Mindful Metropolis October 2009 : Page 42
BOOKS The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History of The Chicago River Libby Hill (Lake Claremont Press, 4th printing 2007) What makes a river? Its direction? The terrain over which it flows? The strength it gains from rains and snows? In providing a comprehensive biography of a river whose course was reversed by man, Libby Hill enables us to ponder these questions and come away with a deeper under- standing of our own willfulness to manipulate nature, as well as our stubborn refusal to ac- knowledge subsequent consequences. Hill explains nature’s hand in creating a slow moving river, that river’s magnetism for at- tracting commerce, and the engineering might that brought about unfathomable change and degradation. She also recounts the losses for Native Americans, the opportunities for set- tlers and industrialists, and the ongoing strug- gle among environmentalists to restore purity, and support wildlife and water quality. —SuSan Degrane Beauty and the Soul: The Extraordinary Power of Everyday Beauty to Heal Your Life Piero Ferrucci (Penguin Group) What is beauty? A mys- terious feeling incapable of description? A con- cept best proved through mathematical formula? Or maybe it is as Piero Ferrucci (author of The Power of Kindness, In- evitable Grace and What We May Be) presents in his new book Beauty and the Soul, an innate power easily accessible yet underutilized in bringing about healing, growth and peace. Drawing from Ferrucci’s experience as a psy- chotherapist as well as academic and scientific studies, the book focuses on beauty and the val- ue of living an aesthetic life—claiming both may instill confidence, speed recovery from trauma or illness and provide insight into the futility of materialism and war. While the book beauti- fully explores these benefits and offers hope and inspiration, it displays some weakness in cred- ibility, relying somewhat on the reader to accept certain theories on faith as opposed to scientific evidence. Nevertheless, the book is an engaging and enjoyable read. —margareT preTKeLiS 42 october 2009 mOvieS The Boys Are Back Miramax (Scott Hicks, Director) Based on Simon Carr’s acclaimed 2001 memoir, The Boys Are Back is an affecting account of fam- ily reunification and re- demption as a successful sportswriter and absentee father (Clive Owen) at- tempts to reconnect with his estranged sons follow- ing the unexpected death of his wife. Handsomely mounted on the South Australian countryside by Oscar-nominated director Scott Hicks (Shine), the film displays uncommon sensitivity in depicting family dy- namics upended by tragedy. A vulnerable Owen delivers his career-best as the ill-equipped father who comes to understand, through the eyes of his troubled children, the dual impacts of both death and abandonment. His journey from grief- stricken husband to responsible father is charted in a series of emotionally precise scenes detailing his struggle to calm the stormy emotions of both his withdrawn six-year-old (Nicholas McAnulty) and a resentful teenager (George MacKay) from a failed former marriage. Superbly rendered in melancholy tones, the narrative weaves liv- ing, dead, regret and hope, recalling Kramer vs. Kramer in its honest portrait of a father suddenly coping with sons he has yet to know. —Lee SHOquiST The Burning Plain Magnolia Pictures (Guillermo Arriaga, Writer/Director) The sins of the past are visited on the present in The Burning Plain, starring Charlize Theron as a sullen Oregon restaurant hostess drowning in self-destruction before confronting a long-buried secret. When a trailer explodes in the New Mex- ico desert, a multi-character tapestry emerges, including an adulterous wife (Kim Basinger), teenaged lovers (J.D. Pardo, Jennifer Lawrence) bound by tragedy and the mysterious stranger (Jose Maria Yazpik) who connects them. Written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga, who penned screenplays for the superior Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, The Burning Plain employs his now-familiar, multi-layered story threads inter- secting in time and space, seemingly random yet ultimately connected. The message is clear—only by dealing with past transgressions can we truly be free—but the film is remote and uninvolving. —LS muSiC DOUG COX & SALIL BHATT Slide to Freedom 2 (Northern Blues) The slide has made some intriguing inroads in global music. King Sunny Ade redefined Nige- rian music by creating Juju, partly inspired by the Hawaiian style of playing. Chinese folk artists run slides over whatever strings they can think of. Indian musicians have invented some of the most intriguing instruments on the planet, and Salil Bhatt’s veena-meets-arch-top-guitar is no exception. The cross between the resonant delicacies of a sitar with a bluesy edge with Canada’s Doug Cox’s gadgie works beautiful- ly. The first edition of Slide to Freedom was a treat. With their latest, their relationship has deepened, and so has the music. John Boutte’s vocal contributions add lyrical strength to the otherwise instrumental album, while bass player Dinah D roots the songs well. Tabla player Ram- kumar Mishra slides his two-drum set gorgeous- ly, especially when given room to wander, as with “A Letter Home” and “Blessings.” The duo takes on the classic, “Amazing Grace,” reminding one of Ben Harper’s slide-fueled tendencies meeting the Blind Boys of Alabama’s gospel. This series is one we hope continues. —DereK BereS ALEX CUBA Agua Del Pozo (Caracol) From Cuba to Canada went Alexis Puentes in the quest of love. He settled with his wife in Smithers, BC, but continued to create the soul music of his youth as his alter ego, Alex Cuba. Don’t think son or Cuban jazz; this is sometimes funked R&B, sung in Spanish and fea- turing excellent guitar playing. Cuba looks like an Afro-period Maxwell, with a voice to match. He’s got hooks, harmonies, and basic lyrics to sing along with: songs of butterflies, of love and love’s confusing tendencies, even of vampires as Cuba acquiesces to his passion’s fatal bites. Songs we know by heart—the presentation is what makes it unique to Cuba. These 13 tracks, featuring the soft, quiet “Lamento” and the Bill Withers-style single “Sí Pero No,” are ones you will return to again and again, just as you return to the feelings of inspiration and heartbreak throughout life. —D.B.
Reviews: Books, Film & Music
BOOKS
The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History of The Chicago River
Libby Hill (Lake Claremont Press, 4th printing 2007)
What makes a river? Its direction? The terrain over which it flows? The strength it gains from rains and snows? In providing a comprehensive biography of a river whose course was reversed by man, Libby Hill enables us to ponder these questions and come away with a deeper understanding of our own willfulness to manipulate nature, as well as our stubborn refusal to acknowledge subsequent consequences.
Hill explains nature’s hand in creating a slow moving river, that river’s magnetism for attracting commerce, and the engineering might that brought about unfathomable change and degradation. She also recounts the losses for Native Americans, the opportunities for settlers and industrialists, and the ongoing struggle among environmentalists to restore purity, and support wildlife and water quality.
—Susan DeGrane
Beauty and the Soul: The Extraordinary Power of Everyday Beauty to Heal Your Life
Piero Ferrucci (Penguin Group)
What is beauty? A mysterious feeling incapable of description? A concept best proved through mathematical formula?
Or maybe it is as Piero Ferrucci (author of The Power of Kindness, Inevitable Grace and What We May Be) presents in his new book Beauty and the Soul, an innate power easily accessible yet underutilized in bringing about healing, growth and peace.
Drawing from Ferrucci’s experience as a psychotherapist as well as academic and scientific studies, the book focuses on beauty and the value of living an aesthetic life—claiming both may instill confidence, speed recovery from trauma or illness and provide insight into the futility of materialism and war. While the book beautifully explores these benefits and offers hope and inspiration, it displays some weakness in credibility, relying somewhat on the reader to accept certain theories on faith as opposed to scientific evidence. Nevertheless, the book is an engaging and enjoyable read.
—Margaret Pretkelis
MOVIES
The Boys Are Back
Miramax (Scott Hicks, Director)
Based on Simon Carr’s acclaimed 2001 memoir, The Boys Are Back is an affecting account of family reunification and redemption as a successful sportswriter and absentee father (Clive Owen) attempts to reconnect with his estranged sons following the unexpected death of his wife. Handsomely mounted on the South Australian countryside by Oscar-nominated director Scott Hicks (Shine), the film displays uncommon sensitivity in depicting family dynamics upended by tragedy. A vulnerable Owen delivers his career-best as the ill-equipped father who comes to understand, through the eyes of his troubled children, the dual impacts of both death and abandonment. His journey from griefstricken husband to responsible father is charted in a series of emotionally precise scenes detailing his struggle to calm the stormy emotions of both his withdrawn six-year-old (Nicholas McAnulty) and a resentful teenager (George MacKay) from a failed former marriage. Superbly rendered in melancholy tones, the narrative weaves living, dead, regret and hope, recalling Kramer vs. Kramer in its honest portrait of a father suddenly coping with sons he has yet to know.
—Lee Shoquist
The Burning Plain
Magnolia Pictures (Guillermo Arriaga, Writer/Director)
The sins of the past are visited on the present in The Burning Plain, starring Charlize Theron as a sullen Oregon restaurant hostess drowning in self-destruction before confronting a long-buried secret. When a trailer explodes in the New Mexico desert, a multi-character tapestry emerges, including an adulterous wife (Kim Basinger), teenaged lovers (J.D. Pardo, Jennifer Lawrence) bound by tragedy and the mysterious stranger (Jose Maria Yazpik) who connects them. Written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga, who penned screenplays for the superior Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, The Burning Plain employs his now-familiar, multi-layered story threads intersecting in time and space, seemingly random yet ultimately connected. The message is clear—only by dealing with past transgressions can we truly be free—but the film is remote and uninvolving.
—LS
MUSIC
DOUG COX & SALIL BHATT
Slide to Freedom 2 (Northern Blues)
The slide has made some intriguing inroads in global music. King Sunny Ade redefined Nigerian music by creating Juju, partly inspired by the Hawaiian style of playing. Chinese folk artists run slides over whatever strings they can think of. Indian musicians have invented some of the most intriguing instruments on the planet, and Salil Bhatt’s veena-meets-arch-top-guitar is no exception. The cross between the resonant delicacies of a sitar with a bluesy edge with Canada’s Doug Cox’s gadgie works beautifully.
The first edition of Slide to Freedom was a treat. With their latest, their relationship has deepened, and so has the music. John Boutte’s vocal contributions add lyrical strength to the otherwise instrumental album, while bass player Dinah D roots the songs well. Tabla player Ramkumar Mishra slides his two-drum set gorgeously, especially when given room to wander, as with “A Letter Home” and “Blessings.” The duo takes on the classic, “Amazing Grace,” reminding one of Ben Harper’s slide-fueled tendencies meeting the Blind Boys of Alabama’s gospel. This series is one we hope continues.
—Derek Beres
ALEX CUBA
Agua Del Pozo (Caracol)
From Cuba to Canada went Alexis Puentes in the quest of love. He settled with his wife in Smithers, BC, but continued to create the soul music of his youth as his alter ego, Alex Cuba. Don’t think son or Cuban jazz; this is sometimes funked R&B, sung in Spanish and featuring excellent guitar playing. Cuba looks like an Afro-period Maxwell, with a voice to match. He’s got hooks, harmonies, and basic lyrics to sing along with: songs of butterflies, of love and love’s confusing tendencies, even of vampires as Cuba acquiesces to his passion’s fatal bites. Songs we know by heart—the presentation is what makes it unique to Cuba. These 13 tracks, featuring the soft, quiet “Lamento” and the Bill Withers-style single “Sí Pero No,” are ones you will return to again and again, just as you return to the feelings of inspiration and heartbreak throughout life.
—D.B.
Publication List
