Crimes, Killers and Fathers
Warning: This is long. Seriously.
It’s summer out here. Or at least, it’s supposed to be. In my city, known as the country’s summer capital, there’s an anomaly in the weather. They blame it on La Niña. It’s summer and some days the rain just pours. If there’s one thing I do not believe in, it’s weather forecasts.
I’m no longer sure what reputation I’ve acquired by my reading habits. You see, this lady from another office asked to borrow some books. In return, she’d also lend me some. So she asked for Dan Brown books and some James Patterson. The next day, I handed her all four Dan Browns and my two favorite and only (non-crime) Pattersons. She gives me - in a paper bag - ten books. All of them by this author Tess Gerritsen, whom I’ve never read.
I’m not really much of a fan of crime-serial killer fiction. But here are ten such books. Then I thought, ‘what the hell, I’ll give it a try.’ Now I wonder, won’t I have a case of forensic overdose after reading all ten? Not that I’d do it in succession but… I’ve started on one, called Vanish. So far I think it’s alright. I just can’t help but think, “I can watch this on any crime TV drama.” But I’m still willing to be surprised.
Segue.
A new drama season has begun, but let me just say something about the drama that hooked me this past season. Bara no nai Hanaya. I’ve watched the finale more than a couple of weeks ago and only thought to write about it now.
It’s a wonderful story, well-acted, with each episode having one vital twist or revelation. Katori Shingo was verrry good in his quiet portrayal of a man silently battling his demons, haunted by a murky past. The beautiful Takeuchi Yuko is also remarkable as the woman torn by her conflicting loyalties and growing love for the tormented florist.
But the centerpiece of the drama is father-daughter relationships, told in three perspectives. Mio (Takeuchi) has to save her father who abandoned her when she was young. The hospital director hopes to avenge the death of his daughter who fell in love with the wrong man. Then there’s Eiji (Shingo) who has found meaning in his life when his daughter Shizuku was born. I can cite another one, but to avoid spoilers, suffice it to say that a father recognizes that blood is not the be-all-end-all of fatherhood.
Caps:
How many Johnny's has she been paired with? KimuTaku, Nagase, Tsuyopon, Shingo....
I love the father-daughter dynamics on this show. It just speaks volumes.
Now I have to finish Ashita no Kita Yoshio. I’ve started watching the first three eps ages ago, but wasn’t able to continue.
I’ve seen two films of late. THE KITE RUNNER and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini is one of my favorite books ever. Here is a good story which is actually well-written at the same time. The film was not without controversies, as the filmmakers even had to smuggle the three Afghan child actors out of Afghanistan before the film was released, for fear of backlash. More than anything, this is a story of friendship and how the world and circumstances test it, and eventually shape the lives of the two.
I remember being shaken when I read the book. I felt raw anguish when the events unfolded before me in the pages, It was just…raw. One of the characters, Hassan, became a favorite character of mine, what with his purity in such a harsh backdrop. Fortunately, the film was faithful to the book, and the actors are genuine Afghans. The child Hassan literally jumped out of the pages of the book and on to the screen in the child actor’s portrayal. He’s just so…pure. They could’ve picked a better actor for the adult Amir, though. He could have done more.
Unfortunately, the story arc in the final ‘act’ of the book was taken out of the film. I was like, “WHY DID YOU TAKE THAT OUT? That was like the culmination of my emotional journey with the story!”
I guess it was an editing must; the film was already 2hours and 7minutes long. Adding the arc would’ve added to that length, and the theme (suicide) would’ve raised the rating, limiting viewership. Still, I’d have loved to see it and feel the wrenching pain yet again. (I could be an M, didn’t I tell you?)
The Coen Brothers made another masterpiece yet again with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I haven’t read the book it was adapted from, but from the Coen’s own lips they say most of what they’ve shown onscreen was from the book itself. I’d love to read it sometime.
The villain Anton Chigurh puts Hannibal Lecter to shame. Really. He’s menacing in each frame he’s in. The way he speaks, his incongruous hairstyle, his expressionless face and almost eloquent enunciation of his words, plus the way he walks around with a cattle implement that he uses to kill people left and right with. It’s hilarious, in a way, but still that vein of evil is there.
*shudder*
Normally in characterizations, I would look for motivations, like what drives him, what makes him tick. On this one, it was easy for me to accept him as this baddie-boogeyman that he is. I didn’t even care what made him this way; it was just engrossing to watch him go about his business. I don’t think madman would be the word to describe him; ‘psycho’ would probably not be enough. He’s in a league all his own. Javier Bardem won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this one. He deserves it tenfold.
And Josh Brolin? I almost did not recognize him as Llewellyn. He was very good as well.
An interesting tidbit in this film. There was no musical scoring. Except for one or two strains of music, no music score was used on this, which worked to give it that eerie feeling. This is not horror or suspense per se, but it could very well be. Masterful.
I wish they could come up with more movies like these. I loved Fargo, but with NO COUNTRY, I am now a confirmed Coen Brothers fan.
Now I close this painfully long (sorry!) post with Hassan’s promise, one of my favorite lines from a book.
Next on my film list: PS I Love You and a re-viewing of CALCIUM KID (before I rip and convert it to iPod format).