Jeff Smith :: Khatru

science fiction, mysteries, music, et al.

  • The Father

    We have long lists of movies and tv shows that we want to watch. Long lists. When we choose something to watch, it might be something recent we will stream or it might be something we recorded thirty years ago. It also might be a popular crowd-pleaser with lots of action or an art-house indie in which nothing at all actually happens. Our tastes – mine in particular – are very eclectic.

    We watch more tv shows than movies, but we try to get a movie in once a week or so. Here’s what we’ve watched so far in 2022.

    Toy Story 4 (2019) (we’ve liked all the Toy Story movies, and indeed almost all the Pixar films we’ve watched); Hereditary (2018) (a horror film that came close, but didn’t completely work for us); Mission: Impossible (1996) (the recent sequels have been better reviewed than the earlier films, but we figured we’d start at the beginning; it was okay); In America (2002) (excellent film about an Irish immigrant family in New York); Dolemite Is My Name (2019) (good reviews and a decent trailer had us put this Eddie Murphy movie on our list, but without a lot of enthusiasm; as it turns out, we really, really liked it); Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) (I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plus this one has Michelle Yeoh and Awkwafina, favorites of ours); The Dead Don’t Die (2019) (we absolutely adored Jim Jarmusch’s vampire movie, Only Lovers Left Alive; sadly, his zombie movie is nowhere near as good; there are enough good moments that we didn’t feel the time watching it was wasted); The Company (2003) (Robert Altman film about a ballet company, starring former ballet student Neve Campbell; wonderful dancing by the Joffrey Ballet, filmed with Altman’s distinctive eye; not a great film, but we enjoyed it); Frozen II (2019) (certainly not the equal of the first film, but lots of good moments); The Eternals (2021) (what can I tell you, I love all the MCU films, even the lesser ones); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) (if I’d realized this was this good I’d have watched it years ago); The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) (a young man with Down syndrome escapes from the facility he’s living in to try and achieve his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, and enlists the help of a troubled grifter; there were too many moments that pulled me out of the film, but then there were always moments to pull me back in; I could have passed on it, but it was okay).

    Recently we saw The Father (2021), starring Anthony Hopkins as a man with dementia and Olivia Colman as his caretaker daughter. I was a little reluctant to take it on, as there have just been so many dementia movies over the last decade or so, but this was different, and excellent.  Over time, you begin to realize that much of what you’re seeing is from the Hopkins character (also named Anthony)’s viewpoint. Things that didn’t make sense were because Anthony was confused. Some characters were played by more than one actor, and some actors played more than one part. Some events seemed to be told in the wrong order, or repeated – and if repeated, might not be exactly the same the second time. The apartment the story takes place in changes colors and furnishings; from some angles the rooms seem claustrophobic, from others expansive.

    The acting is wonderful, not surprisingly. Olivia Colman plays overwhelmed but gamely plodding on. The few times her father actually treats her well, she looks so grateful it’s heart-breaking. Anthony Hopkins is a marvel, taking everything that Anthony experiences, all the highs and lows, all the moments of lucidity and disorientation, and instead of being showy about it, grounds everything in his character. Even when he’s dancing with pleasure or raging about not knowing what’s going on, these emotions aren’t that far apart; they are all just centered on who he is.

    The rest of the small cast (it was originally a play) is Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams (bearing a surprising resemblance to Colman), and Mark Gatiss (and I just learned his name is pronounced GATE-us); all are very good.

    This is why we make the movie list – so films we think we might like don’t get passed over. Of course there are hundreds and hundreds of films on the list, so we won’t possibly watch them all anyway. Everything’s a trade-off.

  • Forever Man

    Music - CD Forever Man [3 CD] [Box] Book

    Eric Clapton

    Released 2015/Acquired 2020/Listened 2022*

    Eric Clapton, never easy, has become a more problematic person than ever with his anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination statements. An article I read said he was becoming very isolated, with few of his friends even calling him anymore. Holding such views, of course, not only puts yourself at risk, it puts the people you come in contact with at risk. And your views also contribute to other people putting themselves at risk – and everyone around them at risk. It’s irresponsible.

    I think back to the 60s and 70s, though, when a lot of us in our teens and twenties didn’t trust the government – especially during the Nixon years. We often didn’t do what we were told to do, and reveled in it. Back then you could defy accepted wisdom and be a hero. Now maybe you’re a pariah.

    Which is not to say we should cut him some slack. It was just a thought that occurred to me, a disconnect.

    As to whether to buy and listen to his music now, that’s an individual choice and I have no problem with people who decide not to. I’ve spent periods where I’ve mentally blacklisted people’s books and movies and music, but it never seems to stick. I guess I compartmentalize the artist and the work without even trying to. In part, it may go back to when I stopped buying Exxon gas after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and then I stopped filling up with BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill…and then I thought, wait, am I actually looking for a socially- and environmentally-responsible oil company? I decided that when buying anything, given a choice I’d go with the more acceptable one, but I wasn’t going to stress about it.

    Forever Man is a 3-cd followup to Clapton’s 1988 4-cd box set Crossroads, one of the early successes of the cd era. Forever Man picks up where Crossroads left off. Crossroads covered the Yardbirds through 1986’s August (and a couple singles after that); Forever Man goes back for a couple mid-80s tracks (including “Forever Man” itself), then picks up with 1989’s Journeyman and continues through 2014’s The Breeze.

    Unlike the earlier set, which was chronological, this one splits the tracks into “Studio,” “Live” and “Blues” discs. My favorite is the live disc, which contains selections from 1991’s 24 Nights, 1992’s Unplugged, 1994’s One More Car, One More Rider, and 2009’s Clapton/Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden. The selections on this disc are all strong, with familiar songs like “White Room,” “Layla” and “Presence of the Lord,” a bunch of blues numbers, and ending with a surprisingly pleasant “Over the Rainbow.” I really enjoy playing this disc.

    Not to slight the others. The blues disc is half Robert Johnson songs, because Clapton had recorded two albums worth of those, but there’s enough variety to make this a good listening experience. On the songs disc I prefer the rock numbers to the ballads, but even here, I really like the vocals on “My Father’s Eyes,” so that’s a good ballad. “Pretending” is probably my favorite of the songs, but there’s a lot of good stuff on here.

    I have played Crossroads a lot over the years; now the four discs have been expanded to seven.

    * I have a stash of unheard cds down in my basement. Every five days I bring a randomly-selected one upstairs, where it stays in rotation for ten days. (I spent a month listening to the three Clapton discs.) A disc can sit downstairs for years waiting for its number to come up.