by Dean | May 4, 2015 | General
The protagonist in Philip Roth’s 140-page novel, The Humbling (2009), is a lionized stage actor who, being as self-alienated as he is, has lost the ability to act (“He’d lost his magic”). After a stint in a mental hospital, the sad man—Simon Axler by name—begins sleeping with adventurous Pegeen, a lesbian who is 25 years his junior and may be bisexual. Although Pegeen’s parents disapprove of the relationship and utter words that wound Axler’s ego, the strange affair liberates the ex-actor. And yet . . .
That the novel ends tragically leads us to understand that neither sex nor the sexual perversity that Axler and Pegeen experiment with can save an aging person, especially one who has lost all that is normal in his life (the acting, his marriage [early in the book, Axler’s wife leaves him]). Axler takes on a new role—that of the lover of a 40-year-old lesbian—but life repudiates the role. It is too outre. Pegeen calls the relationship a mistake. . . The Humbling is worth reading but, as should be obvious from my review, it is bleak. It has been made into a movie and I assume it, too, is bleak.
The Humbling (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Dean | May 2, 2015 | General
A handsome thief dressed in a captain’s uniform seduces the mother of a young son, with their liaison lasting a number of months before the thief is duly arrested. . . As anyone who has seen the Russian film The Thief (1997), by Pavel Chukhrai, can affirm, Toljan the thief symbolizes none other than Stalin, he who seduced the Russian people (the mother and her son) without loving them but most certainly with the inclination to betray them. And so, to be sure, Toljan is a betrayer.
Thievery? Toljan steals people’s small possessions; Stalin stole farmland through collectivization—and much else besides. A message of politics and criminality is in full force here, as is a vision of the worthlessness of totalitarianism.
The Thief is made and written cleverly enough to be unforgettable. It stars Vladimir Mashkov, Ekaterina Rednikova and Misha Philipchuk, all of whom are splendid.
(In Russian with English subtitles)
The Thief (1997 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Dean | Apr 29, 2015 | General
Dealing with Latino teenagers, Peter Sollett’s largely successful Raising Victor Vargas (2002) is a serious, casual, charitable picture with themes. The themes are the hardship of raising highly imperfect children when you, the guardian, are too demanding and a bit of a crank; the lure of young love as fearful as it is inexorable; and the odd, fascinating vicissitudes of life. For a 27-year-old director-writer, Sollett has done something indubitably impressive. Non- and semi-professionals make up the fine cast, and canny control lies behind the multiple shots. Sollett’s script is character-driven and unsentimental.
Cover of Raising Victor Vargas
by Dean | Apr 28, 2015 | General
The actors in this week’s Jane the Virgin (April 27) really get to emote. And why wouldn’t they? The episode, Chapter 20, is replete with figurative wrestling matches as well as a literal one (which, like everything else in the show, is not allowed to become boring). Petra, egregiously lying, locks horns with Jane, and there is unfortunate stuff between Xiomara and Rogelio too. Meanwhile, Magda (Priscilla Barnes) does not yet get her comeuppance since an illegal-immigrant wrinkle is tossed in to complicate matters. (Inevitable, huh?)
Speaking of emoting, it is flatly gratifying what kind of range Gina Rodriguez (Jane) exhibits in this episode. Jaime Camil, Andrea Navedo and a couple of others are able to handle the range requirement also. As a police detective, Brett Dier is surprisingly believable, and Barnes is chillingly sober.
by Dean | Apr 26, 2015 | General
The Jaume Collet-Serra movie, Run All Night (2015), held me for a long time with its rowdy drama (now that’s a car chase sequence), but then it turned into a tired Liam Neeson picture rather too much like one of the Taken flicks.
The mobster’s cruel disloyalty to a friend is an okay subject, but Liam-and-his-film-family, with their need to work things out, isn’t. Yep, there’s an estranged son. Kill me now, mobster!
