Spencer

I love the movie Jackie so I have been looking forward to Spencer, Pablo Larrain's latest portrait of an enigmatic woman, for a really long time and I was excited to finally have the chance to see it last night.  Even though the reviews from the Venice Film Festival, where it had its premiere, were outstanding, I was not expecting such a brilliant performance from Kristen Stewart!  The movie takes place over three days during the Christmas holiday at the Queen's Sandringham Estate in 1991.  Princess Diana (Stewart) decides to forego her chauffeur and security detail to drive herself but gets lost along the way.  She laments the fact that she can no longer find her way in the part of England where she was raised and this is symbolic of how she has lost herself as a member of the Royal Family.  When she arrives, she immediately feels claustrophobic and constrained by royal protocol, tradition, and lack of privacy.  She finds several allies in the Royal Head Chef (Sean Harris) and a Royal Dresser (Sally Hawkins) but is constantly held in check by the Equerry, Major Alistair Gregory (Timothy Spall).  She receives a pearl necklace as a Christmas present from Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) but is dismayed when she realizes that it is the same as one worn by his mistress and it becomes a metaphor for how trapped she feels.  She is also upset about Prince Charles' insistence on taking Prince William (Jack Nielsen) shooting on Boxing Day and identifies with the pheasants because they are pretty but not very bright. In her despair, she begins seeing visions of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson) and fears a similar fate.  Just when she is about to come undone she sneaks away to Park House, her childhood home near Sandringham, and finds herself again.  I am a huge fan of Stewart (I think she is vastly underrated as an actress) but even I was a bit skeptical when I heard that she had been cast as Princess Diana.  Many of my fears were allayed when the first images of her in character were released and then the first trailer, where I heard her accent for the first time, convinced me.  Stewart gives a highly nuanced performance that completely embodies Diana's fragile state of mind during this period in her life.  It is so transformative that I sometimes forgot that I was watching Stewart.  I also really appreciate that Larrain chose to focus on one pivotal moment, rather than depict her whole life (much as he did with Jackie which focuses on the immediate aftermath of JFK's assassination), because it allows the audience to go beyond what we think we know about Diana.  The costumes, production design, and art direction are absolutely gorgeous and I loved the score by Jonny Greenwood because the almost discordant themes intermingled between the piano and strings emphasize Diana's status as an outsider.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it.

Note:  In the final scenes Diana is wearing an O.P.P. (Ontario Provincial Police) hat.  I loved seeing this because I am originally from Ontario.

Stephen Hough Plays Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1

I was so happy to be at Abravanel Hall for a Utah Symphony concert last night and, even though I wasn't very familiar with the pieces that were performed, I really enjoyed them both.  The orchestra began with Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable" by Carl Nielsen and I thought it was incredibly dramatic.  It was written as the world was on the brink of World War I and represents the will to live.  The mood and the tempo change quite a few times throughout the piece to emphasize the ebb and flow of life.  Sometimes it is very mournful with themes played by a solo cello and a solo violin, sometimes it is hopeful with themes played by the woodwinds, and sometimes it is triumphant with themes played by the brass.  My favorite was the fourth and final movement because it features two sets of timpani, placed on opposite sides of the stage, and it seems like they are dueling with each other.  It is really intense and it was actually a lot of fun to watch the back and forth between timpanists George Brown and Eric Hopkins.  The piece ultimately ends in victory with stirring themes by the strings and brass and I loved it so much.  So did the rest of the audience (people were talking about it in the elevator after the concert) because the orchestra and guest conductor Rune Bergmann, who is adorable, received a well-deserved standing ovation.  After the intermission the orchestra was joined by pianist Stephen Hough, who is very popular with Utah Symphony audiences, for Piano Concerto No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.  The piece also begins very dramatically with just the orchestra playing for quite a while before the piano enters softly.  Eventually the theme played by the piano gathers momentum to become really powerful and I loved watching Hough's fingers flying up and down the keyboard.  The second movement was my favorite because it is incredibly romantic and emotional (it was supposedly written for Clara Schumann, the wife of composer Robert Schumann, with whom Brahms had a complicated friendship) and Hough played it with so much feeling.  The final movement seems almost frenzied in comparison but it is no less beautiful.  I really enjoyed this concert, even more than I was expecting to, and I recommend getting a ticket (go here) to tonight's performance of the same program.

Note:  I am a season subscriber to the Masterworks series this year and my seat is next to the two cutest little old ladies.  They greet me like a long lost friend now and wondered where I was the last concert (I had to exchange my ticket in order to see James Taylor that night).

Eternals

The reviews for Eternals have been mixed (to say the least) so I have been looking forward to seeing it in order to form my own opinion.  I finally had the opportunity at a Thursday preview last night and, honestly, I think it is absolutely brilliant.  The Celestials, a powerful ancient alien race, send a group of ten Eternals, mysterious beings equipped with superpowers, to Earth in 5000 B.C. to fight the Deviants, deformed creatures who have evolved to kill humans.  Ajak (Salma Hayek) is the leader of the group and has the ability to heal, Sersi (Gemma Chan) has the ability to manipulate matter, Ikaris (Richard Madden) has the ability to fly and project cosmic energy from his eyes, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) has the ability to project cosmic energy from his fingertips, Sprite (Lia McHugh) has the ability to create illusions, Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) has the ability to invent new technology, Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) has super speed, Druig (Barry Keoghan) has the ability to manipulate minds, Gilgamesh (Don Lee) has super strength, and Thena (Angelina Jolie) has the ability to create any weapon out of energy.  The Eternals are forbidden from interfering in human history but they ultimately destroy all of the Deviants and scatter to live their own lives among humans.  In the present day, Sersi is in London working at the Natural History Museum while caring for Sprite and having a relationship with her co-worker Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) after being left by her partner Ikaris 500 years earlier, Ajak lives on a horse ranch in South Dakota, Kingo (a source of much comic relief) is a Bollywood star in Mumbai and relies on his manager Karun (Harish Patel), Gilgamesh is caring for Thena in the Outback of Australia, Druig is protecting the rain forests in the Amazon and ruling a tribe of indigenous people, Phastos is living in Chicago with his husband Ben (Haaz Sleiman) and son Jack (Esai Daniel Cross), and Makkari is an archaeologist collecting ancient artifacts in Iraq.  When Ikaris finds all of the Eternals again after the sudden reappearance of a Deviant, they discover that the Celestials pose an even greater threat to humanity than the Deviants and they must each individually decide how to respond.  I loved almost everything about this movie but I particularly loved how the character arcs and motivations for each of the Eternals are informed by the mythology surrounding their names (I didn't know anything about these characters so it was a lot of fun figuring out the references, especially the allusions to Circe, Athena, Ajax, Icarus, and Mercury) and I loved the relationships between the characters and how they are developed in a nonlinear way throughout ancient history to build the narrative cumulatively.  I also loved the philosophical debates between the characters about whether or not humanity deserves to be saved and I think the resolution of this question is beautiful and poignant.  I enjoyed the diversity of the characters, particularly one who is deaf and one who is openly gay, and I was beyond impressed with the sensitive depiction of a specific illness. Most of all, I loved that all of the above generated lots of epic discussions (which is a hallmark of great movies, in my opinion) between groups of people in the theater, the lobby, and the parking lot at my screening!  The performances are strong, the visuals are gorgeous, the action sequences are a lot of fun, and the score is amazing.  This movie is now my favorite in the MCU and is definitely one of my favorites of 2021.  I highly recommend it!

Note:  Several young girls squealed at the mid-credits scene.  I squealed at the end-credits scene!

Antlers

Last night I crossed another movie off my list by seeing Antlers and, even though I enjoyed many elements, I ultimately found it to be too bleak even for my taste.  Julia Meadows (Keri Russell) has recently returned home to an economically depressed small town in Oregon to be with her brother Paul (Jesse Plemons), the local sherriff.  She takes a job as a teacher at the middle school and, as a victim of abuse herself, she begins to suspect that one of her students, Lucas Weaver (Jeremy T. Thomas), is also being abused.  Several weeks earlier, his father Frank (Scott Haze) and his younger brother Aiden (Sawyer Jones) were attacked by an unknown creature inside of an abandoned mine that Frank was using as a meth lab.  They survive the attack but Frank begins a disturbing transformation so he forces Lucas to lock them in the attic and bring him roadkill to satisfy his insatiable hunger.  Frank eventually becomes a terrifying horned creature and escapes into the woods.  Soon after, Paul is called to the scenes of several brutal, but unexplained, murders and Julia suspects that Lucas is somehow involved.  When Lucas finally confides in her, she is forced to confront the creature, and her own inner demons, to save him.  I like horror movies that are based on folklore and the mythology surrounding the wendigo, a humanoid creature that is often depicted with antlers and represents an imbalance in many Native American cultures, is fascinating.  I really liked the design of the creature and there are quite a few genuinely frightening moments.  The narrative alludes to childhood trauma, poverty, addiction, and the destruction of the environment and, even though these themes are not as well developed as they could be, it is this hopelessness that unleashes the horror that follows.  I usually like movies that are dark and depressing because I find them to be cathartic (I don't know what this says about me) but this movie, especially the ending, is so devoid of hope that I left the theater feeling numb.  If even I find a movie too disheartening, I can't imagine that anyone else would enjoy it.

Last Night in Soho

The next movie on my list was Last Night in Soho and I was very excited to see it last night as it was one of my most anticipated movies of the fall.  I ended up really enjoying this stylish and atmospheric thriller.  Eloise "Ellie" Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young and impressionable girl from the English countryside who is obsessed with the movies, music, and fashion of the 1960s.  She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and travels to London to study but has trouble fitting in with with her roommate and the other girls in the dorm.  She rents a room in Soho from a Mrs. Collins (Diana Rigg) instead and this seems to be a portal to the 1960s.  Each night she encounters Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), an aspiring singer who once occupied her room in the past, and she experiences everything that happens to her.  At first Ellie is exhilarated and finds inspiration for her designs.  She even dyes her hair and buys vintage clothing in the present to mimic Sandie's style but this brings about the unwanted attention of a mysterious stranger (Terrence Stamp) who seems to recognize her.  When Sandie meets a dashing man named Jack (Matt Smith), who promises to help her with her singing career but actually becomes her pimp, Ellie is caught up in a dangerous lifestyle that follows her into the present.  Eventually, Ellie witnesses what she believes to be Sandie's murder by Jack in the past and becomes convinced that the mysterious stranger is really Jack in the present and tries to hold him accountable. McKenzie and Taylor-Joy are both outstanding and I also really enjoyed Rigg in her final role.  The camera work showing Ellie and Sandie seamlessly changing places in a dazzling dance sequence and mimicking each other as they descend a mirrored staircase is absolutely  brilliant.  I loved both the music, especially "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" by Cilla Black, and the clothes from the 1960s (I might be as obsessed with the 1960s as Ellie is).  The exploration of how young women alone in a big city can be victimized is incredibly compelling and I found it interesting that both Ellie and Sandie experience the same type of harassment from men even though they are very different women in different time periods.  Finally, I actually enjoyed it when Ellie has difficulty distinguishing between the past and present in the third act because these scenes are very unsettling and they kept me guessing until the end.  This is a bit of a departure from Edgar Wright's other films (it features much darker themes than we usually get from the director) but I think his fans will recognize his distinct visual style and I recommend it.