THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
09/30/05 -- Vol. 24, No. 14, Whole Number 1302
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:
Administrivia
London Travelogue Available (site pointer)
A&E Network's Top 50 Science Fiction Shows (site pointer)
Science Fiction Citations (site pointer)
Your Horoscope (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Toronto International Film Festival 2005 (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
New Library Service (pointer by Charles Harris)
Adolescence (letter of comment by Aliyah Sauer)
Harry Potter (letters of comment by Joe Karpierz and
George MacLachlan)
THE ROAD TO DUNE by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert,
and Kevin J. Anderson (book review by Joe Karpierz)
An Animated Discussion of CORPSE BRIDE (site pointer)
LORD OF WAR (film review of Mark R. Leeper)
CAPOTE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
PROOF (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (STRANGER THAN FICTION, THE ANCESTOR'S
TALE, and HEART OF WHITENESSE) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Administrivia
Thanks again to Rob Mitchell and Steve Goldsmith for sending out
the MT VOIDs while we were on various trips. Any delays were due
entirely to problems in the Yahoogroups moderation process and not
to any failings on Rob's or Steve's part.
And because of these trips, some letters of comment and reviews
have been delayed, but will eventually appear, along with about
fouty-five film reviews from the Toronto International Film
Festival. Not all in one week, though. :-) [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: London Travelogue Available (site pointer)
My log of our recent trip to London (including theatre reviews) is
available at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/uk2005.htm.
My Worldcon convention report is still being worked on. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: A&E Network's Top 50 Science Fiction Shows (site pointer)
The A&E Network has listed (in somewhat inconvenient format) their
picks as the top fifty science fiction television shows of all
time. I cannot agree with all of their choices, but this is their
list:
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/gallery/topscifishows/
(Thanks go to Jo Paltin for pointing this out.) [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction Citations (site pointer)
The site http://www.jessesword.com/sf/home is connected to the
Oxford English Dictionary's updating process, and is described as
follows:
"Welcome to the new version of the Oxford English Dictionary's
science fiction words site. The base project was originally set
up so that knowledgeable aficionados could help the OED find
useful examples of words in their fields of interest. This first
project, and still the only public one, is devoted to science
fiction."
If you're curious who coined various science fictional terms such
as "blaster" or "terraform", check this site out. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Your Horoscope (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
(Due to economy concerns we cannot provide complete horoscopes.
Your cooperation is appreciated.)
All signs: Oxygen will be an important part of your day. Take
care to breathe, not once but several times a minute. For best
results, do not smoke. It is good if you eat something, but if
you live in Central New Jersey, please do not have garlic on your
breath. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Toronto International Film Festival 2005 (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
Evelyn and I are back from the Toronto International Film
Festival.
Our best at the festival were BEE SEASON, EVERYTHING IS
ILLUMINATED, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS, THE SUN, THE LAST HANGMAN,
CAPOTE, THE WHITE MASAI, REVOLVER, and FESTIVAL.
The first two are based on current best-selling novels and might
be termed Jewish films. In BEE SEASON Richard Gere plays a
scholar in religion and especially Jewish mysticism. His whole
family is very intelligent. When the daughter shows almost
supernatural ability to spell, Gere sees this as fitting into
Kabalistic prophesy. Apparently the novel was an Oprah
discussion book. Now what appeals to her is not necessarily
material that I think would make a rousing good film. Our tastes
and priorities differ. But in this case the film is really
unique. It says things about comparative religions; it says
things about mental states; and it has both an interesting
father-daughter and father-son relationship.
I did not have to go to Toronto see EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED.
When I got home it was playing within walking distance from my
house. This film is about an American Jew who goes to Ukraine to
learn about his family background. Much of it is comedy as he
interfaces with a strange non-Jewish family who specialize in
helping rich Jews to find their roots, but the story has a
serious side. This is also based on a best-selling novel.
Elijah Wood is an actor who does not project much emotion. I
think he builds a wall between him and his audience. His Frodo
did little for me and here there is even more of a wall between
him and the viewer as he wears grotesque glasses. But by the end
of the film he is a much more likable character and so are the
other major characters of the film. A decision that a character
makes toward the end is poignant. This will not have a wide
following , but it did appeal to me. The characters are
off-putting at first, but that is done to make them become
interesting the more you know of them.
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS is Dame Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins in a
true story about a feuding pair, one owning and one managing the
scandalous London theater The Windmill. They get into censorship
problems because of wanting to pep up their shows with nudity on
stage. During the height of the blitz their theater was the only
public entertainment open in London and it became a refuge for
soldiers at home and a symbol of resistance to the Nazis. This is
one of those films that touch just about every emotion. Nobody
who saw it at the festival had an unkind word to say about it.
THE SUN is a character story of Emperor Hirohito at the end of
WWII. He has to struggle to understand these Americans who have
invaded his country. They want him to renounce his status as a
god and he is becoming very skeptical himself that he could
possibly be divine. The film is slow and deliberate, but the
spaces are filled with a lot to think about.
THE LAST HANGMAN, originally made for British television, but
then the filmmakers realized it was good enough for theatrical
release. A fine actor, Timothy Spall (of TOPSY TURVY), plays the
last official hangman in Britain before capital punishment was
abolished. His attitude toward the job of killing people for the
state changes with time as the emotional tension of his job
starts changing him.
CAPOTE is Truman Capote manipulating events and people while
collecting information on the "In Cold Blood" murders. Philip
Seymour Hoffman in the title role is oddly charismatic at the
same time he seems detestable. This may be the role he is
remembered for.
THE WHITE MASAI is true story of Swiss woman who married a Masai
warrior and went to live in Kenya with his people. It is hard to
imagine two such different cultures blending without conflict,
and they don't blend so well here.
REVOLVER is a British gangster movie that gets very bizarre. A
man released from prison and looking for revenge gets some help
from two mysterious men who seem to be almost omniscient. At
times it is reminiscent of F&SF written fantasy. You won't guess
who the villain is. This is a story of some audacity and not many
people I talked to like it. But it is still one of the films I
will remember fondly.
FESTIVAL is along the lines of a personal favorite, Michael
Richie's SMILE. It has a multi-line story about the competition
for the best comic at the Edinburgh Festival. It is cynical and
funny and has more than few surprise plot twists. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: New Library Service (pointer by Charles Harris)
Charles Harris reports on a new library service in Sweden (from
http://tinyurl.com/dkjrb:
"A Swedish library, realizing that books are not the only things
being judged by their covers, will give visitors a different
opportunity this weekend—to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, or a
Dane.
The city library in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, will let
curious visitors check out living people for a 45-minute chat in
a project meant to tear down prejudices about different
religions, nationalities, or professions. The project, called
Living Library, was introduced at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival in
2000, librarian Catharina Noren said. It has since been tried at
a Copenhagen library as well as in Norway, Portugal, and Hungary.
The people available to be 'borrowed' also include a journalist,
a gypsy, a blind man, and an animal rights activist. They will
be available Saturday and Sunday in conjunction with a Malmo city
festival and are meant to give people 'a new perspective on
life,' the library said in a statement. 'There are prejudices
about everything,' Noren said. 'This is about fighting those
prejudices and promoting coexistence.'
Borrowing a person will be free, and the library will also
provide coffee at its cafe where the 'living books' will answer
questions about their lives, beliefs, or jobs. 'It’s supposed to
be relaxed and human-to-human,' Noren said."
===================================================================
TOPIC: Adolescence (letter of comment by Aliyah Sauer)
The 09/09/2005 issue had a quote from John Ciardi, who said, "You
don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering
for anyone." One of our younger readers responded, "Ha Ha! ; )"
===================================================================
TOPIC: Harry Potter (letters of comment by Joe Karpierz and
George MacLachlan)
Joe Karpierz writes, "Regarding the comment on Harry Potter [by
Dan Kimmel, in the 09/16/05 issue of the MT VOID]--I have to admit
that the possibility had not occurred to me. I like the
thinking. I hope Rowling goes down that path." [-jak]
And George MacLachlan writes, " I was having a discussion over
dinner about this with some friends who are serious Potter fans.
They indicated that several clues are provided in the
conversations that occurred among members of the Order of the
Phoenix at S. Black's home. Also, apparently there is a website
(using Dan's nomenclature--substitute the correct name)--
http://www.So-and-So-nameisnotdead.com that is intended for
those who have already read [HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD
PRINCE]. The site reviews many of the clues ostensibly provided
in one or more of the Potter books and provides various
conjectures and opinions." [-gfm]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE ROAD TO DUNE by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin
J. Anderson (copyright 2005, Tor, 494pp, $25.95, ISBN
0-765-31295-6) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
This collection of "Dune" items is a must for the Dune fan and
collector, but *only* the "Dune" fan and collector--although I
suppose those are the only people that will buy it anyway--
because, well, most of the stuff is relatively uninteresting.
It's been well-documented that Brian Herbert and Kevin
J. Anderson acquired a treasure trove of Frank Herbert-era Dune
stuff when boxes and boxes of "Dune" notes and outlines were
discovered in various locations, most notably a safety deposit
box in a bank and in a garage. They've gathered some material
here, but I suspect there's a whole lot more that should have
been included than the material that was.
The book starts off with a "short novel" (since when is a 250+
page novel short? That used to be a normal sized novel), SPICE
PLANET, written by Brian and Kevin from Frank's notes for a novel
of the same name. SPICE PLANET was the first attempt at what
would eventually become DUNE. It's a different tale, mostly of
political intrigue and drug addiction. If this novel had seen
the light of day, not only would it not have become remembered as
one of the classics of all time, but DUNE itself never would have
been published. It's a curiosity, showing some of the things
Frank was thinking about before he wrote DUNE, but nothing more.
The next section chronicles Frank's attempt to get DUNE
published. It begins by discussing the magazine article that
started it all, "They Stopped Moving the Sands". The article
never was published, but got Frank thinking in the direction of
what would become DUNE. This is followed by "The Letters of
Dune", a glimpse at the correspondence between Frank and some
luminaries in the field (such as Harlan Ellison and John
W. Campbell, Jr.) as well as a fan or two, which gives the
reader more insight into the path to the publication of DUNE.
There are also some interesting tidbits concerning the
publication of DUNE MESSIAH.
What follows this is easily the most interesting material in the
book: deleted scenes and chapters from DUNE and DUNE MESSIAH.
While the material itself is not all that interesting, except for
an alternate ending to DUNE MESSIAH, what *is* interesting is the
contrast between the writing styles of Frank Herbert and
Brian/Kevin. There is no contest--Frank is clearly the better
writer, with much more texture, layering, and meaning than Brian
and Kevin have shown themselves capable of in the six "Dune"
novels that they have written so far. Reading these pieces have
me salivating at the prospect of rereading all six of the
original "Dune" novels.
The book finishes with four short stories written by Brian and
Kevin. The best and most interesting is "A Whisper of Caladan
Seas", which takes place during Dune itself. The other stories
are those of the "Butlerian Jihad", which while I enjoyed that
series for what it was, don't really add anything to this
collection. What would have been more interesting is the missing
material from CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE that is currently up on the Dune
novels website, http://www.dunenovels.com.
The scariest thing I saw in this book was that there is yet
another book by Brian and Frank "in preparation"--"Paul of Dune".
Ugh. Enough already.
But, back to that website. It says that the first of the two-
book conclusion to Frank's original series, entitled "Hunters of
Dune", is set for publication in September 2006. Time to get
moving on reading the original series before then. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: An Animated Discussion of CORPSE BRIDE (site pointer)
Howard Waldrop and Lawrence Person have a different take on Tim
Burton's new film THE CORPSE BRIDE. I liked the film but did not
think it was up to THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHIRSTMAS. Waldrop and
Person thought it was considerably better. They picked up on some a
spects that I did not and it does make for interesting reading.
Their enthusiastic discussion on the film is at:
http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Features/09_WaldropPerson_Corpse.html
===================================================================
TOPIC: LORD OF WAR (film review of Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a comedy/drama that is first funny and then
chilling--all the laughs are in the first half. Or perhaps it is
both as the same time. Nicolas Cage plays a Ukrainian-American
who gets into international arms dealing and finds he is very
good at it. Once you are trapped into being interested in the
characters you may find you are learning more about the business
than you really wanted to know and a lot that you hope is untrue.
Sadly, there seems to be a uniform real ring of truth to this
discouraging story. Andrew Niccol usually writes very good
scripts. He also directs. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
Under the opening credits we see a biography of the short life of
a rifle shell. We follow it as it is made, as it is sold, as it
moves to Russia, as it goes out in the field, and as it kills
someone. Then we go from looking at the life of a bullet to the
life of the man who sells it. Nicolas Cage plays Ukrainian-born
Yuri Orlov, who grew up in the Little Odessa section of New York.
Early on he discovered that he could get his hands on an Uzi
machine gun and resell it surprisingly fast and easily. He
suddenly finds this is a business in which he can make large
profits for products that are always in demand. He is on the way
for his life's career as an arms dealer.
The first part of the film follows him on the route to success.
Those heady days are reminiscent of Al Pacino's rise to power in
Brian De Palma's SCARFACE. We see his skill. We also see the
amazing banality of the business including the arms fairs where
attractive models with AK-47s wear skimpy camouflage outfits and
pose standing on fighter plane wings. There armored tanks are
sold on a "buy six and get one free" basis. But it is not always
so easy, and Orlov is smart and thinks on his feet in an
emergency. And he has emergencies as he is tracked by Interpol
agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke). Orlov gets the trophy wife
of his dreams (Bridget Moynahan), but the world of easy money and
drugs is too much for his brother (Jared Leto) to handle.
Yuri Orlov is a seductively amoral animal. There is the white
area of legal arms sales and the black area of illegal arms
sales, but Orlov likes best to play around in the gray area
between. He likes to stretch the law, but is very cautious about
breaking it. He can defend his business as one that is really
highly moral, in spite of appearances. His rationalizations
would make Harry Lime's jaw drop in envy. Orlov is troubled by
his business, but he argues well for it. Guns kill fewer people
than cigarettes or cars and they come with a safety catch, he
says. Most people run away from gunfire. He runs to it.
Gunfire is scary for a moment, but greed is forever. And war
lords and dictators always pay their arms bills on time. Orlov
knows more than a few war lords and dictators on a first name
basis. The president of Liberia (Andre Baptiste) he calls
"Andy." LORD OF WAR takes us all over the world and has some
astonishing sequences. The film is an education in itself as to
how the arms business operates. It raises a lot of questions and
does not settle for pre-digested answers.
New Zealander Andrew Niccol wrote THE TRUMAN SHOW, a brilliant
script. He wanted to direct it, but reportedly when he could not
he instead got a deal to write and direct a second film, GATTACA.
GATTACA is frequently named as the best science fiction film of
the 1990s. S1M0NE was decent but his least popular film. He
provided the story for THE TERMINAL and now he has written a
script very relevant to the current world and perhaps for that
reason his best script to date.
Maybe Niccol's real victory here is to get us to understand the
arms business. He has us see it from the point of view of one of
its successful practitioners without ever condoning the business
itself. Just when we start respecting Orlov's intentions we are
reminded of where his reasoning leads. This is a sophisticated
film that will come back to you the next time you read a
newspaper. And perhaps it will stick with you a lot longer than
that. I rate LORD OF WAR a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10.
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: CAPOTE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a film portrait of Truman Capote that in its own
way is both admiring and damning. Capote investigates the
murders that he was to chronicle in his docu-novel IN COLD BLOOD.
To make the story better he also manipulates events and people.
He is incisive, ironically charismatic, and treacherous. Philip
Seymour Hoffman has his best role to date--perhaps the best he
can ever hope to get. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
On November 15, 1959, a successful Holcomb, Kansas, farmer, Herb
Clutter, his wife Bonnie, his daughter Nancy (age sixteen), and
his son Kenyon (age fifteen), were bound and gagged, robbed, and
murdered. New York writer Truman Capote saw the news story and
became fascinated with the murder. He traveled to Holcomb to
investigate and report on the murder himself. The result was a
non-fiction novel serialized in the New Yorker magazine in 1965,
published as a novel in 1966, and made into a film in 1967.
CAPOTE is the story of how Truman Capote imposed himself into the
investigation and got both law officials and the accused to
cooperate with his inquiry.
Dan Futterman's screenplay based on a biography by Gerald Clarke
is a powerful indictment of the man. Capote was one of the last
people one would expect to be charismatic. His voice was an odd
combination of Southern accent and swishy lisp. His manner was
elitist and intellectual. He dressed flamboyantly. Hoffman does
an amazing impression of the real Capote. While his mannerisms
might be off-putting to the people of a rural Kansas town, he
exudes a certain grace and allure that gets people who normally
would be on their guard to open up to him. He seems harmless and
sincere, so much so the viewer is shocked to see that when he
himself lowers his guard he is vicious and callous to the people
he has charmed and even to his close friends. Of his friends his
closest confidant is Nelle Harper Lee (played by Catherine
Keener) who is working on her own book at the same time, a book
whose title keeps changing but will have something to do with a
mockingbird. Any conversation with Capote, no matter how
informal it seemed, could be on the record. Capote measured his
own recall at 94 percent.
Truman Capote uses these characteristics to get his story
written, a goal that becomes an obsession. When the town sheriff
(Chris Cooper) wants little to do with the New York City writer
Capote manages to wangle a dinner invitation from his wife by
parlaying his modest fame as a writer to win her over. He
similarly charms the two suspects of the crime and convinces the
weaker of the two, Perry Smith (played by Clifton Collins, Jr.),
that he is their only friend. He lies and confuses people and
manipulates timing of events for his convenience.
Director Bennett Miller's only previous film is the documentary
THE CRUISE. Here he make a powerful film that does not replace
the film IN COLD BLOOD, but should been seen with it. It is hard
to imagine Phillip Seymour Hoffman ever getting a better role or
ever making a role so much his own. His Capote is reminiscent of
Salieri's attitude toward Mozart in AMADEUS. He seems to have
far too much talent squandered on too unworthy a person. Capote
has the ability to write the book this murder account could make,
but he is undeserving of the honor of the accomplishment.
Particularly for people who have seen IN COLD BLOOD (or read the
book), this film is a compelling look at what else was going on
so close to the action. I think that this film will do good
things for Philip Seymour Hoffman's career. I rate CAPOTE a high
+2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: PROOF (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: David Auburn's Pulitzer prize winning play about the
frustrations and fears of a great mathematician's daughter comes
to the screen with Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins as a
mathematician father and daughter. Paltrow overcomes her ingenue
actress image and does a good job with a role of a deeply
troubled and perhaps brilliant woman, the daughter of a
schizophrenic mathematician who was one of the great lights of
modern mathematics. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10 (Spoiler
Warning: At the end of the review I will discuss a problem I have
with the concept of the play.)
David Auburn and Rebecca Miller adapt Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-
winning play "Proof" to the screen with John Madden (SHAKESPEARE
IN LOVE, CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN) directing.
Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a deeply troubled woman. For
years she had cared for Robert (Anthony Hopkins), her father and
one of the world's truly great mathematicians. That would be
difficult enough, but from his late twenties he had had ever
increasing bouts of insanity. The insanity came and went and his
awareness of the insanity came and went as well. Catherine's
love for her father was conflicted to the point of occasional
hatred. She had to care for her father and try to nurture her
own not inconsiderable talent for mathematics, two goals that
were frequently at odds. Even worse is the ever-present
possibility that her father's madness is in her genes. Catherine
seems to have loved her father very much and at the same time
hated the insanity that took him. She paid a heavy price for the
love of her father.
Meanwhile Catherine's sister Claire (Hope Davis, currently in
DUMA and THE MATADOR), with no great interest in mathematics, had
moved away and was living an affluent private life. While
Catherine was caring for her father, Claire was caring for her
complexion. Now the two will confront each other. Also
complicating the matter is that Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a geeky
student and disciple of her father is searching through the over
one hundred notebooks the mathematician wrote in his madness.
Hal is prospecting for pieces of mathematical gold in among the
schizophrenic's nonsense.
This is a very serious dramatic role for Gwyneth Paltrow and she
rises to the occasion of playing the troubled and fearful
mathematician. It is a necessary role in her career. Her "sexy
babe" image works against her throughout the film. She has to
project a frailty and self-doubt that I have not seen in her in
the past and it is still a little hard to see. I did not see
Mary Louise Parker's interpretation in the original New York
production, but in other performances she has a frailty and
introspective quality that really seems to make her more natural
for the role. This is a very good performance by Paltrow, but it
is casting against type. Perhaps that makes her accomplishment
all the more. Hopkins does a respectable job as a great
mathematician, but that is not too unexpected.
The inclusion in the film of a rock music band, mentioned only as
a quick joke in the original play, fills a much-needed gap. One
of the pieces the band plays is connected with a mathematical pun
that works as an orally told story in the play but does not work
when it is dramatized in the film. And by the way, psychosis is
roughly as common the mathematical community as any other
community. We have recently had two major films about great
mathematicians, probably both inspired by John Nash. Hopefully
higher mathematics will not become associated in the public's
mind with schizophrenia.
I rate PROOF a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. I do have a
problem with a major plot twist in the second half of the play.
Spoiler warning: One of the questions the story raises is who is
the actual author of a new forty-page mathematical proof. I am
skeptical that this could ever be difficult to determine. It
seems to me unlikely that anyone could ever successfully fake
being the author of such a proof if he or she was not. Experts
could ask not just questions about the proof itself but what
insights led the mathematician to the proof approach. I doubt
even that the true discoverer of a proof could tutor another
mathematician effectively to bluff authorship. In fairness, I
have discussed this question with mathematicians who were less
skeptical than I was that it could be done. One improvement of
the film over the play is to have Hal asking about the
inspiration for some of the approaches in the proof. On the
other hand there is a suggestion that the proof about prime
numbers has something to do with random matrices. That seems
unlikely.
Incidentally, I have been asked if there is a conjecture about
prime numbers that fits the description in the film. My guess,
based on limited knowledge, is that it is the Goldbach Conjecture
that any integer greater than one is the average of two prime
numbers. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: David Cronenberg adapts a graphic novel into a potent
crime film. Viggo Mortensen plays a peaceful man from a peaceful
town who unwillingly becomes a hero when he outguns some vicious
killers. He tries to shrug it off, but his publicity brings
unwelcome visitors to town. The plot is really very close to
being a 1950s Western plot warmed over. The film is short and
takes a good long while establishing characters and getting
going. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
Movie Westerns never die, it seems. When I previewed A HISTORY
OF VIOLENCE a lot of other people thought that this was a
cutting-edge film and a minor masterpiece. I thought it was good
and entertaining, but it also seemed like it could have been just
a 1950s Western brought up to date. Except for the fact that it
takes place in the present and the gunslingers are here
gangsters, I felt this would have made a standard Western. True
story: I said to myself they probably would call it something
like "The Fastest Gun Alive." I must have been half-remembering
that film because a moment later I realized I had seen a film of
that title and that it really did have an almost identical plot.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is, intentionally or not, a remake of
Russell Rouse's 1956 western THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE. Maybe it is
not identical in every detail, but it is a very close match in
plot. Viggo Mortensen plays the character previously played by
Glenn Ford.
In fact, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is supposedly not based on that
film at all. I have no evidence that director David Cronenberg
even knows of that film. Like many films in this period of
diminishing box office receipts, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is based
on a graphic novel. In this case the novel in question is by
John Wagner and Vince Locke. It may be that this is an
archetypal story rediscovered or it may be that Wagner and Locke
had seen the film and decided to update it. The social issues of
living in a society where law really does not rule are nothing
new to cinema; they were just examined in the past in Westerns in
which the law had not yet fully come to power.
Viggo Mortensen plays Tom Stall, the mild cook from the local
diner. He has an equally docile son Jack (Ashton Holmes) who
also will go to just about any ends to avoid a fight. Tom is a
bland and very attached to his family. So far there is no real
dramatic tension. Then two killers on a spree come into Tom's
diner. One holds a gun on Tom while the other attacks the
waitress. Tom has only a pot of hot coffee in his hands. That
is all he needs. Moments later there are two dead toughs on the
floor and Tom has inadvertently become a local hero he really
does not want to be. Then he gets his picture in the newspaper.
Soon there are more thugs in town including Carl Fogarty (Ed
Harris) who insists that Tom is really Joey Cusack a deadly
killer from Philadelphia. Eventually Tom will have to face the
evil that his heroic act has brought to the town and to him
family.
This is a film of strong violence, as the title seems to imply.
The sex scenes between Tom and his wife Edie (Maria Bello) are a
little tasteless. In one they pretend to be high schoolers
having their first sex. That seems a little too Max Bialystock
to be taken seriously. As the violence takes more of a hold on
Tom their lovemaking becomes more violent is a scene that could
almost be rape. William Hurt and Ed Harris are reasonably creepy
but do not have much screen time to have a lot of impact.
This is a film with good and bad elements, but the good elements
I have been familiar in films for almost half a century. To be
blunt I preferred the Glenn Ford version. I expect David
Cronenberg to do something with a little more freshness. I rate
this a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 5/10. [-mr]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
STRANGER THAN FICTION by Aubrey Dillon Malone (ISBN 0-8092-9904-
6) is a delightful little book of literary lists, such as "10
unintentional double-entendres from the classics" and "5 authors
who went missing or got lost". And unlike most books of this
sort, this one has an index! So if you know there was something
interesting about a particular author, you can actually look up
that author. (Of course, if it's Ernest Hemingway or W. Somerset
Maugham, you still have a lot of pages to check.) Two examples
(from another well-represented author): Brendan Behan was asked
to come up with an advertising slogan for Guinness. He
suggested, "It makes you drunk." And when he was offered thirty
pounds for a play if they could change the title, he said, "For
thirty quid you can change it to "The Brothers F***in'
Karamazov."
THE ANCESTOR'S TALE by Richard Dawkins (ISBN 0-618-61916-X) works
its way back through evolution, seeing it as a pilgrimage in
which we meet up with our "distant cousins" as we all march back
to the beginnings of life. Dawkins sticks fairly closely to his
rule of not including species whose descendants have not survived
until the present, though he admits to cheating a bit to include
Homo habilis, Neanderthals, and the dodo. His initial discussion
of "most recent common ancestor" (and how someone could be the
most recent common ancestor of everyone on earth and still have
none of his genes surviving in anyone) provides a very good
lesson in basic genetics and evolution. My one complaint is
Dawkins's tendency to throw in political asides that have nothing
to do with his subject. One might argue, for example, that the
claims of creationists have something to do with evolution, but
snide remarks about how the Baghdad museum was looted because the
American "invaders" were guarding the Oil Ministry instead really
are completely off-topic. Still, there are only a smattering of
them throughout this large book, and the rest is fascinating. The
pattern here reminds me of Matt Ridley's GENOME, where each
chapter was about a different gene on a different chromosome.
Here it is about a different current species and how they derived
their current characteristics from their earlier origins. And
each tale illustrates a different principle of evolutionary
biology--sensory perception for duck-billed platypuses, sexual
selection for peacocks, the definition of species for salamander,
the defintion (and purpose) of race for grasshoppers, and so on--
so by the end of the book you have a very good grounding in the
subject.
HEART OF WHITENESSE by Howard Waldrop (ISBN 1-59606-018-2) is a
limited edition collection of Waldrop's recent stories (1997-
2003). Waldrop is one of my favorite authors, but his stories
are hard to find (although recently scifi.com is a fairly
reliable source for them). So this is a particularly welcome
collection, even if a bit pricey at $40. (Luckily, my library
seems to have decided it was worth getting a copy.) Without
giving too much away, I can say that the first story, "The
Dynasters", could be considered a companion piece to his classic
"The Ugly Chickens". The second, "Mr. Goober's Show", uses a
classic Waldrop theme, childhood pop culture. Then there's a
Christopher Marlowe story, and an alternate Charles Lindbergh
story. In fact, in some sense all of the stories posit an
alternate world to ours in one way or another. There's no author
quite like Howard Waldrop, just as there's no author quite like
Jorge Luis Borges. (Not that they are similar, although there's
something slightly Waldropian about "Pierre Menard, Author of the
Quixote".) In addition to the stories, Waldrop gives lengthy
afterwords for each in which he talks about the writing of them
or some of the ideas in them. Highly recommended if you can find
it. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your
life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
-- Rene Descartes