That is what people do

RICHARD: Take my hand.
Would you be angry...

CLARISSA: Would I be angry if you didn't show up at the party?

RICHARD: Would you be angry if I died?

CLARISSA: If you died?

RICHARD: Who is this party for?

CLARISSA: What do you mean who is it for? Why are you asking? What are you trying to say?

RICHARD: I am not trying to say anything. I'm saying I think I'm only staying alive to satisfy you.

CLARISSA: So that is it we do. That is what people do - they stay alive for each other.

[The Hours, novel by Michael Cunningham, screenplay by David Hare]

After the Fall

FADE IN: Sunday. We're coming back from a day at the seaside. I'm, like, 6 or 7 years old. I always thought that my parents were a bit different from other people's parents. For a kid that's usually a curse, but as I was growing up I realised it was also a blessing. Rather than your typical (horrid) Greek pop or children's music, one of our regular family drivetime sounds came from an obscure, avant-garde, art-house, flamboyant, gay German counter-tenor who staged performances in heavy make-up and bizarre costumes on the borderline of drag. His name was Klaus Nomi and he died in 1983 - one of the first victims of what came to be known as AIDS. His music combined opera, rock, and synthie electronica. While at the time he was known to very few people, mostly in Manhattan's art scene, he is said to have directly or indirectly influenced many cutting-edge artists and genres. If you closely listen to his work you can immediately see the influence it's had on people like Eurythmics, Tomcraft and 1980s electro / 2000s post-trance.

CUT TO: a few weeks ago, when I came across a selection of his songs online. 25 years after my original encounter with his music, it brought back many memories from almost a different planet.

I've selected the lyrics from two songs (the first one is also my favourite) which are particularly appropriate for the occasion:

Total eclipse
by Kristian Hoffman
performed by Klaus Nomi

Big shots,
Argue about what they've got,
Making the planet so hot,
Hot as a holocaust.

Blow up,
Everything's going to go up,
Even if you don't show up,
In your chemise Lacoste.

Total eclipse,
It's a total eclipse,
It's a total eclipse of the sun,

[World/We'll] come to this,
With the total eclipse,
Just a slip of your lips,
And you're done.

Fallout,
Nobody left to crawl out,
If someone calls we're all out,
Turning into French fries.

Last dance,
Let the entire cast dance,
Due to dismembered,
Last dance,
As we get atomized.

Total eclipse, it's a total eclipse,
It's a total eclipse of the sun,
[World/We'll] come to this,

Witch the total eclipse,
Just a slip of your lips,
And you're done.


After the fall
by Kristian Hoffman
perfomed by Klaus Nomi

So I told you'bout the total eclipse now,
But still it caught you unaware,
But I'm telling you, hold on, hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

And even those who went to church upon Sunday,
You thought you didn't even have a prayer,
But I'm telling you,
Hold on,
Hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born again,
After it all blows away.
After the fall, after the fall,
After the fall blows away.

We'll take a million years of civilization,
We're going to give it the electric chair,
But I'm telling you,
Hold on,
Hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

We'll see one hundred million lonely mutants,
They will be glowing in their dark despair,
But I'm telling you,
Hold on,
Hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born, born again,
After it all blows away.
After the fall, after the fall,
After it all blows away.

Well, the freak shall inherit the earth now,
No matter how well done or rare,
But I'm telling you,
Hold on,
Hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

We'll vent/breath our radioactive gases,
Into the radioactive air,
But I'm telling you,
Hold on,
Hold on,
Tomorrow will be there.

After the fall, we'll be born, born, born again,
After it all blows away.
After the fall, after the fall,
After it all blows away.
After the fall, after the fall,
After the fall, after the fall,
After the fall, After the fall...

These songs are dedicated to my dad who took a pretty big fall on Monday but is holding on.

FADE OUT.

Review: The Painted Veil

Attempting to assume / resume a level of normality, I watched John Curran's The Painted Veil, a 'costume drama' based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel.

+ The Painted Veil follows the Merchant Ivory tradition of costume dramas combining a classic English novel on repressed desires, hidden emotions and cultural conflicts with an amazing visual style. The film is beautifully shot by Stuart Dryburgh and designed by Peta Lawson. Ruth Myers' costumes (Emma, The Addams Family) and Alexandre Desplat's music (Girl with a Pearl Earring, Syriana, The Queen) [with a little help from Erik Satie] add great production values to the film. The opening titles sequence is great.

+ Performances are good. Dr Walter Fane, the male leading character, is on the verge of superficiality but Edward Norton manages to add depth, especially in the second half of the film. Naomi Watts is on the verge of repeating herself and showing a limited range of dramatic reactions but just about manages to save the day. Diana Rigg gives an enjoyable performance as the Mother Superior, while Toby Jones adds much more value to Waddington than the script allows for.

- That last issue is probably the film's weaker point. One gets the impression that, while the screenplay conveys the main conflict / journey at the heart of the narrative, it fails to capture the details and subtle changes or dynamics that probably exist in the book, which is where Ruth Prawer Jhabvala would have shined.

- Casting is bizarre and very Hollywood. The three main characters (Kitty and Walter Fane, Charlie Townsend) are English. None of the actors playing them is, which actually shows especially in the case of Liev Schreiber who was an unsuccessful choice.

- Supporting roles (such as the Townsends) are very sketchily presented, while the film lacks a wider socio-political context that would have enriched the narrative. One can clearly see the difference between The Painted Veil and Merchant Ivory's The White Countess, which was also set in 1930s Shanghai but contained a much richer tapestry of characters, relationships and social forces.

Still, the film takes off towards the end and gives us glimpses of what it could have been. Overall, this is an enjoyable (although by no means classic or unforgettable) period drama. Critics have been divided (for example see this). I found myself agreeing completely with Elizabeth Weitzman's review in the New York Daily News:

"The Painted Veil may begin too slowly, but it also ends too soon."

On Silence

If we think of a blog as a work of art - an ongoing web installation of a partial and virtual human psyche (as I do) - then what's written on it is equally important to what's not.

Periods of silence are equally poignant to periods of discourse. It's the same in music. My piano teacher used to say that pauses are of equal (if not more) importance to notes.

Phases of creative stalemate (or general stalemate for that matter) are no less indicative or telling than those of progress.

Phases of withdrawal, privateness, numbness and reflection are as vital as those of engagement, publicness, sensation and reaction.

On that note, I just realised I broke a pause to talk about it... Hmmm interesting...

Anyway, after Easter (London) and a better-than-expected PSA conference (Bath), and before an apprehension-filled visit back home (Athens) and return to work (Bournemouth) I'm literally in a trance, n., "Detachment from one's physical surroundings, as in contemplation or daydreaming".

So I choose silence.