Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

 

I read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell many moons ago, before this blog was ever conceived of. I won't say too much, as I'm quite likely to reread it at some point, and inevitably blog it, but suffice to say that it made a huge impression on me. Sadly, Susanna Clarke hasn't written much- I understand for health reasons- but a few years ago she graced us with Piranesi, and I understand a third novel is underway. Let there be much rejoicing.

This novel is shorter, less epic in length than its predecessor. Yet it is nevertheless a triumph, quite as good as everybody says it is. We begin with our eponymous narrator, living in a seemingly endless and seemingly impossible labyrinthine structure which is, for him, the world entire.

The novel is a wonderful puzzle, unwinding at the perfect pace to enthral us. It is complex, beguiling, yet in no way a difficult read. The puzzle, and the resolution, are not only deeply satisfying but deeply so.

And yet, there's an emotional heart to this. The narrator is innocent, good, intelligent yet naïve and as we slowly come to discover, much sinned against, a painful realisation for him. While this book is, yes, a puzzle, it has a heart. And it also has, I think, a subtext. That there are dangerous, manipulative individuals out there, most of them men, and that we succumb to their dubious charms at our peril...

Tenet (2020)

 "We are being attacked from the future."

This is one of those Christopher Nolan films that are a massive puzzle box, like Inception and The Prestige, if not quite as good as those two. How much you enjoy these types of film depends on whetheryou like a film to be a puzzle box, in this case a big timey-wimey palindrome thingy. 

Confession time: yes, I understood the broad nature of the plot, but I immediately went on to watch a YouTube video to so I understood it... well, "fully" is an awfully strong word. Again, there will be those who, understandably,don't fancy the idea of a fil that takes effort, and even multiple viewings,to work out what's going on,especially if said film happens to be two and a half hours long.

It's worty it, though. This film is extraordinary, and it's a shame how a certain spiky virus sort of sabotaged it at the box office, although admittedly that's hardly the worst of the many sins of said virus.

The central concept is fantastic- inversion of entropy, meaning that an object or person can be "inverted", moving backwards through time instead of forwards. Hence, there's a lot of time travel in this film, but you have to live through events in real time, whether forwards or backwards. There are great concepts arising from this, such as the "temporal pincer movement" and the rather clever little time paradoxes around the characters, and particularly around the true nature of John David Washington's Protagonist. The fact he's known only as that is a clue.

It's not all that, of course. There's humour. There's Kenneth Branagh being superb as an evil (is there any other kind?) Russian oligarch. There's a chilling yet tasteful exploration of domestic abuse. There's a delightful cameo from old Michael Caine. This film is a joy.

The New Mutants (2020)

 "I masturbated twice..."

We're not supposed to like this film, are we? It was the last Marvel film made by Fox but released after Disney bought Fox, hence monkeyed around a lot by exacys, cut to ribbons, unloved, released without fanfare, left to sink at an unprepared box office, in peak Covid.

Well, I really liked it. I'm not saying it's the greatest fuilm of all time- it's a little superhero horror coming-of-age film, a combination that works rather well- but it's a nice little film, much as I may have been swayed by the fact I went in with low expectations.

The horror works well. The Smiling Men are effective and it's directed well for scares in a way horror films generally aren't. The plot is clever, substituting a sinister corporate doctor for Professor X and making Dani' powers the A threat. Yet it hinges on yje five man characters- Dani (Mirage); Rahne (Wolfsbane); Illyana (Magik, of whose brother we hear nowt); Sam (Cannonball) and Roberto (Sunspot), all of whom came to the institution tragically via killing people with their powers, and are being secretly trained to kill. It's a nice bit of misdirection that they are not, in fact, in Xavier's school and the institution's supposed connection with the X-Men is a lie.

Yes, there's a focus on Dani, and up to a point Rahne and Illyana. But all five of them get to shine, This is a well-written, directed and acted piece of cinema, with visual hints at Bill Sienciewicz to boot. I love it. You probably haven't seen it. Please do.

Birds of Prey (2020)

 “You killed my sandwich!"

I absolutely love this film. It is, of course, beyond its obvious and rather successful feminist credentials as a superhero film with a female director and mostly female cast, a blatant version of Pulp Fiction for the superhero genre, complete with the nin-linear storytelling, fetishised ultraviolence and witty pop culture dialogue. This works rather well. There is indeed an uplifting and vaguely feminist message, one might say a fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn, but above all this is a fun, entertaining film.

It's also, of course, a film about Gotham and its characters without Batman or his main supporting cast: the Joker is at least noticed, as Harley's ex, by his absence, but Batman has nary a mention; this isn't his film. Instead we have a superlative Margot Robbie as the undoubted star, with Black Canary, Renee Montoya and Huntress very much taking a back seat, and Ewan McGregor in a rare outing as a baddie, almost nailing his American accent as Black Mask.

It's a brave decision to make a superhero film like this, violent and revelling in it, and thereby excluding the younger audience, but the film is just so damn good and witty, almost DC's Deadpool. Script, direction and acting are all first class and the whole thing is just so damn life-affirming. More like this please, DC.

Enola Holmes (2020)

 “

This is, incredibly, the first and only film I’ve seen and blogged from the current decade. I suppose this isn’t really much of a surprise, with relatively few films being released in 2020. The times we’re living in remind me of the time of Shakespeare where plague closed the playhouses.

I enjoyed this little Netflix film, though. It’s an adaptation of a series of “Young Adult” novels by Nancy Springer, and it’s a revelation. Clever, fun, fourth wall-breaking to the point of our eponymous heroine frequently addressing the audience, this is a rather marvellous little film.

It helps that Millie Bobby Brown is such a charismatic and compelling lead- there's clearly a lot more to her than Eleven. Helena Bonham Cater s, inevitably, delightfully barmy. Henry Cavill is a bit wooden but you can't have everything, and it's good to see Burn Gorman as a solid baddie.

The conceit is bloody good; Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes have a much younger sister who is being raised in a solidly feminist way by their wonderfully radical mother- and there's a nice underlying subtext of electoral reform, including votes for women. The real-life Representation of the People Act of 1884 plays a big role in the plot. It's a shame Mycroft has to be retconned as the less clever sibling, and actively reactionary to boot, but you can see why this is necessary.

This is a yoyful, wonderful, metataxtual film which has much fun with the fourth wall, is enormously funy and has some rollicking adventure to boot. Superb stuff.