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AP PHOTO Movies: Kodachrome Book: “The Art of the Wasted Day” , by Patricia Hampl Music: “44/876” by Sting & Shaggy Wine: The Alpine Bastion II F&B: Grill 58 boasts quality culinary experience Macau Daily Times | Edition 3031 | 20 Apr 2018 More pros than cons for food chains going cashless – it’s a tradeoff X2 PÁTIO DA ILUSÃO illusion DRIVE IN Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer tTUNES STING AND SHAGGY ROAD TRIPS AND REDEMPTION IN COLLABORATE ON NETFLIX’S ‘KODACHROME’ SUNNY REGGAE he characters in the new film ALBUM “Kodachrome ,” a good-na- Ttured if by-the-numbers road trip AP PHOTO and relationship drama with Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen and Ed AP PHOTO Harris, are enchanted by the ana- log. Music is to be listened to on vinyl. Maps are to be read, and not by Siri, to get to a destination. Photographs are best on film. And face time is better than FaceTime when it comes to making amends for decades of bad behavior. It’s a little funny, then, that Net- flix is ultimately the reason that audiences will be able to see “Ko- dachrome.” The company acqui- red the indie at the Toronto Inter- Sting & Shaggy, “44/876” (A&M/ national Film Festival last fall and Interscope Records) is releasing it to streaming custo- mers today. While it’ll certainly he fact that Shaggy and Sting are teaming mean the biggest possible audien- up on a CD does, admittedly, sound like ce for “Kodachrome,” there’s also Ta gimmick. Why are these two very diffe- some irony in a movie about the rent artists together? Because they happen to death of a type of film being re- leased on a service that more than be known by a single name? Why not keep a few are worried will be the dea- going and add Shakira, Sia, Slash and Seal? This image released by Netflix shows Jason Sudeikis [from left], Elizabeth Olsen and Ed Harris in a Maybe one day, but put the snarkiness aside th of another kind of film. scene from “Kodachrome” Harris, who plays a famous pho- and enjoy this warm bromance between the tojournalist rushing against the Jamaican dancehall king and the cool, intel- clock to get some forgotten rolls by Mark Raso (“Copenhagen”) knocking, Ben would like Matt to device, the talented actors eleva- lectual Englishman. developed, even has a heartfelt and written by Jonathan Tropper accompany him (and Zoe, who is te the thin premise and make it “44/876” — the title is a combo of the phone monologue about how “nothing (“This is Where I Leave You”) his caretaker, but we’ll get to that worth watching — especially the country codes for Sting’s native England and beats the real thing” and how adds some stakes and drama to later), on a road trip from New end. Shaggy’s Jamaica — makes sense as soon as digital photographs are basically this, and even riffs on the fact York to Kansas to get Ben’s film Sudeikis, in particular, shines in you recall Sting’s liberal use of reggae rhy- just “electronic dust.” His cha- that Kodachrome was also the developed before the shop closes this unusually dramatic role and thms as part of The Police. racter doesn’t get into the topic title of a Paul Simon song by and he dies. exhibits a depth he touched on in It turns out there’s real chemistry between of digital movies and streaming making the lead, Matt (Sudeikis), Despite a lot of protesting, they films like “Sleeping with Other Shaggy, whose deep, thick cadences made services, but, it’s so on the nose, it a music producer. make a deal with Matt and he People” and “Colossal” but that “Boombastic” and “It Wasn’t Me” such belo- can’t help but trigger the thought. Matt is having a lousy day when takes off in a red convertible with he really gets to live in here. ved hits, and Sting’s flexible, honeyed voice. Not that the look of the movie is we meet him, losing a big client Ben and Zoe. If you’ve ever seen “Kodachrome” was never going The duo helped write every song on the even all that classical or “analog” and getting an ultimatum from a movie before, you can proba- rock the industry or disrupt whe- 12-track album and their collaboration has anyway. The images are smoo- his boss that he’s got to evolve bly guess where this is going: re things are going, but maybe triggered some interesting — some might say th and pretty, but sanitized and, and sign someone. It only gets Ups and downs and fights and the fact that Netflix is making it curious — songwriting, including lifted poe- well, digital. But the intentions worse when a woman he’s never reconciliation and a burgeoning available to more eyes than wou- try from Lewis Carroll for “Just One Lifeti- are sweet. met before, Zoe (Elizabeth Ol- romance all bubble up on their ld have ever seen it five years me” and some role-playing (Shaggy portrays It’s based on a 2010 New York sen), shows up to tell him that his drive to the Midwest. This is a ago is its own kind of silver li- a judge and Sting a defendant on the innova- Times article by A.G. Sulzberger father, Ben (Harris), is dying and road that has been traveled befo- ning for small character dramas about the closing of the last pro- would like to see him. re, many, many times. that always seem to be on verge tive “Crooked Tree”). cessor of Kodachrome, Dway- Matt and Ben haven’t spoken for And while this makes much of of going to way of Kodachrome. The first, title song smartly honors Bob Mar- ne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, a decade, and their relationship the journey predictable, not to ley — Sting says Marley’s ghost “haunts me that inspired amateur and pro- was already strained and sour mention the fact that the presen- “Kodachrome,” a Netflix release, to this day/ There’s a spiritual truth in the fessional photographers to make before then with the death of ce of Zoe, who doesn’t do all that is Not Rated by the Motion Picture words of his song” — as a way of inoculating a journey to the shop to develop Matt’s mother and Ben’s gene- much caretaking, is an offensi- Association of America. Running everyone for this quirky offering. Then it’s their last rolls. The film, directed ral absence. But now, with death vely contrived and obvious plot time: 105 minutes. off to more trop-hop on this sunny Caribbean jaunt. There’s the pro-immigrant, Motown-inflec- ted “Dreaming in the U.S.A.” where Shaggy, a former U.S. Marine, notes he defended the nation. That adds weight to his statement: “I await the day when we will all inhabit a better BOOK IT America.” Sting, for his part, seems fed up with Britain: “The politics of this country are getting to ‘THE ART OF THE WASTED DAY’ me,” he sings in one song. Then in the slinky AP PHOTO standout “Waiting for the Break of Day,” he EXPLORES SILENCE AND SOLITUDE hits again: “You see some politicians/ You hear the things they say/ You hear the false- ness in their positions.” ritically praised Patricia Hampl invites rea- you happy? Hampl’s research into the “to go” Branford Marsalis stops by to play sax and ders to take a journey to explore the idea of or “to stay” preference eventually leads her to Robbie Shakespeare helps on bass. Sting’s Ca life steeped in leisure without schedules. French philosopher Michel de Montaigne. This daughter, Eliot Sumner, gets a writing credit In “The Art of the Wasted Day,” Hampl takes a “modern daydreamer” is Hampl’s muse. and sings on “Night Shift.” Others featured closer look at people’s need to constantly add to Hampl weaves personal stories throughout the on the CD are Eliot Sumner and Morgan He- the to-do list, as real life passes them by. Will a course of the book as she travels to the homes of ritage. time of personal tranquility ever be considered individuals who were famously known for se- You soon realize that Sting and Shaggy need equally as important as the daily grind? clusion. She visits Bordeaux, Wales, Moravia, each other, nowhere more so than on “22nd In the first chapters, Hampl suggests that the and even spends time at a Benedictine monas- Street,” which is like a rejected cut from “The America Dream is built on a life that thrives. tery. But nothing compares to her time cruising Dream of the Blue Turtles” until Sting’s deli- The most convincing piece of evidence is wri- down the Mississippi with her husband. cate china shop is entered by Shaggy and his tten in the Declaration of Independence. The “The Art of the Wasted Day” is literary art bearish voice. founding fathers placed “the pursuit of happi- in and of itself. Hampl, known for her work The album’s first single, “Don’t Make Me ness” as a foundational mandate of how Ameri- in prose, has the ability to paint a meticulous Wait,” a sway-inducing pop song with a reg- cans should approach long-standing goals. The picture in each essay. Readers will easily con- gae sheen, turns out to be only a taste of what juxtaposition between striving to be happy ver- jure images of the gardens, experience the in- these men can bring, their two vocal and mu- sus just being happy is what sent Hampl on an tricate details of architecture and hopefully sical styles melding into something as deli- adventure to figure out the art of leisure.

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