Page 6 July 19, 2018 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Entertainment
Check It Out Film Review
The Possible World Is Intriguing
and Thought-Provoking Mystery
Reviewed by Roz Templin, Library
Assistant, El Segundo Public Library
Dr. Lucy Cole is an emergency room
doctor in Providence, Rhode Island. She is
suffering through a troubled personal life
while she tries to navigate the chaos of a
never-ending stream of patients in various
states of need. There are drunks and chronic
homeless people looking for a bed and some
food, and there are also victims of accidents
and violence. The author, Liese O’Halloran
Schwarz, is an emergency room physician
herself and informs Lucy’s character with
medical detail: A screaming woman, thrashing
on her stretcher, is brought into “Trauma
Alley.” After the medical team sedates her,
the doctor performs an examination to try
to find out what is wrong. She is dressed
like a normal housewife in yoga pants and
looks like she has recently-styled hair. Soon
it’s revealed that the unfortunate woman has
a gunshot wound to her head. Her posterior
frontal lobes are destroyed, which will free
the usual inhibitions and anger that normal
people can suppress. This woman and her
family will now be strangers to each other,
since she will never be the gentle wife and
mother of the past. The bullet did not kill
her physically, but has certainly murdered
her emotionally and altered her personality
perhaps forever.
A young boy is brought to the emergency
room one evening and is unable to talk
after witnessing a multiple homicide. Lucy
will try to find out his name, next of kin
and anything else he might be able to tell
her before the detectives are allowed to see
him. As she examines him, she establishes
a rapport with him through memories of a
childhood pet. She asks his name and he
responds “Leo!” Only his name is not Leo,
but it is Ben and, she learns later, psychologists
presume the shock has unleashed a
multiple personality disorder. Lucy cannot
forget Ben after she realizes that she knew
his murdered mother Karen. Maybe she can
spend time with him and he’ll recover his
memories? Maybe she can keep him company
and lessen his fear.
Clare lives in Oak Haven, a care facility
for the elderly. She is nearly 100 years old
and doesn’t seem to have a friend nor family.
In fact, she is decidedly taciturn to the
staff and her fellow residents until a new
patient named Gloria makes an effort to get
to know her. She decides to tell her life story
to Gloria and we readers discover that Clare
has several lives (and secrets) to share with
us. What happens that will bring Clare into
Lucy and Ben’s orbit?
I was hooked from the minute I started
reading about Lucy’s harried life at the
hospital and became entranced once Ben/
Leo’s revelations became clear. Clare was
the key to this mystery and getting there is
a moving and inspiring journey. You may
find yourself questioning how you see things
and what might be ahead of us after this life
has ended.
You’ll find a wealth of new available
materials in the library for summer reading.
Let out knowledgeable staff show you our
recent arrivals. •
Coming of Age in
the Internet Age
By Ryan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
Bo Burnham is an eighth grade girl. Well,
it would be more accurate to say that not
only is he an eighth grade girl – although his
understanding and portrayal of this confusing
time in adolescent life is astoundingly spoton
– but reveals that we all are eighth grade
girls, or once were. Which is to say, that at
one time or another, we’ve all felt the same
shared sense of awkwardness -- that of
identity confusion and a general longing for
love that unites us all, no matter our gender,
age or generation.
Eighth Grade, the directorial debut of
comedian Bo Burnham is, on the surface, a
modest movie. Essentially, we follow a teen
in the last week of her middle school year,
along with all of the important and trivial
life events that pop up. But that summary
alone would be like saying last year’s Best
Picture nominee Lady Bird was just a movie
about a high school senior. Specifically, what
these movies have in common is a theme
that is most noticeable: one of authenticity,
identity and the general nature of who we
are by how we choose to live.
Perhaps no one knows this better than
Burnham himself, who dealt with crafting
an identity in the age of the Internet. He
cultivated a fanbase by creating pop piano
hits on YouTube that eventually resulted in a
successful standup comedian relationship with
Netflix specials and tours. So yes, this movie
is about Kayla (Elsie Fisher), an introverted
and reserved eighth grader without a best
friend, and whose superlative awarded by
her class is “Most Quiet.” But below that,
it’s really about identity and insecurities that
we all have. Those are never more relevant
than at this time, in this age of social media
and online living.
Eighth Grade shines a light on the
anxieties of growing up in the social media
generation like a front-facing flash of a camera
selfie. It’s not news that the suffocating
artificiality of pop consumerism is such a
large part of kids’ lives. The content they
take in is then recreated and re-stylized
in a feedback loop that results in being either
so out of touch with reality or hyper in
touch with a false one. This is what stirs
Kayla, who is introverted and reserved at
school but comes to life online making
inspirational and self-help videos to an
audience of none.
Where Burnham’s directorial effort,
which he also wrote, truly shines most is
the examination of the duality of “being
yourself.” Burnham’s stand up specials –
what. and Make Happy (available to watch
on Netflix) – showcase the young millennial,
all of 27 years old himself, as a metamaddening,
self-aware artist consumed by
the idea of creating who you are, as well
as living naturally to the rest of society’s
confirmations. Eighth Grade is successful
because Bo Burnham has the eye and mind
and insecurities of Kayla, and it doesn’t ring
false or sappy – it just feels like he gets it!
Eighth Grade is 94 minutes. Rated R for
language and some sexual material. Now
playing at Arclight Hollywood and the
Landmark. •
Eighth Grade, Courtesy of A24.
Ryan Rojas.
Roz Templin.
The Possible World by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz.
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