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a14 people & arts
Thursday 14 July 2022
Review: Dakota Johnson brings a modern spark to 'Persuasion'

By LINDSEY BAHR tor (the lovely Nikki Amuka-
The new adaptation of " Bird) and has come back
Persuasion, " coming to into her life eight years lat-
Netflix Friday, does not er with wealth and good
seem to have been made standing. He is now, as far
for Jane Austen fans. as society is concerned, a
Her book about the unmar- man of consequence. Jar-
ried Anne Elliot, who at 27 vis, with his mournful eyes,
is on the edge of spinster- warm smile and inscrutable
hood and regretting hav- intentions, is a perfect Aus-
ing been persuaded to ten leading man. And he
give up her true love years and Johnson, even when
earlier because of his lowly across the room from one
status, was the author's last another, have a spark.
before her death. It is no- The pint-sized Mia McKen-
table and beloved for how na-Bruce is viciously funny
it's distinct from her more as Anne's younger sister
widely known and adapt- Mary while Nia Towle is the
ed books like "Pride and picture of innocence as
Prejudice" and "Emma," Louisa. Richard E. Grant, as
with its mature heroine, its Anne's vain father Walter
more reserved wit and its Elliot, adds life as well but
distinctly melancholy un- This image released by Netflix shows Dakota Johnson in a scene from "Persuasion." he's sparingly used. Henry
dertones. "Persuasion" also Associated Press Golding also has fun play-
boasts one of her most ro- ing a cad, Mr. Elliot.
mantic monologues. Austen's works are hardly This "Persuasion" has a whiff age to sell much of it. She is The screenplay is credited
This version, directed by impenetrable for modern of condescension to it, as subtle where many might to Ron Bass ("Rain Man," "My
British theater veteran Car- audiences. Over 200 years though it doesn't trust its choose something big and Best Friend's Wedding") and
rie Cracknell and starring later, they remain acces- audience to empathize breaks the fourth wall like Alice Victoria Winslow, who
Dakota Johnson as Anne, sible and relevant. There's a with Anne without seeing she's letting us in on a se- had the good sense to pre-
inserts modern phrases and reason why it seems like ev- her crying in a bathtub and cret. It may be "Fleabag"- serve that famous mono-
"Fleabag" tropes into a Re- ery year there's several Aus- chugging wine from the esque, but she's not imitat- logue at the very least. But
gency-era setting. It is like ten-inspired films or shows bottle while she tells us in ing Phoebe Waller-Bridge. by the time we get there,
an Austen amuse bouche populating our screens voiceover that she's "thriv- She's making it her own. it almost makes one wish
— an entry-level cover ver- (just this summer we've got- ing." Maybe the crying in In fact, most of the cast is that this were just a more
sion that tries to rev up the ten "Fire Island" and "Mr. the bathtub/wine bit has rather vibrant and full of straightforward adaptation
humor and speak directly Malcolm's List"). Her sto- just been done too many newish discoveries — es- without all the buzzwords.
to Gen Z by using its lingo ries have not only stood times. You can't help but pecially Cosmo Jarvis (who This cast and the director
— or at least an advertis- the test of time but have feel that Johnson, a gifted some will recognize from could have carried it and
ing executive's idea of also bloomed in delightful comedienne, deserved "Lady Macbeth") as Anne's the audience would have
what Gen Z sounds like. But ways in modern contexts. something more creative old love Frederick Went- been there. Or perhaps this
something feels off about Just look at "Clueless" and and less cliche. worth. She rejected him at will bring some fresh blood
the way it is executed. "Bridget Jones's Diary." And yet Johnson does man- 19 at the advice of a men- to Austen, after all.q

Joy Harjo picture book 'Remember' to

come out next year

By HILLEL ITALIE earth are connected," the how to negotiate this life of
NEW YORK (AP) — Joy Har- publisher's announcement struggles and beauty. The
jo, who recently complet- reads in part. poem has a life of its own.
ed a three-year run as the The poem "Remember," This poem has accompa-
country's poet laureate, will published nearly 40 years nied me much of my life.
have a picture book out ago, is a tribute to the It is on a spacecraft head-
next spring. cosmos and our place in ing to Jupiter, it is a song,
Random House Children's it. Admirers of "Remem- dances have been made
Books announced Wednes- ber" extend beyond the of it, and it has been trans-
day that Harjo's "Remem- poetry community: NASA lated into my Mvskoke lan-
ber," adapted from her announced last year that guage."
celebrated poem of the some lines were included in Harjo, 71, was the first Native
same name, is scheduled a plaque/time capsule on American to serve as poet
for March 21, 2023. The a spacecraft headed for laureate. Earlier this week,
book will feature illustra- the Trojan asteroids orbiting the Library of Congress an-
tions by the award-winning Jupiter. nounced she would be
Michaela Goade. "'Remember' is one of my succeeded by Ada Limón.
"In simple and direct lan- earliest poems. It came to- Goade's illustrations for
guage, Harjo, a member of gether as I was first becom- Carole Lindstrom's "We Are
the Mvskoke Nation, urges ing a poet, and needed to Water Protectors" brought
This image released by Random House Children’s Books shows readers to pay close atten- remind myself about what her a Caldecott Medal in
"Remember" by U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo and Michaela tion to who they are, the mattered," Harjo said in a 2021, the first time a Native
Goade.
Associated Press world they were born into, statement. "Every one of had received the presti-
and how all inhabitants on us needs spiritual food for gious children's prize.q