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Picasso's Ghost
by Carole Mallory 229 pages/ $3.99 Amazon e-book www.amazon.com Reviewed by: Ed Bennett One rarely begins a book review with a confession but in the interest of truth, justice and the American way, I admit my secret passion for the book genre known as the "Hollywood Tell-All". When assigned this memoir by the model and actress Carole Mallory I accepted the project with the anxiousness and sweaty palms of a 15 year old with his first 'Playboy'. While the book does have a certain appeal to my puerile soul I did find that the story encompassed more than just gossip. There was a deeper expression of betrayal and how one needs to be alert to the perils of "friendship", both professional and intimate. Carole Mallory is known for her role in "The Stepford Wives" and to those of a certain age, as a model appearing in nearly all major magazines and on billboard ads. The biography is centered on her affair and engagement to Claude Picasso, son of the artist. The engagement seems to be a perfect match until about half way through the story when this great love affair begins its death spiral. A once passionate lover becomes controlling and then, finally, aloof to everything except the sexual component of their relationship. As the engagement falters, Ms. Mallory seeks work in modeling and then acting. Her modeling contacts help her find her way to Hollywood where she began a second career. She describes her friendships and relationships with then little known stars like Richard Gere and Robert DeNiro and ultimately, the late Peter Sellers. A lesser book would have focused on personalities but Ms. Mallory gives us an in-depth look at the movie industry as it was in the 1970s. Any woman working in Hollywood in those days had to deal with an entrenched patriarchy that commoditized women, transforming them from persons into flesh. The difficulties of this environment are played out against the emotional tumult of her failing engagement. Fortunately, there is a happy ending as we see the rise of yet another career, writer, emerge and take wing on the story of Ms. Mallory's life. Much of this book has found its way into mainstream media since fan magazines have already printed the more salacious passages. Taken out of context they seem even more so. However, this book does give an insight into the movie industry as well as the machinations of the international art scene. Picasso's Ghost can be many things to different people. On the surface, there is the usual Hollywood biography but once this veneer is peeled back one finds an insightful work of rare honesty. Carole Mallory does not back away from a mea culpa when she finds herself in a situation that she has caused. She may, in the opening chapters, appear as a typical naïf yet she moves past this into a woman who can stand on her own and make her own way. Ms. Mallory has written several books including novels (Flash) and the biographical Loving Mailer. She has published numerous interviews and reviews and is obviously thriving in this, her third career. I do recommend this book but with the caution that when you come to enjoy "the good parts", you will be expected to think. |
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
QUILL AND PARCHMENT REVIEW OF PICASSO'S GHOST
A WONDERFUL REVIEW FROM QUILL AND PARCHMENT , A POETRY MAGAZINE
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
REVIEW...THE HOST---I DON'T THINK SO
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And they all lived together happily forever. Ba humbug. Mediocrity in big budget super duper fan fare. An unseen enemy takes over bodies, erases memories and threatens mankind. Oh, please.. Hand me the catsup. William Hurt is wasted in a thankless role and Frances Fisher plays another disgruntled character. When are we going to see you smile, Frances?. And Hunger Games novelist,, Stephanie Meyer, what were you thinking? And Nick Wechsler you made a bundle producing Magic Mike ,so why were you wasting your money on this? Sure it has a beautiful cast. Great looking men. Acting uneven. Sets stifling. Andrew Niccol wrote the screenplay and directed this homage to the supernatural where love conquers all. Niccol kept control of the movie all right, but to no avail.
Get me outta here! I kept thinking as more dead blue eyes appeared on the silver screen, YES, they were from another planet. Many other planets, but did I care? Not really. That's what was missing .. Caring.
The audience snickered in love scenes. Rightfully so. Max Irons was drop dead gorgeous and his acting was equally deadpan. Pity. He got your juices going but to where? The women were only three noteworthy. Saoirse Ronan stars as a wanderer whose body is taken by the seekers. You figure it out. Not much to figure. Fancy steely cars matching steely eyes and steely architecture. Diane Kruger is the head seeker out to kill off all humans, but Melanie/Wanda (Saoirse Ronan) is our heroine out to save the planet. Therein your plot lies. Yawns abound. At first I thought this was where Stepford Wives left off until I saw Diane Kruger as the femme fatale out to do in Melanie/Wanda. Whatever, The highlight of the film was William Hurt, but I couldn't help thinking how much did they have to pay him to do this film? There are so many human interest stories to make into films and Hollywood chooses this. This ain't no Hunger Games..
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Get me outta here! I kept thinking as more dead blue eyes appeared on the silver screen, YES, they were from another planet. Many other planets, but did I care? Not really. That's what was missing .. Caring.
The audience snickered in love scenes. Rightfully so. Max Irons was drop dead gorgeous and his acting was equally deadpan. Pity. He got your juices going but to where? The women were only three noteworthy. Saoirse Ronan stars as a wanderer whose body is taken by the seekers. You figure it out. Not much to figure. Fancy steely cars matching steely eyes and steely architecture. Diane Kruger is the head seeker out to kill off all humans, but Melanie/Wanda (Saoirse Ronan) is our heroine out to save the planet. Therein your plot lies. Yawns abound. At first I thought this was where Stepford Wives left off until I saw Diane Kruger as the femme fatale out to do in Melanie/Wanda. Whatever, The highlight of the film was William Hurt, but I couldn't help thinking how much did they have to pay him to do this film? There are so many human interest stories to make into films and Hollywood chooses this. This ain't no Hunger Games..
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Friday, March 22, 2013
REVIEW..ADMISSION WORKS!
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Charming. A refreshing topic and setting for a romance between opposites. Tina Fey plays by-the-book Princeton admissions officer Portia Nathan. Paul Rudd oversees an alternative high school in a free-wheeling, loosey goosey style which only Paul Rudd as John Pressman can portray. Rudd has never been better. His frequent tendency to shtick is absent and a genuine soft side gives his performance a refreshing air of sincerity. He has stopped trying to be funny and just allows the dialogue to flow and the situation to rule. Fey also is in top shape. Her tendency to force a situation also is put on the back burner. She drives most of the scenes with her dynamic energy, but she allows Rudd to work off of her and they form a terrific duo of laid back comedy. Director Paul Weitz shows his skill in getting these wonderful performances out of Fey and Rudd both who have a tendency to turn comedy into ham,
Karen Croner's screenplay has LOL moments such as when a debonair playboy type meets Portia's mother, Lily Tomlin. 'You look as lovely as you did thirty years ago,' he says. ''I've had a mastectomy,' she replies with a dead pan Tomlin delivery. Tomlin rarely has been better. Again, Weitz put the brakes on Tomlin's tendency to overact and allows the raw sincerity of the moments shine through.
The plot is not complicated and not packed with pizzazz but this film is about characters and their relationships. I found this refreshing with all the slambamthankumam action flicks covered in ratatat-tin jamming our cinemas. John Pressman wants to get his progressive student who has D's but is a self-educated scholar into Princeton and cajoles Portia into bending rules in his favor. A secondary plot line is that Portia has given up a baby for adoption and has been haunted as to his whereabouts. John convinces Portia that his progressive student is her son. Wallace Shawn plays the dean of Princeton's admissions again in an understated non clichéd manner, While director Weitz was watching for over-acting, he missed John's mother, who pushes the envelope in playing a socialite in a stereotypical obnoxious manner. Well, one bad performance can be lived through thanks to Fey,Rudd and Tomlin, who make a mediocre script work and time fly and your ticket to admission worth the price of admission.
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