David Thewlis

Besieged
$24.98
The question is answered in Bernardo Bertolucci's smart, adult (here meaning "mature," not "pornographic," and isn't it sad that I have to note the distinction? But anyway) 1998 film Beseiged.

Beseiged stars Thandie Newton (of Beloved and 2004's Crash) as Shandurai. She's a nurse in an unnamed African country, where her husband is a kind-hearted schoolteacher. One day as Shandurai pedals her bicycle home from the hospital where she works with children, she is passed on the road by two military trucks. In minutes, she will discover that these trucks are taking her husband away, perhaps for good. She screams and crumples to the ground in shock and outrage.

In the next scene, Shandurai wakes from a nightmare. She is in a different place. A sound has woken her- the sound, we learn, of a dumbwaiter being lowered into position. Bertolucci makes a point of showing, not telling, in this film, and the viewer must piece the story together like a puzzle. The dumbwaiter connects Shandurai to her upstairs neighbor, Mr. Kinsky (David Thewlis, who played a small role in the Coen Bros. classic The Big Lebowski, but is best known as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films).
What would you do if your corrupt government arrested your innocent spouse, and you weren't certain you would ever see him or her again?
We learn little about Mr. Kinsky, but we do know this: he lives in a grand old house in Rome, a house left to him by his departed (and presumably quite wealthy) aunt. He seems to do little all day except play the piano, occassionally giving lessons.

Shandurai lives in the basement, and sometimes ventures into the upper part of the house to volunteer her housecleaning services. As she cleans his part of the house, Mr. Kinsky is at first a floating presence, glimpsed out of the corner of her eye. Then, one night as Shandurai sleeps, she is again awakened by the sound of the dumbwaiter. Mr. Kinsky has sent her a single bright pink tropical bloom. She throws the flower in the trash bin, but later rescues it and puts it in water.

Shandurai has many things on her mind. She has come to Rome as a medical student, apparently on a student visa. Her application for residence is denied. She knows her husband is imprisoned back in Africa, but is powerless to help him. And now, she must deal with the affections of Mr. Kinsky. On another night, he sends her a gaudy old-fashioned gold and diamond ring.

The next morning, Shandurai confronts Mr. Kinsky. What does he want? she demands to know. Surely he knows that she cannot keep the ring. He answers that he loves her. He pursues her almost violently, catching her and repeating over and over, "Marry me."

"You're crazy," she responds.

He asks her what she wants, essentially promising her anything. "Get my husband out of jail," she shouts back. Mr. Kinsky is crushed. Yet he sets about doing just exactly that, selling off his aunt's artworks and antiques to try to buy Shandurai's husband's freedom. Shandurai finds the evidence of this- letters addressed to Mr. Kinsky, bearing the stamp of her native country's dictator- as she cleans.

Now Shandurai is torn. She longs to see her husband again, but it won't be possible without Mr. Kinsky. She feels gratitude toward Mr. Kinsky. Will she give in to his relentless pursuit of her? Will she honor her marriage vows, or allow herself to be beseiged by this stranger? The answer the film provides is provocative.

The Late Hector Kipling: A Novel
$25.00
One prominent print review casts the protagonist of this debut novel from British actor Thewliss as an "appealing" hero. I had to reread that particular line several times, because to my mind, a more accurate description would be "appalling." And it's that difference between appealing and appalling that made this book an ultimately frustrating read for me. I'm not suggesting that a protagonist has to be nice, or likable, or "appealing" to be worth spending 300 pages with -- there are plenty of example of awful, nasty, completely compelling characters who can carry a book along. But the middle-aged painter named Hector Kipling, whose antics this story revolves around, becomes so annoyingly selfish and self-destructive that as his world collapses all around him in the final third of the book, one is hard-pressed to care.

Which isn't to say the book isn't worth trying. For one thing, it's pretty funny -- at least the first half or so. I wouldn't rate it as laugh-out-loud funny as many others seem to, but the wordplay is awfully sharp in that way that seems comes so effortlessly to British writers. At the same time, it's a sharp skewering of the modern art scene, with plenty of name dropping and inside jokes. So if you find the art of installations and video montages to be generally worth mockery, then this may be the book for you.

Another potentially interesting element is how Thewliss takes a standard comedy template (the flawed but likable 25-45 male who makes a few mistakes in the first act and then must spend the rest of the book/film redeeming himself, winning success and the girl by the end) and subverts it. What starts off as another journey down this well-trodden path starts to veer off the map, as Hector's missteps lead him down some very dark roads. Around two-thirds of the way through the book, it seems like the plot has been taken to a place it cannot logically recover from. And yet, we are so used to reading/seeing these kind of stories where the hero turns it all around in in a cunning or lucky reversal of fortunes, that the narrative tension is maintained.

Whether or not you enjoy this is predicated on whether or not you buy into Hector's rapid nervous breakdown and increasingly erratic and selfish behavior. Personally, it all felt way too contrived to me, but I was glad that Thewliss never shied away from the realistic fallout such a breakdown would cause. Worth a sample by those looking for very dark comedy and/or fiction about the artistic process set in the contemporary art world.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban - Intl Movie Poster Harry solo (Size: 27'' x 39'')
$18.99
This item is in new and mint condition. It has never been hung, used or displayed.

Divorcing Jack
$9.98
This flick is a strange mix of some slapstick/rediculous humor and very dark and violent events and people. There are several clever lines, some good music, some philosophizing about politics and human nature, a murder mystery, and a cat and mouse game that takes many absurd turns. The "romantic" aspects that are played up in the descriptions and trailer are really negligeable to the whole thing. It's so ambitious as to not be beleived but somehow you can allow them that. The humor is very silly, and the serious or sad aspects really are very pathetic. I'm not sure the term "dark humor" is really aplicable to this; while I think of that as being more of laughing at the rediculousness of an ugly and violent situation, in this movie, it's more like there are 2 planes, humore and drama, that merely co-exist. I couldn't give a logical reason why but it worked for me. It was probably a lot of the one liners and the performances of the entire cast which created very amusing characters. Our hero protagonist is a real loser who you can't help but like in spite of his being slime. I'm very easily swayed by a good laugh and this film was sooo much funnier than expected. I can see how it might not be for everyone. Hope you like it.