(pb; 1985: prequel to Imperial Bedrooms)
From the inside flap:
"Set in affluent Los Angeles, it is a raw and powerful portrayal of a generation of young people who have experienced sex, drugs, and dissatisfaction at too early an age. Its narrator, Clay, comes home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation, following his first trimester at an Eastern college. Trying to make sense of the life left behind, he renews his ties to his old girlfriend, Blair; to Trent, a male model; to Rip, his dealer; and, most tragically, to Julian, Clay's best friend from high school, who has got into trouble with drugs. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the rich suburban homes, the relentless parties, the seedy bars, the glitzy rock clubs, and the seamy underworld of pornography and homosexual prostitution. . ."
Review:
Clay's stream-of-consciousness narration is a party-till-you-drop nightmare; his first-person present tense POV spans a month, seen through his melancholic, it-all-runs-together senses.
Clay, at eighteen, is at crossroads, like many of his friends -- whom he's felt distant from for years. He's directionless, caught between his deeply-embedded L.A. ennui/self-absorption and his emerging maturity, which has yet to reveal what direction or form it will take for him: between the glitzy boredom of soulless sexual encounters, constant drugs, rotting social bonds, and the blasé reactions of his friends (to daily, small scale horrors and tragedies around them), he's f**ked up.
Ellis's tightly-edited writing immediately immersed this reader into the shallow-life, frazzled mindset of his protagonist. Ellis sprinkles his narrative with shocking amorality and blink-and-you-miss-it cleverness, burying these smart-minded elements in a river of banality (usually conversations) and soundtracking it with an often provocative, takes-you-back Eighties soundtrack.
Check it out.
•
The film version was released stateside on November 6, 1987.
Andrew McCarthy played Clay. Jami Gertz played Blair. Robert Downey Jr. played Julian. James Spader played Rip.
Anthony Kiedis, lead vocalist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, played "Musician #3" -- he's billed as Cole Dammett. Flea and Jack Irons, Kiedis' bandmates, played "Musician #1" and "Musician #4".
An uncredited Brad Pitt played "Partygoer / Preppy Kid at Fight".
Marek Kanievska directed, from a script by Harley Peyton.
Showing posts with label James Spader. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Spader. Show all posts
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Bad Behavior, by Mary Gaitskill
(pb; 1988: story anthology)
OVERALL REVIEW:
Superb anthology of stories revolving around mostly-intinerant, city-dwelling personalities.
Even the two stories that didn't grab me ("Something Nice"; "An Affair, Edited") were decent, publishable; what separates them from the standout stories is that they aren't as focused as the others, and their subject matter/characters feel like redundant, secondary additions to the anthology.
One of the things I love about this anthology is how Gaitskill never get nihlistic with her edginess -- she certainly flirts with it, but compared to other writers who traffic in similiar subject matter and revel its nihlistic bent, her reserve adds a distinctive subliminity to Bad Behavior that would otherwise be lacking.
STANDOUT STORIES:
"Daisy's Valentine": A speed freak (Joey) dates Daisy, a co-worker and epileptic artist, while both of them live with their respective lovers. Sweet, edgy (as are many of the stories in this collecton).
"A Romantic Weekend": An ill-matched couple embark on a mutually-dissatisfactory weekend trip. Hopeful, ironic - laugh-out-loud, stellar end-line.
"Connection": Two contrasting women (Susan, Leisha) cycle through an intense, rollercoaster friendship, then split from each other.
Six years later, Susan wonders what happened to Leisha, and starts tracking her through old mutual friends and ex-lovers. Relatable (most of us have had friendships like this), masterfully shaped and paced.
"Trying To Be": Stephanie, an aspiring magazine writer and reluctant house prostitute, begins a sweet-natured affair with one of her johns (Bernard), while trying to network her way into a magazine-writing gig. Mature, warm, hopeful.
"Secretary": A young woman (Debby) discovers her BDSM bent via her lawyer boss. Tightly-written, focused, coming-into-oneself tale.
This was released stateside as a film on November 14, 2002.
Maggie Gyllenhaal played Lee Holloway (cinematic stand-in for Debby). James Spader played Mr. Grey. Jeremy Davies played Peter. Lesley Ann Warren played Joan Holloway. Oz Perkins played Jonathan. Amy Locane played Lee's Sister.
Steven Shainsberg directed the film, from a script by Erin Cressida Wilson.
"Other Factors": Constance Weymouth, an editor at a publishing company, is forced to re-examine her past friendship with a woman (Alice) who abandoned their relationship years before. Taut, relatable in its stay-or-fly social/interpersonal dynamics.
"Heaven": The ups and downs of a large family are seen through the eyes of Virginia - sister, wife, mother of four. Touching, honest, differentiated from the other stories in the collection (in that its characters are centered through blood). The end-line is sublime; it ties everything in the story together in a natural, resounding way.
OVERALL REVIEW:
Superb anthology of stories revolving around mostly-intinerant, city-dwelling personalities.
Even the two stories that didn't grab me ("Something Nice"; "An Affair, Edited") were decent, publishable; what separates them from the standout stories is that they aren't as focused as the others, and their subject matter/characters feel like redundant, secondary additions to the anthology.
One of the things I love about this anthology is how Gaitskill never get nihlistic with her edginess -- she certainly flirts with it, but compared to other writers who traffic in similiar subject matter and revel its nihlistic bent, her reserve adds a distinctive subliminity to Bad Behavior that would otherwise be lacking.
STANDOUT STORIES:
"Daisy's Valentine": A speed freak (Joey) dates Daisy, a co-worker and epileptic artist, while both of them live with their respective lovers. Sweet, edgy (as are many of the stories in this collecton).
"A Romantic Weekend": An ill-matched couple embark on a mutually-dissatisfactory weekend trip. Hopeful, ironic - laugh-out-loud, stellar end-line.
"Connection": Two contrasting women (Susan, Leisha) cycle through an intense, rollercoaster friendship, then split from each other.
Six years later, Susan wonders what happened to Leisha, and starts tracking her through old mutual friends and ex-lovers. Relatable (most of us have had friendships like this), masterfully shaped and paced.
"Trying To Be": Stephanie, an aspiring magazine writer and reluctant house prostitute, begins a sweet-natured affair with one of her johns (Bernard), while trying to network her way into a magazine-writing gig. Mature, warm, hopeful.
"Secretary": A young woman (Debby) discovers her BDSM bent via her lawyer boss. Tightly-written, focused, coming-into-oneself tale.
This was released stateside as a film on November 14, 2002.
Maggie Gyllenhaal played Lee Holloway (cinematic stand-in for Debby). James Spader played Mr. Grey. Jeremy Davies played Peter. Lesley Ann Warren played Joan Holloway. Oz Perkins played Jonathan. Amy Locane played Lee's Sister.
Steven Shainsberg directed the film, from a script by Erin Cressida Wilson.
"Other Factors": Constance Weymouth, an editor at a publishing company, is forced to re-examine her past friendship with a woman (Alice) who abandoned their relationship years before. Taut, relatable in its stay-or-fly social/interpersonal dynamics.
"Heaven": The ups and downs of a large family are seen through the eyes of Virginia - sister, wife, mother of four. Touching, honest, differentiated from the other stories in the collection (in that its characters are centered through blood). The end-line is sublime; it ties everything in the story together in a natural, resounding way.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Crash, by J.G. Ballard
(pb; 1973)
From the back cover:
"In this hallucinatory novel, the car provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughn, a 'T.V. scientist' turned 'nightmare angel of the highways,' experiments with erotic atrocities among auto crash victims, each more sinister than the last. James Ballard, his friend and fellow obsessive, tells the story of this twisted visionary as he careens rapidly toward his own demise in an intentionally orchestrated car crash with Elizabeth Taylor.
"An underground classic, Crash explores the disturbing potentialities of contemporary society's increasing dependency on technology as intermediary in human relations."
Review:
Crash is focused (even as it feverishly rambles), deliciously perverse, poetically single-minded and made me view fellow motorists in a fresh and alarming way. Because of this book, I no longer view roads and streets as mere thoroughfares. They are more than that: they are battlegrounds where our desires, psychological damage and metal meet -- or could meet, in the Ballard/Vaughn sense of the world.
I've read books written in this fervid, stream-of-consciousness vein before, but few writers have maintained that grim, brilliant edge the way Crash does.
Own, don't borrow, this.
The resulting film, released stateside on March 21, 1997, was directed by David Cronenberg.
James Spader played James Ballard. Holly Hunter played Helen Remington. Elias Koteas played Vaughn. Deborah Kara Unger played Catherine Ballard. Rosanna Arquette played Gabrielle.
Side note: Chuck Palahniuk's Rant explored a similar-yet-differentiated theme. If you like Crash, there's a good chance you'll like Rant.
From the back cover:
"In this hallucinatory novel, the car provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughn, a 'T.V. scientist' turned 'nightmare angel of the highways,' experiments with erotic atrocities among auto crash victims, each more sinister than the last. James Ballard, his friend and fellow obsessive, tells the story of this twisted visionary as he careens rapidly toward his own demise in an intentionally orchestrated car crash with Elizabeth Taylor.
"An underground classic, Crash explores the disturbing potentialities of contemporary society's increasing dependency on technology as intermediary in human relations."
Review:
Crash is focused (even as it feverishly rambles), deliciously perverse, poetically single-minded and made me view fellow motorists in a fresh and alarming way. Because of this book, I no longer view roads and streets as mere thoroughfares. They are more than that: they are battlegrounds where our desires, psychological damage and metal meet -- or could meet, in the Ballard/Vaughn sense of the world.
I've read books written in this fervid, stream-of-consciousness vein before, but few writers have maintained that grim, brilliant edge the way Crash does.
Own, don't borrow, this.
The resulting film, released stateside on March 21, 1997, was directed by David Cronenberg.
James Spader played James Ballard. Holly Hunter played Helen Remington. Elias Koteas played Vaughn. Deborah Kara Unger played Catherine Ballard. Rosanna Arquette played Gabrielle.
Side note: Chuck Palahniuk's Rant explored a similar-yet-differentiated theme. If you like Crash, there's a good chance you'll like Rant.
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