What a Fool Believes

             

One of the things I like so far about HBO’s new David Milch/Michael Mann horse racing series Luck, is the relationship between Chester “Ace” Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Gus Demetriou (Dennis Farina). I have no idea how long these two have known one another*. There’s an employer/employee formality to some of their interactions that makes time ambiguous. Ace is the organized crime mastermind, Gus his driver and utility man. That kind of lifestyle demands loyalty, a rooted inside language. Yet, the formality, the at times naive nature of Gus, gives the impression that the relationship is still developing. But maybe that’s because they’re in an adjustment period, what with Ace just released from a three-year stint in prison—they’re reacquiring their language. They’ve had to have known each other for awhile. Because how else can you explain their nightcaps and PJs intimacy in Ace’s hotel suite home? There’s a respect, a tenderness here. One that’s displayed in that wonderful old guy fashion of telling stories. This is where you see the time. The recounting of stories you know they’ve told to one another countless times. There’s that familiar interplay in the telling. But what’s really great, something I noticed with my grandfathers and their friends, was this amusement to the telling that gave off the feeling that it was being told for the first time. There was a joy in the act itself. And not only is there that feel of a first telling, but there’s also the praise given to one another for actions within the story and observations about it that also smacks of the new. But, again, there’s that familiarity in the interplay that gives it away, that reveals its meaning to them. I really enjoy these moments—the honesty of them, what they say about us finding comfort in stories at that age—and look forward to more.

*Which brings up another thing I like about the show: the pleasure I take in the work required to parse through every line of dialogue, gesture, and shot for information about the characters and plots. Very little is given in Luck. If you’re like me and find the world of horse racing completely foreign (and absolutely fascinating), I recommend reading Jaimy Gordon’s 2010 National Book Award-winning novel on horse racing, Lord of Misrule. I read it just before the pilot of Luck premiered back in mid-December. There’s some great insight into the mysticism of trainers, claiming races, and the shady activities conducted in the barns and around the tracks. It definitely helped me get some bearings in this foreign country.