Page 2 August 2, 2018
Entertainment
Check It Out Film Review
In Generation Wealth, Plastic
Surgery for Dogs is Commonplace
By Morgan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
Yes, you read that right…plastic surgery
for dogs. If the jowls on your canine companion
hang too low for your liking and you
have enough dollars and cents (sans common
sense) to want to fix it, you can now
get facial reconstructive surgery... for your
dog. Shockingly, this is only a sliver of the
outlandish anecdotes in Lauren Greenfield’s
eye-opening documentary, Generation Wealth.
Derived from years of photographing subjects
from all around the world, Greenfield’s independent
film is a fascinating look at the 1
percent and the stark reality of what too much
money can do when a person starts to lose
sight of life’s more important joys in favor
of the superficial happiness cold, hard cash
can temporarily bring.
It can be argued that, in some respects,
the character of modern-day society is in
decline. Technologically, we are evolving at
lightning speeds -- autonomous cars, smart
cities, artificial embryos and intelligence are
just a few of the ways that we are attempting
to better our quality of life. But remember,
we sent a man to the moon before there was
Internet or Instagram, so technology is not
the problem. It’s the growing lack of human
connection coupled with undervaluing
close relationships, which is resulting in a
more merciless society. Humans as a species
have never been more self-aware and selfcritical
than we are right now. That said, we
are in luck because if we can afford it, we
can pay our way to happiness, right? Wrong.
Photographer Lauren Greenfield knows
first-hand how growing up in a well-to-do
environment can shape one’s outlook on
life -- and whether the effects are apparent
or subconscious, they follow you forever.
In Generation Wealth, Greenfield showcases
how money affected her classmates at the prestigious
Crossroads School in Santa Monica,
some 20-plus years post-graduation. She also
exposes the privileged lives of more infamous
figures, including Charlie Sheen’s “$30,000
porn star friend” Kacey Jordan; former hedge
fund manager Florian Homm, whose net
worth exceeded $800 million (and who, due
to shady activity, sat on the FBI’s most wanted
list); and Jackie Siegel (aka The Queen of
Versailles), owner of one of the largest and
most expensive single-family houses in the
United States.
What we learn from their stories plus the
stories of others profiled in the film, is that
more money often equals more problems.
The green-eyed-monster doesn’t discriminate
between age, gender or location…and while
some people are able to navigate through this
dark period in their lives with a lesson learned
as the outcome, the majority of subjects are
still really sad. Money couldn’t buy them
happiness, no matter what lies and false
promises the affluent society had sold them.
As a whole, Generation Wealth feels like a
cathartic experience for Greenfield, who addresses
personal issues with her aging parents
that had stemmed from childhood. Certain
points of the film feel like we are eavesdropping
on a closed therapy session, which at
times can feel obtrusive and slightly removed
from the film’s bigger objective. When the
movie sticks to the script and delves into
the unusual lives of various wealth addicts,
it is fascinating. However, when it starts to
detour into Greenfield’s issues of her mother
abandoning her as a child, it starts to feel
unnecessarily sad.
Generation Wealth is a 21st century fairytalemeets
horror-story. Lauren Greenfield’s
energetic storytelling about America’s dirty
little secret will definitely keep audiences
intrigued and fascinated during the entire
runtime.
Generation Wealth is rated R. 109 minutes.
Now playing at the Landmark and select
Laemmle theaters. •
Generation Wealth. Courtesy of Amazon Studios
Morgan Rojas.
The Pearl Thief Purloins Sense of
Scottish Suspense Sprucely
Reviewed by Tommy Vinh Bui,
MLIS, Associate Librarian,
Inglewood Public Library
It’s the height of summer and we’ve reached
and breached historical record highs in terms
of temperature. It’s a stultifying frying pan
out there and we’re just nestling from palm
tree to palm tree seeking shady fronds for
brief respite from the sun’s unforgiving glare.
But, hark, the Inglewood Library has your
cure-all for the enfeebling summer spiritsiphoning.
Air-conditioned facilities and books
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein.
and books galore to impede the high noon
sweat-a-thon. Freon and fanciful jaunts of
imagination. And this week’s lulu of literacy
is Elizabeth Wein’s able and adventuresome
The Pearl Thief.
This is a humdinger of a historical yarn.
This little ditty is just drenched in dulcet dialogue
and populated by an irresistible array of
memorable characters. It features a feisty and
charmingly spunky female protagonist with a
certain derring-do that takes her to the heart
of an engrossing murder mystery. Teenage
Julie Beaufort-Stuart returns to her ancestral
Scottish home for the summer and is quickly
steeped in a conundrum involving pilfered
pearls, country travelers and one boggy corpse.
The Pearl Thief is a well-crafted coming-ofage
tale that rings authentic and well-researched.
It should appeal to young audiences for its
vim, variety of characters, and velocity of
narrative. It’s equal parts Harriet the Spy,
Sherlock Holmes and Scooby-Doo. Julie carries
the plot effortlessly with her verve and sense
of audacity, but the accompanying characters
also bring much to the story. Julie befriends
two traveler siblings and together they tackle
the case of the missing heirloom pearls that
resulted in a dead body on the family estate.
It’s very almost nearly a Nancy Drew Mystery
Story.
The literary cogs and wheels of this novel
are notably well-crafted and rendered gorgeous
in the mind’s eye. The writer goes above and
beyond to yank us into the story with her masterful
use of vivid vernacular and descriptive
language. She inflects, she articulates and she
enchants with a number of voraciously veracious
accents and brogues throughout. Music
plays a prominent role in the story and we can
practically hear the honey dripping from the
songs as we’re instantly transported to those
bonnie bryns of far-flung Strathfearn.
It’s a story that within the first few chapters
we’re immediately entranced and our imaginations
are promptly captured. The argot and
attention to detail is astounding and it’s the
small idiosyncrasies that delight us overwhelmingly
as the narrative progresses. It’s made
abundantly apparent to us how much research
and consideration went into the crafting of these
characters and environs. We’re convinced and
whisked away within the first few chapters.
The story is rich and multilayered in that it
goes beyond the expectations of a conventional
and straightforward murder mystery. Though
the tale takes place prewar, it manages to still
confront relevant issues of class struggles and
gender equality as well as other contemporary
moral lessons of our day. It imparts much and
does so without being brazenly saccharine or
didactic. It’s fine overall young adult fare.
The Pearl Thief is proper summer reading.
So find a comfy cushion and crack open a
book spine to give this thrilling little tale a
twirl. It’s quite an arresting do-si-do. •
Tommy Vinh Bui.
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