C.I: Tulkinghorn
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Maigret, c'est moi
In an earlier post I argued that novelist Georges Simenon modeled the methods of his signature character, Inspector Maigret, on those of a novelist. A corroborating passage turned up today in an excellent biography of the writer:
"...Maigret and Simenon did have a parallel understanding of their principal activities. They saw police work and writing as uncomplicated crafts. Both had an aptitude for living the lives of others and for immersing themselves in a milieu. The policeman felt uncomfortable between cases, the novelist when he was between books.
"...Maigret reasons as Simenon writes. Both tend to have more sympathy for the perpetrator than for the victim. The investigator often says that he knows the murderer only by getting to know the victim well, and the novelist builds his tale in exactly the same way. In the investigation itself, as in the writing that engenders it, atmosphere, milieu, and characters are more important than plot, clue and suspense."
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Critical Dig of the Week
David Edelstein: "With McG’s migraine-inducing jerky-cam and monochromatic palette (livened only by splotches of rust), Terminator Salvation puts the numb in numskull."
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Johnnie and Johnny
Variety celebrates To, too: "Vengeance descends into a darkly beautiful Triad gang underworld, where every confrontation must be preceded by much slo-mo brooding and sizing up of one's competition, often through sunglasses."
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Chaser
My LA Weekly review:
THE CHASER (South Korea) Writer-director Na Hong-jin’s smashing debut thriller vibrates in sympathy with its desperate antihero, a disgraced cop turned pimp racing to rescue one of his girls from a slacker serial killer. Na shows impeccable taste in stealing from genre classics both familiar (Silence of the Lambs) and comparatively obscure (The Silent Partner), but his clenched frustration with urban chaos and police corruption is felt and urgent. The scrambling messiness of the fights and chases juices the tension to almost unbearable levels.Now on IFCfilms.com.
Donald
For those who are not merely fair weather (or trade paperback) fans of the man who was Richard Stark, a new old Donald Westlake novel.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Freedom: A sign of the times
I spend my time manically changing from a passionate love of digital culture to an angry fear that I'm wasting my life absorbing trivia, unable to sustain any serious reading, listening, looking, or conversation.
Just like everybody else.
Comes the digital solution: a chastity belt (or earplugs or blinders -- choose the appropriate reference) that disables your computer's network access for a period of time, up to eight hours, that you choose -- defeatable only by an irritating reboot.
Can't use it at work, don't need it at home, but what bliss!
Comedians, voluptuous women, aliens and Mexican wrestlers
Save the Date: UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater.
El Santo never had a classier venue.
¡AZTEC MUMMIES & MARTIAN INVADERS!: MEXICAN SCI-FI CLASSICS
August 2009
Though inspired by European and classic Hollywood movies, these films are distinctly Mexican—often mixing multiple genres (horror, comedy, sci-fi) and featuring several ubiquitous figures: comedians, voluptuous women, aliens and Mexican wrestlers. This series will feature newly restored and subtitled 35mm prints from the vaults of the Filmoteca at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), including:
- The Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot / "La momia azteca vs el robot humano" (1957, Rafael Portillo)
- The Monster's Ship / "La nave de los monstrous" (1959, Rogelio A. Gonzalez)
- The Planet of Female Invaders / "El planeta de las mujeres invasoras" (1965, Alfredo B. Crevenna)
- Santo the Silver Mask vs. The Invaders from Mars / "Santo vs la invasión de los marcianos" (1966, Alfredo B. Crevenna)
- The Stronger Sex / "El sexo fuerte" (1945, Emilio Gómez Muriel)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Hulu Goes Bollywood
The conventional but cunningly crafted Rishi Kapoor/Shah Rukh Khan masala Deewana (1992) is in the first group of Hindi movies posted on Hulu.
The first musical number, "Sochenge Tumhe Pyar" ("Whether I love you"), around the 12 minute mark, is a good litmus test.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Tulkinghorn congratulates Johnny To
According to this morning's Variety, "Vengence", described as a Hong Kong-France-US coproduction , will be in competition in Cannes this year.
The line-up there makes even die-hard film haters like me drool: Tarentino, Almodovar, von Trier, Campion, Resnais, Park Chan-wook, Haneke.
Also gratifying is the almost total absence of movies that look like they might be Sundance favorites. Maybe the world is not going to hell after all.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The more things change...
Michael Dirda reviews a new book about pornography in New York in the ninetheenth century, called "Licentious Gotham," much of it apparently devoted to legal stuff, alas.
But one thing made me look up... A man about 150 years before his time, the creator of American porno-gothic (!):
(The author) also briefly outlines the career of George Thompson, the most prolific writer of what has been called "American porno-gothic," a subgenre emphasizing graphic violence, dark secrets and sexual excess, including teasing hints of incest, miscegenation, orgies and public sex. Some of Thompson's novels include "The Ladies' Garter" (c. 1851), "The Gay Girls of New York" (1854) and "The Bridal Chamber, and Its Mysteries" (1856). While Thompson freely reveled in every form of splatter-flick violence -- including disfigurement by acid and cannibalism -- he would typically build up tremendous erotic tension, then suddenly announce that the law or morality compelled him to draw a veil or "drop the curtain" over what was to ensue between some snowy-globed damsel and her well set-up admirer.
Friday, April 17, 2009
I'll see your Chandler and raise you Chesterton
The criminal is the creative artist; the detective only the critic.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Raymond Chandler
"An average critic never recognizes an achievement when it happens. He explains it after it has become respectable."
"To exceed the limits of a formula without destroying it is the dream of every magazine writer who isn't a hopeless hack."
"When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."
-- "Introduction," The Simple Art of Murder (1950).
Tulkinghorn's Cloak and Dagger
(anything to break the silence)
Sarah Weinman notes the resurgence of the spy novel -- now essentially historical fiction, easier to pull off seriously than the pulpier and way more right wing timewasters like Brad Thor's 'novels' about Arab terrorists -- building from the rediscovery of Charles McCarry and the more recent work of Alan Furst.
Some good suggestions here. I just ordered the first in a series by Olen Steinhauer, which looks promising. Although they all seem like footnotes to Greenmantle or Ashes and Diamonds, I like Greenmantle and Ashes and Diamonds.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A question that occurred to Tulkinghorn, too
Mickey Kaus asks (and do I really have to provide the name behind the blind item?):
Why would you leave a recurring part on a hit TV show--a job you "loved" --to become a mid-level liaison official in the White House? Either you are crazy or you have huge political ambitions. Or both.As someone pointed out, he has to do better than poor Bobby Jindal....
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tulkinghorn: Keeping your eyes open
Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan, an astonishing piece of film criticism, without a word spoken:
Friday, April 3, 2009
Ah, good plan!
From an article collecting suggestions from readers re. the economic crisis:
Patriotic retirement: There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force … pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations. They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings — unemployment fixed. They buy new American cars. Forty million cars ordered — auto industry fixed. They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage — housing crisis fixed.Where do I sign?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Tulkinghorn's Book of the Year
My friends know that I'm a restless reader -- always seeking the elusive sense of wonder that sustained me through many a long afternoon as a child. Although a few books have given me pleasure over the last year, I have not found that elusive combination of astringency, complexity, and beauty that really keeps my spirit alive. I'm just reading out of habit or as a relief from the stresses of the day (and of the market...) . Fun but not sustaining.
Until earlier this week...
David once accused me of not writing well about things I like, and I think I understand now what he meant, as I try to articulate what this book means to me.
Don't have enough time today, so I'll simply put it out there. Buy it, read it, and you'll like it a lot.
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