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ClareR (5686 KP) rated Savage Beasts in Books

Jul 4, 2023  
Savage Beasts
Savage Beasts
Rani Selvarajah | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Savage Beasts is a re-imagining of the story of Medea. This time, Meena (not Medea) betrays her father, the Nawab of Bengal, and runs away with an adventurer called James Chilcott. But Meena’s initial feelings of adventure and excitement soon wear off when she realises that the man she took to be an adventurer, was just an opportunist who spends her money and betrays her in turn.

I thought it was really clever how the Greek myth was woven into Meena’s story, and showed the impact of colonialism. Great Britain doesn’t come out of this well. James’ uncle, Sir Peter Chilcott, is a powerful man in the East India Company. He’s cold, unforgiving, and sees Meena, Indians, Bengali’s, and anyone from anywhere foreign, as below him and little better than an animal.

It made for really uncomfortable reading, and made me so angry!

Meena comes across as being so young but desperate to be older. She’s determined to make a good life for herself and her child - despite how difficult James and his reprehensible family make it for her.

Honestly, by the end I firmly believed they deserved whatever was coming their way!

I listened to this on audiobook, kindly sent to me via NetGalley by HarperCollins UK Audio. The narrator, Shazia Nicholls, really was outstanding. It always amazes me how a good narrator can make all the characters sound so different - especially in this case, the men. Sir Peter came across as a sneering, superior, calculating monster, and in contrast, Meena was both young and wise - and it felt as though she was really there, speaking for herself. Shazia read with such emotion that it became entirely believable. This could well have been an historical memoir as much as a piece of fiction.

Yes, this is described as a Greek retelling, but it has been made into something all of its own. If you know the story of Medea, then you’ll see where in particular it is borrowing from that story - but this is a great story in its own right. It’s powerful, feminist and it’s about colonialism. It’s a story about family, trust and the devastation of betrayal.

Highly recommended!
  
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Tarsem Singh recommended La Jetee (1962) in Movies (curated)

 
La Jetee (1962)
La Jetee (1962)
1962 | Classics, Sci-Fi
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I think the greatest film of all time. It doesn’t even care about anything. It has the best MacGuffin. The audiences in the west — if you’re going to transfer somebody from one place to the other, you want to spend all the money on the big gadgets that do all of the — as Monty Python says “the machines that go BING” kind of stuff. Whereas in La Jetée, just two guys lie down on a hammock, they drug intravenously, and they go, “Voila! We’re in the future.” I just love that. It’s just a Macguffin in a different culture, the different time — they’re used to different things. And for me, having traveled a lot, I always have to find out — when you show a movie to people they just say, “Would you buy this?” That’s one of the reasons you have origin films — like Superman or whatever — that takes so long in the west whenever you start to originate one, because you have to set up that this guy can fly because he is from another planet, has a nemesis, you can make him grounded when you give him kryptonite, and all that stuff. You watch a Hindi movie, and they just say, “Hey this guy can deflect a bullet with his ring because he is [Indian film actor] Amitabh Bachchan, so next question.” Literally, it is all about what each culture takes — to take as a MacGuffin and where they want the money spent. And La Jetée just doesn’t care. It’s got the greatest story and the movie — the images don’t even move except in one particular instance — I don’t want to spoil it for someone who hasn’t seen it. But it is just one of the greatest. It was made the year I was born, I was obsessed with it forever and when Terry Gilliam made 12 Monkeys I knew it was done."

Source
  
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Lenard (726 KP) rated Pig (2021) in Movies

Aug 1, 2021  
Pig (2021)
Pig (2021)
2021 | Drama, Thriller
9
7.8 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
One could look at the film as Nicolas Cage's "Ransom" ("Give me back my pig!"), "John Wick" (if the dog had survived the original attack), or "Taken" ("I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my pig go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."). Ten years ago, Rob left the civilized world behind and chose an isolated life in the mountains, just him and his highly talented truffle pig. Once a week, twentysomething Alex Wolff comes to buy his "finds." That is the lone connection to humanity after tragedy left him broken. Then, in the middle of the night, a couple break in to steal the pig and leave him physically scarred. Rob must now return to the old life he left behind in order to get back his pig. Along for the ride is his young benefactor who has his own tragic backstory. Similar to "John Wick," there is a powerful puppetmaster behind all the tragedy. But that is where the similarities end as no one is a highly skilled assassin or underworld boss. Both Rob and his antagonist are just men with skills, connections, and money not guns and muscles. In fact, there is a running joke where people ask Rob if his face hurts or he needs medical attention for his wounds. This is a film for your heart and your mind to absorb starring two of the greatest shouters in Hollywood giving quiet performances. I highly recommend the film.