TGIF 927

Handsome face, sexy hands, black v-neck shirt: Check!

Well this week went fast, so fast, that I haven't updated it since last TGIFassy! That's indicative of how busy I've been with work, and classes, and special projects to meet my graduation requirements in December. And this weekend is my birthday weekend, so I will try to take it easy, but not slack off completely. Nothing outstanding happened in Fassbender news this week, but as yesterday, Michael was in London for a special screening of TYAS with McQueen. I still don't know if I'll watch TYAS again when it comes out in theaters in a couple weeks. I really had my fill of it at TIFF a few weeks ago. Just like in 2008 when I first saw Hunger at TIFF, the next time I saw that film was in March of 2009. Some movies, while brilliant and a work of cinematic achievement, seeing it once in the theater is enough for most folks, and you may consider buying the DVD later. This may be the case for me regarding TYAS. It's too much to watch again. It's like a history dramatization, not a film to eat popcorn at and 'enjoy'. But with that said, I strongly encourage ALL of you to watch it to support the film and see a representation of America's horrible past in a way that you've never seen before.

Now with The Counselor, I am excited to watch that because I like crime and greed dramas like this and it looks like a pretty people fashion show, but with cocaine, guns, and depraved criminals. As a matter of fact, the book is now in print. However, according to this book review I found at Awards Watch, there's some aspects to the film that may be either offensive or of a concern for others: Warning, there may be some spoilers:

The most striking and jarring aspect of the first portion of this story is the graphic sexual content and occasional references to the nature of women that are strikingly chauvinistic. It's hard to reconcile this immediately with other works by McCarthy and doesn't fit with his oeuvre. I feel a little outmatched in being able to analyse the logic of this as some of it ties to two female characters in the book who are clearly very dangerous, but not others. His exploration of female sexuality certainly creates ill-ease which seems to be the point. It would be lovely to think this is by design to cause discomfort in men who are threatened by female sexuality, and by female independent power. Certainly many men fall victim to it here, many men who are greedy but are consumed by the far less structured or controllable greed of a sexually empowered woman who gets what she wants. It's just hard not to feel some undercurrent of hatred or fear of this in the writing. 

However at about the halfway point of this novel McCarthy's idiosyncratic style and prose comes roaring through. Beginning with a description of a man fixing a wire to a post and hitching this wire to the back of his truck things tumble very quickly into a succession of terrifying and harrowing events. These feel so deeply rooted in McCarthy's oeuvre, interests and style as an author as to be unmistakably his own writing and to outmatch any imitators. The dread and horror is classic McCarthy. 

McCarthy's interest in exploring the irrevocable nature of events outside your control, and the degree to which you have no influence on them and must only play your part by succumbing to them is deeply woven into this story and fits so comfortably into his canon of writing as to be incredibly welcome to any fan of his work. Harrowing as this tale is I left it deeply effected and it has lived with me for a while. 

The film may or may not succeed. For me this is irrelevant as I am more interested in McCarthy's writing and feel that though this book is disturbing and troubling, it is also incredibly rewarding and succeeds beautifully.  

It is the story of a lawyer, the Counselor, a man who is so seduced by the desire to get rich, to impress his fiancée Laura, that he becomes involved in a drug-smuggling venture that quickly takes him way out of his depth. His contacts in this are the mysterious and probably corrupt Reiner and the seductive Malkina, so exotic her pets of choice are two cheetahs. As the action crosses the Mexican border, things become darker, more violent and more sexually disturbing than the Counselor has ever imagined.

I hope you're still intrigued because I certainly am! Also, coming up sometime in a month or so, I'm working with Hupsakeek to create our new logo, and my original idea has sparked some creative concepts for Hupsakeek, and together, we are developing something very special and it will allow Fassinating Fassbender to brand itself with something very sharp and cool. So stay tuned for that.

Also, I just learned that Michael will be on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday, October 8th!

TGiFassy!