Culture 03Shenzhen Daily Wednesday May 27, 2020

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Song of the Week

Stuck With UAriana Grande and Justin Bieber (That’s just for fun)(What?)I’m not one to stick aroundOne strike and you’re out, babyDon’t care if I sound crazyBut you never let me downNo, noThat’s why when the sun’s up I’m stayin’Still layin’ in your bed singin’Got all this time on my handsMight as well cancel our plansI could stay here for a lifetimeSo lock the doorAnd throw out the keyCan’t fi ght this no moreIt’s just you and meAnd there’s nothing I, nothing I, I can doI’m stuck with you, stuck with you, stuck with youSo go ahead and drive me insaneBaby, run your mouthI still wouldn’t change beingStuck with you, stuck with you, stuck with youI’m stuck with you, stuck with you, stuck with you, babyThere’s nowhere we need to beNo, no, noI’ma get to know you betterKinda hope we’re here foreverThere’s nobody on these streetsIf you told me that the world’s endingAin’t no other way that I could spend itGot all this time in my handsMight as well cancel our plansI could stay here foreverSo lock the doorAnd throw out the keyCan’t fi ght this no moreIt’s just you and meAnd there’s nothing I, nothing I, I can doI’m stuck with you, stuck with you, stuck with you...

Baby, come take all my timeGo on, make me lose my mindWe got all that we need here tonightI lock the door (Lock the door)And throw out the key...

BackgroundThey have been friends for years and share Scooter Braun as their manager, so it is quite surprising that we had to wait this long to hear the fi rst Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber duet. Inspired by the global lockdown due to COVID-19, they have joined forces to raise money for First Responders Children’s Foundation, with all pro-ceeds from their collaborative single being donated. The song could best be described as a soulful R&B ballad, perfectly suitable for a slow dance at prom. Although the two have quite different vocal and music styles, they managed to fi nd a sound that suits both of them, although it is defi nitely closer to Grande’s earlier work. The lyrics are about locking yourself up with your loved one and having nowhere else to go.

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Star Cinema

Hot Read

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

This novel by Betty Smith, thought to be semi-autobiographical, is a beloved American classic about a young girl’s coming-of-age at the turn of the 20th century.

From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity and strength of spirit.

Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behav-ior — such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formal-ity of divorce — no one could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama.

By turns overwhelming, sublime,

heartbreaking and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connect-edness and raw with honesty.

Johnny, a dreamer, seldom works but is looked upon by Francie as a hero. Her mom Katie, who works as a scrub woman cleaning several tenement buildings, is the primary source of the family’s support. She also teaches her children with nightly readings of William Shakespeare and the Bible.

Smith has cap-tured the joys of humble Williams-burg life — from “junk day” on Sat-urdays, when the children of Fran-cie’s neighborhood trade their weekly take for pennies, to the special excite-ment of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and

revelry. She has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experi-ences. ” (SD-Agencies)

Scan the QR code to watch

a trailer for “The Wil-

loughbys.”

Directed by Kris Pearn (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2”) from a script he co-wrote with Mark Stanleigh, this adaptation of the 2008 children’s book by Lois Lowry goes light on the old-fashioned kid-literature parody of its source material, arguably draw-ing greater inspiration from “Home Alone.”

The abundance of familiar elements costs it a few points for originality, but the fi lm’s blend of dark humor with warm sentiment and its whimsical celebration of the resourcefulness of children make for pleasing entertain-ment.

A sardonic blue tabby kicks things off by explaining, “If you love stories about families that stick together, and love each other through thick and thin, and it all ends happily ever after, this isn’t the fi lm for you, OK?”

The parents are so besotted with each other they have no affection left for the children that keep appearing like distasteful intruders.

“If you need love, I beg of you to fi nd

it elsewhere,” the father tells his fi rst-born son Tim, who develops an early fascination with his ancestors and dreams of restoring the family’s former glory. Next comes brainy, artsy Jane, who loves to sing, and twin boys both named Barnaby, correctly described as “creepy” by the cat, though blessed with great mechanical ingenuity. All four are spindly fi gures crowned with thick red mops of hair.

The most basic request, like asking for food for himself and his siblings, earns Tim the punishment of being locked in the coal bin. The Willoughby children risk even more terrible treat-ment from their parents when they take in a foundling baby left in a box on their doorstep one dark night. “I wish we could kick them all out,” sighs their mother.

The baby is such a hyper-agile hand-ful that the kids need to fi nd her a new home, so they go out into the city and follow a rainbow to its end at a giant candy factory run by the eccentric Commander Melanoff. Depositing

the infant there, Tim names her Ruth, “because re-orphaning her makes us the Ruthless Willoughbys.” That gives Jane the idea that they should orphan themselves by discarding their parents.

The children fashion a travel bro-chure to dangerous destinations — “a romantic getaway hiding deadly orphaning opportunities” — ending at an unclimbable mountain in Sweetzer-land. Their parents are silly enough to buy it, though they hire a nanny to stop the kids from wrecking the house while they’re gone.

Their new Nanny turns out to be an ally, not an adversary, especially once she gets wind of the Willoughby parents’ plan to continue their miracu-lously safe travels and sell the house.

(SD-Agencies)

tured the joys of humble Williams-burg life — from “junk day” on Sat-urdays, when the children of Fran-cie’s neighborhood trade their weekly take for pennies, to the special excite-ment of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and

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The Willoughbys《威洛比家的孩子们》

Ariana Grande (L) and Justin Bieber.