Page 8 October 29, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Film Review
Bill Murray is Still Magical, in
Father-Daughter Comedy On the Rocks
By Ryan Rojas for Cinemacy.com
Laura (Rashida Jones) is a mother of two,
struggling to keep a busy home together while
balancing a stagnating writing career in a
bustling New York City. When Laura begins
to suspect her husband (Marlon Wayans) of
straying from their marriage, Laura’s playboy
father (Bill Murray) whisks her away from
her monotonous life to pursue her husband’s
whereabouts amidst the city, making for quirky
bonding moments and chances to reconcile
their own troubled past.
Directed by Sofia Coppola, On the Rocks
(available to stream on Apple TV+ now) is
familiar filmic ground for Coppola: a dry,
understated comedy about someone’s woes
that are presumably not so different from
the writer-director’s own (and yes, very
much entrenched within upper-middle-class
living). It’s a lovely, lighthearted buddycomedy
of sorts, and hanging out with the
ever-endearing Rashida Jones and Bill Murray–
whose chemistry together is natural, fun
and intoxicating–makes for an effortlessly
entertaining time.
The film deals with significant and adult
themes, such as faithfulness in marriage, the
questioning of monogamy, and self-acceptance,
which Laura and her father ping-pong back
and forth over in witty conversation. The backand
forth here is dialed in by an incredibly
charismatic Bill Murray as Felix, who makes
the film the sophisticated and dry comedy that
it chooses to be (it’s the third time Murray and
Coppola have worked together on a feature
project, after 2003’s Lost in Translation and
2015’s A Very Murray Christmas).
Sofia Coppola’s previous work (Lost in
Translation) shows what a skilled eye she
has for capturing beautiful images, making
each of her movies a treat for the eyes. In
On the Rocks, it’s pleasurable to be swept
up in every lush part of New York City’s
socialite scene. But luscious locations and
cinematography are one thing, and meeting
that with real character developments is another:
since Coppola resigns Laura as a weak
and submissive character from the very start,
giving very little along the way to make for
a full character realization, unfortunately the
characters end up being more props in this
beautiful-looking postcard of a film.
In further Coppola signature, On the Rocks
(perhaps) also not so subtly mirrors the
writer-director’s own personal life experiences,
in which a daughter must reconcile with
her ever-charismatic, towering legend of a
father (whose own infamous infidelities
have been well documented). Casting
Rashida Jones as Laura (the Sofia-surrogate
of sorts) is an earnest desire to explore issues
of her own familial relationship. But
it’s also a film that keeps that more honest,
from-the-heart pain at bay, and keep things
are a sophisticated surface-level, making me
wonder if a more stirring, substantial and
significant work was just one more shot
away from experiencing.
If On the Rocks were a drink, it’d be served
neat, and straight up. And while it’s pleasantly
fine, I’d like to see the version of it that allows
itself to be a little more shaken. And
ya know what? Make it a double.
94 minutes. ‘On the Rocks’ is now stream-
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On the Rocks, photo courtesy Apple TV+.
Ryan Rojas
“There’s no such thing
as a vote that doesn’t matter.”
– BARACK OBAMA
Fire Chief from front page
Therapist from page 2
a new school and seeing new faces for the
first time.
We love our stories of bootstrapping our
businesses and self-reliance. They work very
well as inspiration to work hard and always
do our best. But despite their individualistic
ideals, these stories are not built for a population
in isolation. Sitting at home reminds
us of all the projects we wanted to do but
didn’t have time for, except now we get to
feel guilty or inadequate because we still
don’t want to do them. We feel bad when
we are not “productive,” as if “producing”
was something that we as human animals
are required to do.
Personal, social, and economic uncertainty is
at all time high. It is totally fine to feel lousy.
There are some things you can do. Connection
eases many woes, and connection
has suffered dearly this year. It is not just
the connections with our friends and loved
ones, but the smaller ones, too: at the coffee
shop, the dry cleaners, in church. Are you
able to work at connection, perhaps calling
up an old friend or two? If not, let me know.
I can help connect you to others who are
eager to connect safely.
As these strange times stretch on, you
may find it helpful to change or eliminate
certain practices. For example, if you value
learning, focus on learning instead of on
grades. If you value friendship, focus on
the friendships that are most important to
you. If you value time together as a family,
perhaps it’s less stressful to spend it eating
popcorn in bed than it is to corral everyone
for dinner at seven.
Finally, remember that this is hard. Mental
work is real work, and many of us are doing
much more of it than ever before. You may
be exhausted and exasperated and by yourself,
and in that you are in very good company.
Tom Andre is a Licensed Marriage &
Family Therapist (LMFT119254). Please text
to 310.776.5299 or write to tom@tomandrecounseling.
com with questions about handling
what is affecting your life, your family, the
community or the world. The information in
this column is for educational purposes only
and nothing herein should be construed as
professional advice or the formation of a
therapeutic relationship.r
according to the chief, has a residential
population of about 16,000 but a workday
population, pre-COVID19, of nearing 80,000.
He said El Segundo is a “dynamic, complex
city,” and that it is “extremely exciting to be
part of a department that is providing fire-life
safety services to our community.”
Although the ESFD does not have to deal
directly in town with the wildfires that have
unsparingly charred much of California,
Donovan said that his charges do their part
to suppress the fires, and support firefighters
on the frontline, noting how ESFD personnel
“strike teams,” a mobile and nimble firefighting
team, have been dispatched to California
hot spots to provide “structural protection
in neighborhoods.” He also cited the ESFD’s
participation in the Rapid Extraction Modular
Support team (REMS), which enters fire zones
to support firefighters who become injured
or ill and safely extract the first responders
from their predicament. “We are proud of the
expertise that our firefighters bring,” he said,
“to help fellow firefighters that are injured
on the frontline.”
James Birrell, the executive director of
the Los Angeles Fire Chiefs Association
(LAAFCA) Regional Training Group, has
known and worked with Donovan for more
than 30 years. “Grew up in the fire service
with Chris,” Birrell said. “He has always
been a visionary, a leader, and a great friend.
He will do anything for anybody. One of his
great attributes is that he always looks at the
positive. He puts a smile on his face, keeps
grinding through, and finds solutions. He is
the type of person people want to be around;
he draws people in.” Said Birrell: “You need
strong leadership at the top, vision, which
Donovan provides. Chris looks at the bigger
picture. There is not a fire chief in the area
who is not impressed with Chris Donovan.”
One of the current tasks facing the ESFD
is the implementation of what is termed “fire
accreditation.” Donovan said that garnering
fire accreditation is a popular process for
progressive organizations to tackle. He termed
it “an intentional effort to look deep into our
organization in terms of service delivery, protocols,
and the way we conduct business…
and to give the community an opportunity
to weigh in on this process,” with the focus
lensed towards continual improvement, and
reviewing all protocols, embracing the tenets
of transparency and accountability.
Fire accreditation has three facets, Donovan
said, noting that the second phase of ESFD
accreditation, which should be starting in a
couple of months, includes community risk
assessment, and also features an analysis of
the ESFD’s calls received over the last five
years, and the department’s responses to those
calls for aid, all part-and-parcel to helping the
department fine-tune their responses.
The final phase of fire accreditation is a
rigorous self-assessment, which can be utilized
to assess the department’s efficiency.
Whatever duties Donovan, who ended up
grabbing a Bachelor of Science degree from
Cal State Los Angeles in 1994, tackled in
his first four-or-so years on the job in El Segundo,
the game changed when the exported
scourge of COVID-19 appeared in America.
His job duties changed “beyond belief. We
quickly pivoted to put all our attention on
COVID-19. There are a couple of things that
we got right here in El Segundo, recognizing
that this pandemic was not going away any
time soon,” he said. The prior year, a new
emergency manager was hired, who proposed
the formation of the All-Hazard-Incident Management
Team (IMT), a team specially trained
to deal with disasters, such as earthquakes,
wildfires, and once in a century pandemics
like the COVID-19 outbreak. Donovan has
taken an active role with the IMT. “About
95% of my job is related to COVID-19,”
he said. “I have never been very good with
technology but have become an expert on
Zoom.” He said he has been “working seven
days a week with his team, making sure
guidelines were developed, as well as health
safety protocols,” noting that the team was
involved in the fast-tracking of the “al fresco”
dining set-up that has provided a lifeline to
struggling El Segundo dining establishments.
He said that the advent of the COVID-19
pandemic had changed the way that the ESFD
responds to calls, with a more cautious approach
to medical aid calls, but that the crisis
has “made us better at our service delivery
through this very trying time.”
When he is not toiling on the job, which
isn’t very often, Donovan said he likes to
spend time with his family, support the USC
football program, whenever that commences
again, occasionally hit the golf links, and
travel a bit.
“Ultimately, to me, it is about serving others,”
Donovan said, summing up his devotion to
firefighting and his leadership style. “Providing
help for those in need. I really want to
help people. There is no better career than
the fire service to provide that level of care
and compassion and make a difference in
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