The Great Gatsby: Great expectations

The Great Gatsby (2013), directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo diCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke

F Scott Fitzgerald wrote a great story in 1925. Since then there have been at least six film versions of the story, so it must be with great expectations that anyone who has seen the earlier versions will regale himself or herself with the latest remake. This is particularly so if you had seen the 1974 production directed by Jack Clayton and starring Robert Redford, Sam Waterston and Mia Farrow – “a film that even surpassed, I think, the novel by Scott Fitzgerald” (playwright Tennessee Williams in Memoirs) – and if you are a fan of Leonardo diCaprio.

The risk that any production committed to the spirit of the novel runs is engulfing the story in its setting, which becomes distracting. Yet without running that risk, it would have failed to capture the wanton grandeur of that jazz age marked by the lavish parties that had so inspired Scott. In fact it was this very lack of pomp that made one of the earlier productions that I had seen so forgettable.

Baz Luhrmann might have gone a little over the top in projecting the extreme of Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties, and with the updated music that made it an extravaganza quite out of its time when you wished a little more of the nostalgia of that age of decadence. There is an unmistakeable Moulin Rouge touch to it. But it is forgivable; better an excess of the frills than a lack of it.

Scott’s story is such a powerful work that any production that stays close to the book should be able to carry it through with some ease of sustaining the viewer’s interest. Yet it is how the actors bring to life the characters they play that differentiate the productions one from another.

In the definitive 1974 production, Redford’s Gatsby was cool and romantic, emanating the mystery that enshrouds the character; diCaprio’s portrayal is more hot-blooded and dramatic, much less of a mystery. Both Waterston and Edgerton gave strong performances as Tom Buchanan. Mia Farrow was the perfect Daisy Buchanan, naturally disliked for her callousness and vanity; Carey Mulligan did not exhibit as mean a streak but came across as being more pitiably trapped in circumstances – a veritable performance for a newcomer. In the end, it was Tobey Maguire as the narrator Nick Caraway in the latest version that gave the film its presence from beginning to end, unlike the way that the narrator generally tends to retreat into the background of the story.

I take my hat off to Portugal

WE were heading up the broad avenue, dragging our luggage, towards the Radisson Blu near the University of Lisbon when a strong guff of wind blew off my hat and landed it in the middle of the road. Aware of the vehicles at the junction waiting for the lights to change, my wife quickly stopped me from making a dash for the hat.

A young man noticed the situation and signalled to me that he would retrieve the hat for me. But the lights changing prevented him as I anticipated the hat being crushed by the vehicles. Lo and behold, the wind picked up and lifted the hat to the opposite kerbside. Then, as the traffic thinned out, the young man made a dash across the road and retrieved the hat, returning between straggling vehicles.

I said “obrigado” (“thank you”) and he responded “de nada” (“you’re welcome” or “think nothing of it”).

Now if you ask me if I liked Portugal, how could I not when that alone was reason enough to take my hat off to it?

Most travel guide books are apt to amplify the ugly side of human nature, though for the good reason to warn travellers about urban dangers such as theft and scams. In reality, in many places there are always people who are only too willing to lend a hand or show you the way should you feel lost. That has been my experience thus far, having travelled to many countries across the globe, and I shall continue to believe there are always angels walking the street that we are on, wherever we are.

Redefining gender words

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. Photo courtesy people.com

Celebrity singer/songwriter Elton John calls David Furnish his husband, and celebrity show host Ellen DeGeneres refers to actress Portia de Rossi as her wife. Both couples are legally married.

I recall the height of the wave of political correctness when I had to send out invitations to corporate clients in the name of “so-and-so and partner” (instead of Mr and Mrs) to save the embarrassment of a guest being accompanied by someone other than the spouse. The neutral “partner” did the job nicely as it should today with the complicated two husbands or two wives in a conjugal relationship.

With more countries joining the growing list of nations approving same-sex marriage – France being the latest, added to Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa and Sweden – redefining gender words or changing the implied meaning of certain words becomes inevitable. A marriage in those countries is not necessarily a commitment between a man and a woman, and this is where you may be caught off-guard assuming that a man who is married has a wife or that of a woman, she is living with a husband. One may have to qualify whether it is a traditional or same-sex marriage.

Elton John and David Furnish. Photo courtesy USmagazine.com

By extension, when same-sex couples begin parenting, a child may have two fathers or two mothers.

How then do you address such couples? This is where it becomes tricky. While it is easy enough to address both men as Misters, there is really no Mrs in a relationship of two women because that term derives from the tradition of a wife taking on a man’s last name. Therefore neither woman can claim to be a Mrs although theoretically as a wife she is entitled to the address. Perhaps they can both be the Mrs of the other person. Or they can continue to remain a Miss; after all, many traditionally married women – and not just Hollywood stars – today continue to retain this single address status. The unpronounceable Ms that was introduced not to betray a woman’s marital status may once again come in handy.

Pity the teacher who is teaching the proper use of pronouns when a man can marry a man and a woman, a woman. It is not going to be easy sitting on the fence, but I suppose you can always stand corrected by exceptions at least for now.

Go Cirque du Soleil without animals

Photo: YOUTUBE SCREENGRAB

Here’s one more reason for not visiting zoos or circuses where animals are used to amuse patrons. Two employees of a performance troupe that was staging a tiger show at a zoo in China were caught on camera abusing a tiger – slapping and shaking the head of the animal and jumping on its back.

Forget stories about zoo and circus performers loving the animals that they work with. They should, but obviously not those two men in question. One might even wonder if the lethargic tiger were not heavily drugged just so the men could find wicked pleasure in abusing it.

The saving grace is that the incident raised public consternation and condemnation, and the provincial government has demanded an apology from Wenling Zoo in Zhejiang.

The next step is to disallow the subjugation of animals to acts purely for the purpose of entertainment. Go Cirque de Soleil instead.

Romancing Rome

To Rome with Love (2012) directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen, Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz, Fabio Armiliato

Woody Allen’s collage of four stories in To Rome with Love could happen anywhere, but Rome exudes a certain aptness of place that makes it easier to forgive any raunchy or corny excesses.

Inevitably you recall Allen`s earlier and award-winning work – Midnight in Paris – and detect a similarity in style in as much as Midnight is about romancing Paris as this one is about romancing Rome. (See Midnight in Paris: Triple A for romance, Feb 8, 2012). But Rome would have failed if Allen were merely holding on to the Midnight dream, reluctant to let it go. Its saving grace is the underlying message of urban life in good old Woody Allen style.

Story #1: There is nothing new about an American girl accidentally meeting a handsome Italian man in Rome and then falling in love with him. The meeting of parents follows, and father of the bride (Jerry as played by Woody Allen), a retired music producer, convinced that the groom`s mortician father’s singing voice promises fame and fortune, decides to stage him. There is a problem though: Giancarlo (Fabio Armeliliato) could only perform in the shower. That provides the comedic platform. In the end, father of the groom decides to return to his mortician life.

Story #2: Neither is it unusual the story of an American student (Jack played by Jesses Eisenberg) studying in Rome falling in love with his roommate’s visiting girlfriend in spite of his commitment to the former. The interesting bit is not the story but Alec Baldwin’s role as John providing advice on the sideline, which makes it a little surreal. Is John real or merely a conscionable voice in Jack`s head? Or is John recanting the nostalgia of his own experience in similar circumstances thirty years ago – this time with the wisdom of having lived through it?

Story #3: The Italian vignettes are more interesting. Leopoldo (Roberto Begnini), a clerk living a mundane life, is suddenly thrust into celebrity dazzle without knowing why, constantly being pursued by the paparazzi. Good in the beginning, the loss of privacy soon becomes tiresome and Leopoldo wants his ordinary life back. Yet, he misses the fuss once it is gone.

Story #4: A newly-wed couple travels to Rome to meet the groom’s relatives when in a comedy of errors a prostitute played by Penelope Cruz becomes mistaken as the bride who in the meantime loses her way to the hairdresser but stumbles upon a movie shoot where she meets her film idol. The couple lose their virginity to different partners in a rite of passage sort of before they become reunited. A Roman lesson in love?

As in Midnight, Woody Allen has lined up a star-studded cast to carry the stories through – himself acting in a lead role. But it pales somewhat by comparison. In Midnight, you are awed by actors and characters, much more than the story; in Rome, the story (or its collection in this case) decides if the movie is worth the viewing.

Handwriting a fortune

Courtesy en.wikipedia.org

A manuscript of a poem – I’ve Been Wandering in the Greenwoods – by Charlotte Bronte was sold for £92,450, more than twice the amount anticipated, at an auction. Bronte, better known for her novel Jane Eyre wrote the poem in 1829 when she was 13 years old.

It makes one wonder if in today’s context when most works are produced electronically through use of the computer, would there be original manuscripts by famous writers that would fetch as high a value? Not, unless there is in it something truly personal of the author, such as perhaps his or her signature. 

It reflects the neutralizing effect of modern processes and the diminution of personality in the things we do. Writers do not write as they used to do – not that it is less painful or arduous today, and in many cases it may not even be a matter of choice. Publishing editors are blessed with not having to decipher difficult writing – not that those of yore had been more accommodating or even bothered with illegible works – and have set rules about the preferred presentation in terms of font type and size, margins, spacing and pagination. Works in the author’s handwriting will unlikely be considered.

There is certainly more reason to keep – as different from “save” in a computer software – a handwritten manuscript if not purely for the sentiments attached to it. There is so much of the “self’ that goes into the work – a writer’s DNA, the very attestation by graphologists that you can tell a lot about the writer from his or her handwriting. Certainly the feel is different when reading an exchange of letters between two persons of interest whether as e-mails or handwritten notes. Or have we become so functionally driven that the form matters not but only the content? Fortunately it is still the norm that letters of a very personal nature should always be handwritten for their implicit warmth and sincerity, as when someone writes “I love you”. 

For obvious reasons, it is more likely that a poem may be handwritten than a longer piece of fictional work. Some writers may yet literally pen their thoughts on paper before completing the work on an electronic device. Who knows, those scraps and pieces may become the memorabilia of famous writers that collectors seek. So, do not throw them away!

My favorite animal at the zoo: a peacock roaming free

IT was more than a year ago when AFP highlighted the plight of the animals kept at the Surabaya Zoo in East Java, Indonesia. (See Indonesian zoo in a sorry state, one more reason to do away with zoos, Mar 14. 2012) There were emaciated tigers and pelicans packed so tightly that they could not even unfurl their wings. Apparently some 25 animals were dying every week, most of them prematurely.

Courtesy AFP

Last week, AFP posted a picture of an endangered Sumatran tiger at the same zoo, emaciated and on the brink of death. According to a zoo official, the animal has been suffering from a serious digestive order for the past five years due to a diet of tainted chicken. Chairman of Indonesia’s zoo association Tony Sumampau has recognized the dying tiger as “a hopeless case” and the zoo might put her down.

The question is whether we should have left her conditions to fester and take what might otherwise appear to be a natural course towards the inevitable end?

So yet again we are reminded of the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Indeed, if zoos are incapable of treating its animals humanely, it is better that they do not operate at all.

I have long stopped visiting zoos although some zoos are recognizably doing a great job where the handling of the animals is concerned, but I would rather not derive enjoyment from their captivity. That is why my favourite animal at the renowned Singapore Zoological Gardens which I had visited in my younger days was the peacock, which was allowed to roam free like the zoo visitors.

The animals at the Surabaya zoo certainly deserve better. If zoos are meant to be an educational project, as it is where many people have the only opportunity to come face-to-face with some of the creatures, then the lesson must also be how we should treat them and present them in the pink of health.

Ikea’s double whammy: Where is the trust?

FIRST, it was the meat balls, tainted with horsemeat when it should be a beef product. (See Losing faith in national systems over horsemeat, Feb 26, 2013). Now, elk (or moose as it is known in North America) lasagne, as the product has been found to contain pork. Although Ikea said the pork did not pose any health risk, it nonetheless withdrew 18,000 pieces of the product from sale in Europe – and rightly so – because it would not “tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications.”

When a reputable giant like Ikea failed to detect the compromise of its products, and when this happens in spite of stringent national regulations controlling food production, one begins to lose faith in the people and systems that we have trusted all along. Yet there is little we can do but to feel comforted that mistakes are being rectified. But, again and again?

That’s the marvel about consumers that marketers relish. People forget and forgive. When Ikea reintroduced beef balls at a discounted price in Singapore after the last scare, it raked in a record sale with consumers forming a line that stretched across an overhead passenger bridge!

Have you not also read reports about certain food fish being passed off as expensive ones such as cod and tuna in some countries, especially when sold prepared and ready to eat, in some countries? In fact, if you are meticulous enough to read food labels, it is not unusual to find some manufacturers – perhaps more a case of running foul of the law than an attempt to demonstrate honesty – admitting that their products are not completely or purely what they have been named and advertised as, for example, beef sausages may contain traces of chicken or pork..

You may then understand why some people continue to buy fresh from the raw meat shop, where they can tell if the meat is beef or pork. You want to be sure that if you are eating chicken, it is that particular species of bird and not something who knows what else. Some people tell me snakes taste just like chicken!

Obama apologizes for compliment: A case of political correctness

Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

US President Barack Obama complimented California attorney general Kamala Harris at a fund-raising event as “the best-looking attorney general in the country” and had to subsequently apologize for making that remark.

Yo, you may ask, why so?

Some people have read that remark as being sexist, distracting and inappropriate. 

White House press secretary Jay Carney said: “He (Obama) did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities.” Carney added that the president “fully recognizes the challenge women continue to face in the workplace and that they should not be judged based on appearance.”

Mind you, Mr Obama had preceded his “best-looking” compliment with praise for Ms Harris’ brilliance, dedication and toughness, saying: “She is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake.”

But in a world that places increasing emphases on political correctness, critics are quick to point out that by commenting on Ms Harris’ appearance, it might suggest that women go places on account of their looks rather than because of their capabilities.

Are we reading too much into what is not there?

Still, for the men, the next time you want to compliment a woman for her good looks in public, know where you are and your audience, whom you are talking about, and the context of the event. 

Ms Harris, whom Obama referred to as “a great friend”, happened to be a strong supporter of women’s rights. 

Heck, you may sigh with some relief that you were not the president of the USA!

Life of Pi: Martel wrote a great book, Lee produced a great film

Life of Pi (book) by Yann Martel, Knpf Canada, 2001
Life of Pi (film), 2012, directed by Ang Lee, starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Rafe Spall

Book cover

NOT every Man Booker prize winning book is readable, but certainly in the case of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi which won the prestigious award in 2002, it is one compelling read. No wonder the book has sold over 10 million copies.

And not every successful book is filmable. However, Ang Lee did an excellent job in making a believable film based on Martel’s novel, and deservedly won the Oscar (2013) for directing.

Who would have thought a tale about a boy and a tiger floating across a tumultuous ocean would make interesting reading or exciting viewing? Therein lies the challenge in the art of telling a great story and making a movie that does not bore.

The story seems deceptively simple but is layered with meaning beyond the physical aspects of the hero’s struggle to survive the storms and a ferocious tiger named Richard Parker with which he shared the boat. It is good that Lee stayed close to Martel’s tale such that those who had read the book first would not feel betrayed but awed instead by the immensity of his task.

Movie poster

The success of both book and film is must be where the interest of both reader and viewer does not end when the last line is read or when the credits roll. It keeps you wanting to talk about it, think it over, as you too are apt to ask as did the narrator, when at the end you are confronted with two versions of the tale. Which, indeed, is the real story? Or, as challenged by Pi of his reader or viewer, which do you prefer?

Is it not in the bigger scheme of things a journey of faith, both physically and mentally?