Because I had a couple of big breaks yesterday, I managed to spend some money at Arty Bees – a slim volume of Devonshire folklore, “Monstrous Regiment” (on the male impersonator and army officer who shocked people after WWI), a Victorian murder mystery and one or two other bits and pieces. Frustratingly, there seemed to be a lot of cases with their new stock where they didn’t have the first book in various series; I prefer not to jump into the middle, if I can avoid it.
Film #41: Toons For Tots
It was a real pleasure to watch this with my niece; however, I don’t think that the films in this collection were as strong as the ones in Animation For Kids. I still want to re-watch a few of the shorts from the later, whereas none of the shorts in this compilation really caught my eye. I mean, they were fine – the wee cloud who went around trying to help people, the orange who wants to dance with the pineapples, the farm where everything is swelling up like balloons – but none of them were neat like the lightbulb or teeth ones.
My niece was very well behaved, and seemed to enjoy herself; I’d happily take her to something again.
Film #42: Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
I don’t think I would have enjoyed her previous performance art – while I can see that it’s art, and I think it’s probably worthwhile, I’m not sure I’d volunteer to witness it. This is an artist who has slammed herself into walls, cut herself with razorblades, and stood unreacting while people interacted using a selection of objects provided (which included roses, whips, and a gun). I think I found the performances where she involved the audience to be the most interesting, as well as the most frightening – one of the interviewees claimed that veneer of civilization is very thin, but I’d argue that there’s a social expectation being set up in a performance space that makes it more dangerous. What I mean is – when you are in a kitchen with someone, there are knives; but when you’re in a performance space, told that you can interact with the artist, and have a knife in an array of things in front of you, this implies how you’re expected to interact with the knife, I think.
Anyway, the actual show was kind of neat – people sit opposite the artist, and they look at each other. Some people seemed to want to use it as a way to get attention for themselves, but others seemed genuinely excited about the idea: apparently, there were more than 750k visitors during the three months it ran. I’m not sure that I would have gone to this exhibition if I’d been around when it was running, and there was a certain hysteria or hero-worship in the crowd; but I’m glad that it happened, and I quite enjoyed the film.
Film #43: Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey
This was a documentary on a Northern Irish politician who entered Parliament as an MP for Central Ulster when she was 21 during the 1970s, went to jail for inciting a riot at the beginning of her second term, and punched the Home Secretary for claiming in the House that all the killings during Bloody Sunday were in self-defence. A strong character, and she came across as an uncompromising one, though she also seemed to have retained a sense of humour. She seemed a worthwhile person, and I’m glad I went to the film.
Film #44: Call Me Kuchu
This documentary showed the situation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in Uganda, talking about the law that was proposed to put them to death, and the sustained campaign in popular papers and from churches (backed by evangelical preachers from the main front of the Culture Wars, the US). What boggles the mind is how violent the opposition is – why is this group scarier than, say, different creeds? After all, there’s a lot more evidence that those recruit people, especially young people – why not go after Baptists, or Quakers,or Muslims with equal fervour? Actually, to be fair, I don’t know that they don’t. Er, if “fair” is the right word.
I don’t know how this could be resolved. Almost all the points they make (that it’s unnatural, that they rape children, that they will bring the punishment of Sodom, whatever) can be countered (it happens in nature, raping children is already a crime, San Francisco seems to be doing okay, etc); but you can’t reason a person out of a position that they haven’t reached by reason, and, “God says so, because the translation I picked of the bit I picked says so,” isn’t very susceptible to argument either.
I hope that the situation in Africa gets a happy ending; but I very much doubt it.
Film #45: Neighbouring Sounds
This is a weird one to review. It was disjointed, with lots of different threads, things happening that were never explained and didn’t go anywhere (like a car crash, or a woman who was having a TV delivered demanding that the box be put on it’s side), and a few vivid dream sequences. But nothing felt like it didn’t make sense, and it didn’t feel unsatisfying; on the contrary, I enjoyed it.
Film #46: Killer Joe
The short, Hitch-Hike, wasn’t bad – kid hitch-hikes from Wellington into the country to find his Mum, gets a ride from a Maori guy with various racist tattoos, Mum refuses to deal with him, he nearly gets run over by the Maori guy, gets a ride to the bus stop. The only thing that rang slightly false was the driver explaining why he got the tattoos – it seemed a little too self-aware, or direct, or something? Like, the explanation was fine, but it felt a little too on the nose. But it was more a “huh” than a “oh no” moment, if that makes sense?
Anyway, as to the main feature – you know the manic pixie dream girl? Well, slather on a generous helping of small-town Texas, replace the sad hipster loser with a cold-blooded cop that murders people for money, and make it so no-one is essentially changed or redeemed… oh, and add plenty of vicious violence, betrayal, and sex, along with a leavening of dark humour, and you’ll have something like Killer Joe. Some horrible things happen, but some clever things, too. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it to many people.
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