Non-Fiction - the humour in extra-marital affairs and books

Non-fiction is a French film which provides a perspective on the contemporary book publishing world with references to social media, blogs and ebooks. 

It also explores fidelity, creativity and fictionality. 

I love Juliette Binoche and she doesn't disappoint. Her husband in the film was also in La Belle Epoque, which I would recommend if you are looking for a quirky wonderful film.  

There is a solid cast of characters in Non-Fiction with some clever lines in the script. 

The future of the arts and good fiction remains an open one. This film adds to that conversation in a humourous story about extra marital affairs and how the modern relationship may be evolving. 

It feels aspirational in its depiction of life, love and careers. The subtlety of it, as with many foreign films, leaves you pondering what do we takeaway from it all? If you are interested in publishing a book or a career in that space, I would definitely recommend it. Look out for the Taylor Swift reference if you're a Swifty fan. 

Some of the scenes between the couples were laugh out loud funny. There are parts of the film which were slow and perhaps not suitable for my increasingly short attention span. However, it was an enjoyable little break from a tiring week in which my brain needed to slow down and focus on a work of fiction ironically called Non-fiction. 

Non-fiction is available on streaming sites.  

Dracula - a bloody good read

If there is one book to read before you die, it's Dracula. I was so gripped and mesmerised by the story about a vampire from Transylvania who moves to London. 

The timeless quality and effortlessness made it so easy to read and love. The details, plot twists and characters are incredible. 

The foreshadowing was done effectively. I was desperate to see and learn more about Dracula. The character was terrifying and intoxicating at the same time. 

If you're a history lover, it ticks boxes. This is like time travelling and complete escapism. It was better than any boxset and it is well worth investing your time. After a few chapters, you will be hooked. It is a drug and you want more. 

If there's one thing that was great about the pandemic, it was that I had the time to read this book and it is now firmly one of my favourites. 

It is free on project gutenberg for an online copy and most libraries should have a copy. Or head to your favourite book store if you like a real book. 

I watched the Keanu Reeves / Gary Oldman movie afterwards and I was beyond disappointed. The film is a highly sexualised interpretation of the book. It leaves out some of the best bits in the book and cannot substitite for the incredible experience of immersing yourself in the words and pages.  

Inspired writing and ideas

This autumn, there's four works that I want to write about - Dickens' David Copperfield, Channel 4's Humans series, NYT bestseller Hominus Deus and Tony Robbins video about becoming more disciplined. They were all inspirational and have many brilliant ideas.

Dickens wrote characters and stories which changed lives. He helped people but also entertained us. "Barkus is willing,"  was a laugh out loud moment in David Copperfield, my new favourite Dickens book. There is cruelty and kindness. There is sadness and hope. It is a marvellous world.

Humans on Channel 4 explores artificial intelligence, where we draw lines and how we deal with those that are different to us.

Hominus deus makes me wonder about the viewfinder that we see the world. It considers our progress over the centuries and the possibilities of the future. It casts new light on our beliefs and how we live.

Tony Robbins talks about rituals and standards. It shifts my focus. It inspires me to try to do things differently today.

These four different works have left an impression on me. 

They are a refreshing change from the repetitive negativity in news cycles, the feeling of being disconnected in an internet world and the autopilot habits created over the decades of adulthood.

Steve Jobs movie review - The Pros and Cons of Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin's story

 

The new Steve Jobs film is an interesting interpretation on the life of the Apple co-funder. But do we need another movie about Steve Jobs? Can this movie make us think a bit more about the world we live in and the issues we face?

Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle have not only examined a life, but sought to capture the technological developments and changes that we have witnessed. It does a better job than The Intern which looks at google. It is a pleasant change from many of the other biographies that Hollywood has produced in the last few years. The question is if this is a good movie or a bad one?

I had mixed feelings when I walked out of the cinema. It wasn't the best movie I had seen this year, it wasn't the worst. It did make me think about the world and perhaps that is all a good movie hopes to achieve.

Pros:

1. Acting - Michael Fassbender gave a solid performance as Steve Jobs. Kate Winslet was good and surprisingly unrecogniseable as the marketing executive Joanna Hoffman. Seth Rogan and Jeff Daniels were also well cast in their roles as co-founder and CEO of Apple, respectively. The family dimension of his daughter and former girlfriend was a nice touch to illustrate Jobs' personal drama and difficulty in managing his work with his emotions. Other reviews have focused on Jobs character and how unlikeable he was. It has been critiscised for its fictional writer's conceit and character assassination (eg. this review on Macworld). Personally, I like this Sorkin / Boyle / Fassbender portrayal. Afterall, we want to see it, warts and all. It is something a bit different. Of course I would feel differently if I knew Steve Jobs or worked at Apple. I'm just a movie goer and I saw it as an interpretation of a story.

 

2. Structure - The movie is centred around the lead up to three product launches. I like this device. It makes a nice change from the typical biography which goes from birth to death. These product launches frame the story so that we see how much marketing played to the Apple story. Apple is possibly the biggest example used by marketing courses. It doesn't just sell a device. It sells a lifestyle.

 

3. Story - The overarching theme I took was that Jobs never gave up. He failed but picked himself up. It recognises Steve Jobs achievements and contribution to music, providing computers to households so that we could have the functionality and convenience of technology today. He pushed the boundaries, dared to believe that he could make a difference, defied the norms, made the marketplace competitive, innovative and didn't conform to the niceties or etiquettes. Did it make him an unpleasant person? Perhaps. But then look at what he achieved.

 

Cons:

1. Setting - Almost all of the movie is set indoors around the product launches. Jobs moves from room to room to change the scene. It felt claustrophobic. The two scene which did provide a sense of space was when Jobs is with his daughter on the roof and also among the lights above the stage. As a viewer, I would have liked to feel more of the outside world, which I understand is tricky given that a product launch is in an auditorium and provides less scope for outdoor scenes.

2. Pace - The movie felt long and some scenes you wanted to scream hurry up! I am a fan of Sorkin but I am reminded of the West Wing when there were episodes when my mind would wander and this is not what you want in a script. Am I being too demanding as a viewer if I want to be immersed in a story and not thinking how much longer is this movie going to go on for?  The flashbacks worked well to break things up and added another dimension to the story. These were effective but could have been used more with the ex girlfriend and daughter to form a more complete story and add to the drama.

3. The Ending - The two words which come to mind are incomplete and dissatisfied. The third product launch was Jobs return to Apple which structurally makes sense. In today's world of apps and phones, it felt that there was more of the story to tell. I would have liked a flash forward or more about Jobs vision for the future. It was a bit of a flat ending, which needed to convey more of the triumph, arrogance and success. Danny Boyle's Slum Dog Millionaire left me feeling exhilarated and impressed with the view that he had given up something new and fresh. I wish I could say the same of the Steve Jobs biopic.

The Verdict:
Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin's new Steve Jobs movie was good but not brilliant. I had high hopes that this collaboration would produce something quite remarkable given their previous projects, but there is no wow factor here.

Gone Girl - strange and disturbing, but a refreshing change from Hollywood

Gone Girl starring Ben Affleck reminds me of American Psycho. It has a very dark humour and tries to tell us something about the world today that we try to ignore. Based on a novel, and I believe the ending to the movie has been changed from the book, we see characters who are more than just cardboard cut outs. What happens when a relationship breaks down? What happens when we crack from the pressure of our lives?

So we are left guessing what will happen next and the story takes some strange turns. For the most part the pace is right and the tension gets cranked up. The dialogue and script were pretty decent. The acting was solid. But what is this movie missing? It lacks subtlety.  I find troubling the criticism of the media, combined with the lack of responsibility we take as individuals for our own happiness and for the society that we create. The idea that we are trapped in our lives is perhaps a notion we can get sucked into and it is perpetuated by movies like this one.

I left the cinema and I didn't feel that this movie gave me anything fresh and new. It was a refreshing change from the predictable Hollywood drivel that continually fails to challenge us or present us with anything but formula. It has taken some small steps away from what we come to expect, but it really hasn't gone far enough. In this age of technology where we are amazed and spoilt for choice, I hope that Hollywood can see that they need to actually stop resting on their laurels and make the cinematic experience worth while.

Soseki's Kokoro - the Japanese literary master who captures humanity

Soseki is one of the most widely read authors in Japan capturing the country's culture and history. He is a master of simplicity and story. Each chapter is short, no more than two or three pages. However, this novel is one that will make you look deep inside the human heart, the gentle whisperings that were in your young mind once upon a time and question ideas about love, family and friendship.

Though set in the Meiji era, the story is timeless and beautiful. Soseki is truly one of the great gifts to our world. He is not just for readers in Japan, but for readers around the world. The restraint of his writing is powerful and the tension he creates through structure, story and foreshadowing is brilliant. I think of Murukami, one of Japan's contemporary popular writers and Ishiguro, a much loved English writer of Japanese origins. Both these writers are branches from the Soseki tree.

If you have ever loved and lost, you will fall in love again. The love you will discover will be for a man long dead, but Soseki's writing lives on.

Crash by JG Ballard - Can porn make good literature?

JG Ballard's Crash takes readers into the dark and crazy world of sex in cars. It is page upon page of pornographic content. The strange thing is that Ballard is described as a genius. Zadie Smith has written about him, and he is studied in universities.

Pornography and literature often aren't associated with one another, but the moral divide seems to be blurring. Authors can no longer shy away from sex scenes. In a modern society where sex is everywhere, explicit in the music that we play, the films we watch, the advertisements that we drive by, why should it not be in the books that we read?

However pornography is still taboo. Can a book such as Ballard's Crash, which goes from one page to another streaming obscene language and frequent references to genitalia, be celebrated and held up as a piece of good fiction which aspiring authors can learn from, be inspired by, spurn new novels that pay homage to?

Fifty Shades of Grey burst into the world of fiction. It became the Da Vinci Code of today. Fifty Shades of Grey is pornography disguised as romance. How else can you describe a book that explores and delves in depth into sadomasochism? Whilst no one would claim it is in the league of Austen or Dickens or Woolf, does it have a place in the history of popular literature?

Books reflect the culture and world that we live in, and with the increased growth in the internet and pornography, the content of literature cannot remain in the realm of tea and cake. So we are exposed to material that may offend us and make us shake our heads in disbelief. But is that simply not what history has shown us, that there are stories and views that are not widely supported but somehow survive because they stand out? DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover was shocking in its day. Baudelaire caused controversy. They have withstood the harshest of critics - that lovely lady we call Time.

Ballard's Crash is not a book I can say that I enjoyed, but it is one that does stay with you, and one that you can't help but puzzle over and discuss, and whether it will be studied a hundred years from now and be considered an example of great literature for this period, well I guess that will be judged by time and future generations.