The Nesbo-phenomenon: Review of 'Nemesis'

Title: Nemesis
Author: Jo Nesbo
Genre: Crime, thriller

If you've arrived into or departed from, or even just brushed near a London train station recently, chances are that you will recognise the name Jo Nesbo. Millions of people are reading the Norwegian writer's novels featuring the troubled detective, Harry Hole (pronounced 'Hoola' in Norway) in a whole host of sticky situations - ok, less sticky, more dangerous, violent and with a significantly high death risk. With eight books in the crime fiction series, plus Headhunters, which was recently made into a movie, Nesbo has firmly established himself in popular reading culture, being dubbed 'The next Stieg Larsson' (of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo fame). Personally, I think he's better than Larson, and my most recent read, Nemesis, proves it.

Starting with a bank raid in which a young female cashier is shot dead, so begins Harry's investigation into a complex web of robbery, murder and infidelity involving gypsies, Brazilian hit men, successful businessmen and even Harry himself. A suffering alcoholic, Hole also finds himself wrapped up in the death of an old flame, taking his investigations underground when he becomes the prime suspect in his own murder case.

As usual for a Nesbo thriller, this is a page turner until the last. The pace is relentless, urging you to fly through the 700 or so pages with twists and turns leading you to suspect almost every character at one time or another. It is not as complex as The Redbreast, which involved story-lines from across large gaps of time, taking the reader from the 1940s to the present with little warning. However, there will be times when the complexity of Nemesis will have led the story to flip back and forth so many times that you start to feel that you could have accepted the first explanation - thank you very much officers, let's call it a wrap and go home. But somehow, you find yourself quickly back and absorbed deep in the story and enjoying those final moments when it all comes to light. Albeit, 700 pages later.

Harry Hole's character is as flawless as ever - in written terms, not in personality. Despite his unconventional methods of policing, we're rooting for him. And despite his alcoholism, insomnia, lack of social skills and the constant pressure he puts on his colleagues, loved ones and himself, you can't help but love the guy and hope that it all comes good with the case and his long-term love interest, Rakel. He is the typical damaged maverick, but there is always room in my heart for those types - in literature, obviously.

A follow up to The Redbreast, you might be forgiven for thinking this novel came after the most popular of Nesbo's books, The Snowman. All his novels are plastered with the tag line, 'Author of The Snowman' but it is simply that his books have been translated into English and published in a funny order. The latest release in the UK, The Bat, is actually the first Harry Hole thriller and finally, with this release we will discover the story behind the mysterious shooting of an Australian serial killer that Harry Hole is so famous for in fictional Norway.

So what to do? Do you pick up The Bat and start from the beginning? Or do you start with The Snowman? In all honesty, it doesn't matter. Nesbo has an art for reintroducing the longer-running threads in the Harry Hole story in each novel as well as starting afresh with his character and giving you the chance to form a relationship with the lead at any point in his life. The only no-brainer is this: it doesn't matter which book you choose from the Jo Nesbo collection, just make sure you read one.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'Nemesis'.
www.jonesbo.co.uk/

'The Island President' Review

Film Title: The Island President

Starring: Mohamed Nasheed, Ahmed Naseem, Mohamed Aslam

Directed by: John Shenk

Our Rating: 4 stars

Argh! Climate change, we’re all gonna die! Well, actually some people in the Maldives might. Sorry to make it all gloomy but if, like me, you thought that climate change was just another thing happening in the world, then you should watch this; an insightful documentary about a man determined not to give in to the potential catastrophes of global warming.

Jon Shenk’s latest documentary, The Island President, charts the story of Mohamed Nasheed, the President of the Maldives. Having suffered torture, repeated imprisonment and solitary confinement for his opposition to authoritarian leader President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nasheed finally brought democracy to his home country in 2008 and took on the role of President at the age of 41. Though he may have thought his darkest days were over it soon became apparent that they were only just beginning, as the real threat of climate change loomed over his low-lying island nation. The reality for the Maldives is this: with a sea level rise of just 3 metres the Maldives’ 1200 islands will become a modern-day Atlantis, submerged beneath the surface of the ocean with 3,000 years of history, culture and people lost.

The movie tracks President Nasheed’s first year in office, from his official appointment to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. Nasheed is a fantastic character. He is funny, delightful, cheeky and outrageously determined to get the recognition, help and cooperation that his nation needs to survive. Ultimately, he’s one politician you’re rooting for; maybe it’s because he’s the underdog, maybe it’s because he was beaten up so many times but often it’s just because he is honest, brave and has moral integrity.

Jon Shenk is, however, the unseen star of the movie. His cinematography set to the dulcet (if slightly gloomy) tones of Radiohead portrays the Maldives as a mythical nation, so beautiful it almost transcends itself. And that’s the point: the eeriness, the glowing blue water and tiny dotted islands are soon to become a thing of stories if the ocean is allowed to claim it over the next few decades. The golden sands and iconic exotic beach holiday images are tainted by the sandbags and diggers placed on the islands’ coastlines in a futile attempt to keep the waves at bay. It’s a harrowing reminder of the ease with which man can fall and of the grim fact that the next generation of Maldivian children could become the first environmental refugees, forced to leave their homeland

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Nasheed lifts your spirits with his warm humour and unrelenting will to solve the problem of climate change with the help of his practical team of people. Though the Copenhagen Climate Summit was seen by many as a failure, thanks to a rousing speech from Nasheed himself it was salvaged from complete disaster with an agreement that marked the first time that the United States, China and India had collectively agreed to reduce carbon emissions. The section of the film documenting the Summit is a rare glimpse into the realities of the political bickering that goes on behind closed doors. Nasheed is like the small kid with glasses (probably called Englebert) thrown amongst the big bullies, struggling to be taken seriously and ending up a little bruised when he attempts to speak up. But Nasheed has been bruised before; his appreciation for his democratic rights is enough for him to square up even to the Chinese in order to save his nation.

The message of Shenk’s documentary remains a serious one but its real triumph is that it’s not preachy. For those of us who live blissfully and ignorantly with the idea that recycling now and then is enough to save the planet, it does not set out to wag its finger nor badger us into a change of behaviour. Instead it simply and poignantly brings home the realities of impending climate disaster, in stark, vivid terms.

You don’t have to live in the Maldives to appreciate that losing your entire culture, your houses, your cinemas, your favourite park bench, is a terrible thing. Think of the uproar if Nelson’s column went under and we’d all have to up-sticks to Ben Nevis? This is the immediacy of the problem for a nation that’s already had its fair share of trials and tribulations to bear. Now, despite being led by a man who’s won numerous political and environmental awards for his work, it faces an even tougher and less forgiving adversary in the form of climate change. The Island President is not trying to change your mind, but it will. In any case, for the beautiful cinematography, the inspirational Nasheed and for a crash course on the little known history of the Maldives, this documentary is well worth a watch.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Island President'.

Also appeared on Best for Film (http://bestforfilm.com/film-reviews/drama/the-island-president/)

'A Man's Story' Review

Film Title: A Man’s Story

Starring: Ozwald Boateng

Directed by: Varon Bonicos

Certificate: 15

Our Rating: 2 Stars

After following menswear designer Ozwald Boateng around for twelve years, you'd think that at the very least Varon Bonicos might have a good bit of fashion gossip to share with us. Sadly not. A slightly stuffy, rose-tinted documentary about an evidently talented man; though its grounding is in clothing creation it never quite manages to cut to the chase.

A Man’s Story is the product of 12 years filming the life and times of successful fashion designer, Ozwald Boateng. The son of Ghanaian immigrants, self-taught menswear designer Boateng went on to become the youngest and the first black man to front a shop on Saville Row; the mecca for gentleman’s tailoring. Varon Bonicos, initially agreeing to film this man for 6 months with an end to making a movie about his successes, ended up filming him for 12 years. After doing a bit of maths we can confirm that that’s quite the upgrade.

Boateng: self-taught, youngest and first black man on Saville Row; there’s no denying that this a true success story. You’d think that with all that business savvy and slick suited style, they’d be able to come up with a film that’s at least half-watchable. Sadly though, flabby editing, an over-abundance of similar material and selective access to Baoteng’s experiences means that Bonicos film never feels quite authentic, instead ensuring a fairly one-note romp through a (admittedly bloody lovely) suit collection.

Considering the amount of time Bonicos spent with Boateng, you would assume that the director must have been present at some seminal events in the designer’s life. You would assume incorrectly. Well, to be fair we do get to see him meet the Queen and have his car clamped, but issues such as his troubled personal life (he’s been married twice and has three children) seem to be dealt with with hesitation, with Bonicos only ever willing to show us Boateng’s (invariably biased) point of view. Nothing negative in Boateng’s life seems to be his own fault – he openly discusses how he wishes he had more time to spend with his kids, before cheerfully rushing off to China to film some ninjas in a wet field. He could have done that in Wales. Admittedly the Welsh don’t look as good doing kung-fu, but hell, there’s nowhere like Cardiff for an impromptu family trip. Spending twelve years with anyone will distort how objectively you wish to portray them, and you can’t help but get the feeling that Boncio’s desire to stay ‘tight’ with Boateng far outweighs any desire to show him in a practical light.

It just gets rather annoying after a while. Boateng – glugging his 7th vodka shot and warbling about feeling inspired and about how tough it is being away from his gorgeous Russian wife – always seems to be pitched as the victim in this story; a good man being hard done by, constantly having to raise himself from the gutter again and again so that he can afford the goldslick silken materials to make his next ludicrously-priced suit.

And that brings us to the second rather difficult problem; it’s obvious that Bonicos had no idea what to do with the hours and hours (and hours) of raw footage he’d gathered over twelve years (did I mention he filmed this guy for twelve years?). What could have been an insightful, inspiring and unique documentary about an ordinary man’s life and his extraordinary successes (he has an OBE, for God’s sake) ends up being a wishy-washy homage that sacrifices genuine insight for entertaining celebration. That bit of twine that’s meant to run invisibly through the middle of a documentary to give it narrative and flow – it’s missing here. You find yourself waiting for that moment when it will all fit into place, but it doesn’t. Boateng is a watchable, interesting and intelligent character, but unfortunately post-production has let him and his story down. At the end of the day – and unlike subject and cameraman – this is one documentary that is anything but ‘tight’.

By Siobhan Burke

Monday 20th February 2012

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'A Man's Story'.

Also appeared on Best For Film (http://bestforfilm.com/film-reviews/drama/a-mans-story-2/)

'Juno and the Paycock' review - charming, funny and bleakly tragic all in one

Juno and the Paycock

Written by Sean O'Casey

Lyttleton Theatre, the National Theatre (a coproduction with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin)

15th January 2012

Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock is a renowned and well-respected play looking at life in a crowded Dublin tenement in the early 1920s. First performed in 1924, it has since become a regular star of the Irish stage. Telling the tale of Jack Boyle, an Irishman determined to stay out of work, his wife Juno who battles unrelentingly to keep her family afloat, and their two children, Mary and Johnny, it is a comic but bleak portryal of Irish life during the harsh times of the civil war.

The staging, in my eyes, was this production's first great success. Having studied this play as part of my dissertation, I had always understood O'Casey's tenements to be loud and claustrophobic. Howard Davies' production however, with its high ceiling and vast spaces between sparse amounts of furniture, highlighted more poignently the material and financial emptiness that is the reality of this family's life. That said, footsteps and voices still rang out through the house as a reminder of the lack of privacy in this shared and poverty-stricken space.

Juno's feisty character was played with conviction by Sinead Cusack and her playful personality was married beautifully with the more serious and sombre moments in the script. It was this performance by Cusack that was responsible for the feelings of utter injustice and sympathy that the audience experience at the climax of the play. A true star was Clare Dunne who played the doomed Mary, a character that represents the very image of failed potential. An intelligent, hardworking girl led astray, she (and Juno) must bear the brunt of her mistake more harshly than either Johnny or his wayward father who rely on the women in their family to clear up the carnage that they constantly seem to leave in their wake. Johnny, a character scarred and impaired by his fights for the IRA, was played as a twitchy, nervous and psychologically-damaged boy by Ronan Raftery. His experience in the adult world seems to have permanently confined him to a life of bitter dependence on his mother, not made easier by the fact that he strugggles to walk and has even "lost an arm for Ireland".

Ciaran Hinds as Jack Boyle was a delight, if a little mumbly at times. A convincing drunk, funny but for the most part an ignorant and idiotic man, he is simultaneously a joy to watch and a man you'd like to slap. Though he marches around in his Captain's cap (having only actually been on a boat once, to Liverpool!) his sense of self-importance doesn't translate into any sense of responsibility for his family, his friends or his country. Unlike the noble Juno.

Ultimately, this was a great production, with barely a flaw at all - the only downside was that some lines were a little incomprehensible (which may be in part to O'Casey's beautiful use of the Irish working class language) and the youngsters Raftery and Dunne should be commended for their clarity and strength of character onstage. The wonderful comedy of the play was beautifully matched with the bleak image of a lonely Jack sat in an even emptier room at the play's climax, the tragi-comedy that O'Casey is so known and loved for. Having studied this play, it was fantastic to see it finally mapped out on stage and serves as a harsh reminder of the difficulties that most ordinary families will face in the aftermath of so many of the recent revolutions as they attempt to keep their homelives intact amidst an increasingly fractured world.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'Juno and the Paycock'.

10 reasons to love 10 years of 'Spooks'

Spooks

BBC One, Sundays, 9pm

Spooks for me is like a bad man. Smooth, well-dressed and unequivocally attractive, treating me mean and keeping me woefully keen. Since we met ten years ago, my emotional investment has only led to repeated heartbreak interspersed with the occasional heart-racing encounter. Yet, I have stuck by. And now, a decade on, it plans to dump me (undoubtedly in the most spectacularly explosive fashion) without so much as a quick courtesy phone call to check I haven't fallen completely off the post-breakup wagon.

Call me dramatic, but this is the love that I (and I believe many others) have for Spooks. So, I thought I'd search my soul for the top 10 reasons that have led to it seducing us all into this turbulent and troublesome relationship.

1. For 1 hour a week, you believe you could be a spy.

Yes, we've all thought it - fancied ourselves as the next James Bond or that sexy girl with the killer heels and the gun tucked up her suspenders. Spooks makes you believe that you really could be it. Perhaps it's something about the way that they all seem so ordinary (albeit with an impossibly high IQ and the ability to defuse a nuclear bomb) or the way they explain those pesky Russian plots and the latest Terrorist threat making you believe you've got the espionage lingo sussed. Then you remember that they'd happily exchange their mother in order to save the world and it reminds you that perhaps it's not that easy after all. Besides, I'd be rubbish under torture.

2. It's not frightened of betrayal.

The world can be pretty tough in reality, but at least we can always rely on TV to lie to us about it. Spooks, however, is no such television programme. Like a strict parent, it gives it to you straight. It hands over that cute, fluffy teddy bear you've always wanted then takes it back, tears its head off and throws the remains in the fire. Lesson: good things never last. Harsh, but - be it the lovely Adam exploding before our eyes, that whiskey-supping home secretary played by Robert Glenister who turned out to be a two-timing, lying wotsit or last season's traitor,

Lucas - Spooks has never been afraid to turn everything we believe on its head. Usually killing off/making a Russian sympathiser of our favourite characters in the process.

3. It's full of surprises.

I've been watching this show for 10 years now and it still has me stuffed behind a cushion in fear and disbelief. Oh your Hello's and Reveal's might be able to tell you what's happening on Albert Square next week but I'll be damned if anyone can figure out who's going to blow up next time on Spooks. That little preview they give you does squat. Speculate if you will but I have yet to hit the nail on the head as to the who's, where's, why's and what for's in the future of MI5.

4. It knows all the good park benches.

Has anyone noticed how empty their public meet-up spots are? I always thought that the point of meeting in public was so that it was more difficult to get shot without anyone noticing, and yet whenever spy meets spy, there's no one about. I don't know if you've ever gone out in London around lunch time but every park bench is crowded with air-hungry commuters and snap-happy tourists all tucking into their pret-a-manger. The only time the scene is ever crowded?

When there's a bomb ticking. Then, inevitably, thousands of oblivious humans are aimlessly wandering about to get in CO19's way.

5. Everyone's sexy.

Fact. It even makes I.T. look desirable.

6. It never sleeps/showers/eats.

Unless it's sipping on a whiskey after a hard day's nation-protecting, spies never seem to have to function like normal humans. I'm peckish by about 10am at work, but an MI5 worker will be holed away at his desk for hours without so much as a thought to those custard creams in the office kitchenette. The only time you see a character in bed is if they've had to have a morally ambiguous night of passion with an asset/terrorist/fellow spy and I think the only time a bath or shower has been involved was when some bird tried to drown Adam. Perhaps eating, sleeping and washing is just too dangerous when you're in espionage.

7. Americans are annoying.

No matter how much the real world thinks we're under the thumb of Uncle Sam, Harry will always fight our corner in the fictional world. The CIA might be bad-ass, 10 times as rich and even more sleek and attractive than their British counterparts, but they're arrogant and irritating and like to think that they have our beloved MI5 on a lead. Well, not so fast America - we know you're not perfect and we've got a few tricks of our own up our sleeve, so we'll take you on if we have to. Plus as long as Harry's at the top, we'll have our own two legs to stand on thank you very much.

8. It's terribly, terribly British.

This might be farfetched telly but it's no nonsense, efficient, full of awkward glances and brave faces British telly. Ros was so cold she'd have survived naked in the arctic, Ruth's constantly making eyes at Harry but you can't quite imagine the snog under a star-spangled sky and it's almost never sunny - note large overcoats, leather gloves and a constantly overcast sky. It's our recognisable home and I think that might just be one of the biggest reasons we succumb to its charm. We can forgive its twisty-turny plot lines because it's just so unashamedly us. Plus, the dry humour is there to tickle you in between the tears.

9. It took on Downton Abbey.

And lost. But who cares? It's a blip it can afford for the sake of National Security.

10. Harry is always there for us.

That's right. Despite the heartache, the explosions, the sacrifices, the chemical leaks, unavoidable attacks on assets, computer bugs and corruption from the inside, Harry has always been there to see us through. In 10 years there have been some hairy moments and he can be a right meanie from time to time (e.g. the time he let Ruth's new squeeze get shot in the back of the head in front of her), but he's always sucked it up and started over with a clear head and another bottle of whiskey (ok, so maybe not a clear head). But let's face it, no one is safe in Spooks and to kill Harry off at the end of this series might be like the universe imploding but at least they wouldn't have to find a replacement, who would take another 10 years to earn our trust. I can't help thinking though that to kill Harry off at the end of this season would be akin to the 'and then they woke up and it was all a dream' scenario. My bet's on Ruth snuffing it (probably because Harry puts her in the wrong place at the wrong time) and he'll end up being dishonourably dismissed.

But I haven't been right yet.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this article.

'Sarah's Key' Review: another Holocaust movie, but with a fresh heart

Sarah's Key (2010)

Directed by: Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup, Michel Duchaussoy

Based on the much-loved novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, Sarah’s Key is a French drama that swings between 1940s Paris and the modern day to weave the tale of a young Jewish girl persecuted in the Vel’ d’Hiv, and the woman who finds herself obsessed with her story.

Ordered by the Nazis to reduce the Jewish population in occupied France in 1942, the French authorities went on a mass arrest; imprisoning thousands of French Jews in a Parisian velodrome under inhuman conditions. In Tatiana de Rosney’s fictional tale Sarah’s Key a 10-year-old girl named Sarah attempts to save her younger brother Michel before she is taken away; locking him in the closet and making him promise not to leave until she returns. When the prisoners are moved to concentration camps and split up, Sarah realises she must escape if she is to be in with a chance of freeing Michel.

Meanwhile in the present, an American journalist names Julia Jarmond (the ever-glorious Kristin Scott-Thomas) is beginning to research a piece surrounding the inhuman events of 1940s Paris. When she and her husband inherit a small flat in the city itself, she soon finds herself woven into young Sarah's story, unable and unwilling to free herself from it for reasons she can't decipher.

Sarah’s Key could easily be yet another WW2 movie, lost among the brilliance of such releases asThe Pianist, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and Schindler’s list, yet it manages to feel relevant and fresh. For a start, the Nazis are not the explicit enemy, and even though it is the French authorities that round up the Jews, even they are not the focus. The spotlight, rather, is on history; the past ebbing into the present, and how it is that those we have never known can change who we are. That being said, there are several moments that send shivers through your body, akin to looking at the piles of shoes gathered from Auschwitz victims or the miles of white headstones that mark the WWI battlefields. The unimaginable scale of the Vel’D’Hiv brought vividly to the screen, but first and foremost Sarah’s Key serves the needs of its story rather than of its emotive context – and is all the better for it.

Scott Thomas is in her element as Julia, and carries the present-day section of the movie strongly. She is let down by those let’s-get-the-history-straight moments in her editor’s office and those token we’re-young-and-ignorant characters that supposedly exist in order to conveniently fill in a historically-clueless audience. Ok, those scenes may be necessary (I’d never heard the details of the Vel’ d’Hiv) but sadly the script is never quite strong enough to do away with the faint air of pragmatism.

As for the young French actress, Mélusine Mayance, her performance as the determined and intelligent Sarah is beautiful and believable. She must quickly learn about the nature of her surroundings in order to make her ruthless return journey to Paris. As she grows into an adult, haunted by her past, that heightened misery never leaves her character – and this air is something that connects her to the equally determined twenty-first century Julia.

In a way that is necessary for films that deal with tragedy, Gilles Paquet-Brenner is unafraid of bringing the brutality of the events of the Holocaust to the forefront. It risks cliché but with sensitive acting and an absorbing storyline that weaves the past and the present so successfully,Sarah’s Key is far more than just a history lesson.

Also posted on Best For Film - http://bestforfilm.com/film-reviews/drama/sarahs-key/

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'Sarah's Key'.

'The Shadow Line' Review: Britain's answer to 'The Wire'

The Shadow Line (BBC2 Thursdays 9pm)

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall

Genre: Crime, thriller

When drug baron, Harvey Wratten, is founded shot dead in his car, it sparks a murder investigation on both sides of the law. Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leads the team of police - but with the confusion of amnesia hanging over his head, he struggles to get to grips with both the case and himself. Meanwhile, Joseph Bede (Christopher Eccleston) is left to salvage what is left of his investment in the drugs business whilst keeping tabs on Wratten's unstable nephew, Jay (Rafe Spall). Dark, daring and softly but spectacularly scary, Hugo Blick's The Shadow Line is the best drama to hit British screens in some time.

Raw, gritty and irresistibly addictive, this thriller brings a whole new meaning to the word 'shadow'. Impossibly dark, slow and brooding, every man, woman and child in this programme is living under a shadow. Virtually silent throughout, but with tension rising to the occasional but powerful music, you'll be gripped by the eerie acting and stripped dialogue. With a complex network of characters and storylines, Blick blurs the boundaries between the good, the bad and the ugly. Four episodes in and I'm still none-the-wiser - but that won't have you wanting to stop watching.

The modern underworld of The Shadow Line is populated with damaged characters. There's the literal damage to Jonah, who has a stroke of convenient amnesia after getting a bullet lodged in his brain. There's the unstoppable onset of early Alzheimer's that Joseph's wife, Julie (Lesley Sharp) suffers from, and the probable mental instability of the young Jay Wratten. Hard-edged and ruthless, they nonetheless all have something to protect - reputation, money, love, or even the complete unknown - and their thirst for survival in a world of secrets makes for a thrilling watch.

With stand out performances from the likes of Rafe Spall and Stephen Rea as the late-appearing Gatehouse, Blick has on board an incredibly talented team of people to make such a slow-burning thriller work. Spall commands the screen, his distinctive voice and erratic behaviour make Jay Wratten a character to be feared. But the soothing power of Rea's Gatehouse is on another level altogether. Elusive, but calm and ever-the-gentleman, his enigmatic nature will have your eyes virtually sewn to your TV.

Everything in this drama reeks of hard work and intelligence - Hugo Blick has put his all into this one and it pays off. Stealthy, silent and sinister, this programme will pull you into the shadows before you've even had time to realise it. All I can say is, don't fight it - this is one underworld you need to be a part of.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Shadow Line'.