ACROSS
1 Got taller
5 Etching supplies
10 Ski area in Utah’s
Wasatch
Mountains
14 See 66-Across
15 Bad news for the
waiter
16 Classic cars
17 Fall in love with
something at the
home
improvement
center?
19 “Pretty please?”
20 “Frasier” role
21 Debuting on
screen
23 iPhone, e.g.,
briefly
24 Scooby-__
25 Bring Bugs into
harmony?
30 Golf tee, e.g.
31 “Flashdance...
What a Feeling”
singer Cara
32 Barbecue pair
33 Solo in a spotlight
35 Smallish
batteries
36 Med. condition
with repetitive
behavior
37 Get voices in all
ranges?
42 Colony resident
43 Gallery filler
44 Went like crazy
46 Second thought
49 Get fuzzy, as
vision
51 Grand __ Opry
52 Severely criticize
the store special?
54 “Breaking Bad”
org.
55 Org. offering
written and road
tests
56 Mason jar
attachment
57 Humdrum
59 Start bubbling
61 Criticize the
stringed
instrument?
65 Greek peak
66 With 14-Across,
event with batons
67 Site with tech
reviews
68 __ end
69 Wild West
transport
70 Run-of-the-mill
DOWN
1 __ Joe, Charlie’s
companion on his
tour of Wonka’s
chocolate factory
2 Time before TV
3 Environment-
related
4 “Where __ you?”
5 Actress Ortiz of
“Ugly Betty”
6 Fish sticks fish
7 Midori on the ice
8 Pop singer
Warwick
9 Binge
10 Reliever’s asset
11 Seize, as an
opportunity
12 Pooch in your
lap, maybe
13 Most people
18 Actor Morales
22 Keep an eye on
26 Personal attribute
27 Rip (up)
28 Opens, as an
official document
29 Commotions
34 Jordan’s only
port
36 In base eight
38 No later than
39 Space
40 Tiny tunes player
41 Big events for
film studios
45 Gives a hand
46 Somewhat flabby
male physique,
informally
47 Diffuse slowly
through a
membrane
48 Permit to enter
the States
49 Unwise wager
50 Country’s
McEntire
53 Whopper
creators
58 Basics
60 Young chap
62 According to
63 Give in to gravity
64 Word after eagle
or hawk
By Bruce Haight
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/27/17
09/27/17
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com
6A — Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC BOX FILMS
Catherine Frot stars in ‘The Midwife’
Understated but lovely,
‘The Midwife’ triumphs
Claire
(Catherine
Frot,
“Heureux en France”) is a
midwife who lives a quiet
but pleasant life in a suburb
outside Paris. Her placid days
are interrupted by the return
of a figure from her past,
Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve,
“Le Cancre”), the mistress of
Claire’s late father. Béatrice
is a force of nature whose
free-spirited and unreserved
personality
clashes
with
Claire’s
tempered,
careful
nature. And yet, Béatrice and
Claire strike up an unlikely
friendship,
beginning
when
Béatrice reveals that she is
dying of brain cancer.
“The Midwife” is a slow
burn. Not much happens, per
se, but the relationships are so
carefully and gently developed
that you find yourself engrossed
nonetheless. Director Martin
Provost (“Violette”) takes his
time letting the characters
warm up to each other, and
the patience is well worth it.
It’s a great film, not because
it’s big or dramatic, but rather
quite the opposite: it makes
the most of the tiny intimacies
in this quiet slice of life. The
heart of “The Midwife” is in
the details, carefully layered
to create a work that’s rich and
emotionally complicated.
The
best
moments
are
the beats between the big
character
confrontations,
when we simply follow Claire
through her life. Over and over,
we see Claire birth a baby with
expert skill and pass it on to
the mother. She’s a constant
witness to some of the greatest
joys and pains these women
will ever see, and she gives
her whole heart to them,
every time. It’s a masterful
performance by Frot, equal
parts warm, empathetic and
heartbreaking as we realize
her profound loneliness. That
is, until Béatrice arrives.
Deneuve and Frot really
bring out the best in each other.
Just like their characters, they
build on each others’ strengths,
and their dynamic feels real
and lived-in. Deneuve brings
a certain vulnerability to the
oftentimes callous and careless
Béatrice, and in her capable
hands, she becomes a character
who’s more tragic than grating,
which she so easily could
have been. Together, the two
actresses are a powerhouse
team, and by the end of the
film, you find yourself caring
as much about them as they
do about each other. It’s a
testament to the writing and
acting that a story as simple as
this can achieve the emotional
peaks it does.
It’s a beautiful movie. A
little sad, a little funny, quietly
triumphant, full of earnest
feeling. It’s small and personal,
but somehow feels universal.
At its core, it’s about betrayal
and friendship, romance and
heartache, birth and death —
and all the spaces in between.
There’s a moment near the
end of the film when a young
woman comes stumbling into
Claire’s birthing clinic, in labor
and all alone. It’s the middle of
the night and the midwives are
all on break, so nobody hears
her as she cries out for help. She
finds them eventually, and the
six women help her through
her
birth.
She’s
supported
from every angle, surrounded
by these kind women who ease
her fears.
We find out later that this
young woman was one of the
first babies Claire had ever
helped birth, now all grown
up and continuing the cycle.
Claire wipes away a tear, and
I can’t help myself — I do too.
Because really, this is a very
old story: Women taking care
of each other, holding each
other up through the pains in
their lives, one day at a time.
ASIF BECHER
Daily Arts Writer
“The
Midwife”
Music Box
Films
Michigan
Theater
FILM REVIEW
DAILY COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
What we miss while
we’re looking down
You walk into the elevator.
I’m standing right next to you,
on my way down to floor one.
This is our typical morning
routine. You have pulled out
your phone, your safety net
of sorts, and your crutch to
avoid the situation that you
are now in. My eye contact
has
immediately
prompted
the movement of you taking
out your phone, and pulling it
closer to your eyes. You must be
looking at something. The more
I try to study the screen you’re
so enthralled by, the more I
realize I am mistaken. You’re
not typing an email or a text.
You’re not reading anything.
You have your phone open to its
home screen. And you’re just
staring at it.
This situation exposes many
problems — but my objective in
describing it, is to discuss our
lack of communication, both
in terms of desire and ability.
I want to really understand
how on earth we have reached
this point. Where suddenly, a
20-second ride from floor six to
floor one has proven impossible
for most people to look up from
their screens, and say “hi” to
the person standing next to
them.
You may be wondering why
I didn’t say “hi.” Right? Here I
am talking about how we don’t
communicate at all with those
around us and yet, I didn’t say
anything first. Well, I’m afraid
I’ll throw you off guard. I’m
afraid you’ll look up, and feel
forced to converse with me, and
thus frustrated that I took you
away from the crucial task of
studying your home screen. I’m
afraid I am taking you out of
your normal morning routine.
And most of all, I’m afraid
that this has really become the
normal morning routine.
Recently, I watched a video
about
a
man
named
Otis
Johnson, who was in prison for
44 years. Following his parole,
he was sitting in Times Square,
observing the people around
him, and was struck by the
phenomenon of iPhones held in
front of faces, and headphones
plugged in. He noticed that
everyone seemed to be talking
to themselves. They didn’t
look up to see where they
were walking (really smart
in Times Square), and they
weren’t conversing with the
people around them. This was
puzzling to him, considering
44 years prior, he remembered
people were engaged, they
looked around, and they talked
to those around them.
To address what I think of
technology and our generation
of smartphones, I would have
to compose a separate column.
But it’s worth recognizing that
we have become dependent
on them in ways that stretch
beyond sole convenience. We
shouldn’t feel “thrown off,”
or at times, really scared, if
someone says “hi, how are
you?” in public. Of course,
every situation calls for proper
judgment, and maybe there are
moments when staying quiet
really is most appropriate.
But in the elevator, on my
way to class, I don’t think it
is so outrageous to converse
with someone who is also in
the elevator, and maybe also on
her way to class. However, it
isn’t routine, and people simply
don’t do it.
During my freshman year
of college, we were all advised
to attend the New Student
Convocation,
and
when
I
attended with the rest of
my residence hall, the CSG
president at that time gave a
speech, which urged us to “look
up.”
He insisted that we look up
and see what surrounds us, who
surrounds us, and then engage
with those things. There is
about a two-week window at
the start of the school year
when it seems our student body
commits to social interaction.
Then we get started, we settle
in, and we plug in. Many
opportunities to engage, learn,
grow, and probably meet really
interesting, intelligent people
quickly vanish as time goes on.
You can tell me you’re shy,
you’re an introvert, you’re an
INFP according to the Myers-
Briggs test, so it wouldn’t be
natural for you to say “hi” to
me first. I’m not suggesting
we have a full out conversation
about
all
our
hopes
and
dreams in the elevator. I’m just
suggesting we say “hi” to one
another, and that that isn’t an
odd thing to do. The speech at
the convocation was built on a
lot of truth, I just didn’t realize
at the time that while observing
those around me look down and
disengage, I would become like
them in the process.
The
moments
I
have
fought the urge to stay silent,
I have actually met some
wonderful people. Last year, I
complimented a girl standing
next to me on the pants she
was wearing. She thanked me,
asked what I was studying,
and I later explained that I
hope to attend law school. She
then told me she was in the law
school, and she still remains a
good friend that I go to for my
various pre-law questions. It
took almost nothing to talk and
discuss our interests.
Saying “hi” to the person
next to you is probably not
taking you away from anything
important most of the time. If it
is crucial that you respond to an
email or text, I can’t stop you.
But my message is clear: look
up. Look around. Engage with
all that surrounds you. You
might like what you see.
BAILEY
KADIAN
Not much
happens, per
se, but the
relationships are
so carefully and
gently developed
The best
moments are the
beats between
the big character
confrontations
The moments
I have fought
the urge to stay
silent, I have
actually met some
wonderful people
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