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From: "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com>
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Subject: MT VOID, 08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340
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THE MT VOID
08/09/24 -- Vol. 43, No. 6, Whole Number 2340

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by
the
author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
inclusion unless otherwise noted.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to eleeper@optonline.net
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
         Mini Reviews, Part 3 (ONE LIFE, NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA
                 (NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR), MANHATTAN) (film reviews
                 by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
         Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         This Week's Reading (MOBY-DICK) (book comments
                 by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 3 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the third batch of mini-reviews:

ONE LIFE (2023): This is the dramatized version of Sir Nicholas
Winton's story about how he (along with others) saved over six
hundred children in a Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia.  (The
original Kindertransport was for Germany and Austria only.)  A
large amount of the film is devoted to Winton's life forty years
after the war, which means of course, less time available for the
actual effort during the war.  The story was told in a
documentary, NICKY'S FAMILY, made in 2011, and I would recommend
skipping ONE LIFE and seeing NICKY'S FAMILY instead.  NICKY'S
FAMILY is available on Hoopla, Kanopy, and other free streaming
services.  (Mark's review of NICKY'S FAMILY is available at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/2013/VOID0621.htm#nicky>.)  [-ecl]

Released theatrically 15 March 2024.  Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13097932/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_life>


NO ABRAS NUNCA ESA PUERTA (NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR) (1952): NO ABRAS
NUNCA ESA PUERTA is an Argentinian film noir based on two Cornell
Woolrich stories.  In the first, based on "Somebody on the Phone",
Raul discovers his sister Luisa is being blackmailed by someone
and has taken all his money and his mother's diamond ring.  He
confronts her, and ... well, bad things ensue.  In the second,
based on "The Hummingbird Comes Home", a blind mother is awaiting
her son's return, only to discover he is a thief and a murderer.
Again, bad things ensue.  Without giving anything away, I will say
that the film WAIT UNTIL DARK may have been inspired by either
this film, or the original Woolrich story.  [-ecl]

Released in Argentina 23 May 1952 (Argentina); in the US 30
January 2014.  Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4), or 8/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184782/reference>


MANHATTAN (1979): I'm starting to get more older movies from
Swap-a-DVD, and they are often movies I decided I want on DVD to
replace the VHS copies.  So the latest was MANHATTAN.  The artwork
is striking, and nostalgic--the title is formed by buildings of
the Manhattan skyline, with the Twin Towers forming the "H".
Diane Keaton talking about art reminded me of her character in
REDS.  And there is also a young Meryl Streep in only her sixth
movie.

But of course, Mariel Hemingway is even younger: she plays a
seventeen-year-old and she was in fact actually seventeen. (This
was her third film.)  Woody Allen's character is dating her, and
it is made clear that they are having sex.  (Allen was forty-three
at the time; presumably so was his character.)  Allen's character
also says he is against extra-marital affairs--"People should mate
for life"--but has two ex-wives.  All in all, perhaps even
creepier now than it was then.  [-ecl]

Released theatrically 25 April 1979.  Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or
7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079522/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/manhattan>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Tubi (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

The problem with Tubi is the ads.  I mean, ads per se are very
1960s, but not ads for razors for pubic air, or treatments for
vaginal odor.  We didn't see those in the 1960s.

One ad (from CSL Plasma) says you can make up to $700 a month by
"donating" plasma.  No, if you're being paid it's not donating,
and if you're donating you're not being paid.  [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

Okay, I'll admit it--it's getting harder to fill this column each
week, especially since of late I've been binging Somerset Maugham
short stories, which I already reviewed, at least partially (in
the 01/15/21 issue of the MT VOID).

So I am reduced to including comments on MOBY-DICK excerpted from
my "Annotations and Commentary on Moby-Dick".  I will spare you
the annotations of the "Etomology" and "Extracts" sections, and
just give you those from Chapter 1:

CHAPTER 1: Loomings

"Call me Ishmael." Much has been written about this, so I'll
merely point out that Ishmael was an outsider. The full story can
be found in Genesis, particularly Genesis 16:1–16 and 17:20–21.
But though he is often described as an exile, this is not
completely accurate. It is true that his mother Hagar was exiled
by Sarai (a.k.a. Sarah), but that was when she was pregnant with
Ishmael, and she returned before the birth. Later, God says, "And
as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and
will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve
princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation."
[Genesis 17:20] But God emphasizes that His covenant is with
Isaac. So Ishmael is more like a disinherited older son passed
over for a favored younger one. Of course, he also got to miss out
on almost being sacrificed, so this was an advantage.

The "spleen" was originally thought to be the origin of bad
temper. Charles Baudelaire originated the use of "spleen" to mean
boredom, sadness, and depression with life.

"The Dark Night of the Soul" ("La oscura del alma") was a poem by
16th century mystic San Juan de la Cruz, but the term in English
is usually associated with F. Scott Fitzgerald's line, "In a real
dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning."
Douglas Adams wrote a novel titled THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE
SOUL. Since Melville pre-dated Fitzgerald, he presumably have
patterned his "damp, drizzly November in my soul" after the
original, or references to it.

"Hypos" in "whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me" is an
abbreviation for hypochondria, as meaning a morbid depression of
spirits rather than a physical illness.

The Cato mentioned is Cato Marcus Porcius (95 B.C.E.–46 B.C.E.),
considered the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. After
being defeated in his attempts to defend Sicily and to preserve
Rome from the tyranny of Julius Caesar, Cato committed suicide by
stabbing himself. He is not to be confused with Cato the Elder
(also named Cato Marcus Porcius, 234 B.C.E.–149 B.C.E.) or Cato
Publius Valerius, the poet, who lived about the same time as Cato
the Stoic.

A mole is a solid structure serving as a pier, breakwater, or
causeway.

Some names and places were straightforward: "Manhatto" seems to be
Ishmael's poetic version of Manhattan. In Manhattan, he mentions
Corlears Hook, Coenties Slip, and Whitehall. The first two are now
under landfills, Corlears Hook near FDR Drive and Cherry Street,
and Coenties Slip near Pearl and South Streets. Whitehall is still
there, at the southern end of Broadway. Corlears Hook was known
for prostitutes before and during Melville's time, hence
(according to many) the term "hookers".
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