A Good Neighborhood

I have been under a two week quarantine because a student at Hunter High tested positive for Covid-19 and, while some aspects have been difficult, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to read without feeling like I am neglecting other obligations. I actually read A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler in one day because it is absolutely riveting! The modest suburban neighborhood of Oak Knoll, North Carolina is slowly becoming gentrified as developers tear down the existing houses and cut down trees that are hundreds of years old to build extravagant mansions. The narrative revolves around Valerie Alston-Holt, a black professor of ecology and forestry, and the Whitmans, a nouveau-riche white family who moves into a mansion next door to her. They judge each other before they even meet but soon their uneasy rapprochement is tested by a series of events. Valerie decides to sue Brad Whitman for damages caused to an oak tree in her yard. She contends that building such a large house and an in-ground pool has damaged the root system of the tree causing it to die. The Whitmans are enraged when Valerie's son Xavier begins a relationship with their sheltered teenage daughter Juniper. This reads like a Greek tragedy with the neighborhood itself acting as the chorus foreshadowing the events to come. The narration provided by this chorus reveals background information about all of the main characters and offers commentary on the action taking place.  This is an incredibly effective device because the slow accretion of details makes the tragic events seem inexorable. I read this book in one sitting because there is such a sense of urgency and I had to know what happened! While I found the final resolution to be deeply upsetting on a personal level, this is a very thought-provoking look at race in America right now and I really appreciated the fact that multiple perspectives of people who think of themselves as "good" are explored. Even though A Good Neighborhood is ultimately heartbreaking, there is a redemption of sorts and I highly recommend this cautionary tale.

Note: A Good Neighborhood was this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club selection but, sadly, the meeting was canceled. Even though there was an interesting Facebook Live chat with the author, I would have really enjoyed discussing it with my group!

American Dirt

Last night I went to a meeting of my book club to discuss our latest selection, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. It is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read in a long time and we had a very stimulating discussion about it. Lydia Quixano Perez is a middle class woman living in Acapulco with her husband Sebastian and their eight year old son Luca. She owns a bookshop and Sebastian is a journalist who writes about narcotrafficking. When he writes a critical piece about the leader of a drug cartel, he and fourteen members of Lydia's extended family are gunned down while the family is celebrating a quinceanera. She and her son are the only ones to survive but, because she knows the cartel will come looking for her, she makes the decision to flee Mexico and become one of the many migrants who try to come to the United States illegally because she feels she has no choice. She and Luca are forced to travel by La Bestia, a network of freight trains that run the length of Mexico north to the United States, which they board while the train is in motion. They face many other unspeakable dangers while riding the train before they give all of their savings to a coyote to take them across the border. This novel was deeply upsetting to me because I could feel Lydia's terror and desperation every step of the way. Intellectually I knew that it was dangerous to cross the border but I had no idea of the horrors involved, particularly for women and children who are attacked, beaten, and raped repeatedly. It was also very enlightening to learn than most migrants are not merely searching for a better life in the U.S. but they are literally fleeing for their lives. This book is very controversial because many have accused Cummins, who identifies as white, of cultural appropriation and have called her out for her stereotypical depiction of Mexicans. We had a great discussion, with an amazing moderator who is Mexican, about the fact that this story made all of us feel more sympathetic towards the plight of migrants and any book, regardless of who wrote it, that shines a light on a dark subject and gets people talking about it is a good thing. This book is a work of fiction that may have some inaccuracies but we didn't think that they detracted from the importance or relevance of the story.  I found it to be incredibly compelling, suspenseful, and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it.

Note:  The next selection for the Barnes & Noble Book Club is A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler.  Go here for more information and to sign up.  As always, if you are local consider joining us on April 7 at the Layton Barnes & Noble.  We are a small but lively group!

Emma

I love Jane Austen (I once took a class entirely devoted to the works of Austen in college and it was probably my favorite class) and I love her novel Emma.  I have literally been counting down the days until I could see this glorious new adaptation which I did yesterday.  After Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy), a wealthy young woman who has no desire to get married herself, is successful in matching her governess Miss Taylor (Gemma Whelan) with Mr. Weston (Rupert Graves), she decides to take Harriet Smith (Mia Goth), a young woman of unknown parentage, under her wing.  She encourages her to reject the proposal of Robert Martin (Connor Swindells) because he is a farmer and she deems him not worthy of her.  She first sets her sights on Mr. Elton (Josh O'Connor) as a suitor for Harriet but he mistakes her interest in him and declares his love for her.  Then she picks Frank Churchill (Callum Turner), whom everyone tries to match with her, but he is secretly engaged to another.  Then Harriet falls in love with Mr. Knightley (Johnny Flynn), a Woodhouse family friend, but chaos ensures when Emma realizes that she has loved Mr. Knightley all along!  Emma's village of Highbury is filled with many eccentric characters, such as her hypochondriac father Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy), a chatty old maid named Miss Bates (Miranda Hart), her long-suffering niece Jane Fairfax (Amber Anderson), and Mr. Elton's snotty wife Augusta (Tanya Reynolds), who make this story absolutely delightful.  I loved Taylor-Joy's characterization of Emma because she doesn't try to make her likeable but you somehow care about her, nonetheless.  I also liked her chemistry with Flynn because in every one of their interactions you just know that they belong together, especially when they are sparring.  The ensemble cast is simply marvelous and I can't really decide who I enjoyed more:  Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse (the business with the screens absolutely killed me), Hart as Miss Bates (who steals every scene she is in), or O'Connor as Elton (it cracked me up when he opened one eye while he was praying).  Even the actors who play the household staff at Hartfield are absolutely brilliant!  I laughed and laughed at all of their antics.  The production design is sumptuous with beautiful interiors, bucolic exteriors, and period perfect costumes (those empire waists!).  The scene at the ball was my favorite (I wrote a paper about the ritual of dance in Austen's novels for the aforementioned class).  How can just the slightest touch of hands be so romantic?  I loved everything about this movie and I predict that I will watch it several more times (before I purchase it for my Jane Austen movie collection).  I highly recommend it!

Onward

Yesterday I took Sean to see the new Disney Pixar movie Onward.  I have been looking forward to this movie for months and I convinced a reluctant Sean to come with me.   Long ago the world was inhabited by mythological creatures and the use of magic was commonplace.  However, magic was difficult to master so many technological advances took its place until it was almost extinct.   In present day an elf named Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), who lost his father before he had a chance to know him, is given a posthumous birthday present from him.  It is a magical staff with a rare phoenix gem and a spell to bring his father back to life for just one day.  Ian is full of self-doubt so his attempt to use the spell only brings half of his father back.  His older brother Barley (Chris Pratt), a ne'er-do-well who is obsessed with a role-playing game called Quest of Yore (I loved all of the references to Dungeons & Dragons used in this game), suggests that they need to go on a quest to find another phoenix gem to complete the spell.  Their quest to discover if there is still magic left in the world turns into a journey of self-discovery that is so heartwarming it brought a tear in my eye.  I loved it!   I particularly enjoyed the world-building in this movie because it is filled with enough dragons, wizards, elves, fairies, unicorns, and centaurs to satisfy my fantasy-loving heart and the animation is dazzling.  I loved that all of the characters, not just Ian and Barley, have to discover the magic that is dormant within themselves in order to succeed in their quests.  My favorite character arc is that of the manticore (Octavia Spencer) because she has become so tame that her tavern is now a family-friendly themed restaurant used for birthdays and bachelorette parties and she must find her inner beast in order to reverse a curse.  I loved the relationship between Ian and Barley because they have a playful yet adversarial camaraderie that is fun to watch and it makes the resolution between them all the more impactful.  Holland and Pratt are endearingly believable as the insecure Ian and the doofus Barley, respectively.  Finally, I loved Guinevere, the Econoline van complete with a mural of a unicorn, and an important scene where it saves the day was Sean's favorite part of the movie!  If you are a fan of Pixar (or a fantasy-loving nerd like me) you are sure to love this movie and I highly recommend it!

Note:  I may or may not have had to bribe Sean to see this with me but I think he enjoyed it more than he said he did.

Sketches of Spain

If you can’t go to Spain, the next best thing would be to go to Abravanel Hall for a Utah Symphony concert featuring several pieces inspired by Spain.  I was able to attend such a concert last night and it was absolutely exhilarating (almost like being there).  The first piece was Symphonie espagnole for Violin and Orchestra by Eduoard Lalo with guest soloist Benjamin Beilman.  It was fiery and passionate and I kept seeing flamenco dancers in my mind as I listened to it, especially during the final movement.  Beilman played it brilliantly and it looked like he was having so much fun.  I certainly had a lot of fun watching his bow fly across the strings of his violin (it was so fast)!  He received a thunderous standing ovation and then performed a beautiful encore (I didn't recognize the piece but I really liked it).  After the intermission the orchestra played Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole.  It was really wild and boisterous and I pictured a bull fight in my mind.  Next came Habanera by Louis Aubert which was my favorite because it was so mysterious and seductive (I loved the theme played by the clarinet).  This time the music reminded me of a couple dancing a sultry tango.  The concert concluded with Iberia (from Images pour Orchestre) by Claude Debussy which was filled with beautiful melodies.  My favorite was the third movement because it is meant to represent a carnival.  I thought it was very playful and I especially enjoyed the chimes.  Music has the power to transport you to another time and place and, for a few hours, I was back in Spain with the Utah Symphony!  Even if your passport isn't up to date you can still get a ticket to tonight's performance (go here) and I highly recommend that you do.

Dear Evan Hansen at the Eccles

I really wanted to see Dear Evan Hansen so, even though I knew it was coming to the Eccles Theatre this season, I decided that I didn't want to wait that long and took a road trip to Las Vegas to see it at the Smith Center last year.  I thought the message that you are not alone was extremely powerful and I fell in love with the music.  I couldn't wait to see it again!  I had the chance last night and I loved it just as much!  Evan Hansen (Stephen Christopher Anthony) suffers from anxiety and feels insignificant and all alone ("Waving Through a Window").  Heidi (Jessica E. Sherman), his busy single mother, doesn't know what to do to help him ("Anybody Have a Map?").  His one friend, Jared (Alessandro Costantini), is only nice to him so his parents will pay for his car insurance and he is too scared to talk to Zoe (Stephanie La Rochelle), the girl he likes.  His therapist encourages him to write letters to himself to build his self confidence but Connor (Noah Kieserman), a deeply troubled young man, intercepts one of his letters from the printer because it mentions his sister Zoe.  When Connor takes his own life, his parents, Cynthia (Claire Rankin) and Larry (John Hemphill), find the letter and, assuming it is a suicide note written to Evan, reach out to him.  To comfort them, he pretends that he and Connor were friends ("For Forever").  When Cynthia and Larry press for more information, Evan asks Jared to create a history of emails between him and Connor ("Sincerely, Me").  Larry and Zoe struggle to reconcile Evan's version of Connor with the difficult son and brother they knew ("Requiem").  Zoe tells Evan that the only nice thing Connor ever said to her was in his suicide note, which Evan wrote ("If I Could Tell Her").  Alana (Ciara Alyse Harris), another lonely student at school, wants Evan to do more to keep Connor's memory alive ("Disappear") so they create The Connor Project.  Evan gives a heartfelt speech about loneliness ("You Will Be Found") at a memorial assembly for Connor and it goes viral.  He begins a relationship with Zoe ("Only Us") and bonds with her family ("To Break in a Glove") to the exclusion of Emily, Jared, and Alana ("Good For You").  When the truth is finally revealed ("Words Fail"), Evan realizes that he was never really alone ("So Big/ So Small").  Evan was played by the same actor that I saw in Las Vegas and I found him to be incredibly endearing.  His portrayal of a boy who doesn't feel like he fits in made me laugh and cry.  My favorite song from this show has always been "You Will Be Found" but last night I was particularly struck by "Waving through a Window" because I think we have all felt like outsiders at one time or another and the words to this song are so poignant.  I really like the use of social media, which is depicted on large moving panels, because, even though the world seems increasingly connected, so many people struggle to find a connection.  I love this musical so much and I highly recommend seeing it if you have the opportunity.  It runs at the Eccles Theatre through March 14 (go here for tickets).

Once on This Island at PTC

Last night I went to see PTC's production of Once on This Island and I absolutely loved it!  On an island in the French Antilles, a young girl is frightened by a storm so a group of storytellers tell her about another girl named Ti Moune (Ava Lyn Smith) who survived a storm to try and calm her.  Ti Moune (Tyla Collier as an adult) is a dark-skinned peasant girl who falls in love with Daniel Beauxhomme (Jordan Alexander), a light-skinned wealthy descendant of a French plantation owner, after she rescues him from a car accident.  This relationship is frowned upon because the peasants and the grand hommes do not interact due to racial and class divisions.  The four gods of the island, Asaka, Mother of the Earth (Galyana Castillo); Agwe, God of Water (Terance Reddick); Erzulie, Goddess of Love (Kristian Espiritu); and Papa Ge, Demon of Death (Paul Jordan Jansen); intercede on her behalf in both positive and negative ways until love triumphs to bring the different groups together and her story is told again and again through the generations.  This fairy tale might not end the way you think it should but it has a beautiful message about love, loss, forgiveness, redemption, prejudice, and the power of storytelling.  I loved all of the Caribbean-inspired music in this show but my favorite songs were "And the Gods Heard Her Prayer," "Rain," "Pray," "Forever Yours," "Mama Will Provide," and "Why We Tell the Story."  Each number involves the clever use of items found around the stage (I especially enjoyed how the gods appeared and disappeared), dazzling choreography, and colorful and vibrant costumes.  The entire cast, many of whom play multiple characters with just the addition of an accessory or prop, is wonderful.  However, I was blown away by Collier (who has a beautiful voice and is an exceptional dancer) because she embodies so many emotions in her portrayal of a woman who sacrifices herself for love.   This is a beautiful and powerful production that should not be missed (go here for tickets).

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Yesterday I finally had the chance to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it is one of the best films I've seen recently!  Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of a young aristocratic woman living on an isolated island in Brittany during the 18th century.  Heloise (Adele Haenel) has recently returned home from a convent and is uneasy about her forthcoming marriage to a man who was originally betrothed to her sister before she took her own life.  Heloise refuses to pose for this portrait so she has been told that Marianne has been employed as her companion.  Marianne must observe her furtively during their time together and then paint in secret at night.  When the portrait is finished Marianne, who feels guilty about the deception, insists that it be shown to Heloise who says that, while it is an accurate likeness, it does not capture the real her.  Marianne destroys the portrait but Heloise convinces her mother, the Countess (Valeria Golino), to let her paint another one by agreeing to pose.  When the Countess leaves, the two become close and bond over Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.  When they eventually become lovers, Marianne is finally able to capture the real Heloise on canvas but the portrait becomes a symbol that Heloise will soon marry someone else and that they must part.  Their eventual parting mirrors the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and I found it to be incredibly poignant.  I loved everything about this film.  The story reminded me so much of Call Me By Your Name because it is about a forbidden affair where both of the lovers choose to cherish the memory of the relationship rather than regret the fact that it has ended.  I love that both Marianne and Heloise are profoundly affected by each other and I especially loved the scene where Heloise, shown years later, is overwhelmed by emotion when she hears a performance of The Four Seasons (which also mirrors Elio's response at the end of Call Me By Your Name).  I loved the depiction of their affair because their longing for each other is emphasized more than their physical relationship.  It is one of the most romantic films I have ever seen.  Both Merlant and Haenel give incredibly powerful performances and I was mesmerized by them throughout the whole film.  The two of them have amazing chemistry with each other and you can feel the tension between them almost from the moment they meet.  Finally, the images on the screen are absolutely luminous, especially the candlelit shots of Marianne painting.  I cannot recommend this film enough!  Go see it!

The Invisible Man

Horror movies are sometimes a hard sell for me because I like to be genuinely scared rather than shocked and it is very rare that a movie can really scare me (the exceptions are The Witch and Hereditary).  However, I really liked the trailer for The Invisible Man so I decided to see it last night.  If you are wondering if I was scared I will just say that I screamed out loud (and so did the majority of the people in my screening).  Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) flees from an abusive relationship with Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a wealthy and powerful tech guru in the field of optics, with the help of her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer).  She stays with her childhood friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his daughter Sydney (Storm Reid).  Several weeks later she learns that Adrian has committed suicide and has left her a large bequest in his will.  After a series of disturbing incidents that alienate her from Emily and James, she comes to believe that Adrian has found a way to become invisible and that he faked his suicide so that he can terrorize her.  She appears more and more erratic but no one believes that an invisible man is behind her behavior.  She is forced to take matters into her own hands but how can you fight someone you can't see?  This is a psychological thriller that is entirely believable.  The monster from H.G. Wells' classic novel has been updated to a villain (a domestic abuser who takes gaslighting to a whole new level) that contemporary audiences can relate to and it is a terrifying premise.  It is sometimes almost unbearable watching Cecilia's fear and powerlessness.  The tension builds and builds, more because of what you can't see than for what you can, until there is a twist that I didn't see coming and an ending that made me want to stand up and cheer!  Moss gives a riveting performance (she is great at portraying women in the midst of a breakdown) and I was fully invested in her plight.  This movie is genuinely scary and I recommend it to fans of the genre.