Tag: Family

The Eudora Welty Lecture Series at The National Cathedral: Salman Rushdie (October 20, 2016)

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Salman Rushdie continues to be a controversial figure, but in today’s world, I feel that voices like his (British, Indian, and atheist) need to be heard MORE than ever!  Depending on your age, you may know Rushdie from the fatwa (which was placed on him by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran), his cameo on Bridget Jones’ Diary, or his short-lived marriage to Padma Lakhshmi (of Top Chef fame).  Or maybe you have a FEW of his books (BUT are intimidated to read)?  A few years ago, a book club I organized both read Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which is Rushdie’s YA book. 

*NOTE: Special thanks to my friend Lana for above photo and taking notes.

The Beginning of Rushdie’s Life as a Writer:

He realized that he would never write a good book until he knew who he was (not English, but Indian).

He was part of first generation of free Indian Children.

His father told bedtime stories (oral tradition strong in his family)- animal stories; tales of heroes.  His mother told local tales: gossip,  scandal, secrets (when he included  in stories, she said he “got in trouble”).  One of his academic grandfathers took him to university library, where he discovered Agatha Christie.  His other grandfather was a very religious man (prayed 5X/day, fasted, etc.) He was also open to any/all ideas; Rushdie admitted that he didn’t believe in God (age 10).

Read comics from early age.  He was lucky to have a lending library/bookstore nearby where he got into Perry Mason mysteries, Alice in Wonderland.

The Wizard of Oz (film) inspired him to write his first story at age 10.

His family had a tradition of kissing books and bread to apologize to it and place someplace where wouldn’t happen again (food for mind; food for the body).

Left Bombay 1961 for English boarding school at age 13 (his idea, not his parents’).  Maybe he had an”unnoticed love of adventure” b/c was quiet as a child?

Got into Cambridge, but didn’t want to go b/ c of racism faced at boarding school earlier.  He went and enjoyed it a lot; studied history; wrote for student newspaper.  He also got into Borges and Joyce at this time, and learned about incident of satanic verses (in his last semester).

His parents moved to Karachi, Pakistan; this was not an appealing place for him.  His father initially disapproved, but then supported his return to England after he graduated from Cambridge.

Wrote TV commercials and scripts in London for an ad agency (where he worked part-time).  In the early 1970s, he wrote and published, but these works were not successful because he hadn’t known himself enough.  He decided to understand what he was doing wrong and traveled to India, which entered state of emergency (1977).

Midnight’s Children: Started in 3rd person, but then told from Salim’s voice and it was better (voice not my own, but gave me voice).  Kept working  in advertising again to pay bills.  This book took 5 years to write it because was learning how to write.  He also needed to blend news with fiction.

Quotes:

Geography is key [to a person’s writing]. Writers (like Faulkner): Have roots/history and can mine the earth for a lifetime of stories.

Work we do about the past, changes the future.

 As we discover, we remember, as we remember, we discover.

Stories are not true- but can make you know truths that truths cannot tell.

Can’t write until you hear people speak, because can’t tell their story if you don’t hear their voice.

I think the greatest gift my family gave me was freethinking. 

[On his trip to India when writing Midnight’s Children]: From childhood, dig out memories from attics of mind.  Healing of rift within myself that separated me from my past…  drank deeply from well of India. 

Write what you know, but only if what you know is interesting. 

Devotion (1946) starring Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino & Paul Henreid

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On the moors: Bramwell (Arthur Kennedy), Emily (Ida Lupino), and Charlotte (Olivia de Havilland) Bronte

I’m certainly relishing the idea of living a century. Can you imagine that? What an achievement!  -Olivia de Havilland

Devotion, filmed in 1943, but released in 1946, has some real-life drama behind it.  Olivia de Havilland is an actress w/ a goody-goody public image, BUT she waged a 2 yr. legal battle against Warner Bros. over extending her contract for time she spent on suspension (for refusing a handful roles that she felt were too small and unsuitable to her talents). She won the case in California’s Supreme Court and went on to freelance, making two films for Paramount.

MOST of you know de Havilland as Melanie Wilkes, the cousin/wife of Scarlett O’Hara’s first love, Ashley Wilkes, in Gone with the Wind.  Others may know her as the lady love of MANY different characters played by the swash-buckling Errol Flynn in 8 films (early in her career).  Olivia and her sister, actress Joan Fontaine, had a VERY combative relationship for most of their life. 

Ida Lupino (who is simply fabulous in Devotion w/ real-life close friend, Paul Henreid) was ALSO a trailblazer in Hollywood.  She was one of the first women to be inducted into the Director’s Guild of America.  Her paternal ancestors came from Bologna, Italy to England, from where she sailed to the US at age 15 to begin her own career.      

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Emily wants to stay at home; Charlotte yearns for travel.

This film showed some of the biographical background that would shape Charlotte’s (Olivia de Haviland’s) and Emily’s (Ida Lupino’s) fiction.  Emily’s loved the wild moors, which would translate into her imagery for Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights.  Charlotte had an infatuation with a foreign tutor she knew in Belgium (played by Belgian actor Victor Francen) which is used in creating the character of Paul in Villette.  Anne (Nancy Coleman), who wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, doesn’t have much to do in this film. 

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The Bronte sisters with Rev. Arthur Nicholls (Paul Henreid) at a ball.

I’ve seen this film several times in my life. Each time I saw it, my heart broke anew for Emily Bronte. Miss Lupino’s performance was nothing short of wonderful. She truly conveyed the feelings of unrequited love.  -IMDB comment

The fiction is tied to a ruthless streak in Charlotte at her (perhaps more talented sister’s expense), especially over Reverend Nicholls (Austrian actor Paul Henreid from Casablanca).  In reality, Emily never yearned for Nicholls, or any man Charlotte liked.  Branwell (a young Arthur Kennedy, noted character actor in Westerns) is closest to Emily of all the siblings.  He tries to support her, but he becomes a drunk after failing to get a foothold in London b/c he doesn’t have any connections or much money.  (The Bronte’s father was a minister in a small/secluded town in Yorkshire.) 

Many literary critics consider Branwell as part of the inspiration behind Catherine’s older brother, Hindley Earnshaw, who becomes a drunk and gambler while away at college in Wuthering Heights.

Branwell was talented and educated, and had high hopes of success in the arts.  In fact, he planned to travel to London (and may have done so) to apply for the Royal Academy in 1834/1835.  His high hopes disappeared as he moved from job to job and scandal to scandal.  He wasted his life in drinking and drug-taking and was going through some of his worst situations when Emily was writing her novel.  It is likely that she based much of the degradation of Hindley on observations and experiences with the decline of her brother.  –The Reader’s Guide to Wuthering Heights

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Nancy Coleman (right), who played Anne Bronte, was model for Disney’s Snow White.

 

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Disney’s Snow White with her forest friends.

In the last act of the film, Vanity Fair novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray (Sidney Greenstreet) escorts Charlotte around London, lending her his social prestige. However, he is more impressed by Emily’s writing (which is more imaginative and powerful) while Charlotte’s work is more polite.  Thackeray’s social snobbery comes out when he sneers at street kids in the East End (Not my public!), and when he warns Charlotte against Charles Dickens.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

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Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) on the run!

Synopsis: In 1934, Bonnie Parker, a waitress, and Clyde Barrow, a criminal, just released from prison, are immediately attracted to what the other represents for their life when they meet by chance in West Dallas, Texas. Bonnie is fascinated with Clyde’s criminal past, his bravado in talking about it, and the power of his gun. Clyde sees in Bonnie someone who wanted more out of life- like himself. They decide to join forces to embark on a life of crime (mainly robbing banks) to make fast money and have fun.  Their  small gang of willing accomplices includes C.W. Moss (a mechanic) and Buck Barrow, one of Clyde’s older brothers.  Buck’s wife, a former preacher’s daughter, reluctantly joins in, but then becomes hysterical when faced w/ danger. 

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Newspaper photo of the real life Bonnie and Clyde

If all you want’s a stud service, you get on back to West Dallas and you stay there the rest of your life.  You’re worth more than that.  A lot more than that.  You know it and that’s why you come along with me.  -Clyde says to Bonnie

To modern eyes, this movie is rather tame, BUT in it’s day, it caused quite a stir!  In a TV interview, director Arthur Penn pointed out that this film shows for the first time the firing of a gun and the consequences in ONE single frame. Before that, you’d see a gun being fired, then cut, and the next scene would show the bleeding body.  This was the first film to use squibs (which were embedded in costumes and wired to a central control that made them explode in sequence to create the illusion of being shot).

Leading man Warren Beatty (who was at the top of his profession then) wanted his then-girlfriend, Natalie Wood, for the role of Bonnie. However, SHE refused in order to be able to meet daily w/ her therapist. Producers auditioned a LOT of young actresses (incl. Jane Fonda) for the role of Bonnie; at first, they thought Faye Dunaway was not “hot.”  But then Beatty screen-tested w/ her and was convinced that she was the BEST one for the role. 

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Gene Hackman (in one of his early roles) plays Clyde’s big brother- Buck

Warner Bros. thought it would be a flop, BUT it was a hit!  Roger Ebert had ONLY been a film critic for 6 mos. when he saw this film and hailed it as the first masterpiece he had seen on the job. ONE of the reasons why the film was so successful was because of its anti-establishment stance; people were becoming disillusioned with America’s involvement in Vietnam at this time.

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Young Estelle Parsons (Roseanne’s mom in the ABC sitcom) plays Buck’s wife.

There is SOME humor in this film, too, thanks in part to Gene Wilder (in his debut)!  He plays Eugene, a wealthy Romeo who is robbed of his shiny new car while making out w/ his girlfriend, Velma, on the porch.  Eventually, the couple end up in Eugene’s car WITH the robbers!  When Bonnie asks Velma how old she is, she quickly responds with “33.” Eugene is silent and looks shocked (so she MUST have lied about it before)- LOL!

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Here is a list of Hollywood conventions that were broken in this film (from a commentator on IMDB):

  1. The mix of comic scenes with scenes of violence, intense drama and that weird, beautiful family reunion scene.
  2. The realistic (for the time) portrayal of violence, with blood and moans and pain.
  3. The frank sensuality (for its time).
  4. The likeability (some would say glorification) of criminals (we are sad when they die).
  5. The unlikeability of the sheriff (who, in prior years, would have been the hero).
  6. The portrayal of an unconventional “family” who live together and mostly love each other, reflecting the ’60s hippie ethos.
  7. The use of period music (the bluegrass) rather than all orchestral scoring.
  8. The pointed social commentary (the Depression-era dispossessed, the poor farmer shooting at the bank sign and his foreclosed home, portrayal of the Establishment as villains).
  9. The depiction of “style” (the clothes, the brash attitudes, the coolness) and how its used to establish the triumph outsiders over law-abiding “squares.”

2016 AFI Latin American Film Festival: Mr. Pig (Mexico)

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He [Danny Glover] traces Ambrose’s rapidly deteriorating physical with ease. But psychologically, the script (by Luna and Augusto Mendoza) just doesn’t provide a lot of depth to work with — for him or for Rudolph, also a welcome presence in a rare non-comedic role. –Excerpt from Variety review

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Luna doesn’t ease up on the sadness one iota, and it will undoubtedly be tough for some to sit through.  However, they eventually hit just the right groove, and Mr. Pig becomes an odd story of family reconciliation, one that isn’t afraid to wallow in the emotional mud. -Travis Hopson (The Examiner)

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It turns out that Mexican actor (and noted international heartthrob) Diego Luna is ALSO a director/writer!  He’s in the next Star Wars movie, BUT that doesn’t mean that he wanted to rest on his laurels.  Mr. Pig (Luna’s third directorial attempt) starts out slow, w/ an old farmer, Ambrose (Danny Glover), and his beloved hog heading from his (soon to be repossessed) farm in Southern California to Mexico.  As a young man, Ambrose fell in love w/ Mexico’s natural beauty and its people.

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In time, we see that Ambrose is dependent on alcohol and (possibly) ill. When his concerned daughter, Eunice (Maya Rudolph) calls, he doesn’t reveal anything about his money issues or deteriorating health. He goes to the large/industrial farm of his old friend’s son; the two men talk and joke about the old days for a night. But upon seeing the conditions in which the pigs are kept the next morning, he refuses to sell his hog!       

My friend and I BOTH liked this film, BUT it’s for those who need speed and want ALL the problems wrapped up in a nice bow.  I particularly liked the cinematography (by Damian Garcia).  The music was low-key, so it didn’t mess w/ that was happening onscreen.  Ambrose and Eunice have a troubled relationship, BUT she ends up going part of the way w/ him to Guadalajara (where old friends have pooled money to buy the hog).    

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

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This is the kind of indie comedy that you definitely don’t see every week (at the local multiplex), b/c that would be TOO delightful!  (FYI: I saw it 2 mos. back at Landmark E St. Cinemas.)  This story is NOT cloying or sugary, like SO MANY films centered on children, thanks to it’s tongue-in-cheek directorial style by Taika Waititi.  The director (who also has a cameo as a minister) is an up-and- comer from New Zealand (with a white mother and a Maori father).  His next project will be one of the Thor films (ugh, I guess that means success).

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Ricky gets a cake for his 13th birthday!

In this film, 12 y.o. juvenile delinquent, Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison), gets a cheery/sweet foster mom, Bella  (Rima Te Waita) and cranky/reluctant father figure, Hec (Australian veteran actor Sam Neill). 

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Andy and Paula

This is Ricky’s LAST chance, as his “nemesis” Paula (Rachel House) from Child Services warns him, supported by bumbling cop, Andy (Oscar Kighty).  These two characters provide GREAT laughs later in the films- just wait for it!

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Ricky (Julian Dennison) and Hec (Sam Neill) in the forest.

After a tragic turn of events, Ricky runs away to the forest, and Hec goes after him.  It turns out that Ricky, a self-proclaimed overweight book lover, has a natural affinity for the outdoors.  He wants to learn more and more, much to the shock and surprise of the hermit-like Hec (who refuses to be called “Uncle”).

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Rhys Darby (VERY famous Kiwi comedian w/ cameo in this film), Sam Neill (Hec), Julian Dennison (Ricky), & Taika Waititi (The Minister/Director)