not be himself, more than once is what is well-photographed but rather
a disappointing film.

London East Asia Film Festival: 20-30 October 2016

As the dates above show, it has taken quite some time for me to review the films seen - in part
through not feeling too well after a failed operation but mainly through being distracted.
Curtain Call seen on 23 October tells of a rubbishy theatre group performing semi-pornographic
farce whose theatre is about to close.   The director decides they should end with something good
and enters them into a competition in which they will perform 'Hamlet'.   An outsider is cast in
the lead role but takes little part in rehearsals which he considers beneath him.   Come the day,
the performance is something of a disaster with forgotten lines, missed entries and the leading
man walking out.   A sub-plot involves the actress playing Gertrude and her daughter with the
latter dutifully turning up to see the play together with her friends.   The ensemble cast produce
a highly enjoyable film which has a happy ending after much laughter.   I do not recall which
of us chose this but it was more than worth the effort of getting to the ICA on a Sunday morning.
Karaoke Crazies seen on 29 October is set in a karaoke club in a small town.   It has seen better
days and has few customers.   The owner and sole occupant takes on a completely unsuitable
girl assistant who is tone deaf but does help business along by giving blowjobs to customers.
They are joined by a live-wire helper who claims to be a specialist in reviving businesses.   Here
she uses her good looks and provocative clothing to entice custom by promising but not giving.
A fourth occupant is a defeated fat young man who has effectively hidden in the building before
being noticed.   The four gradually form a sort of family at a time when a serial killer is on
the loose attacking women who entertain in some way.   A rather strange film which was not
what I was expecting but it has style and a certain charm.   Again, the ending is a happy one.
The films were part of the first ever festival of this name and I will definitely look out for the
event later this year.