An Embarrassment of Riches

It's Never too Late (or too Early) to do your Holiday Reading - by Ruby

Yes, I know it's the middle of February, but I just can't wait till December to tell you about the U. K.'s poet-laureate, Carol Ann Duffy's Christmas poem, Mrs. Scrooge.  Duffy and her illustrator Beth Adams serve us a mashup of Dickens' classic story with a contemporary twist: Mrs.S., in modern dress, is a practicing environmentalist of the 21st century. But she's still a bit of a Scrooge - with a green stripe.    

She hated waste, consumerism, Mrs. Scrooge, foraged                                                                                 in the London parks for chestnuts, mushrooms,                                                                           blackberries,                                                                                                                                             ate leftovers, recycled, mended, passed on, purchased                                                                 secondhand,                                                                                                                                         turned the heating down and put on layers, walked
everywhere
drank tap-water, used public libraries, possessed a wind-
up radio,
switched off lights, lit candles (darkness is cheap and
Mrs. Scrooge
liked it) and would not spend one penny on a plastic bag.

The story opens with Mr. S. (who was beloved) described as "doornail-dead" and Mrs. S. living all alone in a building scheduled for imminent demolition. She's begun to lose heart about her belief in the possibility for great change. As night falls, she, as Ebenezer before her, visits the Christmases past, present and future and experiences a similar renewal of hope. Duffy's language is light and crisp, the narration reminiscent of Alan Bennett. Don't miss it, even if you decide to read it in summer. I had a great experience once reading A Christmas Carol in the middle of July! Oh, and by the way, in this story the word humbug refers to the lovely striped candy.

Better Living Through Chemistry - by Ruby I'm too cheap to get cable. My teeth start to clench at the prospect of seeing yet another set of wire ganglia wending their way through my home. As a result, I've come to depend on the kindness of my public library to fill in any TV culture deficits by borrowing from our collection's wide range of cable shows transferred to DVD. So far I've sat open-mouthed during Deadwood, sobbed uncontrollably through 5 seasons of The Wire, sweated with the outlaw unit on The Shield, and looked askance at every single episode of Rome and The Tudors. Recently I heard about another series just released on DVD called Breaking Bad - a term that refers to something going south.  Brutal, gory and heartbreaking, it's a darkly complicated tragi-comedy with tremendous performances by Malcolm's dad, Bryan Cranston and his meth lab partner, Jesse Pinkman. The series Creators definitely watched Weeds and read their James Thurber. Walter Mitty crosses way over the line - this time for real. Cranston's character is an internationally known chemist with a first-rate mind who finds himself teaching high school chemistry with a second job in a car wash.  Fate provides a chance to break out and get some serious cash. Why did I like season one so much?  Because somehow, regardless of all the blood, sweat and distillation paraphernalia, the story becomes highly plausible. But, see for yourself. 

3:10 - Agin'? - by Ruby

I'm not overly fond of movies made from books, and especially films made from OTHER movies. They say remakes fill an artistic void or a drive to financial gain. In any case, it can seem more like re-treading a tire than creating memorable screen moments. To illustrate my point, compare the following three versions of a well-known western tale. 

It all starts with a spare, intense short story by Elmore Leonard published in a dime western magazine in the early 1950s.  Two men, one law-abiding (Paul Scallen), the other law-busting (Jim Kidd), psychologically duke it out against the backdrop of a small dry Arizona town.  It hasn't rained in Contention City for weeks and the cattle are dying. It's called "Three-ten to Yuma".

Then jump to a beautifully photographed black and white Delmer Daves film in 1957 also called 3:10 to Yuma with Van Heflin (Dan Evans) and Glenn Ford (Ben Wade). You'll note that the characters names have completely changed for reasons known only to the creators. A "love interest" theme with bittersweet links to the past is added to fill the genre definition of Adult Western. No rain, cattle dying, still Contention City.

Morph ahead several decades (2007) to view a full Technicolored bloodbath version of - you guessed it- "3:10 to Yuma".  We're in Contention and it still hasn't rained. This time Christian Bale plays Dan Evans and Russell Crowe gets to be Ben Wade. This version has a lot more murdering and thieving included.  One of the major characters gets killed off.

All of these versions use the recurrent theme of friendship blooming under unlikely circumstances, i.e. growing respect for someone who’s your direct opposite trumping the usual misgivings.  To see how well the themes were carried out compare and contrast. What do you think?

They Have it Wrong, I Tell You! - by Ruby She's One of Us; (Elle est des Notres); Director: Siegrid Alnoy; Starring: Sasha Andres, 2003, France

Most of the reviewers of this film have it wrong.

Siegrid Alnoy’s story of a small town Frenchwoman with serious social inadequacies has been sometimes characterized as slight, tedious, incomprehensible. Visually unwatchable. Makes me wonder if the reviewers sat through the entire thing.

She stares at you - eyes wide open and guileless - waiting for something - a cue, a connection. Hands trembling. Most comfortable at the Mall or in the woods. She's a highly competent temp worker, desperately trying to fit in with limited results. She's a child, forced to act as an adult having never really emotionally growing past about age 6. Pretending to be One of Us. Finally becoming Her version of One of Us through a messed up series of events.

Cinematically, it reminds me of Antonioni’s Red Desert - in primary colors. Each scene is exquisitely photographed, taking its time to tell the visual story.  Even the sterile office boxes where workers earn their keep are striking. The book jacket word, “riveting” comes to mind.

Recommended for those who like to go places they’re never likely to go.