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