A Quick Word... On 'Submarine'

"It is Sunday morning.  I hear our dial-up modem playing bad jazz as my mother connects to the internet.  I am in the bathroom.  

I recently discovered that my mother has been typing the names of as-yet-uninvented mental conditions into Yahoo's search engine: 'delusion syndrome teenage', 'over-active imagination problem', 'holistic behavioural stabilisers'.

When you type 'delusion syndrome teenage' into Yahoo, the first page it offers you is to do with Cotard's Syndrome.  Cotard's Syndrome is a branch of autism where people believe they are dead.  The website features some choice quotes from victims of the disease.  For a while I was slipping these phrases into lulls in conversation at dinnertime when my mother asked about my day at school.

'My body has been replaced by a shell.'

'My internal organs are made of stone.'

'I have been dead for years.'"

This is the opening of the book I am reading at the moment - the phenomenally funny and interesting Submarine by Joe Dunhill.

I discovered the book because I had recently seen the film, which I wanted to get hold of purely because it was directed by Richard Ayoade, a famous British comedy actor who played Moss on The IT Crowd.  


In one week I watched Submarine three times.

I don't know what it is about this film.  For one it is spectacularly shot, it is funny, strange and unique.  More important though, is that I think it captures the side of adolescence that many people ignore - the experimental bizarreness of it, and the feeling of not knowing exactly what you're supposed to be doing, and trying to bluff your way through anyway.

I am loving the book, but the film still features some spectacular performances, and is my  favourite movie so far this year.  It is a film to watch and re-watch, full of subtlety and rapid-fire dialogue that deepens in meaning when it is revisited.  It is clever and incredibly touching, and I'm sure it will not be long before I return to it myself.

Watch Submarine. I really think you'll enjoy yourself.

Submarine is currently screening at the State Cinema in Hobart, and is out on DVD internationally.

A Quick Word... On James Kennedy's 'Order of Odd Fish'

Book Review:
The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy (2009)






I'm always on the look out for the next big thing. The independent bookshop where I work is unlikely to beat Kmart on price anytime in the next millennium, but what we can beat those pimply shelf stockers on is know-how. With that in mind, my mission recently has been to order in books from America that we might be able to beat the curve on, so that we can feed the world the classics of tomorrow before the conglomerates even open the boxes!

I came across James Kennedy's The Order of Odd Fish when I saw a link to a video which suggested that Mr. Kennedy would be able to prove that he deserved Neil Gaiman's Newbery Medal, and that the aformentioned medal should be forcibly removed from Gaiman and added to Kennedy's own private collection. The clip was eclectic, energetic, furious, and above all, pretty bloody funny. I knew from that moment that I wanted to see this book, so I had it shipped from the other side of the world for my perusal.

Odd Fish is aptly named. Featuring diverse and exciting characters of several different nationalities and species, the novel would be delightful to read aloud, and I intend to test that theory once the opportunity to steal some local children arises. Above all the deliciously inventive characters that cram every corner of the story though, Odd Fish has a delightful, almost classically British sense of humour, that makes every page a delight to read, so that I found myself chuckling softly under my breath at every turn, much to the annoyance of those who made the mistake of choosing to remain in the same room as me.

I won't deny that the book is imperfect, if anything it's almost too crammed with variety, so that I found myself getting lost and confused in parts, finding it hard to remember which of the many characters who appear and disappear is suddenly popping back up. The beginning also struck me as much more punchy than the ending, so that I was never as deeply satisfied in the second half as I was in the first. That said, it's a first novel, and above any faults it shows that Kennedy is a writer of superb creativity and absurdity, and some scenes - such as the one where the Belgian Prankster and Ken Kiang enjoy a tense and revealing dinner party - prove Kennedy's got the important part - talent - already down-pat, and his next book will be a must read.

I thought that strange and delightfully imaginative books like Alice In Wonderland and Hitchhikers Guide... couldn't be written any more without the authors of them being accused of taking various psychotropic cocktails. I am delighted to announce that novels stuffed with the wacky and hilarious are alive and well, and, if in no-one else, they live in James Kennedy.

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A Quick Word... On 'Where The Wild Things Are'

Movie Review:
Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
Dir. Spike Jonze

In 1963 Maurice Sendak wrote what began as a sleeper hit, and later became one of the most unprecendentedly popular children's books of all-time. His book, Where The Wild Things Are was a huge success, not least of all because it so simply captured the childhood dream of escape. It was also an incredibly loosely told story however, which led to some skepticism - if from no-one else then me - that a film version would ever work.

There have been several attempts to fashion a Wild Things movie. A screen test for a Disney animated version still exists, and seems to be the inspiration for the opening scene of this latest version. Finally, after years in development hell and a few more years than average in actual production, Where The Wild Things Are has finally reached release.

The script is co-written by Dave Eggers, responsible for the hugely popular A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius, and director Spike Jonze. Jonze has only two other films in his showcase: Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation. Both movies are incredible pieces of work, pushing all the norms of Hollywood aside, to create two of the most truly original pieces of cinema ever made. However, both those movies were written by the legendary Charlie Kaufman, and it remained to be seen whether Jonze could truly make a movie of originality on his own, or whether his work was hinged to Kaufman's scripts, which have had success with almost every director who's touched them.

The answer is a staggering 'YES'. From the moment Wild Things opens, it punches you square in the face with an astoundingly well crafted range of emotions and feelings, so that you find yourself lost in the whirlwind of Max's head. When he rages at his sister and her friends and vents his anger in her room, when he cowers as the wild things leer over him with their threats, when he can't make the inhabitatnts of his new world as happy as he wants to be able to, you're stuck with him for the whole journey, and it's impossible for anyone with a modicum of empathy inside them not to get caught up in it.

The wild things are wild. In our saccharin Disney-flick-dominated world, the large and cuddly are also always sweet underneath. In Wild Things the creatures are lovable but dark; tortured by their own insecurities. It has been speculated by reviewers that they represent members of Max's family, I see it as far more likely that they represent different sides of his personality, each one embodying a different element of the things that make up his 'wild' side: be they fear, anger, rejection, or a need to be alone. They are scary at times, but there is no doubt they are also wonderful, and you will fall in love with them just as Max does.

Aesthetically, it's the best film Jonze has made. The landscapes are breathtaking, every hair on the wild things moves in just the right way, and the subtle artistic references to the book are perfectly placed. Certain motifs are noticable running throughout the movie, even in the first viewing, but more will no doubt reveal themselves later.

Max Records gives a performance with skill years beyond his age, and James Gandolfini really shows his skills by playing such a different character to his iconic role in The Sopranos. The soundtrack is tunefully put together by Karen O' of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a choir of kids, yet occasionally rings with howls and yelps, perfect for capturing Max's headspace.

Where The Wild Things Are is best described as a fantasy about the real world. It captures the innocence and anger of youth, and also the need to escape. Anyone who is a child, or ever was one, will surely find something in Max that they can grip on to. Oddly, some of the most impacting scenes in the film are also the most simple - Max telling a story from under the table to his disheartened mother, or his return home at the end of the film. The wild things aren't redundant in this sense, but serve instead to show through much bigger means, the importance of the little things in Max's life.

Where The Wild Things isn't really a kids movie, though I see no reason why kids wouldn't enjoy it unless they are easily freaked. Instead, I see it as much more like Pan's Labyrinth, and arguably equal to it. It's a story about children, but more for adults - those who grew up with the book, rather than those who are yet to read it. And truly, so much effort has gone into adapting Sendak's work, the result trumps the original significantly. Those who have read and loved the original story will remain enthralled, those who haven't will no doubt still be entertained, and anyone with a heart may find that - like me - even as the cinema doors close, a small part of it will haunt them for hours afterwards, calling them back, to where the wild things are...