Hi friend,

I’ve been spending most of my time so far this year planning a trip to Japan, tamping down impostor syndrome as I begin a new job, and getting to the end of Dragon Quest XI on the Nintendo Switch. Somehow, a few books and movies have crept under the shutters. May I share them with you?

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BOOKS

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954

Back for another crack at LOTR more than twenty years after the first, when film fever was at its height and my attention span absolutely did not stand up to all the songs and poems. Now, I am the right side of 40 and ready to meet Tolkien in his vast and carefully tended garden — because it is a garden, if you pay close attention to the extended descriptions of plant matter. And you should! It’s a quest, it’s an epic war between good and evil, but for me it’s most of all a showcase for the art of description, a ramble through many varied environments all rendered in rich detail: forests, concert halls, craggy peaks, forbidding caves, and enchanted lands of mysterious sprites. Why wouldn’t the world’s forces band together to protect such an array of extraordinary settings from the forces of evil? There are petty squabbles and narrow minds, and we have to make sure that’s as big as our problems ever get. I now plod into book two in full knowledge of all that lies ahead and find myself surprisingly willing to make the journey, just to see it all through the poet’s eyes.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1955

If the first part was gathering a party and exploring the garden, this part is understanding the scale of the threat, the stakes, and seeing exactly how dark and hard-edged things can get. It strikes me that Frodo of the books is much wiser and clearer-headed than Elijah Wood’s wide-eyed interpretation, but it’s been a while since I saw the films; twenty years, in fact. I struggled to push through this one, to be honest. I think the encroaching endless night makes the reader’s journey mirror that of our heroes. Still, Tolkien’s powers of description and world building leave me in awe.

Backyard Campout / Dance Divas (Ella & Olivia #26 and #33)
by Yvette Poshoglian, illustrated by Danielle McDonald, 2020 / 2023

Old mate Yvette has published several dozen books at this point, mostly these single-sitting tales of siblings learning some basic lesson and having fun along the way, so I thought maybe it was a full-time gig… nope. She still holds down a job with the NSW Department of Education. This leads me to consider whether writers should be out in the world by day, honing their observational senses and keeping up with the hopes, cares, and dreams of real people, then going home to reflect that in their writing. More than that, it reminds me (again) that there is nothing keeping me from ‘making the blank page blink’, as Ashleigh Young put it. Anyway: the kids don’t need me to read them stories this basic anymore.

Whetū Toa and the Magician
by Steph Matuku, 2018

Awesome to read my super-Pākeha kids a fun, silly, ambitious yarn with a te ao Māori perspective. I had my doubts but they were hooked from the first chapter and laughed often. It’s pretty anarchic stuff but I sense a broader theme emerging that will no doubt be developed in subsequent books as Whetū explores her powers further.

The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book
by Bill Watterson, 1995

I’ve hung out with Calvin and Hobbes many times but never their creator, who has much to say here about the comics industry of the late 80s and early 90s and about his dedication to a particular set of principles. It’s hard to disagree, especially on the point that merchandising can only ever cheapen the original art.

Katherine Carlyle
by Rupert Thomson, 2015

A propulsive and compelling read, though it meanders aimlessly, exists mainly to indulge Thomson’s fantasies of walking away, and ends abruptly and weakly. All this is also true of last year’s ‘How to Make a Bomb’ aka ‘Dartmouth Park’, which is almost the same narrative but from an older man’s perspective rather than a young woman’s. It’s almost impossible to feel sympathy for either protagonist, and the more recent novel at least bears the authenticity of Thomson himself being an older man; but Kit… there’s something fundamental about Kit, namely her existence as an IVF baby and her over-identification with the eight years she spent literally on ice, that I find intriguing. It’s a pity Thomson does little more with it than follow a solipsistic thread when the material could’ve had real thematic weight. Still the master of metaphor and simile, though.

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MOVIES

PADDINGTON IN PERU
directed by Dougal Wilson, 2024

Forgettable. I appreciated the many nods to Herzog, but I think the magic is gone.

LILO & STITCH
directed by Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois, 2002

This looks and feels absolutely fantastic from the off. Unbelievable that it was made by Disney, the corporate behemoth whose core business is meticulously curated, once-in-a-lifetime tourist experiences based on ruthlessly acquired intellectual property, because this movie has almost total contempt for the gormless tourists wandering around Lilo’s Hawaiian village. There’s the big, sunburnt guy who keeps dropping his ice cream, but pay particular attention to the lobotomised patrons at David’s fire juggling show, especially the guy in sunglasses and a blue singlet, whose open-mouthed grin shows his engagement with local culture and traditions will never go deeper than these two minutes. In time, the most grittily impressive story elements will be swallowed up as too many characters carry out too many chase scenes that go on too long, and another flat turn from Daveigh Chase, who ruined the English dub of Spirited Away, doesn’t help. But here is a family film that renders poverty in surprisingly close detail, even if ‘found family’ is a bit of a lazy solution. Charming, chaotic and deeper than expected.

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2
directed by Chris Renaud, 2019

Kids’ choice for movie night. Cross-cuts across three different storylines featuring all your favourites from the first film (what were they, Mitch? Dave? Scratcher? I didn’t see it tbh) and a few exciting new guys (here comes Cogmonster!). Mostly harmless and bloodless, albeit with some lazily one-note and vindictive villains, adding up to ‘be brave’ and ‘look at the animals do things animals don’t usually do’.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991

Better every time I see it, and the gold standard for anything Disney has produced in my lifetime. These were the days when Disney just tried their hardest to make an animated Broadway musical, with all the creative departments filled by proven stage legends. As a kid I would never have given this the time of day, and while my kids sat through the whole thing, they didn’t especially enjoy it. Maybe lines like “I’m incredibly good at expec-tor-at-ing” and the irredeemably parochial cast of villagers don’t strike you as remarkable until you’re grown up.

DECISION TO LEAVE
directed by Park Chanwook, 2022

Mostly style over substance. I think this about most Korean films and I’m not sure where my prejudice comes from, but look, I tried to describe the plot of this film to my wife and we both started laughing halfway through. The thing about it I can’t shake, and which I think I owe to living in a country where indigeneity and land rights are such a prominent part of our public discourse, is Seo-rae’s (Tang Wei, excellent) identification with the mountain her grandfather left her and the intergenerational scars hinted at by the extreme decisions she makes in this story. In my thinking, Seo-rae’s deepest love is for that mountain, and it’s when her head is turned from it that she truly loses her way.

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More soon — very soon, in fact —

Love b