“'If you'll do that much for me, I promise I won't interfere with your sex life till the end of the summer.' - 'My sex life is pretty feeble at the moment. It might not make it through the summer.'”
(Murakami Haruki, The Elephant Vanishes (1993))
Yes, this is a highly publicized event alright, and accordingly it is neither my intention to bore you with well known historical facts, nor is this the place to do so. This day, 50 years ago, the landmark Treaty of Rome was signed by the respective representatives of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany, to lay the institutional groundwork and begin what over the years developed to become the European Union of 27 that is today. It ushered in a hitherto unknown era of peace, the will to cooperate and integrate between a growing number of nations, which up to a mere dozen of years before had been battling each other to the death millionfold, it enabled an unprecedented economic growth and secured prosperity for its citizens. What this whole story signifies is nothing short of the triumph, the possibility of civilization taking the helm over cultural differences and the fatal fear of the other. And this promise that indeed the life of the peoples can be bettered, that a peace which is rooted in mutual respect but remains dependent on an unceasing effort to foster understanding and build connections can be attained and preserved, constantly renewed and relentlessly defended against its outer and inner adversaries, this promise in my estimation, to my firm belief, is still standing strong today – and it is still, by the very nature of it, not entirely fulfilled.
Discourse about what exactly defines the standards of our shared humanity is essential and must be held on all levels of social intercourse, from the personal, the Sunday family talk, to the arts that give voice to pressing social issues and the larger themes, up to the political realm, where it all comes down to making the right choices, collectively, democratically, individually. What we need is an enlargement, based on an agreed upon understanding of who (and where in the world) we are and want to be. What we must bring about, is a constitution that is balanced, breathes and pledges to preserve and further the best and the purest that is the spirit of its Humanism, a constitution that is operational and worthy of the full spectrum of our variegated heritage, worthy of all its people. What we must never give up is the constant strife to make this promise a reality, to make it work out everyday.
I for one am persistently passionate about Europe and a proud European at that. What remains the ultimate promise, the terra irredenta for me, personally, is a United States of Europe!
(pic©europaallalavagna.it)
“Leicht zu lesende Bücher sind gefährlich, weil ihre Autoren borniert sind.” /
“Books that are easy to read must be considered dangerous, as their authors are small-minded.”
(Hans-Georg Gadamer)
April 18th to April 30th 2007 there will be the 20th edition of Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) held in, naturally, Singapore at different venues and bringing in its wake a whopping 300 films from more than 40 countries, as well as handing out the prestigious Silver Screen Awards for Best Asian Feature and best Singaporean Short respectively. You can keep up with all the latest news and have an in depth look at the program on their new website, which you really should take the time to do if you have any intention (as I personally do) to go there and make good use of this opportunity to assess for yourself the current trends and standards in Asian film making, and in Singaporean in particular. There should be something to suit about anyone's taste, really, in this very encompassing line-up. Just two segments (“Special Programmes”) I would like to point out to you, namely the extensive retrospective commemorating the 25th anniversary of the untimely death of German innovator director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and the complete re-run of all the winning films in the category Singapore Shorts, from the first such award of 1991 on up to last year's (and sporting the additional feat of each and every film's director allegedly being present at their own screenings for a Q&A session, now if that's no promise!). Both sound fairly interesting to me, indeed, and then there's just so much more – do have a look here.
(pic©Singapore International Film Festival 2007)
With this week's column “The Torch” delivers the second part of its analytical review of short films by Singaporean director Royston Tan, begun last time. While the former took on “Jesses”, “Sons”, “Hock Hiap Leong”, “24 hrs”, “Mother” and “The Absentee” (and you can re-read it here), this one casts an in-depth look at “The Blind Trilogy”, “Careless Whisperer”, “New York Girl” and “Monkeylove” (and you get it here). After which inventory a first overall sum-up can rightfully be attempted, of what the guiding principles, the core structural ingredients of this evolving (but already quite distinct) directorial voice might be – and if you should have come to be interested in the DVD under discussion, do have a look at the latest addition to proto-ymagon's treasured “friendly links”, the AFA (i.e. the Asian Film Archive) from Singapore, on whose neat little webby you will find all the necessary information by visiting their shop, here.
(pic©mo)
Here now is the last installment of that account of mine I have been treating you to here (pt.1), here (pt.2), here (pt.3) and here (pt.4), bringing the summary of “Against The Day” to its swift conclusion – and let that be the wrap to an astonishingly tight 1.3 kilo volume.
The ultimate spoiler:
... And then all these intricately interwoven story-lines get spun a-further, or peter out, or softly twist a little – or else simply continue to be more or less contingent as they have been all along...
Married during the wartime years, Kit and Dally eventually break up again, her living in Paris and seeing Clive Crouchmas, while he assigns himself to service in the Ukraine.
The family of Reef, Yashmeen and little Ljubica cross the Atlantic and settle down up in the northwestern remoteness of the US together with Frank, Stray and Jesse, making a harmonious colony of exiles in their own country, and growing in number.
With the extra-terrestrial help of the Chums, Professor Vanderjuice or just a benevolent convergence of world-lines at one specific point in time, Kit gets transported to Paris again and may be seen there reunited with Dally for good, and dancing.
A supranational state of skyfarers we see, sailing toward grace, at last. - Finis
To give this at least some sparse patches of analytical comment to make for the “review” this poses for, here is my pen-ultimate verdict on the work's quality and standing.
For my part, I'll stick to it that indeed “Gravity's Rainbow” remains Pynchon's most outstanding, most important and for that matter simply his best work to date. Nevertheless, “Against The Day” proves beyond doubt that he is still very much ahead of the game, when compared to most of what some of the more elaborately hailed writers of the day usually come up with. Sure, there is not much in terms of literary innovation to be found in this one, the narrative fragmentation and excessive liberties he takes in creating a coherence by his own standards are pretty much on record by now. But let's be fair here, what do you expect any well established writer in their seventies to do other than constantly contribute to exactly that same area of public discourse they've chosen to be their genuine field of interest, insight and, ultimately, wisdom hard-won? What we can without any reserve acknowledge Pynchon to have achieved with this one, is to have added one more solid and sparkling piece of beautifully designed and crafted literature to his legacy. Just like his fellow American Greats of our time, namely DeLillo and Roth, have done with their latest writings, he has focused on perfecting his own style and unique voice, and in my view has succeeded in pushing the boundaries in that sense by no small margin.
To sum it up shortly, there is just so much to be discovered and enjoyed in “Against The Day”, beginning with the hilarious band of the “Chums of Chance” seemingly taken directly from some 19th century boys-adventure novel, up to (but not ending with) these very intense and true-to-life moments of painstakingly precise observation of a human soul in self-inflicted agony, like there is to be found time and time again in the portraits of the Traverse family in particular, that my sole advise to you can be no other than to simply recommend you to read it for yourself. It is worth your time, believe me. And to say so of some book of 1000 plus pages speaks for itself, I would guess!
(pics©The Penguin Press)
Yes, I've said it before, and in here more than just once, but pardon me the thing is simply too good to be missed by anyone, who might or might not be interested in seeing a good movie:
World Premiere of
“Becoming Royston”
by Nicholas Chee, Singapore
an Originasian Pictures production
April 30th 2007, 18:00 PM, Forum NRW @ Museum Ludwig, Cologne – don't miss the screening, which is of course part of this year's Cineasia Filmfestival #6, where the film is also in competition for the first ever audience choice “Cineasia Award” (for further details check here)!
What more can I say? The World Premiere of an exciting independent debut feature from Singapore in Cologne, Germany, that's awesome – and pretty much what “ymagon” is all about, really (that's for those who have followed on this topic in here, and you can catch up on it all by having a look at the posts under that label, just in case...)!
(pic©Originasian Pictures LLP)
Well, that may seem like some wishful thinking if not an altogether naïve concept and futile undertaking to begin with. But for all you who feel like, probably, they share this same dream that there is some sense and meaning in any such juxtaposition of globalization (any profound understanding of it) with the workings of film (its inherent power to affect and, yes, educate) let me give you the following: you might either have a look at my previous posts under the label “ymagon”, please, or likewise try out any of these films and decide on the issue for yourselves:
So what do you think? Let me know by sending in comments or emails!
“When you tell the truth, people always understand you. If you cannot make them understand, you are not telling the truth. The road to understanding is not necessarily long.”
(Nakazawa Keiji)
On it goes – my account (spoiler!) of what, mostly, on the surface of things actually takes place in this, the fourth massive chapter of Pynchon's “Against The Day”, the respective summaries of which you can revisit here (pt.1), here (pt.2) and here (pt.3).
Cyprian Latewood is being recruited as an agent for Whitehall (the British) by Derrick Theign. When sent to Vienna on some assignment, he encounters his old Cambridge co-alumni Yashmeen, who, as always, is under some carefully under-defined threat from multiple powers having her under surveillance and hoping to either learn from her about her father's whereabouts, or to make some use of her rumored psychic gifts. Cyprian then returns to Venice to meet up with Theign and ask him to help in an effort to rescue Yash.
Next, Scarsdale Vibe and Foley, Kit and Reef in the company of Ruperta Chirpington-Groin, as well as Dally and Hunter Panhallow, all come flocking into Venice. Kit and Reef with the help and local knowledge of Dally, prepare for an assassination attempt on Vibe - but have to helplessly stand by as they are being outdone and deprived of that very opportunity, when Anarchist-Futurist painter Tancredi takes the shot first, fails his target and is gunned down mercilessly instead. Consequentially, the two Traverse brothers have to flee and part ways, with Kit off to Trieste and on to Inner Asia as originally intended, thus leaving one life's love, Dahlia, behind.
Kit finally arrives in Kashgar just south of the Taklamakan, where he meets Colonel Auberon Halfcourt, Yashmeen's British foster-father, who in this time of conspicuous scheming and looming disaster, and not knowing anything about Shambala to begin with, is only bent on getting out of there to re-establish some sort of ties with his desired step-daughter Yashmeen. Accordingly, Kit is sent on to journey farther East and to probe into the matter of some mysterious “Coming of the Other”, which rumor has it holds some promise of deliverance from whatever collapse appears to be upon the Western Powers engaged in this region.
In order to do so, Kit sets out on his mission by passing through the Prophet's Gate and on to some spiritual journey quite un-American. Out there in the soul-forsaken wilderness and monotony of taiga, he and his party witness the Tunguska Event of 1908, that giant meteorite explosion in Siberia, whose overwhelming destructive force shatters and obliterates all thinkable logic and interest that sent him here in the first place, so that struck by riddance, he finally sees himself somehow, with no more goal to pursue, no plan to follow, set free at last.
The respective crews of Inconvenience and Bolschai'a Igra meet at the site of the Tunguska Event, Ground Zero of these pivotal times, to discuss the strange occurrence from which point onwards all history appears to be fractionally, decisively stained forever: an announcement of what is to befall mankind, reverberating through the lives of each we've come to know and the many unnamed.
Uproar on all fronts as Cyprian is ordered to go to Bosnia in the midst of the Balkan crisis gathering momentum, and to leave Yashmeen behind in Trieste, frighteningly prone to the doubtful protection his allegiance with Whitehall may provide, while the Anglo-Russian entente and Habsburgian opposition thereto cast an equivocal light at best (not just) on Theign's loyalties. As we see Cyps journeying to Sarajevo, Yash is having an affair with Vlado, the contact he left her with.
Cyprian on his mission to Bosnia, allegedly to rescue some spy from revolving and backfiring powers, learns that it is in fact his instead he better tried his hand at rescuing; in doing which, and barely surviving a life-threateningly harsh winter hiding in the mountains, he unexpectedly comes to grasp, if not fully understand, the marvel of simply being alive.
Reef encounters Yashmeen in Venice and saves her; though he is not able to do the same for Vlado, who gets captured by Theign and whoever his party are at that time. Setting the balance straight for once, Vlado's people take their revenge on Theign by eliminating, by torturing him to death.
Carnisalve in Venice: Reef, Yashmeen and Cyprian in living out the real, the “secret life of masks”, opt for carnal deliverance, even forgiveness imaginable at least, if not attainable – and there is comfort enough. Their threesome of mutual bliss however proves, as it must, to be temporary in nature as it cannot persist where (real) love comes into play, attaching Cyprian to Reef and getting Yashmeen pregnant.
Dahlia Rideout accompanies Hunter Panhallow to London, where she takes up her former modeling and stand-in routine, before being signed on by Lew Basnight to spy on her mentor, Clive Crouchmas, the prolific arms dealer involved with many Powers, notably the Germans. As he leaves for Constantinople to arrange for transactions pertaining to the delicate task of some obscure Q-weapon's acquisition from Japanese sources, Dally goes along in pursuit of her assigned mission. En route to the Bosphorus however she finds herself fatefully reunited with Kit again at Szeged, where they instantly decide to go into hiding together and lavishly spend their days with each other, thus the better staying out of the way of Crouchmas, who by then, having found out that he had been spied on by her all this time, seeks her mischief.
We see Frank recovering in Casas Grandes from a bullet wound incurred in some anti-revolutionist skirmish in Mexico, and encountering brief episodes of bliss while in the assembled company of Stray, Ewball Oust, El Espinero and a girl named Wren, soul-searching, as it turns out, soul-saving for his own sake and uncertain good.
In Yz-les-Bains the party of Reef, Cyprian and Yashmeen join a camp of international Anarchists and learn about their intention to prevent the Renfrew/Werfner-born idea of a poison-gas pipeline across the Balkans from materalizing, to prevent in effect an all-out European war from happening and servicing nothing but Capitalist interest. Setting out for the Balkan Peninsula on such mission, where but in the most pastoral of villages, the so-called “Village of Roses”, should they find the heinous installation, Riemann's Interdikt, in this twilight of European history? Find it alright, but it turns out the weapon is quite different in nature than previously assumed, more to do with some massive, lethally toxic emission of light, a literal “phosgene” barrier directed, aimed against nobody could tell whom exactly. In all this, Yashmeen gives birth to a baby girl, names her Ljubica.
Inevitably, with Europe's suicidal hour approaching, the four of them find themselves deeply immersed in its many shadows, as the first consequence of which Cyprian recognizes his last chance of transfiguration and decides to stay behind in the Balkan Range as a novice in an Orphic monastery, while secondly, the remaining family-to-be tries to thread their own path of rescue through the raging melee of that war just begun. Eventually they reach safety from the world that is in Corfu, stay the winter and on into spring, where presently, and with the “Compassionate”, the Chums as well looking on, they meet up with Auberon Halfcourt and his fiancée Umeki Tsurigane.
Stray, making her way back up north again into Colorado together with Ewball Oust, finds Reef's and Frank's and Kit's mother Mayva on housekeeping duty in the Oust mansion, the good caretaker spirit of that orderly, civilized family haven.
In Mexico, Frank gets entangled in the ongoing ebb and flow of re-revolutionist battlefield fortunes, engineering railroad bomb raids and counter-attacks, before leaving it all behind to head down south instead and join Günther von Quassel as chief engineer at his coffee plantation. But with political scales eventually tipping the wrong side, Frank gets out of Mexico and up back to Colorado, where he meets up with Ewb and Stray and her son Jesse in the coal miners' city of Walsenburg at last, still in it for the little man's cause.
After sitting through winter in a strikers' tent camp, besieged by militia and all brands of gunmen, they are finally forced to take the last possible exit, virtually, during the terminal raid on the camp, and they separate, performing the by now customary routine of putting on civilian life's hardship on the one hand, while Frank on the other, probably equally desperate side of history unfolding, takes to the path of resistance once more.
Back with the Chums of Chance, the crew of Inconvenience, we join their ascend-descend to Antichthon's surface, the Other World that has become – and a battlefield it is, scarred by the Great War's deadly trenches. Counterfly's escape (and that of all the other boys as well, of course) is to catch up with the Bolshai'a Igra now flying under a new name and on a different mission, and to assign themselves to do cargo and personnel airlifts when and where they are needed to bring some temporary relief.
Next, after some opposing winds fatefully gave rise to the opportunity for all of the crew to team up with a bunch of girl Aetheronauts, imparting them with a state of balance if not completeness, they arrive in the US. There, in L.A., Hollywood alright, Chick runs into his father “Dick”, and is introduced by him to no other than old Merle Rideout and his comrade-in-applied-science, Roswell, thus getting to know their quite extraordinary optical device or projector, which allows them to redeem the photographic still of any given picture to as much of the potential full of its life as the frame can hold: engineering a nexus of light and time!
Staying in the business, this time in L.A., Lew Basnight gets hired to look into some unresolved murder case, to which he applies Merle's and Roswell's peculiar time-picturing machine so he can meet with one of the presumed victims – only to learn that by settling in into the kind of second generation Anarchist refuge Hollywood has become, she has also taken the liberty of letting the system be as it is, no re-negotiating proper fate as far as she is concerned, but a crashing exit instead.
While on the opposite end of reality's spectrum, the homicidal perpetrator, Deuce Kindred, who has been living alongside his wife Lake in a state of subdued, of hushed panic, but on parallel tracks, is finally brought to justice by the police.
And now I shall leave it it there for you to digest or comment on as you wish, as this has turned out rather lengthy, I admit; and no more meta-fabulation for the time being. I will come back to this later as I get ready for the final stage in this reading journey that so far has been worth every minute of it! Hope you come back here, too.
(pics©www.pynchonwiki.com)
A refresh: given the average attention span of people these days (including myself) I'd like to remind you of the Cineasia #6 once more, taking the opportunity to let you know that this year's program is now complete and you can get the full details hier/here.
See you all, I hope!
>> and as of now the timetable is online as well and ready for you to download here to take to wherever you think you'll need it, so get yourself organized!
(pic©cineasia-filmfestival.de)
“He was incapable of any personal future. His life an accretion of additional pasts.”
(Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire (2004))
Well, there are none due to semester break. But do check here again for next month's screenings!
(pic©hu-berlin.de)
This time “The Torch” takes on a DVD collection of some of the short films by established Singaporean director Royston Tan and in reviewing them tries to assess these works' aesthetic scope and cinematic import one by one. As such can never be an all-encompassing undertaking by nature, yet there still seems to be a point in sketching some rudimentary outlines of any future serious discussion of these shorts, doing groundwork. For the time being it is filling in some gaps on the map of critical evaluation of Tan's relevance to contemporary film making, which it is the declared aim of this column to initiate and further.
There appears to be a quite astonishing lack of any profound analysis or attempt at actual understanding, reading of these films as opposed to mere description and marvel, but it is beyond any doubt in here that these are indeed worth making precisely this effort. Try it out!
(pic©mo)
