Film You May Have Missed (#3)

The Big Kahuna (1999)

 

Two older cynical salesmen and a younger guy from the Company’s research department wait in a hotel suite for the arrival of the Big Kahuna (Big Shot in English) whose potential orders might save their financial bacon.

A ‘talkie’ as opposed to a ‘movie’ and based on the play ‘Hospitality Suite’ by Ron Komora, it is a single-set (for 95% of the time) three-hander starring Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli who gossip, joke, argue, boast, bare their souls and act their little cotton socks off for 90 minutes. I loved it.

A gem but, as more than one IMDB reviewer has warned, not one for the Action junkies.

Fun fact: New Jersey born, Kevin Spacey decided to be an actor during a trip to London when he was 10.

Book You May Have Missed (#3)

The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. by George Steiner (1979)

This 126-page novella by French-born writer, linguist, critic, philosopher and teacher, George Steiner, was published in 1981 and was met with both great praise and severe criticism.

Not an Alternate History story but based on the premise that Adolph Hitler escaped from Berlin on the eve of the Russian takeover of the city, it tells of a group of Jewish Nazi-hunters who find an aging Hitler in the jungles of South America twenty-five years later and their attempt to get him back to civilization to stand trial for War crimes.

The controversy surrounding the book stems from Steiner giving voice to Hitler’s defence of Nazism and the Holocaust. Despite being Jewish himself, Steiner was accused of being anti-Semitic. In my opinion, a classic case of critics confusing the author’s opinions with those of his or her characters.

It is not an easy read but so well written that, if you are interested in the power of the spoken word, it’s worth the effort.

The cover shown above is from the 1981 Faber and Faber edition that I have and, oddly, shows no author’s name on the cover or spine.

Film You May Have Missed (#2)

Toto The Hero (originally Toto Le Hérôs) 1991

Thomas (and his alter-ego Toto the Hero) is played by three actors - Michel Bouquet as an old man, Jo De Backer as an adult and Thomas Godet as a child – in this wonderful film. Thomas believes that he was swapped with another baby (Alfred) during a fire in the maternity hospital where they were both born. The fire is shown but it is deliberately not made clear whether or not the babies were muddled up. Alfred grows up in a rich household and has a successful and happy life whereas Thomas has it pretty rough; losing both a young sister and his father before their time. To make things worse, when he meets and falls in love with a woman, she turns out to be Alfred’s wife.

This all sounds like the recipe for a miserable ninety minute’s film watching that you’ll never get back, but as written and directed by Jaco Van Dormael it is anything but. It skips back and forth between Thomas’ childhood, middle-age, old-age and the fantasy life of his imaginary self (Toto the Hero) with a dexterity that never confuses and always intrigues and/or delights.

Toto the Hero features one of catchiest tunes you’ll ever hear – ‘Boum’ by Charles Trenet – all together now Boum! L'astre du jour fait boum. Tout avec lui dit boum. Quand notre coeur fait boum-boum!

This is one of those films (‘Venus’, ‘About Schmidt’) that I have seen at the right time in my life (i.e. old) to really appreciate them.

Fun fact –
As of 2012, Michel Bouquet, who plays old man Thomas, has had a sixty-nine year career in film and television. He is still working at the age of 91.

Book You May Have Missed (#2)

Making History by Stephen Fry  (pub. 1997)

I have always been a sucker for Alternative History stories (‘The Difference Engine’, ‘11.22.63’, ‘Dominion’, ‘K is for Killing’ etc) and this third novel by the poly-talented Mr Fry is a corker. The genre depends on authors asking the “What if…?” question. “What if the North won the American Civil War?” “What if JFK hadn’t been assassinated?” ”What if Margaret Thatcher hadn’t been in league with the Devil?”

In ‘Making History’ the question is “What if Hitler had never been born?” – not original but intelligently handled. A warning, though, I almost gave up during the first couple of chapters. They didn’t make a lot of sense, although, in retrospect, my lack of knowledge about Hitler’s parents’ lives probably contributed a fair bit to this, then suddenly I turned a page and read a paragraph which made everything clear and I was off and avidly page-turning.

As Hitler/Nazism alternate realities go, this makes a lot more sense than the TV version of Philip K. Dick’s ‘The Man in the High Castle’.

I’d just like to throw in a recommendation for Ben Elton’s book ‘Time and Time Again’- my favourite time travel novel.