告白 Confession

Title: 告白
Author: 湊かなえ Kanae Minato

I must say this is an intriguing book to read. It may be one of those talked about book in Japan but without the stellar movie, it would not have garner so much attention. And if not for the soundtrack, the movie would not have been as successful. At least, that's my own take on it.


A psychological thriller needs the tension of emotional strings to tug at our sense of involvement. And one cannot help but get involved with the various protagonists in the book and movie.


The film has been selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 93rd Oscars.

If you do not read the book, watch the movie. If you can - do both!

INCEPTION

Always love Christopher Nolan's movie - Momento, Insomnia, Dark Knight, Prestige and now Inception!

Nolan's movies are like mind-games and they never insult your intelligence. However, his latest offering is much easier to follow than say, the early Momento. Nolan has managed to make an intriguing movie with multi-levels of naunces that is riveting while still entertaining enough for the general cinema audience.

I myself, however, regret the choice of Leonardo Dicarpio as the lead. Having also watched Shutter island, Dicarpio's two roles have many similar shades - the altered reality, the somewhat deranged wife, the guilt-ridden husband, just to name a few.

Nevertheless, Inception is a must-watch.

Title: Whistling in the Dark
Author: Lesley Kagen
Publisher: NAL Trade

A debut novel on the loss of innocence, a coming-of-age tale about the O'Malley sisters set in the late 1959.

At times charming and delightful, this tale shows us how a child sees the world, the good, the bad and the ugly. The vulnerability of childhood's wisdom not quite yet corrupted by adults' views and opinions.

Kate Atkinson's Case Histories and One Good Turn

Title: Case Histories; One Good Turn
Author: Kate Atkinson

I have just discovered Kate Atkinson. So now I am on a mission to read ALL her books.

Yes, I know. It's obsessive and I am crazy.

The main protagonist may be Brodie Jackson. But its the thread linking all the other characters in each book that I enjoyed. And the lingering emotional sense of humor intermingling with sadness that I get to ponder over.

Shutter Island - Is it better to live like a monster, or die a good man?

Ominous score, the mysterious island and building sets, a long-suffering war-worn hero, suspiciously Nazi-like villains, the conspiratorial 50s, dark noir feel.

That last closing line - "Is it better to live like a monster, or die a good man?"

Its all a bit, but not quite perfect, Hitchcockian.

It is a good movie but I would not call it great. Somehow, somewhere, there is some sort of flaw.

Is it the interjection of nightmare sequences with the obviously fake blood? Is it the impossible rock-climbing athleticism of the protagonist, is the illogical expense undertaken to save one good man/monster? Is it the increasingly obvious conclusion we start arriving at mid-way through the movie?

Is it Leonardo? Or is it simple the thought that if someone else had played the main role, perhaps we would be faced with a more satisfy shattering end to the movie?

石持淺海's books for those who dare to dream...

Title: 月之扉,水迷宫
Author: 石持淺海
Publisher: 如何出版社

石持淺海's books are for dreamers. For people who dream of opening a gateway to another world - whether its through the moon or the ocean.

These are the first two books through which I entered his dream worlds. Peopled by those who hold a seemingly impossible yet realisable dream. I can visualise the novels being transformed into moving pictures that would touch the hearts of many.

Of the two books, 水迷宫 especially speaks to me. The single mindedness of realising a common shared dream so drove the protagonists that they would attempt anything to protect it and make it come true. I can respect that!

NINE

Marion Cotillard - what a performance!!! The only one I actually found worth the movie ticket price. That face, that voice.

Nine is based on Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical film 8½. Focusing on the main protagonist, film director Guido Contini's struggles with a midlife crisis affecting his creativity and caught in a web of romantic (more like lust to me....) entanglements.

Fellini's film was entitled 8½ in recognition of his previous works - 6 full-length films, 2 short films, and one film that he co-directed. The musical's title ""NINE" added another half-credit to Fellini's output and referred to Guido's age during his first hallucination sequence.

But as far as I am concerned - for all its past Tony glories, there is only 1 true award-worthy stellar performance. Never mind the hype surrounding Kat Hudson or any of the other ladies.

Its Marion Cotillard. I love her in La Vie En Rose. And I love her even more in NINE.

Chief Inspector Gamache

In the heart of a village, there is murder most foul.

But there are also all the things I love - beautiful poetry, inspiring art, wonderful food, interesting people and the great C.I. Gamache.

Louise Penny creates mystery full of atmospheric imagery. I feel myself being transported to that little village of Three Pines when I read her creations. I can feel magic in the air and love all her characters, especially G.I. Gamache.

I have followed him from Still Life to The Brutal Telling. I will continue to follow him wherever Penny may take him!

EINSTEIN’S LEGACY

“ The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe” – Albert Einstein

Title: Final Theory
Author: Mark Alpert
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Title: The Einstein Girl
Author: Philip Sington
Publisher: Harvill Secker


Einheitliche Feldtheorie. The Unified Field Theory. The Theory of Everything.

Two books written around the same time about the greatest minds of the 20th century. There’s the unparalleled universe of books where words collided and create all kinds of theory of everything to me. Including Einstein’s last legacy.

Now, I am no physics buff, and certainly no fan of mathematics. I can’t solve an equation or perform any scientific experiment without suffering deep anxiety. But the story of Einstein has always captured my imagination. The man who escaped Nazis persecution to the new world, the man who sought to understand the miracles of the universe and in so doing might have uncovered findings that could someday lead to its annihilation

Final Theory speculated on the premise that Einstein did in fact succeeded in his quest for the Unified Field Theory while The Einstein Girl drew us into the mystery of Lieserl, the daughter, he left behind. Both compelling legacies of Einstein.

Invictus!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

- William Earnest Henley

The Voynich Manucript

The mysterious Voynich manuscript. I have now read three novels speculating on what the mysterious unknown language and drawings in these papers actually meant.

Were they divinely inspired?

Yes, at least I believe the different literally premises behind each of these books were divinely inspired. Is the manuscript alluding to the Garden of Eden, does it offers the secrets of life? Is the writing contained within angelic?

Until the day some brilliant mind decode the Voynich, we will all have to content with fictional accounts. Just like one of the novels listed below, there is yet to be a satisfying conclusion to the mysteries.

Title: The Source
Author: Michael Cordy
Publisher: Bantam Press

Title: The Charlemagne Pursuit:
Author: Steve Berry
Publisher: Random House

Title: The Book of God and Physics - A Novel of the Voynich Mystery

Author: Enrique Joven

Publisher: William Morrow