American Animals

When I saw the trailer for American Animals last week I thought it looked highly amusing and immediately wanted to see it.  I took in a screening on Saturday afternoon and I really enjoyed it.  Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) is finding college life to be less exciting than he imagined and, as an aspiring artist, longs for a transformative experience to give his paintings more interest.  On a typical college tour of the library he notices that the special collections library has several volumes of Audubon's The Birds of America valued at over $12 million.  He fantasizes about stealing them and mentions this to his ne'er-do-well friend Warren Lipka (Evan Peters) who is on the verge of losing his athletic scholarship and longs for adventure. They spend all their time planning an elaborate heist and, when they realize that it could actually be done, they recruit Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner).  As the narrative plays out, the real Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk, and Chas Allen give documentary-style interviews about the goings-on and this is both incredibly successful and a bit detrimental in the final resolution.  Their commentary is often hilarious but their remorse at what they did feels a bit self-serving.  At the end of the movie the librarian of the special collection, Betty Jean Gooch (played in the narrative by Ann Dowd), condemns the boys as selfish thrill-seekers.  This feels a little bit out of place, as if this movie doesn't know if it is a light-hearted caper or a cautionary tale about the amorality of affluent young men.  However, I found it to be wildly entertaining despite the weighty conclusion and would recommend it.

Hereditary

I saw Hereditary at the Sundance Film Festival this year and I thought it was incredibly disturbing and one of the scariest films I had ever seen.  I screamed out loud during two different scenes and I was not alone.  I had decided that I would not see this again when it had a wider release but, given the divisive response to it, I wanted to see if I had the same reaction upon a second viewing.  I saw it late Friday night in a theater by myself and, needless to say, I was scared out of my mind.  I even screamed out loud once again even though I knew what was coming.  A woman with a long history of mental illness and a penchant for dabbling in the occult dies which has a profound effect on her daughter Annie (Toni Collette).  Annie's distress, in turn, begins to have a devastating effect upon her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), son Peter (Alex Wolff), and daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro).  As events become more and more bizarre, the audience is left to wonder if Annie is descending into madness and causing all of these events or if the family is truly being haunted.  When I watched the film the first time I found the final resolution to be deeply upsetting but I realize now that it is not the subject matter that makes this film so scary.  Rather, it is the sense of unease that is created through the sound design, lighting, and spellbinding performances (especially by Collette).  I was incredibly tense almost from the beginning of the film and that tension never lets up.  You want to know what is happening but you dread finding out.  This film is actually quite brilliant...but deeply disturbing so see it at your own risk (preferably not late at night in an empty theater).

Jersey Boys at the Eccles

The first time I saw the musical Jersey Boys I was one of the youngest in the audience and the lady next to me asked me how I knew all of the words to every song (apparently I was singing along).  I told her that my Dad played the Four Seasons on road trips.  I knew that my Dad would absolutely love this musical so, at intermission, I bought him tickets to see it the next night.  He, of course, loved it.  When he found out that the Broadway touring company was coming to SLC again he kept telling me that he wanted to go so I got him tickets for Father's Day last year and we were finally able to see it last night.  I love this show because it uses all of the great songs by the Four Seasons to tell the story of how they rose from four guys singing under a streetlamp to become superstars and then how the pressure of fame caused it all to fall apart.  My favorite numbers are "Sherry" performed on American Bandstand, "Dawn (Go Away)"  performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, and "Rag Doll" performed at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  I also really liked it when Frankie Valli sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You.”  The crowd went absolutely crazy afterwards!  I think the staging of this show is so clever, especially when they would record a song and then seamlessly transition to performing the song.  Aaron De Jesus, who plays Frankie Valli,  grew up in Utah and left the Broadway production to perform here in SLC.  He is absolutely amazing in the role and he captures Valli's falsetto perfectly.  Tommaso Antico, as Bob Gaudio, Corey Greenan, as Tommy De Vito, and Chris Stevens, as Nick Massi, are also fantastic performers who have the look, sound, and choreography of the Four Seasons down pat.  If you are a fan of the Four Seasons, this show is a must-see.  There are two more performances today (tickets may be purchased here).

Note:  This show contains a lot of profanity.  My sister did not like it at all.

Let's Go Bison

Last night the South Davis Bison had another series of games and I was there to cheer them on!  Have I mentioned that rugby is incomprehensible?  I honestly don't understand what is happening most of the time but I sure love watching Sean play.  He had the ball quite a bit and he run the ball the whole length of the field to pass it off to another boy for a try!  I cheered so loud!  South Davis ended up with two wins (I think)!

I sure do love this kid!

Summer Reading: Orphan Train

Unlike the first two selections on my summer reading list, I could not put Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline down! It is a compelling story about a little known period of history and an unlikely friendship that really touched me. Kline seamlessly blends a story from the 1930s and a contemporary one with two alternating narrators: Molly is a seventeen year old orphan in a difficult foster placement who is given community service hours for stealing a book and Vivian Daly is a lonely 91-year-old woman living in a large house overflowing with painful memories. Molly is given the opportunity to complete her community service hours by helping Vivian clean and organize her attic. As the two of them interact, Molly learns Vivian's remarkable story about her life as an Irish immigrant and how, after losing her parents in a fire, she was placed on a train to the Midwest to be adopted by families in need of labor during the 1930s and their relationship begins to grow. They bond over their shared experiences as orphans (and the book Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery) and eventually help each other in surprising ways. I found both of these characters to be incredibly sympathetic. Molly is, initially, harder to like because she has built such a wall around herself to deal with the circumstances of her life but I understood her anger and appreciated her transformation even more. I found Vivian's story to be incredibly moving, even more so because it is a true depiction of what happened to over 200,000 orphans from 1854 to 1929. Vivian's bleak life after riding the orphan train brought tears to my eyes but this novel is ultimately very hopeful.  I read well into the night because I wanted to know what happened to these characters and, while I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed, I found it to be very satisfying. This is a memorable story that I highly recommend.

Note:  Have you read Orphan Train?  What did you think?