No Hard Feelings

I'm not usually a big fan of raunchy comedies but the trailer for No Hard Feelings made me laugh and I like Jennifer Lawrence so I decided to give it a go last night.  It is a definitely R-rated but it is not as crude as I was expecting and I really enjoyed it.  Maddie Barker (Lawrence) is a bartender in Montauk, New York who supplements her income by working as an Uber driver.  After her car is repossessed she fears that she will lose her childhood home without that extra money.  When she searches on Craigslist for a cheap used car she finds an intriguing proposition.  Helicopter parents Laird and Alison Becker (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) want someone to "date" their awkward and introverted son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) to bring him out of his shell before he leaves for Princeton in the fall and they are providing a car as payment.  She takes them up on their offer but her attempts to seduce Percy go hilariously awry so she resorts to spending time with him to form a connection.  Complications ensue!  This is quite funny with lots of laugh out loud moments but I especially liked the heartfelt interactions between the two characters.  Maddie helps Percy become more social but he also helps her realize that she is just as stunted as he is and that she needs to break free from her dead-end jobs and relationships.  Lawrence has fantastic comedic timing and she really commits to all of the outrageous physical comedy.  She has great chemistry with Feldman and he is sweetly adorable (I loved his "Maneater" scene).  This was a fun time at the movies and I think that studios should make more of these mid-budget comedies (audiences agree with me because the theater was absolutely packed on a Wednesday night during the second week of the run).  Give this one a chance!

You Hurt My Feelings

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was You Hurt My Feelings, another favorite from Sundance this year.  This is a simple, funny, and honest exploration of the ways in which we deceive the ones we love in order to spare their feelings.  Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Don (Tobias Menzies) are a loving and devoted couple living in NYC.  He is a therapist and she is an author who has just finished her latest novel but, because she is feeling insecure about it, he gives her encouraging feedback.  However, she and her sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) overhear Don tell Sarah's husband Mark (Arian Moayed) that he doesn't like her work and she is understandably devastated.  She is not appeased when he explains that he was just trying to be supportive but then she realizes how often she has been guilty of telling little white lies to those around her, particularly her son Eliot (Owen Teague).  She also realizes that she doesn't appreciate the unvarnished truth her mother (Jeannie Berlin) tells her.  The dialogue is sharp and very witty and I laughed out loud several times, especially in the scenes involving Don's bickering patients (real-life couple David Cross and Amber Tamblyn) who are juxtaposed with Don and Beth.  The cast is wonderful (I really enjoyed the interactions between Louis-Dreyfus and Watkins because they actually seemed like sisters) and the situations are very relatable because we have all told a little white lie to avoid hurting the ones we love.  This reminded me of the kind of character-driven slice-of-life comedies about quirky New Yorkers that Woody Allen used to make.  It is charming little gem and I highly recommend it.

Past Lives

Not only is Past Lives my favorite from Sundance this year, it is my favorite movie of 2023 so far!  I had the chance to see it again last night as the first in a double feature at the Broadway and I loved it even more!  I can't imagine that another movie will overtake it (but you never know!).  Na Young (Seung Ah Moon) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) are childhood sweethearts (and rivals for the best marks in school) in Seoul, South Korea.  They are separated when Na Young's family emigrates to Canada and she leaves without saying goodbye to him.  Twelve years later Na Young, who has changed her name to Nora (Greta Lee), is in college in NYC studying to be a playwright when she discovers that Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) has been trying to find her on social media.  They happily reconnect and begin spending all of their time talking and reminiscing with each other via Skype.  They eventually discuss the possibility of visiting each other but, because Nora has been accepted to a writing retreat and Hae Sung is about to do a language course in China, she thinks it best that stop talking in order to concentrate on their studies.  Twelve years later Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro) and working as a playwright in NYC.  Hae Sung has just ended a relationship because he cannot commit to marriage and decides to vacation in NYC as an excuse to see Nora.  They spend several days together and their undeniable connection leads them to speculate about their destiny.  This is a beautiful story about two people who yearn for the past and the life they might have lived together but understand that the lives they now lead are the ones they are meant to have.  Lee and Yoo give highly nuanced performances where just a glance expresses more emotion than pages of dialogue and I especially loved a scene where Hae Sung is nervously waiting to meet up with Nora because you can see everything he is feeling from just a few gestures.  This is definitely a love story but I felt a deep emotional connection to Nora's experience as an immigrant (I even had a childhood friend that I had to leave behind in Canada and I've always wondered about him) and two incredibly poignant moments brought me to tears.  The first is when Nora tells Arthur that she is where she is meant to be because it is where she ended up and the second is when Nora tells Hae Sung that the twelve year old girl he knew was left behind in Korea.  I sometimes wish that I had stayed in Canada but I know that I am who I am today because I left and seeing Nora eventually come to the same realization was extremely cathartic for me.  The hype I felt for this at Sundance is real and I cannot recommend it enough!

Music for a Summer Night at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center

Last night I attended a free Utah Symphony concert at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center and it was a lovely evening for listening to music under the stars (one of my favorite summer activities).  The program was an eclectic one featuring composers and pieces celebrating the Americas.  It included Toast of the Town Overture by Quinn Mason, El Cumbanchero by Rafael Hernandez, Starburst by Jessie Montgomery, Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman by Joan Tower, Four Novelletten by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, Fanfare on Amazing Grace by Adolphus Hailstork, selections from Othello Suite by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez, Cachita by Rafael Hernandez, Huapango by Jose Pablo Moncayo, and "Techno" from Fiesta! by Jimmy Lopez.  I really enjoyed all of these pieces but my very favorite was Fanfare for the Common Man because it is instantly recognizable and the themes played by the brass and the percussion, especially the timpani and the gong, are both dramatic and majestic (despite the name).  The crowd really loved Danzon No. 2 because the rhythms were infectious!  Associate conductor Benjamin Manis was practically dancing on the podium and I particularly liked the seductive solos played by the woodwinds and a playful theme by the piano.  The concert concluded, as summer concerts often do, with an encore featuring The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa and this got the crowd on their feet clapping along.  The cute little ladies sitting next to me were thrilled when the piccolos and the brass sections stood for their solos.  It was such a fun night!  This same program will be performed again tonight at the Waterfall Amphitheater at Thanksgiving Point.  Tickets are required for this concert (go here) but there will be fireworks afterwards!  Also, last night's concert was the first in a series of free concerts every Monday night during the summer at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center (go here for more information) sponsored by West Valley Arts.

The Last Rider

My sister Kristine has always been a fan of the Tour de France but my whole family eventually became invested in the 1989 race because of her excitement over Greg LeMond and his underdog story.  When I saw the trailer for The Last Rider, which chronicles LeMond and his uphill journey (both literally and figuratively) to win that race, I knew she would love it!  We both went to see it at the Broadway yesterday afternoon and to say that she loved it would be an understatement (I loved it, too).  The documentary briefly describes his childhood in Lake Tahoe, his beginnings in cycling as a way to train for skiing in the off season, his early successes in the sport, his pro contract with a European team, and his Tour de France win in 1986.  Then the narrative delves into the near fatal hunting accident in which LeMond was shot by his brother-in-law.  He was hit by approximately 60 pellets and suffered a collapsed lung and extensive internal bleeding.  Because of the location of some of the pellets an estimated 30 of them had to be left in his body and his recovery was long and painful and he was dropped by his racing team.  He eventually gets back on his bike and, after joining a less competitive team and riding in a few European races, he decides to enter the Tour de France without any realistic prospects of winning.  The rest of the documentary incorporates thrilling footage from the 1989 race as LeMond, two-time winner Laurent Fignon, and the heavily favored Pedro Delgado battle for the yellow jersey with interviews with LeMond, his wife Kathy, Delgado, and his former coach Cyrille Guimard interspersed.  I am a huge fan of feel-good sports stories and, even though this is a very conventional documentary, it is one of the most compelling ones I've seen!  I knew the outcome of the race and I was still on the edge of my seat at the beginning of the final stage along the Champs-Elysees (the filmmakers do a great job of building suspense by emphasizing the rivalry between LeMond and the trash-talking Fignon) and I even cheered out loud at the finish line!  Fans of cycling are sure to love this but I think it is accessible for everyone because of the inspiring story and I highly recommend it!

Note:  I was in France right before the 1990 race (which LeMond also won) and my sister asked me to try and find her some merchandise.  I couldn't find anything until I was on a coach on the way to the airport to come home.  I saw a store window full of Team Z (LeMond's team) jerseys but I couldn't stop to get one for her!