THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
12/24/21 -- Vol. 40, No. 26, Whole Number 2203

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
Our Christmas Issue? (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award Winners
Mini Reviews, Part 5 (FALLING FOR FIGARO, THE NOWHERE INN,
THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG CYCLE) (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
SNOW WONDER (film review by Evelyn C. Leeper)
THE GREEN KNIGHT (and Other Arthurian Films) (film comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini-Reviews, CRYPTOZOO, and DESIGNER GENES
(letter of comment by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Our Christmas Issue? (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

This seems to be a Christmas issue, with reviews of Connie Willis's
Christmas stories, her Christmas movie (SNOW WONDER), and several
versions of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", which takes place
during two Christmases. [-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award Winners

Best Novel: NETWORK EFFECT, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Best Novella: "The Empress of Salt and Fortune", Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
Best Novelette: "Two Truths and a Lie", Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)
Best Short Story: "Metal Like Blood in the Dark", T. Kingfisher
(Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
Best Series: "The Murderbot Diaries", Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Best Related Work: BEOWULF: A NEW TRANSLATION, Maria Dahvana
Headley (FSG)
Best Graphic Story or Comic: Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel
Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian
Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: THE OLD GUARD
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: "The Good Place: Whenever
You're Ready"
Best Editor, Short Form: Ellen Datlow
Best Editor, Long Form: Diana M. Pho
Best Professional Artist: Rovina Cai
Best Semiprozine: FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction
Best Fanzine: nerds of a feather, flock together
Best Fancast: The Coode Street Podcast
Best Fan Writer: Elsa Sjunneson
Best Fan Artist: Sara Felix
Best Video Game: Hades

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World
Science Fiction Society): A WIZARD'S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING,
T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines):
Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility

Chengdu (China) won the bid for Worldcon in 2023.

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 5 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Here is the fifth batch of mini-reviews, this time of films
centered around music.

FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
of an opera. Worse, it is the boyfriend of our main character,
Millie Cantwell (played by Danielle Macdonald), who loves opera and
dreams of becoming an opera singer. (It is unusual, and a bit
refreshing, to see a lead actress in a film who is not thin.)
Though the film takes place entirely in Britain, our main character
(Millie) is an American. At one time the British would make sure
the main character has appeal for Americans. I hope this is not a
return to that requirement. Millie decides to go after her dream,
quits her job as a London fund manager, and travels to Scotland to
study under a tyrannical teacher (played by Joanna Lumley). Millie
wants to compete in the "Singer of Renown" contest. (There
actually was a "Singers of Renown" contest for many years, but it
took place in Australia. Its use may be due to the writer/director
Ben Lewin being Australian, and the film being an Australian film.)
The film has a nice selection of operatic arias, with the ones
"sung" by the two leads actually voiced by Stacey Alleaume and
Nathan Lay.

Released theatrically 10/01/21. Rating: low +1 or 5/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7392014/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/falling_for_figaro>

THE NOWHERE INN: (**SPOILERS**) A bit of background here: Alice
Clark is a real actress and musician, whose stage name is St.
Vincent. Carrie Brownstein is a writer and actress. This film,
co-written by them, is semi-autobiographical. I will refer to the
internal documentary that is being made as "the documentary" and
the film itself as THE NOWHERE INN.

THE NOWHERE INN begins with a chaotic rock song, which is somewhat
indicative of the film. In fact, all the songs in this concert
mockumentary have nonsensical lyrics. The main character, singer
Annie Clark/St. Vincent (played by Annie Clark) asks a friend
(Carrie Brownstein, played by Carrie Brownstein) to write and
direct a documentary about her for her fans. But while the stage
persona of St. Vincent is dynamic and exciting, the reality of
Annie Clark is boring. THE NOWHERE INN shows a parade of
miscalculations, mistakes, and personal conflicts along the tour,
like a low-key THIS IS SPINAL TAP. The problem, Brownstein says,
is that Annie/St.Vincent is "nerdy and normal in real life." THE
NOWHERE INN examines the difference between on- and off-stage
personae; the documentary's director wants the off-screen world to
be more interesting, but things go awry, and things get even more
uncomfortable when two of the women go for salacious images. Annie
keeps trying to control and then stage the documentary, complete
with planned break-up with girlfriend, and a fake family and back
story, and not just for herself. Annie doesn't want grit and dirt
(and jail), she wants a different kind of film and imagines herself
in a sophisticated party scene instead. Meanwhile, the director of
the documentary is always reaching for an inappropriate tone or an
inappropriate color. Annie and Carrie have profound differences in
their interpretation of film and eventually it tears their
relationship apart.

There are certainly some striking images in THE NOWHERE INN. There
are the inappropriate color choices mentioned above. In one scene,
we see only the back of someone's head and straight black hair,
even as she turns around, like a image from a Japanese horror
movie. There are aspects of this reminiscent of SYNECDOCHE and of
THE TRUMAN SHOW. As noted, this is semi-autobiographical; it is
also somewhat self-referential. (For what it's worth, it also
seems to fail a reverse Bechdel test--there do not seem to be any
conversations between two named male characters.)

Released theatrically 09/17/21; available on Apple TV+. Rating:
low +1 (-4 to +4), or 5/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10441822/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_nowhere_inn>

THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG CYCLE: THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE--A SONG
CYCLE is a documentary about several reels of a 1969 film (THE
VILLAGE DETECTIVE ["Derevenskiy detektiv"]) from the Soviet Union
that were pulled up in 2016 in an Icelandic fishing trawler's net
(so yet another film this year with underwater photography!). The
film introduces itself with a song sung/recited by someone who
looks to be a Russian peasant in militaristic uniform--the "village
detective" of the movie. The movie starred Mikhail Ivanovich
Zharov, and the documentary is apparently called a song cycle
because many of the films shown have Zharov singing. The
documentary is more a history of Soviet film and Zharov's career as
a terrifically popular Soviet film star than about the ocean find,
but it does begin with an explanation of how the film was preserved
underwater for many decades. Unfortunately, there are too many
extended shots of damaged film with no sound or explanation. For
those interested in popular Soviet film, it is probably worth
seeing, but it is not of general interest. (On the plus side, the
subtitling is quite legible, avoiding the "white-on-white"
problem.)

Released theatrically and on Apple TV+ 09/22/21. Rating: 0 (-4 to
+4), or 4/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9463622/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_village_detective_a_song_cycle>

On 12/26/21 10:12 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:
> FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
> least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
> of an opera.

There's a filksong about someone who always falls asleep watching
Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung. Understandable, since it's one of the
longest operas in the regular repertoire.

> The film has a nice selection of operatic arias, with the ones
> "sung" by the two leads actually voiced by Stacey Alleaume and
> Nathan Lay.

Marnie Nixon's ghost is glad they got credited.

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

In article <sqa3bh$dkh$1@dont-email.me>,
Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>On 12/26/21 10:12 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:
>> FALLING FOR FIGARO: At the beginning of FALLING FOR FIGARO, at
>> least one member of the audience has fallen asleep on a performance
>> of an opera.
>
>There's a filksong about someone who always falls asleep watching
>Wagner's Goetterdaemmerung. Understandable, since it's one of the
>longest operas in the regular repertoire.

Indeed.

I'm blanking on the name of the famous 20th-century conductor who
habitually conducted without a score, having memorized the whole
enchilada.

One day he was preparing to conduct _Goetterdaemmerung_ (where
"preparing" consisted of things like finding his cufflinks and
checking to make sure the soloists had all shown up), and a
friend of his suggested that he have the score on hand "to keep
track of all the tempo changes."

"My dear Ermintrude," he answered, "there ARE no tempo changes in
_Goetterdaemmerung._ It plods along from 7 p.m. to quarter past
midnight like a damned old cart-horse."

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/