Page 2 January 31, 2019 Entertainment Check It Out Film Review We Are Growing! by Laurie Keller Reviewed by Kristina Kora-Beckman, Librarian, El Segundo Public Library This week, I’m reviewing one of the best early reader stories that I’ve come across recently: Laurie Keller’s We Are Growing! Full of puns, laugh-out-loud antics and relatable struggles, my kids and I thoroughly enjoyed this story that is literally about grass growing. Sounds boring, I know, but I promise it’s anything but. Part of the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading series, Mo Willems fans will enjoy the similar dialogue style, exaggerated reactions and included commentary from beloved Willems characters Elephant and Piggie. My kids also love finding the character Pigeon, another Willems favorite, who is usually hiding out somewhere in the front or back pages. Other titles we enjoyed from the Like Reading series include The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and The Itchy Book by LeUyen Pham. Willems’ original Elephant & Piggie series is also not to be missed as the beloved friends go on adventures, discover new experiences and work through big emotions that all kids (and their parents) can relate to these days. To check out We Are Growing, or browse more Willems favorites, please visit the library to apply for your free library card. For more hilarious early reading picks and staff favorites, stop by our Youth Services Desk, our friendly Youth Services librarians would love to help you find your next great read! • We Are Growing! by Laurie Keller. Kristina Kora-Beckman. your dreams we can help El Segundo Herald* • Hawthorne Press Tribune* Inglewood Daily News* • Lawndale News* EL SEGUNDO OFFICE • 500 Center St. • El Segundo • CA • 90245 Phone: (310) 322-1830 • Fax: (310) 322-2787 • www.heraldpublications.com *Our papers are legally recognized and adjudicated newspapers of general circulation Staff and Departments Editor-in-Chief: Heidi Maerker Classifieds: Clara Nilles • class@heraldpublications.com DBA: Debbie Waite • dba@heraldpublications.com • For Fictitious Business Name (DBAs) filings Display Ad Sales: Linda Cohen • enrichlife@aol.com Graphic Design: Michael Gonzales • ads@heraldpublications.com Legals: Debbie Waite • legalnotices@heraldpublications.com Letters to the Editor: letters@heraldpublications.com Marketing: Debbie Waite • marketing@heraldpublications.com Press Releases: pr@heraldpublications.com For press releases, Herald In travel photos and general photos Real Estate: Clara Nilles • graphics@heraldpublications.com • For new realtors, contracts, ads Website contact: web@heraldpublications.com For comments or announcements (weddings, engagements, obituaries) Contributing Writers: Haleemon Anderson, Derrick Deane, Greg McMullin, Duane Plank, Brian Simon Native Son and Honey Boy Prove Riveting Watches at Sundance 2019 By Ryan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com Native Son, directed by Rashid Johnson Adapted from the classic 1940 novel, Native Son is the story of a young, low-income African American male, who, after securing employment in the world of a wealthy white family, finds himself at the center of an accidental death that puts him in the direct crosshairs of cultural tensions. Adapted from the classic 1940 novel, first-time feature (Top) Noah Jupe in Honey Boy. Photo by Natasha Braier. (Bottom) Ashton Sanders in Native Son. Photo by Matthew Libatique. Photos courtesy of Sundance Institute. film director Rashid Johnson (along with Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Suzan- Lori Parks) have made this updated version entirely their own. By highlighting the story’s underlying social issues and wrapping them up in his polished punk aesthetic, it’s a tale that feels as timely now as it must have been then. It’s undeniable that Rashid Johnson is a flourishing visual artist and one who we should all be watching to see what he does next. The biggest obstacle holding Native Son back from being even more impactful is in the jumps in its tonal shifts, which happen when the story plays on and the stakes are raised. The story’s pivotal and climactic plot point is surprising, but this hard crank of the wheel feels a bit disorienting. The fallout of this moment leads the movie to make a statement that we didn’t know it would have to make. Yet for this slight distraction, it would be wrong to not also acknowledge the number of complex ideas, all stylized through Johnson’s artistic formats. It’s no wonder why HBO bought the film from A24 hours before the movie made its world premiere at the Sundance festival. Native Son will be available to stream on HBO later this year. Honey Boy, Directed by Alma Har’el As the movie portrays in its very meta ways, Honey Boy started as a therapeutic tool when Shia LaBeouf was in rehab for alcohol abuse. For an artist so taken by postmodern art performance, how else would that person, who spent his life at the center of the entertainment industry, channel his pain but by confronting issues in the form of writing a screenplay that features his life’s story? i chronicles two moments in the life of this Shia-surrogate, Otis. There’s the child star (Noah Jupe) and the action star (Lucas Hedges) 10 years later. A life of physically demanding action stunts (“trauma reminders,” as his therapist later classifies), mixed with a propensity towards alcohol abuse fueled by familial addiction, Otis inevitably lands in rehab. It’s here where, through therapeutic sessions with his probation officer, he is forced to remember his childhood. This is where the film alternates between present and past lives. As young Otis, Jupe (A Quiet Place) is put into very adult situations – drugs and booze and older women (FKA Twigs) are very much present at the extended stay motel where he is being raised. Throughout this film, Jupe maintains a strength and innocence that makes his performance both solid and moving. Hedges channels everything from the screenwriter’s manic instability to his trademark combat boots. And portraying his former rodeo clown father, Shia as James embodies the character so fully that it’s more than just pretending – he’s channeling something real in himself and it’s his most lived-in and best role in a while. What lifts Honey Boy to even greater heights is how the film integrates the vaudeville choreography of James’ rodeo clown life. What’s seen in some scenes as hokey, in other parts is set to music to create magically mimed moments. Har’el captures this and all of the scenes between young Otis and his father so intimately. But it’s LaBeouf who gives himself over so completely to this emotionally gutting process, putting his singularly pained childhood onto the big screen in what feels like an act for emotional salvation. And while he said during the film’s Q&A following the screening that this was a “selfish” work, to make a movie for his own personal catharsis, Honey Boy is so raw and risk-taking that it provides a very personal experience for anyone who sees it. Honey Boy is currently awaiting distribution. • Ryan Rojas. your business YOUR NAME DBAS PUBLISHED FOR ONLY $75.00 Email dba@heraldpublications.com or call 310-322-1830 for more information.
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