Category: Film

At Home: Diversions

JWF 1 Comment

NOVEL OF THE WEEK

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

(Saigoneer.com)

Nguyen Phan Que Mai was born in North Vietnam in 1973, and when she was six her family moved to the South.  She received parts of her education in Australia, the UK, and Hong Kong and then returned to Vietnam to work on sustainable development.  A published poet and nonfiction writer, this novel is her first work written in English.  

Ranging back and forth in time between the present, the 1950’s, and the 1970’s, The Mountains Sing, is a collection of stories told by her grandmother, Tran Dieu Lan, to her now teenaged granddaughter Huong, nicknamed Guava.  Her grandmother was well off and residing on a farm when she was forced to flee with five of her six children during the Land Reform of the 1950’s.  Later, both of Huong’s parents and her uncles went off to fight in the American War, as the Vietnamese call it, and Huong stayed with her grandmother.  Tran relates these accounts of hardship, hunger, violence and suffering gradually as Huong awaits the return of her relatives.

 I found the book a bit hard to get into and had to adjust to the shifting time periods and different relatives, but eventually I got caught up in Huong’s life.  This is a different perspective on the Vietnam War than many of us may have.  The fierce fighting between South Vietnamese forces and those in North Vietnam was devastating for families when siblings were on opposite sides.  While fiction, it is based on the experiences of the author, her family and others.  Linking the story to her native language, she peppers conversations with a selection of Vietnamese proverbs.   

RECENT VIEWING

Michelle Obama: The Story (Amazon Prime)

(radiotimes.com)

I happened upon this hour long documentary, somehow thinking I was going to be watching the new film based on Obama’s memoir. But this was another work entirely and very talk heavy.  

I enjoyed seeing all the images of her dressed up, with Barack, with her girls, and hearing her heartfelt words.  She comes across as relatable and engaged, a point the film reiterates.  It’s also how the Chief Penguin and I felt when we met her in San Francisco for ten minutes with her and just us.  

On the minus side, the grating voice of the lead spokeswoman, an entertainment reporter, is annoying, and I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know.   The second commentator, who mostly echoes the first one, is another female, a professor in England who is much easier on the ear.  Is this worth the investment of time? No, in my opinion, since there isn’t enough of Michelle in her own words.

Much better to read Becoming, the memoir and then consider watching that film on Netflix. The memoir is noteworthy for her candor, the insights into her growing up years and her marriage, and her revelations of feeling that she didn’t ever fit in at Princeton.  

PROJECTS:  Journals & Photos

The Chief Penguin is into organizing photos from our various trips and creating a document for each that includes them along with appropriate text.  He took lots of photos in the early years, and I not as many.  But I have always been a judicious recorder of the details of our travels and have journals from the international trips we’ve made.

The current focus is on Corsica.  He was invited to give a talk at a NATO scientific conference in Ajaccio in 1975. We spent two weeks in Corsica and then went on to Florence and Vienna with a few other stops ending in Zurich.  We were gone for four weeks, the longest we’d ever been away.  

I’m now transcribing my handwritten journal into a Word document and marveling at some of our adventures.  Everything from almost missing our charter flight from Paris to Ajaccio (we had to get from Charles de Gaulle to Orly airport quickly since our overseas flight was hours late); having his suitcase fall out of the trunk of the car on the way to the train station in Ajaccio; and standing in the back of the train car for the first 2 hours of the 12-hour journey from Florence to Vienna!  Believe it or not, but TWA gave us cab fare to get to Orly, and we arrived at what we thought was only 15 minutes before the flight and were dropped off right outside the gate.  No elaborate security then! 

 I also recorded the menus for almost every lunch and dinner we ate—the beginning of becoming a foodie.  Since we are stuck in Florida for now, it’s a fun armchair adventure to re-live that long-ago journey! 

Note: Header sunset photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Still at Home: More Reading & Viewing

JWF 1 Comment

RECENT READING: SCHIZOPHRENIA

Hidden Valley Road:  Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

I have always been interested in what makes people tick.  In college, that motivated me to take both the introductory psychology course and also an advanced course in abnormal psych.  This was the late 1960’s when so-called “refrigerator mothers” were responsible for causing autism in their offspring.  And in other research, a controlling mother supposedly was a primary factor in developing schizophrenia, nurture rather than nature (DNA) as the cause.

Hidden Valley Road is a riveting account of the Galvin family and their twelve children.  Of the ten boys and two girls, six of the males were at some point diagnosed as schizophrenic.  One may have had bipolar disorder and been misdiagnosed. They ultimately became the first family to be studied by the NIH.

(thetimes.co.uk)

Don and Mimi Galvin were products of their time, postwar years, and it was important for Don to be successful in his career and for Mimi to be the perfect mother with, to the outside world, a normal, happy, well-adjusted family.  In fact, the reality was quite different.  Don was often absent on business and the boys, beginning with Donald, the eldest, became mentally ill, delusional, violent, unpredictable in the extreme, and both physically and sexually abusive toward some of their siblings.  The girls, Margaret and Mary, were the youngest and while spared illness, suffered some of the worst abuse and emotional abandonment.  

Kolker’s account is based on intensive research and interviews with many family members.  Interspersed between the chapters, which generally focus on one or two family members, is an ongoing history over more than fifty years of the scientific research into the causes of schizophrenia and the evolving trends in drug treatment and therapy.  Even today, there is not a definitive answer.  This quest for answers is almost as compelling as the saga of the children’s path to adulthood.  That some of these siblings were ultimately able to lead “somewhat normal” lives is a testament to their resilience, despite being scarred.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

SMALL SCREEN: A GARDEN & PARIS CRIME

This Beautiful Fantastic  (Amazon Prime, You Tube)

(sandiegocan.org)

This feature film is charming and whimsical with no violence or sex.  Bella Brown, a rather strange young woman, rents a cottage and is charged with cleaning up the back garden, a task that far exceeds her abilities and her fears.  She’s a budding writer who works part-time in a special library.  Her crusty, gruff neighbor and his amiable dogs body take up the challenge of assisting her with the garden and all ends well.  This is a simple treat of a movie.

Balthazar  (Acorn)

(decider.com)

Balthazar is a recent French crime series about a forensic doctor.  Balthazar is a quirky coroner who talks to corpses and has animated conversations with his dead wife.  He is sexy and brilliant, loves to cook and eat, and is often seen snacking.  Chief inspector Helene Bach finds him exasperating, but she and her assistant, Delgado, must work with him and do recognize his talents.  

These are complicated murder cases and always involve an autopsy, graphically portrayed, which causes me to look away from the screen.  Once the autopsy is over, I’m back involved.  As I have only watched two episodes, it’s an open question if the gore will turn me off completely or if I stay with the series.  The repartee between Balthazar and Helene, married mother of two, is well done and one of the delights of the program.  So, the jury’s out.

Note: Header photo of a great blue heron ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Tidy Tidbits: Staying Home

JWF Leave a comment

COVID-19 & STAYING HOME

Other than one trip to the supermarket, we have not left our island neighborhood for the past week.  We are fortunate to be having gorgeous weather (sunny and warm) and have walked our boulevard each morning and then gone to the pool in the late afternoon—always mindful of keeping an appropriate distance from each other.  In between, cooking or baking, reading, and viewing have been the main activities.  Plus, a lot of shopping online.

With restaurants only allowed to offer curbside pick-up or delivery, we will be experimenting with that in the next few days.  For my local friends, both Alice’s Ristorante Italiano (formerly A Casa Tua) and Bonefish Grill either are already or will be offering revised menus.  

SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE!

Like restaurants, independent bookstores face the challenge of staying in business since they can no longer invite customers into their physical spaces.  If you value your own local bookstore, order books from them online.  You can probably pick them up curbside or have them mailed to your home.  Yes, it will cost you more than going the Amazon route, but thinking ahead, don’t you want them to still be here when the pandemic subsides?  Here’s an article about this topic.  And here’s a link to my favorite Sarasota bookstore where I just ordered several titles to be mailed.  

IMMERSED IN A BOOK

Say Nothing:  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Jean McConville (thetimes.co.uk)

When there are no lectures, plays or concerts to go to, it’s possible to spend more time reading.  I mentioned this book about the Troubles in my last blog and this week, I devoted myself to completing it.  Once I got fully into it (it took me a chapter or two as there are a lot of factions with different names and acronyms to keep straight!), I got caught up in the lives of the principals:  Dolours and Marian Price, Brendan Hughes, and Gerry Adams (all IRA members who participated in deadly violence), and in the impact on the McConville children whose 38-year old mother, Jean, was dragged from their home one evening in 1972 and never returned.  She was one of the aptly called “disappeared.”  For decades her children sought to locate her body.  

This is a tale of religious conflict, hatred of the British, bombings, imprisonment, hunger strikes, and double agents.  For thirty years, Northern Ireland, especially Belfast, was not a safe nor a pretty place to be.  Even after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, lingering resentment and outrage were the order of the day for some. 

 I found Keefe’s narrative nonfiction both compelling and chilling.   He explores the actions and interactions of the infamous Price sisters over several decades along with the transformation of Gerry Adams from revolutionary commander to savvy politician to elder statesman, Adams all the while denying he was ever a member of the IRA.  Also fascinating for me, a former librarian, was learning about the secret archival interview project housed at Boston College.  The interview with Dolours Price, for example, was intended to be unavailable until after her death.  What protections were not put in place and what the college didn’t know later resulted in subpoenas and lawsuits.  A long read, but absorbing and rewarding. (~JWFarrington)

CURRENT VIEWING

With movie theaters closed, it’s now possible to rent and watch first run movies from several different streaming sources.  The Chief Penguin found Vudu.com (I had suggested Hulu, but somehow, he ended up here), and together we created a list of films to view.  First up last evening was Emma, which is also available through Apple TV.

Emma

(dailymail.co.uk)

I’ve seen several versions of Jane Austen’s Emma over the years, some I liked and some I didn’t (Clueless).  This Emma is Jane Austen on a romp.  For a story that is about emotions, meddling, and misunderstandings, there is a lot of physicality that makes it visually exciting.  The repeating line of schoolgirls in their long red capes, the twisting, twirling patterns of the ballroom dancing, the running or flinging onto grassy slopes (witness both Emma and Knightley). Add to this scenes of Knightley or Emma in various stages of dressing or undressing.  Coupled with this is a soundtrack of rousing folk melodies, almost hymns, providing transition between scenes.  

Against this visual and aural background, you have an Emma who is always perfectly coiffed and stylishly put together, arrogant, convinced of her rightness, and rude.  You don’t dislike her totally; you see her gradually become aware of the error of her ways, thanks in part to Mr. Knightley.  And, as is the norm for Austen, all comes right in the end!  I found the film a perfect entertainment.  (~JWFarrington)

Culture Bits: New Year, Screen & Page

JWF Leave a comment

JANUARY REFLECTIONS

Turning the calendar page into a new year brings to mind the crafting of resolutions, everything from eating a healthier diet to being a kinder person.  January is also a time to pause and reflect on both past and future.  Entering a whole new decade seems a bit momentous, a moment of drama, and 2020 particularly so.  Perhaps it’s the ring of the two twenties side by side; possibly it’s that the fate of our government lies in the upcoming presidential election; or maybe it’s just that we as individuals are marking significant events in our own lives.  

For me, 2020 marks my 50th college reunion as well as the Chief Penguin’s and my 50th wedding anniversary.  Compiling favorite college memories and then summarizing my life in just 400 words for the reunion book, reminds me of how much life I’ve already lived, and that much less life remains ahead.  That’s a sobering thought.  Contemplating one’s mortality is hard to do, but after seventy, as one loses dear friends, one realizes anew that time is both limited and precious.  Each day of good health must be appreciated and savored. 

Certainly, the most significant relationship I developed at college was that with my future spouse.  I met Greg the end of my first year, and we have been connected ever since.  We were fortunate that we had the opportunity to live in San Francisco after years on the east coast, that we worked successfully at the same institutions, and that we produced a wonderful son who has a marvelous wife and two delightful daughters.  Along the way, partly because of career and later just for pleasure, we did a lot of international travel.  This included two trips to China when our son was small, three weeks in Madagascar with a noted botanist in 2009, and after retirement, trips to Vietnam and Cambodia as well as Chile and New Zealand.  Travel is broadening; I believe it expands your mind and alters your perspective.  

In this milestone year, we will again travel, first to Ireland, where we’ve never been, and then in the fall to France for Normandy and Bordeaux and a return to the Dordogne and Provence.  This January especially, I value my past and all that I’ve experienced, while still eagerly anticipating a future rich with new adventures.

VIEWING AND READING-–BIG SCREEN

1917

If you’ve ever wondered what trench warfare was really like, 1917 does an amazing job of portraying it.  Dirty, claustrophobic, and terrifying.  During the battle of Ypres, two British soldiers are sent on a mission to the front lines with an urgent message for a general that will affect the outcome of the next encounter with the Germans.  The men selected (the one who chose his partner thought it might be an easy assignment) must race against the clock, travel cross country through rough terrain and behind enemy lines, always struggling to stay undiscovered and alive.  Based on a true incident, it’s a tale of courage and loyalty, coupled with sheer guts and grit.  At one point, I did wonder how many more obstacles would have to be overcome and were they all real or added for cinematic effect.  Gripping and almost painful to watch.

SMALL SCREEN—FAMILY SAGA

From Father to Daughter  (Acorn + Amazon Prime)

(acorntv.com)

For a change of pace, my treadmill fare is an Italian series about a wine-making family.  Giovanni is the bull-headed, domineering, and abusive patriarch, who, in partnership with a friend, makes grappa.  When the series opens in 1958, he has two daughters and very much wants a son to join him in the business.  He is blessed with twins, a boy and a girl, but promptly exults in his son, Antonio, while ignoring Sofia, the daughter.  As his family matures, his wife Franca laments the suitor she left behind in Brazil; his oldest daughter, Maria Theresa leaves for Padua against his will to study chemistry; while Elena, the middle child, gets pregnant at 16 and marries a local boy.  How life unfolds and unravels over the decades for this dysfunctional family has its soap opera moments, but it’s good entertainment and keeps me striding along!

ON THE PAGE—BIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

Joy Davidman (http://bookhaven.stanford.edu/tag/joy-davidman/)

When I was growing up, the earlier works of C. S. Lewis such as The Screwtape Letters were popular with adults including my parents.  An Oxford don, Lewis wrote both fiction and nonfiction about religion and faith in the context of Christianity.  In the 50’s, he published the Chronicles of Narnia for children, the first one of which I read aloud to our son.  Lewis was a celebrated author, but he became even more famous after the early and untimely death of his wife, Joy.  Their story was the subject of several books, a play, and eventually a movie, Shadowlands, which I saw years ago.

Callahan’s novel is a fictional account of the relationship between Joy Davidman and Jack Lewis.  It began as an epistolary friendship as they exchanged letters. She had read an article about Lewis and began the correspondence.  They were a most unlikely pairing.  He was a reserved British bachelor in his 50’s and she American, Jewish, then an atheist, now a Christian, 38 years old, and married with two young sons.  Her marriage to an alcoholic was imploding and she wrote to Lewis for advice.  

After several years they met. She subsequently spent significant blocks of time in England with her sons and eventually was forced to divorce her husband.  Despite their love, Jack was reluctant to acknowledge his feelings and become a bridegroom.  The novel is told in the first person from Joy’s perspective and is full of emotion and at times seems overwrought.  But this is perhaps an accurate presentation of her personality.  Joy was passionate and outspoken, and her life was messy.  She was also a talented writer and poet whose work, given the times, was underappreciated.  

Callahan captures this woman brimming with life, but some readers may be put off by the many theological and philosophical conversations that inform her conversations and letters with Lewis.  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header photo is of the Roman god, Janus (all-to-human.blogspot.com)