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| Book and Movie reviews.... | | Date Created: Sep 23, 2004, 03:12 PM |
 Just finished Roy Nyswaner's Blue Days, Black Nights: A Memoir. With a title like that you don't expect it to be a happy story do you? The story begins after Nyswaner's success as a screen writer for Philadelphia. As his life spirals downward, he meets a young hustler named Johann. Johann offers companionship, though of course Roy wants more and believes one day he'll have a white-picket-fence life with Johann. That is, if the crystal meth doesn't kill them first.
I'm sure writing this book was cathartic for Nyswaner, but reading it wasn't much fun. It was predictable, and not just because of the flash-forward at the beginning of the book. (By the way, I'm tired of books that start with what amounts to an epilogue. It was a nice device the first half dozen times people did it, but now it's tired.) I'll give you three guesses as to what happens to Johann. Roy's character isn't at all likeable, which is fine, I can deal with books that have unlikeable main characters, but it might be nice to feel like they learned something from their experiences. Not sure Roy does...in the book anyway.
I'm tired of Hollywood stories. I'm tired of crystal meth stories. I'm not sure where gay fiction should be going, but it feels like it's in a real rut. I don't know if anyone other than me would buy a book about people who don't live in either New York or LA, and who don't use crystal meth, but it might be nice to read a book or two about people like that.
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In other review news, we went to see Touch of Pink last night at the Michigan. I won't give a long synopsis because the website has one already. If you've seen The Wedding Banquet, you've seen this movie. However, this movie is a little funnier and a little less touching. The plot device of having Kyle MacLachlan play the ghost of Cary Grant is really quite amusing and new. It's one thing for a movie character to see dead people, or hear visions, but MacLachlan's performance is inspired and wonderful and makes this otherwise rerun of a movie a standout. I only wish I knew more of Grant's movies because I'm sure there are several subtle jokes in there that I missed. |
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