Just finished book six in Tim Dorsey’s series about two lovable and very funny Florida-based psycho-killers. They’re back crisscrossing the State in a black Hummer, following the eyes of six hurricanes through places like Tampa and Everglades City.
The name of the book is “Hurricane Punch” and the main characters are Serge, who frequently goes off his meds with zany but predictable results and Coleman, a drunken pothead. Serge crosses paths with a “hip-hop redneck”, who is definitely playing his car stereo too loudly. Serge converts a Tampa motel roof into a giant amplifier and kills the redneck a rendition of “Jumping Jack Flash” piped in on a remote electric guitar, setting off thousands of car alarms and barking dogs. As usual, all Serge’s victims have it coming one way or another and you find yourself rooting for the crazy and poetic ways he does in his victims.
Then there is the movie we saw today called “No Country for Old Men”. Tommy Lee Jones has found his milieu in the modern western. This one is set in West Texas, much of it filmed in Marfa, Texas. The producer/directors are the Coen Brothers who created the brilliant “Fargo” as well as “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “The Big Liebowsky”.
The key character, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), gets my vote for an Oscar as the completely evil sociopathic psycho-killer who racks up a very impressive body count with a pneumatic steer killing device as well as various other weapons including what appears to be a silenced 12-gauge shotgun. Anton is the perfect metaphor for a disintegrating society. As Tommy Lee suggests, to another old, fat Texas sherriff, you know you’ve lost it when the kids stop saying “sir” and “ma’am”.
You never really find out who got away with the money found in a drug-deal gone bad in the desert and there are a few scenes that leave you wondering what happened. The ending is a total surprise and commentary on life in general. Don’t miss this one.
I’m adding some of my own West Texas photos out of respect for this work of art.
Psycho killer
Quest que cest
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Psycho killer
Quest que cest
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
-Talking Heads
No comments:
Post a Comment