THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
01/28/05 -- Vol. 23, No. 31 (Whole Number 1267)
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:
Timing (comment by Mark R. Leeper)
Mark Leeper's Top Ten Films of 2004
Response on THE SWEET AND SOUR TONGUE (by Leslie What)
Response on MALE FANTASY
BREAKING NEWS (DAI SI GEIN) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
WRITER OF O (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE
STRANGE SCHEMES OF RANDOLPH MASON, and AS TIMELESS
AS INFINITY) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Timing (comment by Mark R. Leeper)
It is a good thing that the Internet did not come along until after
the Sexual Revolution. Imagine what would have happened if there
had been an Internet a century earlier. What would Victorian
society have made of all the spam about penis extenders? [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mark Leeper's Top Ten Films of 2004
As an amateur film buff I see nowhere near as many of the major
artistic films as I would like. And frequently when I do, my
take is somewhat individualistic. For example, while many of the
critics are very impressed with SIDEWAYS, I am just mildly
positive on it. These were the ten films of 2004 that impressed
me the most. (Okay, it is twelve films. After I made this list I
realized that I had inadvertently left off two films that I had
seen in 2003, but which had official release in 2004. I have at
the end two films that were pushed off the list.)
1. HOTEL RWANDA
Don Cheadle stars in a film that shows humanity at its best and
at its worst. This is the moving dramatization of the true story
of how one man saved the lives of 1200 people marked for
genocide. It is a film of epic proportions that puts a human
face on the disaster. One possible complaint is that it is a
little too much like THE KILLING FIELDS. But that film, released
twenty years ago, was the best film I saw in the 1980s. Saying
HOTEL RWANDA is a lot like is at worst faint criticism. The film
is a good introduction to the Rwanda Genocide for people who like
me knew less than we should. It raises important questions at a
time when many Americans want to see our country intervening less
on the world stage. The film suggests the price that policy can
cost. Rating: high +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
2. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
This is quite probably the best new science fiction film since
MINORITY REPORT and well before. A medical device allows for the
removal of painful memories by erasing them. The hitch is that
the memories must be opened and partially relived as they are
being erased. Charlie Kaufman's script is demanding, but it is
delightfully engaging, intelligent, and even profound.
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman formerly came to public attention
with the creative BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. He followed it up with
the nearly as good ADAPTATION. Now he is showing that he has not
yet reached his peak. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND is
his best script by a surprising margin. The director is Michel
Gondry, but for once it is the screenwriter who is getting the
deserved attention. Hopefully this is a movie that will show the
film industry that good writing can do more for a film than good
special effects. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
3. MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Much in the style of EL NORTE and with a story similar to a
subplot of TRAFFIC, this is a story of a Colombian woman who
because she is pregnant falls prey to drug smugglers who use her
as a "mule." A mule is a drug transporter who swallows (many)
sealed packets of drugs to get them though customs. The film is
engaging, and though it is downbeat it is not relentlessly bleak.
In her first film, Catalina Sandino Moreno gives a sensitive
performance deserving of an Oscar. The low budget US-Colombian
film if finely crafted and will be long remembered. Rating: +3
(-4 to +4) or 9/10
4. OSAMA
In spite of the title, this film is not about Osama bin Laden,
though parts of the film definitely reflect on him. Instead, it
is a moving drama about the plight of women in Afghanistan under
the Taliban. The Taliban was a regime so paranoid that some
immorality would take place between men and women that they made
women virtual prisoners. This is the story of a young woman who
simply was not allowed to survive in the society under the
Taliban. She disguises herself as a boy and then finds herself
dragged off to indoctrination. There is no happy ending coming.
The young woman who called herself Osama has a sad and horrifying
fate. Siddiq Barmak wrote and directed the film based on true
stories. He shows us a society in which there is little but pain
because the resources are put into fear and paranoia rather than
making life better. It is a difficult vision to forget. Rating:
+3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
5. ROSENSTRASSE
This film dramatizes for the first time a little known incident
from Germany during the Holocaust. In the cold of the winter of
1943 German Jews who had married Aryan women were arrested and put
in a detention center, formerly a Jewish community center,
preparatory to being transported east to concentration camps and
death. Just outside on the street many brave wives gathered to
wait for some sign of their husbands. Pleading for release and
expecting no more than one last look at their husbands, they
assembled in the street. Director and co-writer Margarethe von
Trotta has acted in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker
Schlondorff. Her ROSENSTRASSE is a powerful drama. However, its
greatest power is in the flashback sequences. More time is spent
on the present than is really warranted by the value given by that
part of the film. Still it is a forgotten chapter of history that
deserves to be seen. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10
6. FINDING NEVERLAND
J. M. Barrie, the author of PETER PAN, was a man in love with
childhood and with the child within himself. He breaks free from
the stilted confines of Victorian England to frolic with the four
children of a widow. Because he refuses to be ordinary in the
way that was expected of him he is rejected by his wife and by
society, but finds that his imagination is his escape. The role
of Barrie is not a flamboyant role for Johnny Depp, but he is
just about perfect as a man revolting against stilted society to
break through to his childhood. The film is surprisingly
affecting in its romanticism. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
7. Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
One of the earliest pay cable stations was also one of the best.
This is story of that station and of Jerry Harvey who made
station a film fan's dream while running his own life into the
ground. Harvey would get films from all over the world, films
that most ardent cinema fans had been dying to see. This
documentary shows a rich selection of the films that played on Z
Channel in Los Angeles in the late-1970s. It all came to an end
very suddenly and very tragically. This is a documentary that
does a lot in a lot of different areas. It is well worth looking
for. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
8. KINSEY
Alfred Kinsey was a liberator according to some and a great
corrupter to others. He certainly changed American sexual mores
and KINSEY is the story of what he did and how he did it. Bill
Condon, who directed the effective GODS AND MONSTERS takes a
sympathetic look at the life of the father of modern sexual
freedom. This is the surprisingly engaging story of how an
expert on wasps changed the world. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or
8/10
9. STAGE BEAUTY
In Restoration England (and since before the time of Shakespeare)
women were not legally allowed to be actors on the stage. Clare
Danes plays Maria, a young stage hand who desperately wants to
act. Billy Crudup plays the most renowned actor in women's roles
in England. Then Charles II overturns the prohibition and the
two actors vie to be the better actor of women's roles. The film
is to a great extent about acting style, and about rage. Rating:
high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
10. RAY
As a biopic RAY follows a time-honored formula. Jamie Foxx is
magnetic as Ray Charles but does not show us enough inner
conflict. The film is at its best showing the roots of the
character. But the music is fine and is what will please
audiences. It is hard to go wrong with a film that shows
Southern discrimination, sex, and drugs, and glues it together
with the soulful music of Ray Charles. This is not the most
ambitious film around, but it is entertaining. Rating: high +2
(-4 to +4) or 8/10
And the two more films:
11. TOUCHING THE VOID
This is a documentary about a mountain climbing expedition that
went very wrong and of the horrifying one man went though to save
his life. This true story combines most of the greatest horrors
of mountain-climbing in one film. There is the horror of
dangling helplessly over high drops, holding a friend's full
weight with a rope slipping through your hands, and horribly
broken bones. Before seeing the film I thought that mountain-
climbing was a foolish risk and that I would have no empathy for
the climbers. I surprised myself by finding the suspense
breathless and I now think climbing is an insane risk. But this
is the best suspense film of the year (with more than one meaning
for suspense). Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
12. HERO
China tries to make its own CROUCHING TIGER with a story of an
enigmatic stranger who has killed a triad of assassins for the
benefit of China's first Emperor. The stranger tells the emperor
multiple versions of how he killed the emperor's enemies.
Visually HERO is stunning. The telling is operatic in style but
becomes muddled. Some of the story may seem obscure to American
audiences, but in this film the visual style is much more
important than the actual plot. This is a case where it might
have been better to dub carefully than to subtitle. I had to let
several subtitles go unread to appreciate the images above them
on the screen. This film is not the entertainment that THE
EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN was, but it certainly is a film that can
be appreciated by wide audiences. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or
8/10
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Response on THE SWEET AND SOUR TONGUE (by Leslie What)
[In Evelyn's review of Leslie What's THE SWEET AND SOUR TONGUE in
the 12/17/04 issue, Evelyn said, "My only objection is that the
charming cover art is uncredited."]
Leslie What replies:
I can only tell you that I bought this stunning lithograph at a
yard sale at the home of someone who had no interest in keeping
family mementos. It was a lithograph from the turn of the century
(last one) and was designed to be a record kept by the family to
record deaths. There were names filled in the blanks that we
blocked out and inserted the title. There is no artist signature.
THE SWEET AND SOUR TONGUE was one of Wildside's first books and a
few things didn't make it into the book. [-lw]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Response on MALE FANTASY
In Mark's review of MALE FANTASY in the 01/21/05 issue, he wrote
that in the course of the film the main character tries several
strategies to get women with varying success rates. Looking
forlorn and asking strangers on the street, for example, gets
him rejected every time. One member writes, "I was told that
people in my fraternity had tried this and has about a 20% success
rate."
Mark responded, "NOW YOU TELL ME????? Is that 20% of outings or
20% of women?"
The response was,"20% of requests. Of course, this was in [a big
city], the people asking were college students, it was the late
'60s - early '70s, there must have been some selection in who was
asked, etc. Still, a surprising result, eh? [And if] you had
mentioned the idea earlier, I'd have told you earlier."
Mark laments, "I guess by the time I knew you it was too late for
me. :-) Still, perhaps you could be more proactive. When you
have useful information you should volunteer it. :-)"
===================================================================
TOPIC: BREAKING NEWS (DAI SI GEIN) (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This surprisingly inventive action film from Hong Kong
looks at how modern media and electronic communications changes
everything in the old game of cops and robbers. Some enjoyable
comedy is a bonus. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
BREAKING NEWS is a fast-paced Hong Kong action film with a little
humor. It is a police procedural set in the new electronic world
of cell phones and the Internet.
An arrest goes very wrong, leading to an epic gun battle in the
streets of Hong Kong between five robbers and police. (This is a
single take, apparently seven minutes long with a near constant
staccato of gunfire.) This would have looked bad enough for the
police if a summary had been on the 11 PM news, but that is not
the world we live in any more. As it is happening the news media
cover the gun battle and broadcast it to tens of thousands of
televisions. This does not show the police in a favorable light.
Now hard-nosed police commissioner Rebecca Fong (Kelly Chen)
takes charge of the investigation and at the same time manages
the media image of the police are getting. The criminals also
catch on and find ways to use the Internet and the media against
the police. The media attention from that point on affects
everything the criminals do and everything the police do.
Electronic communications and scrutiny invades and changes every
aspect of the game of cops and robbers.
The police track the gangsters to a single apartment building
where four of them take hold a father and two children hostage.
Here director Johnnie To allows some time to develop the
relationship of a father and two children with the gangsters who
hold them. To gives the film a few of the long and drawn out
fireworks display gun battles we are used to from Hong Kong
gangster films. The story holding them together is not the John
Woo sort of melodrama but an interesting account of people
adapting to technology. It has more intelligence than most films
of its genre.
This is a film packed with action at a super pace but at the same
time it is sharp and smart. I rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4
scale or 7/10. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: WRITER OF O (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This documentary is about the history and mystery of the
sadomasochistic novel THE STORY OF O. The information is now
stale news and the style of the documentary seems intentionally
dry. It is hard to imagine a film this bland about a sexual
bondage classic like THE STORY OF O. Even the dramatization of
scenes from the novel fail to engage the viewer. Rating: 0 (-4
to +4) or 4/10
Pola Rapaport, who wrote and directed WRITER OF O, was fascinated
by the book THE STORY OF O as a young girl. Like many other
people she found the book to be a hypnotic and erotic guilty
pleasure. As an adult she knew of the mystery of who was the
writer of this book who hid behind the penname Pauline Reage. In
later years the author was revealed to be Dominique Aury, a small
and quiet woman who did not want to reveal her identity until her
parents had died. Aury had a secret love affair with publisher
Jean Paulhan and had written the novel to cater to his sexual
tastes. Paulhan recognized the novel as one of highly seductive
sexuality and one that should not be kept to himself so published
it under a penname. The novel became an international publishing
sensation.
There was speculation as to who could have written this book and
frequently assumed to have been penned by a male author.
Finally, at the age of 89, Aury allowed her identity as the
author be revealed.
This documentary looks at the publishing history of the book and
of the mystery of who the author was. There are interviews with
Aury, who proved to be still very eloquent in spite of her
advanced years. The documentary also features dramatizations of
scenes from the novel.
The style of the documentary is curiously dry considering the
subject matter, but the publishing history is interesting if the
information is new. I rate WRITER OF O a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale
or 4/10. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This month's book for our library discussion group was Oscar
Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (ISBN 0-486-27807-7). (I'll
add that this is the general group, not the science fiction one,
since it could be either.) One observation I (and others) had
was this seemed to be over-stuffed with aphorisms and epigraphs
(even to the extent of duplicating some from other Wilde works).
Someone also asked how Alan Campbell got rid of Hallward's body.
The "smell of nitric acid" gave the answer, which led us to a
discussion of disposing of bodies. One of the earliest stories
along these lines was Melville D, Post's "The Corpus Delecti",
written in 1896. In that, the murderer uses sulphuric acid to
destroy the evidence of his crime, and the judge is compelled to
acquit him because at the time, the law required either a body or
an eye-witness. This is the most famous of Post's "Randolph
Mason" stories--Mason is an unscrupulous lawyer who uses such
technicalities to get his guilty clients acquitted. According to
the jacket copy on the 1973 Oswald Train edition of the
collection THE STRANGE SCHEMES OF RANDOLPH MASON, it made such an
impression that the laws in many states were changed to prevent
just such a miscarriage of justice. (The Train edition has no
ISBN; a later one has ISBN 0-899-68200-6.)
Tony Albarella is editing a series of books of Rod Serling's
"Twilight Zone" scripts. The first is titled AS TIMELESS AS
INFINITY: THE COMPLETE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS OF ROD SERLING,
VOLUME ONE (Gauntlet Press, ISBN 1-887368-71-X); the next volume
is due this February. At $66, this is even more expensive than
the Christopher Lee bibliography I reviewed last week. The
commentaries here adds some to each episode, but not appreciably
more than Marc Scott Zicree's TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION of several
years ago (still in print, ISBN 0-553-01416-1). So the main
reason for buying this would be for the scripts themselves.
Included are the scripts for "The Time Element", "Where Is
Everybody?", "Third from the Sun", "The Purple Testament", "The
Big, Tall Wish", "Eye of the Beholder", "A Most Unusual Camera"
(two versions), "The Mind and the Matter", and "The Dummy". By
my count, Serling wrote 78 scripts, so we're talking about at
least eight volumes. What I don't understand is why Albarella is
not doing the stories sequentially--the first volume selects from
the first two seasons, but seemingly at random. This is the same
objection that people had to the initial release of the shows on
DVD--they were assembled in sets at random, rather than "Season
1", "Season 2", and so on. (They have since been re-issued by
season.) [-ecl]
[When a series varied significantly in quality from one season to
another, and "The Twilight Zone" really did, frequently
collections will stagger the choices across seasons so that the
first book/DVD/whatever does not have all winners and later
releases have a lot of losers. At least in my opinion the first
season of "The Twilight Zone" was uniformly excellent. The last
season was mostly quite bad. The other seasons were spotty. The
version most people saw of "A Most Unusual Camera" would not sell
a lot of books. But this book does have some very fine episodes
like the heartrending "The Big, Tall Wish." I have fond memories
of "The Time Element," which was not an episode of "The Twilight
Zone" but of the "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" in November
1958. Its popularity convinced CBS that there should be a
"Twilight Zone" series. -mrl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
--H.G. Wells