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