Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 29 March 2019
A symphony of debauchery in 'The Beach Bum'

By LINDSEY BAHR McConaughey gives and
Associated Press bares (nearly) all for this
Matthew McConaughey film. And it mostly works.
is at his dirt bag finest as a Korine, with the help of his
good-time Charlie stoner- innately charismatic star
poet named Moondog and talented cinematog-
in Harmony Korine's "The rapher Benoit Debie, nearly
Beach Bum," a bizarre and pulls off an incredible trick
transfixing carnival of vul- having made a flagrant
garity and vice. and aggressively R-rated
In some ways it's the part he celebration of South Flori-
was born to play. Whether da hedonism and deprav-
or not that's a good thing ity that's also kind of funny
for him, or unsuspecting and even, sometimes, odd-
audiences, is unclear, but ly sweet and charming.
This image released by Neon shows Matthew McConaughey, left, and Snoop Dogg in a scene
from "The Beach Bum."
Associated Press

It's hard not to stress just ward that state. Suffice it to The success of the whole
how strange a movie "The say, it comes as a bit of a endeavor might come
Beach Bum" is, although surprise to learn that he has down to exactly how on
anyone familiar with Ko- a wife, Minnie (Isla Fisher), a board you are with Moon-
rine's other films, "Spring grown daughter, Heather dog's pursuit of fun, which
Breakers" probably being (Stefania LaVie Owen) and starts to seriously curdle
the most mainstream of the a waterfront mansion back during an overextended
batch, won't be all that sur- in Miami. "I forgot how rich segment with Zac Efron,
prised. He has set this odys- we are," Moondog opines who plays a deviant who
sey in and around Miami to Minnie, who is the walk- Moondog goes on an es-
and the Florida Keys, which ing embodiment of trashy cape-from-rehab bender
have never looked more affluence. She too is hav- with. The destruction and
neon, rotted or depraved. ing an affair with a wealthy havoc he incites starts to
Moondog is introduced weed dealer named Linge- feel less like comedy and
in resplendent glory in the rie (Snoop Dogg). more like a horror movie.
Keys, where the cannabis But for some reason she By the time you get to meet
and women are as plentiful loves her loser husband. Martin Lawrence's Captain
as ocean water and there "He's from another dimen- Wack, Moondog and the
for the taking, and the sion," Minnie coos, as an film have truly checked out
bras and tops scarce. He apparent way of explain- of planet Earth and settled
is tanned to a crisp; with a ing away all of his uncon- entirely on this other dimen-
mop of fried, shaggy blond ventional ways. He's a ge- sion.
locks framing his nearly un- nius, we're told, and a cel- There is a lot of fun to be
recognizable face. At times ebrated poet whose agent had living in Moondog's
you even forget there's a (played by a very over-the- world for 95 minutes, and
handsome actor under- top Jonah Hill) is itching for the film goes down suspi-
neath the tacky wrap- a follow-up. When things ciously easy for something
around sunglasses. go awry and he loses ev- so ugly and amoral. But it's
He is a giggling burnout su- erything, it's his typewriter also no wonder why once
preme with an ever-pres- that he brings along with you're out of the intoxicat-
ent PBR tallboy, who you him in a silky white sack ing haze of Korine's milieu
suspect might be home- that he slings casually over that a bad taste starts to
less, or at least veering to- his shoulder. form.q
'Fake' Botticelli work turns out to

be from artist's studio

Associated Press painting in Florence's Uffizi cares for hundreds of histor-
LONDON (AP) — Art ex- Gallery — was "stylistically ic sites, said that X-ray and
perts in Britain have discov- too similar to be an imita- infrared tests showed an
ered that a painting long tion." under-drawing and chang-
thought to be a fake San- The painting had been as- es to the composition that's
dro Botticelli in fact came sumed to be a later copy uncommon in imitations.
from the master's own Flor- because it's different to the "It was of the right period,
ence workshop. original in detail, and the it was technically correct
After stripping back a cen- thick yellow varnish had and it was painted on pop-
tury of yellowing varnish concealed the quality of lar, a material commonly
and surface dirt, conser- the vivid reds, blues and used at the time," she said.
vators confirmed Thursday golds. It will go on display in Rang-
that "Madonna Of The But Rachel Turnbull, a senior er's House, a Georgian villa
Pomegranate" — a smaller conservator at the char- in southeastern London,
version of the famous 1487 ity English Heritage, which from April 1.q