ESSIE SEES THINGS THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD

We're always in such a hurry, aren't we? One really forgets how much of a routine one gets stuck into. We forget to look around and basically live off by heart - while actually whatever we are doing is just one of millions of alternatives. One of millions of ways to look at the world, to act, to think...

The best ones to remind us of this truth are kids. They haven't learnt and accepted the rules yet. They still add in their own interpretations. And the ways they see our world can be quite extraordinary.

Here are two rather extraordinary works of art, one film and one book, that will challenge the way you look at the world and remind you there is more than one way to see even the most basic things.

happy viewing people!
Essie

BECAUSE YOU CAN'T CONTAIN THE "BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD"

I took one look at the trailer for this one and said to myself “Hah. Terrance Malik fan.” This, to be fair, is what most reviewers of the film seem to have thought when watching Beasts of the Southern Wild. But don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. In fact it’s one of the things that pushed me to watching this film. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a wonderfully surreal and – dare I say it - slightly steampunk fairy tale taking place right in the middle of the modern world.

Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is a six year old girl living in a southern bayou called Bathtub with her father Wink (Dwight Henry). Hers is a rather unconventional life, she goes to school and is taught by Miss Bathsheba who uses her tattoos to tell the children about aurochs and warns them about the melting ice caps. Six year old Hushpuppy has a “house” of her own close to her father’s where she lives with her own things and what remains of her mother’s stuff – her mother “swam away” when Hushpuppy was born – and goes over to her father’s house to eat. So there she lives, in an unconventional world bolstered by her very vivid imagination. But when disaster strikes in the shape of Wink’s failing health and the great flood (Hurricane Katrina), Hushpuppy’s disorganised but happy world comes crashing down. To survive (mentally and in fact physically) Hushpuppy has to grow up very, very quickly indeed.

This is wonderful lyrical story of a completely alternative way of interpreting the world. The perspective of a child, a child who has not been given the hard and fast rules the rest of society has adapted as “the right way” to do things. Do you remember those days? It was quite a long time ago for most of us, so most of us forget pretty quickly, but there was a time when you believed in things that you know think was “childish nonsense”. It could be the tooth fairy, it could be , like me, that when you got into an elevator the elevator was static and the building moved around it (I’ve said this before, I was rather a strange child). Director Benh Zeitlin does this by creating a completely alternative universe in the bayou. The people who live there do not have nearly as many possessions as the folks on the other side of the levee but they have one thing money cannot buy – community. Hushpuppy’s family is not limited to her father, it is the whole community, all her neighbours. The alternative lifestyle is reinforced by the slightly Steampunk looking surroundings; the ramshackle huts made out of disparate construction materials cobbled together, farm animals running practically wild… It’s as close to living in a magical land a person can get to in our modern times… It is fascinating to see, through the eyes of a child, how this perspective copes when the harsh realities of disease and destruction come crashing into this world. Be it Wink’s refusal to come to terms with his illness (we are never told exactly what but it is some kind of blood disorder) or the community coping with the devastating aftermath of the hurricane, it is not just a matter of physical survival; it is a matter of whether the happiness and philosophy of the community will survive. It is easy to put bitterness and hopelessness instead of courage and a sense of togetherness. Even more important is how little Hushpuppy is going to cope with this transition because in all probability it will colour her approach to life for the rest of her days.

For her performance in this film young actress Quvenzhane Wallis deserves nothing short of a standing ovation. This film is her first role as an actress and we have since seen her in films such as 12 years a Slave. Facially and vocally she ably conveys a very complex set of emotions and thoughts that some adult actors may well have struggled with. Dwight Henry is also a strong performer as her father Wink, who obstinately raises his daughter his own way, with an obstinacy and passion that borders on the violent.

The one thing I feel didn’t quite fit into the film are, sadly, the aurochs. They have been compared to the dinosaurs in Terrance Malik’s Tree of Life, and who knows, that may well be the source of their inspiration. They are, basically physical representations (I say physical but needless to say the only exist in Hushpuppy’s mind) of her fears, the difficulties the future will bring and the uncertainty. Although the end sequence with them is designed to bring a rise of emotion in us, to me it felt forced. The same emotion could equally be conveyed (and I personally thought it was) during (SPOILER ALERT) Wink’s funeral, right at the end of the film. I think they felt a little clumsy in what was otherwise a very emotional and delicate film.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a real experience to watch. The silences and surrealism is not for everyone but if you just look past the surface of these it’s a truly beautiful and complex film. Definitely one not to miss. 

A UNIVERSE CONTAINED BY FOUR WALLS... "ROOM"

I despair at myself sometimes. I really do. It is probably the main reason the stories of my purchasing cheap books or DVDs makes it to the blog so often. ``Buy one get one for 1 pound`` the sticker on Room proudly proclaims. I remember very clearly, this is the ``one for 1 pound`` I chose on one particular shopping spree. I was in two minds about buying it although the subject matter did intrigue me; I worried whether it would prove too ``heavy`` a read as the story is one of the darkest ones I have yet to come across. The other danger was, of course, that it would be made too sensational, almost flippant, and that would have made me angry too. But at the end of the day, as I told myself, ``it`s only a pound``. It turned out to be one of the best pounds I spent this year.

Room is five year old Jack`s world. It is the only world he has ever known. It is where he and his mother live, eat, bathe, sleep and play. His mother is called Ma. She has no other name. There is a television in the Room with many different things on it but they`re just TV they`re not real. So they cannot ask for things like puppies, ice cream or chocolate for Sunday treat. Other children and people they see on the television aren`t real either, the only other real person (except Jack and Ma) is Old Nick (as Jack calls him) who bring supplies and sometimes stays the night. But today is Jack`s fifth birthday, it means he is all grown up now, and it may well be time to learn that there is a little bit more to his little world than he initially thought…

You may have gotten a sinking feeling in your gut as you read my version of the blurb, that means you`re pretty much on the right track. Excuse the spoilers, but yes, this is the story of a young woman who was kidnapped and held in a ``room`` in a garden shed for years and who gave birth to a child as a result of rape. The plot twist is that we read the entire story not from her perspective, but from the perspective of Jack, her son. Through Jack`s stories and interpretations, we begin to understand how Ma has made this world up for Jack and has done everything in her limited power to keep the outside world at bay – for the sake of her own sanity and Jack`s. But more importantly, we admire their resilience as Ma has not quite given up hope of escape… And when, in the end, she and Jack break free, a whole new world is opened up to them.

I think I honestly found the second half of the book a lot more striking than the first. I mean don`t get me wrong, the first half has its merits by the boatload, I marveled at how the little alternative universe was formed within the four walls of the Room. Ma clearly trying to keep Jack stimulated without awakening his curiosity about what could lie beyond the walls and Jack, with the naiveté specific to young children, accepts this universe without question. For this reason, it is fascinating to analyze Jack`s thoughts and reaction when he is brought face to face with the real world. In her ``how and why`` section at the back of the book writer Emma Donoghue explains that her own son, four at the time the book was written, was a great inspiration along with the main source of Jack`s ``voice`` as Jack speaks with several (small but noticeable) grammatical errors and uses quite a few invented words. It is in part this dedication that has made the character of Jack so real. This and no doubt close observation of how children see and interpret the world as they discover it.

Donoghue also points out that Jack and Ma`s captivity can also be seen as an illumination of the human condition on many levels. One does not necessarily have to be physically trapped in a room to feel trapped by a situation or a relationship. And if we are trapped by a relationship or situation, it is quite common for the brain to form coping mechanisms of various kinds. We may not exactly believe that ice cream is not real but we form new, and sometimes erroneous beliefs about other people, relationships, the way the world works… And the more entrenched we become in our beliefs, the harder it is for us to shake free until one day, like Jack facing the real world, we are faced with something or someone who shakes up our belief system… Then begins the painful process of adaptation. But hopefully, we end up in a better place than where we began, and all the pain and struggle was worth it.

Room is about all of this, but above all, it is about the indomitable human spirit. That part of us that refuses to give up even under the darkest of circumstances. For this reason, I think Room isn`t nearly as dark as it may very well have been. You will laugh and you will cry as you read it… But you definitely won`t regret your purchase.    

ESSIE STRAYS TO THE LAND OF LITERATURE

As you guys mostly know, I was back in Turkey for three weeks. It was awesome going back to my roots in so many ways, And I don't just mean old haunts and favourite foods. I used to be a MASSIVE bookworm back in the day. But as it does to us all, growing up happened, work happened and what with one thing and another, apart from my commutes to work and back, very little time seemed to be left to actually sit and read. 

However, the lack of wifi in my Mom's house, about which I moaned almost continually all through the vacation, meant I had more time to do non-internet things. Like... You  know, kick back and read for hours. In short, you will have quite a few book reviews coming your way. But I wanted to start with the book that started them all. In that, yeah, that is the one I started on the plane over to Turkey basically :)

happy reading!

Essie

A TOWN NOT QUITE LIKE THE REST... WELCOME TO "MIDNIGHT CROSSROAD"

I was a little dubious when I picked this book up and saw a red sticker, in a familiar script proclaiming it was from the author of the bestselling True Blood series. I used to be a fan of True Blood. Honestly, I am not much of a fan anymore, it is my humble opinion the plot line of the series dropped severely below par a few seasons in and never quite recovered – I haven`t read the book so I am unable to comment on the connection between the series and the books. It is my view though, that stickers loudly proclaiming the previous successes of the creator of one particular item be it a book, a film or anything else, is a possible signal for a mediocre work.  Still, the little book did a good job of selling itself. It promised a darker story than the Sookie Stackhouse novels and a dead body artfully placed in the corner of the front cover promised at a mixture of magic and murder mysteries – a particular favorite with me as you probably know by now. So I bit. I bought it (I could get it two for one with Mayhem – check here for the review – so that definitely helped with my decision). I got so sucked into the book that on my four hour flight over to Turkey, I did not even turn on the entertainment system. I started leafing through the book in the lounge because my flight was delayed by about half an hour and well, when the plane landed, I was still burrowed in the book. That should tell you something or other – I rarely miss an opportunity to watch a free film.

Sookie Stackhouse fans will find the setting painfully familiar. It is set in a small, southern town, Midnight, Texas. The town is dusty, small and almost completely abandoned - but strangely enough the handful of inhabitants who are left seem to prefer it that way. This way there are fewer people to avoid and more room for… Personal lives. This means there aren`t too many newcomers to this town, but Manfred Bernardo is a rarity (in more ways than one) who was looking for just this kind of town. However, as unobtrusive as a newcomer may be, a new presence will always create ripples and waves in the day to day life of a small town. And in a town like Midnight, you can never be quite sure what those waves might wash up…

Now, serious fantasy and horror fans beware – this is not quite your cup of tea. I mean yes, the ``slightly`` meaner fans of True Blood have pointed out that the TV series is little more than soft porn with fantastic creatures in some episodes and I can assure you the book is not so bad. This said, it is not the kind of book any serious horror fan will find particularly easy to get their teeth (or fangs) into. The book abounds with handsome, striking men with supernatural powers (and more often than not platinum hair for some reason) and beautiful women who could pluck their eyebrows with one hand and strangle you effortlessly with the other, should they so choose. Love triangles, all the intrigue that comes with them and ancient family secrets are also plentiful. In fact, although I do not like this kind of speculation, I am almost sure the book was written with the hope of it becoming some sort of TV series as so many of the characters seem to be either directly borrowed from and elaborated on stock characters from fantasy series all the world over, ranging from the friendly witch to the ancient and wise vampire who only feeds on bad guys. Oh and the handsome and mysterious stranger who rides into town guarding secrets of his own (but that character is much older than fantasy as a genre – High Plains Drifter anyone?).

I think it is the abundance of these characters and the `televisionish` feel to the story that slightly dwarfs the serious elements. Because there are some potentially good meaty storylines and serious plot twists in there, but I honestly felt that they could have been expanded on a bit more. More attention seems to be given to the love triangles and the mysterious pasts of some of the characters which, in the scheme of things, are little more than exposition around the real story. Was this left a bit ``hanging`` in the hope that it could be elaborated on camera? I have a suspicion it might be the case.

This said, like I mentioned earlier, I was so badly hooked on this book that I finished it in what ended up being a matter of hours. It`s a typical best seller and good little page turner, it just isn`t by any stretch of the imagination high literature. Nor is it trying to be.  I strongly recommend you get it for your daily commute – or to while away the hours on a long trip. Just don`t expect to be able to write a thesis on it. 

ESSIE SPEAKS OF THE INTERNET

Well, I'm nearing the end of my stay in Turkey. A blast doesn't even come close to describing it. Only problem is, as I have mentioned more than once, my family home does not have wifi. I honestly don't know how I have quite managed to manage without it.

My work, my hobbies, my communications with my loved ones... Even a technophobe like myself can confidently confirm that life as I know it cannot go on without it. So I guess it is somehow appropriate that I should write about one of the biggest internet phenomenons of the decade, nay probably the century.

Scroll down to see what I make of it all...

Oh and incidentally boys and girls, have you seen my newest venture? I am exceedingly proud to announce that I will now be contributing to the film news and reviews on Critics Associated! My first review is already up, check it out HERE.

happy viewing!
Essie

"WIKILEAKS - THE FIFTH ESTATE" - AND WHETHER IT LIVED UP TO EXPECTATIONS...

It was only a matter of time before the films about Wikileaks started pouring out of the production companies I suppose. Julian Assange`s Wikileaks is one of the greatest and most extraordinary information phenomena of modern time. Assange has exposed more corruption and human rights violations than any other media outlet in existence today thanks to his technical skill, his tenacity and determination to get the information ``out there``. In reach for all of us.

But , as this film points out, does that mean he is perfect? Does that mean he has no demons of his own to fight? Does it mean the whole process was easy? The Fifth Estate would argue not. Benedict Cumberbach plays Assange and Daniel Bruhl plays Daniel ??? the two men who basically kicked off the global phenomenon. Daniel gets by and large swept up by Julian`s charisma and the strength of his ideas. He is a very able IT technician with bright ideas and connections to back them up. Julian is, of course, the main driving force behind the whole operation, the one with the inspiration, but well… How to put this… Organization is not exactly his strong point, which is basically where Daniel comes in. Staging an online revolution does, however, come at a cost. Julian has sacrificed anything and everything that ties him even remotely to an ordinary life to get the online revolution going. And as Wikileaks takes its first strides across the information super highway, Daniel is faced with the same choices... Is he prepared to make all the sacrifices Julian made? Or would that be going a step too far?

I imagine quite a few of us were aware that this film was a complete failure at the box office. It was partly why I was intrigued enough to watch it in the first place. I mean with a current and charismatic topic like Wikileaks and Julian Assange and acting greats like Benedict Cumbarbach and Daniel Bruhl, one would assume the film was set to be a massive success. It just goes to show (as if we weren`t aware of it) that the way you handle a story is just as important as the material itself – especially when using visual mediums like film (or indeed theatre). Now the portrayal of Julian Assange is one thing. We do get to know him quite well, and as some of you may have heard, what we see is not exactly complimentary. He is selfish when he comes to his relationships with everyone else, with his mind only on Wikileaks and himself. He has very little consideration, or in fact patience for any idea or happening not pertaining to himself or the cause, and even ``pertinent`` concerns are dismissed if they are not directly in line with his way of thinking. I have no idea if this rather selfish portrayal of the man is entirely accurate but it does make sense in the sense that you have to be more than a little extraordinary to come up with an idea like Wikileaks and this, combined with past traumas, might well make you, well… A little too extraordinary. And herein lies the problem with the film. The only other character we really get to know is Daniel. But apart from these two, the entire pantheon of characters could well be made up of cardboard cut-outs. Of course a film cannot have more than a certain number of protagonists and secondary characters but I strongly feel having two main protagonists accompanied by what largely amounts to a rather over-populated Greek chorus does nothing to advance the film. And, I am sad to say this, but as far as character development goes, in the sense that often in films we find the main character(s) changed and developed in some way at the end of the story, the author also leaves us hanging. Julian Assange is basically the same as he ever was – all be it with a much stronger voice on the internet now – Daniel has developed slightly but only in that he no longer hero-worships Julian and has decided that he cannot sacrifice every single vestige of what he cares for, for this cause. The rest of the cast we barely get to know so we cannot really comment on. The rather disconcerting result is that the film reads a bit like a documentary played out by pre-formed ``types`` of Hollywood` s Golden Age. And while the documentary-like approach to the film was unavoidable given the nature of the subject and how recently the events portrayed took place, that is no excuse for the shallowness of the characters we see on the screen. I mean, even in the case of Julian Assange, the most developed character in the film, it doesn`t take an expert to see that Cumberbach has basically been asked to take his famous Sherlock Holmes character and adapt it to the world of IT. This is not to say that Cumberbach does a bad job of it, only that with an actor of his caliber one could have asked him to do something slightly more adventurous and different… That is, after all, a large part of the ethos of Wikileaks.  

The one thing I thought the film did do rather well on was the way they portrayed the online world, the internet itself. I was watching a video in the exact same matter quite recently (check it out HERE) and it was basically talking about the new search in films today as to how best one should portray online transactions on film. Various experiments have been made pertaining to telephone messages  and although we do have variations, critics seem pretty unanimous in naming the style as used in the BBC`s Sherlock  (where the messages usually free-float across the screen in proximity to whoever received it, in a font similar to the one used on our phones) is the style to keep to. The internet however, and chatting is yet to find its on screen avatar. I am not going to indulge myself with lengthy descriptions and let you guys discover the whole deal yourselves but I will just say that I like it. I am not sure it will end up as the definitively accepted ``thing`` (I mean, as ``definitively accepted`` as these things get) but I definitely think it`s on the right track.

In short, I was rather disappointed with The Fifth Estate. My only consolation is, I am sure other films with different and better interpretations of the topic are bound to surface as this is one historical phenomenon no one is about to forget in a hurry. Shame one can`t say the same about the film.