The City & The City

The city is Beszel and the city is Ul Qoma, two cities in two different countries, but each occupying the same geographic space. The cities are built in and around each other, however anyone in one city (resident or visitor) is forbidden to take any notice of anyone or anything in the other city. Any failure to do so incurs the wrath of the mysterious and all-powerful "Breach". When the body of a murdered student is found in Beszel, it seems like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad, but the investigation proves more complex and dangerous than Borlu could have imagined, leading him from one city to another and to the even more mysterious places in between.

This 2009 novel from British author China Mieville works as a complex and intriguing fantasy tale in a well-realised world, the rules by which the two cities exist together and function are well worked out and believable, but this also works as an exciting detective novel, and it delivers anything you might want from a crime novel. A gruesome murder, investigation, no shortage of suspects, action, chases, and a likeable and troubled protagonist. It also makes a point about how people deliberately ignore the more troubling aspects of where they live.

Performance

This film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970, and was directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg.  In London, Chas Devlin (James Fox) is a brutal gangland enforcer, who genuinely enjoys his work.  When he disobeys direct orders from his boss and kills a rival for personal, rather than business reasons, Devlin becomes targeted by his own gang.  He decides to hide out in the vast mansion of reclusive rock star, Turner (Mick Jagger), who lives with Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Breton).  In Turner's surreal, erotic, decadent world of drugs, sex and mysticism, Devlin finds the boundaries of reality and fantasy collapsing.

This is a film that, if you see it once, you will never forget it.  It's very much a film of two halves.  The first half is, in terms of plot, a great if conventional gangster film (in terms of style and technique it is a million miles away from an ordinary gangster film), and in the second it becomes a surreal fantasy of sex, drugs and identity.  It utilises a fragmented, stream of conscience style, using almost every cinematic trick in the book.  James Fox is perfect as Chas Devlin, someone who is, in British criminal slang, a "performer" (a gangster with a special talent for violence and intimidation), he frequently tells people "I know who I am", he lives in a pristine apartment, and is always immaculately groomed and dressed in sharp suits, and is always in control.  Mick Jagger's Turner is another type of performer, a rock star who has retired because, as he says "I lost my demon".  Devlin, a man who needs to be in control, suddenly finds himself, in Turner's house, in a situation where he has no control, where all the old rules just don't apply.  Very much a product of it's time, and full of references to Jorge Luis Borges and William Burroughs, this is still genuinely shocking and disturbing.

          

White Heat

This 1949 film is one of the quintessential Hollywood gangster movies.  Tracing the violent life of psychotic robber Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) who despite being married to Verna (Virginia Mayo),  has a deeply unhealthy bond with his equally ruthless mother (Margaret Wycherly) who is the only person that he seems to have any real feelings for.

This is an exciting, influential film and is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made.  It has aged well, and the almost documentary style film-making is still in evidence today.  The ending of the film has become one of the iconic scenes in movie history, and the prison cafeteria sequence is startling.  James Cagney turns in a gripping performance as the savage, but strangely sympathetic Jarrett, and Virginia Mayo is impressive as Verna, who Jarrett cruelly ignores, but has her own capacity for extreme ruthlessness.   Edmond O'Brien makes less of an impression, however, as the square-jawed hero.  This is a must see for thriller fans.

The Limehouse Golem

Limehouse is one of the poorest and roughest areas of Victorian London where every kind of crime, degradation and vice is rampant, and now it is targeted by a brutal serial killer, the so-called "Limehouse Golem" which strikes seemingly at random, targeting the young, the old, men and women.  World weary Police Inspector John Kildare (Bill Nighy), who has been passed over for promotion due to rumours about his private life, is put in charge of the case and during the investigation finds himself drawn to troubled music hall actress Elizabeth Cree (Olivia Cooke), who is on trial for the poisoning of her husband, one of several suspects in the Golem case.

Based on the novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem by Peter Ackroyd, this is a lurid, full-blooded Victorian melodrama, rich with atmosphere and period detail.  It's full of gore and horror, but also works as an intriguing mystery.  The film uses historical figures as characters, such as Karl Marx (Henry Goodman), novelist George Gissing (Morgan Watkins) and comedian Dan Leno (Douglas Booth).  Bill Nighy is great as the sensitive, troubled police inspector and the connection he forms with  Elizabeth is genuinely touching.  The film explores themes of social inequality and the pursuit of fame.

Devil in a Blue Dress

This is a 1995 film noir movie, directed by Carl Franklin, and based on a novel by Walter Mosley.  

It's set in Los Angeles, 1948, and stars Denzel Washington as Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlings, recently fired from his job at an aircraft manufacturer, who is hired to find the missing girlfriend of an aspiring politician. Of course it's not long before Easy finds himself caught up in a web of murder, deception and corruption.  

It's a film about someone becoming a private detective, rather than already being a full P.I. The film sticks by and large to the rules of the genre, but it does have important points to make about race relations in that time and place. There is a strong sense of place and some cool hard-boiled dialogue. Denzel Washington is perfect as the charismatic Easy Rawlings, with strong support from Tom Sizemore as his shady employer. Don Cheadle almost walks away with the film, making the most of every second of his brief screen time as Easy's murderous friend Mouse. The only caveat is that Jennifer Beals doesn't have much to do as the mysterious femme fatale.

This is an enjoyable, strong film, well worth checking out.

Shoot the Pianist

Shoot the Pianist is a French film from 1960, directed by the great Francois Truffaut.

It stars singer Charles Aznavour as a once famous pianist, reduced to playing piano in a seedy bar, trying to escape his shady past. However one night his brother comes in, pursued by a pair of gangsters, and the pianist finds himself involved once again in the world he seeks to escape from. 

Following Truffaut's celebrated debut film The 400 Blows (1959). the director wanted to make a film which paid tribute to his love of American crime films, and pulp fiction, as opposed to the "very French" (in Truffaut's opinion) 400 Blows.  He found his subject with the novel Down There by David Goodis.  The storyline of a man trying to escape his past being drawn into a dangerous criminal world is familiar enough, but Truffaut's French New Wave style elevates it to another level entirely.  Utilising a range of techniques (extended voice overs, out of sequence shots, jump cuts, and a grainy kinetic filming style) and paying tribute to the world of thrillers and film noir, this is a film which crackles with life and energy, and is often very funny.  However,l there are moments and elements in the film that are incredibly dark, and in amongst all the fun and vibrancy, there is a string tragic element.  As the shy, haunted, heavy eyed piano player, Charles Aznavour is perfect.