To Kill a Mockingbird at HCT

Last night I spent a lovely evening watching one of my all-time favorite novels, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, come to life on the Hale Centre Theatre stage. Jem (Matthew Rees) and Scout (Alyssa Buckner) learn that their father Atticus (Mitch Hall) is a hero when he defends an innocent black man named Tom Robinson (Alec Powell) against a charge of rape, even though he knows he will lose, simply because it is the right thing to do. They also learn not to judge people until they have seen things from their perspective through their interactions with Boo Radley (Justin Bruse) and Mrs. Dubose (Gayle Hayes). These themes have always had a powerful impact on me and they impacted me again as I watched this marvelous production. In fact, I left the theatre in tears. I was so impressed with the young actors in the cast, the aforementioned Rees and Buckner as well as Cooper Johnson as Dill, because they brought such innocence to their roles which was very refreshing to see. Powell just about broke my heart in his portrayal of Tom Robinson (every time I read the novel, I always hope that the verdict will be different) while Josh Richardson made my skin crawl as Bob Ewell. But it was Hall who really anchored this production with a quiet dignity as the iconic Atticus Finch. I was holding my breath during his summation speech during the trial and at the end of it the audience broke out into spontaneous applause because it was absolutely brilliant! As usual the set design is amazing. The juxtaposition of the flower-laden porches with the stark courthouse and jail does much to convey the racism just under the surface in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. This adaptation, by Christopher Sergel, is quite faithful to the novel and I particularly liked having Miss Maudie (Betsy West) as the narrator. This story is not just a classic to be read in high school. It has a message that is timeless and this production is not to be missed! To Kill a Mockingbird runs at HCT until May 20 (go here for tickets and more information) but act quickly because most shows are sold out (with good reason).

Colossal

When Colossal was screened at the Sundance Film Festival this year I honestly didn't have any desire to see it.  A couple of things changed my mind.  First, I saw a preview last week which was very intriguing and, then, a few friends who saw at Sundance raved about it in advance of its wide release so I decided to take in a matinee yesterday.  Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a young woman living in New York and, frankly, she is a complete mess.  She has been unemployed for over a year and, after staggering home from a night of drinking, her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) kicks her out of their apartment.  She is forced to move back into her childhood home, where she literally sleeps on an air mattress on the floor, and she reconnects with Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), a childhood friend.  She continues her destructive behavior by drinking every night with Oscar and his friends.  Clearly, she has a few inner demons but her demons manifest themselves as a giant lizard-like monster who terrorizes the people of Seoul, South Korea.  She is horrified when she realizes that she is responsible for the death of many innocent people and tries to discover a way to stop the monster.  As the story continues, Oscar's demons, which manifest themselves as a giant robot, are revealed and the two of them must resolve a conflict from childhood in an epic showdown.  I found this story to be highly original and entertaining, if a bit strange, and the ending was incredibly satisfying.  I usually like Anne Hathaway and I found her portrayal of Gloria to be sympathetic.  Conversely, I found Jason Sudeikis' Oscar to be quite disturbing; in fact, there were moments when I truly despised him.  Amid the bad behavior and the B-movie monsters, there is a really powerful message about bullying and I'm glad that I decided to see it.

Frantz

Last night I saw the absolutely beautiful film Frantz at the Broadway.  It is one of the best films about the aftermath of war that I've ever seen.  After World War I, a young German woman named Anna (Paula Beer) is mourning the loss of her fiancee Frantz (played by Anton Von Lucke in flashbacks).  She frequently visits his grave and one day she notices that flowers have been left by a stranger who turns out to be Adrien (Pierre Niney), a Frenchman who claims to have known Frantz before the war.  He and Anna form a close bond as he tells her about their friendship and, while his presence is initially met with resistance by Frantz's family, he eventually brings them comfort.  When Adrien leaves Germany, after a startling revelation, Anna cannot get him out of her mind and travels to France in the hopes of reestablishing their connection (where she faces the same hostility that Adrien experienced in Germany).  After another revelation, Anna must learn to let go of the past and live a different life from the one she had imagined.  Based on the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch film Broken Lullaby, it explores the lingering pain and loss after a war, the antagonism remaining in peacetime between two countries who were once enemies, and the need for forgiveness for deeds committed in wartime.  It is quite atmospheric and very moving.  Most of the film is in black and white, with brief interludes of color during scenes before the war and during moments of happiness, which is highly effective in conveying a mood, and both Beer and Niney give absolutely haunting performances.  I loved this film and I highly recommend it.

Note:  Frantz was the second independent foreign film with subtitles that I saw this week (third if you count this film because I saw again with English subtitles, which I much preferred to the dubbed version).  I am nothing if not pretentious!

Land of Mine

Last night I went to see the film Land of Mine at the Broadway, my favorite art house theater.  Doesn't everyone spend their Friday nights watching independent foreign films with subtitles?  In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen (Roland Moller) is given command of a group of German POWs who are tasked with removing hundreds of thousands of land mines on the western coast of Denmark.  We are not given Rasmussen's backstory but he has clearly been shattered by the events of the war and torments the POWs, most of whom are young boys conscripted at the end of the war, as a way of exacting revenge against Germany.  Their living conditions are deplorable and their job of locating and then defusing the bombs is dangerous, to say the least.  As we get to know and care about these boys, we are never allowed to forget the ever-present possibility that they could be killed by an explosion at any moment.  As a result, many of the scenes of them on the beach are fraught with tension, and occasionally horror.  At the crux of the story is Rasmussen's journey from hatred to compassion as he gets to know them as individuals rather than as the enemy and this is incredibly powerful.  There is a touching scene where one of the boys clears a path to rescue a Danish girl who has wandered on to the beach and I also loved the scene where Rasmussen plays soccer with the boys on part of the beach that has been cleared.  The cinematography is exceptional with widescreen shots of the endless beach which serve to show how daunting the task of removing all of the mines truly is.  I found this film to be both beautiful and terrible (the explosions are unbelievably difficult to watch) and I thought it was an interesting deviation from the standard war movie where heroes and villains are clearly defined.  I highly recommend it.

Note:  After watching this film, I spontaneously decided to see Personal Shopper again.  I simply cannot stop thinking about it.

Tashena Likes to Throw Things

I finally got to go to one of my niece's track meets yesterday!  I think watching Tashena throwing (and occasionally jumping) is a much better way to spend an afternoon than grading papers!  Wouldn't you agree?  However, I didn't actually get to see her do any throwing or jumping because she competed in all of her events (discus, shot put, javelin, and long jump) before the meet started because it was held at Bountiful (her home school) and she had to help run the discus.  Hey, at least I had an excuse to leave school at a decent hour!  Her best throw in discus was 115' for first place, her best throw in shot put was 31'6" for second place, her best throw in javelin was 89'2" for first place, and her best distance in long jump was 15'1" for first place.  That's not too shabby!  She told me that this meet didn't matter because it wasn't a qualifying meet and told me to come to the meet next week!  I'll be there!