BOOKS: The Alchemist: A Fable About Finding Your Dreams

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream was a charming way to pass several hours of highway driving. It was kind of a cross between Tales of the Alhambra and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Like Washington Irving’s Tales, it is slightly magical and set in some non-specific past that suits fables and fairy tales. And like the Tales, it begins in Andalusia and trades in fantastical Moorish characters, though this story actually crosses the Straits of Gibraltar and travels to North Africa. It resembles Jonathan Livingston Seagull in being infused with a New Age pseudo-religious philosophy that can seem captivating at first blush, enthusiastically packaged in a charming story. Just don’t think about it too hard, or the gossamer profundity dissipates, and you might start to wonder how the girl in the oasis is really any different than the merchant’s daughter in Tarifa (the Rosaline for this Andalusian shepherd’s Romeo), or whether personal legends are only for boys, or whether the mildly unwieldy phrase “personal legend” worked better in the original Portuguese. (Darn it, I let myself think about it too much.) In the end, the philosophical treasure to be gleaned from this book is no more nor less than the wisdom dispensed by the Mother Superior in the Sound of Music when she sings Climb Every Mountain. And you like that song, right? So just enjoy the tale of the enterprising Andalusian shepherd in search of travel, adventure, and treasure, and before you know it, you’ll have driven a few hundred miles.

FILM: Downton Abbey

OMG, the new Downton Abbey film was wonderful!!! Julian Fellowes is still at the top of his game. Even though he had neatly "tucked in" all of the characters at the end of the TV show, he still had a delightfully intriguing set of plot lines, with some good twists and revelations, to propel all of our beloved characters through various challenges and machinations, and to wrap them up neatly in the end. With the cinematic scale of a film, the palatial estate was even more of a star, including some swooning aerial shots. The opening sequence sets the scene magnificently, showing the progress of a letter sent from Buckingham Palace, the mail on a train steaming up to Yorkshire, then on a truck with loving sweeping shots through Downton Village, then a mail carrier bringing it to the estate, with the theme music building to crescendo as the iconic Abbey comes into view, and finally getting passed along from footman to butler to lord as we get our first look at all our favorite characters. With an impending royal visit, Anglophile viewers are amply rewarded with royal pageantry, and the house is thrown into a tizzy with preparations, but that only scratches the surface of the delicious plot complications. Oh, it was good! I'll be dreaming about it for weeks.

STAGE: Latin History for Morons

John Leguizamo is a vivacious and compelling teacher in his one-man show “Latin History for Morons”, playing now at the Ahmanson. The motivating premise for this “lesson” is that Leguizamo’s young son is getting bullied at school for being a “beaner” while struggling with an assignment to find a historical hero to write about. As a father, John despairs at the lack of Latinx heroes in his son’s history textbooks, prompting him to do some reading of his own. Thus ensues a lively recount of Latin contributions to American history, going back to Inca and Mayan roots, to undersung characters like Loreta Janeta Velázquez, a Cuban-American woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Civil War. The lesson is filled with a barrage of laughs, and I have to say I don’t think I’ve ever sat with a more “live” audience who were laughing out loud, whooping, and applauding with gusto. Amidst the laughs, you’ll pick up some interesting information you may not have known, and it might leave you a bit more thoughtful about the importance of visibility and representation.

FILM: Brittany Runs A Marathon

From the fat-girl heroine gags in the trailers, one could easily confuse Brittany Runs A Marathon with the Rebel Wilson film Isn't It Romantic from earlier this year, but the similarities don't run deep. The other film is a romantic comedy cleverly framed as a parody of romantic comedies, while this film is a more earnest look at the challenges, both physical and mental, of being obese. When Brittany finally does run a marathon, it's not a cakewalk, and the film doesn't flinch from showing how grueling a marathon can really be at mile 22, but that only makes it all the more satisfying when she does cross the finish line. (Scant spoiler alert: Brittany runs a marathon.) And that's a metaphor for the whole film, which does have some grueling moments as Brittany struggles not just with her weight, but with her self-perceptions and her ability to see herself as someone worthy of accepting the help of others. Fortunately writer-director Paul Downs Colaizzo's handling of this self-improvement story deftly keeps it mostly light and likable, while also keeping it real but not ponderous. Jillian Bell's portrayal lets us see the sometimes comic tenderness of Brittany's defense mechanisms while conveying Brittany's own unawareness of them. In the end, it's rewarding to see how she gets to the finish line.