Film Pairings — Two Crime Films From South Korea, Or Night Of A Thousand Knives

Both are stunning, one particularly for its Tarentinoesque violence, the other for its mix of murder, madness and heavy doses of magical realism.

Fan rankings suggest that Man From Nowhere might be the more accessible of the two by mainstream audiences. A pretty standard “heroic plot,” a mysterious young man with a dark and tragic past just wants to live his simple, anonymous, solitary life.  A drug-addicted neighbor and her all-but-abandoned daughter don’t set out to destroy this man’s brooding personal exile, but of course….

With the blood and guts level extraordinarily high and the story-line standard with what seems like a forced, sappy, Hollywood ending, Man From Nowhere is nonetheless a very well constructed product perhaps even flawless to that end.  Actor Won Bin is magnetic, especially as the mysterious “pawnbroker.”  Some of the attraction — and mood — is lost as he is transformed into a slick assassin for a non-stop, violent crescendo.

Less celebrated and less financially successful, Private Eye is my favorite of the two.  Admittedly, we move from a Jackie Chan comedy to a Federico Fellini vision.  What works for me, though, is that this is innovative, imaginative filmmaking. In this charming period piece, a powerful official’s son is missing, well actually dead, a fact not in evidence yet.  A young, terribly naïve, medical student practices on the cadaver he found in the woods and is now fearful he will be charged with murder.  He hires the P.I. to find the real killer.  There’s this circus and morphine and possibly the start of international opium wars.  And then the King of England shows up.

Credit for this action, buddy movie has to go to cinematographer Choe Chan-min, director Park Dae-min and actors Hwang Jung-min and Ryu Deok-hwan

For your evening libation, you might consider a Midori sour, made with sweet melon liqueur.  It is a popular choice in the region.  In one of Seoul’s trendy, young neighborhoods, it is reported that take-out drinks are served in IV bags, more than fitting for the first film.  For the second, chill on some comfortable pillows.

Rant — Somehow I Know It’s My Doing

It will soon become obvious that I need some sort of spiritual renewal — the sooner the better.  On the other hand, I need to rant.

I call it convergence.  It’s when the coin always turns up tails. For example, I live on a hill.  I can see many blocks in all directions.  Backing out of the garage, it’s clear there is no one around (for a mile, seriously) EXCEPT for one person, slowly pushing a stroller, talking on the telephone and who will likely reach the driveway at the exact moment of our departure.   This may be the same person who is at the end of the long, empty aisle at the grocery where I have gone to pick up one essential item.  In the stretch of 100 feet of rare, empty space, I target the product to find that the sole, other customer has set up camp in front of my shelf — well not mine, exactly, but you know what I mean — and is examining each ingredient in it and in competing products and sizes.

The other day, in need of a couple of hours of passive entertainment before bed time, I cursed network TV in general (especially now in tacky reality shows and summer reruns) and PBS’s constant state of fundraising with repeats of how I can eat something that will make me brilliant and live to be 100 if I live long enough to get through the show to find out what it is and buy the book.  The Netflix disc arrived cracked.  Netflix download refused to give anything up — not even the wonderful documentary Helvetica, which I’d gladly watch again. “Unavailable now, try later, ok?”  OK. The button will only let me agree. Just as one cannot, or should not, I suspect, run over a person pushing a stroller, I don’t have a choice here. Back to an obscure channel on TV.  It’s Seinfield, I guess.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I call it convergence.  It’s the John Cleese freeze.  It is my doing.

Commercial Two

Two sixteen-year-old boys break into a house looking for small change. Instead they find more money than they ever dreamed possible. Unfortunately, they also discover the blood-spattered body of an undercover cop. The kids make a big mistake. They take the money. With fingerprints all over the victim and blood on their shoes they give the prosecution an airtight case against them. Enter Shanahan who uncovers a few secrets among the rich and powerful that might make a difference.

"An extremely intelligent, masterfully plotted novel with extraordinary characters, carefully crafted and finely polished. Don't overlook it." — Booklist

"The Steel Web is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery." — Mystery News

"Fast-paced, wryly told, and evenly balanced — solid detection combined with warm, empathetic characterization." — Kirkus Reviews

Life Death & Fog Books, has been established to bring the first four Shanahan novels to paperback and a variety of e-book formats. After more than 10 years, friends of Deets can now conveniently catch up with the early mysteries. Paperback editions are from Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble. E-books are available for the Kindle and Nook.

Film Pairings — Can’t Keep A Bad Guy Down

Life goes on for a pair of executed criminals, one in the 1946 film, Decoy, and another ten years later in Indestructible Man.

 

Both films are cinema curiosities.  Indestructible Man, no doubt a vehicle for horror star Lon Chaney Jr., is a low-rent blend of crime and monster film.  Chaney’s character is electrocuted for the crimes he committed, but his body is pirated to unscrupulous scientists, who not only bring him back to life, but also inadvertently give him superhuman survival capability.  This enables him to exact revenge on all of those who have done him wrong. How can he be stopped? Bazookas?  Flame throwers?  Hilarity — well sort of — ensues.

Fortunately, the scientists have also rendered Chaney’s character unable to speak.  And all we have is the squinting close-ups of the mad man’s eyes.

Seems to me Decoy is a curiosity of a much higher order.  While there may be some kitsch value to the Chaney film — fun to ridicule — Decoy shows what can be done with a small budget even with the challenge of the highly stretched premise of an executed criminal brought back to life.  All you need are some good writers, talented actors and decent camera work.

The key distinction here, though, is plot.  The corpse is swiped from the gas chamber, provided an antidote to the deadly cyanide in order for a pair of even more devious thieves to find the money the criminal hid before he was caught and killed. The reborn, if not rehabilitated, con agrees to draw a map. There is feigned love and double-double crosses as well as the presumably fooled not being so easily fooled.   Twists and turns amount to something here, and the story is told well.  A little gem.  Sheldon Leonard is featured.

If you are at home in front of your big screen TV, fix something silly to sip on, perhaps with a gray umbrella — not too cheery — for the first one.  Skip the simple syrup for the second, sit back and enjoy.

San Francisco Neighborhoods — Divisadero And The Birth of NOPA

The New, Trendy Bi-Rite

There was SOHO in Manhattan, WEHO in L.A. and SOMA in San Francisco. Now there is NOPA — also a San Francisco neighborhood.  NOPA stands for North Panhandle.  For the uninitiated, the panhandle is a pleasant, green, well-traveled thin strip of park that eventually leads to the much larger Golden Gate. The main street for the gentrifying neighborhood is Divisadero, once the dividing line between San Francisco proper, to the east, and the Outerlands, once barren sand dunes that extended west to the ocean.

NOPA is the new “cool” if “cool” is still cool.  The restaurant called NOPA is one of the trendiest brunch and dinner places in town.  Other restaurants and bars have followed and are in the works, including a high-class “mezcalaria.”  Bicyclists have settled in. A low-key, live music nightclub — Justice League — dominates the night. Though in all fairness, the club was there before all the hoopla.  During the day, the first adapters are trying out a coffee shop famous for rye bread and the chic Bi-Rite market, which has set up its second store here selling its pricey products, among them its obsessively sought, eccentrically-flavored ice cream. Pleasantly odd shops are also popping up on the quickly evolving block.

What lurks behind the barricade?

The city prepared for the rebirth with a lamp-lit street island planted with trees and flowers as well as sidewalk cut-outs with tables and chairs for that sidewalk café ambiance.

Predictably, neighborhood homes are being renovated and rents are going up. It’s also quite likely that some of the older businesses will not be able to adapt to the new pedestrian street traffic consumer profiles.  This seems to be a childless, younger crowd.  The baby stroller operators are elsewhere — The Marina, Noe Valley, Fillmore and Union.

NOTE:  When I moved back to San Francisco 16 years ago, I moved to this once more rugged neighborhood, then called “The Western Addition.” This is where my San Francisco my fictional P.I., Noah Lang, partner of Carly Paladin in the San Francisco mysteries, lives — though he has more creative digs as well as a more exciting life.  

COMMERCIAL BREAK

The 69-year-old semi-retired private detective reluctantly takes the case of a Mrs. William B. Stone who seems to have lost track of her husband. Shanahan, who finds his once lonely life complicated by an attractive younger woman, nevertheless finds his client's husband almost immediately. But the job isn't over. The problem is the man is dead and buried in his own back yard. Who did it and why leads the detective to the city's meaner streets where the veil of secrecy is finally lifted.  Available here.

“Intricate, lusty, funny, moving adventure about believably vulnerable characters.” — Publishers Weekly

"The interest in this fine novel lies.in its characters, especially the appealing Shanahan, keenly aware of death's proximity as he re-engages with life." — Houston Post

"The pragmatic investigator makes a good first impression." — The New York Times 

Crime Films – Two You Might Not Want To See

I’m not recommending these movies to anyone.  One is so sleazy that a hot shower is in order after viewing.  The other is amateurish and pretentious.  Yet, there is something bold and original about both.  If you are an adventurer in your film going and want to witness how much risk some off-the wall creative minds will take for their vision, you may want to see The Paperboy and Arc.

The Paperboy has an all-star cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Macy Gray, Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, John Cusack and Scott Glenn.  They all sweat convincingly in the Florida humidity. Efron (clad only in his tighty whities for half the film) and McConaughey  (a noted shirtophobe) provide enough male pulchritude to suggest soft porn while Kidman, fully clothed, mimes a sex act so graphically that the scene could qualify for a triple x rating. Some call it “air sex.”

The story is about two ambitious reporters trying to keep a convicted murderer from execution. Kidman excels as the aging vamp drawn to the convict, though she’s never met him. As the reporters attempt to gather the facts about the trial and arrest, Kidman joins the team and inadvertently seduces Efron, the virgin younger brother of one of the reporters. Cusack provides a quiet, dumb menace that reflects, it seems, the character and atmosphere of the film. Lee Daniels (Precious) directed this 2012 film that accumulated awards and accolades as well as considerable criticism.

Arc (2006) cannot boast the cast or the production quality of The Paperboy. One wonders what rookie director Robert Ethan Gunnerson could have done with the resources available to Daniels.  Corrupt police, drugs, prostitution of all type and kidnapping form the backdrop for a heroin-addicted young man called “Paris,” played by Peter Facinelli (in his pre-Goth days) as he attempts redemption.  The film is an unconventional take on a conventional story.  A fundamentally decent guy caught in a dangerous underworld, Paris wants to redeem himself with a noble deed.  He decides to find a kidnapped child.  With the help of a newly recruited prostitute, he begins his search for the boy. In an attempt to make the film seem higher-minded than it is, the dialogue is filled with out-of-character quotes from famous writers and philosophers.  Dialogue courtesy of Bartletts.

It’s impossible not to pay attention to the peculiar, seemingly random, cinematic style.   I’m guessing one hand-held camera, using available light, did the job.  From time to time we see the film in black and white, then for no apparent reason, in color. A spotlight (or flashlight) is used to follow the actors when natural light isn’t enough, achieving a strange, moody effect.

Both films use the hokey split-screen device. And both leave a lingering, though not necessarily pleasant aftertaste.  However, both are provocative. If that’s enough, perhaps they are worth a few hours of your time.

To accompany these hardcore movies, (if you are not driving anywhere) go for the straight stuff— whiskey, gin, etc. — keeping in mind that you’ll be spending some time in a sweaty swamp with mosquitoes, alligators, water snakes and worse, soulless humans.

Images From Modern Art Show At Fort Mason Center in San Francisco

On Writing — When Secondary Characters Want More

I don’t pay attention to trends in crime writing.  I figure that by the time I’d finish writing a book in concert with what was popular when I began, the hordes of readers who appreciated the trend will have moved on to the next one.  The truth is I’m still writing private eye novels, which proves how disconnected I am to pop culture.  But I’ve read recently that one current trend is to have mysteries with characters who may play a minor role in one book take the central role in the next.  This creates a blend of the series approach to writing with that of standalones, or one-offs as some call them.  The benefit for the reader and writer is continuing to visit old friends, while also infusing a large measure of freshness. Not a bad idea.  And while it is not a new approach, it is heartening that we’re looking at structure and technique rather than something more ephemeral, such as introducing angels or vampires.

Louise Penny. It takes a village.

I’ve not done that exactly.  But I’ve had secondary characters steal the limelight from the intended principals.  For example, I’ve had a number of readers suggest that if something should ever happen to aging private eye Deets Shanahan, protagonist of 10 of my novels, his girlfriend, Maureen, could take over all the private investigating and all novels after the old man’s demise.  In fact, some readers went further.  They suggested I take Shanahan out next time around, leaving Maureen to find out who did it.  I’m glad they like her, but her rapid ascension wasn’t anticipated. And I have a soft spot for the septuagenarian, especially as I approach the category.

This kind of pleasant surprise turned out to be true of the second series, too.  Two private investigators —highly professional Carly Paladino and street-wise Noah Lang —anchor the San Francisco mysteries. However it is clear to me that Thanh, a smart, unconventional gender-bending assistant to the firm and SFPD Homicide Inspector Vincente Gratelli, the veteran, world-weary widower are just as, if not more, popular with readers.  

Oddly enough, Thanh’s story was told in Mascara, Death in the Tenderloin.  That short novel not only preceded the Paladino and Lang books, it was the backstory for all the books in the series.  And Gratelli was a major player in my unrelated mystery Good To The Last Kiss before becoming a regular in each of the Paladino-Lang stories.   In all cases these “supporting” players made the books better. Their prior and independent appearances, I believe, provide additional depth not only to their character but to the subsequent books in which they appear. 

What am I trying to say?  That I understand the appeal of an interlocking cast. Those trend-setting or trend-following writers may be onto something when they revisit and expand the roles of minor characters, especially those who show promise.  It is a form of repertory, not of actors, in this case, but of characters. 

Secondary Character — William H. Macy is Lincoln Lawyer's P.I.

This isn’t new, of course. For example, Michael Connelly has cross-pollinated his protagonists.  Tormented cop Harry Bosch has worked cases with Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller and former FBI agent Terry McCaleb — all leading men.  However, in this case, a better example of tis particular trend might be Louise Penny who has focused on the potential contribution of a realistic, yet conveniently captive, supporting cast.  She has exploited the benefits of murder in a tiny village, where all the minor characters know each other — and there are plenty of them — and MUST reappear from book to book, climbing into or shrinking from the limelight, depending on the story. Though Penny appears to be more in tune with the current trend, Connelly has nothing to worry about.  Between the two of them, they are the bestseller list.  For good reason.  Even so I’m still pissed that Connelly whacked the Lincoln Lawyer’s P.I., a great secondary chararacter.

In the end, though, a trend is a trend.  I don’t believe one writes to a trend successfully, nor starts one intentionally.  It’s serendipity. And once established, good writers are trend resistant. For the new and struggling it’s not quite the same. One must deal with publishers and agents who are dazzled, if not outright hypnotized by the most recent fashion turn in mysteries.

In my case, would it help if I explained that I’m one-eighth Norwegian?

The Novella Makes Comeback, Plus A Not So Subtle Self Promotion

Novellas, even mystery novellas, are not new. Crime fiction critics make the case that Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness  (1899) was not only a mystery novella but noir as well.  And there are many writers, many still doing this short crime fiction, though they weren’t often branded with the somewhat precious term, “novella.”  Too French, I suspect, for the tough guys.  Also, if you look at the length of much of the now revered pulp fiction, most were pretty short —novella length.

Somewhere along the continuum, the expectation for successful crime fiction went from a pocket book you could pluck from a swiveling metal rack to a doorstop.  So, while novellas have never died, there is a revival of interest in a book that won’t keep you up all night or one you could start during a flight from San Francisco and finish before your touchdown in Chicago.  I am convinced that the birth of the e-book is largely responsible for the renewed interest. The idea that a reader need not make a commitment to a 500-page novel and that one can buy a few hours of escape for less than $3.99 for the digital version rather than $16.95 for a slim trade paperback reinvigorates reading in a culture increasingly addicted to a hand-held world.

The publishing business, no doubt still dazed by the speed of the digital revolution that permeates all aspects of our lives, has taken notice.  Amazon, the elephant in everyone’s room, created Kindle Singles, which is dedicated to shorter works, including crime fiction.  Dutton, a subsidiary of Penguin, revived an old imprint, Guilt Edged Mysteries, to address this market.  William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins, is introducing Witness, a kind of sub-imprint for e-book mysteries.  Though they will publish, or in some cases, republish full-length books, they will be releasing shorter works as well — what they also call singles.  Sounds like a an appropriately appropriated music industry term.

For me, this is a good thing.  I have never been able to write the 120,000-word blockbuster — “the big book” my former agent pleaded for.  Nor do I have what it takes to write short-story crime fiction, only increasing my admiration for those who do. The novella is the perfect length for me, a Goldilocks syndrome sufferer.

With that said, I am finishing the first Indianapolis novella featuring my best-known character Deets Shanahan and his lovely girlfriend, Maureen.  And I’m in the last throes of production of the third novella in the San Francisco mystery series.  Private eye Noah Lang dominated the first two novellas.  His partner, Carly Paladino, takes the lead in this murder case, working with Inspector Gratelli.  More on these soon.

Meanwhile, let me push both Death in the Haight, published by Dutton (Penguin) $2.99 and Mascara, Death in the Tenderloin, published by Life Death & Fog Books $3.99 — two novellas that will engage you on your flight to Philadelphia or on the train from Union Station in D.C. to Grand Central in Manhattan.

A REMINDER: E-books have become available at many libraries and through Kobo at independent bookstores.