Tarjei Vesaas - The Ice Palace

A young, white forehead boring through the darkness. An eleven-year-old girl. Siss.

The opening sentence summons Steerpike for me, from the Gormenghast novels, Peake's references to his high forehead suggesting the sheer force of his will. But Siss, the primary presence in the remarkable The Ice Palace, is a very different character; equally important, while mostly absent, is her friend Unn. The intensity between them, and especially in Unn's room the one time they meet after school, trembles with the sense of all that's so vitally important and so unspeakable (including because so ungraspable, even in thought) for a certain type of child, perhaps a certain type of person.

The Ice Palace is deceptively simple, with its plain sentences and short sections, most following Siss - a notable exception is Unn's visit to the frozen waterfall which gives the book its title - and usually from her point of view. But what about the way it feels as though other perspectives and potential meanings and worlds are always thronging all around her, thrumming in complicated interaction with her own knotted internality and the way it seizes on certain symbols (the idea of the gift)? What about the strange intrusion of 'the bird' about two-thirds through, with its steel claws drawing a slanting stripe between two peaks in no time at all? What about the dream of snow-covered bridges, only the most explicit fall into poetry in a novel that operates throughout in a poetic register? (In translation from Nynorsk, one of the two officially sanctioned Norwegian languages, 1963.) What about the way it never reveals some of its most central mysteries - who is the other about whom Unn avoids thinking, and why does she fear she won't go to heaven? - in order to preserve its deeper architecture?

Most magically of all, in the end, it turns out to be as much about kindness, hope and the human spirit as it is about anything else.

Patty Griffin - Patty Griffin

The significance of Griffin choosing to make this album self-titled, this deep into a career of ten diverse and uniformly excellent albums (eleven including the equally excellent live document A Kiss in Time) and at the age of 55, is impossible to ignore, and adds to the sense one might already have from the music that Patty Griffin is something of a summation - a distillation - of where she has come to in all that time.

It's simpler and quieter, and more closely tied to the version of folk she's developed over her career than 2015's Servant of Love, and the gentleness is befitting. It doesn't have as many obvious song highlights as many of her previous records, but the musicality is at the same high standard as ever.

"Darren Sylvester: Carve a Future, Devour Everything, Become Something" & "Rosslynd Piggott: I Sense You But I Cannot See You" (NGVA)

I can't remember the last exhibition I visited that was as sheerly pleasurable as Darren Sylvester's (maybe the Del Kathryn Barton which was installed in the same space if I remember right), spanning photography, various forms of installation and sculpture, video, and music (the latter, stronger on texture and mood than melody but very strong on those indeed, echoing throughout the gallery and setting the tone for the visual pieces).

"Broken Model" (2016) 

"Listen to me" (2012) 

"IKEA sunrise" (2018)

"Our future was ours" (2005)

Also, "You should let go of a dying relationship" (2006), Sylvester's recreation and syncing of the music videos for "Heroes" and "Wuthering Heights", marvellous.

And it was two from two for today's NGVA visit, with Rosslynd Piggott's large retrospective also resonating. Hers seems the kind of body of work that offers many keys to its own understanding, but for me, one was certainly the appearance in her "100 glasses" (1991-92) piece, which is what it sounds like, of "Marcel" and "Virginia" side by side, as in Proust and Woolf, as in the quintessential modernist explorers of subjective consciousness and experience.

"Nature morte - eggs" & "Nature morte - eggs 2" (1990-91)

Throughout her four-decade spanning work: glasses, water, blues, dreamy mistiness - although my favourites seem to cluster from the late 80s through to mid 90s.

"Italy" (1988)

"Upside-down landscape" (1989), like a sprightly little Tanguy escapee

"Pour slowly into me" (1996)

Julia Jacklin - Crushing

There's three different types of song across Julia Jacklin's Crushing, more or less. There's the muffled, moody, not-quite-ballads at the top ("Body"), anchored at track 4 ("Don't Know How To Keep Loving You") and nearly at the end ("Turn Me Down") - all ace. There's the indie-rocky ones ("Head Alone", "Pressure to Party" and "You Were Right"), which as a set are my favourites. And there's the other ones, which are a bit quieter and don't make much of an impression. Altogether, though, very good.

Avengers: Endgame

For me, Endgame stuck the landing. The culmination of a 22-film run, most of which I've seen (many recently), it does everything it could reasonably have been expected to, moving through its two and a half hours with clean lines and a neat structure which succeeds in making its resolutions to many of its major characters' arcs feel natural and satisfying.

I guess this series, or franchise, must be unique in the history of cinema in terms of the way its films have fit together (as opposed to the Bond series, with its single through-line of its main character, or the Star Wars films, which seem to have developed with a more linear spine accompanied by tangential proliferations). Moment to moment, too, it continues to be enjoyable.

Spider Man: Into The Spider-Verse

While this one is on-theme with my recent superhero movie watching catch-up, it didn't seem an essential watch - Film Crit Hulk's enthusiastic spruiking of it persuaded me. Animatedly enjoyable as it is, and as much as I recognise what he says about its merits, perhaps - again - I'm butting up against the limits of the genre's intrinsic appeal to me, despite how much of it I've watched over time.

Burning

Burning has stayed with me, as I'd thought it might. It didn't impress me as vividly on a second viewing, which I think was mostly because an analytical part of my brain was ticking over trying to pull it apart - and what figure out what made it so powerful - this time. But still, very good.

(w/ R)

A Simple Favour

Quite twisty, quite fun, and Anna Kendrick is pretty much as enjoyable as always (although maybe slightly too broad in her comedy here), but in the end all a bit insubstantial.

Marvel Cinematic Universe catchup and refresh

As a bit of an indulgence, I've been watching/rewatching some of these to fill in the gaps. An interesting experience to have connections and resonances emerge, or be fleshed out, after so much out-of-sequence exposure along the way.

Having recently watched the first Captain America film, and in general developed a bit more investment in the principals and more familiarity with their personalities and their multi-movie character arcs, The Avengers was a notch more enjoyable than last time, when I was missing a fair bit of context.

Iron Man 3 was a first watch. Thoughts prompted included: particularly in an age of Elon Musk et al, the character of Iron Man is far from unproblematic; the extent to which Jarvis comes off as an actual character is quite impressive (and adds more weight to the developments of the later Age of Ultron); it tackles the PTSD head on and I liked that aspect; it wraps up his story quite neatly (though of course we, and by then the studio too, know/knew there was plenty to come).

Ant-Man, as promised, was more of a goof, a fun and fast-moving heist movie. Paul Rudd is really quite charming.

Like The Avengers but more so, Captain America: Civil War made much more sense with the benefit of now having several more of these under my belt. This one particularly, but also the others I've been watching or rewatching, brought home how much of a balancing act each film walks between standing alone and being a satisfying part of the wider 'MCU', as well as the extent to which many of them tip in the latter direction.

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies seemed skippable in terms of rewatches but I figured I might as well flesh out my attachment to the characters (on this watch, volume 2 in particular puts a lot of work into all its principals, significantly building on the first one). And they turned out to be an apt lead-in to Thor: Ragnarok by way of space adventures, which I'm going to say is probably my favourite of the lot (its only real competitor being Black Panther, which is still fresh enough in my mind that I've skipped it in this refreshing) - a winner in terms of pace, tone, humour and style, as well as super enjoyable characters and about the right amount of advancing of the longer arcs.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was neat, getting the stakes right and doing a good job with the 'high school important / adult world important' thing, as well as using the big previous Avengers events as worldbuilding context. Tony Stark also becomes increasingly more enjoyable the more films I see him in.

On the back of all that, Infinity War landed with more weight this time, mostly because all the threads it pulls together were fresh in my mind but also because there was more depth in my understanding of the (many) characters. Also, Thanos is an intriguingly philosophical, melancholy, and at times almost sympathetic sociopath of a big bad.

And, most recently, Ant-Man and the Wasp - another fun entry.

Centre for Contemporary Photography

Quick CCP visit. Not much jumped out at me apart from Guy Grabowsky's "Reflex" (2018).

Lucy Dacus @ Northcote Social Club, Friday 29 March

Warm, high quality show, pretty much one hour flat but that was enough time to hear all the best bits from her small discography to date, plus a couple of unrecorded ones. Dacus's neatly constructed songs and story-telling lyrics came through well in the live four-piece (including Dacus herself) band setting, and likewise the lovely timbre of her voice, while she herself seemed empathetic and unaffected.

The highlights were basically the songs that have settled into being my favourites from Historian, "Addictions", "Nonbeliever" and "Night Shift", also (with the benefit of her explanation that it stemmed from her decision that social protest was a good thing to do) "Yours and Mine", plus "Green Eyes, Red Face" and "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" from No Burden, and an up-tempo, guitar-propelled version of "La vie en rose".

(w/ R)

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda - Monstress - Vol 3: Haven

Still good and possibly getting better. Characters proliferated over the first two volumes, with the usual questions about how they all fit together and how powerful they each are, but this third volume feels like a bit of a consolidation without diminishing the sense of scope and sprawl. Some of the story's lines appear quite traditional (modern) fantasy, while others are more out of the box, and the comic's commitment to fully-realised, messy female characters across the board is evidently baked in and provides some of its most enjoyable aspects.

Michael Carr-Gregg - Surviving Step-Families

Quick read. In the way of these things, most of it scanned as common sense.

Captain Marvel

Middlingly to quite good, with most of its distinction - and this is far from nothing - coming from its centring of a female superhero, the shading-in it does to highlight that her personal quest includes fighting to overcome patriarchy (some of it quite clever, e.g. the hackneyed injunction from more experienced mentor to talented tyro to 'keep your emotions under control' plays differently when delivered by a somewhat condescending man to a woman), and the avoidance of at least one pitfall by not having a romantic interest for her. Brie Larson is fine, but not as (figuratively) incandescent as she's sometimes been before (most notably in Short Term 12).

(w/ R @ IMAX, 3d)

Captain America: The First Avenger & Captain America: The Winter Soldier

A bit of catch up in my hopscotching watching of Marvel movies. Nice to fill in some of the blanks and both of these are entertaining.

Neko Case @ Melbourne Recital Centre, Wednesday 13 March

Good, if with less energy than might have been the case in less buttoned-down surrounds. She ranged across her formidable back catalogue, with a natural and not unwelcome focus on Hell-On, which reminded me how deep and great that back catalogue is, what a country singer she always has been and still is, and how wonderful it is to re-encounter classics like "Deep Red Bells", "Margaret Vs Pauline", "Hold On, Hold On" and "This Tornado Loves You" live. And it taught me how great some of those songs can sound with up to four or five guitars on stage (not even including bass) - especially "Man".

Hell-On continues to stand up to the best of her previous albums, and songs like "Last Lion of Albion", "Halls of Sarah", "Bad Luck", "Curse of the I-5 Corridor", "Gumball Blue" and "Oracle of the Maritimes" all punched through while feeling of a piece with the highlights she picked from further back, which included "Look For Me (I'll Be Around)", "Maybe Sparrow", her cover of "Loretta", "The Pharoahs", "Calling Cards" and (set closer) "Ragtime".

Support from Laura Jean, who seemed v.g. and appealingly real.

(previously live in 2007 and 2010; longer history here)

(w/ R and Hayley + Hayley's friend Kate, who it turned out I also knew slightly)

The Hate U Give

An 'issues film' for sure, and quite talky, but a good one, and I liked that it was child (or teen) centred in a realistically adult world. 

Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

Remind Me Tomorrow is a marvellous album, not better than Are We There but different, most notably in the greater use of electronic trimmings. The songwriting and singing are as strong as ever, so the effect is that Remind Me Tomorrow feels like it satisfyingly builds on what's come before, retaining the strengths while doing something a bit new.

I've mentioned Sharon Van Etten and the Cure in the same breath before, specifically re: "Taking Chances" from Are We There, and the comparison has floated to mind again while listening to this album's "Jupiter 4", on which the prevailing atmosphere isn't a million miles from that early trio of Seventeen Seconds, Faith and (the more downbeat end of) Pornography. It's a brilliant song, and one of several that also swims in the starry seas adjacent to Beach House.

I've also been thinking about Tori Amos, a real old touchstone for me. The musical similarities are sometimes there - especially vis a vis from the choirgirl hotel and to venus and back - although not enormous, but the general tenor of intensely emotional and charged confession (maybe together with an oceanic quality) is what really ties together how I respond to both artists' music. Personal history counterfactuals are always kind of meaningless and this one's no exception, but still: I can imagine, if I'd encountered SVE in my teens, her impact on me might have been utterly enormous.

Here are a few bits of the album I particularly cherish:

• First track "I Told You Everything" opens, I'm pretty sure, with the exact same piano chord that kicks off "Afraid of Nothing", itself the first track of previous album Are We There. And then it turns into an equally immersive and beautiful mope.
• There's plenty of stomp and slink scattered throughout, including some ace fuzzy bass. "No One's Easy To Love" (another Beach House-y one), "Comeback Kid" (brattier, good), "You Shadow" (with actual funk/soul, which she's shown she can do before and is welcome here as always).
• I already mentioned "Jupiter 4".
• Also, "Seventeen", even before she starts screaming towards the end.
• The way it all flows of a piece, winding up with "Stay" on a note that leaps forward without overstaying. No wonder I've so often been finding myself cuing it up to play again as soon as I've finished listening.

(also: Epic, Tramp, "I Don't Want To Let You Down" ep)

Hotel Mumbai

Depicts the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai and specifically the luxurious Taj Hotel. On a technical level it's well made, and the familiar faces (Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Jason Isaacs) and charismatic ones I didn't know were a bonus. And the angle of the hotel staff's dedication to their work leading to their willingness to risk their own lives to protect those of their guests was interesting. But despite liking the way their pride in their work and bonds to each other drove that heroism, I found it hard to forget the enormous disparity in wealth and privilege between the guests being protected and the Mumbai residents doing the protecting. With pre-screening discussion with director and co-writer.

(w/ Hayley)

At Eternity's Gate

Good and not undemanding in its attempt to place us within Van Gogh's experience of the world (including lots of blurred focus and saturated colours), though the editing and cinematography sometimes tipped into overly showy for me. Intense and sombre, and structured around dialogues between the artist and others who he met at Arles and Saint-Remy which get close to real philosophical heft at times. I didn't need the Jesus analogies, but Dafoe's performance is probably as close as anyone's could be to selling it all.

(w/ Erandathie)