Friday, May 25, 2018

Bordertown

 The Finnish detective series Bordertown has a modularity of tone and structure that befits a region that gave the world component furniture. The series stars Ville Virtanen as a bewilderingly taciturn criminal investigator blessed with preternatural  deductive abilities but wanting in discernment about those closest to him. His manner matches his world -- angular, precise and dispassionate. The series is in Finnish with smatterings of English, and, for me, it is the strangeness of this language (of the same family as Hungarian and Basque) that lends the series a unique sonic imprint to match its refreshingly unconventional narrative. It's tough going but satisfying once the pieces are in place.

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The Five Chinese Brothers

  I start volunteering with a reading program at a neighborhood grammar school this week, and I've been reflecting on my experience with...