Mateo is going to die. He's going to wet his bed and then he's going to die. Isn't that what we do? Ana is going to die. Their father Uxbal, as it turns out, is going to die soon.
Uxbal doesn't know how he got here. There was a father whom he never met, died of pneumonia somewhere west across the ocean. The bottom of the sea can be something to fear, a threat that given half a chance will take you. You can be said to have survived that, but you can never be said to have escaped.
The Chinese workers have survived the ocean too. After an horrific accident, caused by Uxbal's negligence, the sea into which they're dumped has no call for them. They float to the shore, no more than a spilled cargo.
Uxbal has no time to come to terms with his actions. The cancer will take him within months. Spells of naussea and the urine which soaks his trousers; a ticking clock. His complicity in slave labour and the tragic end to the workers are already past. Their forgiveness he might seek but what use that? He can get help for Maramba, the bipolar and substance dependent mother of his children. There are no guarantees. He must take care of Ana and Mateo's futures.
"The universe will look after them."
"The universe doesn't pay the rent."
Though he fights it, Uxbal knows that the universe might not pay the rent but it can take the rent back at any moment, or render it worthless in a heartbeat, in a slip, in a blaze, in passion, in a decision, a simple decision. The moment will come. The universe will outlast the rent.
"Put your affairs in order Uxbal. That's all that matters."
What affairs could there possibly be? Uxbal's father, for instance, has lain in his grave for decades only to find himself cremated through economic necessity. Any affairs to be put in order will ultimately be futile and in these final months Uxbal realises that the universe doesn't care but, for what it's worth, he does.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
The Guard
There were "so many things" O'Leary wanted to do, so many plans into which hadn't been factored the Derringer down Boyle's y-fronts. “Like what for fucks sake? Run with the bulls at Pamplona
There are so many things Boyle wanted to do too, but his hasn't been an empty life. When opportunities present themselves he generally takes them. When a car crash produces a tab of acid he takes it there and then. He wants a threesome with two women dressed as police officers? He orders them in.
He's a liar of course. He may or may not have tried crack. He may not have come fourth in the 1500m freestyle at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He probably hasn't visited Disney World on his own. He may not have ever left Ireland. He's taken what life has given him without going to look for anything else. Until, maybe, the last.
In this way he's the everyman. He's every jobbing trust administrator or civil servant, except he wears a uniform and finds the occasional dead body. He's the middle class with class, and a sharp tongue.
When the opportunity of FBI agent Wendell Everett presents itself, he baits it. He doesn't seek out the big catch but he casts the line and waits. The case does come his way. So it goes.
Has Boyle read Vonnegut? Perhaps. While Sheehy, O'Leary and Cornell aim to impress each other with their favourite philosophers, Boyle feigns ignorance. On the Russian writers he exclaims to his mother "they take too long getting to the fecking point".
Although the smugglers have gone out and looked for a life that's theirs while Boyle has found his own where he happens to be, they have much in common. It's a life of regret, a life of dissatisfaction, almost bemusement that it got to this point and, well, is this it? ("What's the point? It's all so fucking meaningless." "The money") They suspect that a more conventional life may be preferable. Would a monogamous relationship be more fulfilling? The smugglers posit the idea openly and it occurs to Boyle as soon as he discovers the truth about Gabriela's marriage. Had they all kicked against the pricks too long?
He may mock the many things O'Leary had wanted to do but he understands well enough. In conversation with his mother, Eileen, for whom he cares beyond anyone's appreciation:
There are so many things Boyle wanted to do too, but his hasn't been an empty life. When opportunities present themselves he generally takes them. When a car crash produces a tab of acid he takes it there and then. He wants a threesome with two women dressed as police officers? He orders them in.
He's a liar of course. He may or may not have tried crack. He may not have come fourth in the 1500m freestyle at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He probably hasn't visited Disney World on his own. He may not have ever left Ireland. He's taken what life has given him without going to look for anything else. Until, maybe, the last.
In this way he's the everyman. He's every jobbing trust administrator or civil servant, except he wears a uniform and finds the occasional dead body. He's the middle class with class, and a sharp tongue.
When the opportunity of FBI agent Wendell Everett presents itself, he baits it. He doesn't seek out the big catch but he casts the line and waits. The case does come his way. So it goes.
Has Boyle read Vonnegut? Perhaps. While Sheehy, O'Leary and Cornell aim to impress each other with their favourite philosophers, Boyle feigns ignorance. On the Russian writers he exclaims to his mother "they take too long getting to the fecking point".
Although the smugglers have gone out and looked for a life that's theirs while Boyle has found his own where he happens to be, they have much in common. It's a life of regret, a life of dissatisfaction, almost bemusement that it got to this point and, well, is this it? ("What's the point? It's all so fucking meaningless." "The money") They suspect that a more conventional life may be preferable. Would a monogamous relationship be more fulfilling? The smugglers posit the idea openly and it occurs to Boyle as soon as he discovers the truth about Gabriela's marriage. Had they all kicked against the pricks too long?
He may mock the many things O'Leary had wanted to do but he understands well enough. In conversation with his mother, Eileen, for whom he cares beyond anyone's appreciation:
Eileen: “What about amyl nitrate? What does that do for you?”
Boyle: “What am I? A fucking drugs aficionado? What’s with the interest all of a sudden?”
Eileen: “I don’t know, I feel I’ve missed out.”
Boyle: “You missed out on amyl nitrate?”
Eileen: “No, generally I’m saying.”
Boyle: “Sure, you have missed out generally. You’re not alone there.”
Friday, 13 January 2012
PI
"Study math kids; key to the universe." smirks Gabriel in a film Max Cohen has never seen (The Prophecy 1995). We know Max has never seen it because, well, why would he have? Film, the arts in general are not where answers are to be found for Max. Everything can be described/explained/answered with numbers and in that his faith is absolute. The Prophecy's blunt instrument approach to faith would have been lost on Max, even had he been forced to sit through it.
"As soon as you discard scientific rigor, you're no longer a mathematician, you're a numerologist." says Max's only friend Sol. His obsession is a perversion of their true faith, just as Lenny's cabal holds a perversion of theirs. Do the Wall Street traders hold a perversion of theirs? What does Lenny care?
As with anyone it's an open question whether Max could be said to have chosen his faith. He's a numbers man after all. When a choice "can be represented and understood through numbers" can it be categorised apart from any other event. Before we drill down to the numbers it would seem that it can be.
Of the volume of literature on the merits of reductionism Max is oblivious but were his faith not so strong, he would hardly need such study to seriously reevaluate his life. His war with the ant infestation doesn't consist of calculating the ant's velocity, the distance and his finger's acceleration; it consists of a practiced swipe. This could have been Max's starting point.
But Max's faith was strong and whatever the correct interpretation of the events lead him to be sat on the park bench, watching the leaves, they were extreme and though he appears at peace, the uncertain void will take some filling.
"As soon as you discard scientific rigor, you're no longer a mathematician, you're a numerologist." says Max's only friend Sol. His obsession is a perversion of their true faith, just as Lenny's cabal holds a perversion of theirs. Do the Wall Street traders hold a perversion of theirs? What does Lenny care?
As with anyone it's an open question whether Max could be said to have chosen his faith. He's a numbers man after all. When a choice "can be represented and understood through numbers" can it be categorised apart from any other event. Before we drill down to the numbers it would seem that it can be.
Of the volume of literature on the merits of reductionism Max is oblivious but were his faith not so strong, he would hardly need such study to seriously reevaluate his life. His war with the ant infestation doesn't consist of calculating the ant's velocity, the distance and his finger's acceleration; it consists of a practiced swipe. This could have been Max's starting point.
But Max's faith was strong and whatever the correct interpretation of the events lead him to be sat on the park bench, watching the leaves, they were extreme and though he appears at peace, the uncertain void will take some filling.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Kill List
There is a verbal earworm and then another and then another. As with most of us, the voice in Jay's head is very much his own, and it almost never shuts up. We don't know what it says; only Jay himself knows that. When the doctor asks him about stress in his life there is not a chance that he'll be allowed in. Not even an indication. His military history may be on his medical records but that space is his alone. Gal obviously knows more of his history but all he has of Jay's present is guesswork.
Is the Librarian guessing or has he seen something? He'd certainly have us/Jay believe he's seen something but Jay's confusion is genuine. Jay reacts to even the suggestion that the Librarian has a way in, just as the Librarian expects he will. Guesses can be correct. Did the Librarian care that Jay would carry his reaction over to the address he'd given? Probably not.
There are moments of apparent respite but it's hard to believe these are ever more than apparent. After Gal and Fiona have piled into the taxi the moment of peace is broken by Jay: "Thank fuck that's over with". Shel, whom he'd been embracing on a garden chair, is abruptly reminded that it almost never shuts up. Moments of camaraderie with Gal are attempts to drown the voice with laughter.
Perhaps the only thing we know about the voice is that it aims to explain or justify by rote. We know this because the end of the film is the sole moment when the voice abruptly disappears. It is also at this point that the explain/justify question is flung open for us. What occurred was as a result of his action but not under that description, not the intended action. How much can he explain and how much can he justify? For Jay it no longer matters.
Is the Librarian guessing or has he seen something? He'd certainly have us/Jay believe he's seen something but Jay's confusion is genuine. Jay reacts to even the suggestion that the Librarian has a way in, just as the Librarian expects he will. Guesses can be correct. Did the Librarian care that Jay would carry his reaction over to the address he'd given? Probably not.
There are moments of apparent respite but it's hard to believe these are ever more than apparent. After Gal and Fiona have piled into the taxi the moment of peace is broken by Jay: "Thank fuck that's over with". Shel, whom he'd been embracing on a garden chair, is abruptly reminded that it almost never shuts up. Moments of camaraderie with Gal are attempts to drown the voice with laughter.
Perhaps the only thing we know about the voice is that it aims to explain or justify by rote. We know this because the end of the film is the sole moment when the voice abruptly disappears. It is also at this point that the explain/justify question is flung open for us. What occurred was as a result of his action but not under that description, not the intended action. How much can he explain and how much can he justify? For Jay it no longer matters.
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