ACROSS
1 Sales pitch
6 Outback birds
10 Sunup
14 Café lure
15 Clickable
webpage word
16 Home to billions
17 Grass shortener
18 Apart from that
19 Slightly wet
20 Julie Andrews’
“The Sound of
Music” role
23 Risk, e.g.
24 Healthful berry
25 Jimmy Fallon
hosts it
31 “Homeland” spy
org.
32 Taxi
33 Nebraska city
34 “Apocalypse
Now” setting,
familiarly
35 Gathering for
fans of graphic
novels, anime,
etc.
38 Delivery vehicle
39 Painting need
41 Microwave
42 Valuable rock
43 Avengers
member with a
patriotic shield
48 Tolstoy’s
Karenina
49 Dutch cheese
50 9/26/1957
Broadway debut
featuring the
consecutive
songs found at
the start of 20-
Across, the
middle of 25-
Across and the
end of 43-Across
55 With 50-Down,
tightrope walker’s
place
56 Oscar winner
Kazan
57 Aquafina rival
59 Craving
60 Accelerates, with
“up”
61 Foolish
62 Military meal
63 Cafeteria carrier
64 V-formation fliers
DOWN
1 “Casablanca”
pianist
2 Formal school
dance
3 Corn Belt state
4 Rise into view
5 Cattleman’s rope
6 Late morning hr.
7 Venus de __
8 Disentangle
9 Quick drawing
10 Arp’s art
movement
11 Right away, in a
memo
12 Namby-pamby
person
13 Midday snooze
21 Gas brand that
had a torch in its
logo
22 Florida’s Boca __
25 Pageant winner’s
crown
26 Exaggerate, as a
stage role
27 Spanish island in
the
Mediterranean
28 Devastation
that’s wreaked
29 Scarlett of Tara
30 Decrease in
intensity
31 “Closing Bell”
channel
35 Repetitive shout
at a protest
36 Required little
effort
37 Newspaper
opinion pieces
40 Secret supplies
44 Add to text, as a
missing letter
45 Carpenter, at
times
46 Suitable for all
ages, filmwise
47 Apple software for
creating videos
50 See 55-Across
51 Omelet
ingredients
52 Prima donna
53 Ready for picking
54 Toy dog’s barks
55 Play a kazoo
58 TV’s “Science
Guy”
By Peter Gordon
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/26/17
09/26/17
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
J
O
I
N
D
A
I
L
Y
A
R
T
S
P
L
E
A
S
E
A24
‘Menashe’ is an authentic
portrayal of fatherhood
Menashe is not perfect; in
fact, he is anything but. He
works a mediocre cashier job at
the local grocery,
fails to pay his
bills and thinks
a
balanced
breakfast
consists
of
cake and soda.
Menashe, played
by real-life Hasidic Jew (and
amateur actor) Menashe Lustig,
just can’t seem to get it right.
Recently widowed, Menashe
vows to fight for the one thing
in his life that he cares about:
his son. His brother-in-law
does not respect him, his boss
thinks
he
is
incompetent,
even the Ruv (the community
Rabbi) himself thinks Menashe
can’t make it on his own.
Menashe is given the choice
to conform to the traditional
two-parent home or fight a
losing battle as a single father
— an unfathomable idea in the
Hasidic enclave of Brooklyn.
“Menashe” is a Yiddish film
loosely based on the chubby,
bearded
lead
actor’s
own
story in confronting a society
that has expected him to fail.
Within the Hasidic community,
secular culture — including the
English language — is seen as
un-kosher. Such communities
have cut themselves off from
the rest of the world, so while
the film is set in
Brooklyn, it feels
like
a
distant
country
where
they
dress
in
black and white
and
say
things
like
“verklempt.”
Although the community feels
distant, the themes and story
can feel personal for anyone,
regardless of background. The
film is just as much about the
isolated Hasidic culture as it
is about a father figuring it
out and a son who loves him
regardless of whether he wears
a “streimel” or not.
Written and directed by
documentary cinematographer
Joshua Z. Weinstein (“I Beat
Mike
Tyson”),
“Menashe”
sometimes
evokes
the
realism and authenticity of
a documentary. This is only
fueled by the fact that the film’s
cast is made up of amateur
actors
from
the
Hasidic
community. While the film is
not a documentary, it certainly
could be. The characters are
inspired by real people and
the story closely follows that
of the experiences of Lustig
himself. Trying to capture
the Hasidic world from the
inside is practically impossible
due to the reclusive, insular
nature
of
the
community.
Weinstein even had to use a
Yiddish translator on the set
in order to communicate with
the cast. Weinstein manages
to accomplish being both an
informed insider, thanks to
the authentic cast, and an
objective
outsider,
looking
in at the community like an
anthropologist
conducting
ethnographic research.
“Menashe” is an emotional
journey filled with an equal
amount of laughs, cries and
frustrated sighs. While we
want to root for Menashe, it is
challenging. Throughout the
film he is called a “schlimazel”
—one who is plagued by bad
luck and shadowed by disaster
after disaster — and he does
not
disappoint.
No
matter
what Menashe does, it ends
in misfortune. Yet, in the
end, his son still sees him as
a superhero, as his father.
His son’s unconditional love
makes the viewer want to love
Menashe all the more.
BECKY PORTMAN
Daily Arts Writer
“Menashe”
A24
Michigan Theater
‘Menashe’ is an
emotional journey
filled with an
equal amount of
laughs, cries and
frustrated sighs
Menashe is not
perfect; in fact, he
is anything but
NBC
When “The Good Place”
premiered last fall, viewers
were invited into the weird
world
that
is
creator Michael
Schur’s (“Parks
and Recreation”)
unconventional
take
on
the
afterlife.
The
first
season
follows Eleanor
Shellstrop,
brilliantly
played
by
Kristen
Bell,
(“Frozen”) as she maneuvers
the ups and downs of a “good
place” in which she did not
rightfully
belong.
Why?
Eleanor was a bad person
in real life, and she knew it.
Nothing she did on Earth
warranted a place in this
fro-yo heavy, hangover-less,
soulmate inclusive utopia.
It was too good to be true.
In the final moments of
season
one,
viewers
were
left with a jarring twist: The
Good Place is, in fact, The Bad
Place. It is not a town of good
people enjoying eternity, but
rather, it is a town comprised
of
mid-level
Bad
Place
employees who have taken the
human form to torture four
unknowing deceased humans.
Those humans are Eleanor,
her pedantic soulmate Chidi
(William
Jackson
Harper,
“Paterson”),
materialistic
frenemy
Tahani
(Jameela
Jamil, “The Official Chart”)
and the simple-minded D.J.
Jason (Manny Jacinto, “The
Romeo Selection”).
This
twist
completely
rocked the boat. It flipped the
entire premise of “The Good
Place” on its head. Schur and
his team spent the first season
building an entire world just
to break it down. And, finally,
the time has come to see what
“The Good Place” really is.
The first episode of season
two began by immediately
pivoting the show from its
expected protagonist-centric
plot to a multi-faceted story
for an ensemble cast. The
revelation
that
“The Good Place”
was
not
just
created to be the
torture pool for
Eleanor,
but
in
fact also Chidi,
Tahani and Jason,
opens
up
the
possibilities
for
storytelling. This
device has been used before,
notably in “Orange is the New
Black,” where the show moved
from the singular story of
Piper Chapman to the diverse
stories of her fellow inmates.
“The
Good
Place”
hooked
viewers with the unique story
of Eleanor Shellstrop, but it
will keep viewers with the
colorful array of characters
present in her world.
To
quote
Taylor
Swift
(which,
by
Schur’s
point-
system
analysis,
might
be
egregious enough to have me
sent to the Bad Place), “The
Good Place” is a nightmare
dressed as a daydream. Now
that the daydream is naked
and the nightmare is revealed,
the fun begins. The formerly
hapless
and
uninteresting
neighbors in The Good Place
are
now
characters
with
wants, needs and quirks. A
particular standout is Josh
Siegel’s Glenn, a Bad Place
worker intent on biting the
humans.
As
Michael
(Ted
Danson, “Cheers”) revels in
his role as the Architect of this
hellscape,
his
subordinates
struggle to come to terms with
their unconventional role.
The bad version of “The
Good
Place”
feels
like
a
behind-the-scenes
glimpse
into
the
making
of
this
world. With the veil lifted
on
Michael’s
true
nature,
viewers follow his journey as
he plots and engineers the best
way to torture these souls.
It’s interesting to see the
amount of work which goes
into creating the torture for
our heroes. Michael reminds
his subordinates of the fun
they had creating chaos after
Eleanor’s drunk shenanigans
at Tahani’s welcome party (in
season one). He encourages
them to get her drunk again
tonight, so they can have the
same fun in the morning.
Only
this
time,
Eleanor
is wiser. She isn’t as easily
swayed by her human vices.
Although her memory has been
re-set, the character of Eleanor
grew too much over the course
of season one to lose all that
progress. It would have been
foolish of the show’s writers to
set the characters back exactly
where they started. Similar
to Michael’s decision to find
new ways to torture these
established characters, Schur
and his writers have chosen
to find new ways to advance a
repetitive plot.
What made the first season
of “The Good Place” so exciting
and fun to watch was the fresh
and
clever
storytelling.
It
didn’t feel like anything else
on television, and kept the
light-hearted tone of Schur’s
previous successes “Parks and
Recreation”
and
“Brooklyn
Nine-Nine.” As season two
moves forward, it will be
interesting to see how the tone
and storytelling is maintained.
What it’s shaping up to be
is an ensemble comedy with
dynamically flawed characters
who are lovable in their own
right.
The Good Place may be The
Bad Place now, but the TV
show is still heavenly.
EMILY BICE
Daily Arts Writer
“The Good
Place”
Wednesdays at
10:00pm
NBC
‘The Good Place’ returns
for a fresh second season
E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for an application
to join our section.
SOMETIMES, YOU WONDER — WHERE CAN
I FIND A LIKE-MINDED GROUP OF HEALTHY-
MINDED, FORWARD-THINKING COLLEGE
STUDENTS I’D LIKE TO GROW WITH DURING
MY FOUR YEARS HERE. WE’RE NOT REALLY
YOUR ANSWER TO THAT. BUT IF YOU LIKE
HEARING NIHLISTIC MALAISE AND CONSTANT
PRETENTIOUS ART CRITICISM ON AN
EVERYDAY BASIS, JOIN US MAYBE?
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
TV REVIEW
6 — Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com