Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 254

Victoria: Buckle Up

I saw Victoria on Netflix last night, based on a recommendation by New York Times photographer Emon Hassan, conveyed by my wife.  Emon said see it "now"! He was right.  This movie, reminiscent in some ways of Scorsese's After Hours and any number of amateur-heist movies, but with a story and frenetic pace all its own, was non-stop draining and breathtaking.

Non-stop is probably the key word here.  Victoria was motion-photographed in one uninterrupted flowing and jangling point of view, in a way that keeps your feet and eyes to the fire as much as the riveting story.  That story is about Victoria, who runs into some guys in bar in Berlin, and winds up as the driver in a life-and-death big robbery.

The very language in this movie is part of its charm - most of the Germans speak German, but since Victoria is Spanish, from Madrid, she speaks mostly English, which the main German guy speaks pretty well, too.   The linguistic mix underscores one of the main messages of the movie, which is that none of the characters understand the others all that well, certainly not Victoria and her German friends.

But that doesn't get in way of real emotion, either, as Victoria indicates when she tells Sonne that she thinks she's falling in love with him.   Budding love, however, has a hard time of it in this story, as Victoria moves from beautifully playing the piano for Sonne to helping him and his buddies with the robbery.

The acting is good and the plot is well constructed.  I was guessing until the very end.  I recommend you see this movie maybe with a glass of wine in hand - the caffein in coffee or tea may be too much for you as you get caught up in the 2 hours and 18 minute ride on the screen. Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring

Outlander 2.6 showed the cutting truth of the saying "the best laid plans" ... though, with time travel not only in the bargain but the fundamental fabric of the story, you never quite know.

Here's what happened:  After the all the sincere promises and commitments, Jamie in a duel either kills Black Jack or renders him incapable of siring children.  But we know, based, on what we saw at the beginning of this season, that Black Jack's descendant Frank is still very much alive in the 1940s. How could that be?   Here are some possible explanations:

1.  Frank in fact now doesn't exist in the future.   But if we have a single time-line universe, that would mean that Claire should have just popped out of existence in 1700s France, since she never would have been there in the first place had she not married Frank in the 1940s.   Or, we could have a multiple time-line universe, in which Claire from universe-1 traveled back in time, and set in motion the whole series of events we've seen in these first two seasons, culminating with Black Jack not impregnating anyone, leading to a universe 2 with no Frank and therefore no Claire in the past.   This is metaphysically possible, but so far, it looks as if Outlander subscribes to the single time-line universe. So let's look at other possibilities.

2. Black Jack already impregnated Mary, unbeknownst to everyone including the audience, because it happened off-camera.  This is not likely, given what we've seen of Mary.  If it happened, Mary would have had to been drugged, and unaware or with no memory of this rape.  Still unlikely, though with redcoats popping out of closets with no warning, you never know.

3. Frank in fact is a descendant of Mary's relations not with Black Jack but his younger brother Alex. We've already seen that she likes him.   This would mean that Frank's genealogy got it a little wrong - either by accident or because someone - maybe Claire later on? - deliberately changed it for some reason  to show Jack not Alex as the ancestor.   Or, maybe Jack survived the sword thrust, marries Mary, but can't have children, and Mary sleeps with Alex, and they conceive Frank's ancestor.   That would account for Frank's genealogy.

That last configuration strikes me as the most likely.  But knowing Outlander, it will likely come up with a twist I haven't thought of, which is what makes it so much fun (and, again, I haven't read the novels).

See also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

 
Sierra Waters series, #1, time travel

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Marseille on Netflix: Enjoyable and Relevant

I just finished binge-watching Marseille, all eight episodes released this month in this made-for-Netflix French TV series with English subtitles, and I liked it a lot.  I mean, it's a little over the top with key points in the plot hinging of suddenly revealed family relationships, but the grit and dialogue and relevance to politics today, and probably yesterday as well, more than compensate.

The series was savaged by French critics, at least according to Wikipedia, check it out if you're interested, but c'est dommage,  I couldn't care less what French critics or for that matter critics of any nationality think about a television series or a movie.  Ok, I do think André Bazin's Qu'est-ce que le cinéma is a masterpiece, and I often quote it, but he wrote that a long time ago, and though he was a film critic, the book presents a theory of how film works, what it does and is, and is not a critique of any particular movie.  Regarding those, I find they more often then not miss the mark.

But back to Marseille, it doesn't, and in fact presents what I suspect is a pretty accurate portrayal of the democratic process at work in any city in today's free world, that is, the part of the world that is free, in other words, in which elections count.   But those elections are so subject to such noxious manipulation and deceit on all levels that you can see why Churchill quoted some unknown source to the effect that "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all others," and the venerable Socrates hated it outright.   Well, Marseille does a riveting, colorful job of exposing just why that is so.

Now, I'm about to start pointing out the special relevance of Marseille to what's going on in the United States today, and I know what you're thinking, and you would be right: Donald Trump represents the worst of the democratic process writ large.   E. M. Forster, another critic of democracy who thought there was no form of government that was better, expressed his views in Two Cheers for Democracy (published in 1951 but composed of material written earlier) - and had he known of Trump, he likely would have entitled his book One Cheer.

Fortunately, Trump has not yet won, and doesn't even formally have the nomination, so Marseille can be appreciated at least at this point as fiction with no quite analog in the real world, joining Boss and of course House of Cards as searing political drama, with lots of sex, crime, local flavor, and good acting - especially by Gérard Depardieu as the Mayor, Benoît Magimel as his deputy, and Stéphane Caillard as his daughter - as well as edge-of-your-seat vote counting.  So, see it and enjoy.

And if you're interested in the connection of Socrates to Trump, check out this little essay, Socrates, Time Travel, and Donald Trump, published just a few days ago.

 

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Trump and The Day After

I mentioned this in my review of The Americans 2.9, aired last night, which featured the major characters watching The Day After, the post-nuclear bomb movie first watched by more than 100 million television viewers back in 1983.   One of the Soviet spies in The Americans, Elizabeth, mentions that the U.S. was the only country to have dropped the atom bomb (back in 1945).   I thought, as I saw this on TV last night, that it's a hopeful thing that no nation has used nuclear weapons since 1983, either.

And then I thought of Donald Trump.  And I realized that when you strip away all the bombast and racism and personal attacks, you have a man with a temper and access to the nuclear trigger were he to become President.

It's not his complete lack of governing experience per se that's the cause for concern.  Eisenhower had zero political experience, but commanded the Allied Army that beat the Nazis in World War II.   He, in other words, had massive experience with weapons.  And though Ronald Reagan spent a lot his life as an actor, he was Governor of California, a populous and diverse state, before he was elected President.

Trump has none of that.   In response to one of the terrorist attacks last year, he's already said he would "bomb the shit" out of ISIS.   Can we be confident that he would not use nuclear weapons as part of that attack?  And provoke some sort of counter nuclear attack as well as contaminating the affected area with radiation for decades?

His temper is unfortunately very obvious.   To even the mildest of criticisms, he lashes out with insults.   And while it's true that words are not physical weapons, can anyone want a person with his temperament in the White House?

We need someone with a maximum of foreign policy experience, which is one reason I support Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.  But whoever the Democratic nominee is, we - everyone with a modicum of sanity - need to do all in our electoral power to make sure Donald Trump never gets near a nuclear weapon.

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The Day After The Americans 4.9

A good, even gripping episode of The Americans 4.9 on FX last night, which featured all of our major characters, including the Soviets in Washington, DC, watching The Day After, the movie on ABC which attracted more than 100 millions viewers when it was first broadcast in 1983, still a record for a TV-movie viewing audience.

It was one of the more brilliant strokes in the deft mix of real then-current events, usually via news reports, into The Americans narrative.   It allowed Elizabeth to tell Paige that stopping a nuclear war was what Elizabeth and Philip have been trying to accomplish with their work, and that the only atom bombs thus far used in a war were the ones dropped by the Americans at the end of World War II against Japan.   It's a sobering and important point - and it's good to know that here in 2016 we have managed to not yet do that again.   Another reason to vote for Hillary not Trump in our Presidential election, but I digress.

The other good part of this episode was Elizabeth faking sleeping with the husband of her Korean mark Hee.   She drugs him, comes on to him a little before he passes out, then undresses him, and sees to every detail to make him think he slept with her when he awakes, including putting a little cream on his ... when he's out cold.   You've got to, ah, hand it to Elizabeth, she's a master of making her deceptions real.

And speaking of deceptions, the disguises for Elizabeth and Philip were superb in the episode, so good in fact that William compliments Philip on his, saying it's his best one yet.   William is right. Indeed, this is easily the best disguise Philip has had on all season, and one of the best of the series.

The Pastor story is still simmering, and it will be fun to see what happens with this next week.

See also The Americans 4.4: Life and Death ... The Americans 4.6: Martha, Martha, Martha ... The Americans 4.9: Whither Martha?
And see also The Americans 3.1: Caring for People We Shouldn't ... The Americans 3.3: End Justified the Means ...  The Americans 3.4: Baptism vs. Communism ... The Americans 3.6: "Jesus Came Through for Me Tonight" ...The Americans 3.7: Martha. My Dear ... The Americans 3.8: Martha, Part 2 ... The Americans 3.10: The Truth ... The Americans 3.12: The Unwigging ... The Americans Season 3 Finale: Turning a Paige
And see also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children ... The Americans 2.3: Family vs. Mission ... The Americans 2.7: Embryonic Internet and Lie Detection ... The Americans 2.9: Gimme that Old Time Religion ...The American 2.12: Espionage in Motion ... The Americans Season 2 Finale: Second Generation

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception

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12 Monkeys 2.4: Saving Time

A stunningly good 12 Monkeys 12.4 tonight, that touched all kinds of bases, and closed and opened all sorts of loops, just as a superior time-travel story should.

The action began with a bang, as Ramse, sent back in time to stop Cole and Cassandra from becoming untethered in time as we saw last week, gets hit in the road by a car just as he materializes in 1944.  This not only sets up the plausibly ensuing drama, but was satisfying if traumatic to see in itself in a time-travel tale.  I mean, there's no way that sooner or later that wouldn't happen to travelers who just materialize in the past out of thin air, in contrast to those who use a time machine that travels with them, as per FBI agent Gale's invocation of H. G. Wells, or, for that matter, in The Plot to Save Socrates by a much younger writer.

But Ramse being hit by the car is just the start of this outstanding episode, which also brings a paradoxically circular explanation for the emergence of the Pallid Man at the end, and Gale doing his bit to grease the wheels of time travel ala Cole and Cassandra to save the world.

Though, actually, in some ways the biggest reveal is that it's not the world that is the object of our heroes' saving in this story.  No, this is no save the cheerleader, save the world as in Heroes,  not even change the past to get the desired future as in Outlander, either.  This televised 12 Monkeys series, which now has exceeded and palpably transformed the 12 Monkeys movie, turns out to be about changing the past to save ... time itself.

That's a pretty daring proposition, and one not expected in a time-travel story, where the usual calamity to be prevented is anything from the end of a particularly important person to, as in the 12 Monkeys movie and the television series up until now, the world.

And if the end of the world seems almost a bit trivial compared to the end of time, that's because it is. The series now has some pretty steep philosophic terrain ahead.   But if the further revelation tonight that Jim Morrison was a primary, with psychedelics in the tradition of Timothy Leary having some insight into this, I'd say this series is on a pretty provocative and enjoyable track.

See also 12 Monkeys 2.1: Whatever Will Be, Will Be ... 12 Monkeys 2.2: The Serum ... 12 Monkeys 2.3: Primaries and Paradoxes

And see also this Italian review, w/reference to Hawking and my story, "The Chronology Protection Case"

And see also 12 Monkeys series on SyFy: Paradox Prominent and Excellent ...12 Monkeys 1.2: Your Future, His Past ... 12 Monkeys 1.3:  Paradoxes, Lies, and Near Intersections ... 12 Monkeys 1.4: "Uneasy Math" ... 12 Monkeys 1.5: The Heart of the Matter ... 12 Monkeys 1.6: Can I Get a Witness? ... 12 Monkeys 1.7: Snowden, the Virus, and the Irresistible ... 12 Monkeys 1.8: Intelligent Vaccine vs. Time Travel ... 12 Monkeys 1.9: Shelley, Keats, and Time Travel ... 12 Monkey 1.10: The Last Jump ... 12 Monkeys 1.11: What-Ifs ... 12 Monkeys 1.2: The Plunge ... 12 Monkeys Season 1 Finale: "Time Travel to Create Time Travel"

podcast review of Predestination and 12 Monkeys



 three time travel novels: the Sierra Waters trilogy



What if the Soviet Union survived into the 21st century,
and Eddie and the Cruisers were a real band?


The Chronology Protection Case movie 

~~~ +++ ~~~

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The Good Wife True Goodbye

The Good Wife concluded last night, and I was totally satisfied with the ending, ambiguous though it was.

But look, ambiguity is a part of life, and one of the real strengths of The Good Wife was always that it was so true to life.   And the ending was true to what we saw over the years of Alicia's life, in particular.

Of course she would choose to save her husband Peter over loyalty to Diane's love life, ok, marriage. Diane, although she has many worthy qualities, always did what was best for Diane, ahead of the law firm and individual people in that firm, anyway.  She was a feminist only insofar as it coincided with her personal goals.   Nothing wrong with that - but no reason that Alicia should have been bound by that, either.

Alicia always was entitled to pursue what was best for her own life, and, in this case, that was Peter not going to prison.  For if he had, she indeed would not have been able to break totally free of him, and be with Jason.

Further, it makes sense that Will was and will always will be the truest love of her life - not least because he can no longer do anything to tarnish that love.   He played a perfect role in this finale, including Alicia being able to tell him she will always love him.

As for Jason - and for viewers who wanted a more definitive ending - well, no one told him to leave town or whatever like that, in the end.  He's not an easy lover, and it makes sense that Alicia will have to go through some effort to get him back, if that on balance is what she really wants.

As for the series, it ends being among the very best ever to have been on television, and I'm glad to have seen every minute of it.

See also The Good Wife 7.1: Shake-Up ... The Good Wife 7.6: Hillary, Trump, and Alicia ... The Good Wife 7.10: Selfish Eli ... The Good Wife 7.19: Elusive Happy Endings

And see also The Good Wife 6.4: Run-up to Running ... The Good Wife 6.10: Cary's Fate ... The Good Wife 6.11: Kalinda for Cary

See also I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

And The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial ... The Good Wife 5.11: Bowling Bowls and Bogdanovich ... The Good Wife 5.13: NSA on Television ... The Good Wife: 5.15: Stunner! ... The Good Wife 5.19: Tying Up Loose Ends ... The Good Wife Season 5 Finale: Musical Chairs

And see also The Good Wife 4.1 Meets Occupy Wall Street ...  The Good Wife 4.2: Reunited ... The Good Wife 4.3: "Template-Based Link Analysis Algorithm" ... The Good Wife 4.5 Meets The Sopranos ... The Good Wife 4.20: Anonymous ... The Good Wife Season 4 Finale: Good Twist!
And see also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter v. Will ...  Dexter's Sister on The Good Wife 3.10  ... The Good Wife 3.12: Two Suits  ... The Good Wife 3.13 Meets Murder on the Orient Express ... The Good Wife 3.15: Will and Baseball

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 
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Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox

A strong Outlander 2.5 tonight, in which Claire prevails upon Jamie not to kill Jack, since that would wipe the innocent Frank out of being.

Fair enough, as is Jamie's reticence to do this, seeing as how Jack made Jamie his "whore" last season, with the result that Jamie came close to taking his own life.  And it's also believable that Jamie is man who honors his debts, which Claire calls in when she reminds him that she saved his life twice, but--

Wasn't there something else that Claire could have offered in this tense conversation?  If Frank hadn't existed, then there's no reason to think Claire would have been in Scotland at the time and place which began her journey through time to the past in the first place.   In other words, by not killing Jack until he's sired Frank's ancestor, Jamie is saving not just Frank but the very future that brought Claire and Jamie together in the first place.

If Jamie didn't believe Claire had really travelled back in time, that would be one thing.  But nothing we've seen recently suggests that, and, in fact, to the contrary, Jamie seems to believe 100% that Claire is really from the future as she says.   So why, then, did Claire not offer the much deeper logic and reason for not killing Jack now - to save not just Frank but everything Claire and Jamie have shared?

As I've mentioned several times, I haven't read any of the Outlander novels.   Perhaps this important moment is dealt with differently in the novels.  But it's unfortunate to see Claire, who day and night considers the paradoxical qualities of her journey back in history, not raise the ultimate paradox on the table for her and Jamie tonight.

See also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

 
Sierra Waters series, #1, time travel

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The Americans 4.8: Whither Martha?

Well, in The Americans 4.8 the longstanding Martha story, recently brought to a pretty good boil, was brought to apparent conclusion, with - a fizzle. As far as we know, she's safely on her way to Moscow by way of Cuba, and Philip and Elizabeth are proceeding with business as usual.

At least, that's what it looked like some half a year later.   And what are we to assume?  That Stan never did see any trace of Philip in the sketches of Martha's lover he was staring at?  As I've said many times, that seems unlikely.   But, then again, the series made a big deal of Philip literally unmasking himself to Martha, divesting himself of his disguise, though he looked pretty much the same before and after, at least to me.   Am I more perceptive than the FBI was back then?  I certainly hope not.

So that leaves us with Paige and the pastor as the simmering story yet to reach a conclusion, and I can only hope it's resolved with more of a bang than was Martha's sad tale.  Indeed, to get back to that for a moment, the only really momentous development to come out of all of that turmoil is the departure of Richard Thomas's good character Frank.

Ok, there's also Philip being able to spend more time at home now, with no overnights needed for Martha, and that could have some interesting unintended consequences.  But it's hard see what those would be, unless they feed into the Paige story.   I guess there's also Elizabeth's new movie buddy - but it's also not clear exactly what Elizabeth's motives are in that part of the narrative, either.

What's now needed is something harrowing, to pick up where Martha's story left off, or where it should have gone.   The Americans is still very good in the details, but they need some bones under all of that flesh and make-up.

See also The Americans 4.4: Life and Death ... The Americans 4.6: Martha, Martha, Martha
And see also The Americans 3.1: Caring for People We Shouldn't ... The Americans 3.3: End Justified the Means ...  The Americans 3.4: Baptism vs. Communism ... The Americans 3.6: "Jesus Came Through for Me Tonight" ...The Americans 3.7: Martha. My Dear ... The Americans 3.8: Martha, Part 2 ... The Americans 3.10: The Truth ... The Americans 3.12: The Unwigging ... The Americans Season 3 Finale: Turning a Paige
And see also The Americans 2.1-2: The Paradox of the Spy's Children ... The Americans 2.3: Family vs. Mission ... The Americans 2.7: Embryonic Internet and Lie Detection ... The Americans 2.9: Gimme that Old Time Religion ...The American 2.12: Espionage in Motion ... The Americans Season 2 Finale: Second Generation

And see also The Americans: True and Deep ... The Americans 1.4: Preventing World War III ... The Americans 1.11:  Elizabeth's Evolution ... The Americans Season 1 Finale: Excellent with One Exception

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Like a post Cold War digital espionage story?  Check out The Pixel Eye
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Nashville in New York City: Reality Even Better than Fiction

The story in Nashville on ABC-TV is a little worn, but the music's still fresh and fabulous, even though you can't get enough in what seem like shorter and shorter clips.  The perfect remedy is a live concert at the Theater at Madison Square Garden - always the Felt Forum in my 1960s mind -  with some of the best voices and performers on the show, off the screen and on the stage.

There's some kind of magical chemistry when you see in person a performer you've come to know as a character in a television series.  This became clear when the Monkees first began touring, or when "Bombshell" from Smash had a one-night stand on Broadway last year.

When The Triple Xs from Nashville brought down the house with a stellar rendition of "Borrow My Heart" last night, you not only had a great song (written by Lia and Phillip LaRue) and bright ringing harmonies from Sam Palladio, Clare Bowen, and Jonathan Jackson (left to right), but the intertwining back stories of Gunnar, Scarlet, and Avery, as they sing and Sam and Jonathan strum and smile at Clare as she spins around like an enchanting dervish on stage.

The repartee did a fine job of deliberately weaving the live performance into what we've been seeing on the screen.  Jonathan introduced The Triple Xs with an apology for the poor treatment Avery gave Scarlet in the first season.  Charles Esten quipped that he "scraped together" enough money to get out of jail, which is where he landed (ugh!) in the episode of Nashville just this past Wednesday night.   Chris Carmack opened the concert with a spirited performance of Will Lexington's only "hit record".

The talent of these people is multi-faceted.  Esten was reminiscent of Elvis in some of his moves.   Jonathan sounded a little like Dylan at times, and did a tour-de-force performance of "Love Rescue Me" (written by Dylan and Bono) which ended with Jonathan singing like Johnnie Rae (look it up).   Carmack not only sings and plays guitar, but picked up a saxophone, and is a hard blues man to boot. Esten brought out his daughter Taylor to sing "Believing" with him - a real daughter in place of his Nashville daughter Maddie - and the result was wonderful.  As was the finale second-encore number, "A Life That's Good," sung to perfection by everyone.

Viewers of Nashville know there's extraordinary songwriting talent on the show.   At the concert, we were treated to some of the songs written by the stars.  My favorites were by Chris Carmack and Sam Palladio, but all were excellent.

In effect, the two hours on stage were an uncorking of what we've seen just hints and samples of in the television series.   This suggests that whatever happens to the series, we'll be hearing and watching these five for years to come - but ABC, you'd be crazy not to renew Nashville, and the uniquely appealing merging of fiction and reality it now has become.

an earlier performance, but much like last night





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