Page 6 February 15, 2018 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Entertainment
Check It Out
An Unkindness
of Magicians: Kat Howard
Reviewed by Kristina Kora-Beckman,
Librarian, El Segundo Public Library
If you’re looking for a modern magician
thriller, try Kat Howard’s An Unkindness of
Magicians. It’s edgy and sharp, and full of
An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard.
strong characters, lovely spell-casting and
heart-wrenching moral dilemmas. It’s also
about resilience in the face of unspeakable
horror, and how to combat societal evils
that appear all too often around the world,
magical or not.
Set in New York City, the novel revolves
around a Turning, a magical competition
between secretive, established houses that
Film Review
determines who controls the “unseen” magical
world. Enter Sydney, a powerful, unknown
magician who has experienced firsthand the
darkest secrets of the magical world and is
on a mission to end the abuses of power by
any means necessary.
Howard’s story revolves around the idea
that all magic comes with a price. But just
who pays that price and how is where the
horror comes in -- faceless and nameless
victims who are easily forgotten by the
privileged few whose lives are made easier
by the sacrifices of others. Often bleak, the
story is also beautiful in Sydney’s quest to
destroy the corrupt system and weld justice
to the abusers.
To check out An Unkindness of Magicians,
please visit the library to apply for
your free library card. For more magical
reads, contemporary or classic, check out our
Science Fiction (SF) section located next to
the mysteries. •
Kristina Kora-Beckman.
Four-Time Oscar Nominee Mudbound is a
Film Not to Be Missed This Award Season
By H. Nelson Tracey
for www.cinemacy.com
Based on a book of the same name, Mudbound,
which is nominated for four Oscars
and now streaming on Netflix, tells the story
of two families -- one white and the other
black – that are both struggling to survive
as sharecroppers in 1940s Mississippi. The
McAllan family is made up of a husband and
wife, Henry and Laura (Jason Clarke and
Carey Mulligan), and Henry’s father Pappy
(Jonathan Banks) -- all of whom are new to
farming and sharecropping. The other family
consists of Hap and Florence Jackson (Rob
Morgan and Mary J. Blige) and their young
Mudbound, Courtesy of Netflix
children, who reluctantly find themselves
intertwined with the McAllans. Despite their
differences, both families each have a son/
brother, Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund)
and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell). After
fighting in World War II, the two young men
come back home to an even shakier family
and societal dynamic.
Synopsis out of the way, Mudbound is
an ensemble film in the best way possible.
Every intersecting character relationship
amongst the six or seven protagonists is
dynamic and realized. Hence why it’s worth
mentioning them all. Multiple characters have
voiceover moments to narrate the story -- a
technique that, in this case, efficiently gives
us an insight into what everyone’s personal
struggles are. And through these struggles,
we intersect with topics ripe for discussion.
It would be obvious to say class and race,
but the film doesn’t stop there: One particular
angle is a complex look at the strife of being
a veteran and the PTSD for which the world
has limited empathy.
The most exciting part is seeing how Mudbound
weaves in these themes seamlessly with
a wealth of metaphors. Like a magician’s left
hand, the craftsmanship and deliberate choices
in visuals subconsciously deepen the narrative.
The most prominent is the use of mud
as a recurring theme. Again, an initial glance
realizes the obvious notion of what it refers
to, but in the sharecropper’s world --a filthy
one where mud is everywhere -- it comes
into play in a numerous of enhancing ways.
See Film Review, page 15