Category: Film

Book Review, European Literature, featured, Fiction, Film, French, French Literature, Noir, Novel, Thriller, Translation

Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti

The detective in Syndrome E is a paranoid schizophrenic. While solving cases he is constantly accompanied by his hallucinations of his deceased six-year-old daughter. She is not giving him hints to help solve the case but acting like a six-year-old: crying out for attention; becoming sick at the sight of bloody crime scenes; complaining that she wants her father to play with her, feed her … Continue reading Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti

james b chester
Book Review, Classic, European Literature, featured, Fiction, Film, French, French Literature, Noir, Novella

Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

On May 8, 1945, the day Nazi Germany surrendered, the French government began a massacre of Muslim nationalists in Algeria that ended with the deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 civilians. There were soldiers who fought for France in Germany who returned to Algeria only to find the families dead, and their homes destroyed. Not something I expected to learn in a gritty, noir detective novel … Continue reading Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

james b chester
American Fiction, Book Review, California, featured, Fiction, Film, History, Novel

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra is a lot of fun. I can’t say that it’s great literature, or that it has changed my life, but I had a terrific time reading it and I highly recommend it. The story concerns the behind-the-scenes workers at a poverty row film studio in 1940’s Hollywood. Before the war the studio survives on money made from making Italian … Continue reading Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

james b chester
featured, Film

Queen Christina: Ms. Garbo is Ready for her Close-up

It’s all about the close up.  Not quite, actually, but nearly. Queen Christina, the 1933 movie about the 17th century queen of Sweden, was a perfect vehicle for Greta Garbo.  Very loosely based on historical events the movie tells the story of the queens ill-fated romance with the Spanish ambassador.  The final scene of the movie, a very long, intense close-up on Ms. Garbo as … Continue reading Queen Christina: Ms. Garbo is Ready for her Close-up

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