"Waterfall, " 2005, oil on linen, 48" X 58" (already sold)
Copyright John Cole, courtesy Lisa Harris Gallery, Seattle
Published as a tribute to John Cole, who died this year
(1937-2007)
Photo by Bill Wickett
Kingfisher
a
Journal of Northwest Art and
Literature
Dedicated to
the appreciation of poetry, fiction,
painting,
literary criticism, drawing,
sculpture, music, movies, video,
but not exclusively what
is produced in the Pacific
Northwest of the United States
"Waterfall, " 2005, oil on linen, 48" X 58" (already sold) Copyright John Cole, courtesy Lisa Harris Gallery, Seattle Published as a tribute to John Cole, who died this year (1937-2007) Photo by Bill Wickett |
Visit Our Virtual Art Gallery at Lake Ketchum.com
And Please Take a Look at Our "Life at the Lake.com"
To see some fine Morris Graves
paintings, go here :
To view work by Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, and Mark Tobey,
click here
Winter
2007-8
,Volume Seven, Number One,
First Edition
Copyright
2007 Kingfisher Press
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MARY SHELLEY'S
This movie will leave you longing for Boris Karloff, who starred in the original 1931 flick. Yet it is purportedly more true to the source than the earlier version, about which an independent reviewer (who calls herself Tyedyefeak01) writes: I had to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for my AP English class. My teacher then decided to show us one of the movies. He said the movie was closest to the book, but I didn't see many similarities. For instance, Victor never went to jail. The mother died giving birth to William, but in the book, she died from scarlet fever given to her by Elizabeth. They never talked about the creation of the monster in the book, yet in the movie, they did it not once, but twice! Henry never died, and the father died by the monster, but in the movie, he died just from his heart breaking from the death of Elizabeth. In the book, Victor never tries to bring Elizabeth back to life. There are a lot more differences, but these are some of the few I picked up on and remember. This movie was very disappointing. It wasn't what I expected, and it's sad that people who see this will not know the real story or meaning behind "Frankenstein". To which we add, well, it is probably impossible to literally transpose a novel into a movie without losing a lot, including the author's reflections. Still, Kenneth Branagh tried and did a decent job, with the support of an excellent cast. No short cuts were taken in this production. But a word must be added about Robert DeNiro, who never under acted a scene in his life. "You liked Karloff, did you? I'll show you how the monster should have been done." But I wonder. . . ? It is not enough to say they are different and walk away from the comparison which must be judged invidious. Karloff had a marvelous humanity and pathos to his part, and it sticks with you, years later. But DeNiro is all pure monster, and whatever pathos may be found in his role seems added on, almost as though a frosting is added to a pastry. Sweetness is not what we are after here. Nor here, either. Below is DeNiro with Kelsey Grammer in an early scene from Fifteen Minutes. (The allusion is to Andy Warhol's statement that each of us will be famous, but only for about fifteen minutes.) DeNiro looks more comfortable with a gun in his hand, on the streets of New York. where he belongs.
It is a pretty good flick and not at all a waste of a couple of hours, like so many movies are today. Fast-paced and full of surprises.
AT THE MOVIES How do we evaluate and rank movies? Good question. We start with Goethe's three-star criteria for literary criticism: What was done, how well was it done, and was it worth doing? In the instance of movies, we add a few criteria of our own: How quickly does the film capture our attention and involve us in an imaginary world that is complex, realistic, and important? Memorable movies that quickly achieve this vital, initial feat include Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, Once Upon a Time in America, Cries and Whispers, and Gangs of New York. There are of course many, many others that do this well. Then we try to evaluate the characterization. How well do the actors portray their characters and how rich, complex, and realistic are they? Finally, there is the highly subjective evaluation of the movie in comparison with all the other movies we've seen--hundreds by the time we have become reflective adults. But above all is the question, How quickly and strongly does it grab you? This is the ultimate test in a day of easily forgettable video movies.
What are the Tell us your favorite movies and maybe we will publish them. Or add some to our list. But to start things off, here are a few that we think must be included, but not in any specific order: 1. Citizen Kane 2. Apocalypse Now Redux 3. The Godfather, part 1 4. Once Upon a Time in
America 6. All That Jazz 7. Casablanca 8. Gandhi 9. Reds 10. Chinatown 11. House of Sand and Fog 12. Ordinary People 13. Gangs of New York 14. Mr. Hulot's Holiday 15. Cries and Whispers 16. The White Countess The Second Tier 1. Invincible (Werner Herzog, 2002) 2. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofski 2000) 3. The Usual Suspects (1995) 4. Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino 1980) 5. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982) 6. Deliverance (John Boorman, script by James Dickey 1972) 7. Henry and June (Philip Kaufman 1990) (Note: these are all hyperlinks) Once Upon a Time in America Flesh and The Devil Ingmar Bergman Revisited The Past Recaptured Dune Again? Nora Things You Can Tell Lord of the Rings House of Sand and Fog Sylvia The Hours Return of the Lord of The Rings Girl With a Pearl Earring Before Sunset Before Sunrise Oblomov The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind The Piano Teacher Million Dollar Baby Aviator Elizabeth Elizabeth I Bad Timing A Very Long Engagement The Da Vinci Code Poseidon Tristan and Isolde Swann in Love Time Regained Nathalie An Inconvenient Truth A Love Song for Bobby Long Shadrach The Departed Notes on a Scandal Little Children The Good Shepherd
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Once again,
Four short poems (from the Oct. 29, 2007, The New Yorker);
"IT'S SWEET TO BE REMEMBERED" No
one's remembered much longer than a rock
Still how nice to imagine some kind someday
SUNLIGHT BETS ON THE COME The basic
pleasures remain unchanged,
As the deer haul ass,
CONSOLATION AND THE ORDER OF THE WORLD
There is a certain hubris,
These snaps are the balance of our lives,
WE HOPE THAT
LOVE CALLS US, BUT Autumn night
at the end of the world.
Who is this woman and what does she think she's doing? Clue: She is a well-know actress and she is playing the role of Virginia Woolf in the movie, The Hours, (2002).
Answer: Would you believe it, Nichole Kidman? Here she is again, below, at her table stacked high with books. The part has completely absorbed her. She is Virginia Woolf.
More familiar and recognizable in the film is Meryl Streep, seen below, in this wonderful film that spans three generations, or more, and two continents.
Streep plays a modern woman, Clarissa Vaughn, who has a long-term living relationship with another woman and whose life as a book publisher has remarkable parallels to Virginia Woolf's.
Steven Dellani has a small part as Leonard Woolf, Virginia's worried husband. He suspects she will kill herself and she does.
Ed Harris, above, is Richard Brown, dying from AIDS. He takes the initiative and kills himself, instead, by falling out his window. Miranda Richardson (below) is his mother, a woman who abandons her two children, and flees a miserable suburban married life because she cannot kill herself, but tries to. The life she lives afterwards is one of utter meaninglessness and boredom. But she is resigned to it; after all, it is better than no life at all. Or is it? We are to ponder this choice.
In fact, everybody in the story either contemplates killing him- or herself or else does. There are many parallels to the plot of Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Because of the span of decades in the movie, the implication is that this is a human condition that repeats itself every generation among literary or thinking people. The film makes is point beautifully and memorably, partly due to the excellent acting and writing. But Kidman excels the others, though only slightly, and deserves the Academy Award nomination she received. Also see: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/plotsummary
SAY GOODNIGHT, NORMAN |
JAMES DICKEY REVISITED
How important is this writer? James Dickey was not a likeable man and during his lifetime made many enemies and a few friends, some of which he betrayed when the right time came along. Sorry to have to say this, but some literary heroes are not warm and wonderful men and women. His long career might arbitrarily be broken down into four literary elements: teacher, critic, fiction writer, and poet. He might argue vehemently that I got the order all wrong; in fact, in reverse order, and he was a poet foremost, then a writer of fiction, next a critic, and finally a teacher. Don't believe it. This is not the case. He taught at various colleges on short-term contracts, and at South Carolina for one year short of forty. Teaching, and reading poetry, was something that seemed to come to him naturally and he enjoyed doing. He did it well. Often he talked to students or read his and other people's poetry in the evening to enthralled audiences; and often he was loaded at the time and, if not then, shortly afterwards. He was proud of how much liquor he could hold without falling on his face, which he sometimes nevertheless did. Friends would pick him and lead him to a quiet place, or a hotel bed, where he could sober up. Enemies and some other poets would happily let him just lie there at the curb. There are some poets who are dynamite in the classroom or can be found, at night usually, reading or speak to a group of students and to older lovers of poetry. He probably converted on the spot some of his audience to a lifetime habit of reading poetry—no mean feat. Of course Dylan Thomas could do this, and so could Ted Roethke, who turned on many, including myself. There is magic in the human voice, with the power to thrill and persuade. And though I heard in person the other two aforementioned poets, I never got to hear Dickey, and will have to trust what others tell me about him. His readings, conducted across the country, usually at universities, became famous and he charged top fees. He was offered many faculty jobs, but remained at South Carolina, until he retired for health reasons, well into his seventies. As a critic he is surprisingly good. He knew virtually everybody in the literary business, and while he had the bad habit of turning suddenly on old friends who had helped him get started (Robert Bly is one good example), he remained lifelong loyal to many others, including Jim Wright and Richard Hugo, whom he probably recognized as superior poets. And it was Dickey who proclaimed that Roethke was the greatest poet America had turned out to date. He had only met him twice, but had keen insights into the other poet's personality and character. In those long-ago evenings, when ego confronted ego and a poet's reputation was on the line, Dickey drank competitively with others, and watched the others slide under the table. Poetry readings often were a drinking contest, all full of malice. A poet was expected to read and drink well--well meaning a lot. And a lot of information got exchanged during these long evenings. Dickey got Marianne Moore's number about right--appreciatively correct. He disliked Robert Lowell, who critically outranked him, then and now, intensely. Bly went from friend to beloved enemy in record speed, but over a long career span. Then contemporary female poets lsuch as Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton he despised for their self-pitying, whining stance. Perhaps he is correct, if unforgivingly harshly. Most of his critical essays on poetry and literature are acute and solid, perceptive and insightful, harsh and fully knowledgeable. He wrote copious fiction, as well, none of it as good as the fairly short novel, Deliverance,1970, which was made into a movie in which he played (at his insistence) a small but impressive part., that of the burly sheriff of a small Southern town. But his longer war-based novels from his days in the Air Force in World War II seem to lack relevance today—perhaps even then. These are lnilam, 1987, and To The White Sea, 1993. I'm sorry, but I couldn't get through either of them. They are long, experimental, and dull. World War II was a long time ago, and there have been other wars in which to command our attention. Selective bibliography The James Dickey Reader, edited by Henry Hart, Simon & Schuster, 1999, 350 pages. Henry Hart, The World as a Lie, James Dickey, biography, Picador, 2000, 808 pages, black and white photos. James Dickey, Poems 1957-67, Collier Books, 1968, 295 pages. James Dickey, Sorties, Journals and New Essays, Doubleday, 1971. James Dickey, Deliverance, fiction, 1970. Dickey was a remarkable man of letters of a time long ago. His time limited him and our interest in him. He belongs to the past-- a poet who pushed his critical writing and public-speaking skills about as far as it was possible to do. He belongs to that post-war generation of writers who reflect their times well, but have little to say to us today, I'm sorry to report. Other writers, such as Norman Mailer, have a larger scope and greater immediacy. But who reads either of them today, unless it is a classroom assignment in literature of the not-long-ago past?
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