Essie Speaks - mostly about movies - but also of books, countries, life. Mostly movies though :) (Updated every weekend - sunday night latest ^-^)P.S. ALL THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF ITS WRITER - AND THAT WOULD BE ME!
Howdy
folks! Sorry for the slight delay – I had wanted to upload my article
yesterday, but life happened… Besides, you can’t rush these
things – ask any fisherman you know… Or in fact, any artist… Yes, art and fishing can on occasion be surprisingly…
Intertwined… But you will have to scroll
down to see what I mean…
Apart
from the world of fishing flies, plenty else has been happening
this week… Have you seen the new cast for Ghostbusters? I think the idea of an all-female
Ghostbusting crew is AWESOME. Ok, it’s going to be interesting for the fans of
all the original stuff – mainly because we are used to a certain set of
characters though, not necessarily because of gender. I mean think about it –
if they were to announce, say, a cast of
random guys, neither looking like nor connected to the originals, we would have
reacted quite poorly to it, no? Exactly! And if we keep on
re-making basically the same movie
all the time (note that I said all the time – I am aware that there is a lot of
it about) where is the artistic challenge and innovation in that? I love it!
Bring it on!
Oooh, ooh
and did you see the new trailer for the Fantastic Four? Hang on, I have it here
somewhere…
What do you
make of it? Everyone’s first comment of course was that it looked nothing like
the franchise or indeed an action film of any kind and that it reminded one of
another quite recent science fiction film (*cough*Interstellar*cough*)… I mean
it looks to be an interesting movie if this is the style they’re going for…
Oh and last
of all check this one out…
I may be developing
a woman-crush on Maisie Williams… It’s a GOT thing… But yeah, spooky or
what? Having literally watched it an hour or so ago (and then having plunged
head-first into re-writes and editing without much time for actual thought –
the trailer is in here on a whim and not much else) I’m not sure what to make of it yet but I
definitely want to see it…
But enough
of all of that… On with the show… But if you are not sick of my ramblings yet,
may I recommend a little article I penned for Film Debate the other day?
It’s all about the internet and cinema…
I don’t
quıte know how to say this… I just want to come straight out and start off by
saying that never in my wildest dreams could I actually have been able to picture
myself advising you guys to watch what seems to be for all intents and purposes,
a documentary on fly fishing. No, no don’t close the page just yet; I
assure you there is more to it than that. Kiss the Water, is a little number
that made quite a stir in film festivals this year; be it Tribeca, Hot Springs
or Edinburgh… Calling it a merely a documentary on fly fishing would be an
immense insult to the extraordinary woman whose story it tells… And in fact, to
the film itself – after all it does rise to the challenge of its extraordinary subject
matter and tells its story in rather an extraordinary way…
The story
is that of Megan Boyd. You probably wouldn’t have heard of her. But she
is, in fact, one of the greatest creators of fishing flies to have lived. Miss
Boyd was both eccentric and a recluse. But that does not mean she was shut off
from the world. Her works of art – for how else can I describe them – have graced
the collections of the rich and famous, of royalty and of collectors all over
the world…
And I am pretty
sure that this is going to be the first of many points in this little
gem that will take you by surprise. Her fishing flies were so beautiful
that there is an open division of opinion as to whether they were
ever intended to be used at all… One expert on the matter even
confidently states that they weren’t intended for use – he is, however,
contradicted by Miss Boyd’s apprentice which to my mind says the
last word on the matter. I must confess, I have had very little to do with fly
fishing in my time. I had no idea what to expect when we had the first
extreme close-up of a fly. I was mesmerized in an instant, hooked as it
were, by one of the many salmons her flies caught… The colours, the ingenuity,
the creativity…You should watch the documentary, if for no other reason, so
that your impression of fishing flies – whatever they may be – can be
corrected once and for all.
But that is
by far and away not the only thing that recommends the film. Since it has taken
on a rather extraordinary life and person, Kiss the Water goes slightly
off the beaten track as far as its cinematography goes. True, there are
the requisite talking heads – people who knew her, who worked
with her, who studied her work… These are intercut with simply stunning
visuals from the Scottish countryside (it really got the travel bug in me
going) and with stunning and almost abstract animations, not to reconstruct
anything in particular but, to convey the emotions created by fishing,
the flies, the nature, Miss Boyd herself and her creative process. For a
split second I was concerned that the whole animation thing was going to
lapse slightly into the overly artistic and pretentious, but no. The animation sequences capture a
sense of beauty and creativity that quite unexpectedly appear
in the midst of the more conventional segments of the documentary – much like
the moment Miss Boyd’s flies hit the water and brought a tiny speck of
something different into the river…
Another point
I rather liked about the documentary is the fact that Miss Boyd’s physical
form is strangely absent from her life story… It may seem odd that we do not
actually see pictures (moving or otherwise) of her right until the very
end. But look at it this way, The documentary does such a good job of conveying
everything about Miss Boyd, her character and her work that a mere photograph
could not convey –we don’t actually need the obligatory grainy videos of her.
We have learnt all that is important. Not that the grainy videos are out
of place or ill-used when they do come, mind you…
Quite apart
from anything else, this documentary is a wonderful opportunity
to marvel at how many different guises artistic talent and creativity can come
in… And what a wonderful thing it is to have the courage to walk to the beat of
one’s own drum – and that beat alone. Because
you know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense at first glance, living out most of one’s
life in a tiny remote cottage with neither electricity nor running water making
a living by hand-making fishing flies but you know… Aren’t you glad she did?
For viewers
in the UK The Art of Fly Fishing : Kiss the Water is currently available on BBC
Iplayer… I say go check it out… Like, now…
But... Not really... I have just been writing a lot. A LOT.
Check out, if you will my goings on at Critics Associated where myself and my fellow critics are currently working on a French Film festival - among many other cinematic delicacies!
Or, as of quite recently, check out my beginnings as a contributor on Film Debate - where my contribution is, as yet little but from the heart and ever growing :)
And after all of that, if you still have a thirst for reading matter, scroll down this way... I have just the book for you...
have a great week - and I shall be back with even more cinema for you next week!
I am always
slightly dubious about books that are touted everywhere as the best book of the
year. I am not entirely sure where this doubt comes from either. I mean when it
comes to films, I can sort of see why – the films that are touted the most are,
more often than not, Hollywood productions. I love a good Hollywood production
in its place, but the problem with them tends to be that once you have seen a
couple you have seen them all. You can pretty much draw out the story ark with
your eyes closed, fifteen to twenty minutes into the film. Not always, but
pretty much. I am trying to read more this year (one of my many New Years
resolutions) and I am quickly finding that maybe I should put that prejudice to
one side when it comes to literature. I mean it’s the same thing with film
reviews really, you just need to find the critic who thinks along the same
lines as you do and follow their advice (if you are indeed of the advice
following sort in these matters). I bought this book in a train station, in the
face of limited choice and the prospect of a long time spent with potentially
nothing to do if I didn’t buy something. It turned out to be a very happy
choice.
The book
was inspired by a museum piece. One I have actually seen but had completely
forgotten the existence. The miniature house of Petronella Oortman, that can be
seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam today. (Click HERE to access the web page for it!) It is, for all intents and purposes
a dolls house. This one, built in the late 17th century, is thought
to be an exact replica of her house with accurate furniture, if on an
absolutely tiny scale. The cabinet itself is inlayed with silver and
tortoiseshell and in its day, would have cost the equivalent of tens of thousands
of pounds. For her debut novel, Jessie Burton has taken the cabinet, the name
of its owner and her husband, and woven a story. By her own admission, the
story is not biographical but a work of pure fiction.
The Petronella Oortman of Jesse Burtons fictional universe is a young girl of 18.
She has been brought up in the country and comes from a good family. Well, a
family with a good name but that, alas, has fallen on hard times. This is why,
when a marriage is arranged for her with a wealthy merchant in Amsterdam, even
though the merchant is rather older than her, Petronella jumps at this life-changing opportunity. But from the minute she enters her new household,
she is very quick to realise that all is not what it seems in this family and
it is going to take her all her ingenuity to get to the bottom of the many
secrets in the closet. The miniature cabinet is a wedding present from her
strangely distant husband and conversely, it is when Petronella begins to furnish
this little house with the aid of a miniaturist that the most mysteries come
floating to the surface… The more the little house is filled, the more
questions concerning the great house appear… What is truly going on in the
Brandt household. And how does the miniaturist come into all of this…
One little
note in starting writing about my own views. The blurb on the back of the book
hints at a supernatural element in the book. If that put you off ultimately
picking up the book, rest assured, the role of the supernatural in the book is
minimal. We are definitely and categorically NOT in the domain of dolls coming
alive and speaking. And I mean, sorry if that WAS what you were looking for –
but its better you know what is what before you actually buy the book, no. No,
the mysteries that Burton examines are by and large linked to the human mind
and soul. In a word, it made me think of how many secrets and unknowns can be
kept in the confines of one house without the outside world so much as
suspecting what is ACTUALLY going on. There may be multiple reasons for keeping
the secrets ranging from a sense of privacy to a fear of prosecution and
persecution by society (justly or not), but it reminds one, with a slight
shudder in this case, that we never really know what is going on behind the
closed door of a house, even though it may well be the house of our nearest and
dearest. Or sometimes even our own.
And if the
story is not strictly biographical to the cabinet and its owner, it is
definitely a very well researched window into Dutch life in the 17th
century. Burton writes engagingly and with clarity, drawing us right into a
world lost today, quite foreign to a lot of us and yet, on those pages
completely alive. It is partly for this reason that the story is told
completely from the perspective of petronella. The big theme of the book is
discovery, we discover the city and its rules of social life. I mean, to pick
up the surgeon’s scalpel for a minute, metaphorically speaking, if Nella was a
city girl she would know these things and that would make the descriptions
given for our benefit that much more cumbersome and out of place. But the fact
that she has to know all of this makes the story and the descriptions flow. We
know why they are there, and incidentally we profit from them too. In the same
way, suspense is held all through what is, in essence a mystery story. And I
love a good mystery.
It just
goes to show what a truly wonderful thing artistic inspiration is. A museum
exhibit, seen by hundreds every day, can inspire one extraordinary person to
write a beautiful novel with its presence alone. When researching this article
I came across an interview with Jesse Burton where she seems to be hinting at
the continuing adventures of the characters in the book… It’s an interesting
idea – but a dangerous one. The way the book finished was beautiful in itself,
I am hoping that this idea was not born out of the greed to milk this book even
further – it is quite beautiful as a whole in itself. Burton is clearly a
talented writer who will regale us with many more original tales without
falling into the trap of sequels… Oh well… Only time will tell.
I know, although this blog started out as being a blog of many things, it has mainly concentrated on films. But you know what, I am doing very well on some of my new years resolutions. I mean ok, it has only been two weeks but you know... It is going rather well. The resolution in question is reading more. Books I mean. Not random info on the screen. And so far I have been truly delighted in my choices :)
So this week I bring you a rather touching little true life story. It has drama, behind the scenes info on the rich and famous, love and loss...
It also has some musing of mine about art and artists in the 21st century. Not the book that is, the review.
We are all
familiar with the adage that behind every successful man there is a loving wife
(or some such sexist nonsense).
I believe I have made my opinion on it clear in the previous sentence. One
thing, however, is true. When one half of a couple attains a mixed blessing
such as world-wide recognition and fame, the other half of the couple almost
always finds his/herself plunged into the darker pages of history. This was
very much the case with Hadley Richardson who was the loving wife of Ernest
Hemingway just around the time he became as the literary giant he truly was.
Hadley supports
Ernest through those years of poverty and uncertainty, assuages his doubt, provides
him with a happy home, travels all around the world with him and does her level
best to get used to the Paris set, composed of great talents with even greater
characters such as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra pound and Gertrude Stein.
Hadley truly loves Ernest and is sure that their relationship can weather any
storm fame, fortune and literary scandal brings, but as Ernest spreads his
wings and begins to soar, whether she can actually keep up becomes more and
more dubious…
It’s always
an interesting one, isn’t it, the story of a famous person told from behind the
scenes, more specifically from the perspective of his long-suffering wife. But
if you were hoping for an OK magazine type dish the dirt deal on Ernest
Hemingway, well this isn’t quite what you are looking for. I mean, I would be
the first to say that Hadley is ill-treated at times by Ernest but the book
does not by any means make a martyr of her. I do hate that kind of womans story
– painting the woman as an angel that was wronged at every turn by the man is
one genre, but it is not realistic. And what art of every form needs is
REALISTIC female characters, you know, ones that are actually true to life. And
as in every relationship, one cannot lay the blame for all the problems at
Ernests door, no, not by a long shot. In fact, as a woman and a writer, there
were times in the book I would have liked to physically grab Hadley and try to
shake some sense into her. I guess she can be forgiven on the count that it was
an electric time, the changes in her day to day life were constant and
difficult to follow on an emotional scale and Ernest Hemmingway – though
undoubtedly truly in love with Hadley at the time – was not by nature the easiest
of men to get on with (much less live with). In fact, Hemmingway’s rise to fame
was fraught with scandals and arguments of many kinds. A lot of artists and
folks of renown all together on one social scene means that many egos to please.
And this is a scene difficult to adapt to for someone like Hadley who does not
even see herself as an artist. The Paris wife is, if nothing else, a wonderful
study of love pitching itself against a truly extraordinary and relatively
modern phenomenon – worldwide fame.
Historically
speaking, it is also an important study well-worth reading. From the 1920s
onwards, paris was a truly extraordinary town to be in (did anyone watch the
Woody Allen film Midnight in paris). All the artistic greats of a single
generation were there, together, the atmosphere must have been electric when
all these creative geniuses came together. It makes one think of a certain period
in history when Vienna was the centre of creation for classical music with
Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and many more all gathered in the same city. I was
wondering where this city might be today. L.A. London… No its actually more complicated
than that. The creative city of the late 20th and early 21st
century is, without shadow of a doubt, the internet. Competition is all the
more fierce because it is all the more democratic, with artistic creation open
to everyone but if you get into the thick of it, it is on the internet that the
opportunities, the inspiration and the muses all reside. You needn’t, like
Ernest and Hadley, have to physically go to a café downtown to see, be seen and
meet people. All you need to do is open your browser. For the everyman, the
tough bit comes about selection. Of course, the internet is what it is and the
wealth of choice means – Im not being snobbish here people but you know what Im
saying is definitely true in some cases – a drop in quality. What you need to
do is not get side-tracked. What you need to do is do your research. And then,
you have to have the strength of will to close that browser and get to the
business of creating. All you really
need to do is to step away from the paths that are well-trodden and prescribed
and find your own way… There are a lot of people who will say that the internet
has ruined everything (whatever everything may mean) but I strongly disagree. I
think it is an incredibly exciting time, where you never know when you may
discover a budding artist or art form… Or indeed when a budding artist may
discover themselves…
You're scratching your head. You're confused. Who the heck Is Harry Palmer, you ask yourself
Aha. Well. Read the review and find out. I've never been a MASSIVE fan of spy movies as you may have noticed by the distinct lack of the aforementioned on the blog. Don't worry, I go into why that is in the review as well. But the point is that THIS articular spy movie... Did it for me. It was an exception. Michael Caine's presence may or may not have had something to do with it.
I guess it's a good time for you to scroll right down now :)
Oh, and just incidentally... You may notice a thing or two that's new on the pages this week... See if you can spot them! :)
I know, we’re
all on the quest for that one truly original story these days. There is much
eye-rolling about all kind of cinematic cliché. But then again, some clichés,
sometimes are not all bad. And you don’t get much more archetypal than a 60s spy
movie starring Michael Caine. But then
again, as I often say, clichés are clichés for a reason. They wouldn’t have
made so many of these movies if there wasn’t something about them that
attracted the public – right?
Michael
Caine stars as the hero of the show, Harry Palmer. He is a counter-espionage
agent and he has been handed a particularly sensitive case. Some of the UKs
most prolific and important scientists have started leaving their positions in
drones. Not only that, one of the most important physicists, whose discoveries
could give the UK the edge in the Cold War, no less, has now been kidnapped.
Now, Palmer has a history of being insolent, doing things his own way and
having far too much of an eye on the ladies – trouble is, he also happens to be
one of the best agents in the service. Will his unorthodox methods carry him
through and save the day? Ok here's me being all technical and sh*t. Let's check out some moving pictures!
I know it’s not a particularly novel concept to create antiheroes
or to give the hero some negative characteristics (that, especially in more
modern works the hero seems to redeem him-herself of without fail). But well,
in the first place I was surprised they would make Palmer an anti-hero in the
first place, it being the ‘60s and the “Russian Threat” being a very real thing
in those days. I genuinely thought all the goodies would be “dashing”. I
definitely didn’t expect them (Palmer I mean) to be, at times downright
annoying. I mean the man must have been an absolute pain to work with. That
said, we are entering the murky world of double agents (I won’t give you any
further clues because it’s literally impossible to do without giving some plot point
or other away). So, on a level it makes sense that our hero would not look
quite the way we would expect him to look. Even if you are a seasoned spy film
fan, I can pretty much guarantee even you will get briefly confused about who’s
good, who’s bad and who’s “actually” working for who at some point in the proceedings.
And the
other point is, of course that making Caine’s character a tad on the annoying
side (not an actual jerk you understand, just, you know, a nigglesome bit
annoying) is a lot more realistic than having him, for lack of a better word “all
dashing”. He’s a top agent, used to manipulating people, outsmarting very
dangerous baddies, getting it right and you know, saves the known world on a
regular basis. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure I’d be a tad
big-headed if that was MY definition of a regular day! Needless to say Michael Caine absolutely nails
it in his performance – I know he’s old-school but so am I, and I really enjoy
his performance every single time ;)
Of course,
coming from our modern perspective the “special effects” and the various “science
things” border on the comical but I would really strongly advise you kind of
suspend disbelief and just get stuck into the movie because, well, you didn’t REALLY
get this far in the film because you expected fantastic HD explosions or
something, did you? Besides, it would be
truly foolish of you to let this spoil a perfectly good film for you - I’ve personally
never quite understood the point of view which states that “mind-blowing” special
effects is almost the whole point of a film, it’s a completely different but
equally erroneous school of style over substance… But I digress…
The again,
of course, this is the 21st century, everything is extremely visual
and parts of the audience (not all, but definitely parts) want to be almost
literally spoon-fed storylines without making a particular effort to “unravel”
a darn thing. And I’m not even talking about unravelling some Tarkovsky film or
the philosophical musings of Terrance Malik. Consider Bond films. It is only
recently, under the “tutelage” of Sam Mendes that Bond is “slightly too old” a
bit insecure about his abilities and even genuinely confused about the
loyalties of the ones around him. But before that for the most part (say, since
the mid ‘60s where this films hails from) Bond was perfect, for my taste; he’s
slightly simplistic, won every battle – and never really provides one with any
kind of doubt as to whether he would ACTUALLY make it or not . Bond films were
all in all a rather brilliant collection of whatever the visual effects
technology of the day could offer – especially in areas such as shoot-outs, high-speed
chases, explosions etc. – and not much
else. That’s probably why I’ve never REALLY been a fan of Bond – I mean I have
said a million times before, I’m all for escapist entertainment, but what is
the REAL point if you know exactly what is going to happen in the end? You can
get only so much pleasure from HOW you get there (in my universe) but
basically, the moment I start, I know he’s going to beat the baddie, get the
girl and save the world and my interest in watching is down to roughly a third
of what it was (not very high in the first place). The one recent exception was
Skyfall, where I had a moment’s hesitation what with all the build-up on Bond
being so unsure of himself and all…
Ok, so, The
Ipcress File. Definitely one for your head, not your “sense of explosion”. It
may have been a combination of both at the time (this kind of film inevitably
was – is). Now, with the “role” of the visual significantly diminished by our
raised standards, do you know what… The part for the head STILL appeals. If you
actually enjoy using your head when watching films, that is. And if you don’t,
you know what, it’s a pretty darn good place to start…
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