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09/26/2008 0:00am
Portraying the bravery of women
Sep. 26--The Shadow in the North (PBS)
British author Phillip Pullman had a high profile screen adaptation last winter with "The Golden Compass," a film of mixed reviews that drew controversy for its atheism, albeit toned down from the original book. More important, but less covered in the press, was the success -- or lack of, depending who you ask -- in adapting a terribly complicated young adult science fiction novel. For many fans of the book, the movie took too many liberties in the translation.
Off the beaten path and perhaps more alluring for it, Pullman's earlier trilogy of Victorian suspense for the YA crowd, the Sally Lockhart Mysteries, have also been adapted. These films -- the first being the tight and charming "Ruby in the Smoke" and the second being "The Shadow in the North," which premieres on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery" next Sunday -- are BBC productions, intimate and gripping, with no reliance on CGI effects or trendy youth-oriented fantasy posturing. Like the books, they have old fashioned trappings and pride in craft, but with clever, modern twists that prevent cliches -- and they aren't beholden to the high expectations that Pullman's other work was. The pressure being off gives the productions more space to work out the inherent inadequacies of film adaptation and settle into a middle ground that results in a gripping mystery movie.
In "The Shadow in the North," Sally Lockhart (Billie
Piper) is a sensible girl in a dark, gritty Victorian world filled with secrets and danger who works as a financial advisor with a special interest in helping out women. When one of her clients takes a major loss on an investment and suspects foul play in regard to the chain of events that ruined the company, Lockhart investigates and finds a shadowy industrialist who may well be engineering the company's demise towards a deadly scheme.
At the same time, Lockhart's associates -- the estranged love of her life, Fred, and amiable young protector Jim -- are helping a stage magician escape stalkers who he believes aim to kill him. When the investigators realize that the two cases in interlinked, they pool their resources to solve the cases.
Pullman is not a by-the-numbers novelist and "The Shadow in the North" is much more than a standard Victorian thriller. The story brings in a number of elements, from the psychological shackles of being a female in England in the late 1800s to the grip of spiritualism to the idea that technology could affect war and peace in one stroke, thus capturing both views of a the mechanized world of the future.
The downside is, of course, that the investigation has to be pared down as it is brought from book to screen. In this manner, this bears a great resemblance to Harry Potter movies -- extremely well-done and entertaining, but, in reality, only half of the story. That's the only fault, however, and it leaves a whole new level of enjoyment for that moment you rush out to buy the books after being intrigued by the BBC productions.
"Shadow in the North" on Masterpiece Mystery, Sunday, Sept. 28, at 9 p.m. Check your local PBS station.
American Widow by Alissa Torres and Sungyoon Choi (Villard)
America is no easy place to be a victim. The currency by which we measure tragedy and loss is exactly that -- money settlements -- and the way we are expected to deal emotionally with the same can be in a public forum provided by the media. The problem is that even though we set our society up to function this way, there is some segment of the population that turns against those who end up on the routes to dealing with the horrible turns their lives have taken. They are painted as greedy, as media hogs. It's a situation of mob rule and playing to a room full of drunks and so many people become double victims in the process.
"American Widow" is sold as the memoir of a 9-11 widow and it is specifically. Generally, however, it is about much, much more -- it is about public grief and societal measures of loss, the appropriate ways in which we communicate these circumstances through a money-driven media and the feelings of isolation that are compounded through turncoat spectators who are acting out their own emotions.
Author Alissa Torres is a 9-11 widow and her graphic novel memoir recounts the first year of shock, depression and mind-numbing officiousness following the death of her husband and the birth of her son. Illustrated by Sungyoon Choi, Torres' story unfolds in a black-and-white world accentuated through a pall of light blue, shadowing the landscape, the walls of buildings, the faces, inescapable as Torres moves through a normal life that has suddenly become surreal thanks to players on the world stage.
Torres offers an intimate peek inside her life for a year following her husband's death that shows the lows she hits and the frustrations she faces through a bureaucracy of compassion. The honesty that Torres gives to the narrative -- such plainly portraying their relationship in a troubled patch -- and her husband's situation -- he was an immigrant attempting to make his way in the country through sometimes menial jobs -- gives more relevance to the story, offering something that anyone can latch onto. In an era where we talk about heroes and villains, paint things in black and white, Torres is not afraid to paint her family's life as complicated, as neither one thing nor the other, but merely as something that deserves respect because it is alive and now is partially dead. Past the political platitudes, the World Trade Center collapsed on real lives and Torres offers her small portion of that dark tapestry.
Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston (Minx Books)
When you're a kid who doesn't quite fit in, the art world can be a mysterious and alluring creature. A lot of people go through that phase where you become entranced by Warhol, where you blunder into some art students somewhere and they capture your imagination. You never thought such a thing existed.
The new title from Minx Books captures that moment in life -- even the title "Emiko Superstar" is an Andy Warhol reference. The Superstars were his inner coterie of hangers-on who found their way into his films and parties. They were the attraction as much as his work -- in many ways, they were his work. Author Mariko Tamaki understands that very often the way young people become interested in art is through the appearance of their local art scene and cache of cool that accompanies the more outrageous in recent art history.
Emiko is a teenage girl trying to get through the summer in with a baby-sitting job when two significant events coincide that will change her school vacation. One is that she is handed an invite to a performance art club called The Factory (like Warhol's hangout and studio) -- the other is that she blunders upon her employer's secret diary. The allure of the scene at The Factory proves too much for Emiko and the diary becomes her key to performance superstardom.
Tamaki -- a veteran of the Toronto art scene -- is able to investigate the real issues of such worlds in a way that walks the appropriate line of being realistic without discouraging. The thrill of belonging to an enthusiastic, no-holds-barred creative tribe is well presented, but so is the unnecessary competitive side, the egos, creative dishonesty and laziness and, most important, the occasional incidence of sleazy older guys who just want to insinuate control over creative young gals.
Tamaki also slyly points out the fascination of the counter culture with the middle class world they turn their back on -- they want to understand why they don't fit in and Emiko's monologue's offer some insight to that world. Tamaki does her job by giving back a little -- she obviously crossed worlds and "Emiko Superstar" is like a little dispatch from that other dimension, a little reassurance if you're that kid that doesn't fit in to go with your instincts, be curious and open, but just watch your back -- the art world's no less devious than the suburbs, but it can be a lot more interesting.
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To see more of the North Adams Transcript, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thetranscript.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, North Adams Transcript, Mass.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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