Escape to the Mountains

As I was leaving my house so an agent could show it yesterday morning, I received two more texts requesting more showings.  For those of you keeping score, that meant three showings back-to-back which would require me to be out of my house for three hours.  I was headed to the library, which has become my daytime go-to place to hang out and read while these showings are going on, but three hours?  I turned my car in the direction of the mountains!

I love driving through the mountains with the windows down, the music loud, and the breeze cool on my face.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Since I was in American Fork Canyon, I had to make a quick stop at Cascade Springs!  I feel a little bit like Anne of Green Gables because every summer I have to visit all of my favorite places.  Instead of the White Way of Delight, I have Cascade Springs!

I had the whole place to myself for quite a while and I loved listening to the sound of the water.  It was a lovely morning!

A Little Chaos

I have been seeing previews for A Little Chaos for weeks and the lush period piece about the making of the gardens at Versailles with opulent costumes and noteworthy actors caught my attention immediately.  I couldn't wait to see it!  After all of the anticipation I was left a little bit underwhelmed after I saw it Monday night.  Master gardener Andre Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) has been given the monumental task of creating the gardens at Versailles by Louis XIV (Alan Rickman), a capricious monarch who demands perfection.  He interviews other gardeners to help him and is intrigued by Sabine de Barra (Kate Winslet) because she is a woman and because she does not conform to the traditional (and formal) rules of gardening.  She is selected to create an outdoor amphitheater with fountains but is thwarted by work crews who resent taking orders from a woman and by Le Notre's jealous wife.  She also becomes a great favorite at Court, beguiling the King when she mistakes him for a gardener, and begins a romantic relationship with Le Notre.  Despite the setbacks, the garden is a triumph.  I'm not entirely sure why I didn't love this movie.  The performances are outstanding, especially Winslet.  I also really enjoyed Stanley Tucci as the outrageously flamboyant Duc d'Orleans and Jennifer Ehle as the King's mistress, Madame de Montespan.  I loved the scenery in the gardens and in the palaces of the Louvre and Fontainebleau and, of course, the costumes are gorgeous.  It is, without a doubt, a beautiful movie.  However, the plot is very predictable and the pacing is slow.  One of the best scenes between Winslet and Rickman (it's as if we are able to witness what happens to Marianne and Colonel Brandon after their marriage in Sense and Sensibility), while touching, is highly improbable.  A Little Chaos is a good costume drama but I think it takes more than just beautiful images on the screen to make a great film.

Note:  Matthias Schoenaerts seems to be everywhere lately.  While I liked his performance in Far From the Madding Crowd more, I found him to be quite appealing in this film.  I think men should wear their hair long.  Just my opinion...

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls

The June selection for my book club was The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani. The story revolves around Thea Atwell, her twin brother Sam, and her cousin Georgie who are raised in the lap of luxury on a secluded plantation in Florida during the Great Depression. Their lives are incredibly insular and they have no other interactions besides their own close-knit family. As the three of them grow up and mature, their relationship changes and the incident occurs. Because of the incident, Thea is shipped off to the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls in North Carolina where she is completely overwhelmed by her interactions with the other girls, the instructors, and, particularly, the headmaster. Thea does not know how to have appropriate relationships with any one and, inevitably, another incident occurs. The narrative alternates between the events in Florida and the events at Yonahlossee, giving tiny little hints about what the mysterious incident might be.  (By the way, I figured it out long before it was finally revealed but I kept reading to make sure that I was right and it was strangely unsatisfying when I was.) In the end, Thea is chastised yet again and sent home in disgrace where we learn that her mother also has a scandalous past. This coming-of-age novel about family secrets set during an interesting historical period sounds like it would be right up my alley but I didn't entirely like it.  The action moves very slowly and it eventually got annoying every time Thea would reference the incident without explaining what happened. I suppose DiSclafani uses this device to heighten the tension but it is not altogether effective. Thea is an incredibly unsympathetic character. Part of me was angry because all three of the main characters in Florida are culpable in what happened (have you figured it out yet?) but only Thea is punished because she is a girl. The events at Yonahlossee are highly disturbing (surely you have figured it out) and in my opinion Thea is a victim, but she is the only one held responsible. However, by the time I made it through the novel, I didn't really care what happened to her. Certain scenes are quite salacious and I was a bit put off by them. What I did enjoy about this book is the writing.  DiSclafani uses beautiful and evocative prose, especially in the scenes involving horses (I think I liked the horses more than the main characters), and in the descriptions of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I really wanted to like this book but, ultimately, I wouldn't recommend it.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

My favorite film from Sundance this year was definitely Me and Earl and the Dying Girl so I was really excited to see it again last night!  It is a quirky and touching story about the power that friendship has to change your life and I loved it just as much as I did the first time.  Greg (Thomas Mann) is an awkward high school senior who is completely alienated from everyone in his life, including his wacky parents (I loved his father, a tenured Sociology professor who has so much time on his hands that he spends his days watching classics in foreign cinema and making exotic recipes such as cuttlefish).  Greg is isolated, ambivalent about his future, and suffers from a severe case of low self-esteem.  His goal is to survive high school without making a mortal enemy.  His only significant relationships are with Mr. McCarthy, his eccentric history teacher ("Respect the research"), and Earl (RJ Cyler), a childhood friend with whom he makes movies that parody classic films (my favorite is still 2:48 P.M. Cowboy, an homage to Midnight Cowboy).  He is so afraid of being close to anyone that he refers to Earl as his "co-worker" rather than his friend.  When Rachel (Olivia Cooke), the daughter of his mother's friend, is diagnosed with leukemia, his mother forces Greg (in an absolutely hilarious scene) to befriend her.  Even though neither of them want this friendship, they eventually become inseparable and Rachel ends up teaching Greg some invaluable life lessons.  To be sure, this movie is a tear-jerker but there are so many funny elements that I was laughing out loud, even the second time around.  All three of the lead actors give wonderful performances and I found Mann to be incredibly endearing.  The parodies are a hoot (A Sockwork Orange, Senior Citizen Kane) and classic film aficionados will love trying to figure out all of the references.  The depiction of high school culture is absolutely spot-on (I should know because I spend my days there) and I especially loved the theatre nerds.  Many of my students had the opportunity to see this film when it was screened at Sundance and they could not stop talking about it.  I feel like it has the potential to become a touchstone for this generation the way The Breakfast Club is for mine.  Do not miss it!

Note:  It was awarded both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance.  Good stuff, I tell you!

Utah Symphony at Sundance

What could be better than listening to the Utah Symphony?  Listening to the Utah Symphony in the mountains, that's what!  It's no secret that I am a huge fan of the Utah Symphony and it's no secret that I love seeing outdoor performances during the summer so you can imagine what a lovely time I had last night listening to the orchestra play some patriotic favorites at the Sundance resort.  It was wonderful to be up in the mountains away from the heat in the valley and the fresh smell of the pine trees was almost intoxicating to me!  The concert featured classics from Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin (I especially loved "An American in Paris"), and John Philip Sousa.  The concert culminated, as these summer concerts often do, with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.  I absolutely love this piece and, no matter how many times I hear it, it never gets old.  I think it is incredibly stirring (although maybe not as stirring as when the Wasatch Cannoneers participate) and I get goosebumps every time that well-known theme is played at the end of the piece.  I also really love the chimes!  I enjoyed every minute of this wonderful experience and I am so glad that I can be in any number of mountain resorts in about 30 minutes and I'm also glad that I can see a world-class orchestra play all year long.  Go here for more summer events at Sundance (I'm particularly excited about The Wizard of Oz in August) and go here for tickets to see the Utah Symphony perform in various venues around the valley.