Arcade Fire Tackles ... Everything: CT Entertainment

[Also: A look at Hiroshima before the bomb] Also: A look at Hiroshima before the bomb | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [Donate]( [Christianity Today Entertainment Newsletter]( Friday, August 04, 2017 Arcade Fire Tackles … Everything Each week CT's critics offer suggestions for art and entertainment they found encouraging, valuable, or reflective of the good, the true, and the beautiful in God's world. Not every suggestion is suitable for everyone, and each reader is encouraged to investigate the ratings and accompanying content warnings of each suggestion. Have suggestions of your own? Let us know. Maybe we'll pass them on. rclark@christianitytoday.com. —Richard Clark, Online Managing Editor Lana Del Rey Lust for Life | Album Lana has always been obsessed with an idealized 1960s and 1970s but Lust for Life approaches that imagined past from a different perspective. Where previous Lana records operated within a sultry depression, her latest is happy, full of love, and at times, political. She seems to purposefully capture a flower child ethos, in everything from the daisy-strewn hair of a smiling Lana on the album's cover to copying the album title from the Iggy Pop classic to her collaborations with Stevie Nicks and Sean Ono Lennon. This nostalgia-soaked approach works particularly well on "Coachella: Woodstock In My Mind," where Lana (quoting Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven), longs for heaven and the opportunity to ask God why evil exists. — [Matthew Linder]( [Available on iTunes and streaming services] In This Corner of the World | Film A film like In This Corner of the World illustrates by comparison just how thematically narrow and redundant most animated films from American studios are. The latest offering from Sunao Katabuchi (former screenwriter for Hayao Miyazaki and director of Princess Arete), meticulously recreates the life and landscape of Hiroshima just prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb. The story revolves around the life of Suzu, a young married woman whose love of drawing attracts suspicion in the military port and who struggles to feed her family with the meager rations allotted to civilians. Katabuchi, in what can justly be described as a labor of love, reportedly spent six years researching the history of Hiroshima, interviewing what few survivors were still living and collecting over 3,000 photographs to help make the rendering of the city more authentic. The result is an example of cinematic world-building that few movies, live-action or animated, can equal. When the young Suzu makes a quick sketch before leaving town and says, "Goodbye, Hiroshima," the effect is more than merely ironic foreshadowing. We are reminded of the deep human longing to preserve what is beautiful and how fragile and transient our most cherished experiences can be. — [Kenneth R. Morefield]( [Select Theaters] Arcade Fire - Everything Now | Album Arcade Fire has tackled the weighty themes of death (their excellent debut album, Funeral), religion (Neon Bible), American suburbia (The Suburbs), and the digital age (Reflektor). Their fifth album tackles … well … everything, though mostly Western consumer culture and materialism. The title track, an upbeat disco pop song which calls ABBA to mind, is quite catchy if a bit obvious in its lyrics. Though Everything Now isn't nearly as lyrically poetic or interesting as previous efforts, some keen moments of wordplay are charming. "Infinite Content" has an angry punk-rock vibe, while its lyrical doppelganger "Infinite_Content" is a laid-back beach tune. The anthem "infinite content / infinite content / we're infinitely content" equally celebrates and critiques our cultural fascination with content, both the material stuff and the desire for inner peace and tranquility, depending on which syllable one emphasizes. The strongest songs, "Electric Blue" and "We Don't Deserve Love," share their energy through electric synths and funky drum backbeats, as well as layered vocals and melodies. It may not be Arcade Fire's strongest album to date, but it's nonetheless a satisfying listen with its disco-pop aesthetic and simple yet provocative lyrics. — [Joel Mayward]( [Available on iTunes, Amazon Music, or other streaming service] [Recent Documentaries Look to Restore Faith in a Storied Free Press]( A slate of four films highlight journalists' ongoing quest to share truth. Kenneth R. Morefield ['A Ghost Story' Is a Haunting Ode to the Privilege of Witness]( David Lowery's superb supernatural drama offers a God's-eye perspective on the intimate and the infinite. Kevin McLenithan ['To the Bone' Is Big on Anorexia and Lean on Healing]( The new Netflix film seems more aspirational than instructional. Rachel Marie Stone [In 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' Greatness Starts with Becoming a Servant]( Peter Parker has finally entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe—but he can't join the Avengers until he practices the heroic discipline of humility. E. 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