Sight and Sound Magazine - September 2024

 

EDITORIAL

Mike Williams talks about David Lynch. Here he is on the cover aged 78. A youngster. Apparently now just about confined to his house. He is the subject of the main feature this month, but not about his films, BUT HIS MUSIC! What a bore. The editorial is mainly about Foster Wallace's 1996 essay David Lynch Keeps His Head. 

OPENING SCENES

Just about a new film called Daughters. Nothing else remotely interesting.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Pamela Hutchinson chooses a new book called Armchair Theatre: A History of Feature Films on British Television 1929 - 1981. £110.00 !!!

IN PRODUCTION

Emerald Fennel is adapting Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Shooting should also start next year on the life of Mary Woolstencraft.

READERS LETTERS

There follows a few articles not of interest, but then a long reply by David Weir to Henry K Miller's "scathing review" of Weir's book about Visconti's  The Leopard in the BFI Classics series. Have it! 

TV EYE

A clever piece by Andrew Male about Inside No 9. He compares this brilliant series (now ended) to Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe. But to make it into a political point against the Tories does it no favours. 

FLICK LIT

Nicole Flattery talks about the adaptation of Mary Gaitshill's Secretary that appeared in her Bad Behaviour collection of stories. She's impressed with the movie and tells us about the differences with the original. She thinks the happy ending is too bright but likes James Spader in the male lead.

THE MAGNIFICENT '74

Jessica Kuang asks us what might be the highest grossing movie of that year. It turns out to be Blazing Saddles which she thinks has a lot to do with writer Richard Pryor. Nothing was safe, not race, gender, elderly, disabled or gay. There was huge controversy about it, but it did well at the box office.

THE LONG TAKE

Pamela Hutchinson describes how the Saturn Film Company was set up in 1906 by Johann Schwarzer, a Viennese photographer to show "spicy" films. It was very successful until  the police closed it down and destroyed most of the back catalogue. "Fortunately? some has been found and restored by Film Archive Austria. "We should look more closely at the films our ancestors clamoured to view".

DAVID LYNCH

The main feature this month of over nine pages is not about his movies but ...... his latest album of experimental music! No!!! Only the stills from his MOVIES were fine.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Another awful six pages about a "documentary" of the Irish band Kneecap. I skipped it.

SCORES OF THE CENTURY (So far)

Twenty five of the best film music chosen by composers and critics. There is a great introduction about Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell and how bits have been used so many times. (Check Out Sky Sports News). He continues to explain how film music has developed this century, especially some modern offbeat scores such as Johnny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood, Hamaguchi Rusyke's Drive My Car and Mica Levi's Under The Skin. 

So to pick out my favourites from the 25 that has special music:

Drive (2011) Cliff Martinez "a synthwave fever dream"

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Alberto Inglesias "humble sound design" 

Under The Skin (2013) Mica Levi "unsettling"

Prisoners (2013) Johann Johannson "steadfast and resolute"

Hail Caesar (2016) Carter Burwell "soundtracked all Coen Bros films"

Raw (2016) Jim Williams "harsh but some real warmth"

You Were Neve Really Here (2017) Johnny Greenwood "technically thrilling"

Poor Things (2023) Jerskin Fendrix "sounds serrated as a bone saw"

SPOTLIGHT

The film music of Philip Glass. 

BRIAN ENO

An eight page interview with Walter Murch as a backdrop to the new documentary Eno. in cinemas now. But ...... a new edit of the film for every screening! But it's all about sound and not music. For some reason (but it was brilliant) there is that scene from The Godfather where Michael Corleone shoots two competitors in the restaurant. It is the complete lack of music that makes it. Just the sound of the train on the elevated track in the distance. And a superb still from the film. So the talk is about sound. "I'm not really a film score composer in the normal sense". I'd have preferred someone who was.

REVIEWS : FILMS

Twisters: "the action feels like it's on a downward spiral" then "not so much about confronting climate change than enjoying it". See my review.

Then three other movies before:

Fly Me To The Moon : A posBritish crime writer itive review for the screenplay by Rose Gilroy and the performance of Scarlett Johannsson in the lead role. Less impressed by the last third and that "double bluff scenario" (I agreed.) See review.

Longlegs : "a tightening tourniquet of dread". Nicholas Cage "barely recognisable underneath prosthetics". See my review. 

Only The River Flows

A Chinese film that looks interesting. I hope it makes it to the Rex Cinema Berkhamsted. A murder mystery investigated by Police Captain Ma.

REVIEWS : DVD'S

The Small Back Room: A neglected Powell and Pressburger drama, now in a newly released Studiocanal restoration. But £27.43 plus delivery! Try BFI Player at £3.50. David Farrar and Kathleen Byron star, "one of British cinema's great couples". 

LOST AND FOUND

An obscure French drama Garde a vue from a book by British crime writer John Wainwright. 

REDISCOVERY

A restoration of Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, a 1971 drama about Tchaikovsky. And a 1947 thriller Obsession by American director Edward Dymytuk who had left his homeland in the wake of the Unamerican Activities hearings. He previously had success with Crossfire.

REVIEWS : BOOKS

The most interesting of these is MUSIC FILMS: Documentaries, Concert Films and other Cinematic Representations of Popular Music by Neil Fox. On the cover?, A Hard Day's Night. Too obvious. Also mentioned in the review are This is Spinal Tap and Nashville. Maybe there are more interesting films included as there are 250 of them.

I skipped past "From the Archive" and "This Month in ... 1947" to:

ENDINGS

This month Adrian Martin talks about 1988's Cop, a thriller with a complicated plot from the James Elroy novel. It is the shock finale that interests the writer with James Woods as the LA cop of the title. "A taut minimalist thriller" that has a cult following. The final scene is in a gym where Woods confronts the crook. His last words are not "you are under arrest".

A Dry Spell, The Clock Winder and The Sidmouth Letters

 

It was one of those books where I almost gave up on a number of occasions. There was just enough interest in the story that kept me going. The trials and tribulations of two families in the first third of the book had very little to recommend it. Jane is married to Guy and struggling with the youngest of her two children. Guy is a newly installed headmaster and no help at all. Harriet is a menace. Nina, on the other hand, is single and has a grown up son James, soon off to Uni. But their background is a mystery, clever how the author keeps you reading to find out what that is.

In the background is Hugo, one of the most horrible creations I have ever read. He comes to the fore half way through in Part 2 when the story backtracks to maybe eighteen years ago when Nina joins an expedition/research trip to the Sahara with Guy, Hugo and Martin. It is here that we start to piece together the background to their relationships in Part 1. I thought here that the novel might perk up, but no. It is just terribly boring. It just sounded like the author had done so much research in this overland journey that everything had to go in. Even the drama at the end of this section was spoilt by something terribly obvious in the last sentence.

So the last part is back to where we were at the beginning where it tries to tie together the threads of the past. Possibly the most interesting part of the book. But for me, the writing seems very plain and ordinary. It's an easy read but could easily have been a hundred pages shorter.

Sometimes called Anne Tyler's forgotten novel, this is her fourth and by no means the worst. Her previous novels were equally poorly received. I did read her third "A Slipping Down Life" and was not impressed. Young Elizabeth has left home, seemingly under a cloud (we here about that later) and ended up at old Mrs Emerson's. She has just sacked her handyman and Elizabeth takes the job and a room in the big house. She "awoke every morning feeling amazed all over again". That she may have finally become a grown up. All Mrs Emerson's children (seven of them!) have moved away (unsurprisingly when we find out what a difficult person she is". They do appear at different times. Suddenly Mathew, Timothy and Andrew are at home. But the girls: Mary, Margaret, Melisa are all gone. There is a certain competitiveness for Elizabeth's attention from the young men. Then Peter (age 19), the awkward and youngest, arrives. "He grew up whilst their backs were turned". Then it's a funeral that has brought the family together.

Jump forward to 1963 and we hear about Margaret's marriage and a previous boyfriend who occupies her thoughts. Elizabeth has left and it's her wedding that Margaret has decided to attend. The narrative ends in 1970, a slightly peculiar conclusion. It's Peter who arrives out of the blue to find the family all together, including Elizabeth? He finds they are all just the same. All argumentative and now with young children in tow. I thought the book had definite glimpses of what became the author's trademark exploration of family relationships. I thought it was fine.

There are eleven short stories in this collection by, perhaps, my favourite author Jane Gardam. Her "Old Filth" trilogy is just brilliant, I think her novels are better than the shorter versions listed below:
THE TRIBUTE
A lunch is arranged in remembrance of Denchie. The elderly Nelly, Mabel and Fanny are meeting in Harrods. Nelly has driven there (well these were written over 44 years ago). "She eased her legs out of the car and felt for Hans Crescent with her Dr. Scholls". The talk is about how Denchie looked after all their children for just bed and board. "I wonder if she had the OAP (old age pension)?" But nobody had bought a stamp. Denchie's niece is late and this is when the story takes a decidedly unexpected turn.
HETTY SLEEPING
Is it all a dream? Or just part of this story. You have to guess.
TRANSIT PASSENGERS
The weakest of all the stories.
FOR HE HEARD THE LOUD BASSOON
A proper short story where an unexpected event happens. Our narrator looks in at an almost deserted church. But a wedding in a small chapel needs him as a witness and from there there is an amazing turn of events.
LYCHEES FOR TONE
Absolutely priceless. Narrated by Tone's mother in her northern accent. Her husband is dead and Tone is bringing home a bird to stay. She ruminates for ages about how this is not right, driving herself mad. Then a huge twist at the end.
THE DICKIES
A small dinner party in Pam's garden. Our guest is there with her mother and other mature people. Who arrives but the two Dickies, a strange relationship. Very strange.
THE GREAT, GRAND, SOAP-WATER KICK
Narrated by Horsa, actually a tramp. Not quite illiterate but almost. His lucky day (see title).
LUNCH WITH RUTH SYKES
Or maybe not. Rosalind's mother tells the story of lives in a muddle.
DOSSIE
Pass.
A SPOT OF GOTHIC
The captain's wife narrates as he has left for a posting abroad, leaving her alone in the best army house they have ever found. Here in the North Yorkshire hills he was worried she would feel isolated by the wary locals. But no, the opposite turns out to be the case. Then leaving a dinner to which she has been invited, and driving in the dark out of Wensleydale, she thinks a woman waves to her at the side of the road? Should she have stopped? She goes back later to investigate. What follows is pure Gardam genius.
THE SIDMOUTH LETTERS
The last of these stories gives the book it's title and no wonder. Annie tells us about an American professor when she was chosen for a post graduate year at a mid-west university. Shorty Shenfold arrives in the UK, now a writer and plagiarist. He is becoming successful despite having had three wives in tow. Annie is now also a success and, despite him having hi-jacked her thesis, agrees to accompany him and his latest wife Lois to look at some Jane Austen writing in her old cottage, now a museum. But the next morning Lois has died while they were staying at Claridges and Annie is persuaded to carry out a chore for Shorty. That is where it all gets very interesting. He had forgotten her link to Devon where her arrival causes a stir. Wonderful.

Have You Seen .... by David Thomson Part 12 Night of the Demon, Sunset Boulevard and Five Easy Pieces

 

A British film with the American star Dana Andrews parachuted in for the international market., to play alongside home grown Peggy Cummins. Night of the Demon is a 1957 black and white horror where the gloomy picture is, I guess, deliberately spooky. The setting is Lufford Hall which is actually Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire. But the action starts at an amazingly deserted British Museum. Here we see a vision that is at the centre of the story. There are discussions about witchcraft and the supernatural.

But soon we are off that country mansion where we find the overpowering Dr Carswell played by Niall MacGinnis, the owner and spooky occultist. We hear about "the conflict between rationality and superstition". Director Jacques Tourneur  keeps us wondering right until the end about whether we will see that vision again. 

You know from the introductory music by Franz Waxman that this is a thriller. I had no idea of the plot, never having seen the musical version of Sunset Boulevard. It starts with that classic image of a body in the pool, an iconic image that David Thomson uses on the front cover of his huge book Moments That Made The Movies. Thomson loves the opening of the film, especially the voice over. I'm not so keen. Especially when he is dead. Thomson tells us that director Billy Wilder was slapped by the head of MGM for this daring conceit. 

It's William Holden as Joe Gillis and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, the aging, or should I say aged, star who spar with some of the best dialogue of the time, even if it's a little over the top. Nearly all taking place in her crumbling mansion on Sunset Boulevard. It has a pool. I cannot remember ever seeing Gloria Swanson before, but she is terrific. There are no locks on any of the doors and Joe wonders if he should worry. There is one scene where she plays bridge with some other past it stars that is superb. Then that New Year's Eve party with full orchestra in her home with only one guest!  What has Joe got himself into? Can he escape? 

There are two other fine performances from Erich Von Stroheim as Norma's faithful butler and Nancy Olson as a young writer. In another of David Thomson's books, Have You Seen ..... , he says "this breathtaking portrait of Hollywood failure (both the leads) is wrapped up rueful ruined success". And "it is Wilder's virtue that he keeps the picture comic". Thank goodness.

Another film where I had no idea of the story is Five Easy Pieces. I thought we were in for something great when the first song starts: It's Tammy Wynette singing Stand By Your Man. What a voice! Here is Jack Nicholson as Robert (Bob) Dupea in the shadows entering his shack. He seems like your typical uncouth working class guy working on the oil rigs. His friends are all the same, including his latest girlfriend Rayette played by a superb Karen Black. So we are very surprised when a call from home about his failing father takes him back to his family's island mansion near Washington. 

We know Bob can play piano, but he could have been a classical master. He almost finds some warmth there with a much more sophisticated woman. She tells him "Your a strange person, Robert". And he is. Torn between his rich roots and a penchant for women and drink, his cultured family are in stark contrast to the trailer trash that pulls him away. The film is well directed by Bob Rafelson from a decent screenplay by Adrian Joyce. However it has all the hallmarks of it's 1970 heritage. Would it get made today? Probably not. The strangest of endings is just typical.

Tammy Wynette's songs on the soundtrack also include D.I.V.O.R.C.E, Don't Touch Me and Where there's a Fire in your Heart. There are also five piano pieces by Mozart , Chopin and Bach. The contrast says it all. 

The Main Border at the end of August

 The main border is not at it's best this time of year, but there are some nice things happening. The geraniums on the far right look as if they might flower again soon. And, of course, the two Delphiniums at the far end are quite remarkable. 

The white flowers in the photo below are on the late flowering Hibiscus syriacus "speciosus". I had to look that up in my garden notebook. I wish I had bought the blue or lavender instead. But it is too healthy to move. 

Below is a brand new Echinacea to try to give some late colour to this part of the border.

And  the Astrantia below are in flower again.

Next to the lawn are these pink flowers that come up every year. No idea what they are, but some late August colour is always welcome. 

Repeat Flowering in the Garden

 

I have to start with the new Delphiniums. I was quite upset when I lost the old Pacific Giant. but I found these two at Chiltern View Garden Centre, in small pots and very cheap. After flowering in June, they were chopped down and are now in flower again as photos below.. One light pink, one light blue. Superb.

They are the highlight of the far end of the main border.

These were the Astrantia Salmon Pink in June

Today they are not so prolific after pruning a month ago, but still OK. 

In May, the blue Campanula was so healthy it eventually grew almost all the way across the path.

It had to be cut right back after flowering and is now just beginning to bloom once again.

This was the Weigela also in May when it is at it's best.

Again the flowering is not so dense, but still fine in August.

Of course the roses are great the second time around, especially the Blue for You.

And here are a few more.

Village Walk in August

I do enjoy the circular four mile walk from the house. I cross Wendover Brook to reach the church of St Mary the Virgin. Across one grassy field, avoiding the cows. (Picture quality poor on my phone.)

Before I arrive in a much larger corn field that takes me to the canal. This week it had been harvested. There is the Chiltern Ridge in the distance.

At the end of the field is a gate to the upgraded canal footpath of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

With some great views across fields to the Chilterns in the distance. Although not in this photo.

Lots of ducks on the canal.

Arriving at Halton, I can cut through a hedge and walk around the perimeter of the cricket field. These days only used for parking for the odd event.

Then around the village crossing over the canal 

and back along the footpath next to the brook to reach the reservoir.

Here I had noticed a distinct lack of wildlife for the last few weeks. All the ducks and swans seemed to have left, Just the odd moorhen in the reeds. It was all quite sad. 

Then out of the blue this week, the swans had returned. In the Spring there were two adults and three signets. It seems the latter had grown as there were now five swans. One of which was swimming with two new signets. So all is fine.

The circular walk is over four miles and this time of year I make the most of the dry footpaths. Come winter and they are almost impassable. 

Twisters, Longlegs and It Ends With Us

 

Someone said "there was very little chemistry between the leads". The problem was that Glen Powell's character was meant to be over the top but instead was just highly annoying. He almost made me dash for the exit. You would think from some of the reviews that he was the main character and the driving force behind this blockbuster. Everything was shouted out loud. And the script was awful. But then the real star, Daisy Ridley was great. I enjoyed her performance in Where the Crawdads Sing. I haven't seen her in Normal People, but having loved the book I might not ever watch it. I cannot remember her in  Cold Feet, but then she was very young.

Back to the film and it seemed that we had the same set pieces over and over again. There were a couple of interesting novelties like hiding in the empty swimming pool. The special effects were fine but it was all spectacle and maybe for some that is enough. But not for me.   

John Bleasdale in Sight and Sound Magazine September 2024: Twisters isn't so much about confronting climate change as enjoying it.

I wondered why Longlegs was advertised as a horror movie. Yes, there were the occasional nasty bits, but this film was much more like The Silence of the Lambs that whilst it has some horrible stuff, it is also similar to films centred on an FBI investigation such as Zodiac, Se7en and the TV series True Detective.  Here a deadpan Maika Monroe (from It Follows) is Agent Lee Harker whose sort of psychic abilities lead to Nicholas Cage in full bore silliness. He hardly features in the first three quarters of the movie, thank goodness. Rural America is always great to see. Writer/director Osgood Perkins does a fine job except for the ending that i didn't get at all. But that is what these film do.

Roger Luckhurst in Sight and Sound Magazine September 2024: a leaner, unnerving and off-kilter energy.

We are slap bang in the middle of the school holidays and in the absence of any normal dramas, I found this Blake Lively vehicle in an adaptation of a book by Colleen Hoover. Yes, I should have known better. Well it does look good and glossy, and some of the star's dresses and costumes are great. But how can you have the heroine opening a flower shop when she is called Lily Bloom? There are just too many co-incidences all the way through. This is not your normal romcom where they are part and parcel of the story. Here they just seem stupid. 

Justin Baldoni has adapted the book (a lot of clunky dialogue) and directed (maybe stick to that?) and starred. He was awful. As a brain surgeon??? How someone like Lily would fall for this guy stretches the imagination. Well she was warned more than once. There were the occasional emotional tugs (I guess from the book) and the songs on the soundtrack helped to stop me from walking out. But the best bit about my visit to the Odeon was the trailer for The Critic. Ian McKellen stars is an adaptation of the book Curtain Call. There is a wonderful British cast and opens in the middle of September. I can't wait.

Inside Cinema - Shorts 41-50

 

We are off to high school in Episode 41 Classic Lit to Teen Hit presented by Rhianna Dhillon. So obviously we start with 1995's Clueless, that modern adaptation of Emma. I think I might have seen most of these dramas, from She's All That to Ten Things I Hate About You (that clever modern reworking of The Taming of the Shrew), Cruel Intentions, Get Over It (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and She's the Man (Twelfth Night). 

I thought we might get a better list on Episode 42's Summer Holidays from Guy Lodge. They start all a bit flimsy with The Inbetweener's Movie, Grease and Spring Breakers. Then a flash through some others until a better section with Moonrise Kingdom, Call Me By Your Name, Us, and The Talented Mr Ripley. But we are told summer holidays can also be frightening i.e. those last two above, Hostel, Deliverance and of course Jaws. Thank goodness A Bigger Splash gets a mention, for high class script and acting.  

A more light-hearted Episode 43 about beauty pageants in films is Beauty Queen Dreams by Beth Webb. (Who thinks up these genres?) Some quite decent films include Little Miss Sunshine, Misbehaviour, Drop Dead Gorgeous (I actually have it on record) and Miss Congeniality. I thought a reference to "underdogs are not meant to be aspirational" was spot on. But some sports movies also feature (why?) and Slumdog Millionaire? But it's the equally unconventional people around the contestants that make these movies.

Episode 44 is actually called Inside Cinemas narrated by Catherine Bray. She asks us "what's the most dramatic place you can set a scene in a movie. Especially in the dark inside a cinema (auditorium)". Who knew there were so many, especially those horror films where the darkness hides the violence. So yes, we are in the audience for Sliver and Cinema Paradiso (on my list to see) and finally Sunset Boulevard, my next DVD to watch.

David Lynch is the subject for Episode 45 Lynchian Nightmares by Mike Muncer. All his big films are here. There seems to be nothing out of the ordinary at the beginning of these movies, but "nothing is as quite s it seems". An understatement. Normal thrillers and dramas become something else entirely. I still cannot get over the ending to Mulholland Drive. If we see a fairly mundane scene in a diner, and one of the characters starts to relate a nightmare, we brace ourselves for what come next. So here is Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway and Wild at Heart. All now classics. At the end of this episode we see clips from films that have Lynchian elements such as Get Out, Donny Darko and the creepy Black Swan.

What is  Rosamund Pike doing as the face of Episode 46 The Rashomon Effect presented by Jessica Kiang. We hear about those instances when an event is given contradictory interpretations. We are told this started with the 1950 film Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa. The stories the characters of these films tell must all be lies and we see lots of examples including Pike's Gone Girl. I just love unreliable narrators. "Cinematic truth is dead".

In Asian movies of the past, the female star was always in the background. But Episode 47 The Dragon Lady from Zing T S Jeng proves this is no longer the case. She starts with the the 1932 movie Daughter of the Dragon starring Anna May Wong the first Chinese American actress of note. But then for decades no other such film. Until 1985 and Year of the Dragon.  More modern films where Asian stars come to the front include The Farewell, Charlie's Angels, Crazy Rich Asians, Lucky Grandma (actually looks interesting) and then Michelle Yeo in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and others. Lucy Liu is the face of this episode from Kill Bill Volume 1. 

Doesn't everyone love a villain? But some are really obnoxious in Episode 48 Cinema Jerks by Leslie Byron Pitt. We see quite a lot of Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) in Jaws, William Atherton as Walter Peck in Ghostbusters and lots more. But we need them to get their comeuppance, and they do.

Hurrah for Episode 49 Pubs on Film presented by Lou Thomas. It was amazing to see that directors such as Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Terence Davies had so many scenes in pubs in their films. We also see clips from wonderful films such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Trainspotting, Kes, An American Werewolf in London (a fearful place for a stranger) and of course Withnail and I. Edgar Wright showed us pubs in all three of his trilogy: Sean of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. We may have seen lost of fights, but it's really a place to have fun.

The last for this particular post is Episode 50 and Witches on Film from Elizabeth Sankey. I liked the introduction with The Craft from 1996, but this is followed by all sorts of different characters. From 1942's I Married a Witch starring Veronika Lake, to all the Harry Potter films, and of course The Witches of Eastwick and Practical Magic. So are all films about witches so light-hearted? Even the horror of The Love Witch is a comedy. The most obvious serious movie is 2015's The Witch written and directed by Robert Eggers and starring Anya Taylor-Joy in her very first feature. One to check out.