THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
01/16/04 -- Vol. 22, No. 29
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
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Topics:
Discussion of AMERICAN GODS
Dictionaries (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
My Top Ten Films of 2003 (film comments by Mark R. Leeper)
PETER PAN (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
FOR US, THE LIVING (book review by Robert L. Mitchell)
MONSTER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (FOR US, THE LIVING and Donald
Westlake) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Discussion of AMERICAN GODS (announcement by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
Reminder for people in the central New Jersey area: There will be
a discussion of Neil Gaiman's Hugo-winning AMERICAN GODS at 7PM on
Thursday, January 22, at the Old Bridge Public Library (Route 516
just east of Route 9). Please come join us--you don't have to be
an Old Bridge resident. (There is a useful page of annotations
at http://www.frowl.org/gods/gods.html) [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Dictionaries (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Odd fact: While most bi-lingual dictionaries have the slight
problem that to use one of the directions, you have to start in
the middle of the book, English-Hebrew and English-Yiddish
dictionaries can actually be produced with both halves going in
the right direction. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: My Top Ten Films of 2003 (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I always resist a little the task of making up a top ten list of
the best films I have seen over the year. I tell myself that I
have a preference for entertainment films over artistic
independent films. To me that makes my list seem a less than
serious. This year I stood back and looked at the list and found
somewhat to my surprise that there are really only three or so
studio films and even those have a sort of independent film feel.
In any case these are the films that I most enjoyed over the past
year.
1. SHATTERED GLASS
Journalistic integrity is a concept that is a little abstract and
the story involves no guns, chases, or explosions. Billy Ray has
written and directed a surprisingly exciting film very different
from just about anything else out there. He gives us a very nuts-
and-bolts explanation of what is not really a nuts-and-bolts sort
of business, the writing of opinion. SHATTERED GLASS also looks
at the question of how do we know what we know is true. This is a
surprisingly intriguing film.
Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
2. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
What is probably the best-written film of the year functions as a
thriller and as a human drama. Two people from different
backgrounds struggle for ownership of the same house. The film
plays with our expectations and our prejudices but also touches on
some very serious issues.
Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
3. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
This is almost certainly the most exciting pirate film ever made.
This fast-paced confection of an adventure has wit, a good story,
and imaginative visuals. Johnny Depp gives what is probably his
best performance as a grubby yet stylish pirate captain.
Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
4. WINGED MIGRATION
This documentary follows many species of birds as they go through
their lives and especially as their migrations. We see it almost
literally "up close and personal." Much of the film is jaw
dropping and more than a little is genuinely funny. Give this one
a chance and almost certainly you WILL like it.
Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
5. THE FOG OF WAR
Inspired by reading the memoirs of Robert S. McNamara, Errol
Morris made THE FOG OF WAR. McNamara was the Secretary of Defense
from 1961 to 1968. In this film McNamara offers some extremely
surprising opinions about American foreign policy from the Second
World War to the present, but especially during his term as
Secretary of State.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
6. MONSTER
Charlize Theron proves herself capable of Oscar-worthy
performances in the story of a real-life serial killer and
prostitute who has a lesbian relationship with a runaway. The
plot is familiar, the direction is only mediocre, and the
photography is flat, but the acting is really top notch.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
7. MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
In 1805 Jack Aubrey, captain of HMS Surprise, is obsessed by the
mission to capture or sink the French ship Acheron. More so than
in any previous film we are brought aboard a fighting ship from
Britain's war against Napoleon. The story may be slow except for
some really exciting action scenes, but the historical detail is
probably the best for any film about the period. If you enjoy
Aubrey (or even Hornblower) stories this film from director Peter
Weir is a must.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
8. MYSTIC RIVER
Clint Eastwood directs Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and
Marcia Gay Harden in a powerful drama about three friends haunted
by an incident in the past that still looms heavily over their
lives. This is a film with great performances and a strong feel
for its Eastern Massachusetts setting. The film builds to a
powerful conclusion that is reminiscent of a certain respected
western film.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
9. WHALE RIDER
Though this story of New Zealand's Maori people is set in the
present and told with some realism, it is still enchanting. WHALE
RIDER is the mythic story of a girl chosen by the gods to lead her
village. Pai seems to have a spiritual destiny, but the tale is
told as if it happened to people with real 21st century problems.
Though some of the material is familiar and cliched, it is still
an affecting story.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
10. BIG FISH
Tim Burton directs this study of a troubled father-son
relationship with a dying father whose fairy tale stories of the
major events of his life have always been a major barrier between
himself and his son. The story has long fantasy sequences that
pull the viewer into the stories studded with giants, werewolves,
circuses, huge fish, Siamese twins, and more. The subject is
really the upside and the downside of a strong imagination.
Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
In addition I would like to call attention to the following films
that would be on my top ten list except for technicalities.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING perhaps deserves to
be on this list. Bringing THE LORD OF THE RINGS to the screen is
an impressive feat in this nine or ten hour film released in three
parts. It deserves to be the best of a year. It does not deserve
to be the best of the year for three consecutive years. I gave
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS my best of the
year for 2001 with instructions that it should share that honor
with its two siblings.
I would also like to call attention to three other films that are
appearing at film festivals, but not getting general releases.
These were films I would have put on my top ten list (probably)
had they become available to the general public. I say "probably"
because I would add them to the top ten list and then would have
to take three films off. I am not sure which films would come
off. In any case the films are:
OSAMA
No, it is not about THAT Osama. It is about a young woman in
Afghanistan in the days of the Taliban. Extreme Islamic religious
restrictions prevent her mother and herself from any legal way to
earn a living so she masquerades as a boy to get a job. This
leads to tragic consequences.
CYPHER
While nominally not based on the writings of Phillip K. Dick, this
is one of the best science fiction adaptations of Dick's ideas.
Director Vincenzo Natali (CUBE, and the upcoming NOTHING) has a
sure hand and could be a major talent. Jeremy Northam plays a
nerd who becomes an industrial spy and the key player in a world
war between two mega-corporations.
ROSENSTRASSE
This is the true story of highborn gentile women in Nazi Germany
who had married Jewish husbands. The husbands are arrested and
imprisoned preparatory to sending them to death camps. The wives
organize and demonstrate for the release of their husbands,
attempting to make themselves a serious embarrassment for the
Third Reich. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: PETER PAN (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: P. J. Hogan brings to the screen a reasonably accurate
version of the classic J. M. Barrie children's story, but one with
more depth and a look at the emotions of the maturing process.
This is a feast for the eyes that I can recommend with more
conviction for parents than I can for the children who might see
it. The film creates charming illustrations for the famous story
and does it in all in what looks like live action. Rating: +2 (-4
to +4) or 7/10
What a delightful surprise it was to discover that I like
J. M. Barrie's story Peter Pan more than I thought that I did. I
almost skipped seeing this film. The story in good hands is more
intelligent and stronger in ideas than I was expecting. PETER PAN
is a children's film for adults. Bring children to it and it
might be a fantasy that may not really engage them. It is not
like Pokemon or Lord of the Rings. Parts will possibly seem slow.
Some children I know may not find it to their liking. That is
some children. Adults, on the other hand, will probably remember
seeing the Disney animated adaptation. And perhaps they will have
seen even the musical stage play with Mary Martin swinging around
the stage on the wire and with Boris Karloff mugging as Captain
Hook. They may well be entranced by what is the most beautiful
and intricate visualization of the familiar story. On the stage
and even in the animation Never Land was simplified for economy
and for stagecraft. But Roger Ford's production design for the
film makes it look like some marvelous old Victorian toy come to
life.
The script by Hogan and Michael Goldenberg from the play and books
of J. M. Barrie generally follows the original story, but then
adds some sequences not in the original play, notably
Mr. Darling's attempts to look good for the management of his
firm. It broadens and expands the original theme of the gain and
loss of growing up. Much more than in previous version the dialog
seems to concert adult emotions and even desires. At times it
almost becomes sensuous.
The story, for those who have not seen some version, is of the
playful spirit who is Pan (Jeremy Sumpter). He comes visiting the
children of the Darling household from the mystical place called
Never Land. After Pan loses his shadow, Wendy Darling (Rachel
Hurd-Wood) helps him get it back and Pan ends up bringing all
three children flying with him back to his Never Land. Never Land
seems to be comprised of smaller regions, one with Indians, one
with pirates, one with the foundling Lost Boys. (It may well have
been the original inspiration for Disneyland.) And what a
luxurious Never Land this film shows us.
Pan is in a constant war with Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs, who also
plays Mr. Darling). He fights Hook while trying to play father to
the Lost Boys who need a mother. Pan wants Wendy to be a mother
to the lost boys. And trapped in eternal youth, he is puzzled
that he also wants something else from her, but he is unsure what
it is. It has something to do with the pleasure he gets from
kissing her. He may not know what he wants, but one gets the
feeling that Tinkerbell does know. Tink (Ludivine Sagnier of THE
SWIMMING POOL), though incompatible with Peter, is jealous of
female competition for Peter's attentions. This Tinkerbell
worries about more than if children will clap for her. Her
rubber-faced antics hide a personality with more depth than one
might expect. Much the same is true of Hook who is a villain, but
in this version he also has some humanity. He makes sense as a
character. When he dies, the Lost Boys jeer him saying not that
he was not a good fighter or is ugly as might be expected but with
the taunt "Old. Unwanted. Alone." Now that is fighting dirty in
a way unexpectedly insightful for a children's film.
Sumpter and Hurd-Wood have surprising stage presence at the ages
of fourteen and thirteen respectively. There even is a certain
romantic chemistry between them. James Newton Howard has created
a heroic fairy tale musical score for the film that fits it very
nicely. For a generation whose only contacts with this story are
the dreadful film HOOK and re-releases of the Disney version, this
film will be a fine rediscovery. This is the vision of Peter Pan
that I would want in my head when I read the story. I rate it a
+2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: FOR US, THE LIVING (book review by Robert L. Mitchell)
Robert Anson Heinlein, love him or hate him, has been one of the
most influential and best-selling (not necessarily well-correlated
adjectives) SF authors of all time. Probably no one who considers
himself or herself an SF fan has not read at least one of his
novels or short story collections, and most people have at least a
vague idea of his career – writing short fiction for John
W. Campbell in ASTOUNDING, expanding into juvenile novels in the
1950s, and then into adult novels (in all senses of that term) in
the late 1950s through to his death in 1988. Most people who have
read a reasonable amount of his work come away from it feeling
they have a good understanding of the author – his values,
interests, etc. That may or may not be true, but even completists
like me don’t know everything, and Heinlein’s “latest” novel, FOR
US, THE LIVING (A COMEDY OF CUSTOMS) is proof.
Much of the surprise of this book is in the background explaining
why he wrote it. Readers who conclude (erroneously, in my
opinion) that Heinlein was a right-wing zealot may be surprised to
learn that in the 1930s, after being released from Naval service
due to tuberculosis, Heinlein was an active and influential left-
wing Democrat, and was closely involved with Upton Sinclair’s
radical EPIC (End Poverty in California) party. Heinlein
campaigned for a seat in the California State Assembly (and lost)
and advocated, among other things, revolutionary approaches to
personal privacy, sexual mores, banking policy, and capital
redistribution. For example, he was quite comfortable with the
idea of the government distributing a minimum income to anyone who
asked for it, without requiring work in return – but (and this is
a large “but”) on the condition that his other ideas were also
embraced.
Heinlein lost the election, but apparently felt he needed to
elaborate on his views of a Utopian society. He wrote FOR US, THE
LIVING in 1938-39 as a novel, although it’s truly a thinly veiled
lecture on what he felt needed to be done. When he finished it,
it was rejected by several publishers, and Heinlein abandoned it,
later taking up the short fiction that started him down the road
to being a titan of SF.
FOR US, THE LIVING tells the story of Perry Nelson, who has an
automobile accident in 1939 and wakes up in 2086. He has lots of
trouble adjusting to the radically different American society, and
engages in many discussions with experts in history, economics,
etc. to help him catch up. These "discussions" are the major
vehicle Heinlein uses to explain how the United States evolved
from the 1939 we know, to a culture where everyone respects each
other’s right to privacy, where the citizenry have grown out of
jealousy, and where the government prints money on an as-needed
basis for Social Credit. There is certainly a plot, albeit a
tenuous one, and the characters are fleshed out to varying degrees
(though none are really three-dimensional, and most are uni-
dimensional).
Not that this is a problem. After all, Utopian novels (and
Dystopian novels, for that matter) have a long and honorable
history in literature of being more essay than fiction, and
Heinlein was clearly following the model of Bellamy’s LOOKING
BACKWARD. In such stories, the ideas are supposed to take center
stage, and plot, characterization, etc. are sugar-coating to make
the didactic medicine more palatable.
FOR US, THE LIVING is not a good novel, and probably should not be
read by anyone who has not read a lot of Heinlein, especially his
Future History works. For those who are broadly familiar with
Heinlein, though, the book is a fascinating archeological look
into proto-Heinlein. The themes and issues he would become known
for – liberty, personal responsibility, time travel, sex, trying
to fly to the moon, the religious monster Nehemiah Scudder, etc.
are all here, and it’s clear Heinlein’s later works developed from
a solid core of themes and issues he held from the beginning of
his writing career. Much as Christopher Tolkien’s HISTORY OF
MIDDLE EARTH series has provided academic insight into what became
J. R. R. Tolkien’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS, FOR US THE LIVING
provides an intimate look into an author who has a unique position
in SF history. [-rlm]
===================================================================
TOPIC: MONSTER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Charlize Theron proves herself capable of Oscar-worthy
performances in the story of a real life serial killer and
prostitute who has a lesbian relationship with a runaway. The
plot familiar, the direction is only mediocre, and the photography
is flat, but the acting is top notch. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4)
or 8/10
When Sylvester Stallone's career seemed to be foundering he put
together a film to show off what he could do. That film was ROCKY
and it got a best picture Oscar and a newly renewed career for
Stallone. Charlize Theron is a South African actress with a
pretty face who did a reasonable job in some physical roles,
including the recent THE ITALIAN JOB. She has received some
critical attention, but she has been in real danger of being lost
in a multitude of pretty actresses regardless of any real acting
talent. Certainly if she has ability films like her MIGHTY JOE
YOUNG are not going to show it off. She needs to demonstrate an
acting genius at this point in her career. That may be the reason
she co-produced and starred in MONSTER. MONSTER is the perhaps-
fictionalized story of Aileen Wuornos as researched and later
directed by Patty Jenkins.
If Theron wanted to prove that she has serious dramatic talent,
her point is proven. As seven-time serial killer Aileen Wuornos
she is ugly, abrasive, and totally convincing. When the film
begins she is a hooker who spends her nights in bars. We will be
told the rough background that caused her to fall into the
profession. In a Florida bar one night Aileen, or Lee as she is
called, meets Selby Wall (played by Christina Ricci), a runaway
from Ohio. Selby is attracted to Lee and though Lee is not a
lesbian she encourages Selby. Not long after that one of Lee's
Johns takes Lee to a remote spot and beats her intending to rape
her. Lee kills the man in self-defense, then steals his car and
his money. Lee and Selby run away together.
Lee becomes a serial killer, angrily murdering the men who
proposition her with progressively less and less justification.
Lee tells herself that these murders are justified and the victims
do not deserve to live. The film makes the descent into multiple
murder seem to be logical if not acceptable. The killing make
sense rather than being the result of a deranged mind. That may
not be accurate since the public judgement seems to be that
Wuornos really was insane. But her death judgements are quickly
reached and with guns readily available they can be carried out
before there is time to reconsider them. She is steeped in self-
hate and can turn on others quickly. In one case Lee tries to get
her intended victim to say something that will anger her enough to
kill him, but changes her mind when she is not sure he deserves
death. The plot follows the same basic outline as films like GUN
CRAZY. It may be that usually in these films the lovers on the
run have not traditionally been lesbians, but this is the 21st
century. The end titles claim that all characters but the killer
are fictional, but that may be just a legal formality.
The film allows a lot of room for both Theron and Ricci to act and
show what they can do. Certainly Theron demonstrates ability far
beyond expectation. And she is almost unrecognizable in a makeup
job that really distorts her looks but never appears unnatural.
One or twice I saw a little of the familiar face behind the eyes
of this Aileen Wuornos, but not enough to tell who it was. Theron
more importantly seems to have completely become the character in
a way few actors ever do. I don't know enough about Wuornos to
know whether Theron really became that character, but I could tell
that she was no longer Theron.
This is not an enjoyable film, but it is a film to be admired for
the fine performance. I would rate MONSTER a high +2 on the -4 to
+4 scale or 8/10. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I read Robert A. Heinlein's FOR US, THE LIVING, and I can report
that my initial comments still hold. To recap, it was apparently
written in 1938, at the time of Heinlein's involvement with social
reform campaigns in California. And, yes, it is probably only for
Heinlein completists. As I commented to one, "If I wanted a
course in economics, I'd sign up for one at Brookdale Community
College."
The book is written in the tradition of Edward Bellamy and other
Utopian writers. As with many of those, the protagonist falls
asleep/is overcome by gas/passes through a time warp/has a curse
put on him--oh, sorry, I got carried away there. Anyway, the
protagonist is in a car crash in 1938 and through some hand-waving
ends up in a body in 2086. (The explanation is even less
convincing than that of being overcome by gas.) Naturally he gets
found by a beautiful woman, who decides to take him in and provide
various teachers who explain at great length how the country's
economic and political system has evolved since 1938. As with
much of Heinlein's work, everything works because he stacks the
deck so that it works. For example, everyone is given enough
money to live on, but people continue to work because they want
to. This is made at least slightly plausible only because he
postulates that all the tedious jobs are done by machine. After
all, why would someone take a job cleaning bathrooms if they
didn't have to? Heinlein also sets up a situation in which the
United States can effectively ignore the rest of the world.
One can certainly see the beginnings of many of Heinlein's ideas
here, and for followers of Utopian fiction it has its place, but
there is nothing compelling enough to warrant reading this if all
you are looking for is a good science fiction novel.
And elsewhere in this issue is a review by one of those Heinlein
completists, Rob Mitchell.
I also read Donald Westlake's science fiction, five short stories
published in "Playboy" between 1981 and 1988. These are about the
voyages of the Starship Hopeful, which sets out in 11,406 after
the Master Imperial Computer discovered that 500 years earlier, a
clerical error had erased from the computer's memory more than
1000 colonies. Its mission is to find these lost colonies. Each
one has apparently become an exaggeration of its initial settlers,
so one is given over to gamblers, another to an acting company,
and so on. These are available at
http://www.donaldwestlake.com/wks_ss6_intro.html [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
It is for us, the living, rather, to be
dedicated to the unfinished work ... that
this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom.
--Abraham Lincoln
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