EL SEGUNDO HERALD July 5, 2018 Page 9
Entertainment
Film Review Check It Out
The Outsider by Stephen King
By Roz Templin, Library Assistant,
El Segundo Public Library
I grew up reading Stephen King novels
and then seeing the movie adaptions that
followed. But somewhere in the ‘90s, the
thrill was gone. I felt that Stephen seemed to
rely more on the quirky Maine dialogue of
his characters than plot and story. I wandered
away and found other authors.
But then I read a synopsis of The Outsider
and I felt a little spark of interest: A smalltown
Oklahoma sports coach, beloved by
children and adults alike, is suspected of a
heinous crime against a young boy. Hmm,
this doesn’t sound like the usual Stephen King
novel. A mystery, possibly a crime novel? I
was attracted to the book on CD packaging,
even though there looked to be many more
than 10 CDs in the case.
I was sucked in almost immediately,
mostly by the characterizations voiced
by reader/actor Will Patton. Mr. Patton
makes distinctive vocal inflections for each
participant in the story and it was easy for
me to picture them in my mind’s eye. I
couldn’t wait to get in the car (I only listen
to books on audio when I commute) to pick
up where I last left off. Mr. Patton, of course,
couldn’t do it all himself --- there is solid
writing here and the supernatural overtones
seem secondary rather than King’s books of
“the old days.”
Little League coach Terry Maitland -- family
man, English teacher and pretty much a pillar
of the community of Flint City, Oklahoma, is
arrested during a championship series game.
Practically the whole town witnesses this
event and some of them can hear the officer
shouting the charges as they lead the coach
away in very visible handcuffs.
Detective Ralph Anderson thinks he
has a solid case against Maitland. There is
evidence and there are eyewitnesses. But it
seems that Terry has a solid alibi (including
evidence and eyewitnesses) for the
time 11-year-old Frank Peterson was being
murdered. This is just the set-up for
“normal” slowly spiraling down into unexplainable.
Ralph doggedly pursues clues that
seem to upend his belief systems and he
collaborates with others to get to the bottom
of the situation.
The characters jump to life and I enjoyed
getting to know them. Maitland’s defense
attorney and his investigator soon join in the
chase of a monster, and there is a villainous
co-worker of Ralph’s lurking around…but
it is Holly Gibney, a character from King’s
previous Bill Hodges trilogy, that stands out.
Reader Patton gives a strange cadence to her
voice that warns you that Holly is not the
usual skip/trace, missing persons PI. She has
numerous tics and it’s hard for her to interact
with people. But she has knowledge of
strange occurrences and of something that’s
referred to as The Outsider.
The suspense washed over me as I
gripped the steering wheel, listening to
the last CD. I don’t remember ever doing
that before.
Visit the library and allow our staff to
direct you to new arrivals, suggestions from
the ongoing Great American Read display
and information about our exciting months
of summer programming. Also, sign up for
our Adult Summer Reading Program and
earn incentives throughout the summer. •
Roz Templin.
The Outsider by Stephen King
Joaquin Phoenix Plays a Brutal
Contract Killer in Arthouse Film
By Ryan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
In the life of a contract killer, one is required
to maintain complete control in the
midst of chaos in order to stay alive. Now
add in the variable of companionship, and
this contingency becomes a vulnerability and
jeopardizing to one’s life. This is the synopsis
of director Lynne Ramsay’s provocative
arthouse film, You Were Never Really Here.
You Were Never Really Here is the story
of a murder-for-hire killer, Joe (Joaquin
Phoenix), who lives a life of dark solace in
modern-day New York City. A burly bear
of a man, Joe is silent and consumed with
his own thoughts -- blending into the city
background during the daylight hours before
operating in the night shadows as a monastic
mercenary. His lifestyle appears to be easy
except for the fact that Joe must care for his
aging mother (Judith Roberts), whose home
he returns to between jobs so that he can tend
to her in her declining mental state. One day,
a new job pops up – to locate the daughter
of a high-profile senator. Except in this case,
finding the girl, Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov),
doesn’t mean the end of the job. Joe soon
realizes that he has waded into the criminal
underbelly of child trafficking, coordinated at
the highest levels. When the job goes south,
Joe must decide whether to retreat and live a
lone wolf life, or fight for her safety, which
would threaten everyone’s survival.
The pairing of Ramsay with Phoenix makes
for an electrifying experience. Both artists
don’t turn a blind eye to the heinous and horrific
parts of the human psyche. They full-tilt
bulldoze towards it. Phoenix delivers another
stunning performance in a role that requires
him to push to the fringes of human behavior.
He more than delivers in the moments of
mental anguish, like when Joe stows away in
the closet of his childhood home and wraps
a plastic bag over his head to relive moments
of childhood trauma to queasy effect.
The theme of control is something that
Ramsay has become acclaimed for mastering
in her movies. She pushes audiences past the
limits of their comfort zones to show the
depths of wickedness of which the human
species is capable. Her 2011 film, We Need
to Talk About Kevin, revealed a depth of sin
that borders on demonic. While Ramsay again
displays the depravity of human behavior
in You Were Never Really Here, she seems
more intent on exploring how people get
to become broken and how innocence can
become lost at the earliest of ages. When Joe
sees Nina experience horrors first-hand, he
realizes that the circle of abuse he endured
as a child continues despite all of his efforts
and is forced to question: Did he really save
her? Was he ever really there?
You Were Never Really Here is a crackling
action thriller with stunning cinematography
that shows artistic flourish. Ramsay
and Phoenix craft a morality drama that
shows how the best of efforts in a broken
world can still come up fruitless. Ramsay
wades into these waters to capture this
dark, depraved part of the very real human
psyche in an artfully electrifying fashion
and the result is a trip that cinephiles will
love to take.
85 minutes. You Were Never Really Here is
rated R for strong violence, disturbing and
grisly images, language, and brief nudity.
Now available on digital (Amazon) and on
Blu-ray & DVD July 17. •
You Were Never Really Here. Courtesy of Amazon Studios.
Ryan Rojas.