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SIX REVIEWS
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Let It Snow BY MEGAN BORMANN
Angel Olsen Looking for Alaska BY ERIN WILSON Based on the John Green novel, the new Hulu series “Looking for Alaska” tells a beautiful and bittersweet story of love, loss, and friendship. The show follows a high schooler named Miles (Charlie Plummer) who transfers to Culver Creek Preparatory High School, where he hopes to find his “Great Perhaps.” He finds a new circle of friends, including an enigmatic girl named Alaska (Kristine Froseth), whom he falls in love with. The group gets caught in a prank war with other students, which ends when tragedy shakes the school. Poetic and insightful, the show captures the aches of young love and the numbing devastation that follows the death of a loved one. Plummer, Froseth, and Denny Love shine in their roles as Miles, Alaska and Chip, expertly depicting the nuances and intensity of teenage emotions. Tracks such as Kat Cunning’s cover of “Orange Sky” and Iron & Wine’s cover of “Such Great Heights” amplify the melancholy tone of heavy scenes in the show. The cinematography, with its warm lighting and slow shots of characters in the surrounding forest, contributes to the show’s distinct sense of nostalgia. The show poses philosophical questions about the human condition that both add another level of depth to the show and ask audiences to consider the same questions. Heartbreaking, lively, and evocative all at once, “Looking for Alaska” is a vibrant adaptation of the novel.
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BY KINGA MOZES Under swooping crystal garlands, Angel Olsen’s haunting voice left no one untouched at First Avenue on November 12. She gazed out at the crowd under chunky winged eyeliner with a serene expression, comfortably lost in the complex emotions of her music. Yet somehow, as she was transfixed in her memories, she reached deep, provoking our own buried reflections on love. The opening band, Vagabon, deserves an appreciative nod, their sound characterized by refined production and the raspiness of their lead singer, Laetitia Tamko. Olsen’s performance was powered by versatility. Each note was purposeful and the band was a set of interacting parts guided under her steady hand. A transcendent violin and cello accompaniment swelled with the stage lights shifting from red to white on the opener, “Lark.” An urging nod exchanged with her guitarist led to a spontaneous duet in mutual anger on the track “Impasse.” She held her own on “Acrobat,” her voice displaying its astonishing instrumental elements with a ringing operatic quality. Throughout the show, Olsen switched seamlessly between electric guitar and piano, balancing her somber lyrics with witty interactions with the audience between songs. She laughed off someone who shouted, “I love you, Angel,” blushing as she said it back.
Netflix is straying into Hallmark Channel’s territory with its newest holiday movie, “Let It Snow,” directed by Luke Snellin. The film features many actors, including Kiernan Shipka, Shameik Moore, Jacob Batalon, Mitchell Hope, and Joan Cusack. One thing I appreciated about this cast was its inclusion of racial and LGBTQ representation. The plot itself is rather sweet but unfeasible. Shameik Moore plays a lonely teen pop star and Isabela Merced a small-town girl with a sick mom, and they fall in love within the course of one Christmas Eve. Kiernan Shipka and Mitchell Hope portray childhood best friends who realize their true feelings for each other on the very same evening. All of the teens eventually meet up with their love interests or BFFs at the party of the year, hosted by Jacob Batalon’s character at the Waffle House. “Let It Snow” provides a wholesome romantic story, though the writing and the plot are a tad elementary in their development. There’s also the standard cliches of teen rom-coms present throughout. It might have been interesting to see at least one of the characters not get the ending they wanted, but it seems that the writers wanted to give the audience closure, wrapped in a big Christmas bow. “Let it Snow” wasn’t life-changing in its emotional depth, but can be watched on a snowy night with friends during this holiday season.
Olsen mostly played songs from her newest album, “All Mirrors,” but she squeezed in a few older crowd favorites, such as “Shut Up Kiss Me,” that had every bespectacled hipster awkwardly dancing. This performance was a defining moment in Olsen’s career, and those of us who were in the audience hope she flies to the Twin Cities again soon.
DEC 9 - FEB 3
