What’s Playing This Week (7/26/13)

A catch-up on what I’ve been relaxing with this week—music, film and book.

Onyx, by Felice Picano (2001).  I had difficulty getting into this book so I returned it to the library.  I’d read to about page 75 (out of about 360).  Set in New York in 1992, this book deals with Ray and his long-term partner Jesse, who is dying of AIDS.  Ray begins an affair with a married man, with the knowledge of Jesse.

What finally finished me was some of the descriptions, which I found overdone.  I hate to criticize a writer I respect.  You may enjoy this book, and so may I—at a later time

Nights in Aruba, by Andrew Holleran (1983).  I’ve really just begun this one, and may not finish it either.  I tell my friends that Holleran’s writing is “achingly beautiful.”  But I feel the description of sun-baked Aruba so viscerally, I may have to read this one in small servings.  Actually, it reminds me of my life growing up on American military bases overseas.  The main character is a young boy in Aruba with his parents in the 1950s (his father apparently works for an oil company).

Doble o Nada (1997). An excellent Argentine film based on a whimsy involving the great 1930s tango singer Carlos Gardel.  Originally released as Sus Ojos Se Cerraron y El Mundo Sigue Andando. Also released in English as Tangos Are For Two.  Netflix only had Doble o Nada.  I thought it was great.  But you have to like tango music and singing.  The voice of Gardel (and his look-alike) was provided by the Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas (not to be confused with the model/actor of the same name).

Easy Virtue (2008). Adaptation of a play by Noel Coward (an earlier adaptation was a silent film by Alfred Hitchcock).  I liked this too, though it seemed somehow a little bit “off.”  Jessica Biel as the American wife of Ben Barnes in 1929 England.  Colin Firth as the father.  The ending may surprise…

Blood Simple (1984).  Yes, it takes me awhile to get around to seeing movies!  I thought this was very “atmospheric.”  Otherwise….I kept looking for motivations…and common sense.  The Coen Brothers “homage” to Film Noir.  I did enjoy this film…sorta.  It reminded me a bit of The Big Sleep, with Humphrey Bogart.  That plot was so convoluted that even the original author, Raymond Chandler, denied knowing who killed the chauffeur.