Two New (Patrick) Ness Monsters.

I have just read Patrick Ness’s novel ‘A Monster Calls’ - in one sitting.  This novel  is based on an original story left unfinished by Siobhan Down,  the prize winning ‘Young Adult’ author who tragically died before she could write it herself.      Patrick Ness was invited to do so and his  book has won five major prizes and been highly praised by, among many others,  Malorie Blackman, Phillip Pullman, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Mary Hoffman.  

It has now been filmed and is now on release.   Directed by J. A. Bayone it has Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver,  Felicity Jones and Lewis MacDougal in the cast.   It is the story of young Connor and the Yew Tree Monster that comes to help him (drag him!)  into facing the two most terrifying things in his life. 

‘A Monster Calls’  is a so-called  ‘Young Adult’ novel, but this is only a convenient genre description that does not limit it’s power or depth.   It tackles some of the most important  subjects in life and does so with honesty, great compassion and acute psychological awareness.  

This is hardly surprising from the author who gave us the profound and original  ‘Chaos Walking’ trilogy (including the title Monsters of Men),  winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize,  the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie medal.     I will however go to see the film of ‘A Monster Calls’ with my heart in my throat,  as I now know that it will remind me and anyone who has been through  – or been close to someone who has been through – the heart-rending phase of grief that must,  it seems,  come before true heart-mending.   

I see that  the film of Ness’s  Chaos  Walking is now in pre-production and due for release in 2018.     Robert Zemeckis had been slated to direct it, but that role has now fallen to Doug Liman, (2 Bourne movies, Edge of Reason aka Live Die Repeat and Mr & Mrs Smith) with the script adapted by Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Kingdom of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation and Anomalisa) so plenty of talent there!   Plus Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley cast in  the main roles.    You may have seen Tom Holland in ‘The Impossible’ or as Thomas Cromwell’s son Gregory in the BBC’s magnificent  Wolf Hall.   Daisy Ridley was of course Ley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.    

I have been looking forward to this film being made for a few years now , and hope it will at last come to completion.    I don’t know if I will be another trilogy – it certainly deserves to be.  Patrick Ness is willing and able to tackle very difficult subjects in ways that never condescend or simplify and yet are completely accessible to readers across the YA and adult range.      I do not yet know how good these new films will be – though I have high hopes – but I strongly recommend his books.   I will also look out for  Siobhan Down’s four books.   I am sure that the books we read in our teens can shape our lives so I love to see books that are full of challenge, compassion and wisdom.    Ursula Le Guin and Charles Dickens did it for me 50 years ago  and they have worthy successors. 

OK Folks, These are My Favourite Films of 2016.

They are in alphabetical order because I realy don’t like rating movies.    After all, why should my subjective ‘scores’ match yours?  Listing them as my favourites is simply my recommendation. and I hope you have enjoyed or will enjoy them too.  

Anthropoid                       

A true story well, if plainly,  told of the actual assassination attempt on the Nazi Richard Heinemann by two Czech soldiers,  with Jamie Doran and  Cillian Murphy.  

Arrival                                

A superior, original and thoughtful Science Fiction movie with an unexpected and powerful emotional heft, starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.    It is still resonating with me.    Of all the films that follow on this list this is the one I most want to see again.

The Assassin

Adapted from the 9th-century wuxia martial arts tale with an exquisitely lovely and poised performance from Shu Qi.   The film is spun from some exquisite, evanescent tissue of precious material, like Donne’s “gold to airy thinness beat”.  (The Guardian)

Batman v Superman

An earnest Superhero faceoff with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.   I enjoyed this more than ‘Man of Steel’, and it was rather better than I expected.

The BFG                  

A terrific performance-motion capture of Mark Rylance made  Spielberg’s Dahl adaptation a joyful experience for me. (And I have just seen it again).

Captain America: Civil War   

A superior Marvel superhero faceoff that explores a real Political ethical dilemma, with Chris Pine, Robert Downey Jnr and the rest of the Avenger’s gang – plus a new addition. 

Captain Fantastic                      

Provides a very interesting family drama and social dialectic,  with Viggo Mortensen.

Deadpool                           

Was an engaging none-PC comedy superhero pastiche, with Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin ( who I have rather missed since Firefly and Serenity. 

Deepwater Horizon                  

The true oil rig tragedy realistically recreated by Peter Berg, with Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovitch and Kurt Russell.

Doctor Strange

This Marvel movie employs kaleidoscopic special effects and puts Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton rather wittily to work.   Great fun.

Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them  

Worthy Harry Potter prequel (and new franchise) with  Eddy Redmayne and a magical menagerie.   Family fun gently pushing liberal inclusive and ecological attitudes.

Girl On A Train                

An adaptation that divided critics, but I enjoyed this complex thriller and especially Emily Blunt’s performance.

Hail, Caesar                      

This is a Hollywood comedy about 1950’s Hollywood with George Clooney and Josh Brolin heading a star stuffed cast.    Totally unexceptional and forgettable, but fun while it lasted.

Hell or High Water                    

A thoughtful and engaging modern Western, directed rather surprisingly by the Northumbrian born  David Mackenzie,

 with Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges.   

Jane Got a Gun    

is a nicely understated female-led Western with Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton (did I ever say how brilliant he was in Luhrman’s Gatsby, subtly showing the desperation beneath the swagger?)   

Room

Brilliant adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s wonderfully realized book.  Brie Larson deserved her Oscar, and the young Jacob Tremblay was very impressive.  

Spotlight.

I would have used this when I was running Child Protection/Safeguarding training sessions if it had been available.   Hard hitting, accurate, never trivializing nor sensationalizing. 

The Nice Guys

Pleasing comedy thriller with Russell Crowe and  Ryan Gosling.   Set in the 1970’s it is (literally)  how a 1970’s comedy thriller would be/could - and was - filmed today.  

The Girl with All The Gifts.   
I have almost reluctantly come to admire many 21 century vampire movies because they take a different approach to the genre, such as Neil Jordan's Byzantium,  but did not expect to find a zombie movie that also pleased me.   I am glad to say that this British movie does, for the same reason - and it also stars Byzantium's Gemma Arterton.        

The Revenant

The third in an amazing trio of films from Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu – Gravity, Birdman and now this.    Properly – almost viscerally - chilling, but/and I love the way it treated the revenge theme.   I suspect this is the movie DiCaprio has long been waiting for. 

Being stuck in the (well beloved) sticks I haven’t yet seen Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria,  Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Spash  or Charlie Kaufmann’s Anomalisa, but the DVD of  What Happened Miss Simone? is sitting ready to play.   

Here are some of the DVDs I also enjoyed when revisited or were on catch-up.

Amy

Assassin
Cyrano de Bergerac

Frank

Gangs of New York
Guardians of the Galaxy (I am eagerly waiting for the sequel)

Inherent Vice

Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s cut)

La Vie En Rose

A Late Quartet

Macbeth (the Michael Fassbender/Marion Cotillard  version.)

The Martian

Song of the Sea

I eventually saw the fourth Jason Bourne movie, and was pleased  to be impressed by it.  

And on TV?

The BBC’s War of the Roses – especially the way the first two plays in the sequence set up Richard III properly, and the way the women (therefor) shone. 

Happy Valley  As a late adopter I must get hold of series 1.

War & Peace   TV’s small scale helped to focus on the personal detail.

Missing   Complex, with three time threads, confusing identification, a surprising but utterly plausible villain,  subtle characterization...

The Night Manager   I was disappointed by the book when it first came out – le Carre struggling to find a cause after the end of the Cold War -  but updating it and casting it so brilliantly more than redeemed it.   

Fantastic Beasts  2

This is, I am pleased to say, a very British movie.  Written of course by J. K.  Rowling as the start of a new spin-off franchise from Harry Potter, but set 70 years previously.    Alongside  Eddy Redmayne there are (at least)  British actresses in this movie; Katherine Waterston, who I previously enjoyed in Inherent Vice  (a very American - and West Coast) movie,  Samantha Morton,  Carmen Ejogo and Gemma Chan (Humans), along with the stage actor Christian Dixon.    Colin Farrell is also from this side of the pond, an Irisnman.   It was made in the British Leavesden Studios with location work in Liverpool, produced and directed by the English Derek Heyman and David Yates, as were the last four Harry Potter movies.    Derek Heyman is now making Paddingon 2 and I can see no reason why it should not be a delightful as the original.

As I said in my original post 'the children who see this very  enjoyable movie will be engaged by the cast, delighted by the high class SFX, laugh at the wonderful creatures, maybe cry a little at the dilemma facing the humans,  be engaged by a very unlikely hero and absorb a story promoting diversity and inclusiveness,  the idea that those living creatures who are different to us are not necessarily dangerous and that we need to provide and protect ecological  space enough for them to be what they are.     I think these inclusive attitudes include people who are white or black, female or male, gay or straight, able or less able, healthy or ill, young or old.     Not to mention the species that we are destroying at an unprecedented rate.  On top of all that is sheer good fun for both children and adults, without pandering to either.' 

What more do we want on a wet December day?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

There are some who have criticized J. K. Rowling’s new movie as preaching diversity while not being diverse enough itself.    It is true that there are few wholly Black or Asian characters in the cast.    If Rowling was a political propagandist this would be a serious difficulty.  But she is not.  Despite her clear concern for social inclusion and distaste for discrimination as shown in A Casual Vacancy, Rowling is first and foremost a story teller and not all stories can or should pass some Voigt-Kampt test to see if they are politically correct enough.    So I think these critics (who, I admit, have not been vociferous and have still highly recommended the movie) are making  a category error in this minor regard.

Rowling is not only a story teller however.  She is also a kind of evangelist.   Even though the denouement of the Harry Potter saga was explicitly Christian – after the last volume was published she said that she had not told anyone that she was a Christian so they would not guess the ending -  I do not see her as simply a Christian evangelist.  No C. S. Lewis she.     But she is  (as I had to argue with too many Evangelical Christian parents who wanted to denounce Harry Potter as a witch)  evangelical about the good news that love is stronger than hate, good is stronger than evil and light is stronger than darkness.    I do not think that evil can be stronger than goodness.   If it was it would have triumphed long ago.  But evil is often more focused and is always willing to kill to gain its ends,  whereas the good are often unsure where the battle lies and are willing to die rather than abandon their belief in the ultimate victory of the Good.  The thing about the Good is that those who chose to try to live it are inescapably vulnerable.   But that why it is so strong. 

The Harry Potter trio defeated Voldemort because of their loyalty and courage,  doing their homework (thank you Hermione!) and ultimately because Harry was prepared to die for love’s sake than kill in hatred.   Love is the ‘old magic’ and too powerful for Voldemort.     The Christian story of an innocent man being cruelly executed rather than deny his faith in the absolute reality of love and forgiveness may be the most extreme example, but it is not unique.    

The Wizard predecessors of Harry, Hermione and Ron in Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them are not necessarily all good however.   To often they do seem to think that the end justifies to the means (once is too often).     But the movie itself is packed with moral values, some of them lying just under the surface.  But that is best place for morality in a story.  This is not a parable.   So the children who see this very  enjoyable movie will be engaged by the cast, delighted by the high class SFX, laugh at the wonderful creatures, maybe cry a little at the dilemma facing the humans,  be engaged by a very unlikely hero and absorb a story promoting diversity and inclusiveness,  the idea that those living creatures who are different to us are not necessarily dangerous and that we need to provide and protect ecological  space enough for them to be what they are.     I think these inclusive attitudes include people who are white or black, female or male, gay or straight, able or less able, healthy or ill, young or old.     Not to mention the species that we are destroying at an unprecedented rate.  On top of all that is sheer good fun for both children and adults, without pandering to either.  What more do we want on a wet November day?