The Writer's Life 9/19 - Madness

The inmates have taken over the asylum. How many times has that phrased been used? It is the basis for Stonehearst Asylum (2014), which I watched last night courtesy of Netflix. Joe Gangemi adapted the screenplay from a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether. It is the story of an idealistic young physician who goes to work in a remote corner of England at the end of 1899. The film boasts an excellent veteran cast: Ben Kingsley, Kate Beckinsale, Brendan Gleeson, Sinead Cusack and Michael Caine, who has gone from a great leading man to a great supporting player. Jim Sturgess, with whom I'd been unfamiliar, plays the hero, and David Thewlis, who logged a lot of time in the Harry Potter series, is the main villain. The lighting is appropriately dark. The institute is cloaked in dense fog, reminiscent of old Universal fare. The cinematography was done by Tom Yatsko, who I was not surprised to learn has done 11 episodes of Gotham, which also uses dark lighting. There are a couple of neat surprises along the way, and two excellent lines about madness, both spouted by the great Kingsley: “And make a miserable man out of a happy horse?” and “We‘re all mad… Some are simply not mad enough to admit it.” In this role, Kingsley reminded me of Donald Pleasance, who passed away in 1995, a part the latter might have played. I wonder if that was the intent. Apparently, the movie was a box office flop. It may be too old fashioned for modern audiences. Only 66 users at IMDb have rated it, forging to a consensus of 6.8 of ten, which may be a tad low. It was directed by Brad Anderson, who has had an interesting career, mostly in TV, doing episodes of Fringe, Boardwalk Empire, Person of Interest and other series, and films out of the mainstream such as Session 9 (2001) and The Machinist (2004). Stonehearst Asylum
runs 112 minutes. It's not a great film but one deserving of more attention.

Monsey visited the floating book shop today, armed with enlargements of a picture of a cloud formation she took months ago when she was feeling blue. When blown up and turned upside down, she saw religious images and one of her little brother, who died long ago. I saw images of faces, but was unable to determine if any resembled the one of her brother. I don't dismiss such beliefs, but I've never seen evidence that convinces me divine forces are at work. I sense Monsey appreciated that I took her claims seriously. She overpaid for books on Chinese Wisdom and reincarnation. My thanks, and also to Jack of Chase, who purchased a Steve Martini thriller, and Bill, who bought a short work by Samuel Beckett.
Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

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