ERIKA
SHEVCHEK
FINGERPRINT RELEASING
‘Home Again’ a contrived,
uncomfortable experience
“Home Again” follows the
bond between Alice, a 40-year-
old single mother, and a trio of
handsome
young
filmmakers
who stay in her guest house
and help raise her children. The
film’s cast, spearheaded by Reese
Witherspoon (“Big Little Lies”),
boasts
of
actors
with success in the
realm of romantic
comedies: Nat Wolff
(“Death
Note”),
Jon
Rudnitsky
(“Saturday
Night
Live”)
and
Pico
Alexander
(“War
Machine”)
play
Teddy, George and
Harry respectively. The film tries
hard to mimic the flirty tension of
the three-to-one dynamic present
in successes like “New Girl,” with
the added element of motherhood
for
a
fresh
twist.
However,
everything
about
this
movie
is
uncomfortable,
unrealistic
and odd; the cliché writing and
sappy acting combine to create
an inauthentic portrayal of the
modern family.
At its base, the film’s premise
is highly unrealistic, resting on
the assumption that three hot
20-somethings in LA would trip
over themselves to care for Reese
Witherspoon and act as unorthodox
father figures for her two daughters,
rather than hang out in the city with
people their own age. While the
three guys sort of advance their own
careers, a large majority of their time
is spent talking to and about Alice.
The film’s acting and writing work in
tandem to elicit cringing discomfort,
propelled by two overly precocious
children and carried home by
Harry’s awful flirtatious one-liners.
What is most frustrating about
“Home
Again”
is its portrayal of
the
age-gender
dynamic.
Much
of
the
movie’s
plot
rests
on
the
relationship
between
Alice
and Harry. Their
romance
evolves
from a one-night
stand to a seemingly exclusive
commitment, until conflict ensues
when Harry stands her up and
Alice breaks it off. Films featuring
an
independent,
sexual
older
woman sleeping with a younger
man often characterize the woman
as sexually insatiable, but she
is ultimately uninterested in a
meaningful relationship with the
young man (think: “The Boy Next
Door” and, a little better, “The
Graduate”).
Alternatively, in “Home Again,”
the
dynamic
between
Alice
and Harry is one of passion but
also of genuine companionship.
However, the film fails to fully
explore this subversion of the
genre to actually address the age
gap seriously and discuss how
differing levels of maturity and
experience are negotiated in a
legitimate relationship. In other
words, what could potentially be
problematic or empowering is
largely ignored. Instead, the film
is much more interested in all
three men being in love with Alice
without ever addressing it outright,
resulting in basically no character
development.
“Home
Again”
is
another
example of a film that suffers by
way of poor acting despite a cast of
established talent. Though helmed
by the esteemed Witherspoon
and
flanked
with
supporting
performances from Michael Sheen
(“Passengers”), Lake Bell (“I Do…
Until I Don’t”) and Candice Bergen
(“Rules Don’t Apply”), the movie
reads like a C-list Netflix original,
exemplifying
the
Hollywood
paradox in which bad films come
from great actors.
Ultimately, “Home Again” is a
contrived romantic comedy with
a superficial, tedious tone. What
this tame movie desperately needs
is an R-rating, raunchier sex, a
healthy dose of expletives and
a rougher edge. Without these
elements, “Home Again” is a one-
dimensional, watered down film
in which every character goes
through the motions of a formulaic
romantic comedy without genuine
feeling or intrigue.
SYDNEY COHEN
Daily Arts Writer
“Home Again”
Open Roads Films
Ann Arbor 20,
Goodrich Quality
20
COURTESY OF PEXELS
The simplicty of raw
meditation
“If you find yourself half
naked / and barefoot in the
frosty grass, hearing, / again,
the earth’s great, sonorous moan
that says / you are the air of
the now and gone, that says /
all you love will turn to dust, /
and will meet you there, do not
/ raise your fist. Do not raise /
your small voice against it. And
do not / take cover. Instead, curl
your toes / into the grass, watch
the cloud / ascending from your
lips. Walk / through the garden’s
dormant splendor. / Say only,
thank you. / Thank you.”
- Ross Gay
I like to think back to when
I was a kid, running in my
backyard,
imagining
I
was
in some different universe. I
was fighting off yet another
mythical creature. My heels
slamming against the dirt, my
toes zipping through the blades
of grass. I was unstoppable.
Many kids are told to put on
their shoes before they leave
the
house,
preparing
them
for rocks, sticks, glass and
other existing entities that
are known to hurt them. But
never, in my adolescence nor
now, do I want to wear shoes.
I despise creating that barrier
between my human body and
Earth’s surface; the space that
disallows my barefeet to settle
into the grass.
For anyone who meditates,
they know that nature tends
to heighten the experience.
There’s the soothing sound of
wind, insects or waves, and
even the relieving freshness
of mountain-top air. There is
the sense of truly indulging
yourself in the outdoors. And
most importantly, it’s about
touching the bare Earth itself,
in all of its matter and magic,
that guides one into a raw,
soulful meditation.
Poet Ross Gay translates
this in his piece “Thank You.”
He writes, “Instead, curl your
toes / into the grass, watch
the cloud / ascending from
your lips…” allowing his words
to paint the reader a picture
of nature’s pure beauty and
bliss. After reading this entire
poem, I found multiple angles
in which one could interpret
the piece. Nevertheless, I like
to think that it can directly
translate to meditation and the
overwhelming dominance that
nature has against humans.
In this case, nature is not
working against the human
mind or body. Instead, she
is bringing one closer to her
sweet serenity — curling our
human toes into the grass,
the soil, the sand. It’s this
soulful connection that can be
felt when we physically sink
ourselves into the Earth.
This type of meditation,
one where you place your
barefeet or walk in the grass
for about 20 minutes, has many
different
titles.
“Earthing”
and “grounding” meditations
are popular names, yet there
is something that is rightfully
unrefined about this process
that makes it simply natural
simply raw.
Sure, we are humans and
not hobbits; we can’t just trek
mountains and sharp rocks with
the bare souls of our feet. No
one knows what lies in the grass
or in the soil, and one may be
afraid to step on something that
feels uncomfortable or could
harm them. But maybe that
unsettling feeling is the point.
Everyday, people wake up and
face the day, not knowing what
will happen — that slightest,
most native feeling of anxiety.
That is the the purpose of this
meditation: To trust your body
and mind to walk into nature’s
unending, mysterious universe.
The possibilities of nature are
limitless and frightening, but
surely that is what it means to
be human too.
So, I tell myself that I can be
that fearless little kid again,
running through the grass and
dirt of my backyard. That little
kid that doesn’t worry, but is
joyfully living and joyfully,
simply, being. This meditation
is what brings me back to that
state.
The
simplicity
of
raw
meditation
is
that
it
is
accessible, it is natural, and
it is trustworthy. After this
practice, one feels grounded
and connected. Those who
practice this knows that they
are one with the Earth. Who
ever thought that nature could
teach us how to trust ourselves?
And if mediation is still a
new concept for you, take Ross
Gay’s words for advice: “Walk
through the garden’s dormant
splendor. / Say only, thank you.
Thank you.”
Shvechek is probably lost in
nature somewhere, but if you’d
really like to email her, reach her
at ejshev@umich.edu
FILM REVIEW
HEALTH & WELLNESS COLUMN
For anyone who
meditates, they
know that nature
tends to heighten
the experience
GEE GOLLY.
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ACROSS
1 Amount to
5 Evening affair
11 Cavern critter
14 Clarinet cousin
15 Many charity golf
tournaments
16 Wall St. specialist
17 24-hour
broadcaster
that keeps you
up-to-date
19 CBS police
series with three
spin-offs
20 Moog, briefly
21 Detroit NFLer
22 Hershey’s toffee
bar
23 Music from Glenn
Miller, Tommy
Dorsey et al.
26 Chintzy
29 Type of waste
pump
30 Buyer’s financing
31 Army installation
35 Last Marx
brother,
alphabetically
38 Well-suited
39 Ship’s area for
medical
assistance
41 Spy novelist
Deighton
42 Bette’s “Divine”
nickname
44 Bills at bars
45 Almanac tidbit
46 Long-running
dispute
48 Braggart’s retort
50 Singer dubbed
“King of Country”
55 Doctor Zhivago’s
love
56 Island band
The __ Men
57 Garlicky mayo
61 Musician’s suffix
62 Saturated like the
ends of 17-, 23-,
39- and 50-
Across?
64 Lawn coating
65 Exercise pieces
66 Russian range or
river
67 Symphonic gp.
inducted into the
Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in
2017
68 Head out
69 Start of a
choosing rhyme
DOWN
1 Pen occupants
2 Do what’s asked
3 Scattered, as
seeds
4 Nuclear restraint
topic
5 Globe shape:
Abbr.
6 Dental care brand
7 Ancient Aegean
land
8 Talked nonstop
9 Removes errors
from
10 Bilingual subj.
11 “Just in case”
strategy
12 Fiery crime
13 “Fun, Fun, Fun”
car in a 1960s
song
18 Greenside golf
shot
22 “Win __, lose ... ”
24 Mongolian desert
25 Postwar
supermodel
Parker
26 Mollusk in a red
or white linguine
sauce
27 Arizona native
28 Consumes
enough to
nourish mother
and unborn child
32 Play a part
33 Calypso cousin
34 Recede, as the
tide
36 Lats relatives
37 Not fooled by
39 Highly self-
satisfied
40 Singapore’s
continent
43 Blood bank supply
45 Exhaustion
47 Candidates’ face-
off
49 “So long, Paulo!”
50 Soar without
effort
51 Painter’s stand
52 Stopped
slouching
53 Silents star Bara
54 Not as prevalent
58 Kid lit monster
59 Low-fat
60 In an aimless
fashion
62 Married
63 WWII carrier
By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/11/17
09/11/17
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Monday, September 11, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
6 — Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com