Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The Fear Index - Robert Harris

Well, it took me two days to read this, so. . .

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Black Swan

Mixed feelings about his film, but I watched from start to finish, on TV, without floating to sleep.  Just noting it down today - will say more later.

Very much the dark side of the ballet world.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Twopence to Cross the Mersey - Helen Forrester

Tough times, and a lively tale well-told, of the days before the Welfare State, and the lengths people were forced to when unemployed.  As the blurb says, there's no wallowing in self-pity, though there is anger, as Helen was forced to look after her siblings and neglect the schooling which she loved.

Helen Forrester died last November, and it was through reading her obituary that I decided to get hold of the book.  Worth a read, for itself, as well as to remind us of how we take our current safety nets for granted.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Way

Though I didn't really watch - was doing something else in the same room, while others watched.  But it caught my interest when I realised it was about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the setting for a different film La Voie Lactée, directed by Luis Buñuel in the 1960s.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Tosca - from NY Met - on TV

Miserable and compelling.  This production was controversial, indeed booed on the opening night, partly because it was such a contrast to the lavish Zeffirelli production of Tosca, which had been performed at the Met for some time. The scenery was much less elaborate.  Bondy's production also shocked by exposing a breast on the Madonna, and introducing three prostitutes into the scene in Act Two where the evil and lecherous Secret Police Chief, Scappia, is planning how to seduce Tosca and kill off her lover the painter, Cavaradossi.

As usual I was like the open-eyed kid watching, loving every minute of the story, and found the settings superb.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A Streetcar named Desire - Tennessee Williams - Elia Kazan

The 1951 film, in black and white, with Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois and Kim Hunter as Stella.


Blanche Dubois is an ageing Southern Belle who’s been sacked from her job as a teacher for having an affair with a 17-year-old student, after her husband has committed suicide, and the family estates have been 'lost'.  She continues to live out her fantasies, attempting to seduce any potential suitors.
She arrives in New Orleans, where her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski live in an apartment in the French Quarter.

There’s a marked contrast between Blanche’s pseudo-refinement and Kowalski’s coarseness and domination of Stella.  Stanley discovers some of the secrets of Blanche’s past, and brings this into the open, resulting in her having a nervous breakdown. In the end Stanley has her committed to a mental institution.
Stella leaves Stanley, and the final scene has him desperately calling her name.


Claustrophobic – almost all the scenes take place inside the apartment, where it’s impossible to escape from the others, or from the neighbours.  Iconic scenes  - gambling and drinking, domestic rows and reconciliations, Blanche’s attempts to ‘keep up appearances’.  

A note from wikipedia about the title:
The Desire Line ran from 1920 to 1948, at the height of streetcar use in New Orleans. The route ran down Bourbon, through the Quarter, to Desire Street in the Bywater district, and back up to Canal. Blanche's route in the play — "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!" — is allegorical, taking advantage of New Orleans colorful street names.The Desire Line ran from 1920 to 1948, at the height of streetcar use in New Orleans. The route ran down Bourbon, through the Quarter, to Desire Street in the Bywater district, and back up to Canal. Blanche's route in the play — "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!" — is allegorical, taking advantage of New Orleans colorful street names.


One thing I hadn't realised was that the Almodóvar film All About my Mother was influenced by the dialogue of some of the supporting characters in Streetcar.

Tamar - Mal Peet

Just finished this one - a story in two time frames - the present day, from the point of view of the teenage Tamar, who receives a box of clues and coded messages from her grandfather.  He has just committed suicide, but clearly intends her to find the box and solve the mystery.  The other story involves another Tamar, a man who was involved in the Dutch resistance to the Nazis in the 1940s.

Tangled relationships, the unravelling of the story and its consequences for Tamar, her father and her future make this a really absorbing read, and I learned a lot about the realities of World War II in Holland.

Peter Reading

I note the death of Peter Reading - who sounds interesting, but whose poetry I have not read.