Movie Review: "Lion"

Lion is billed as a "feel-good movie." While it's certainly more upbeat than many of the movies released this holiday season, it certainly manipulates your emotions on the way there, although that's not entirely a bad thing.

Saroo (a fantastic and adorable Sunny Pawar) is a five-year-old boy living in a small rural, impoverished village in India. He is raised by his mother, an uneducated woman who makes her living carrying rocks. Saroo helps his older brother Guddu, whom he idolizes, with the odd jobs he does to make money for the family. For a young boy, Saroo is tough and strong, and wants to help make whatever difference he can for his family, plus he likes being in the middle of the action when he gets to accompany Guddu.

One night, he convinces Guddu to take him along when he goes looking for nighttime work at the train station. He leaves Saroo to wait for him at the station while he goes to look for the foreman; bored with waiting, Saroo explores one of the empty trains and falls asleep. The next thing he knows, he is stuck on the train for several days, forced to forage for whatever trash he can find, until it lets him off in Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. Not speaking the same dialect as those in Calcutta, unable to communicate who he is or where he is from, he fends for himself for a while until he is taken to an orphanage.

While the orphanage tries to search for Saroo's family with the limited information they have, they are unsuccessful, so ultimately Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple, Sue and John Brierley (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham), and he is taken to Australia to live with them. A year later, the couple adopts a troubled young boy from the orphanage as well.

Some 20 years later, while in graduate school, Saroo (now played by Dev Patel) begins thinking about his natural family, and whether they still think and wonder what became of him. He decides he must try and find them, although that task is like finding a needle in a haystack, since he never could figure out the correct name of the village he came from, or even how to find people so far off the grid, if they even were still there (or alive, for that matter).

Encouraged by his girlfriend (Rooney Mara), trying to find the train station where he was first taken from becomes an obsessive task, one which threatens his studies, his job, and his relationships with his parents (especially his emotionally fragile mother) and his girlfriend. But how can he not do everything in his power to find his real family? And if he does, what will that do to John and Sue?

This film is based on a true story, but I knew nothing about it, so it was as much a mystery/thriller for me as it was a drama. It really raises a lot of interesting questions, though. What happens to lost children in poor and developing countries, and what dangers do they face? How can a poor, uneducated family marshal any available resources to find a lost child? What leads people to adopt children from another country, another culture, and remain positive in the face of emotional difficulties suffered by the children?

Lion is essentially a film in two parts, one chronicling young Saroo's harrowing journey and one following Saroo's quest to find his family. At the center of the film are the two Saroos, Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel. Pawar, in his film debut, is pitch-perfect. He is adorable, feisty, brave, and vulnerable. Patel is utterly magnificent as well, and his performance shows an emotional depth that his previous performances in more feel-good movies like Slumdog Millionaire and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel series only hinted at. This is the crowning performance of Patel's career to date, and it is one worthy of at least an Oscar nomination, if not the award itself.

Kidman doesn't have a very large role but it is a quietly powerful and emotional one. She continues to transform herself physically and emotionally for her roles, and you both admire the sacrifices she has made yet feel for her powerlessness in the face of both of her sons. She appears vulnerable and yet her quiet strength is fascinating. Mara's role doesn't really transcend that of the supporting girlfriend, but she does well with what she is given. Both Abhishek Bharate and Priyanka Bose, who play Saroo's brother and mother, respectively, bring heart and emotion to their small but crucial roles.

Incredibly, this is Director Garth Davis' first full-length film; to date he has only directed two television shows, a documentary, and a short film, although he is renowned for his commercials. Yet he showed immense talent and restraint in his work on Lion; in another's hands, this film could have become melodramatic, mawkish, even heavy-handed in its messaging, but Davis has created a film that sneaks up on you, one which makes you cry as it makes you think. I wouldn't be surprised to see it among the Best Picture nominees later this month, and believe it is definitely one of the best films of 2016 I've seen.

Movie Review: "Fences"

I remember when there was so much buzz generated around the thought of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino finally acting in a scene together in Heat. What would it be like for two lions of the cinema to finally appear together—would the film implode from all of the energy and talent? (Although they both appeared in The Godfather Part II they had no scenes together.) As you might imagine, it was a pretty electrifying scene, even though it wasn't performed at full throttle like both often do.

I didn't get the chance to see Denzel Washington and Viola Davis appear in the stage version of Fences in 2010, but that was another pairing I assumed would be electrifying, given the incredible power they bring to every role, plus the raw emotion of August Wilson's play. And while I thought the movie ran a tiny bit too long (I don't remember if it followed the play completely), not only did Washington and Davis, as well as their supporting cast, not disappoint, but they dazzled.

Fences takes place in 1950s Pittsburgh and focuses on Troy Maxson (Washington), a sanitation worker who once had dreams of playing professional baseball, but by the time black players were admitted into the major leagues, he was deemed too old. This perceived unfairness has always stuck in his craw, and causes him to look at his son Cory's dreams of playing football with a jaundiced eye.

Troy's bitterness doesn't stop him from wanting a bigger piece of the pie, and he wants the chance to be a driver like white men get. He also wants to be able to provide a little more for his family, although that doesn't stop him from complaining that his long-suffering wife, Rose (Davis), takes all of his money, and belittling his ne'er-do-well musician son Lyons when he asks to borrow money occasionally.

Troy is a larger-than-life presence in Rose and Cory's life—he talks big, he drinks big, and likes to shoot the bull with his best friend Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson, reprising his Tony-nominated role) about once-impressive athletic skills, manhood, everything. But while boastful, Troy is surprisingly caring about his brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), who sustained a brain injury during WWII, and now roams the streets shouting that he is working on God's behalf, ridding the world of hell-hounds, and getting ready for when he has to blow his horn to let St. Peter know it's time to open the gates of heaven.

A great deal of the play is characterized by emotional outbursts and confrontations among the characters, none more powerful than between Troy and Cory, as the father tries to remind the son who is boss and who is not ready to be a man, and Troy and Rose, about responsibility, loyalty, their treatment of their son, and rehashing old hurts and resentments. Washington directed this film with finesse; although movie versions of plays often feel too open once they're taken out of the four walls of the theater, this film feels comfortable in its space but knows its limits.

As you might imagine, the performances in this film are top-notch. Davis, who eschews even the slightest vanity when she cries onscreen, is utterly mesmerizing, she is both heartbreaking and strong, emotional and stoic. While I am unhappy with the decision to list her as a possible nominee for Best Supporting Actress rather than Best Actress, when she is in at least 90 percent of the movie and she won the Tony for Best Leading Actress, there is no denying she not only will get an Oscar nomination but finally win the award she so richly deserves. (And then she'll be three-fourths of the way toward winning the EGOT—better get your CD working Viola!)

Washington's role is a lot of bluster and anger, and his character isn't particularly sympathetic at times, but his performance is tremendously complex. I saw the play in its original run on Broadway when James Earl Jones played Troy, and while you couldn't deny his presence on stage (especially with that voice), Washington takes the role to another dimension. He is so fascinating to watch onscreen, and his character serves as the film's anchor, so much so that when he isn't on camera, the film feels slightly off-center. I certainly expect him to receive another Oscar nomination for his performance.

There isn't a weak link in the supporting performances—Williamson makes your heart break, while Henderson's quiet presence is the perfect foil to Washington's volume, but Henderson doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Both Jovan Adepo and Russell Hornsby, who play Cory and Lyons respectively, have emotional moments where they stand toe-to-toe (and skill-to-skill) with Washington and Davis.

In the end, this is a bleak movie, but it is tremendously well-acted and directed. While all the anger and resentment and heartbreak may be hard to watch, the performances are so mesmerizing, you can't tear yourself away.

Book Review: "Burning Bright" by Nick Petrie

Hell, yes! Once again, Nick Petrie proves he knows how to write a thriller that kicks ass and takes names.

Petrie's debut novel, The Drifter (see my review), was absolutely fantastic, a thriller with a great plot and terrific character development. Featuring war veteran Peter Ash, a complex, intense protagonist, the book even made "honorable mention" on my list of the best books I read in 2015.

Petrie—and Peter Ash—have returned in Burning Bright, a book with even more crackling action and moments of quiet emotion. It might even be better than its predecessor. And here's one thing: I know that blurbs from other authors is just a marketing thing, but when Lee Child is willing to say, "Lots of characters get compared to my own Jack Reacher, but Peter Ash is the real deal," that carries some weight. (Plus, it's true.)

Ash served in Iraq and Afghanistan, returning home after multiple tours of duty plagued by "white static"—serious claustrophobia brought on from the traumatic stress of combat. It's so bad he can barely stand to be indoors for more than a few minutes, and even being outside when the sky is really cloudy gives him trouble. He has once again taken to a long-term hiking and camping trip, this time among the California redwoods, when he discovers he's not as alone as he thought—he encounters a grizzly bear, a rare occurrence these days since most have vanished from that part of the country. His run-in with the bear doesn't approach The Revenant territory, but it sends him up a tree with no gear and supplies, and just slightly worse for wear.

Just as he's beginning to wonder if he'll have to stay in the tree for days until the bear gets distracted, he notices a climbing rope hanging in the tree, what he discovers is a series of ropes hanging from adjacent trees. What better plan that to follow this course, of sorts, and see where it leads? So there he is, traveling from tree to tree, until he finds a hanging platform. All is safe now. Then he finds another danger—a woman with a gun pointed at him. And next? Men with guns. Firing.

June Cassidy is a feisty, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist known for her investigations into data security. She's been on the run from men purporting to be with the federal government, who are interested in what she knows about her mother's groundbreaking computer software research, since her mother died in an accident not long ago. She doesn't know what her mother was working on, but it must have been something big, because these men keep coming. She doesn't know how to escape them, but discovers Peter might be the help she needs.

As the two team up to figure out who is after June, and what they want, they encounter a series of ever-more-determined men wanting to capture and/or kill them. It's going to take toughness, serious smarts, and pretty mad skills with firearms and getaway cars, none of which seems like a problem for the duo. But as they begin to uncover a serious operation afoot which makes June question whom she can trust, and Peter has to fight both the static and those after June, they may be in more trouble than they think.

Once again, Petrie has written a thriller which is the stuff of which great action films are made. The opening chapters are full of serious pulse-pounding action, but he doesn't give character and plot development short shrift. Peter Ash is so much more than meets the eye, but even though he can drop more than a few assailants at once, he still has a lot of problems of his own, not to mention the adrenaline and, perhaps even a little thrill, which comes from taking care of those looking to do him and June harm. And in June, Petrie has created a terrific foil for Peter.

If you like thrillers which not only ratchet up your pulse but leave you marveling at the author's storytelling skill as well, pick up Burning Bright. (You can read that one first if you want, but The Drifter is equally excellent.) My hope is that Petrie—and Peter Ash—will be back soon, and will get the public recognition they deserve.

NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Difficult Women" by Roxane Gay

This is a crazy-good collection, filled with stories that are sometimes quirky, sometimes moving, sometimes ribald, sometimes funny, but nearly always utterly compelling. There are 21 stories in this collection—some last little more than a page, while some are much longer, but there is a real power in Roxane Gay's storytelling, whether the stories have an almost frenzied pace or proceed in a slower, more contemplative fashion.

While the title of this collection is Difficult Women, I don't think you could classify all of the main characters as difficult. Passionate, complex, unique, fascinating (in both good and bad ways), yes, but in my opinion, the word "difficult" connotes a negative quality that not all of these women have. Some of the characters are in the flush of love or suffering the pain of loss; some are motivated primarily by the need for sexual conquest, fulfillment, even degradation, while others want tenderness and companionship, if anything. Some are fiercely protective of others around them, while some are steadfastly selfish; some are wounded by the world around them, while others are ready to give as good as they get.

I enjoyed nearly every story in this collection, but my favorites included: "North Country," about an African-American engineer who takes a job in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and has to fend off the curiosity and advances of many of her colleagues, while coming to terms with her own secrets; "The Mark of Cain," which tells of a married woman whose husband has an identical twin brother, and she pretends not to notice when the brothers switch places; and "Break All the Way Down," a moving story about a woman numbed by extreme grief, who uses infidelity and rough sex to feel something again, and whose life is turned upside down by a late-night visitor.

Other favorites included "I Will Follow You," which focuses on two sisters who were abducted as children and are inseparable as adults, even though one is married; "How," about twin sisters each rooted in their own unhappiness, desperate to escape what is holding them back from what they crave; "La Negra Blanca," which focuses on a young stripper working to pay for college, who must face the demands of an entitled customer; and "The Sacrifice of Darkness," a story with a fairytale-like feel, about a couple living in a world of darkness and the curse they must bear.

I have never read anything Gay has written, so I was really blown away, by her use of language and imagery, the sexual frankness of many of her characters, and the richness of her characters. There's probably a story for everyone in this collection, although all of the stories might not appeal. (For those of you squeamish by descriptions of harm coming to animals, there are a few stories which go into graphic detail about hunting and other things.)

Difficult Women is a unique, powerful, well-told collection that will stay in my head for a long time. If you're a fan of short stories featuring women with a mind of their own, pick this one up.

Book Review: "Universal Harvester" by John Darnielle

This should be an interesting exercise: writing a review of a book that you do not understand but you couldn't stop reading, both because you were hoping things would finally become clear, and because the writing was quite good, even as it meandered.

It's the late 1990s, just before DVDs become the preferred method of entertainment, leaving video stores struggling. Jeremy works at Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa, a small town in the center of the state. He should be thinking about college, or at least getting a "real" job, but he likes not having much to worry or think about—he can perform all of the "store opening" functions in a matter of minutes.

One day, one of the store's regular customers, brings in a copy of an old movie with Boris Karloff that she rented. She says that there's something else on the tape. Jeremy means to watch it in his spare time but he gets distracted and forgets. A few days later, another customer returns another movie, saying, "There's another movie on this tape." When Jeremy watches the video, he can't explain what he sees, but it disturbs him. The scenes appear to be poorly shot home videos, sometimes an empty room with just the sound of breathing evident, sometimes there are masked people moving around, but Jeremy can't determine if the people are involved of their own volition or if they're somehow being controlled or threatened.

When Jeremy shows the videos to Sarah Jane, the store's owner/manager, she recognizes the farmhouse where the scenes were shot as being in a nearby town. She feels compelled to visit this house and see if the people who live there know anything about these films. She is inexplicably drawn to Lisa Sample, the woman who lives in the house, and before anyone notices, she has practically moved in with Lisa, who seems to have some type of control over Sarah Jane, and has some secrets of her own.

Jeremy can't understand what has prompted Sarah Jane to practically abandon her store to spend time with Lisa, and he can't get the videos out of his mind. Should he just let Sarah Jane live her life as she chooses, and should he move on with his own life? Or should he try and figure out just what these videos mean, especially when he finds other videos in the store with increasingly disturbing scenes?

This book is creepy and confusing, with a mood that falls somewhere between Twin Peaks and The Ring, although it really resembles neither in terms of plot. The story shifts perspective several times, with a few sections narrated from Jamie's point of view, a few narrated from Lisa's point of view (and her family history), and a section narrated from another family's point of view.

As I mentioned earlier, John Darnielle knows how to write, to create vivid pictures and atmosphere, and ratchet up the tension so you can't stop reading even as you wrack your brain trying to figure out what this book is about. Is it a horror story? Is it a meditation on loss, and our need to try and find answers to what causes those losses? Or is it just one great big collection of red herrings?

I honestly don't know the answer to the above question, and it's pretty frustrating. While I like to use my imagination when reading, I do like there to be somewhat of a definitive plot, with some resolution. Universal Harvester is well-written (although the book shifts perspective every time the narration is building up steam, thereby cutting the plot off at the knees) but for me, ultimately unsatisfying, yet I couldn't stop reading it!

NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Weight of This World" by David Joy

"In that way, this day was no different from any day that had come before, and that was part of what kept Aiden up at night: the cyclical nature of it all. For his entire life everything had been a continuous whirling of disappointment, the circle seeming to tighten and become just a little more certain with each passing year."

Aiden McCall has known nothing other than his small North Carolina town, and virtually known nothing other than being poor his entire life. Orphaned at a young age, he fended for himself until his best friend, Thad Broom, convinced his mother and her boyfriend to let Aiden stay with them. Aiden and Thad have been inseparable ever since, except for when Thad joined the military and went to Afghanistan.

With the economy in tatters, there is very little for Aiden and Thad to do in order to make money, so they resort to stripping foreclosed houses of wiring and other supplies, and much to Aiden's chagrin, they use most of their earnings to buy drugs. (He dreams of getting out of their town and heading somewhere slightly larger, where there was more opportunity.) Thad returned from Afghanistan with a significant back injury, and his time in the military left him changed emotionally as well, unable to shake the things he saw and did which continue to haunt him, and drugs provide him the only escape.

"Whether a man was born one way or another, he wound up doing things that haunted him the rest of life. People made mistakes that couldn't be fixed...When it all boiled down to it, the only difference between one person and another was whether there was someone to jump in and keep you from drowning."

One night, everything changes. Thad and Aiden's drug dealer accidentally dies in front of them, which leaves them with a significant amount of crystal meth, not to mention weapons and money. The two react in different ways—Aiden tries figuring out how to sell what they're able to take, while Thad loses control and connects with a troubled trio of people, to whom he reveals their secrets. That split-second decision sends Thad and Aiden down a path with dangerous consequences, and both will be tested physically and emotionally, pushed to the brink of survival.

I felt a pervading sense of doom, danger, and bleakness from the opening pages of this book. Even though Aiden and Thad made questionable—and in some cases, troubling—decisions at times in their lives, I still felt like their upbringing left them at a disadvantage from which it was nearly insurmountable to recover.

Can the path of our lives be changed by our actions, or is it predetermined? Does not having a loving family put you at a disadvantage? David Joy explores the answers to those questions, although he makes no real excuses for his characters. This is a dark book, although there are glimmers of hope (in an interesting way), but Joy's storytelling keeps you from getting utterly depressed. His use of imagery is tremendous as well; you can hear the noises and see the sights he describes.

This is the first of Joy's books I've read, and I'm definitely going to read his debut novel, Where All Light Tends to Go, which I've also heard is terrific. This isn't the happiest of books, but the characters he has created and the story he unfurls hooks you so you need to know what happens. Moving and evocative.

NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

The Best Books I Read in 2016...

2016 might have been a year of loss and significant upheaval for our country, but I'll admit, it was one hell of a year for me as far as reading was concerned. I read 161 books in 2016—the most I've ever read (or at least since college, when I managed a bookstore and was able to read most of the day). This high total was the fringe benefit of a year of significant travel, downtime during a blizzard (and subsequent case of severe bronchitis), and most of all, some pretty amazing books.

As I've done for the last seven years or so, I went back through all of the books I've read and come up with a list of my favorites. Culling 161 books down was really, really difficult, so what I've done is come up with a list of 25, along with an additional 11 which just fell short of the very best but they're too good to miss.

I've linked to my original review of each so you can read more about each one. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and know which books you'd count among your favorites, even if you didn't read as much as I did! I'll list my top five (in random order) and then the remainder of the books will be in random order as well—ranking would be far too complicated!!

The Best of the Best

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch: What a ride this book took me on! This is an absolutely fascinating story of a man who wakes up to find out that the life he knew didn't exist, no matter how vivid his memories were. But which life is the dream, the one he is in now, or the one he remembers? Can he ever make it back to what he remembered, and if not, what will happen to him? Suspend your disbelief and get ready for your heart to start beating pretty fast. Read my original review.

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson: This one was brutal and absolutely beautiful, and it absolutely blew me away. For the last few years, aliens have periodically abducted Henry Denton. The aliens have given Henry an ultimatum: Earth will be destroyed in 144 days, unless Henry makes the decision to save the world. All he has to do is push a button. But does Henry want to save the world? He has to decide whether humanity is worth saving or if letting the world end would also end his own emotional anguish. This is such an inventive, moving, beautiful book I won't soon forget it. Read my original review.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell: Greenwell's debut novel is stunning, emotional, lyrical, and it quietly grabs you and doesn't let go. It is a novel about desire, and the desire to be wanted. It's about the struggle between following your heart and your libido instead of your head, and both the consequences and triumphs that come from doing so. Greenwell's talent is evident from the very first lines of this book, and his poetic use of language and storytelling ability sustains through the book's entirety. Read my original review.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi: Paul Kalanithi was an excellent neurosurgeon. At the age of 36, Paul was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Suddenly his life has transformed him from doctor to patient. This is both a reflection on coming face-to-face with one's own mortality and a commentary on the responsibility doctors have to help their patients and their families through that same reflection, whether it happens with some warning or suddenly. Easily one of the finest books I've read in some time. Read my original review.

Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz: Holy freaking crap. This book absolutely rocked—every heart-racing, pulse-pounding second! When Evan Smoak (not his real name) was young, a man rescued him from a troubled life and he trained Evan how to kill. When he got older he became the Nowhere Man, the last resort for a person in desperate trouble. No one knows who the Nowhere Man is, but they know if they call him, he will help rescue them from a seemingly helpless situation. This book hit all of the right notes for me—fantastic action, more than a few twists, some excellent character development, and some pretty cool gadgetry. Read my original review.