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Book/Movie Recs, as of 6/27/10
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 03:14 pmIn Books:
Night Passage, by Robert Parker: I appreciate that Parker is able to slide comfortably between dialogue and narration like it's no big thing. One tells the story better than the other, sometimes, and he's not afraid to dump whichever one isn't serving his narrative at the moment. As the hero, Jesse Stone is compelling without being anywhere near one hundred percent "good"; he's a real person with real problems. The villains are just skillful enough to be a little menacing, and the setting is ably described with a minimum of set-up. I am sad that Parker died recently, and so I will never have a chance to tell him how much I enjoy his work.
In Movies, by extension, thoughts on books:
Toy Story 3, with guest appearances by The Velveteen Rabbit: I cannot emphasize enough that, despite its G rating (and what's with that?!) and aggressive marketing campaign, this is not a movie for young children. After the film was over, in the ladies' room, I overheard at least two Moms have damage control discussions with their little ones: "Yes, there were some scary parts. And there were sad parts, too. But it was just a story, right?" Yes, it's just a story. But it's the kind of story that would have terrified me as a child. ( Cut for fairly gratuitous spoilers. )
This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the movie; I really liked it. It's a very satisfying story, coupled with some beautiful animation. The stuffed animals' fur, in particular, looked so soft! I wanted to touch them very much. (Especially the Totoro plushie!) The worlds the characters inhabit are all richly realized and rendered, including a wonderful sequence at the beginning that's clearly meant to be part of Andy's imagination of the adventures his toys are having. (Like all good kid logic, toys that have no relevance to one another find excuses to be involved in the whole story: Buzz, Jesse, and Woody are crime-fighting allies! The Potato Heads are criminal masterminds! Little sister who's just wandered in and knocked over the elaborate tinker toy construction is a 50-foot tall, alien baby!) The final fifteen minutes or so of the movie are genuinely moving and bittersweet (hell, the final half hour is an emotional roller coaster). But I think my favorite idea of the entire film is its most subtle one, and it revolves around the question of what form love should ideally take. That's a meaty question for any movie to tackle, let alone one that's ostensibly aimed at children, and the answer (and its various permutations) is heartfelt without being maudlin or sentimental.
Night Passage, by Robert Parker: I appreciate that Parker is able to slide comfortably between dialogue and narration like it's no big thing. One tells the story better than the other, sometimes, and he's not afraid to dump whichever one isn't serving his narrative at the moment. As the hero, Jesse Stone is compelling without being anywhere near one hundred percent "good"; he's a real person with real problems. The villains are just skillful enough to be a little menacing, and the setting is ably described with a minimum of set-up. I am sad that Parker died recently, and so I will never have a chance to tell him how much I enjoy his work.
In Movies, by extension, thoughts on books:
Toy Story 3, with guest appearances by The Velveteen Rabbit: I cannot emphasize enough that, despite its G rating (and what's with that?!) and aggressive marketing campaign, this is not a movie for young children. After the film was over, in the ladies' room, I overheard at least two Moms have damage control discussions with their little ones: "Yes, there were some scary parts. And there were sad parts, too. But it was just a story, right?" Yes, it's just a story. But it's the kind of story that would have terrified me as a child. ( Cut for fairly gratuitous spoilers. )
This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the movie; I really liked it. It's a very satisfying story, coupled with some beautiful animation. The stuffed animals' fur, in particular, looked so soft! I wanted to touch them very much. (Especially the Totoro plushie!) The worlds the characters inhabit are all richly realized and rendered, including a wonderful sequence at the beginning that's clearly meant to be part of Andy's imagination of the adventures his toys are having. (Like all good kid logic, toys that have no relevance to one another find excuses to be involved in the whole story: Buzz, Jesse, and Woody are crime-fighting allies! The Potato Heads are criminal masterminds! Little sister who's just wandered in and knocked over the elaborate tinker toy construction is a 50-foot tall, alien baby!) The final fifteen minutes or so of the movie are genuinely moving and bittersweet (hell, the final half hour is an emotional roller coaster). But I think my favorite idea of the entire film is its most subtle one, and it revolves around the question of what form love should ideally take. That's a meaty question for any movie to tackle, let alone one that's ostensibly aimed at children, and the answer (and its various permutations) is heartfelt without being maudlin or sentimental.
