Last week’s reading:
- ‘What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?’: Jimmy Carter, America’s ‘Malaise,’ and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country is an intriguing single-topic book by Kevin Mattson, an Ohio historian. He tells the story of the critical speech given by Carter on July 15, 1979, covering the energy crisis causing petrol station queues across the country. As Mattson portrays the event, Carter’s sober speech about the problems arising from energy-guzzling American habits was at first highly popular but quickly gave rise to a dramatic backlash against the president, one that was later seen as the turning point in Carter’s loss in 1980 to Reagan. Mattson writes engagingly and his analysis seems sound to me. Especially ironic is the fact that Carter’s prognosis was correct then and is correct now. This book is recommended but only if you have an interest in the era.
- A South African friend insisted I read Spud, a comedic bestseller in that country, written by John van der Ruit. Written in diary form, it’s one of those ‘lives of a thirteen-year-old’ novels, akin to Bridget Jones. Though I dreaded the read, it turned out to be thoroughly absorbing in a light but clever way. Stylistically, think Alexander McCall Smith set in South Africa just after around the end of apartheid. The author has splendid control of pace and a vivid sense of imagination. Not earth shattering but would appeal to many.
- The Spirit Level : Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better is an important book. Written by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, it postulates that many of a society’s attributes of healthiness – happiness, mortality rates, health, violence levels, etc., a whole heap of them – correlate staggeringly highly with that society’s level of inequality. Put bluntly, Sweden and Japan are much better countries to live in than America and Australia, because, so the authors claim, the first two countries have a far less divisive gap between rich and poor. The authors write clearly and convincingly, at least on the central thesis – the data, displayed with great clarity, seems to support their thesis. As to reasons why this should be so, I’m not completely sure of the notion that unequal societies breed resentment and psychological pressures that spill over into poor health and lowered morals. I’ve always felt that societal inequality is something to be battled and this book certainly reinforces my intuition. Highly recommended.
Last week’s movies:
- I saw Avatar in 3D, my first experience with this medium. It was a blast! The crisp storyline: on the baffling planet of Pandora, humans control the minds of synthetically created natives, and in this case a newcomer, crippled Jake Sully, penetrates the native society and becomes one of them, dramatizing the battle between humans and local people. Written and directed by the blockbuster star director James Cameron, it’s sweet, sweet magic from the opening frame: perfect plotting; fine acting, especially by Sam Worthington in the lead; breathtaking choreography and camerawork; seamless switches between animation and real human acting; a timeless if humdrum story with a moral. Writing about it somehow demeans the film; it demands to be experienced as a sensory and imaginative treat. I found myself breathless, muttering phrases like ‘this is reminding me how good film can be.’
- Catching up on 2009 movies missed on the big screen, I began with Katyn, directed by Polish director Andrzej Wajda, dramatising the murder of 12,000 Polish officers in World War II, an action ordered personal by Stalin in order to wipe out the Polish intelligentsia. For two generations this calumny was then blamed on the Nazis. Based on a Polish book, the film dovetails various stories, the most moving ones being of waiting women. The Polish actors are superb, the setting atmospheric, and the script tight. Why then did I find Katyn to have less impact than I’d expected? Perhaps because I knew the essence of the tale, perhaps because the ending holds no surprise at all, perhaps because the different character strands often peter out.
- Folks whose views I trust highly recommended Synecdoche, New York, penned and directed by the febrile Charlie Kaufman. And it did intrigue, as one would expect of a tale of a theatre director whose downward spiralling life prompts him to produce a Hollywood play about his own life, a project that quickly grows to absurd proportions. Themes such as capricious fate (there is much in common with A Serious Man), life’s purpose and storytelling run riot. Philip Seymour Hoffman is in superb form (when is he ever not?) and the rest of the cast works well. But the plot is a mess and increasinglyI could not judge if I was meant to muse, laugh or cry. Nothing makes sense, even at a symbolic level. Most disappointing.
- Beautiful Kate, based on a US novel transplanted into an Australian bush setting, is the scripting and directorial debut of actress Rachel Ward. A worldly but damaged writer returns home to visit his dying father, tended by a younger sister, and in the process begins to unravel the family tragedy of years earlier. Ben Mendelsohn puts in a great performance as the son, as do Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths. The script is tight, the camerawork is lovely, and no sentimentality is dredged up to cope with the film’s dark secrets. Raw and demanding, it was an absorbing viewing.
- Of all this week’s films, the one to fill me with awe and tears was The Soloist. Based on a nonfiction book, the storyline is simple: a jaded reporter spots a former cello prodigy living on the Los Angeles streets and senses a story, but nothing turns out as the reporter wishes it would. The script and direction (by the impressive Joe Wright) rocket along, making no concessions with scene cuts. The nightmarish ‘down and out’ streets of LA are stunningly filmed. But what gives the film special impact are two riveting performances: Jamie Foxx is unforgettable as the saintly but disturbed music lover, and Robert Downey Jr. gives his best ever performance as the empty wise guy. This would have reached my 2009 Top 10 if I’d seen it last year.
Last week’s music:
- It Feels So Good When I Stop is an offbeat release from Joe Pernice, the brilliance behind the Pernice Brothers. It’s essentially a soundtrack to Pernice’s novel of the same name, with the added twist that he sings other people’s songs that are mentioned in the book. I love the Pernice Brothers’ honed melodic feel and bittersweet vocals, so I snapped this up despite misgivings. Tribute albums fade away so fast. And so it proved with this one. The first track is a lovely rendition of Plush’s ‘Found a Little Baby,’ this is followed by terrifically tuneful versions of ‘I Go To Pieces’ (Dell Shannon) and ‘I’m Your Puppet’ (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham), then there a few increasingly twangy songs that are well executed but bland. Add in a mystifying, weird version of ‘Chim Chim Cheree’ and I experienced a sense of letdown. Beautifully done, yes it is, but hardly worthwhile in any fundamental sense
Current reading/listening/viewing:
- Another eclectic fiction mix: Parrot and Olivier/Peter Carey; Spud – The Madness Continues/John van de Ruit; Fever and Spear/Javier Marias; A Gate at the Stairs/Lorrie Moore; and The Long Fall/Walter Mosley. Nonfiction: In the Company of Crows and Ravens/John M. Marzluff & Tony Angell
- Music: The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again/John Fogerty; Logos/Atlas Sound; and Evil Urges/My Morning Jacket
- Planned movies: Bright Star and Up in the Air
New stuff to track down and then read/hear/see:
- Michael Lewis writes wonderful, smart books. The Blind Side isn’t one of his best but it was good enough to make me want to see the movie version, hopefully coming soon. Hope they don’t turn it into a saccharine flop
- I don’t know why but this book attracts me: A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation/Daniel Menaker
- Susan Linfield’s Washington Post review of Worse than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity by Daniel Goldhagen is quite critical, but I’m immediately taken by the apparent scope and passion of the book.
- Spotted in a bookshop, another of those ‘existential How To’ books I’m a sucker for: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything/Ken Robinson
- Still mulling over Testament: Paris/London/Keith Jarrett. More importantly, Freedy Johnston, sweet-tuned singer-songwriter close to my heart, has his first new release in nearly a decade, Rain on the City