Master Gardener

The next movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Master Gardner.  As a huge fan of First Reformed, I was very intrigued by Paul Schrader's latest exploration of redemption and, even though it pales in comparison to that movie, I appreciated a more optimistic resolution.  Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) is a man with a violent past who has left that life behind to become the head gardener at an extensive estate owned by Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver).  He appreciates the rules and order that can be imposed upon a garden after living a life of chaos and records his thoughts in a daily journal.  However, his ordered life is thrown into chaos once again when Norma demands that he take her troubled grand-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) on as an apprentice but his need to protect her from the consequences of her past becomes a way for him to atone for his.  A lot of the dialogue in this is incredibly cringe-worthy (I even laughed out loud during a scene that was definitely not meant to be funny) and I wasn't as emotionally invested in the story as I was for the one told in First Reformed (perhaps because the themes are becoming repetitious).  However, all of the performances are compelling, especially Weaver's turn as the haughty and petty owner of the estate (I think it is her best in years).  Also, I was initially a bit disappointed that, apart from a beautiful stop-motion title sequence with blooming flowers, the gardens seem very drab and lifeless but a gorgeous sequence involving magical realism as Narvel and Maya drive through a forest of flowers highlights how empty his life has been without Maya (this is my interpretation).  Finally, I loved the metaphor about how planting a garden is an act of hope for the future because it left me feeling positive about the fate of these characters (which is rare in a film by Schrader).  I didn't love this as much as I was expecting to but it is thought-provoking enough for me to recommend it.

Carmen

It was another double feature at the Broadway for me last night and I started with Carmen, Benjamin Millepied's directorial debut.  It is meant to be a reimagining of Carmen by Georges Bizet but it shares a vibe with the famous tragic opera rather than a plot.  After her mother Zilah (Marina Tamayo) is brutally gunned down, Carmen (Melissa Barrera) is forced to leave her home in the Mexican desert and cross the border illegally.  Aidan (Paul Mescal), a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who is clearly suffering from PTSD, volunteers with the border guard but ends up impulsively killing another volunteer who captures Carmen.  Soon the two of them are on the run to Los Angeles so Carmen can find Zilah's friend Masilda (Rossy de Palma) who owns a nightclub there.  They begin a passionate relationship but can they outrun their fate?  There are some amazing dance sequences (Millepied is better known as a choreographer and it shows) interspersed in the narrative and this, rather than dialogue, is how all of the characters express their emotions (my favorite is a high energy hip-hop dance sequence when Aidan is involved in an underground boxing match).  Barrera is a beautiful and expressive dancer and she and Mescal sizzle in their scenes together.  The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, particularly the recurring image of fire, and the music is incredibly evocative and haunting.  Even though the story is very superficial and Carmen and Aidan seem more like archetypes rather than fully fleshed out characters, I was mesmerized from beginning to end.  This might not be for everyone but I recommend it to those who appreciate movies with a unique vision.

Messiaen's Turangalîla

Last night's Utah Symphony concert was absolutely spectacular!  The entire program consisted of an 80-minute performance of Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen and it was incredibly dramatic to say the least!  The title of the piece comes from two Sanskrit words which, when combined together, mean love, joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death.  I especially enjoyed the use of a large percussion section (I loved the gong and the chimes) featuring nine different musicians!  Utah Symphony Principal Keyboard Jason Hardink was a featured soloist on piano and Augustin Viard joined the orchestra on the ondes Martenot (he is one of only a few musicians who can play this instrument, which sounds a lot like a theremin, and it was flown in from France just for this concert).  It is comprised of ten separate movements but there are several themes that appear throughout.  My favorite themes were the "statue" theme, which is represented by the trombones and tuba and is incredibly powerful, and the "flower" theme, which consists of two clarinets and is very delicate.  They are often entwined together and are meant to represent the masculine and feminine, especially in the first and third movements.  The "love" theme includes a beautiful melody played by the strings and the ondes and this is incredibly ethereal in sixth movement.  Another theme involves chords played by the piano in opposition to the rest of the orchestra and this is energetic and almost frenzied, particularly with the percussion in the seventh movement.  Hardink's performance was brilliant with several very demanding solo cadenzas and I loved watching his fingers flying up and down the keyboard.  Viard was also really fun to watch on the ondes because I could never really figure out what he was doing.  He was definitely using the keyboard but he was also controlling the sound of the notes with the movement of his fingers.  Whatever he was doing, it looked and sounded really cool!  This piece was completely over-the-top and, while it was sometimes overwhelming to me, it was definitely thrilling!  It is not performed very often because of the orchestra personnel required so, if you are intrigued, you should definitely get a ticket to tonight's performance (go here).

In the Heights at the Grand Theatre

Last night I was really excited to see In the Heights at the Grand Theatre.  I love this show so much and this is a fantastic production!  A woman named Claudia (Sonia Maritza Inoa-Rosado Maughan) acts as an abuela, or grandmother, to everyone in a small community in Washington Heights.  Usnavi (Armando Serrano) runs a bodega which is beset with problems, including a refrigerator that doesn't work, and tries to keep his wayward cousin Sonny (Avery Sims) in line but dreams of returning to the cool breezes of the Dominican Republic.  Vanessa (Sophia Morrill Mancilla) is hoping to escape the barrio, and an abusive mother, to move downtown but a credit check for her new apartment stands in her way.  Nina (Aisha Marie Garcia) is the pride of her parents, Kevin (Monte Garcia) and Camila (Sophia Valdez Davis), and the whole neighborhood because she received a scholarship to Stanford.  But college is a lot harder than she thought it would be, especially since she has to work two jobs to make ends meet, and she is thinking of quitting.  Benny (Onias Snuka) dreams of taking over the cab company owned by Kevin but his interest in Nina sours his relationship with his employer.  Abuela Claudia has looked after all of them their whole lives and she just might find a way to help them make their dreams come true!  The entire cast, which is made up of POC, is amazing but the standouts for me are Garcia and Snuka as Nina and Benny.  My favorite songs in the show are "When You're Home," "Sunrise," and "When the Sun Goes Down" and Garcia and Snuka perform them with so much emotion that I had tears in my eyes during all three!  I also really enjoyed Whitney Harris Gutirrez as Daniela because she is so dramatic and her renditions of "No Me Diga" and "Carnaval del Barrio" are so fun.  The ensemble is also really strong and they can really dance!  Speaking of which, the choreography for "In the Heights," "96,000," "The Club" (the dance-off between couples is so sultry), "Blackout," and "Carnaval del Barrio" is incredibly energetic but I absolutely loved that it seamlessly includes a member of the ensemble who is in a wheelchair (Mason Burr is a fantastic dancer).  I was also really impressed with the set, which features storefronts for Daniela's salon, Usnavi's bodega, and the Rosario Cab Company as well as Claudia's stoop with fire escapes connecting them, and the lighting design, especially the fireworks and the candlelight procession during "Alabanza."  I have seen this show many times and this production is one of the best!  Definitely get a ticket (go here).

Grease

My sister Marilyn and I are huge fans of the movie Grease so we were really excited that it was being released in theaters again to commemorate its 45th anniversary (what?) as part of Fathom's Big Screen Classics series. We went to see it last night and we both loved it (we tried hard not to sing along to every single song but we may or may not have been successful).  Grease is the quintessential high school movie featuring a love story between bad boy Danny Zuko (John Travolta), the leader of the T-Birds, and Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), a good girl who has recently transferred to Rydell High from Australia.  They have a summer romance but it takes a little help from the rest of the T-Birds (Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci, and Kelly Ward) and the Pink Ladies (Stockard Channing, Didi Conn, Jamie Donnelly, and Dinah Manoff) to get them back together by graduation.  I love all of the songs, especially "Grease" during the opening and end credits, "Summer Nights," "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Greased Lightnin'," "Sandy," and "You're the One That I Want," and the choreography is so much fun and definitely stands the test of time (I actually prefer the movie adaptation to the stage version because of the new songs that are used and the choreography).  I love Newton-John (it was a little bit sad to see her on the screen after her recent passing) and Travolta as Danny and Sandy because, even though they both look way too old to play high school students, they have so much chemistry together, especially during "Born to Hand Jive." I also really love all of the cameos by popular stars from the 1950s, such as Sid Caesar, Eve Arden, Alice Ghostley, Joan Blondell, and Frankie Avalon.  Finally, even though I didn't grow up during the 1950s, I love all of the nostalgia for the era with all of the leather jackets, letterman sweaters, poodle skirts, malt shops, drive-in movies, and fantastic cars.  It was so much fun to see this on the big screen with my sister and we are now looking forward to seeing The Birds in October and A Christmas Story in December as part of the Big Screen Classics series (go here to see all of the movies in this series).

Note:  Every time I watch this movie as an adult I am always really shocked by the suggestive lyrics because my sisters and I used to sing them at the top of our lungs whenever we watched it as kids!