The English, and Aniara

Winter has yet to arrive here in Essex County.  It's been mild, cloudy, with plenty of rain.  In fact yesterday was the first time we could remember having rain on Deb's birthday.  It's usually very cold, and often snowing.  Not this year.  1.5" of rain yesterday (Thursday).  It's finally supposed to turn cold again by the end of next week.  Now that we have been spoiled by having London weather for such a long time (Dec. 27th), it will not be fun.  The birthday party was low key but fun, with lots of music.  Many more to come, we hope!

We've been resuming outdoor walks this past month, too.  We are hoping for some desert hiking this Spring, depending on Covid.  Our local county is quite bad for infections right now, though one hears very little about it.  Deb got a Pfizer booster shot this week, and all is well, with no side effects.  She has only had Moderna shots up till now.

We will be getting two new windows put in the house on February 1st.  The kitchen and bathroom ones are being replaced with Centennial Windows.  We have nearly replaced all of our older windows now.  Only two more to go after this, for next year, hopefully.  Our only concern is how cold it might be, as the house will be open in two places to the north for a morning.  Usual winds are from the southwest, and rain and snow from the east, so it may not be too bad.  Hopefully all will be well, if a bit on the chilly side for a time.

The English is a six part western series showing on Prime.  It proved itself to be a gem of a show, despite some rather intense violence, and some of the most low down characters ever encountered in fiction.  One does not often think of people from England when referring to tales of the rough and tumble world of the American west.  But this one has English characters front, side, and center, including one of two leads.  The series finale was the best episode of the batch.  Highly recommended viewing!  Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer make a great pair of heroes.  With eye popping photography, much of it was filmed in Spain, due to covid.  Some shots are from Oklahoma.

 

Now showing on Prime. 

 

 The Fallen Sparrow, from 1943, stars John Garfield and Maureen O'Hara and is a taut war time Noir.  He was captured and tortured as a prisoner in the Spanish Civil War, and is back in America and trying to find out who murdered his friend.  Garfield is pretty good in the lead, and the script is relatively intelligent.  Worth a look.

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

Now we come to Aniara, a Swedish SF film from 2018, based on the epic poem by Swedish Nobel prize winner Harry Martinson.  The story is essentially the same as the book, but brought considerably up to date.  The giant passenger ship, ferrying humans to a colony on Mars, is sent off course, and its fuel has to be jettisoned.  The story focusses on one woman, the person in charge of an AI therapy being.  She doesn't get much business in her studio before the accident, but she sure gets a lot afterwards, as people adjust to their new reality.  The movie is really well done, though it will not appeal to viewers who think SF means battles in space, and aliens bent to kill all humans.  The focus is on human drama, and how the ship's inevitable outcome affects people in different ways.  The captain does his best to maintain order and discipline, and for the most part there is very little panic and mayhem.  We had to order the blue ray disc to finally get to see this film.  It has virtually disappeared since its festival run.  Highly recommended, as is the book.  It's great to know that films like this, and Last and First Men, are somehow managing to get made, even though few get to see them.

Available on blue ray. 

 

We watched a 30' film on MUBI called The Human Voice, from 2020.  Based on a play by Cocteau, it was directed by Pedro Almodovar and stars Tilda Swinton.  She has been abandoned by her lover, and is having a rather difficult time of it.  Her performance is a monologue, and done with virtuosic flair.  Her lover has also left behind his faithful dog, who is having an even harder time adjusting than Tilda's character.  This is the Spanish director's first English language film.  I'm sure there are a lot of people who can relate to this film better than I can, but I still liked it.

This short film is now streaming on MUBI.

 

My going away choice for this week is a film called My Name Is Gulpilil, from 2021.  Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, the actor sat down to talk with viewers, telling us (and demonstrating) what it is like to have cancer, and how much he enjoyed making films and traveling to various parts of the world as a result.  He has been in some truly remarkable films, including Walkabout, The Last Wave, and the very recent and brilliant Charlie's Country.  While it is sad to see him so weak and almost helpless, what other Australian Aborigine has lived such a life as he?  He is concerned that he is too weak to get back to his home country.  Without oxygen, puffers, painkillers, and his nurse Mary, he is virtually helpless.  Yet he remains, in some ways, independent.  He loves being in front of the camera, which may have helped his spirits at this time.  He is a man who seems to have done it all, including being arrested and jailed several times for alcohol and drug abuse.  His illness will come as no surprise to viewers.  A very remarkable man, and I'm glad to have seen many of his films.

 

Leaving Criterion January 31st. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Highpoints

Tuesday, October 23rd/18 

I seem to be on a roll at home lately, having read some truly remarkable novels, and listened to some of the best music ever penned.  Over the weekend we heard Benjamin Britten's spellbinding operatic version of "Turn of the Screw," from the novella by Henry James.  I studied the book in high school, but now need to reread it.  We are searching for an audio version on-line.  Britten brings exactly the right sense of drama to the work, and it will stick with me for a long time.

Brahms' Op 53 and Op 54, two works for solo voice and orchestra, are spellbinding in different ways, but essential to hear if one claims to love music.  Op 53 was Clara Schumann's favourite piece by Brahms, and Op 54 continues to be one of his most popular.  Earlier in music history  we have Haydn's Symphonies 41 in C Major and 42 in D Major.  Very different works, indeed, but captiving, energizing, and completely wonderful little worlds unto themselves.

In SF literature, reading "Aniara" by Harry Martinson (a Nobel Prize winner for literature) was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  He gets completely and utterly to the important matter, and the whole epic poem is a hymn to Earth, and to those who realize what we have (the prize of the galaxy, no less).  I will reread this book until I wear out the pages.  Also recently devoured was an utterly brilliant story called "Greener Than You Think," by the genius writer Ward Moore, who also brought us "Bring The Jubilee."  It actually has a lot in common with Martinson's novel, and it is interesting that by chance I read them back to back.  Reviews can be found in my Avon/Equinox blog, in the left margin.

We are continuing with the visually stunning PC game called "Obduction."  It has proved impossible to solve without a walkthru, and even then has been very challenging to try and finish it.  However, I am often just happy and sit and stare at it, or walk through the many different landscapes.