Hannibal by Thomas Harris

(pb; 1999: third novel in the Hannibal Lecter quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“You remember Hannibal Lecter: gentleman, genius, cannibal. Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he’s been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world. But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter’s sanctuary, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman, and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the final hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one willlive long enough to savor the reward.”

Review

Hannibal is part witty comedy, part travelogue and part bloody thriller. This third entry in the Hannibal Lecter quadrilogy ups the series’ humor and Grand Guignol elements, as well as Hannibal’s love of Florence, Italy─whose sensory-based glories get plenty of “air time” in this cinematic-descriptive horror work. I tired quickly of this latter element (I’m a barebones thriller reader), but I understand why Harris included these parts in the book: it is consistent with Hannibal’s sensibilities and the tone of the previous novels. I laughed quite a bit, especially during the dinner scene near the end of the book. An over-the-top work, this is worth reading, possibly worth owning if you are into the above, well-written elements.

Followed by a prequel, Hannibal Rising.

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The film version was released stateside on February 9, 2001. Ridley Scott directed the film, from a screenplay by David Mamet and Steve Zaillian.

Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore played Clarice Starling. Gary Oldman played Mason Verger. Ray Liotta played Paul Krendler. Giancarlo Giannini played Insp. Rinaldo Pazzi. 

Frankie Faison, billed as Frankie R. Faison, reprised his role of Barney from The Silence of the Lambs.

The Counselor by Cormac McCarthy

(pb; 2013: screenplay)

From the back cover

"In early 2012 it was announced that Cormac McCarthy had written his first original screenplay - news which provoked huge excitement, a swift deal and the appointment of Ridley Scott to direct. But this is no ordinary screenplay. This is a work of extraordinary imagination which draws on many of the themes of McCarthy's work as well as taking it to new dark places. It is also written with great descriptive passages counteracting the dialogue, so the reader is given the full experience of the McCarthy prose. It is the story of a lawyer, the Counselor, a man who is so seduced by the desire to get rich, to impress his fiancée Laura, that he becomes involved in a drug-smuggling venture that quickly takes him way out of his depth. His contacts in this are the mysterious and probably corrupt Reiner and the seductive Malkina, so exotic her pets of choice are two cheetahs. As the action crosses the Mexican border, things become darker, more violent and more sexually disturbing than the Counselor has ever imagined."


Review

McCarthy’s excellent and word-spare screenplay is not for those who like their reading optimistic and warm. Its characters are distinctly McCarthy-esque ─ often cynical and cruel ─  and their dialogue and actions are appropriately bleak, given the harsh, deadly realities that surround them. This is one of my favorite films of 2013, and reading this further confirmed my love of McCarthy’s stark writing and word-lean crime tales. This is one of the best pieces of writing I have read this year.

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The film, later retitled The Counsellor, was released stateside on October 25, 2013. Ridley Scott directed it.

Michael Fassbender played Counselor. Penelope Cruz played Laura. Cameron Diaz played Malkina. Javier Bardem played Reiner. Brad Pitt played Westray.

Rosie Perez played Ruth. Bruno Ganz played Diamond Dealer. Dean Norris played Buyer. Goran Visnjic played Banker. An uncredited John Leguizamo played Coverall Man Randy. Sam Spruell played Wireman.

All Those Moments, by Rutger Hauer with Patrick Quinlan

(hb; 2007: actor autobiography)


From the inside flap:

"He came to mainstream prominence as a machine more human than his creators in Blade Runner, terrified us as a hitchhiker bent on his own death and the death of anyone who got in his way in The Hitcher, and unforgettably portrayed a lonely king roaming the night as a wolf and pining for the love of a hawk during the day in Ladyhawke.

"Rutger Hauer has dazzled audiences for years with his creepy, inspiring, and villainous portrayals of everyone from a cold-blooded terrorist in Nighthawks to a blind martial arts master in Blind Fury, but his movie career was nothing compared to his real-life adventures of riding horses, sword fighting, and leaving home at fifteen to scrub decks on a freighter and explore the world.

"From poverty to working with a traveling theater troupe to his breakout European performance in Turkish Delight and working with legendary directors such as Paul Verhoeven (Robocop and Basic Instinct) and Ridley Scott (Alien and Gladiator), Hauer has collected All Those Moments here."


Review:

All Those Moments is a pleasant, breezy, thoughtful and relatively polite - compared to most autobiographies - book.  If you're looking for detailed film-by-film behind-the-scenes stories, you may be disappointed at how Hauer skirts over certain movies; if you're looking to read about his career highlights (Blade Runner, The Hitcher, Batman Begins) you'll probably enjoy this.  The book ends with selective "entries from [his] diaries," which are slightly more whimsical and off-the-cuff than the rest of this autobiography.  This is a good library or used copy read.