Just Arrived!
August – September 2009.

BOOKS.

Andy Warhol, Prince of Pop
(Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan, 2004)

The Campbell’s Soup Cans. The Marilyns. The Electric Chairs. The Flowers. The work created by Andy Warhol elevated everyday images to art, ensuring Warhol a fame that has far outlasted the 15 minutes he predicted for everyone else. His very name is synonymous with the 1960s American art movement known as ‘Pop’. [RandomHouse.ca]

Rebel without a Crew:
Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7000 Became a Hollywood Player
(Robert Rodriguez, 1995)

This is a how-to manual for the basement movie-maker, written by a man who is excited about using movies to tell his stories: in this book, in the commentary tracks for his movies, in his Ten-Minute Film School installments, I have never once felt like Robert Rodriguez was bored with either his work or his achievements. The guy has fun, and his personality gets its fingerprints all over his work—if you can’t enjoy yourself while watching a Rodriguez movie, you’re expecting too much and thinking too hard. [Amazon.com]

The Cubs and Other Stories
(Mario Vargas Llosa, 1967)

Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Cubs and Other Stories is not, in fact, a novel. A sweeping depiction of one boy’s tough coming-of-age in an affluent neighborhood ini Peru, the story reminds us that the very genre of the novel is characterized, not by the plot of a story, but how that story is told. It is thus that the narrative style of Cubs, renders it novel indeed. [1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die]

Money: A Suicide Note
(Martin Amis, 1984)

The novel offers a darkly satirical celebration of the insatiable but righteous greed of Reaganite America and Tatcherite Britain. Money also invites us to identify with John Self, who makes a thoroughly unpleasant but oddly likeable hero. Self has been lured from Britain and his successful career in advertising—that most archetypal of Eighties industries—by the promise of Hollywood fame, and it is the money pressed upon him by the movie’s financiers that he so recklessly spends throughout the novel. [1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die]

The Trick Is To Keep Breathing
(Janice Galloway, 1989)

A frank account of female psychological crisis, the novel is by turns soul-destroying and bleakly comic. When the lover of the ironically named Joy Stones dies on an accident, she senses his spirit in an omnipresent aromatic cloud, until she finds the overtuned, leaking aftershave bottle under the bed. Embodying Joy’s breakdown, the novel fragments, dissolves, and reconstitutes itself in myriad of different forms: extracts from magazines, recipes, horoscopes, letters, and self-help books—all the accessories of insecure femininity. [1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die]

The Story of O
(Pauline Réage, 1965)

Pauline Réage is a complex mask. It is the pen name of Dominique Aury, itself the pen name of Anne Desclos, a French journalist and translator who became one of the most infamous pornographers of all time when she published The Story of O in Paris, 1954. “Réage”—a name invented specifically for The Story of O—was apparently told by her lover, Jean Paulhan, that no woman could ever write an erotic novel. The Story of O is her response. The novel is one of the most thorough and challenging ripostes ever made in a lovers’ quarrel. The most tightly fitted mask is style itself. The Story of O is a shocking novel and at the same time a masterfully boring one. The deep erotic joy of suffering, it tells us, is rooted in the terror of boredom. [1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die]

Book of Dope Stories
(Howard Marks, 2001)

Since the Stone Age, drugs have been sniffed to induce sleep, mixed to cure ills, swallowed to stimulate creativity, snorted to increase sexuality, popped for the hell of it and smoked to see God. Blamed for deaths, wars, individual crisis, anarchy and chaos, they have also been praised for opening minds and expanding consciousness. Worshiped and demonized, venerated and chastised, force-fed and forbidden. Every society has had its intoxicant, be it sacrament or scourge. Book of Dope Stories will take you on an electrifying journey through the discovery, consumption, and trade of mind-altering substances. [RandomHouse.co.uk]
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MUSIC.

Soap&Skin – Lovetune For Vacuum
(Couch Records, 2009)

She is part of a generation of music-lovers not bound by the strictures of geography and commerce, free to gorge on sounds in limitless abundance. So is it any wonder that Lovetune sounds like some unholy union of Nico and Regina Spektor and Aphex Twin and a sizable chunk of the Fonal and Monika rosters? And, sure, some You Are Free-era Cat Power too, and Autechre, and maybe Stina Nordenstam, and certainly Björk, and a good deal of the classical/art song vanguard as well. [Pitchfork.com]

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
(Domino, 2009)

Although it will be tagged as Animal Collective’s “pop” album, Merriweather Post Pavilion remains drenched in their idiosyncratic sound, a record that no one else could have made. The album is named for a Maryland venue that last year played host to Santana, Sheryl Crow, and John Mayer, but its songs won’t be heard on the radio, and besides, Animal Collective’s M.O. requires them to exist outside of rigid formats. Nonetheless, they’ve found a natural way to integrate the sing-along melodies, sticky hooks, and driving percussion that have long been hallmarks of celebratory popular music. [Pitchfork.com]

Graham Coxon – The Spinning Top
(Transgressive Records, 2009)

A really very enjoyable record, displays some of the finest aspects of the guitarist’s talents, but chief among them, those that pertain to Coxon the folkie, and acoustic guitar stylist. Of late he has been heard bringing some degree of togetherness and musicality to Peter Doherty’s Grace/Wastelands album, and much of the same warmth and intimacy attends The Spinning Top. Candour, for a long time near the top of Coxon’s agenda, is here to be found in abundance. Whether it’s in the nakedness of his thin but affecting voice (on “Sorrow’s Army”), the lyrics (“Did myself no favours/ Stay in every night…“) or the transparent nature of the influences (Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, and Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” are key; folk bassist Danny Thompson is a guest), the 15 tracks here feel at first glance like a very guileless enterprise. [Uncut.co.uk]

The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
(Ninja Tune, 2007)

In Ma Fleur, chief Cinematic Jason Swinscoe quelled inspiration from Paris and its Film Noir history, as well as its laid-back, electro-tinged café culture. While Ma Fleur is no better than The Cinematic Orchestra’s previous scores, it is equally gorgeous in how it responds to and ekes out intellectual quagmires of song. Other than a few sparse moments that flicker in and out of the soundscape to further the plot, Ma Fleur is a restrained affair, one built on suspense, not release. Rarely does the melody climax; it reveals very little, offering up only questions in black and white to ponder and figure out independently. [drownedinsound.com]

Radiohead – Meeting People Is Easy
(DVD, Parlophone, 1998)

Instead of taking the usual tour documentary approach and dwelling on individual concerts or behind-the-scenes banter between the band, Gee’s film focuses on the absurdity of being an important rock band in the current musical landscape – the shallow marketing of the band, the endless stream of redundant interviews, the blinding photo shoots and awkward television appearances. “We were the most hyped band in the world, number one in all the polls,” snorts Yorke at one point. “That’s bullocks.” [music-critic.com]

Sibylle Baier – Colour Green
(Orange Twins Records, 2006)

A deeply personal portrait of the inner life of the artist, Colour Green is by turns brooding and joyous. “Tonight”, “Forget About”, and “Driving” are especially beautiful, but each song in this collection reaches profoundly into Baier’s world and by extension the world of the listener, who is not so different from the singer. It took over 30 years for these songs to be made public—a work so rich and graceful simply could not be suppressed forever. [rhapsody.com]

Death Cab For Cutie – Directions: The Plans Video Album
(DVD, Atlantic Records, 2006)

A Grammy-nominated video album from Death Cab for Cutie, corresponding to their major-label debut album Plans. Proposals from around the world were submitted to Death Cab for Cutie, and a budget was allowed for 12 finalists to create videos that would translate their visions of every song from Plans. Directions also includes an interview with the band, directors’ statements, treatments and profiles, animatics, and artwork, along with two bonus videos, “Jealousy Rides With Me” and “Talking Like Turnstiles.” At the 2007 Grammy Awards, the videos were nominated for Best Long Form Music Video. [wikipedia.org]

Bill Ding – Trust In God, But Tie Up Your Camel
(Hefty, 1997)

The band is equally at home whipping up an avant frenzy or unraveling gentle ambience, orchestral washes, or delicate folk. When Hughes adds his Beck-like slack vocals, it ties all the contrasting musical elements together so that it sounds neither agitated nor sleepy; rather it is supremely laidback and enveloping and inclusive, if self-consciously experimental and deconstructionist. It never, though, comes off glibly clever. It all comes together as a single music from a single band with a single impulse, and it is all wonderful. [AllMusic.com]

FILMS.

Control
(Anton Corbijn, UK/USA, 2006, DVD)

Somber, sad and compelling, Ian Curtis biopic Control, about the lead singer of the ’80s post-punk Blighty band Joy Division, is a riveting, visually arresting portrait of a tormented soul. Sam Riley gives a winning perf in the central role and is surrounded by a strong ensemble of thesps. First feature helming bow by photographer Anton Corbijn manages to present working-class Northern England in a wide range of appealing grays that make the description “black-and-white film” inadequate. Widely anticipated by the band’s legion of fans, pic is assured a warm welcome and a successful worldwide tour. [Variety.com]

Quadrophenia
(Franc Roddam, UK, 1979, DVD)

This film version of the Who’s rock opera Quadrophenia makes a few tentative stabs at “explaining” the alienation of 1960s British working-class youth, but its major selling point is its nonstop rock-and-R&B musical score, including the hit single “Love Reign O’er Me.” Phil Daniels (replacing the original opera’s Roger Daltrey) plays Jimmy, a member of a well-dressed, drugged-up teenaged gang called the Mods, forever duking it out with the cycle-punk Rockers. If you aren’t fascinated by the visual pyrotechnics of Quadrophenia, just close your eyes and revel to the soundtrack music of the Who, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, the Chiffons, Manfred Man, and many others. [AllMovie.com]

Let The Right One In
(Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, 2008, DVD)

With True Blood on HBO and the film version of Twilight on the horizon, vampires are the new zombies. Bloodsuckers are hot, baby. Stick your neck out for this Swedish horror show. It’s a winner, full of mirth and malice, plus a young romance you’ll never see on the Disney Channel. Cue a series of bloody murders. Oskar doesn’t guess what Eli is at first, except that she smells funny and only comes out at night. But when he does, watch out. The two young leads are dynamite. And director Tomas Alfredson knows how to pin you to your seat. See it now before Hollywood remakes the thing and ruins it. [RollingStone.com]

Being There
(Hal Ashby, USA, 1979, DVD)

Being There is a highly unusual and an unusually fine film. A faithful but nonetheless imaginative adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s quirky comic novel, it marks a significant achievement for director Hal Ashby and represents Peter Sellers’ most smashing work since the mid-1960s. Kosinski’s story is a quietly outrageous fable which takes Sellers from his position as a childlike, unblinking naif who can’t read or write to that of a valued advisor to an industrial giant and ultimately to the brink of a presidential nomination. Tale possesses political, religious and consumer society undertones, but by no means is an overly symbolic affair trying to impress with its deep meanings. Sellers’ performance stands as the centerpiece of the film, and it’s a beauty. [Variety.com]

Family Viewing
(Atom Egoyan, Canada, 1987)

He’s something of a darling to the Canadian new wave cinema, but Atom Egoyan’s second feature is particularly exasperating precisely because there are streaks of filmmaking talent visible through the pretentious murk of this disjointed story about a single-minded young man and his emotionally pulverized family life. Egoyan’s film stands shakily upon a glib foundation of familiar themes. These include ruptured familial communication in an impersonal urban society, the displacement of human feelings in an age of instant sensual gratification and the subsuming of modern life to the omnipresent value systems of the video tube. [Variety.com]

Opera Jawa
(Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, 2006, DVD)

Baca review di sini.

Welcome To The Dollhouse
(Todd Solondz, USA, 1995, LaserDisc)

Welcome to Dawn’s alienated, miserable pubescence in the claustrophobic hell of New Jersey suburbia. Dawn, who suffers under the ignominious nicknames of Wiener Dog and Dogface, doesn’t get any relief at home either. Her mother clearly favors Dawn’s kid sister, Missy. When Dawn’s older brother Mark, persuades a moody high school buddy of his, Steve, to sing for his garage band, she sways reverently while he performs (flatly) to an offbeat pop composition called “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” She wheedles her way into Mark’s bedroom whenever Steve comes to visit. But this crush is just a new form of suffering. [The Washington Post]

Eliana, Eliana
(Riri Riza, Indonesia, 2002, DVD)

Perjalanan satu malam yang dilalui oleh Eliana (Rachel Maryam) dan Bunda (Jajang C. Noer). Lima tahun sebelumnya Eliana melarikan diri dari rumahnya di Padang karena hendak dikawinkan. Ia memilih tinggal di Jakarta. Suatu hari saat ia akan kehilangan pekerjaan dan diancam pemilik rumah kontrakannya, Bunda datang dengan membawa dua tiket dan mengajak pulang Eliana ke Padang. Perjalanan satu malam ini mengungkapkan hubungan ibu-anak itu, dan akhirnya mereka saling memahami posisi masing-masing. Meraih Piala Citra untuk Skenario Terbaik FFI 2004. [Katalog Film Indonesia, 1926-2007]

Poison
(Todd Haynes, USA, 1991, LaserDisc)

Todd Haynes’s Poison is a vision of unrelenting, febrile darkness. It presents three disparate stories in three greatly varied styles, all inspired by the work of Jean Genet, and its effect, as a whole, is like that of an especially vile infection; it moves diabolically through your system, spreading fever and nausea as it goes. The unifying thread here is sex; that’s the poison to which the title refers. In each of the three sections, sex is virtually synonymous with perversion, abuse, domination, slimy fluids and disease. It’s hard to imagine a more vivid, skin-crawly depiction of sexual loathing. Without being overtly pornographic, Poison is anti-sexual in the way that pornography can often be; it’s sex stripped of all romance or emotion. [The Washington Post]

Lorna’s Silence
(Jean-Pierre Dardenne, 2008, DVD)

No one makes movies like Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Over the past decade, this writing-directing team has created a series of seemingly low-key but ultimately wrenching pictures, dealing in life and death and in monumental moral issues. The film’s technique is simple but tenacious. In virtually every scene, at virtually every moment, the camera is on Lorna, usually following her from the waist up. If she’s looking at something important, the Dardennes don’t intercut to show what she’s seeing. They either concentrate entirely on Lorna’s reactions or they find a way to move whatever Lorna is seeing into the frame. Most of the conversations in the film, for example, take place in two-shots. Lorna’s Silence, which won the best screenplay prize at Cannes, is another of the Dardennes’ gritty tales of modern-day Europe. [San Francisco Chronicle]

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