Notes from Manhattan: Film & Food

FILM

Marriage Story (Netflix and theaters)

This is a painful, and at times excruciating, excavation of a marriage unraveling.  As the film opens, it’s clear that there will be no grand reconciliation.  Instead Charlie and Nicole initially intend to handle their divorce themselves amicably, but, perhaps inevitably, the tensions and the disagreements lead them each to consult and hire high powered divorce lawyers. Their first lawyers are well played by a consoling Alan Alda and a falsely cozy Laura Dern.   After all, this is a successful bi-coastal couple, he a theater director and she an actress.  

Angry words and hate-filled invectives are tossed out, but, what makes it a convincing and compelling film is the moments of unexpected tenderness and even humor.  When Nicole cuts Charlie’s hair, you are touched.  Although they can no longer live together, these two still care about each other and are concerned about buffering their young son, Henry, from hurt as much as possible.  The final scene is a real punch to the gut.

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are superb as Charlie and Nicole, and while each party is partially to blame for the impasse, you might find it difficult to take sides, although I did not.  Reviews indicate that this film is semi-autobiographical as director Noah Baumbach was divorced from his first wife, an actress, in 2010.  Highly recommended!

FOOD

“Early Bird Special”

When you say “early bird special,” some folks will think of tired food served to past-their-prime senior citizens at 4:30 in the afternoon.  As a senior citizen myself, I will admit that when we are on our home turf, the Chief Penguin and I eat earlier than we ever did before.  In the city, not so much so.  Unless we want to dine at our all-time favorite West Village restaurant, Via Carota.  To snag a dinner table at this very popular eatery, you must arrive around 5:00 or submit to waiting in line or adding your name to a list and returning an hour or so later.  Ever since Via Carota received mention in a New Yorker column and their green salad was featured in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, their popularity has only skyrocketed.  They don’t take reservations.  Why would they when they are always guaranteed to fill their tables!

The other day, we arrived at 11:00 am, just when they opened, to have an early lunch.  We were not the only diners and well before 12:00, the aforementioned line had already formed.  The grilled artichokes with slices of lemon and onion are a standard order for us; with them we alternate between the mouth-watering Meyer lemon risotto or a pasta entree. 

 This time, it was the tagliatelle with Parmesan and prosciutto.  A mound of homemade pasta noodles arrived, covered with a thin blanket of prosciutto and showered with Parmesan threads.  Simply sublime, this dish is a tangle of a soft, but springy pasta strands coated in butter and cheese with a hint of nutmeg.  Add in the saltiness of the prosciutto and you have perfection.  The Chief Penguin dubbed this our “early bird special” and that phrase now has new meaning.    

Note: Text and photos ©JWFarrington. Header photo taken at Rockefeller Center.

Tidy Tidbits: Page & Screen

RECENT READING

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Crawdad (dailyherald.com)

From the online comments I’ve read over the past six months, people either loved or hated this novel.  I put off reading it until now, mostly because my local book group was going to discuss it and I wanted it to be fresh in my mind.  I’m in the positive camp.  I loved this novel!  That is not to say that I found it completely convincing, but I did find it compelling.

Kya is just seven when her older siblings leave home and then her father does not return after being gone for several weeks.  Her mother left them some time before so Kya goes to live in a shack in the nearby marsh.  Hiding out from the school authorities, she survives isolated and alone until she reaches adolescence.  In Tate, a teenager a few years older than she, she has her first friend and advocate who even teaches her to read.  Tate goes off to college, abandons her for awhile, and another local young man, Chase Andrews, is attracted to her beauty and her strange wildness.  When Andrews is found dead and foul play is suspected, the police’s first thought is of Kya, referred to by the townspeople as Marsh Girl.  The intertwined strands of Kya’s childhood and coming-of-age and the murder investigation play out against each other, in chapters shifting back and forth in time.  

A zoologist who spent many years studying wildlife in Africa, Owens would seem to be an unlikely novelist.  Yet, she writes in a lyrical manner and her descriptions of the marsh and the nature around it are almost poetic.  Despite the dire events, there is much joy in this novel, and even an ending that seems, if not contrived, perhaps too neat.  What might almost term this story a fairy tale.  But a very absorbing and captivating one!

Our book group had a very lively discussion with almost everyone having enjoyed the book. There were doubters as to whether Kya could really have survived alone and also if it was credible that she became such a successful author of nature guides. And several found the courtroom scenes hurried and almost as if one were reading a different novel entirely. For many of us, the twist at the end was a big surprise, but I think it’s fair to say that folks would recommend this novel to others. (~JWFarrington)

BIG SCREEN

Harriet

Harriet Tubman was one extraordinary woman. A slave who walked a hundred miles from Maryland to Pennsylvania to gain her freedom, leaving her husband, siblings and parents behind, she became one of the greatest conductors on the Underground Railroad. This film recounts her journey to freedom, her trip home to bring her husband north, and the countless trips she made to lead slaves from Maryland eventually to the Canadian border. It is a story of grit, determination, leadership, and the willingness to bear undue hardship.

The Chief Penguin and I visited her home in Auburn, N. Y. and its associated museum several years ago. Auburn is the town I grew up in and you didn’t live here without knowing about Tubman or about William Henry Seward, secretary of state and another Auburn resident, who sold her the land for her house. If you should get to the Finger Lakes region, in what is really upstate N.Y., the house and museum are worth a visit. In the meantime, see the film and learn more about this remarkable woman. She deserves to be honored on our twenty dollar bill!

SMALL SCREEN

The Crown (Netflix)

Olivia Colman & Tobias Menzies (time.com)

The Crown is back with Season 3, and it’s excellent! We have just watched the first three episodes and are totally engaged. Olivia Colman as Elizabeth is superb and Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip is excellent. The tone of this season so far seems more somber than Season 2, and the producers have made use of more archival footage of events. In episode 2, Helena Bonham Carter plays an exuberant, sometimes out-of-control Princess Margaret. I felt this episode conveyed very well her frustration at being number two, while also documenting the real, but often buried, affection between the two sisters.

Poldark (PBS)

Demelza and Ross (express.com)

The final season of Poldark and the final episode have aired and we will have to survive our Sunday nights without the brooding handsomeness of Aidan Turner (Poldark), the dogged patience and determination of Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), and their nemesis, George Warleggan, crazed yet perhaps in the end more human than we expected. It was a memorable last season with plenty of action along with tying up loose ends for Dwight and Caroline and Drake and Morwenna. I will miss these characters! The reassuring thing is that I can always go back and re-watch the series on PBS Passport.

Note: Text ©JWFarrington. Header photo of Harriet Tubman courtesy of history.com

Tidy Tidbits: Judy and Crime

BIG SCREEN

Judy

The Chief Penguin stated it succinctly:  this is a movie about pain.  And it’s exquisitely wrought pain.  You know it will not end well, but you remain fixated on those smoky dark eyes and the pouty red lips.  Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland is brilliant.  She captures all the physical twitchiness of an addict while her expressive face registers the nuances of hurt, disappointment, anger, and even occasionally, joy.  Heading to London for a series of performances, Judy hopes to revive her fading career and make some money.  Abused by the movie studio as a child, she is an emotionally needy adult who both loves and neglects her children.  

In a touching scene, she goes home with a gay couple after her show and ends up cooking scrambled eggs.  When things fall apart, her London handler, who has been warned that Judy is impossible, seems both resigned to the difficulties of managing her and yet respectful of her talent.  There are songs throughout the film, and you almost hold your breath, wondering when and knowing for certain that “Over the Rainbow” will be sung.  If you’re looking for a happy time, this is not it.  It’s a slow powerful unraveling of a life.

MYSTERIES

I’m a selective mystery reader.  There are a handful of authors whose mysteries I actively seek out.  Among this group are Deborah Crombie and more recently, Jane Harper.  

(thenovelneighbor.com)

A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

Like fellow mystery writer Elizabeth George, Crombie has now written more than fifteen mysteries with the same set of characters.  In Crombie’s case, her detectives are Gemma Jones and her husband Duncan Kincaid, who both work for Scotland Yard in London.  Originally just partners, they married and are parents to Kit (Duncan’s son by his first wife) and two other children.  Both the children and their work colleagues, Melody, from a wealthy background, and Doug, who at times is clueless about the social niceties, figure in the stories.  Crombie is good at conveying the messiness of family life as well as the snits and annoyances that complicate work life.  

This mystery takes place in the Cotswolds as they are all guests of Melody’s parents.  When a celebrity chef visits the local pub to see its rising young chef and then dies in a car accident along with another local woman, questions are raised. Why was Fergus the chef in that car and how exactly did he die?  An investigation ensues.  Set within the context of the food world, this was a most enjoyable and absorbing book.  Knowing the backstory of Gemma, Duncan, Melody, and Doug from previous books, makes it all the better.  (~JWFarrington)

The Dry by Jane Harper

Jane Harper (theaustralian.com.au)

Jane Harper is an Australian writer and a recent success in the book world.  She’s the author of two crime novels and one standalone novel.  I’ve actually read all three works, but in reverse order. I began with the newest, The Lost Man, and then read Force of Nature. It’s about an outdoors team building exercise that goes awry and features federal agent, Aaron Falk.  The Dry is Harper’s first novel and it introduces Falk as he returns to his hometown after twenty years and relives painful memories. Simultaneously, he becomes involved in untangling the mystery of the violent deaths of a childhood friend, his wife, and their young son.  Filled with loose strands and twists, this is a fascinating and suspenseful book.  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Text ©JWFarrington. Header photo of the real Judy Garland, gettyimages.com

Manhattan: Stage, Screen & Page

STAGE:  OKLAHOMA

Through the years, I’ve seen several productions of the American musical, Oklahoma.  This new production directed by Daniel Fish, is a dark one.  The staging is amazing—open and creative.  It’s theater in the round, really more of a horseshoe, with theatergoers seated on one side of some of the tables used by the actors.  At intermission, the red pots on the tables reveal chili, and cups of chili and cornbread are served to anyone who wants to line up. 

The cast is stripped down, the music is backed by a small combo, not an orchestra, and Curly strums his guitar for the opening, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.”  All the songs are here, but overall the play is edgy.  The taunting conversation between Curly and Jud about Jud becoming more loved in death is played out in a darkened theater using video projections on a far wall.  Go expecting the unexpected along with a revised ending.  This is an Oklahoma for our time. 

SCREEN:  Official Secrets

I would wager that most Americans have never heard of Katharine Gun, but she was a courageous, albeit naïve, whistleblower, working in British intelligence in 2003.  When Katharine reads a secret memo that the United States is pressuring allies, including Britain, to support a war against Iraq, she is disturbed enough to want to share it.  How her actions play out, what impact they have on her Kurdish Turkish husband, and what the British government does to make an example of her make for a fascinating film for political junkies.  

It is not fast paced, nor full of tension, but it does shine a light on how and when governments deceive the people they represent.  There’s an all star cast with Keira Knightley as Gun and recognizable favorites from Downton Abbey and The Crown such as Matthew Goode and Matt Smith along with Ralph Fiennes as a shrewd defense lawyer.  The Chief Penguin especially loved it! (~JWFarrington)

Seasonal display in Rockefeller Plaza, real style!

PAGE:  STYLE ICON

Bunny Mellon:  The Life of an American Style Legend by Meryl Gordon

Bunny Melon was a product of wealth who married wealth and lived a life of style and glamour. Shy by nature, she mostly avoided the spotlight, but sought and gained recognition for her gardens and her personal taste in décor and decoration.  She married one wealthy man, Stacy Lloyd, then divorced him after WWII to marry the even richer Paul Mellon.   

A man of his time and class, Mellon had affairs and mistresses, something Bunny knew and was unhappy about, but became resigned to.  When he wanted a divorce, she refused, preferring to remain Mrs. Paul Mellon despite everything.  She, in turn, had warm friendships with a number of dashing younger men, florists, hair stylists, and others, mostly gay.  As a close personal friend of Jackie Kennedy, she had a front row seat at some of the most dramatic and tragic moments in the 20th century. 

Gordon’s biography is engaging, breezy, accessible, and, at times, a catalog of celebrities, events and stuff: glittering galas, stunning jewelry, haute couture, and houses upon houses from Manhattan to Virginia horse country to Antigua and Paris.  Bunny Melon was the designer of the White House Rose Garden and of a second garden there named for Jackie Kennedy.  She could be warm and whimsical or brusque and fickle; but, throughout her long life (103 years), she always had Style!  (~JWFarrington) 

Whimsical “Hare on Bell” by Barry Flanagan, 1983

Note: All photos by JWFarrington. Header photo is the Oklahoma set at Circle in the Square Theatre.