Horsemen
Jonas Akerlund
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports could consider promoting this movie. After all, the message here is: spend more time with your children.
But this message is hammered into the viewer in a sensationalistic manner with a series of horrific killings in which the victims are hung from assorted contraptions with industrial-strength meat hooks.
Seldom has the dangers of parental neglect been spelt out so gruesomely.
Dennis Quaid is the detective in charge of the case, oblivious to what is happening under his own nose, while Zhang Ziyi plays the adopted daughter of one of the victims.
Big-time Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund’s overwrought second feature piles on the religious associations. The movie title refers to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The effect, though, is hokey rather than genuinely unsettling.
He tries to dodge the tag of exploitation by turning this into a cautionary tale, but the moral lesson just feels hastily slapped on.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Traitor
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
The story: Devout Sudanese-American Muslim Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) has attracted the suspicions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being in the vicinity of several terrorist bombings.
Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up a task force investigation to link the former United States Army Special Forces explosives expert to these attacks and to stop him from striking again.
The political thriller is a tricky genre. Too much background information and the film risks getting bogged down in a morass of details; too little and it turns into a run-of-the-mill action flick.
This film, for the most part, is a smart, nuanced take on a current hot potato – the issue of international terrorism. While the hit television series 24 is a non-stop adrenaline pumper, Traitor’s writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff has sought to balance both the action and plot elements.
The scenario here is America’s worst nightmare, the activation of dozens of sleeper cell agents to carry out a coordinated terrorist attack, also explored in Showtime’s drama Sleeper Cell (2005-2006).
Even though the villains here are Muslim terrorists, the audience is presented with an even-handed treatment of religion that illustrates the fact that extremism is not a failing exclusive to Islam.
Agent Clayton says at one point: “Where I grew up, the Klan burned crosses in front of people’s houses and called it Christianity. Then my daddy and the folks from the church would drive over and put them out. Seems every religion has more than one face.”
Traitor also points out the irony that those who pursue the terrorists can end up echoing their rhetoric.
An American agent declares: “This is a war. You do what it takes to win. We’re the good guys.” The wry response: “You know who you sound like, right?”
It poses the prickly question of whether the means can ever justify the end, an issue that has been hotly debated after the curbing of civil liberties in the United States and the setting up of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in which those deemed to be “enemy combatants” were detained without trial and allegedly subjected to torture.
The central character of Samir Horn is an enigmatic one, and the excellent Don Cheadle draws you in and keeps you guessing his intentions. Inevitably, when his true inclinations are revealed, the tension slackens though Cheadle keeps you watching.
The actor has proved his versatility since his electrifying supporting turn as the unhinged Mouse in Devil In A Blue Dress (1995), going on to win an Oscar nomination for the genocide drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004) as well as delivering turns in more commercial fare such as the ensemble crime caper Ocean’s Eleven franchise.
He is well supported here by Pearce as the persistent and fair-minded Clayton, Jeff Daniels as an amoral Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and French-Moroccan star Said Taghmaoui, now appearing in Lost, as a charismatic Muslim leader.
The movie sometimes threatens to slip into generic cop thriller territory but manages to steer just clear of it. A pity, then, that the resolution of the sleeper cell attack feels too rushed and convenient.
Still, you will not want to turn your back on Traitor.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Magique!
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Philippe Muyl
The story: Ten-year-old Tommy (Louis Dussol) lives with his mother Betty (Marie Gillain) on a honey farm in rural Canada. He has never known his father and imagines him to be an astronaut.
When a kindly doctor tells him that his mother is suffering from melancholy, he is determined to cheer her up. He invites a travelling circus to their farm and embarks on a search for something or someone that would make her laugh.
With Magique!, French writer-director Philippe Muyl is out to prove that the well-received The Butterfly was no mere sleight of hand.
While he once again takes on a familiar subject matter – a young child learning the lessons of life – he also takes the film in a different direction.
Inspired by the number he wrote for the closing credits of The Butterfly, Muyl has included a lot more songs here.
But instead of having the actors belt them out in Broadway-musical style, the singing here is low-key and naturalistic.
It is part of the charm and whimsy with which Muyl imbues this simple story of a boy who just wants to make his mother laugh.
The film-maker seems to have a knack for working with children and the bright-eyed Dussol is endearing as he earnestly and doggedly embarks on his quest. When the travelling circus sets up shop on their farm, a colourful cast of characters befriends Tommy.
While the idea of kooky big-top folks borders on the cliched, the proceedings are handled with a light touch and are too good-natured to be grating, especially when set against the gorgeously coloured backdrop of rural Canada.
Tommy’s search proves to be more daunting than first imagined. At the same time, a romance begins to develop between Betty and the clown Baptiste (singer-songwriter Cali in his first big-screen outing).
Cali and Gillain, the Belgian actress who turned heads with her debut in the comedy My Father The Hero (1991), share an easy chemistry and make the connection between two lonely people touchingly believable.
When Tommy stumbles on both of them talking in bed, he is upset, not by the fact that his mother is with someone, but by the revelation that his father was a musician.
Ah, the worldliness of the French, even at such a tender age.
Magique! is a movie for children but it is mercifully free of the condescension family films often strangely display towards their target audience. And adults too might just find themselves falling under the spell of Muyl’s appealing escapade.
(ST)
Monday, April 20, 2009
If There're Seasons...
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
The Theatre Practice
Drama Centre
Last Saturday
One of the early xinyao tracks written by Liang Wern Fook asked the question: “Where Are Our Songs?” Happily, one need not ask that of the composer whose name is synonymous with the Singapore folk music movement which took root in schools here in the 1980s.
Hong Kong playwright Raymond To has stitched together a musical tale based on Liang’s songs and the result, If There’re Seasons, was a 19-show sell-out hit when first staged by The Theatre Practice in 2007.
The restaging of the three-hour musical follows a young Singaporean A-Le (George Chan) as he leaves for America after the death of his girlfriend Xiao Jing (Sing Chew Sin Huey).
There, he meets his fellow countrymen chasing after dreams of their own. There is A-Qiang (Jeffrey Low), also a budding musician, and Rose (Joanna Dong), an aspiring actress whom A-Le is attracted to.
A recent point of reference would be Mamma Mia!, which is built around existing pop hits by Abba. The challenge is to weave together a coherent work from songs which were not specifically written to be parts of a whole. Not surprisingly, the plot can sometimes feel like a mere ploy to shoehorn as many songs as possible into the proceedings.
While Mamma Mia! has laboured multiple storylines, it does preserve the giddy joy of the Swedish group’s infectious music.
Raymond To had a more difficult task with Liang’s works, which have diverse themes, including those of school life, friendship, love, growing up and Singaporean identity. To his credit, he did not take the obvious route – portray school friends who embark on different paths after graduation.
But the end result did not always work and was head-scratchingly baffling at points.
The love triangle with A-Le, Xiao Jing and Rose was never very convincing. It was hard to understand why A-Le was so conflicted over his affections for Rose and it was hard to accept that the sassy modern miss Rose would fall for the indecisive and reserved A-Le.
Setting the action in New York for the large part was also a strange choice which made the songs about identity seem more removed, despite the notion of homesickness being added to the mix.
It certainly did not help that the production’s risible idea of SoHo was Rent’s lower east side by way of Miss Saigon, a lawless neighbourhood thronging with street musicians and Asians.
With the exception of this glaring mis-step, some thought and money had clearly gone into the effective, handsome set.
More importantly, given that this was a musical, the saving grace was that the key leads were competent singers.
Dancer-actor Chan had a bright, pleasant tenor that was a good fit for the xinyao vibe, though too often in solos, he would lapse into the same stance – body facing the audience, head tilted upwards.
Singer-actress Dong handled the part of Rose well, and even turned her into the most sympathetic character as she juggled love and career.
Project Superstar alumnus Sing Chew seemed to be nursing a sore throat and had some trouble with the high notes. Unfortunately for her, she was also stuck with the ghost plot device which quickly became cloying.
Low as A-Qiang could belt it out and he would sometimes slip into exaggeration, but it worked when his intensity matched the lyrics on the track In The End.
A-Qiang’s strained relationship with his boyfriend, which earned the show an advisory for mature content, gave a gender twist to xinyao classics such as As The Night Falls Gently.
For fans familiar with Liang’s works, such moments of genuine surprise were, alas, few and far in between.
An early ensemble number, One Step At A Time, was nicely executed and included a well-choreographed sequence with pizza boxes.
When A-Le sings A Break From Love to a drunk and tormented A-Qiang, it was the perfect choice of song with its lyrics of drowning one’s sorrows in drink.
While the idea of putting together a musical using Liang’s songs is an excellent one, you cannot help but feel that his thoughtful, poetic and incisive works deserve a better vehicle.
(ST)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Taken
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Pierre Morel
The story: Retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) but finds it hard to compete with her rich and generous stepfather.
When she is abducted on a trip to Paris, Mills hunts down those responsible and rescues her.
This is the big screen knock-off of the popular TV series 24. Instead of 24 hours, it is 96. Instead of terrorists, there are Eastern European human traffickers as the scumbags. Instead of Kiefer Sutherland as superagent Jack Bauer, you get Liam Neeson as superdad and superagent Bryan Mills.
Given the similarities, Taken has enjoyed an impressive run at the American box office. It opened at No. 1 and has shown strong legs by remaining in the top three for five weeks. The sleeper hit, directed by Pierre Morel, has grossed US$140 million (S$211 million) to date.
But unlike each season of 24 which always begins with a bang, Taken starts somewhat slowly.
The film first establishes the prickly state of relations between Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (X-Men’s Famke Janssen) as well as the tenuous connection between him and his daughter Kim (coincidentally the name of Bauer’s daughter in 24).
Having been an absent father to Kim (an oddly unrecognisable Maggie Grace from sci-fi drama Lost) while she was growing up, Mills now has to compete with her stepfather for her affection.
But when she and her girlfriend Amanda are abducted in Paris, Mills’ skills as a CIA agent prove vital in tracking down his daughter. He will stop at nothing to save her and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.
The prolific Neeson has taken on roles ranging from the Oscar-nominated Oskar Schindler in the Holocaust drama Schindler’s List (1993) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and can generally be counted on to deliver solid performances.
While the stoic and single-minded Mills is not much of a challenge character-wise, the film makes good use of Neeson’s imposing 1.93m frame as he despatches baddies in smooth-flowing, hypnotic action sequences in small enclosed spaces.
The well-choreographed fight scenes are stylishly filmed but they do not quite reach the heights of aesthetic grace served up in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
Neeson barely breaks a sweat moving from interrogation to unarmed combat to shooting sprees. And the film is so keen to keep up this unrelenting pace that it does not pause to ask about the morality of the violence and torture Mills is inflicting.
What Taken, produced and written by French film-maker Luc Besson, does to alleviate any niggling of the conscience is to give us one-dimensional villains who, clearly, deserve their fates.
The worst of the lot is a suit-clad creep for whom human trafficking is merely business and not personal. Mills snarls: “It was all personal to me”, kills him and then pumps a few more rounds into his body to vent his hatred and disgust.
On the big screen and small, vigilante justice rules.
(ST)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
By P. Robert Smith
It is an art really. Coming up with snappy titles and attractive cover graphics to entice the unsuspecting consumer into parting with his cash.
So we have Up A Tree In The Park At Night With A Hedgehog, which seems to promise madcap humour, or at the very least, an interesting account of how things lead to the titular situation. No such luck.
A more accurate title would be Up The Creek With A Self-absorbed Two-timing Scumbag, but that is probably the wrong approach to landing a book on the bestseller charts.
Benton Kirby is dating Cassie and is having an affair with Cherry, his Korean student. Somewhere in his past is a fiancee, Georgia, who dies in a freak accident after losing her keys on her hen night.
Up A Tree is P. Robert Smith’s debut work and he seems to think that stringing together what he imagines are hilarious scenarios add up to a novel.
At least Georgia’s death is edged with black humour. Elsewhere, Smith is content to recycle not very funny anecdotes for no apparent purpose other than to recount them.
Things get really dire when he attempts the comedy of humiliation popularised in movies such as There’s Something About Mary (1998) by the Farrelly brothers.
When a piece of “souvlaki-sized turd” stubbornly refuses to be flushed away, Benton feels the urge to cover up by squirrelling the offensive evidence away in his pocket. Right. Sure.
How someone like him is able to attract a succession of women is an absolute mystery. This is something that Benton himself questions, marvelling at his ability to land “the kind of catch that you want to both eat and mount”.
And Smith’s description is the kind of writing that is both crass and repulsive. Give this artless offering a wide berth.
Try this instead: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (2007, $18.95, major bookstores). For a portrait of people behaving badly that illuminates rather than infuriates, turn to this seminal tale about youthful excesses.
(ST)
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