I love a well spun mystery but I hate reading novels filled with graphic gore, sex, and violence. That causes a conundrum when it comes to reading modern whodunits, so when I have a yen for mystery I turn to G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, or Agatha Christie, all authors from the last century.
Then I met P.D. James. Phyllis Dorothy James White is an British Crime novelist who spent 30 years working in the British Civil Service, including the Police and Criminal Law department. She did not write and publish her first novel until her late 30s, but is now the author of more than 20 books. She was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991, and was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame in 2008. She is 92 years old.
I was completely ignorant of her work until reading a review last month in the Wall Street Journal of her latest book Death Comes to Pemberley. A continuation of Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice with a mysterious death at it's core, the novel is a classic mystery story that draws the reader along with a tight plot, unanswered questions dangled in all the right places, and the loose ends tied in a tidy bow at the end. Ms. James admits that she cannot touch Jane Austen's mastery of phrase and form, but her story is a delightful coda to the Austen cannon of literature and will entertain even those unfamiliar with Jane Austen's work.
If the rest of P.D. James stories are as good as Death Comes to Pemberley, I will soon be a devout fan. Her Adam Dalgliesh series, beginning with Cover Her Face, is next on my reading list. The verdict will soon follow.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Who is "The Artist"?
Hollywood's award season is in full swing and names and titles of nominees and winners are whirling around online and in print. One that is gaining speed leading up to the Academy Awards is The Artist--an artful and charming rendition of pride's destructive force and love's redeeming power.
The director, Michael Hazanavicius, builds on this archetypal storyboard with layer after layer of subtle metaphor, outstanding photography, brilliant use of motion, and a dazzling musical score, written by Ludovic Bource. Set in the Hollywood glory days of the late 1920s, the film tells the story of a silent movie star, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), who refuses to recognize the technological ascendency of talking movies and pours his heart and fortune into a large production silent film.
Valentin's movie premiers just days after he loses everything in the infamous 1929 stock market crash and he hopes beyond reason that his film will be a box office hit. Also premiering that night is a highly billed "talkie," starring the dashing Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a plucky young actress who owes her success in the movies to a helping hand from Valentin, with whom she shares a few magnetic moments on film and an inappropriate flirtatious tête-à-tête . Peppy's talking film outshines Valentin's silent drama and her fame eventually eclipses his.
Valentin stumbles to the brink of despair, losing his fortune, his home, and his wife as a result of his pride and his refusal to talk. Peppy remains his secret and faithful admirer and it is her love and confidence that eventually restores him. With her help, he rehangs his star in the cinema firmament and shows the world a new side of George Valentin.
This story, though silent and in black and white is truly resonant. We have all experienced the results of pride and the redeeming power of love, and we, like Valentin, are living in tension between old and new technology and experiencing the rise and fall of careers and industries as a result. The Artist undoubtedly hits a vibrant chord.
Hats off to Mr. Hazanavicius who displayed a marvelous mastery of his medium, quietly drawing a 21st century audience, awash in 3D and surround sound into a black and white silent movie about the demise of silent movies and Everyman's tale of pride and redemption. He is truly The Artist.
The director, Michael Hazanavicius, builds on this archetypal storyboard with layer after layer of subtle metaphor, outstanding photography, brilliant use of motion, and a dazzling musical score, written by Ludovic Bource. Set in the Hollywood glory days of the late 1920s, the film tells the story of a silent movie star, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), who refuses to recognize the technological ascendency of talking movies and pours his heart and fortune into a large production silent film.
Valentin's movie premiers just days after he loses everything in the infamous 1929 stock market crash and he hopes beyond reason that his film will be a box office hit. Also premiering that night is a highly billed "talkie," starring the dashing Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a plucky young actress who owes her success in the movies to a helping hand from Valentin, with whom she shares a few magnetic moments on film and an inappropriate flirtatious tête-à-tête . Peppy's talking film outshines Valentin's silent drama and her fame eventually eclipses his.
Valentin stumbles to the brink of despair, losing his fortune, his home, and his wife as a result of his pride and his refusal to talk. Peppy remains his secret and faithful admirer and it is her love and confidence that eventually restores him. With her help, he rehangs his star in the cinema firmament and shows the world a new side of George Valentin.
This story, though silent and in black and white is truly resonant. We have all experienced the results of pride and the redeeming power of love, and we, like Valentin, are living in tension between old and new technology and experiencing the rise and fall of careers and industries as a result. The Artist undoubtedly hits a vibrant chord.
Hats off to Mr. Hazanavicius who displayed a marvelous mastery of his medium, quietly drawing a 21st century audience, awash in 3D and surround sound into a black and white silent movie about the demise of silent movies and Everyman's tale of pride and redemption. He is truly The Artist.
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