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A14   PEOPLE / ARTS
                Wednesday 4 January 2023
            Review: Whodunit ‘The Pale Blue Eye’ chills and satisfies




            By MARK KENNEDY                                                                                                     falls  for  a  classmate’s  sis-
            AP Entertainment Writer                                                                                             ter  he gives his heart, get
            Grab a jacket or a blanket                                                                                          it?  and may be letting love
            before  you  watch  Netflix’s                                                                                       blind him. But perhaps the
            engrossing  “The  Pale  Blue                                                                                        detective is not telling us all
            Eye.” I don’t care if you’re                                                                                        we should know, either.
            already  in  a  warm  place.                                                                                        Aside from all the cold dra-
            You  could  be  on  the  sur-                                                                                       ma by pale people, there’s
            face of the sun and still feel                                                                                      also a little meta twist. We
            chilly watching it.                                                                                                 learn  that  the  leaders  of
            Set  during  an  unrelenting                                                                                        the military academy want
            winter in upstate New York                                                                                          the  detective  to  solve  this
            in  1830,  this  frosty  movie                                                                                      quickly  because  they’re
            with snowy vistas, flickering                                                                                       catching  heat  from  Con-
            candles and howling winds                                                                                           gress. Look closely and see
            will get your teeth chatter-                                                                                        if  you  catch  Pennsylvania
            ing. Even lovers romping in                                                                                         Sen.-elect  John  Fetterman
            bed  are  fully  clothed.  The                                                                                      and his wife in cameos in a
            only thing to get the blood                                                                                         tavern. Much of the filming
            moving  here  is  a  spot  of                                                                                       was done in their state.
            murder.  Actually,  it’s  no                                                                                        There  are  also  some  tal-
            mere killing that brings Au-                                                                                        ented folks in the cast that
            gustus  Landor,  a  retired                                                                                         you  might  miss  Robert  Du-
            New  York  City  police  con-  This image released by Netflix shows Christian Bale as Augustus Landor, left, and Harry Melling as   vall  plays  an  expert  in  the
            stable  with  superior  sleuth-  Edgar Allan Poe in a scene from “The Pale Blue Eye.”                               occult,  Gillian  Anderson  is
            ing skills, to the U.S. Military                                                                   Associated Press   a  haughty  matriarch,  and
            Academy at West Point on                                                                                            Charlotte Gainsbourg plays
            this winter in question. Yes,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  who  re-  Poe’s  “The  Tell-Tale  Heart”  boards  and  owls  hooting  a love interest for Landor. q
            a cadet has died on cam-     ally did spend time at West  and the source of this mov-  and darkness cloaks every-   The  ability  to  deploy  this
            pus, found hanging from a  Point, though not as an un-    ie  is  a  novel  of  the  same  thing.    You  feel  the  1830s  level  of  talent  so  quietly  is
            tree. But someone has also  dercover detective.           name  by  Louis  Bayard.  Di-  and  the  greasy,  unkempt  almost cheeky.
            harvested his heart.         “The man you’re looking for  rector  and  screenwriter  hair and heavy woolen uni-     The  film  has  a  few  odd
            To crack the case, Landor,  is a poet,” Poe says, acted  Scott Cooper builds tension  forms. At one point, appar-   jumps    and    seemingly
            played with trademark tac-   by an equally intense Harry  with  a  series  of  seemingly  ently not cold enough, we  comes  to  a  fiery  conclu-
            iturn  intensity  by  Christian  Melling,  who  once  played  unconnected clues a note  visit an ice house.         sion — finally some warmth,
            Bale  sporting  impressive  the bad guy Dudley Dursley  fragment,  a  military  jacket  The R-rated whodunit takes  good God — but it’s a false
            facial  hair,  enlists  the  help  in  the  “Harry  Potter”  fran-  missing a decoration, some  an unfortunate turn into the  ending. A much better one
            of one of the cadets, who  chise.  Poe  recognizes  that  animals disemboweled.        occult as our two heroes  a  awaits,  one  that’s  unex-
            is  an  odd  sort  of  military  a heart is just a muscle, but  This  is  a  film  wonderfully  gruff, tragic-stricken detec-  pected and very, very sat-
            man. This is when things get  its symbolic value is crucial  grounded  in  its  time  and  tive and a romantic, hyper-  isfying.  Stay  to  the  end  —
            weirder:  The  cadet  is  fu-  to cracking the case.      space,  where  you  hear  intellectual  poet    uncover  as  long  as  you’re  bundled
            ture famous macabre poet  The title comes from a line in  creaking  wooden  floor-     each  other’s  secrets.  Poe  up.q


              India’s Partition in deeply human debut novel




              By DONNA EDWARDS            arch  teaches  calligraphy  yond Samir and Firdaus. To  ory, the alluring hook of a
              Associated Press            at the Wazir Khan Mosque  truly  understand  the  his-  nose or a letter. It’s an ode
              Star-crossed   lovers.   In-  across  town.  On  a  fate-  tory  and  the  characters,  to  passion,  from  handi-
              toxicating scents. Old war  ful  visit  to  the  Vij  shop  in  Malhotra  brings  us  back  craft to the first and deep-
              journals  containing  ghosts  1938, it’s the young Firdaus  to  Samir’s  uncle    the  first  est  love.  Tender  moments
              and  secrets.  What  more  Khan’s scent that bewitch-   in his family to enlist in the  slice  through  enchanting
              could you want in a work  es  perfuming  apprentice  army    witnessing  firsthand  descriptions.  Scenes  of  vi-
              of historical fiction?      Samir Vij.                  the horrors of World War I  olence  and  accompany-
              Aanchal Malhotra’s debut  Over the next 10 years, their  trenches for the sake of In-  ing smell-scapes of rot and
              novel  “The  Book  of  Ever-  relationship grows from the  dia’s  colonizer,  Great  Brit-  decay breathe life into his-
              lasting Things” paints a riv-  curiosity of children to the  ain. The story also stretches  tory.  Loving  relationships
              eting  picture  of  the  1947  fierce and longing love of  decades  into  the  future,  are laid bare in their many   This cover image released
              Partition  of  India  using  all  young adults. But Partition  allowing  the  ramifications  forms:  mentorship,  friend-  by  Flatiron  shows  “The
              senses  especially and un-  takes “star-crossed lovers”  of  war  and  heartbreak  ship, romantic love, marital   Book of Everlasting Things”
              usually leaning into smell.  to a new level as violence  to  echo  through  genera-  partnership,  parental  af-  by Aanchal Malhotra.
                                                                                                                                         Associated Press
              The Vij family, Hindus living  takes  hold  of  Lahore,  tions.  And  although  the  fection  and each of these
              in Lahore who become mi-    threatening  to  leave  no  facts are predictable, the  through various stages.
              nor  celebrities  as  perfum-  person  untouched  by  the  people are decidedly not.  Having already proved her  fiction  and  succeeded
              ers,  are  well  known  and  impending split that would  “The  Book  of  Everlasting  deep  knowledge  of  Par-  with elegance. At all turns,
              highly  regarded  for  their  result  in  Hindu-majority  In-  Things”  is  a  book  to  stroll  tition  in  her  previous  two  “The  Book  of  Everlasting
              unsurpassed  ittar,  extract-  dia  and  Muslim-majority  through and indulge in; a  nonfiction  works,  along  Things”  is  deeply  human,
              ed  from  flowers.  This  suc-  Pakistan.               sensory  paradise  basking  with over a dozen articles  with careful attention paid
              cess attracts the Khans, a  But  the  story  stretches  far  in the sound of words, the  and other works, Malhotra  to both factual and emo-
              Muslim family whose patri-  beyond Partition, even be-  smell of a childhood mem-   tried her hand at longform  tional accuracy.q
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