Dogville

(dir. Lars von Trier) (2003)

Before he developed a cinematic messiah complex and turned out stuff such as Melancholia, Trier did some intriguing and dramatically satisfying work. If viewers can overlook staginess, this film is a gem, an Arthur-Miller-meets-Eugene-O’Neill tour in hell, with great turns by a really interesting cast. Not for all tastes. Ms Kidman’s momentous philosophical discussion with Mr Caan at finale a highlight.

dogville-1

‘Did you say “torch them all, darling?'”

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Doctor Faustus

(by Thomas Mann)

Formidably long and deep, Mann’s novel was written from 1943 to 1947 and represents his “F.U” to Germany for feting Hitler and forgetting Mann. Still, Mann was right and this work is his masterpiece, one of the most authentic studies of genius.  Roger Scruton called it “Mann’s great valediction to Western culture.”

Thomas_Mann_in_Noordwijk_aan_Zee,_1939

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A Distant Episode

November 3, 2014 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Fiction, THUMBNAIL REVIEWS, WRITING & LITERATURE |

(by Paul Bowles)

Like the cove in George Orwell’s piece about bookshops, we generally ‘do not desire little stories’, yet this is P’s personal favourite, along with Joyce Carol Oates’ Where are You Going, Where have You Been?. Warning: Both stories are particularly nasty.

To excel at linguistics, you need a healthy tongue

To excel at linguistics, you need a healthy tongue

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The Dinner Game

November 3, 2014 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Classic Film, Comedy Film, FILM, THUMBNAIL REVIEWS |

(dir. Francis Veber) (1998)

Kenneth Tynan said that you have to be cruel to be kind in high French comedy. In the present case, a bunch of nasty Parisian swells convene a regular dinner in which they have to bring along an unsuspecting dill, each with his own dumb hobby/obsession that their hosts can suavely, and discretely, mock. The book publisher’s friend has, by accident, found an idiot for the next round – in fact, he’s a world champion. But most satisfyingly, cruelty loses to stupidity in this sublime Gallic turn, and one also learns how many matches it takes to build the Eiffel Tower.

diner cons

Things seemed to be going so well…

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A Delicate Balance

November 3, 2014 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Classic Film, Drama Film, FILM, THUMBNAIL REVIEWS |

(dir. Tony Richardson) (1973)

One Friday night a tense little New England family receives a surprise visit from a couple of old friends. It seems they were at home and suddenly ‘became frightened’ for no apparent reason. So they decide to move in with their oldest friends, opening up some old, and some still warmly moist, scars, testing the limits and concept of true friendship.

More delectable, drunken, hate-filled east coast dummy-spits from Edward Albee. The Varnished Culture always draws the cat’s attention to what might happen to him if he ever “doesn’t like us anymore”.

delicate balance

“They were suddenly frightened!”

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Defend the Realm

(by Christopher Andrew) (Other editions entitled The Defence of the Realm)

The author is suited to the task of telling MI5’s story and not just because he’s a Cambridge man. Impeccably credentialed and given an exclusive entreé to classified material, Mr Andrew provides a rational, impartial and exquisitely detailed work, easy to read and to read compulsively.

PHILBY ET AL

The 4 Horsemen of the apocalypse…clockwise from top right – Blunt, Maclean, Philby & Burgess

 

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Death Comes for the Archbishop

(by Willa Cather)

A series of disappointingly empty episodes in old New Mexico, where the priests are as mixed a bag as anywhere else.

death-comes-for-the-archbishop

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Dead Souls

(by Nikolai Gogol)

Gogol was no Dante. He could not legislate in his novels. But he pinned sinners more lethally than most and the wild scheme to buy and sell the dead, today, looks a lot like dealing in derivatives.

The dead souls were peasants who had passed on between official census, and hence you incurred their holding costs (tax) till they were officially designated as dead at the next census. The protagonist, Chichikov, would acquire those dead souls, thereby assuming the tax burden of them, but he would mortgage them as live souls till the next census.

Priestley wrote “On the gothic tower of romanticism, Gogol is responsible for the gargoyles.”

Merrily they roll along...

Merrily they roll along…

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Dead Man

November 3, 2014 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Drama Film, FILM, THUMBNAIL REVIEWS |

(dir. Jim Jarmusch) (1996)

Johnny Depp rides again, or should it be sails, into the sunset, only this time, weird works.

"Stupid White Men"

“Stupid White Men”

[As Depp Indian films go, this is as good as The Lone Ranger is execrable…] Continue Reading →

The Count of Monte Cristo

(by Alexandre Dumas)

A turgid but absorbing boys’- own revenge yarn.

Count_of_Monte_Cristo_1913

Where will I hide the dirt?

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