Looker

Random Harvest

As 2007 comes to an end, some quick thoughts on movies I haven't addressed here. No Country for Old Men: The Coen brothers go earnest (except for Beth Grant's Vicki Lawrence–like shtick as Josh Brolin's mother-in-law) and wind up making a Clint Eastwood movie, specifically this one. The Band's Visit: cloying. The Israeli version of played-out American quirk. The Savages: the year's wittiest dialogue. Steal a Pencil for Me : Who knew you could still make a surprising Holocaust documentary? No End in Sight: Who knew you could still make a surprising Iraq documentary? Redacted: justifiably furious, inexcusably stupid. I'm Not There: inventive, at times dazzling, but not all there. Attica: This harrowing account of the 1971 upstate New York prison riot that left forty people dead returned for one night in Manhattan, thirty-three years after its premiere. Rerelease and DVD coming soon? Wristcutters: A Love Story: O.K., maybe quirk isn't entirely played out. Eastern Promises: Cronenberg has finally found his muse. The Lives of Others: aptly summed up by a friend: "Bad Communists!" Zodiac: Silence of the Lambs meets All the President's Men. Absolutely brilliant.

The Real Thing

Last week Salon asked a lot of writers, musicians, and filmmakers to name their favorite books, music, and movies of 2007. It's a fun and often surprising list. Near the end comes David Cronenberg. He mentions no movie or music, but one book rushes to his mind:

I read a Henry James novel published in 1897 called What Maisie Knew, about a child of divorce who bounces back and forth between her soon-remarried parents like a tennis ball. The relationship of James' language to the psychology of his characters and then to their actions is dense and fascinating and pleasurable. It is also a very emotionally charged story, something you almost don't notice until it flattens you.

So when Cronenberg's not busy filming vicious hand-to-hand skirmishes in steam rooms, he's in an easy chair reading Henry James. I love the guy! Can we look forward to his adaptation of Maisie? Maybe with Dakota Fanning in the title role (though Abigail Breslin would be more affordable), and, say, Samantha Morton as her unsightly protector, Mrs. Wix? Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts will be perfect as her irreconcilably divided parents. When does shooting start? A movie-lover can dream, can't he?