Four Good Days

It seems like a lot of the movies that screened at the Sundance Film Festival last year are finally getting a wide release after being postponed due to Covid.  I remember being really intrigued by Four Good Days at the time (even though I ultimately picked other films) so I decided to see it last night.  Molly (Mila Kunis), a heroin addict for the past ten years, randomly shows up on the doorstep of her mother, Deb (Glenn Close), who refuses to let her in.  Deb has spent years trying to help her get clean, including fourteen stints in rehab, but Molly has always relapsed and this has wreaked havoc on her entire family, including her step-father Chris (Stepehen Root), her father Dale (Sam Hennings), her sister Ashley (Carla Gallo), her ex-husband Sean (Joshua Leonard), and her children Colton (Nicholas Oteri) and Chloe (Audrey Lynn).  Deb ultimately relents and drives her to a clinic where she detoxes for three days.  A doctor at the clinic offers Molly the chance for a monthly shot of Naltrexone, which eliminates the craving for opioids, but she needs to be drug free for one week in order to be eligible for it.  Since she needs to stay clean for four more days, Deb allows her to move back home.  These four days are fraught with tension as the two of them give vent to the simmering recriminations in their relationship.  This is a fairly typical addiction movie such as we have seen many times before (Ben is Back and Beautiful Boy are much better explorations of how parents cope with children who are addicts) and it has the usual story arc but the material is elevated by the performances of both Close and Kunis.  Close is incredibly poignant as a mother who loves her daughter but is torn between desperately wanting to help and knowing that her help won't make a difference in her daughter's recovery.  Kunis is almost unrecognizable in a gritty and authentic performance that is one of her best, especially in a scene where Molly speaks to a high school health class about the realities of addiction.  This was not quite as good as I was expecting it to be but it is still worth checking it out when it becomes available as a VOD on May 21.

Thierry Fischer Conducts Bach, Wynton Marsalis, Carter & Wagner

Everyone in attendance at Abravanel Hall last night was treated to a very eclectic Utah Symphony concert and I, being one of the lucky few in the audience, absolutely loved it!  The orchestra began with a really fun piece by Johann Sebastian Bach called Concerto for Two Violins with Madeline Adkins and Claude Halter as soloists.  I especially loved the first and third movements because of the lively themes played by the soloists who seemed to respond to each other, almost as if they were dueling!  Abravanel Hall was then turned into an intimate jazz club for the next two numbers by Elliott Carter and Wynton Marsalis, respectively.  Two small ensemble groups were formed on either side of the stage with dramatic lighting as each performed.  One group played Double Trio by Carter, which was incredibly dynamic with lots of different percussion instruments and themes played by trumpet and trombone, and the other played selections from A Fiddler's Tale by Marsalis, which featured several different styles of jazz.  I am not a huge fan of jazz but I really enjoyed these pieces and I must admit that I was tapping my toes during the final selection, The Blues on Top, from A Fiddler's Tale because the musicians were definitely playing the blues and it seemed like they were having so much fun improvising (Thierry Fischer even left the podium for the last few moments to let them jam).  The concert concluded with the beautiful Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner.  This was written as a birthday present for Wagner's second wife Cosima, with whom he had a passionate affair before marrying her, after the birth of their son Siegfried.  I thought it was incredibly romantic and I particularly loved all of the themes played by the woodwinds.  Each of the these pieces were so different but I loved them all and I highly recommend getting a ticket to this program which will be repeated tonight and tomorrow night (go here for tickets).

Mortal Kombat

I didn't know anything about the game, the characters, or the mythology but my nephew really wanted to see Mortal Kombat, the new movie adaptation of the popular gaming franchise, so we went to see it last night.  I had only the vaguest notion of what was going on but Sean, who loves the game, giggled through the whole thing so it was a lot of fun for me to watch it with him.  In 17th century Japan, a ninja named Bi-Han (Joe Taslim) kills his rival Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his wife and son.  He thinks that he has destroyed Hanzo's entire bloodline but his baby daughter is rescued by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), the god of thunder.  In the present, the Outworld, under the control of the sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han), has defeated the Earthrealm, under the control of Lord Raiden, in nine out of ten deathmatch tournaments known as Mortal Kombat.  If they can win one more time the Outworld will conquer the Earthrealm but Shang Tsung discovers a prophecy that says the blood of Hanzo Hasashi will defeat them.  Lord Raiden assembles a group at his temple, including existing champions Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang), Special Forces soldiers Jackson "Jax" Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), an Australian mercenary named Kano (Josh Lawson), and a down-and-out former MMA champion named Cole Young (Lewis Tan), to find their arcana, or special power, and train for the tournament. Shang Tsung assembles Bi-Han, Mileena (Sisi Stringer), Nitara (Mel Jarnson), Kabal (Daniel Nelson), Reiko (Nathan Jones), and Goro (Angus Sampson) to fight them and an insane amount of graphic violence ensues.  When Bi-Han, now known as Sub-Zero, attacks Cole's wife Allison (Laura Brent) and daughter Emily (Matilda Kimber), Cole learns that he is a descendant of Hanzo.  He challenges Sub-Zero which reawakens Hanzo, now known as Scorpion, and this ultimately leads to an epic battle between Sub-Zero and Scorpion.  The story is very convoluted but it hardly matters because the action is so exciting.  Everyone in my screening cheered when each character was introduced and again during each battle, of which there are many.  As I mentioned, Sean absolutely loved this movie and I suspect fans of the game will love it as well (I didn't hate it but it probably won't feature in my top ten list at the end of the year).  I recommend it to gamers with the caveat that there is a tremendous amount of very graphic violence and a lot of profanity.

Note:  The movie ends when Lord Raiden asks his champions to locate more possible champions to train for the next battle so there is the possibility of a sequel.  Sean cheered out loud when Johnny Cage was mentioned!

Madeline Adkins Plays The Lark Ascending

I always love it when I have a Utah Symphony concert to look forward to at the end of the week and last night's concert was definitely worth the wait!  The orchestra, once again under the baton of Music Director Thierry Fischer, began with Symphony No. 30 "Alleluia" by Joseph Haydn.  In my opinion (take it for what it’s worth because I really don't know much about classical music) this piece is incredibly melodic with themes that are light, airy, and celebratory.  I especially loved the theme played by the flute in the second movement because it is so happy and cheerful.  Next came The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams with Concertmaster Madeline Adkins as soloist.  This is one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard and I found it to be incredibly moving.  It is based on a poem of the same name by George Meredith and the solo violin represents a lark taking flight while the rest of the orchestra represents the verdant English countryside below it.  It was composed just before World War I and it is now viewed as a nostalgic ode to an idyllic bygone era before the world lost its innocence.  Like the first piece, is also incredibly melodic and I had such beautiful images of sun dappled fields in my mind as I listened.  Adkins played it brilliantly and I think the entire audience was collectively holding its breath as she played the final transcendent notes before erupting into thunderous applause (the loudest I’ve heard from a socially distanced crowd).  The concert concluded with Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1.  This piece was in stark contrast to the two that preceded it because it is much more modern and, in my opinion, sometimes quite jarring.  It features ten woodwinds and five strings, with every musician functioning as a soloist, and the usual five sections within a more traditional symphony are condensed into one movement.  The pacing is relentless, almost frantic, but there is a more somber and mournful section towards the end of the piece that really appealed to me.  This concert was the perfect end to the week and I highly recommend getting a ticket to tonight's concert which features the same program (go here).

Note:  I really like Madeline Adkins.  I met her once at a Utah Symphony after party at BTG, a wine bar downtown, and she was very charming (please take a moment to be impressed that I sometimes attend Utah Symphony after parties).

Daddy Long Legs at HCT

I vaguely remember watching the movie Daddy Long Legs, starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, on my black and white TV late at night when I was in high school. However, I was totally unfamiliar with the stage musical so I didn't really know what to expect when I attended HCT's production of this show last night. I ended up absolutely loving it! At the turn of the century, Jerusha Abbott (Kelly Coombs) is the oldest orphan at the John Grier Home but a young and wealthy Trustee named Jervis Pendleton (David Paul Smith), impressed by one of her essays about living at an orphanage, decides to send her to college so she can become a writer. He will pay her tuition and all of her living expenses on the condition that he remain anonymous and that she writes him a letter once a month to inform him of her progress. Not knowing his name she decides to call him Daddy Long Legs, referring to the tall shadow she saw leaving the orphanage, in her letters which prove to be enchanting to Jervis. Against his better judgment he meets her without revealing that he is her benefactor and then falls in love with her. Jerusha also falls in love with him but, when she pours her heart out about him to Daddy Long Legs in her letters, it creates much confusion as he struggles to decide whether to reveal himself to her. I love Jerusha as a character because she grows and develops so much as a person throughout the course of the show and I really appreciate the fact that she pays her benefactor back before beginning a relationship with him because she proves herself to be his equal. She has such a thirst for knowledge (I love that she has a new favorite subject to denote each year in school) and for new experiences (I love her sense of wonder while on a cultural weekend in Manhattan) so it was easy for me to relate to and sympathize with her. Coombs is absolutely delightful in the role and Smith is incredibly earnest as Jervis. They both have amazing voices and palpable chemistry with each other. I particularly enjoyed the scenes while Jervis is jealous when Jerusha mentions Jimmy McBride in her letters. It is really impressive that the two of them carry this show entirely by themselves with demanding songs, rapid-fire dialogue, high energy blocking, and multiple costume changes which happen right on stage. I was also very impressed by the live band on stage consisting of Kelly DeHaan on piano, Josh Ogden on cello, and Bryan Matthew Hague on guitar. The music is quite stirring, especially the guitar, and I really liked the songs "Like Other Girls," "Things I Didn't Know," "What Does She Mean By Love?" and "The Secret of Happiness." The set is ingenious with two levels and a pulley system between them to allow the characters to be separate while in the same scene and the inclusion of props stored in strategically placed suitcases and trunks quickly transforms the space multiple times without a pause. The actors utilize the space very effectively (I was sitting on the extreme right side of the theatre and there were only a few times when I couldn't see the action which is sometimes more of an issue). My only complaint, which is a minor one, is that I grew impatient in the second act for the characters to just get together already (I don't think this is a spoiler because, to me, it is a foregone conclusion) because the action gets bogged down a bit and many of the songs are reprises. Nevertheless, I loved this show much more than I was expecting to and I highly recommend it (go here for tickets). It runs on the Jewel Box Stage through June 12.

Note:  I also highly recommend Les Miserables which is currently playing on the Young Living Stage. Many performances are sold out but some matinees have recently been added later in the run (go here for tickets).