Sundown

Last night I saw the movie Sundown and I am still thinking about this intriguing character study.  An obviously wealthy British family, consisting of Neil (Tim Roth), Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and teens Colin (Samuel Bottomley) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan), is vacationing at a luxurious resort in Acapulco.  Their holiday is cut short when Alice receives a distressing phone call informing her that her mother has been rushed to the hospital and she insists that they return home immediately.  However, when the family is at the airport ready to check-in (with full concierge service), Neil realizes that he has left his passport back at the hotel and must stay behind.  Instead of returning to the resort, he takes a taxi to a seedy hotel and proceeds to spend the next few days drinking and sitting on the beach while ignoring the frantic phone calls from Alice.  He meets a local woman (Iazua Larios) and begins an affair with her as the days turn into weeks.  Finally, Alice returns to Mexico to confront him is a scene filled with restrained fury.  This is a slow burn with lots of up-close shots of Neil's inscrutable face staring into the ocean but it is somehow incredibly compelling because you never know how you are supposed to feel about him.  Who is he?  Why has he seemingly abandoned his family in their time of need?  What is he doing in Mexico?  Why does he seem so ambivalent about his situation (including a violent murder that happens literally at his feet)?  The answers, which are revealed very slowly, may surprise audiences.  I was also really intrigued by the subtle commentary on class structure.  Many of the locals are portrayed as incredibly subservient to the wealthy tourists, bringing unsolicited drinks and waiting around for hours in taxis, but then their attention becomes more sinister in the third act.  Roth gives a highly nuanced performance because, even though he is incredibly still most of the time, there is so much going on behind his eyes.  Ultimately, I think this movie is not quite as profound as it thinks it is (the ambiguous ending made several people in the audience groan out loud) but I found it very interesting.

The Golden Couple

My February Book of the Month selection was The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (the other options were Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black, A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross, Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, and Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu). I discovered these authors during the lockdown and eagerly devoured all of their books (often in one sitting) so I was very excited to read their latest! Avery Chambers is an unorthodox therapist who guarantees that she can treat people in only ten sessions. She requires absolute honesty and investigates every aspect of her clients' lives in order to uncover the root of their problems. Matthew and Marissa Bishop seem like the perfect couple but Marissa turns to Avery because she has a secret that could threaten the happiness of her marriage. However, as Avery investigates the Bishops, she discovers that they are both hiding much more than they are willing to disclose during their sessions and it soon becomes clear that Avery herself is keeping secrets. The narrative alternates between the POVs of Marissa and Avery and I found both characters to be incredibly compelling even if they are flawed. I particularly enjoyed the idea of a therapist who has gone rogue because so much of what Avery does can be construed as unethical and it makes for a provocative narrative. All of the secondary characters are also very intriguing and I never knew from one minute to the next who to believe or trust as more and more information is slowly revealed. This kept me reading well into the night in order to unravel all of the mysteries (and there are so many of them along with quite a few red herrings). Hendricks and Pekkanen are known for their dramatic plot twists but I found the big reveal in this story to be somewhat underwhelming because I predicted it early on (I thought it was fairly unoriginal and obvious). The resolution is rushed and, in my opinion, it is all a bit too neat considering the high stakes involved. I liked this novel well enough but I definitely think that The Anonymous Girl, The Wife Between Us, and You Are Not Alone by these authors are better and would recommend them over this.

Moonfall

To be honest, after all of the heavy content that I watched all alone in my living room during the Sundance Film Festival this year I was really looking forward to a ridiculous disaster movie on an IMAX screen in a crowded theater with a big tub of popcorn.  I certainly got all of that with Moonfall last night!  The moon has been knocked out of its orbit for reasons and is now on a collision course with Earth.  Also for reasons, the only way to save the Earth from certain doom is to send NASA Deputy Director Jocinda "Jo" Fowler (Halle Berry), disgraced astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), and conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) into space on a decommissioned space shuttle retrieved from a museum in order to detonate an EMP device in the center of the moon.  Finally, for reasons, Harper's estranged son Sonny (Charlie Plummer) must race against time to get Jo's son Jimmy and his caregiver Michelle (Kelly Yu) to safety while Jo's ex-husband General Doug Davidson (Eme Ikwuakor) must take drastic measures to stop the military from launching nuclear weapons at the moon.  Let's just say that none of the reasons involve actual science, logic, or common sense!  The entire premise is completely preposterous, with an absolutely bonkers third act, and most of the dialogue is cringe worthy but there are some great visual effects and I would be lying if I said I didn't have a lot of fun watching this.  If you are a fan of Roland Emmerich's other disaster movies you will probably enjoy it, too.  I recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible with as many people as possible with the biggest tub of popcorn possible.

Thierry Fischer Conducts Ravel, Liszt & John Adams

Last night, like most Friday nights, I was at Abravanel Hall for a Utah Symphony concert and I loved every minute of it!  The orchestra, once again under the baton of Music Director Thierry Fischer, began with Slonimsky's Earbox by John Adams.  I was unfamiliar with this piece but I enjoyed it immensely because it is incredibly dynamic with non-stop energy coming from every section.  I especially loved all of the percussion and the almost strident blasts from the brass.  Next, the orchestra was joined by Joyce Yang for Piano Concerto No. 1 by Franz Liszt and this was pretty spectacular!  The first movement is incredibly dramatic and I loved watching Yang's fingers fly up and down the keyboard.  The second movement is very romantic with beautiful passages by the solo piano while the third movement is playful with a theme played by the triangle and duets between the piano and several woodwind instruments.  The final movement returns to the dramatic themes introduced at the beginning with a powerful march played by the brass.  I have seen Yang perform at Abravanel Hall before and she was simply brilliant last night.  She received a thunderous standing ovation and performed a beautiful rendition of Prelude in G Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff as an encore.  After the intermission, the orchestra played several pieces by Maurice Ravel.  The first was Une barque sur l'ocean and, as I listened, I could see a violent storm, suggested by a theme played by the timpani, at sea with a boat being tossed about on turbulent waves.  Next came Valses nobles et sentimentales which are a series of light and airy waltzes.  The concert concluded with La Valse and during this piece I imagined a large group of waltzing couples dancing in a ballroom in Vienna and I especially loved the theme played by the harps.  It was a lovely evening of music and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The same program will be performed again tonight and, since all the cool kids spend their weekends at Abravanel Hall, I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Over the River and Through the Woods at HCTO

Even though it is a bit of a drive to get there from my house, I am so glad that I discovered Hale Center Theater Orem last year.  Every show that I have seen there has been outstanding including their current production, Over the River and Through the Woods, which I saw last night.  This delightful play is full of laughter and heart and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nick Cristano (Will Ingram) is offered a big promotion at work but this means that he will have to relocate from New York to Seattle.  His overprotective Italian grandparents (Mark Pulham, Karen Baird, Larson Holyoak, and Melany Wilkins) don't want him to leave so they plot to find a reason for him to stay.  They decide that he needs a girlfriend which involves a painfully awkward set-up with Caitlin O'Hare (Kelly Cook), the attractive and single niece of his grandmother's canasta partner.  Hilarity ensues!  In addition to the humor, of which there is plenty (I was laughing out loud all night), there are some really tender moments involving generational differences. The main theme of the play is that people, especially immigrants, work hard their whole lives in order to give their children and grandchildren a better life but, in so doing, they pave the way for them to leave them behind for lives that are incomprehensible to them.  An especially poignant scene involves Nick's grandfather telling him about coming to America for a better life and then realizing that Nick wants to move to Seattle for the exact same reason and that he needs to let him go.  I was lucky enough to have all four of my grandparents (and my great-grandfather) in my life until my mid-twenties and I recognized many of the situations portrayed in this play, especially when Nick's grandmother tries to feed him all of the time (my grandmother also tried to send me home with food whenever I visited).  The entire cast is fantastic, but I particularly enjoyed Ingram's overwrought portrayal of Nick (I also enjoyed him in The 39 Steps).  His facial expressions are absolutely hilarious, especially as he gets more and more exasperated with his grandparents during the blind date with Caitlin and during their game of Trivial Pursuit!  I am, once again, really impressed with what HCTO is able to do with such a small space because the stage looks just like the fussy living and dining room of an older couple.  I particularly loved all of the little details such as the plastic fruit in a bowl on the table (both of my grandmothers had plastic fruit on their tables).  This is a show that old and young alike are sure to enjoy and I highly recommend it.  It runs through Ferbruary 12 so get your tickets (go here) soon!