Advocate / לאה צמל, עורכת דין

a film by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche

“The Israeli public has gradually promoted me from devil’s advocate to human rights lawyer”, says Lea Tsemel, the protagonist of this powerful documentary. Of course, not all public, as the reaction to Advocate winning the Best Israeli Film at DocAviv shows. No surprises here.

The documentary is centered on two cases where Lea and her colleague Tareq Barghout represent Palestinian defendants. It doesn’t come as a shock that they eventually lose both cases: Tsemel’s victories are are few and far between. That some relatives of the defendants prefer them to be “martyrs” rather to be found innocent frankly does not help. What amazes me is the energy of Lea — “a very angry optimistic woman” as she calls herself although we never see her angry — and her faith in justice in spite of the broken justice system. The film also features archive footage from 1960s on as well as interviews with her husband, Michel Warschawski, and their two adult children, Nissan and Talila.

Mildred Pierce

a film by Michael Curtiz

Another week, another classic (from the director of Casablanca and White Christmas) that I had no idea before. Another dodgy translation too. You say Mildred Pierce, they say Alma en suplicio, as if it were some sort of soap opera.

Well, it is indeed more melodramatic than the two previous films of the cycle. So what? Joan Crawford shines in a title role; Bruce Bennett, Jack Carson and Zack Scott are all quite good as Mildred’s assorted husbands and business partners. On the contrary, Ann Blyth fails to impress as Veda, Mildred’s spoiled brat of a daughter. And Eve Arden, in a supporting role of Ida, beats them all.

Mildred: Hello, Lottie, how are you?
Lottie: You look wonderful.
Mildred: Thank you.
Lottie: You’ve been away so long!
Mildred: Yes, I’ve been to Mexico.
Lottie: Is that a fact? Oh, it’s nice to have you back. I don’t know what we would have done if you’d stayed away longer.
Mildred: Thank you, Lottie. It’s nice to see you too.
Lottie: Likewise, I’m sure.
Gene: Welcome home, Mrs. Pierce.
Mildred: Thank you, Gene. Hi, Ida.
Ida: Well, well, long time no see.
Mildred: How are you?
Ida: How was Mexico?
Mildred: Crowded. How’s business?
Ida: Crowded. Want your desk back?
Mildred: No, thanks. On you it looks good.
Ida: You know, I like Mexico. It’s so... Mexican. Thanks.
Mildred: Here.
Ida: You’re in great shape.
Mildred: Nothing like a nice, long rest, is there? Got a drink handy?
Ida: Yeah, I guess so. Hey Gene, crack open the safe and get out some of that good bourbon. You never used to drink during the day.
Mildred: Never used to drink at all. It’s just a little habit I picked up from men.
Ida: Oh, men. I never yet met one of them who didn’t have the instincts of a heel. Sometimes I wish I could get along without them.
Mildred: You’ve never been married, have you, Ida?
Ida: No. When men get around me they get allergic to wedding rings. You know, big-sister type. “Good old Ida... you can talk it over with her, man-to-man!” I’m getting awfully tired of men talking to me “man-to-man”. I think I’ll have a drink myself.
Mildred: I’ll take mine straight.
Ida: Well, you can take it, I can.
Mildred: Seen anyone I know lately?
Ida: You mean Veda. I wondered how long it would take you to get around to that.
Mildred: Yes, I mean Veda. Have you seen her, Ida? Is she all right?
Ida: Why don’t you forget about her?
Mildred: I can’t. I’ve tried, but I can’t.
Ida: Well, try, try again. That’s my motto.
Mildred: You don’t know what it’s like being a mother, Ida. Veda’s a part of me. Maybe she didn’t turn out as well as I hoped she would when she was born, but she’s still my daughter, and I can’t forget that. I went away to try. I was so mixed up, I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. But now I know. Now I’m sure of one thing at least. I want my daughter back.
Ida: Personally, Veda’s convinced me that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young.

Chick Corea (1941—2021)

Chick Corea has left us, I learned yesterday. I know, 79 is a respectable age. Yet it is too early, for Chick anyway.

I was lucky enough to see him live in 2017, performing with Béla Fleck. It was one of those concerts that will stay with me — excuse the cliché but Chick was very fond of this word — forever.

Here’s my Corea playlist. It is by no means representative; on the contrary, it’s very personal and biased.

Double Indemnity

a film by Billy Wilder

Negro sobre blanco continues with Billy Wilder — yes, the Billy Wilder, the Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder — 1944 classic Double Indemnity. (As usual, the Spanish title, Perdición, has little to do with the original.) Fred MacMurray is great as an insurance salesman (I always knew they are evil) but it is his voiceover narration that really makes the film. On the contrary, Barbara Stanwyck’s character is not particularly convincing femme fatale — and a bad shot too, although I can’t blame the actress for that. Edward G. Robinson is fabulous as Barton Keyes, a claims adjuster.

Norton: She can go to court and we can prove it was suicide.
Keyes: Can we? Mr. Norton, first thing that struck me was that suicide angle. Only I dumped it into the wastepaper basket just three seconds later. You know, you, uh, oughta take a look at the statistics on suicide some time. You might learn a little something about the insurance business.
Norton: Mister Keyes, I was raised in the insurance business.
Keyes: Yeah, in the front office. Come now, you’ve never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? Why, they’ve got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poison, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison: subdivided by types of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic, alkaloid, protein, and so forth. Suicide by leaps: subdivided by leaps from high places, under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks, under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But, Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record, there’s not one single case of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train. And you know how fast that train was going at the point where the body was found? Fifteen miles an hour. Now how can anybody jump off a slow-moving train like that with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself? No, no soap, Mr. Norton. We’re sunk, and we’ll have to pay through the nose, and you know it. May I have this? Come on, Walter. Next time I’ll rent a tuxedo.

Anna Karenina

a film by Joe Wright

I have to confess that never read Tolstoy’s novel and don’t feel bad about it. War and Peace, obligatory reading in high school, provided me with long-lasting Tolstoy overdose. Nor did I watch any of its screen adaptations. I knew the plot, more or less, and felt my curiosity satisfied. In my univiersity years, I remember one of our math professors asking “What has the Wronskian determinant got to do with Anna Karenina?” (nothing) and a question in our pharmacology class “What drug was Anna Karenina abusing?” (morphine).

Yesterday, Spanish television treated us to 2012 film. Tamara suggested to watch the beginning at least... so we ended sitting through all of it. I enjoyed it, most of all the costume design by Jacqueline Durran and choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui — and not just the ballroom sequences (the dance is pretty ridiculous, but that’s the point), but also, for instance, the routine of bureaucrats rubber-stamping the papers in the Stiva’s office. The whole setting, that of a theatre stage from where you can walk out, say, into the field, invites us not to take Tolstoy too seriously. Which is great. The scene in the theatre (within a theatre), naturally, reminded me of Boris vs Countess Alexandrovna in Love and Death. Even Во поле берёза стояла, a folk song which I detest since childhood, seemed to be pleasantly appropriate.

There is a great supporting cast; in my view, Alicia Vikander is outstanding as Princess Kitty. Keira Knightley is good, if rather predictable, in the title role. Given the playful way the director treated the material, I was half-expecting Anna to do something truly outrageous in the end — like, I dunno, not to jump under a train, or dump that dumbass Vronsky. Speaking of whom: who needs Aaron Taylor-Johnson if you already have Jude Law?

La vida secreta de los gatos

by Ana Juan and Marta Sanz

Friendship, love, community, curiosity, rage, introspection, maternity, death, hate, laziness, pleasure, sensuality, supernatural. These are the themes (as well as the table of contents) of this book, written by Marta Sanz and illustrated by Ana Juan. All the cats here are unique and fascinating but not all are cute, and some are positively menacing.

I am not a huge fan of vers libre but, since some of the poems made me smile, the poetry passed the test. Also, (I think) I expanded my vocabulary with words as azogue, gazapo, pócima, reyezuelo, zángano...

Ossessione

a film by Luchino Visconti

Visconti’s 1943 debut feature kicked off Negro sobre blanco, a new cycle of films based on the works of James M. Cain. Until now, I had no idea who he was, although I watched the 1981 film The Postman Always Rings Twice — which, I read now, is the fourth adaptation of the novel of the same name — a number of times. Well, Ossessione — the second adaptation — is very different.

Quite apart from the fact that the story set in rural Italy, the protagonists, Giovanna (Clara Calamai) and Gino (Massimo Girotti), are more human and likeable than their 1981 American counterparts (that is, Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange). Even Giovanna’s unloved husband, Signor Bragana (Juan de Landa), comes out as somehow lovable: going fishing with a local priest, singing an aria from La traviata... For me, the best parts of the movie are Gino’s first meeting with “Lo Spagnolo” (Elio Marcuzzo) and ditto with Anita (Dhia Cristiani) as well as the scene on the beach (closer to the end). Oh, and that Trieste was mentioned a couple of times.