Cedars, January 2020

January 2020 19 ART & ENTERTAINMENT Amy’s role in the story and gave her the sec- ond-most-prominent role in the film. Pugh brings an adorable charm to Amy’s obnox- ious and self-righteous personality, creating a character that is self-absorbed, but en- dearing and relatable. Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlon play Jo’s other sisters, Meg and Beth, respective- ly, and Timothée Chalamet plays Laurie, the March’s next-door neighbor who falls in love with Jo. Meg and Beth bring their own unique traits to the story that show the different aspirations and personas of young women in the 1800s, and Chalamet is won- derfully casted as Laurie, being both brash and caring at the same time. Gerwig’s wonderful take on this tale shows that every story has new and inter- esting observances to be made. Her writing and direction takes a well-known story, and decidedly shows it from a different view- point. Rather than only focusing on the ear- ly years of the March sisters, Gerwig delves deep into the later years of the sisters as well, material that the book and earlier films only scratched the surface of. “Little Women” is more than a simple story about sisters growing up, but an en- gaging piece of filmed literature that stays true to the source material, while intense- ly examining the lives of these complicated people and discovering why they make the choices they make. 2. ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ If there were a list of cliché-ridden dramas in 2019 that have no reason to ex- ist, many people would assume “A Beauti- ful Day in the Neighborhood” to be one of them. It would’ve been so easy to make an overly sentimental film of schlock when telling the real-life story of famed children’s television star, Mr. Rogers. Instead, director Marielle Heller has given audiences a pseudo-biographical tale of a magazine journalist who’s assigned to interview Mr. Rogers in 1998. It’s a story of pain, grief and moving on. The story takes liberties when it comes to telling events as they actually occurred so that it can teach some lessons that adults often don’t want to be taught, lessons that adults think are only meant for children. It’s a story of a truly broken man who’s convinced himself that his damaged life is how it’s supposed to be. Mr. Rogers comes into this man’s life and shows him that he needs a change. Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers. Another cliché that this film could’ve done is mak- ing Mr. Rogers a perfect character. But it doesn’t. Hanks plays Rogers with extreme sensitivity, portraying him not as a god-fig- ure for the journalist and the world to look up to, but as a friend in a time of need. As far as imitation of reality goes, Hanks is nearly perfect as Mr. Rogers. The mannerisms and speech patterns feel exact- ly the same as the beloved TV host that so many American children grew up watching. While most audiences will likely be go- ing to the theatre to see Hanks as Rogers, the real protagonist of the film is journalist Lloyd Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys. Vo- gel is a heartbreaking character to watch. The film doesn’t just show certain aspects of his life, it dives deep into the humanity of Vogel’s psyche. It’s weird, intense, and at times it feels like a filmed portrayal of a headache. These scenes delve into very ab- stract filmmaking techniques, but they’re necessary in order to understand this com- plex and hardened character. This is the year’s most heartwarm- ing drama. It’s filled with touching scenes that really hit home with audiences, not because it’s emotionally manipulative or because it has a few catchy lines of dia- logue that sound nice, but because the messages of this film ring completely true with our spiritual and Christian reality. 1. ‘Jojo Rabbit’ “Jojo Rabbit” is the freshest and most original film of 2019. From the director of “Thor: Ragnarok” and “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Jojo Rabbit” takes one of the most tragic eras in the history of the world, and finds a brand new perspective of that grim time period through the eyes of a German child as he’s being enrolled in a Hitler Youth Camp in Nazi Germany. Jojo Betzler only cares about one thing: growing up to become a Nazi so that he can help destroy the evil monsters known as Jews. He lives his life as a 10-year-old boy who has very few friends, and one of those friends is his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. This film is nuts. It’s ridiculously funny and has its eyes on a prize. It seeks to mock everything about the Nazis and show mod- ern audiences how deranged the Nazi teach- ings were. Playing Jojo is newcomer Roman Griffin Davis. He’s fantastic in portraying a classic 10-year-old who thinks he knows everything he needs to know about the world. His imag- inary friend is played by the director himself, TaikaWaititi. Waititi’s over-the-top version of Hitler is easily the most entertaining aspect of this film, but also somewhat difficult to watch. Waititi understands that the jokes being made are not easy to take in when this horrif- ic slaughter of Jews actually happened in real life. That’s the whole point. These jokes make theHolocaust all themore dark and horrific to imagine. The jokes are funny, but they’re also increasingly disturbing as they are processed. Playing Jojo’s mother is Scarlett Jo- hansson. Her character is where much of the film’s plot arrives, as she is secretly harboring a Jewish girl, played by Thomasin McKenzie, in her attic. Johansson and McKenzie bring the heart to this film. They are immediately sympathetic characters who are stuck in a world where everyone around them believes that Jews are evil and don’t deserve to live. “Jojo Rabbit” is not only one of the most captivating films of 2019, but it also could go down as one of the greatest films of the entire decade. The 2010s are over and the more that audiences look back on these 10 years, the more they might see “Jojo Rabbit” as one of the most engaging and im- portant films of those years. It’s not useless fun. It’s a reminder for contemporary audi- ences that an event like this should never be allowed to happen again. www.adressforaday.com 33WestFranklinStreetCenterville,Ohio45459 937.303.8881 adressforaday@gmail.com W edding d ress r ental W edding d ress s ales P hotograPhy g ift W raPPing