Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 231
May 7, 2013
Book 18 ~ Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye
Embark on a journey through the Old and New Testament with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they explore exotic and spice-laden places in search of clues.
The detective and the doctor travel back in time with the help of a Moriarty-designed time machine to investigate ten Bible destinations, unlocking clues to ten Bible mysteries. The most fascinating crime cases are those that are already solved, those that have been investigated by the police and brought to a swift, satisfying, and almost inevitable conclusion. So it is with Bible stories which the reader may consider familiar and unremarkable. But under close scrutiny these stories give up their hidden clues, their long kept secrets. Like a jewel newly polished, they sparkle and shine with a fresh, introspective light.
While traveling back in time to witness certain scenes, Holmes and Watson unravel ten different Biblical mysteries, including the following:
The Hanging Tree: Why did Ahithophel hang himself?
Righteous Blood is Red: Is Zechariah the son of Berekiah or Jehoiada in Matthew 23?
You Miss, You Die: Why did David take five stones against Goliath?
Dead Man Walking: Why did Jesus delay in coming to Lazarus in John 11?(via Goodreads)
Sherlock Holmes is a hot property. Always has been, but currently we’re experiencing a Sherlock renaissance. In addition to the usual baseline of adaptations and pastiche, there are currently two contemporary-set TV series as well as a successful movie franchise. CBS’s Elementary is the first series on a major American TV network in almost 60 years. Which means, if you want to use Sherlock Holmes to sell your product, now’s the time to take advantage.
And that is what Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye by Len Bailey feels like to me: a book taking advantage. Even when considered in only a historical light, there are some interesting little textural mysteries in the Bible. While many of the ones in this books can be addressed with a couple Google searches, Bailey does seem adept at navigating his source. Unfortunately, I don’t think he has the Holmes chops to pull it off. The Holmes aspect is clunky and uneven. Our framing story involves Holmes building an extremely dangerous time machine, based on plans confiscated from Moriarty, to solve Biblical mysteries suggested in writing by a mysterious client. Where it might have been more appropriate (and more fun) for Holmes to have discovered a Wellsian time machine, Bailey spends a couple pages fumbling around with relativity to justify his science fiction. Presumably this is meant to give some credence and patina of science to his biblical investigations. Similarly, there is a digression on the nature of pain about a third of the way through the book. While it seems scientifically sound, it is very out of place in the flow of the book.
Holmes has a reputation for being erratic when bored, but not even I can quite buy the concept of him building a machine that could take out blocks of London, even if he did decide to building it on a flammable ship on the Thames. Likewise, the Biblical mysteries don’t seem up to snuff for Sherlock Holmes to be interested. Most of them are solved pretty simply by pointing out an illuminating detail found somewhere else in the Bible. Skipped are glaring mysteries like the size of Noah’s ark or Jonah’s time in the whale. A little science thrown at those might have been interesting.
I picked Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye partially by mistake, but was still game despite my misgivings. Holmes and religion aren’t two things that easily go together and that’s the contrast that Bailey is banking on. I could see the chapters of this book being a series of sermons at church that’s striving to engage its younger population. And these stories would be fine in that context. But they don’t work as a book. Neither the popular theology nor the Sherlock Holmes are anywhere near satisfying.
Genre: Non-fiction.
Why did I choose to read this book? Chose it due to my liking of Sherlock Holmes, but misread the title. I thought it had to do with Cleopatra’s Needle.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) I did. It was a chore.
Craft Lessons: If you’re going to use a very well-know character to sell your work, you need to know that character very, very well.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley
May 5, 2013
Bout of Book 7.0 Read-a-thon
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
It’s only a week away!!!
Bout of Book 7.0 begins next Monday, May 13th. My preliminary goal is 600-ish pages. I don’t have any plans other than working (I’m a writerly-type) and reading. I think I’m going to try to finish my outstanding started-but-haven’t-finished list (except for the George R.R. Martin and finish what I’m going to finish of the Nebula nominated short stories, novellas, and novelettes.
Let’s Finish Some Books!
May 4, 2013
Saturday Cinema ~ Rian Johnson
Rian Johnson is currently one of my favorite writer/directors. Of course, with only three feature films on his resume, it could be argued that he hasn’t had the chance to let me down. Whatever the case, Johnson’s three films are all a bit on the risky side, but definitely worthwhile. He works with many of the same people across projects which gives the trio consistency. His other directing work includes an episode of Terriers (a TV show I adored) and several episodes of Breaking Bad.
Rian Johnson’s website includes the scripts of his movies.
Brick (2005)
A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. (via IMDB)
Brick is undeniably noir. The dialogue is sharp and stylishly overwrought. The world is relatively empty; only characters that concern us get time on-screen. Steve Yedlin, the cinematographer on all of Johnson’s movies, can imbue bright a football field with certain menace. While set in a high school, the movie is rated R, which might have made it a hard sell demographic-wise. I’ll admit that I was dubious of the film for that reason, and it requires a certain suspension of disbelief to accept the incongruity of the plot and the setting. After the first time I watched this movie, I wasn’t entirely sure I liked it, but I did want to watch it again.
The Brothers Bloom (2008)
The Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they’ve decided to take on one last job – showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world. (via IMDB)
Honestly, it would have been hard for me to not like this movie. A heist with Rachel Weisz? Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody as con men? Quriky style? Aside from Ghostbusters, there might not be a film more perfectly suited to me. The world of The Brothers Bloom isn’t quite reality. The entire film feels like an elaborate magic trick, skipping in tone from a 40s familiar pick-a-card slight-of-hand to 80s slick set-piece illusions and back again. It’s a great looking, slightly absurd movie that I don’t think enough people have seen.
Looper (2012)
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to ‘close the loop’ by transporting back Joe’s future self. (via IMDB)
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, this is by far Rian Johnson’s most well-known movie. While its “present” is our future, like Brick, Looper has a noir sensibility. Much of the movie’s set-up is given to us in voice-over by Joe. He tells us about blunderbusses, gat men, and how one “closes the loop.” There is a conscious nod to the past. “How can you kids stand to wear those chokers?” asks Abe, a man from the future, referring to the current (future) fashion of wearing ties. “The movies that you’re dressing like are just copying other movies.” Looper itself might borrow from other movies, but Johnson creates a interestingly rendered future and a well put together time travel flick.
May 1, 2013
What Else in April
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Abbott, David P. “Spiritualistic Materialization and Other Mediumistic Phenomena.” The Open Court. May 1919, 33/5. 263
Continued work on my second draft of One Ahead. Discovered that I can read period issues of the Omaha Bee online. Spent a week doing more research. Rewrote what I had written of my second draft of One Ahead. I still feel that I need to nail down more details.
Eric and I have been talking about how I need to play to my strengths more and take more chances in my writing. (Well, he’s been talking. I’ve been growling at him because he’s right.) One of my strengths may be comedy. What I am good at is feigning competence, so maybe comedy isn’t a strength. I may just be faking myself out. But, I guess I don’t really have much to lose. I’m considering adding a character. I’m in the mulling it over stage.
Query-wise:
# of submissions for Luck for Hire: 8
# of responses: 5, and one bounced email address
# of submissions for Model Species: 2
# of responses: 0
Other Life Stuff
Babysat Hailey and Hannah a couple weekends ago. That’s always fun and makes me appreciate mothers.
Spring league ultimate frisbee playoffs were this past Saturday, causing me to once again miss Dewey’s 24-hour Read-a-thon. Playoffs were good. The team I was on made it all the way to finals, meaning we played four games between 2:20pm and 9:30pm. It was the first really warm day of spring too. The high, which occurred about the time we started playing, was 97 degrees. I was happy with how my body held up. We had five women on the team so we were able to spread out our playing time. I stayed hydrated, energized, and my hips/back only started to really bother me during the last game. I’m back to being optimistic about still playing when I’m 40.
Books Obtained
Territory by Emma Bull
Eyeing the Flash: The Making of a Carnival Con Artist by Peter Fenton
Other Stuff Read
The stand-out short story that I read in April is John Chu’s “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”. I predict that it will be on some ballet next year. Not only because of the subject matter, but because of damn fine writing.
Other Books I Want to Read
At Goodreads:
Redshirts by John ScalziThe Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe by Kenneth J. Harvey
The Dark Water: The Strange Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes by David Pirie
Breed by Chase Novak
The Last Love of George Sand: A Literary Biography by Evelyn Bloch-Dano
At the Greater Phoenix Digital Library:
Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman
The Tel Aviv Dossier by Lavie Tidhar
April 30, 2013
14
Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.
Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.
At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.
Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends.
Or the end of everything… (via Goodreads)
A few weeks after I moved into my current apartment, I closed the door to the back bedroom from the inside of the room and found that the doorknob on the other side, which I had not seen until then, was of a completely different shape. Instead of a normal round doorknob, it was one of the push-down handle sorts. There isn’t another one like it in the entire apartment. While it’s not a big deal, my landlord just had two mismatched handles, for a moment I was disturbed. It’s that feeling that Peter Clines wants to invoke in 14 and he succeeds often enough. This book is similar to Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Danielewski’s book does a better job of capturing that unease, but Clines’ 14 is saner, more coherent, and doesn’t require textural acrobatics. 14 is more genre and less literature, and that’s not a bad thing.
The characters really made this book for me. Nate could have been a whiner, but he’s not. He’s just a guy in his 30s that’s ended up in a very plain life. I don’t mind at all going on this adventure with him. I was especially appreciative of Clines’ capable female characters. Veek and Xela (and even Debbie and Mandy) are each very different but each has believable talents that are important in the story. They’re not just window dressings.
Plot-wise, 14 veers one way before shooting off in an interesting direction. I could use one word to describe 14 that would completely explain it, but that would be a big, huge spoiler. The characters did make a decision toward the end of the book that I didn’t feel was justified beyond the need for characters to see certain things, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Genre: Mystery, horror
Why did I choose to read this book? I like mysterious buildings, whether haunted or otherwise.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes! Quick read. Finished it in a three days.
Craft Lessons: Don’t be afraid to take chances. Clines is doing his own thing here and it works.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley
Yes, once again, my review numbers are off. I’ll be posting about book #18 next week on its release date.
Book 19 ~ 14
Padlocked doors. Strange light fixtures. Mutant cockroaches.
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment.
Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much.
At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.
Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends.
Or the end of everything… (via Goodreads)
A few weeks after I moved into my current apartment, I closed the door to the back bedroom from the inside of the room and found that the doorknob on the other side, which I had not seen until then, was of a completely different shape. Instead of a normal round doorknob, it was one of the push-down handle sorts. There isn’t another one like it in the entire apartment. While it’s not a big deal, my landlord just had two mismatched handles, for a moment I was disturbed. It’s that feeling that Peter Clines wants to invoke in 14 and he succeeds often enough. This book is similar to Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Danielewski’s book does a better job of capturing that unease, but Clines’ 14 is saner, more coherent, and doesn’t require textural acrobatics. 14 is more genre and less literature, and that’s not a bad thing.
The characters really made this book for me. Nate could have been a whiner, but he’s not. He’s just a guy in his 30s that’s ended up in a very plain life. I don’t mind at all going on this adventure with him. I was especially appreciative of Clines’ capable female characters. Veek and Xela (and even Debbie and Mandy) are each very different but each has believable talents that are important in the story. They’re not just window dressings.
Plot-wise, 14 veers one way before shooting off in an interesting direction. I could use one word to describe 14 that would completely explain it, but that would be a big, huge spoiler. The characters did make a decision toward the end of the book that I didn’t feel was justified beyond the need for characters to see certain things, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Genre: Mystery, horror
Why did I choose to read this book? I like mysterious buildings, whether haunted or otherwise.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes! Quick read. Finished it in a three days.
Craft Lessons: Don’t be afraid to take chances. Clines is doing his own thing here and it works.
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley
Yes, once again, my review numbers are off. I’ll be posting about book #18 next week on its release date.
April 27, 2013
Saturday Cinema ~ Taming of the Queue, part 1
Taming the Queue
My To-Be-Watched list has been set to random. Let the fun begin.
The Killer Inside Me (2010) Starring Casey Affleck, directed by Michael Winterbottom – West Texas Casey Affleck looks decidedly un-Casey Affleck-like. Chilling, understated performance. There are couple scenes in this movie that I found really hard to watch. The very ending was terribly disappointing. Spoiler: [No one smells the enormous amount of liquid fuel that is doused around the house? Also, gunfire really wouldn't ignite said fuel.] Based on a 1952 novel and set during that era. I would say that some of the psychology underpinning the character’s actions are also of that era.
The Descendants (2011) Starring George Clooney Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller; directed by Alexander Payne – Second movie in a row with some voice-over. It’s a family drama, very well done. And beautifully shot. I realized that I probably haven’t seen a movie set in Hawaii since, um, Blue Hawaii. I love movies with a strong sense of place. The Descendants has it. No Country for Old Men has it (and is the better west Texas movie if put up against The Killer Inside Me). Any movie set in Boston written by Dennis Lehane has it. Still haven’t seen a George Clooney movie (since Batman & Robin) that I haven’t liked.
Shame (2011) Starring Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan; directed by Steve McQueen – Lots of sex, lots of nudity. But that’s not the gratuitous part of this movie. Scenes start too early, last too long. The pacing is very slow. I enjoyed the lack of musical score during the first two-thirds and was rather annoyed by the its intrusion later. It was kind of like a cue to start caring about this character. Somewhat predictable too. Very meh.
Online and Worth a Look
It Might Get Loud (2008) Directed by Davis Guggenheim – A solid documentary profiling three prominent and innovative guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. Each has a different aesthetic and philosophy to music and this film brings them together to discuss the electric guitar. “What, the three of us get together? What’s going to happen? Probably a fist fight,” says Jack White near the beginning of the film. (Not-a-spoiler: No fist fights, but a great deal of mutual respect.) This was a re-watch for me and I remembered why I enjoyed it so much the first time. All three tell their own stories, their own histories with music. All three have a deep love and enthusiasm for their art. This documentary is currently available for viewing, free and legal, on Crackle.
April 23, 2013
Book 17 ~ Stuck in the Middle with You
A father for ten years, a mother for eight, and for a time in between, neither, or both (“the parental version of the schnoodle, or the cockapoo”), Jennifer Finney Boylan has seen parenthood from both sides of the gender divide. When her two children were young, Boylan came out as transgender, and as Jenny transitioned from a man to a woman and from a father to a mother, her family faced unique challenges and questions. In this thoughtful memoir, Jenny asks what it means to be a father, or a mother, and to what extent gender shades our experiences as parents. “It is my hope,” she writes, “that having a father who became a woman in turn helped my sons become better men.”
Through both her own story and incredibly insightful interviews with others, including Richard Russo, Edward Albee, Ann Beattie, Augusten Burroughs, Susan Minot, Trey Ellis, Timothy Kreider, and more, Jenny examines relationships with fathers and mothers, people’s memories of the children they were and the parents they became, and the many different ways a family can be. Followed by an Afterword by Anna Quindlen that includes Jenny and her wife discussing the challenges they’ve faced and the love they share, Stuck in the Middle with You is a brilliant meditation on raising – and on being – a child. (via Goodreads)
I read Jennifer Finney Boylan’s first memoir, She’s Not There, about her transition from male to female back in 2004. It’s an articulate book, devoid of sensationalism, about a topic that is beyond most people’s experience. Ultimately, it’s an autobiography that isn’t about being transsexual. It’s an autobiography about being a person.
Not surprisingly, Stuck in the Middle with You is about parenthood more than about being transsexual and a parent. Boylan wants what most parents want for their children: for them to grow up to be good people and not leave them with any burden. Against anecdotes from her children’s lives and her own childhood, she interviews other men and women about fatherhood and motherhood. What’s it like to have an absent parent? To be adoptive parents? To be gay and want children? To lose a child? What’s the “norm”?
In the end, it seems the norm is what anyone has that works. “I don’t want to disappoint you,” one of her sons says one day, “I think I want to stop playing the tuba.” Boylan admits that she’s lucked out. Her world has been very accepting of her change, and that isn’t the case for many transsexuals. Her sons have seemingly avoided stigma as well and, after her first book and the publicity it generated, insisted that their mom use their real names in this book. But as any parent, any mother, Boylan still worries about her boys.
Like She’s Not There, Stuck in the Middle with You is well-written and humorous, though maybe lacking during the interviews. Boylan’s best talent is making her situation relatable.
Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan is slated for release on April 30th from Crown.
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir.
Why did I choose to read this book? Had read Boylan’s previous memoir, She’s Not There and enjoyed it.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes!
Format: Kindle ebook
Procurement: NetGalley ARC
April 22, 2013
Spring into Horror Read-a-thon
Hosted by Michelle, The True Book Addict
Don’t let the word ‘horror’ scare you away. You only have to read one scary book during the duration of the read-a-thon. However, that book can be horror, paranormal, thriller, mystery, etc. The rest of the read-a-thon, you can read whatever you want. More horror/scary stuff or just your regular reading repertoire.
Goals
I haven’t read too much horror in a while. Lot’s of mysteries this year so far, but not much out-and-out horror. It used to be my favorite genre! I’d really like to get 500 pages in, but I’m going to be missing the majority of Saturday due to frisbee league finals. We’ll see how it goes.
Fodder
I never stick to my lists. This is what I may or may not read:
Finish Sherlock Holmes & the Needle’s Eye (not scary, but I want to finish it)
A couple of of short stories – I’m behind on my short story per week reading.
14 by Peter Clines (NetGalley)
The 7th Woman by Frédérique Molay (NetGalley)
Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp (Stoker nominated)
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino (Stoker nominated)
44 by Jools Sinclare (Amazon taster)
Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris (TBR pile)
Progress
Updates
Monday: Finished reading Sherlock Holmes and the Needle’s Eye by Len Bailey, a NetGalley ARC that I didn’t quite finish over the weekend. I was on the fence about what short stories I might read for this week. I’m in the mood for Glen Hirshberg, but have none. I was considering the Poe’s Children anthology, but I’m *not* in the mood to deal with the quality inconsistencies that sometimes happen with anthologies. Finishing Mr. Bailey’s book made up my mind for me. It’s time to dip back into Sherlock Holmes canon. “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” is a grisly piece of work, sensational for its time.
April 20, 2013
Cinema Saturday ~ Bates Motel & Hitchcock (new horror series, pt 2)
The Out of Order Series
How much room does Hannibal-the-TV-series have to tell a story? If you’ve read Red Dragon or watched Michael Mann’s Manhunter or Brett Ratner’s Red Dragon, or really know anything about the character of Hannibal Lecter, you know how this series is going to end. Presumably, the series is going to expand the collaborations between Graham and Lecter, but does knowing how this relationship ends spoils the series? Spoilers aren’t quite as important as we often make them out to be. In fact, audiences often want to know what the story is behind characters, especially charismatic evil characters. We know the ending; bring on the beginning.
Which brings me to Bates Motel, the 2013 series. Psycho, the 1959 novel by Robert Bloch, spawned an entire franchise of movies and TV shows that are very different from the original novel. Bloch’s Psycho was influenced by the story of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin serial killer that is pretty far from the gawkily charming Norman Bates of Hitchcock’s 1960 film. The next two sequels moved further away from the, well, Hitchcockian and toward 80s slasher horror sensibilities. They weirdly worked, carried mostly by the performance of Anthony Perkins. (Bloch wrote two more Psycho books as well. His Psycho II poked at slasher films as an escaped Norman Bates makes his way to Hollywood.) A 1987 TV pilot called Bates Motel killed Norman off and left his motel to an insane asylum friend. Psycho IV: The Beginning was the first to delve into a cause for Norman’s complications and pretty much ignored all the previous sequels. Young Norman was played by Henry Thomas, better known as Elliot from E.T..
The Psycho franchise has a canon history that rivals many 60-year comic book runs. The stories are subtly retold within the sequels (and even in Gus Van Sant’s remake). Histories change. Heck, even futures change depending on what thread is followed by a viewer. As a whole, both movies and books, the only constant essential is Norman and his mummy. Which means that the new Bates Motel is in the same position as Hannibal. Eventually, the inevitable needs to happen.
Despite the changes–the motel is now on the California coast, Norman is a high school kid with girl problems, there’s another Bates sibling–and my love of Hitchcock’s film, I like Bates Motel the best out of this crop of shows. The essential thing about the Psycho franchise involves the character and (future) history of Norman Bates. He doesn’t even need to be an Anthony Perkins’ Norman, but it certainly helps. Freddy Highmore brings his own quirks to the character and the series is being ambiguous about what is going on and what is only going on in Norman’s head.
Let’s Get Meta
Every story has a story behind it. At least one. When a writer writes a novel, there are stories about what inspires the novel and stories about the actual writing of the novel. Movies, with so many people involved in their manufacture, have a lot of stories. I love stories about movies almost more than I love movies.
Usually movies about movies are documentaries. Hitchcock is not. Hitchcock tells the story of Alfred Hitchcock’s career and personal life around the time that Psycho was made. I know very little about how factual this film is, but to a fan of Psycho, it’s a lot of fun. The performances are uncanny. Sometimes Anthony Hopkins, Scarlett Johansson, and James D’Arcy are so much like Hitchcock, Janet Leigh, and Anthony Perkins that it’s a let down when they’re not.
The movie begins, incongruously, with Ed Gein offing his brother Henry. The camera pans to show Hitchcock standing at the scene, drolly commenting on what Ed would ultimately inspire. Gein, played by Michael Wincott (an actor I hadn’t seen in a while), becomes a touchstone in the movie, appearing to Hitch in moments when a steel heart seems necessary. Hitchcock is certain that Psycho is his next film, the film that will make him more than the director of safe films like North by Northwest. The rest of Hollywood thinks that the tale of a gruesome serial killer isn’t a good idea at all. Against the backdrop of Psycho‘s production, we have Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife Alma Reville, a screenwriter, editor and collaborator with Hitchcock. I had no idea that Hitchcock collaborated with his wife. Considering my own circumstances, that’s a nice story to see, especially since things don’t always run smoothly in a marriage or a collaboration. The film is as much about Alma as it is about Alfred. The two need each other to be more whole, like a Norman (or Ed) needed the woman in his life.
Again, as a viewer, we know the outcome of this movie. Psycho is a huge success. Alfred and Alma’s marriage survives. Getting there? That’s interesting part.
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