6 — Friday, January 31, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WHISPER

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By David Poole
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/31/20

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

01/31/20

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Friday, January 31, 2020

ACROSS
1 Really big show
6 Sharp bark
10 Software product 
with a cup-and-
saucer logo
14 Addresses
15 Maintain
16 Australian __
17 __ Marbles: 
historic sculptures
18 Serious warnings
20 Narrow range
21 Cornerstone 
phrase
22 Plunders
24 Upper-class San 
Francisco area
29 In a humiliating 
way
30 -
31 Old JFK lander
33 Takes pieces 
from?
38 Beast hunted in 
Hercules’ fourth 
labor
39 Can. sign letters
40 Hotel room 
amenity ... 
or one of the 
configurations 
that resolve four 
puzzle answers
42 Fr. title
43 Arizona city
45 Horn of Africa 
native
46 W. alliance since 
1948
47 Resident at 
Ottawa’s 24 
Sussex Drive
49 -
51 Added numbers
54 Unwitting tool
57 Little versions
59 Smoothie seed
60 “Cosmos” 
presenter
64 Baker’s tool
65 Mayberry moppet
66 1920s chief 
justice
67 Binary pronoun
68 2001 Microsoft 
debut
69 Span. titles
70 Financial guru 
Suze

DOWN
1 Cook, as bao 
buns

2 Smallest 
European Union 
nation
3 Like search 
engine ranking 
systems
4 Winter luggage 
item
5 QVC sister 
station
6 Tall tales
7 Tied
8 Deceived
9 Museum with 
Goyas
10 10-Across
11 Boston Marathon 
mo.
12 Boxer’s fixer
13 “Jeopardy!” 
ques., actually
19 Timber wolf
21 Dreamboat
23 One for the 
money?
25 Center
26 Type of 
mathematical 
equivalence
27 Parent of a cria
28 Minstrel strings
31 FaceTime 
alternative
32 Disdainfully reject

34 “I’ll take that 
as __”
35 Canyon edge
36 Wharton deg.
37 Latin dances
41 “Norma Rae” 
director
44 Latin trio word
48 Jazz and 
Swing
50 Artist known for 
optical illusions
52 Les __-Unis

53 10-Down 
sweetener
54 Euro fractions
55 Tyler of “Criminal 
Minds”
56 Rouse
58 Tennis nickname
60 Crew chief
61 PD heads-up
62 Kia subcompact
63 Latin law
64 Dr. Seuss’ 
Cindy-Lou, e.g.

SUDOKU

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANITA 
MARGUERITE MICHAUD!!!”

SUNDANCE SPECIAL EDITION
‘Herself’ is a painful, needed look at domestic violence

‘Luxor’ on age, 
nostalgia, love

EMMA CHANG
Daily Arts Writer

EMMA CHANG
Daily Arts Writer

Our twenties are supposed 
to be one of the most formative 
decades of our lives — many 
of us go to college, graduate 
from said college and move 
on to insanely different lives 
all in the first five years of 
this decade. Throw in a study-
abroad stint or two and there’s 
the potential to become a 
wholly new person from when 
we’re 20 to when we hit the 
big three-oh. We come up with 
tangible hopes and dreams in 
our twenties, all of us on the 
cusp of this big “something” 
that they talk about in books. 
But what happens when they 
don’t come to fruition? We 
learn to let go, but sometimes 
what we can’t have when we’re 
twenty comes back years later, 
taunting us with what could 
have been, making us wonder 
what we could still have. 
Director Zeina Durra’s (“The 
Imperialists are Still Alive”) 
“Luxor” takes this feeling 
and, instead of developing 
strong characters with a rich 
background, 
imbues 
this 
nostalgia 
with 
the 
monotonous 
atmosphere of 
reality. 
Named 
for 
its 
setting, 
“Luxor” 
follows 
Hana 
(Andrea 
Riseborough, 
“Mandy”) 
as 
she 
tries 
to 
rediscover 
herself in the 
city 
where 
she 
found 
love 
in 
her 
20s. But if it wasn’t for 
the 
film’s 
description 
on 
Sundance’s 
website, 
this 
important connection to the 
city would have remained a 
mystery. Aside from vague 
references to a previous visit, 
there is little mention of her 
relationship with Luxor and 
its importance to her youth. 
“Luxor” also introduces its 
audience to Sultan (Karim 
Saleh, “Counterpart”), Hana’s 
former lover, another fact 
only obvious because of the 
film’s summary. The film 
desperately tries to establish 
a rapport between the two 
characters, but it lacks the 
heat of two lost loves finally 
reunited; instead, Hana and 
Sultan exude an air of friends 
who lost touch for a bit. 
Hana’s 
character 
leaves 
much to be desired — Durra 
chooses 
to 
depict 
the 
dregs of a woman who was 
once probably bubbly and 
charismatic, which isn’t a 
problem in itself. The issue, 
once more, is that there is little 
effort to create any feeling 
of sympathy towards her. In 
place of actually exploring her 
experiences, and the question 
of what it’s like to be at war, 
“Luxor” barely acknowledged 
the trauma that Hana was 
supposedly 
escaping, 
only 
addressing it in an offhand 
comment about her inability 
to sleep. 

As it tries to consider the 
themes of love and war, the 
film also tries to foster a sense 
of nostalgia. And it does … in 
a really, really subtle way. 
Hana’s 
stumbling 
manners 
with Sultan and recognition 
of community members hint 
at days gone by, but nothing 
so strong that the audience is 
made to sympathize with her. 
Rather, it seems as if Luxor is 
just a friendly city. 
“Luxor” also seems to wish 
to explore more than lost 
love — the added element of 
spirituality creates an air of 
mystery that is left unsolved. 
It is never fully explained why 
exactly Hana can’t remember 
seemingly 
unforgettable 
trips; the audience is simply 
left to believe that it has 
something to do with her 
time at a war border. Loose 
ends might create intrigue 
within a film. But when 
they’re coupled with an effort 
to establish a conversation 
around 
spirituality 
with 
little exploration of why this 
spirituality is important to 
both the audience and the 
characters, it seems less like 
those 
questions 
were strategically 
unanswered and 
more 
like 
the 
writers 
forgot 
to 
finish 
their 
thoughts. 

And it’s not as if 
this emotionless 
atmosphere 
is 
then 
replaced 
with desire for 
Sultan or a time 
before. 
Instead, 
the film is a slow 
uncovering of the 
shells that trauma 
creates and how 
our 
interactions 
are left just as empty as we are. 
No longer are Sultan and Hana 
the lively 20-year-olds who 
met at the edge of life. Both 
have gone and seen the world 
and it seems they may never 
get together like they once did. 
This theme, however, is left 
just as unexplored as Hana’s 
spiritual 
journey. 
Though 
there is little of the “will they, 
won’t they” nature of a sitcom, 
there is also no conflict 
in the rekindling of their 
relationship. 
Small 
tidbits 
from their past come up, a 
woman named Chloe seemed 
to be of particular issue, but 
beyond that, all “Luxor” really 
presents is two 40-ish people 
trying to find who they were 
twenty years prior. 
Despite the lack of depth, 
or 
maybe 
because 
of 
it, 
“Luxor” maintained a sense 
of realism. In our everyday 
lives, 
there 
aren’t 
always 
“aha” moments. We move day-
to-day, sometimes shuffling 
through life like Hana, only to 
stumble on a person from our 
past pushing us to reevaluate 
the tedious nature of our lives. 
Is it supposed to be boring 
once we leave our twenties? 
Do we just follow a career 
path blindly into a war zone? 
“Luxor” suggests that, yes, 
we do, but the film provides 
a little bit of hope that maybe 
we’ll get a shot at our twenties 
again.

“Luxor”

Dir. Zeina Durra

January 27, 2020

Sundance Film 
Festival

“Black widow.”
This is what Sandra (Clare Dunne, “Cynthia”) whispers to her eldest 
daughter Emma (Ruby Rose O’Hara, “The Secret Market”) right before 
Sandra’s husband Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson, “Love/Hate”) throws her 
to the ground and beats her until her face is bloodied and her wrist is 
shattered. In between shots of Gary’s vicious aggression, Emma is shown 
running to a nearby store with an ornate container. Inside is a note which 
reads, “Call 999, my life is in danger.” 
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (“Mamma Mia!”), “Herself” is a story 
co-written by Dunne and framed in the context of Dublin’s domestic abuse 
and housing crises. The film follows Sandra as she transforms from a wife 
and mother of 10 years to a woman living in a hotel room with her children 
to avoid her abuser. Though free from sharing the same space as Gary, 
Sandra grapples with suffocating anxiety as she relives her abuse and has 
to drop her daughters off every weekend at the home where it occurred. To 
finally feel emancipated, Sandra decides that she is going to build a house 
for her and her daughters and, as a result, reclaim her life.
Though “Herself” incorporates a magnitude of social issues — family 

court, housing availability, domestic abuse and anxiety, just to name a few 
— it does so in a way that is more empathetic and harmonious than it is 
preachy or disjointed. Dunne, in one of her first major roles, is captivating 
as her self-written character. She is able to flawlessly swing between joy 
and pain, desperation and hope, telling the story of trauma hidden behind a 
mother trying to do what’s best for her kids. Dunne’s defining performance 
is bolstered by supporting actress Harriet Walter (“Succession”). Walter 
plays Peggy, an old doctor that Sandra’s late mother used to work for, who 
offers up her large backyard to be the site of Sandra’s DIY home. Peggy is 
sharp-witted and tough, but never fails to be a comforting presence when 
Sandra breaks down. 
At some points, the plot does seem relatively predictable. Secretly 
building a house to escape your abusive partner is no easy feat, as we come 
to see. But the occasional foreseeable moments of the movie did not take 
away from the trance it put me in, and any feeling that one knows what’s 
coming next is blown apart when the final “black widow” of the film is 
uttered. Needless to say, the ending is not a happy one — it reaches inside 
you and freezes your heart, as you pray you’re not seeing what you think 
you are. But even if it is not happy, it is hopeful, and no one will leave the 
movie feeling completely devastated. 

If there is anything to complain about — and really, there is very little — 

it is the auditory elements of the film. Some song choices are truly bizarre, 
and the uneven sound mixing made Sia’s “Titanium” blasting through my 
skull all the more unpleasant. And though it seems legally required that any 
Irish piece of media use “Dreams” by The Cranberries, the hazy song was 
forced awkwardly in, cut off right when you needed it to get good. 
Poor music choice aside, “Herself” is a film that follows you well after 
you leave the theater. It is painful, yet necessary. It is an exceptional film 
that gracefully touches upon devastating and sensitive topics through a 
remarkable actress who is bound for continued greatness.

Youth in ‘The 40-Year-Old-Version’

Age and mortality are concepts we all struggle 
with. There is not a day when I don’t have an 
existential crisis about the futility of my future 
because of the impending threat of climate 
change. But the iron willpower that helps me 
survive the incessant pressures of completing 
medical school applications and maintaining my 
sanity ebbed away during the glorious two hours 
of Radha Blank’s “The 40-Year-Old-Version.”
The film places Blank in a future where the 
worst could have happened: nothing. Blank’s 
self-named title character was once an up-and-
coming playwright, but ten years have passed 
and, as she approaches 40, she has little to show 
for it, except an award from her early thirties 
and a classroom full of teenagers that may or 
may not hate her. 
The film opens like most coming-of-age 
stories — Blank is shown getting ready for her 
day, late for work, establishing the fact that 
her life has stalled. And while these opening 

scenes are common tropes in such films, the 
comedic tone that they set for the rest of the 
film is anything but generic. From jokes about 
“white men with Black lady butts” to awkward 
moments of silence following an explanation of 
why soy milk is an important theme in her play, 
“The 40-Year-Old-Version” proves that not only 
is it a fantastic drama, but that its director has 
a deep understanding of comedic timing. In no 
other movie would I expect a joke about almost 
underage kids making advances on a 40-year-
old woman to be funny. 
On the surface, “The 40-Year-Old-Version” 
is like most stories that try and reconcile our 
obsession with youth with the inevitable aging 
process. Blank creates a down-on-her-luck 
character who, when she finally decides to go 
out on a limb and try something new, eventually 
finds herself in a wreckage of her previous life. 
While this is an incredibly predictable trope, 
the film’s details transforms it into something 
deeply personal. And it’s this balance between 
individuality and universal themes that makes 
“The 
40-Year-Old-Version” 
special. 
Blank 
connects with her audience and gets them 

invested in her story but keeps them in their 
seats with offering a new perspective on the 
world. 
“The 40-Year-Old-Version” explores a variety 
of themes, but one that it addresses particularly 
well is how we’re perceived in the world, 
especially as we age. The film consistently breaks 
away from its professionally shot atmosphere 
to what seem like iPhone videos of people that 
exist in Blank’s world — an Asian bodega owner 
around the corner, a Spanish salesclerk and a 
hilariously sassy older Black woman. These 
three characters serve as sounding boards for 
Blank’s experiences; we hear their thoughts 
about turning forty and their reactions to her 
decision to rap. All three provide interesting 
perspectives that help Blank explore what it 
means to do something for yourself even as the 
people in your life, whose opinions shouldn’t 
really matter but that we care about anyways, 
seem to scoff at your choices. 

EMMA CHANG
Daily Arts Writer

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

“Herself”

Dir. Phyllida Lloyd

January 24, 2020

Sundance Film Festival

