The Seed of the Sacred Fig

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was The Seed of the Sacred Fig and it is an incredibly compelling and powerful indictment of the authoritarian regime in Iran.  Iman (Missagh Zareh) is promoted as an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court of Tehran but, because he must regularly sign death warrants, the position is dangerous because people often attempt to seek retribution.  He is advised to keep his job secret from his family, which includes his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and teenage daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), and he is issued a gun for protection.  However, Najmeh insists that he tell his daughters about his job but they are becoming critical of the regime after the death of a young woman in police custody sparks widespread protests.  Rezvan eventually confronts her father when her friend Sadaf (Niousha Akhshi) is beaten and arrested at a protest.  Iman is under tremendous pressure at work because he is now expected to sign hundreds of death warrants due to the protests so, when his gun mysteriously disappears, he blames his daughters and subjects them to an intense interrogation.  When his personal information appears on social media, Iman's paranoia intensifies and he takes his family to hide at his childhood home which leads to an epic confrontation.  This has a really long runtime but I was absolutely riveted as the domestic drama mirrors the one that is playing out on the streets of Tehran.  The tension escalates very slowly as the two girls come to realize that the information on the news is not supported by what they are seeing on social media (actual footage from the protests that erupted in Tehran in 2022 is used and it is horrifying to watch) and that their father is complicit in what is happening.  Then the tension becomes almost unbearable in the third act with a truly frightening interrogation scene and an extended chase sequence that had me holding my breath.  The performances are understated but very effective (and incredibly brave) and I was especially impressed by Golestani because you can feel how torn Najmeh is between supporting her husband and protecting her daughters.  I was blown away by this movie, and the lengths to which director Mohammad Rasoulof went in order to bring it to the screen, and I highly recommend it.

I'm Still Here

When the Academy Award nominations were announced a few weeks ago, the only Best Picture nominee that I hadn't seen yet was I'm Still Here (click on the titles for my commentaries on Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Perez, Nickel Boys, The Substance, and Wicked) so I decided to see it as part of a double feature at the Broadway last night.  It is incredibly moving with a powerful performance from Fernanda Torres.  In 1970, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a former congressman ousted by a military dictatorship in Brazil, is living in Rio de Janeiro near the beach with his wife Eunice (Torres) and his five children, Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira), Vera (Valentina Herszage), Eliana (Luiza Kosovski), Nalu (Barbara Luz), and Maria (Cora Mora), while working as an architect.  His happy and boisterous house is always filled with family and friends but, unbeknownst to Eunice, Rubens is active in the underground resistance to the regime.  Rubens is eventually arrested in a military raid and is "disappeared" but, when Eunice inquires about his whereabouts, she and her daughter Eliana are brought in for questioning and she is tortured for several days before being released.  Without a definitive answer about the fate of her husband, Eunice (who cannot even access her bank account without her husband's signature) must hold her family together while searching for answers which do not come for decades.  This is a straightforward story about resilience in the face of unimaginable terror but what makes it so devastating is the slow and measured introduction to this loving family and their idyllic life together before everything changes with a knock on the door.  You feel the weight of what has happened to them because you know how happy they were before their husband and father was taken from them.  There are so many scenes of quiet heroism as Eunice makes difficult decisions but I found it absolutely heartbreaking when she tells the children that they have to move away from their house in Rio.  Torres gives an incredibly nuanced performance in which you see every emotion Eunice is feeling on her face (the scene in the ice cream shop as she observes happy families all around her just about did me in) and she is definitely deserving of the Best Actress nomination.  I would highly recommend seeking this out.

Note:  Now that I have seen all of the Best Picture nominees, I want Dune: Part Two to win but, with the exception of Emilia Perez, I wouldn't mind if any of them did.

Timpanogos Community Theater's The Secret Garden

Last night I saw Timpanogos Community Theater's production of The Secret Garden and I was blown away by the incredible cast! Mary Lennox (Mia Moore) is orphaned by a cholera outbreak in India and is sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven (William Gardner) at Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire. He has been grieving the death of his wife Lily (Sydney Dameron), who died in childbirth, for the past ten years and has closed off his heart, his house, and Lily's garden. Mary receives a cold welcome from the housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Kristyan Williams) and an indifferent one from her uncle so she is lonely and unhappy. However, she is encouraged by a maid named Martha (River Robinson) and her brother Dickon (Adam Moore) to play outside and she soon discovers Lily's garden. She also discovers her cousin Colin (Josh Moore) who has been kept an invalid by Archibald's brother Neville (Dustin Parmley). As Mary brings the garden back to life, she also brings Colin and Archibald back to life. The songs in this show all have beautiful melodies and the performances from this talented cast gave me goosebumps. Dameron's versions of "Come to My Garden" and "How Could I Ever Know" are incredibly poignant and you can literally hear the pain in Gardner's voice as he sings "A Girl in the Valley," "Lily's Eyes," and "Race You to the Top of the Morning." Robinson's portrayal of the sassy maid Martha made me laugh out loud and her performance of "Hold On" (one of my favorite songs in the show) just about blew the roof off the theater and also garnered the loudest applause of the evening. I loved Moore's voice and physicality (I also really enjoyed him as Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame) in "Winter's on the Wing" but I especially loved his interactions with his sister Mia in "Wick" (another favorite song from the show) and with her and his cousin Josh in "Come Spirit, Come Charm." I was also really impressed by the staging of this production. The main set features a large house made of stone with two levels and several arches and those arches rotate to become hedges that form a maze leading to the door that opens to the secret garden. These set pieces are moved by the ensemble as Mary and the rest of the children walk through the maze. It is very clever! There are also large moving panels of fabric hanging from the rafters to give the house the impression that it is shrouded and I loved the effect that is created as the ghosts wander around and through them. The whole show is incredibly enchanting and you can't help but leave with a smile on your face! It runs at the Valentine Theater in American Fork through February 22 with performances on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (go here for tickets).

Note:  I have been impressed by the caliber of talent I have seen at every show from TCT!

Persuasion at Parker Theatre

As a huge fan of Jane Austen, I was so excited to see an adaptation of Persuasion at Parker Theatre last night. It is very well done and I really enjoyed it. Anne Elliot (Madeline Thatcher) is persuaded by her aristocratic family and friends to reject the proposal of Captain Frederick Wentworth (Daniel Frederickson) because of his lack of wealth and position. Eight years later, their fortunes have reversed because her father Sir Walter Elliot (David Weekes) has mismanaged his estate and Captain Wentworth has prospered from the war. They meet unexpectedly when Captain Wentworth's brother-in-law and sister, Admiral and Mrs. Croft (Michael Hohl and Cecily Bills, respectively), let Anne's ancestral home, Kellynch Hall. Anne still loves him but she fears that he hasn't forgiven her for breaking his heart when he pursues Louisa and Henrietta Musgrove (Emily States and Isabelle Purdie, respectively). Captain Wentworth eventually realizes that he still loves Anne but will she be persuaded by her father and Lady Russell (Melanie Muranaka) to marry her cousin William Elliot (John Hayes Nielsen)? This adaptation is extremely faithful to the novel which makes it quite long with lots of scene changes and, even though they are handled very quickly, the pacing sometimes gets bogged down. Other than that, I loved everything else about this production. Thatcher and Frederickson are very appealing as the two leads (they reminded me of Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds from the 1995 movie adaptation with their physical appearances even if Thatcher is a bit bolder) but I laughed out loud whenever Mckelle Shaw pretends to cough as the hypochondriac Mary Musgrove, whenever Weekes looks at a handheld mirror as the vain Sir Walter, whenever Nicole Holbrook eats a chocolate bonbon as the spoiled Elizabeth Elliot, and whenever Wyatt Bills and Liam Brown run around in circles as the rambunctious Musgrove boys. The set is really beautiful and I loved the projections used for Kellynch Hall, Uppercross Manor, the seaside at Lyme, and the Assembly Room in Bath as well as all of the elegant period furniture. The staging is really clever, especially when Admiral and Mrs. Cross retrieve Anne in their carriage and when Louisa jumps off the sea wall. The costumes are also beautiful and, as much as I love dresses with empire waists and embellished fabrics, I was very impressed by the naval uniforms and hats.  Seeing this production is a lovely way to spend an evening and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).  It runs at Parker Theatre on Fridays and Saturdays (evenings and matinees) through March 8.

Love Me

I really enjoyed Love Me at last year's Sundance Film Festival so I decided to see it again as part of my double feature last night.  I think it is really clever with an important message about living authentically.  After all life has become extinct on Earth, a smart buoy makes contact with a passing satellite that was launched during the last days of civilization to greet any lifeforms that might come to Earth in the future.  Worried that the satellite's programming will only allow it to communicate with a lifeform, the buoy accesses the internet to learn about life on Earth so it can imitate one.  The buoy creates the profile Me for itself and the profile I Am for the satellite and they begin interacting with each other (and begging each other for likes).  They eventually create avatars and a digital environment based on a social media influencer named Deja (Kristen Stewart) and her husband Liam (Steven Yeun) and they obsessively reenact one of their most popular videos in order to get the emotions just right.  However, I Am starts to feel like their relationship is fake.  Ultimately, Me and I Am must break away from these personas and see each other as their original selves in order to connect.  This features live action, motion capture performances, and animation and I think it is incredibly imaginative (I especially love the design of the buoy and the satellite because they are so expressive) even if it does lose steam before reaching an inevitable conclusion.  What makes this so compelling is the message that what is portrayed on social media is not real and that it is always better to be yourself rather than an imitation of someone online.  It is also fascinating (or horrifying) to think that humanity might be judged in the future by what is posted on YouTube.  Finally, Stewart and Yuen give really appealing performances (I especially loved Yuen's motion capture performance and Stewart's live action one) that ground some of the more existential themes.  This was one of my favorites at Sundance last year and I recommend it but it might be too quirky for some.