January 4, 2016

January 4, 2016

I vow to post a blog entry every month this year. I have often broken my vows. But still, I make them.

I will list the movies I watched in the last month and the books I read.

My list of books read is quite short. It’s basically only one book. Felix Holt, The Radical the 1866 George Eliot novel. I’m going so slowly it’s surprises even me. And in general I’m a quite slow reader. I think I’ve been reading it for over four months. I read deliberately slowly, and read every footnote. I reread sentences, and I read each chapter over again. In addition, I’ve listened to the audio version twice while walking to the beach – and the audio I have is really superb. It’s performed by Nadia May, which is her “voice” name – her real name is Wanda McCaddon and she records under several different names. She’s fantastic with all the different British accents, which is very important.

I’m bewitched by George Eliot – and there’s so much more to read before I’m done. This is what I haven’t read: Daniel Doronda, Romola, The Impressions of Theophrastus Such, and countless poems, essays, and other biographies.

In the last year or two I’ve read Middlemarch, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss, and Scenes of Clerical Life. I’m seized by Eliot’s voice, her world-view, her compassion, and most of all, her humor.

I’ve read the biography: George Eliot, the Last Victorian, written by Kathryn Hughes. I’ve listened to that audiobook (also by Nadia May) twice through. And to think it all started with the delightful (and for me, life-changing) book My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead. One early morning I heard Mead on NPR talking about her book and her own obsession with Middlemarch. I read Mead’s book and I was off and into one of the most pleasurable, enlightening, profound and perspective-altering wormholes of my life. I’m so happy here in George Eliot-land. There’s still so much to read and then there’s all the rereading I plan to do. If I do nothing else, goddamnit, I will be a George Eliot complete-ist.

So yes, my list of books read in December 2015 is really one: Felix Holt, the Radical. It’s been so delightful and worrisome reading this book (partly about politics, rural England in the 1820s) while people like Donald Trump (who I loathe) and Bernie Sanders (who I admire deeply) are out campaigning. Bernie could be a Felix. Trump is… well, there’s no easy character to point to for him. Trump is more bombastic as a candidate than anyone in Felix Holt. Harold Transome (a character, and a political candidate in Felix Holt) has more humanity and dignity than Trump, but their views about woman are probably quite similar. The character that Trump most reminds me of, from what I’ve been viewing recently – frankly is… Hitler. That reads quite bombastic. I don’t think Trump would put a machine in place to systematically kill certain ethnic groups. I don’t think. But I did think of Trump when I watched Triumph.

You see, I watched Leni Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will for the first time last week. There’s a new 2015 re-master out on Blu Ray. My friend Ron Falzone informed me that the commentary on the release, by Dr. Anthony R. Santoro (of Christopher Newport University, a Nazi and fascism historian) was really good. The whole film was chilling, and fascinating. Each time one of the Hitler power-circle comes onto the screen, Santoro simply informs the viewers what happened to them in the end: how they died, or how many years they spent in jail, etc. What was surprising to watch for me was Hitler’s idiosyncrasies; the minutea that reveal him as a human being. An addled, narcissistic human being. But still. Hitler has become a cartoon in our popular culture, but what makes him even more menacing and frightening is that that he is not a cartoon! He is a man with certain tendencies and inclinations who was able to get an enormous amount of power. And one way he did this was by speachifying. So what entranced me was how how Hitler holds his head, or how he would break out in a little self-satisfied smile when something he said came off well with the crowd – things I have not seen in any fictionalized portrayal, as good as some of those have been. (For me, the best being Bruno Ganz in Downfall.)

In any case, there were similarities. Both Hitler and Trump use an ideolized fictional past, when the countries were “great” and gather steam from people imaginging a return to a nostalgic idea that has nothing to do with reality. They both behave as if problems can be solved easily, that immigrants are to blame, and he exploits the frustrations of an under-educated class that is grasping at whatever privilege they think they can maintain, especially if it’s over another group of people. It’s a way to make disenfranchised people to feel better about themselves.

Of course Hitler is truly an unfair analogy - really it’s any popular dictator.

So, I suppose that the topic of Triumph of the Will brings me to movies.

But first!

I just remembered that I’ve read a couple of other books last month – Gratitude by Oliver Sachs, a small quick book of his essays before he died – just lovely. I also read about half of Kathleen McCormack’s delightful George Eliot in Society: Travels Abroad and Sundays at the Priory, another historical biography, however this one is mostly centered on Marian Evans and George Lewes Sunday salons over the years. And I read about half of Mendocino Fire, a compilation of short stories by Elizabeth Tallent, who I find thrilling and absorbing.

Movies I watched in December 2015:

(not in any particular order)

1. The Big Short, 2015, directed by Adam McKay
2. Love and Mercy, 2015, directed by Bill Pohlad
3. Carol, 2015, directed by Todd Haynes
4. Straight Outta Compton, 2015, directed by F. Gary Gray
5. An Autumn Afternoon, 1962, directed by Yasujiro Ozu
6. Late Autumn, 1960, directed by Yasujiro Ozu
7. Steve Jobs, 2015, directed by Danny Boyle
8. Sicario, 2015, directed by Denis Villeneuve
9. Trumbo, 2015, directed by Jay Roach
10. Grandma, 2015, directed by Paul Weitz
11. Trainwreck, 2015, directed by Judd Apatow
12. Infinitely Polar Bear, 2015, directed by Maya Forbes
13. Black Mass, 2015, directed by Scott Cooper
14. Spotlight, 2015, directed by Tom McCarthy
15. Inside Out, 2015, directed by Pete Docter & Ronnie Del Carmen
16. Dead Man, 1995, directed by Jim Jarmusch
17. Pather Panchali, 1955, directed by Satyajit Ray
18. Bridge of Spies, 2015, directed by Steven Spielberg
19. After the Tour, 2015, directed by James Ponsoldt
20. Triumph of the Will, 1935, directed by Leni Riefenstahl
21. Clouds of Sils Maria, 2015, directed by Olivier Assayas
22. Joy, 2015, directed by David O. Russell
23. The Hateful Eight, 2015, directed by Quentin Tarantino
24. My Neighbor Totoro, 1988, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
25. The Martian, 2015, directed by Ridley Scott.

Well, a lot of movies this month. I was so happy to finally get around to Satyajit Ray, who I’ve been meaning to delve into for a very long time. In November I watched his film, The Music Room, which I liked very, very much. I can’t wait to find time to see the other two films in the Apu trilogy.

At the end of the year I end up seeing may too many new films. But as I am eligible to vote with the WGA, I feel I must try to see so many. I voted today for the nominations, and still felt terrible because I had not seen so many films I meant to see before I voted.

So far, I would say that my top 3 films this year are: Carol, Spotlight, and Inside Out. I also thought Love and Mercy was terrific. And Bridge of Spies! Oooooh, that was gooooood. Maybe that’s at the top too. And Clouds of Sils Maria. And Straight Outta Compton. I can’t put them in order. Oh! I forgot The Big Short! I saw it twice, I liked it so much. (Same with Spotlight. And I’m gonna watch it AGAIN this weekend. I also saw Inside Out twice.) And The Martian! So wonderful. “I’m gonna science the shit outta this-” should be a slogan for everyone all the time. Wow. Maybe The Martian is my number #1.

If I deeply enjoy a movie, I gotta see it again. It’s like, the first time around you’re on a roller coaster and the thrill of it, the discovery of it, is like the unexpected twists and turns on a ride. But then I have to see it again when I’m calm, when I know what’s going to happen plot-wise, so I can just watch how it’s put together and enjoy the craft in a deeper way. That’s when it can get great.

I have so many more to see from last year. Uh. I actually look forward to when the major awards are done and I can get back to my own film watching.

The biggest surprise of the movies this last month?

Dead Man. By Jim Jarmusch.

And it was released twenty years ago! How did I miss it until now? I absolutely fell for it, big time. I think this film is spectacular, maybe one of my all-time favorite modern films. I must see it again, and soon. Robby Muller did the cinematography. It’s not just a stunning black and white film, it’s funny, disturbing, painfully sad, and deeply beautiful. It has the perfect title. The Johnny Depp character is really dead from the beginning of the story, and it’s one long slow… and delightful… and truly scary… and ultimately dreamy death scene. It’s aurreal and harsh and demanding. Plus Iggy Pop in a dress! (I guess he’s often in a dress, but still!) Oh me, Oh my. I have so much admiration for Jim Jarmusch for making this particular film. If I ever met Johnny Depp, I would want to talk about Dead Man.

There’s a special awareness that comes over me when I watch films that are truly made by masters of the medium. That’s how I felt watching Bridge of Spies. I feel the same way about Roman Polanski’s films. And I don’t always love Polanski’s films or Spielberg’s! But I do feel as if I’m seeing extreme competence. There’s something about it that makes you relax into the film, like the conductor’s been at it a long time and knows what to do and you can just enjoy the view. I admired Bridge of Spies greatly. I think the Coen Bros. should write every film that Spielberg directs, while also writing their own films, naturally.

I think I’m not going to go there for the films I didn’t like too much. I would have liked The End the Tour more (the film is well made and nicely performed) if I cared about David Foster Wallace like I do about… well, say, George Eliot. I can’t get a toehold on Wallace’s prose. I don’t understand why he’s considered to be one of the greats. I’ve tried, believe me.

Now I’m laughing about the idea of a film about George Eliot like The End of the Tour, only I imagine myself in the David Lipsky role. HAHAHAHAHAHA that would be so friggin funny! “Mary Ann, really? I can stay in your guest bedroom? Can I watch you eat and walk around?” Will she say to me, “Believe me, you don’t want to be me.” ? ? And will I think, “No, I don’t want to be you, I want to be me, because now I get to write a book about you – No! About “us.” ? ?

Ahhh… jeez.

Well, until next month… I will try to answer any comments. Thanks for reading!