A Couple of Reviews

So, my semester is over. Yep, on Friday at 3:00 pm I walked out of my last final a free woman. However, finals week doesn't actually end until today at 4:00, and a great deal of my friends are still in the process of finishing their work. To ward off boredom, I have been reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies. In the last three days, I have read 750 pages, and watched eight and a half hours of video (not including the countless number of YouTube clips). In this time, I have discovered two gems, which I would like to share with you, readers:

MOVIE:

BUBBA HO-TEP

directed by Don Coscarelli

I'm going to paraphrase what my boyfriend said about this movie: If someone were to tell me that there was a movie about Elvis (played by a B movie actor) living out the end of his days at a retirement home because the impersonator he payed to switch places with him dies before they can switch back, AND THEN old Elvis fights a mummy in cowboy boots that threatens the souls of the elderly at this retirement home was going to be subtle and heartfelt, I would laugh and not believe it. Sure, I might believe it was campy, ridiculous, and good fun, and I'd probably have a strong impulse to watch it.

The thing is, it is campy, ridiculous, and good fun, but it also manages to be subtle and heartfelt. While the parts with the mummy are about as campy as any B movie could get, the rest of it adresses getting older, lost dreams and families, regrets, patronizing nurses, and illness better than any movie I've seen in a long time. And even though juxtaposing this with images of Elvis fighting an enormous scarab beetle with his walker, bed pan, and a fork sounds like a horrible idea, it works.

I think this is one of those perfect movies. It set out to do something, and it did it. If this were gymnastics, it would have stuck the landing. I didn't find any of it superfluous, the dialogue rubbed me the wrong way, and I don't think I've met a better cast of characters in years.

BOOK:

FIRMIN

by Sam Savage

This book really surprised me. When I saw it at Powell's Books, I knew right away I was the target audience. See that white chunk on the right side of the cover? It's a literal chunk taken out of the book. As though I rat had nibbled it. On the back, it said it was a book about Firmin, a rat who begins by consuming literature, but soon finds it consumes him. It's about a rat who loves books. Perfect for me. So I bought it, guessing it would be a fun, cute summer read, with little substance.

It isn't cute, and it certainly isn't lacking in substance. Rather, it is a beautiful exploration of a lonely genius. I couldn't help but identify with Firmin the rat as he navigated the human world, separated by his lack of voice and the fear most humans hold for rats.

The cast of characters is rounded out by a bookshop owner, a compassionate (but probably off-his-rocker) sci-fi author, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (who are residents of Fermin's fantasy life), and hundreds of books. In his isolation, the books Firmin reads become his companions, adapting to fit into his world. Perhaps my favorite line is the following:

"And I introduce people. I put Baudelaire on the raft with Huck and Jim. It did him a lot of good."

I loved it only a few pages in, but I also realize that I would probably find it pretentious if it wasn't about a rat. As it is, it's the perfect balance between profundity and humor--very dark humor.