The Machine - James Smythe

   The near future is grim: climate change has brought floods and now a heavy airless heat. Victor had come back from yet another war injured and violent but the doctors had promised to take away the painful memories using the Machine. Instead it had taken everything and Victor had been left a shell. Now Beth has managed to find one of the old Machines. She orders it online and delivery men place its massive bulk in the spare room, next to the bed. It’s the only place in the flat where it will fit. She’s going to reconfigure it and use it to rebuild Victor, her husband. She has planned meticulously. If only she can get Vic back they can face the violence, the fear and the memories head on, the way they should have done the first time.

  Smythe has crafted a taut, complex novel, heavy with fear and tension; a novel that explores the deceptions of memory and interrogates the stories we tell ourselves to endure. It’s a novel that frequently had my heart racing and storm clouds gathering over my head as I felt the dread of plans slipping out of control and the palpable threat of violence. It’s not often a novel evokes such a degree of atmosphere and mood. The long hot summer feels unbearably muggy and oppressive whilst the sense of threat on Beth’s estate adds to the claustrophobia. The narrator stays close to Beth throughout; the method allows Smythe to create another layer of tension because you are so close to Beth’s frustrations and anxieties, her headaches and her tiredness.

   The other great element is the machine itself. I’m not that well read in the sci-fi classics but I know enough to realise that Smythe has captured an important measure of the uncanny with his machine. It has an otherness; a power beyond human control and understanding that makes me remember echoes of Roadside Picnic and Rogue Moon. The slightly future Britain is brilliantly realised as are the physical descriptions of Beth trying to care for Victor. Furthermore Beth is a complicated character full of desire and frustration, but it’s the descriptions of the machine and its monstrous otherworldliness that lifts Smythe’s novel onto a different level of excellence. I finished it three nights ago and it’s still scratching away at the insides of my head. I can’t shrug it off.

  The Machine should have been on BFSA shortlist and I hope it makes the Clarke.

 

Women in sci-fi

 

   In Autumn 2010 Tricia Sullivan noted that only one woman won the Clarke award in the noughties, compared with 5 in its first decade. In 2011 Damien Walter asked readers to name their favourite sci-fi titles. The response was this, out of 500 suggestions, 20 were by women - 4%! The debate spiked again last year with the all male Clarke shortlist, so over the last few years there have been lots of useful discussions about women in publishing and women's writing more generally (especially in sci-fi, fantasy and horror). 

   Here I want to start a list of useful posts, lists and websites (in no particular order):

 

Good discussions and lists here and here at Torque Control and a fabulous resource SF by Women, 2001-2010.

SF Mistressworks is a brilliant site full of excellent reviews

Great list here from Nina Allan.

Female Invisibility Bingo

 

Taking the Russ pledge

 

Gwyneth Jones

 

2012 SF count

 

Research shows male writers still dominate books world and again - Men still dominate books world, study shows

The Women Men Don’t See
 

Book stuff

   I've read the first two books on the BSFA shortlist. Ancillary Justice is a rather good, exciting novel, full of ideas. The writing is functional rather than literary but Leckie is good at maintaining pace and expectation, good with the action scenes and good at the pseudo philosophical debates that deepen the themes around imperialism and identity. I'd happily recommend it to any sci-fi fan and especially to any movie fan, sick of all the brainless blockbusters that pass for sci-fi in Hollywood these days. There's a short piece by Ann Leckie here that explains some of her inspiration and an excellent review here.
   Unfortunately I can't recommend Ack Ack Macaque with any fervour. It has a pulp sensibility but without any of the pleausres, and challenges, that good pulp provides. Instead you get a fast moving story with a few good ideas. It's not awful - the monkey definitely has some good moments, and Powell is good at pace and action. It's a shame some of the writing is SO bad. Why (pet hate) include similies if they aren't very good?! I really can't begin to understand how this got on the shortlist - in fact it's a little depressing.

Also, a few good recent bits and pieces:

First, Steve Mosby on The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar, a book I enjoyed very much indeed (though Christopher Priest didn't).

Tolkien (and any fantasy) readers should read this by Amal El-Mohtar who has a cool blog too. Her review of Thor: The Dark World almost makes me want to see it.

Ashamed to say I've never read any of Nicola Griffith's work despite hearing great things about Ammonite and Slow River. Hild however will be read THIS WEEK and I'm very excited.

Strange Horizons also has reviews of two other books I'm looking forward to -Wolves by Simon Ings (Nina Allan loves it, as does Toby Litt) and Jeff Vandameer's Annihilation.

Ian Sales has a good blog with good book reviews and a series of posts entitled The future we used to have. The latest is very cool.

Bollywood so far

    Just a place to remind myself of the Bollywood films I've seen so far. Still got about 40 more on DVD to watch including some of the classics.
   But what do I really need to see?

 

1.    3 idiots (2009)

2.    Aiyyaa (2012)

3.    Bandini (1963)

4.    Bachna ae Haseeno (2008)

5.    Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)

6.    Bombay Talkies (2013)

7.    Bunty aur Babli (2005)

8.    Chaalbaaz (1989)*

9.    Chakde! India (2007)

10. Chashme Buddoor (1981)

11. Chori Chori (1956)

12. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001)

13. Dabaang (2010)

14. Delhi 6 (2009)

15. Devdas (2002)

16. Dil Chahte Hai (2001)

17. Dil se (1998)

18. Dil to Pagel Hai (1997)

19. The Dirty Picture (2011)

20. Don (1978)

21. Don (2006)

22. Dil Bole Hadippa! (2009)

23. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

24. English Vinglish (2012)

25. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012)

26. Ek tha Tiger (2014)

27. Fanaa (2006)

28. Guide (1965)

29. Ghulami (1985)

30. Honeymoon Travel Pvt Ltd (2007)

31. Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994)

32. Hum Tum (2004)

33. Ishquiya (2010)

34. Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)

35. Jab We Met (2007)

36. Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na (2008)*

37. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006)

38. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)

39. Kahaani (2012)

40. Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000)

41. Kal Ho Naa Hai (2003)

42. Kaminey (2009)

43. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

44. Kuch naa Kaho (2003)

45. Lagaan (2001)

46. Lajja (2001)

47. Lamhe (1991)

48. Life…in a Metro (2007)

49. Lootera (2013)

50. Luck by Chance (2009)

51. Main Hoon Na (2004)

52. Mandi (1983)

53. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013)

54. Mirch Masala (1987)

55. Monsoon Wedding (2001)

56. Mother India (1957)

57. Mr India (1987)*

58. Munna Bhai MBBS (2003)

59. My Name is Khan (2010)

60. Naseeb (1981)

61. No Entry (2005)*

62. OMG. Oh My God (2012)

63. Omkara (2006)

64. Om Shanti Om (2007)

65. Parvarish (1977)

66. Peepli Live (2010)

67. Pyaasa (1957)

68. Rab ne Bana di Jodi (2008)

69. Raja Hindustani (1996)

70. Rang de Basanti (2006)

71. Rangeela (1995)

72. Ra.One (2011)

73. The Rising: The Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005)

74. Roti Kapada aur Makaan (1974)

75. Salaam-e-Ishq (2007)*

76. Satya (1998)

77. Seeta aur Geeta (1972)

78. Sholay (1975)

79. Shudh Desi Romance (2014)

80. Silsila (1981)

81. Talaash (2012)

82. Terre Zameen Par (2007)

83. Thakshak (1999)

84. Vicky Donor (2012)

85. Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973)

86. Yeh Jawaani hai Deewani (2013)

87. Zanjeer (1973)

88. Zindagi na milegi dobara (2011)

*denotes films I really wouldn't want to have to watch ever again: only 5 out of 88 ain't too bad methinks. It's a real shame Shridevi chose such bad films (though maybe it was the era), because she always has fantastic moments but I still wouldn't want to have to watch Mr India all the way through again. Lamhe on the other hand was a ridiculous guilty pleasure!

2014 BSFA Awards

 

 The short lists for the 2014 BSFA awards are out. The shortlist for best novel is exciting:

Best Novel

God’s War by Kameron Hurley (Del Rey)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)

Evening’s Empires by Paul McAuley (Gollancz)

Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell (Solaris)

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (Gollancz)

   I’m gonna try to read four of them:  I’ve read McAuley before so I’m sure Evening’s Empires will be very good/brilliant but it’s not out in pbk yet.

   Remember that last year the BSFA awards and the Clarke both courted controversy with their all-male shortlists so it’s good to see the inclusion this year of God’s War and Ancillary Justice. Hurley’s novel, released much earlier in the States, has been a site of controversy and critical debate, as well as much praise so I’m really looking forward to finally reading it. Leckie’s novel is getting LOTS of good press so that’s the one I’ve started with.

   The Clarke shortlist isn’t out until 13^th March; the long list of submissions can be found here.

Iranian Films

   My first encounter with Iranian film was Samira Makhmalbaf’s Blackboards, encouraged presumably by the reviews in the Guardian, at the Curzon Soho in 2000. Back then I had no idea about the New Iranian Cinema – pre or post-revolutionary, or the debates amongst critics. Since then many critically acclaimed movies have been shown at art-house cinemas (or had a DVD release) and now various classics and some of the early films of Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Abbas Kiarostami, unavailable on DVD or blu-ray, can  be found online or via Netflix, whilst numerous books and essays map out the critical terrain.

   Many of the recent Iranian films shown and feted in the West don’t get shown in Iran and often rely on money from Europe for their production costs. Iranian cinemas meanwhile are full of Bollywood, Hollywood action and home-grown comedies and dramas. This raises a series of related issues - Laura Mulvey wrote this, just a year after A Taste of Cherry had won the Palme d'Or:

   “The new Iranian cinema emerged out of comparative isolation, enforced by international politics and the post-revolutionary censorship of non-Islamic art and entertainment. In parallel, however, the government has supported home-produced films that conform to the basic codes of Islamic cultural codes. These circumstances have turned Iran into perhaps the last completely cinephile nation, where a love for cinema flourishes in a way long forgotten way elsewhere. At the same time, the limitations on content and image have arguably contributed to a cinema that in formal and intellectual terms has caught the imagination of critics and film theorists outside Iran too – as Kiarostami’s movies have appeared, foreign art-film critics and audiences have responded to them as to a lost, no-longer-to-be-hoped-for object of desire. Godard is reported to have said at Cannes: “Cinema begins with Griffiths and ends with Kiarostami” (Sight and Sound, June 1998)

   Thus Western viewers will benefit from an awareness of the circumstances and history of cultural production in Iran; the impact of restrictions and censorship; the desire for art-films amongst Western critics (and their importance to the festival circuit) and the appeal, amongst cineastes, for the exotic and the obscure. It’s interesting too, that some theorists have been critical of Kiarostami for his lack of engagement with politics (see Farahmand in Tapper 2002) when for me it’s not just that (most) Iranian films manage to be, as Mulvey writes, “surprising, beautiful and cerebral” but political to their core, especially in their sensitivity to women, children, the poor and the marginalised, and in their formal invention. That might be because my experience has been mostly of the films produced since 2000 – those of Samira Makhmalbaf,  Jafar Panahi,  Mania Akbari, Shirin Neshat, Asghar Farhadi and of course, Kiarostami. It also begs a distinction between political critique and social critique. Some Iranian émigrés desire a more political cinema – one that openly criticises the Republic or that would “concern the competing factions in government, representing opposed ’ideological, charismatic, populist, and authoritarian’ views of the nature of political power. This seems a big ask: try to think of a list of contemporary British, American or French films that do that for instance. It certainly causes you to think about the power of art to influence change in repressive regimes and raises the old questions about art and propaganda.

   Many of the films of the New Iranian Cinema combine seemingly obverse characteristics - (Italian) neo-realist elements and self-reflexive, self-conscious (modernist) elements, to produce troubling, interrogative texts with innovative forms of cinematic language. Though that isn’t to suggest they are at all similar in form or tone or that they are ever boring.

   This month I shall be re-watching a number of films and hoping I can get friends to download a few I’ve never seen. I’m hoping others will take up the challenge and watch some films new to them too. To start off, especially if you’ve never seen an Iranian film, why not try Offside (Jafar Panahi 2006); easily available and cheap, it’s the best football film ever made (not hard) though you never see a football.

   I’d love people to watch a film or two and to provide questions and criticisms – if nothing else it would help me to broaden my critical perspective.

Mini Reading List –the online resources are perfect for a brief introduction.

·         Firouzan films – a good selection of essays and a good ‘to watch’ list!

·         Young and Innocent - very good background essay here.

·         McGill, H (2004) Iranian House Style – good Sight and Sound article (available online)

·         Naficy, H (2012) A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 4: The Globalizing Era, 1984–2010 – bang up-to-date textbook full of good insights.

Tapper, R (2002) The New Iranian Politics, Representation and Identity Cinema – seminal collection of essays with a good intro by Tapper and a fantastic short afterword by Laura Mulvey.