The bad seed

 

- The Bad Seed. William March. 

During a long summer while her husband is away, Christine Penmark finds herself puzzled by the behavior of daughter Rhoda. The eight year old is so clever, charming, smart —maybe a touch too much for her age. And then there is her innate capability to charm adults around her, though other children seem to dislike and fear her. And of course, all those strange incidents that sometimes happen around Rhoda, all those mysterious deaths… But it’s not until Christine starts a careful research that she discovers just how deeply evil runs in the family…

Classy psycho-thriller from 1954, the quintessential evil child story —this specific sub-genre was not invented by The Bad Seed, but it is the most classic, essential example of it. Rhoda in that sense is the grande dame of a venerable line of murderous tykes. But the novel is less interested in detailing her often shocking exploits as it is in the chilling, slowly unraveling obsession that consumes distraught Christine as the danger she and everybody around them is in becomes increasingly impossible to deny. 

A slow-paced novel peopled with convincingly realistic characters and spiced with the occasional lurid twist. Quite recommended. 

*

Nope.

 

- Nope. (2022. Dir. Jordan Peele). 

After a freak accident kills their father, siblings OJ and Em attempt to keep their family business afloat -the breeding of trained horses for films. Meanwhile, ambitious Jupe, a former child star who survived an horrific incident in the set of a Sitcom years ago, is running a profitable if highly tacky Western theme park. Jupe’s latest scheme involving the siblings' horses concerns the mother of all spectacles: Seemingly proof of extraterrestrial intelligence! But no revelation awaits these determined people —only more horror and a harsh lesson about just how cruel nature can be…

Peele’s latest film continues the social themes he examined in his previous “Get Out” and “Us”. Once again he uses what first appear to be familiar genre tropes (this time the notion of an alien invasion) but soon reveal themselves to be something quite different: A parable about the exploitation of tragedies and wild nature for cheap spectacle. Like them, it’s a movie that opens itself to several interpretations thanks to the myriad themes touched upon. There is our very obsession with seeing, with image. The desire to dominate nature, and the sometimes harrowing results it leads to. And of course, Peele’s constant themes of social and racial issues that derive in the way we frame the stories we tell. 

A movie that is both powerful shocker and subtle think piece, quite recommended. 

*

Batman: The world.

 

- Batman: The world. (Various) 

I’ve been reading several DC and Marvel anthologies this month —was planning to simply make a general overview of them at the end. This one, though, is curious enough to merit an individual blurb. 

“The world” is an anthology featuring 14 tales, each set in a different country and made by writers and artists from the country in question —herein the curiosity. Assorted cultures’ take on the iconic comic book superhero (sometimes guest-starring other famous DC characters). 

At worst this kind of international anthology but focused on a US property can feel somewhat like a tourist travel brochure —like a  continuation of Disney’s “Saludos, Amigos” and “The three caballeros” (I’ve ALSO been watching more media inspired by those two films. To be sure, there is something at once fascinating and puzzling about the very existence of the characters Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles —their actual impact on Latino culture, both good and bad, say). 

At best, these can serve as an invitation for readers to seek more of other cultures’ output, to expand one’s repertoire. 

Did this anthology accomplish the second? Or did people just plain saw a curiosity and moved on? That, to be honest, is up to each person. I’m more interested in what kind of stories this little experiment produced. 

So let’s go by nations: 

- An intro from the US that compares Gotham City to a wife. So-so start, but with lovely art. 

- Europe —the largest section, encompassing eight countries (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey, Poland). To different degrees they feel like their statement is “Well, THIS is what we have that you in America don’t have”. Which is not to say they are of bad quality. Some propose rather unique concepts —some are happy to just be “Batman visits X tourist town”. 

- Latin-America (Mexico and Brazil) —these are much more interested in social ills (unchecked, highly violent crime fueled by political corruption —and the way US intervention only serves to exacerbate those problems), with a certain spattering of… shall we call it ‘Magical Realism’ or just plain ‘Fantasy elements’?

- Asia (South Korea, China, Japan) —and these are much more interested in just plain having fun. Interestingly they feel almost like a response to all the previous stories: There’s social ills, discussions of technological use for criminology, and talks about censorship. But all take a rather tongue-in-cheek approach to it, peppered with a certain mix of humor and action. 

On the whole, a comic that can well serve as an introduction to… the world, as the title says. 

Not bad!

*

Movies (extra)

 

As of the end of July 2022, also saw: 

- The black phone.

- Elvis. 

- White house down. 

Not much to say; all are effective mainstream films. A supernatural thriller (based on a short story by Joe Hill), a musical biopic (by Baz Luhrmann, which tells you everything about if you’d like it or not) and a ‘patriotic’ thriller (by Roland Emmerich, which again tells you if you’d like it or not). 

It’s been one interesting month, highs and lows…

I suppose the one notable thing about these films is finding out that the director of the first Universal Soldier, the above mentioned Emmerich, is gay, which might well explain why that movie is one of my favorite let’s call it ‘guilty indulgence’ films —always did feel there was this, let’s call it gay eye to the way it was shot.