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REVIEW: Lady Bird

November 22, 2017November 22, 2017 changje Leave a comment

I cried five times while watching Lady Bird, which would be exceptionally significant if not coming from the girl who cried so hard she nearly busted a blood vessel in her eye after watching Madagascar 2. Regardless, Lady Bird was the perfect way for me to wash out the ol’ tear ducts. To whomever may be reading this review: if you’re looking for a quirky indie movie with a convincing cast… WATCH LADY BIRD.

While at first coming across as a typical coming-of-age story centering around a eccentric-yet-lovable protagonist armed with an average stockpile of romantic escapades, best friend drama, and parent troubles, Lady Bird delivers more of a punch. Yes, the movie does contain these elements, but casts another layer onto them. Catherine aka. “Lady Bird,” our heroine, immediately captivates the audience with her snarky dialogue and subtly pink hair. However, there is an element of vulnerability in her character that becomes nearly instantly evident and endearing. I couldn’t help but feel affection towards this spunky high school senior who isn’t afraid of standing out but is not unquestionably defiant of authority– in fact, she has a passion for theater and fosters a sort of friendship with one of the nuns at her Catholic school, setting her apart from previous, “i-hate-everyone-why-am-i-so-different-and-quirky” protagonist archetypes of similar indie movies. Nearly every character was endearing in their own special ways.

Lady Bird is a movie about growing up, but it is also one about mother-daughter relationships. The relationship between Lady Bird and her mother is so so real and beautifully crafted. One could see the obvious love that undercut the tension between them. There was one scene in particular at the end that hit home particularly hard- the woman sitting next to me was probably getting fed up with my periodic crying-noises of anguish.

And yet, there are precious moments of humor that made the entire theater shout with laughter. The humor in this film is smart and dry, cutting through moments of heavy emotion with its quick-wittedness.

Lady Bird perfectly captures teen-girl longing, frustration, restlessness, and nostalgia in a way that is not corny or unrealistic: because there were elements of realism in each area of Lady Bird’s journey. There is no ‘fairy-tale ending’ for any of the characters. The ending of the movie, while I am not going to spoil it, cuts off almost ominously, allowing one to wonder about the fate of Lady Bird and her loved ones.

If you didn’t get a chance to experience Lady Bird yet, don’t fret. Michigan Theater has showtimes until November 30th. Tickets are $8 with student ID.

Featured image credits: Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24

REVIEW: Shift Talent Showcase

November 16, 2017November 16, 2017 changje Leave a comment

Pendleton was completely packed with people on Thursday, November 16th at 7 PM. And more kept pouring in, so much so that chairs ran out and some people had to stand near the walls; not that they particularly minded, given the spectacular pieces of visual art that encircled the room. Shift, a showcase of immigrant and refugee narratives as well as a celebration of various cultures, expressed through various art mediums, was a resounding success.

Redefine, a student organization that aims to connect social justice work and creative expression, worked for weeks on planning this event in collaboration with Zeta Omega Eta, Refugees to College, Students Organize for Syria, Iraqi Student Association, and Call for Humanity. As a member of the club, I have watched the e-board members tirelessly work towards creating this first-ever event. Their hard work evidently payed off; the atmosphere was both lively and somber at respective points in the night, though the overall vibe was one of warm receptivity.

Mariam Reda and Komel Khan, co-president and artists chair of the club, respectively, were the MC’s of the night. Mariam outlined how the event originated out of the current tumultuous campus climate, and how it is more important than ever to listen to the narratives of others. They emphasized how this event aimed to provide an alternate means of accessing those narratives, namely through works of creative expression, including visual art, dance, spoken word, and film. A showcase of visual art, including photography and pencil drawings, was set up in the back of the room.

All of the performances and pieces were touching and powerful, two- and three-dimensional alike. A spoken word poem, performed by Maryam Younes, caused a hush to settle over the room, as her powerful performance on the immigrant experience of estrangement and assimilation captivated the audience; the exuberant Afro-Brazilian performance group ,UM Capoeira, brought smiles and laughter back into the room. Personally, there was one quote from Asrar, an immigrant from Sudan, that particularly affected me: “Christmas is special because even though they know that Santa is not real and people know it, they still pretend Santa is real. We don’t have a Christmas back home, nor snow. People know Santa is not real, but they still have hope. I think that this is really beautiful. I want people to see this photo and to keep up the pretending of Santa Claus and Christmas. This is not bad, this is beautiful.” For me, these simple words of pure joy and enthusiasm for the future brought actual tears to my eyes, ones that I quickly blinked away. This quote was excerpted from one of the pieces from the JPS Refugee Photo-voice Project, “Resettlement Through the Eyes of Refugees”, and the accompanying photos-and-quotes were just as moving. There were messages of hope, of jaded dreams, of hardships.

This night was very special, and it was awesome to be able to inhabit a shared space focused on broadening one’s perspective in a respectable way. Hopefully Redefine will bring similarly necessary and powerful events to campus in the future.

PREVIEW: Shift Talent Showcase

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 changje Leave a comment

Art is a powerful tool for community awareness and social change, which is why Redefine, a student organization that connects social justice and the arts, has coordinated Shift, an event intended to highlight the immigrant experiences of students on campus, as well as to champion diversity within the Michigan community.

Shift will feature artists from the Middle East, India, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Brazil, as well as from many more areas. There will be narratives that center around the experiences of immigrants, refugees, and international students. The event will feature multicultural performances, a two-hour art exhibition, and FREE FOOD.

I am a member of Redefine, and I know that the e-board has been working tirelessly for the past few weeks in preparation for this upcoming event, partnered with the student organizations Zeta Omega Eta, Refugees to College, Iraqi Student Association, Students Organize for Syria, and The Call for Humanity. Please check it out! This event promises to be a spectacular night.

Event details:
When: Thursday November 16, 7-9PM
Where: The Pendleton Room at the Michigan Union
Cost: FREE!!!

REVIEW: Loving Vincent

November 4, 2017November 5, 2017 changje Leave a comment

It was a dark and stormy night as I walked my way to the Michigan Theater for the Saturday premiere of Loving Vincent. However, the dreary weather did not dissuade many from showing up to experience the film, which proved to be very rewarding.

I knew, going into the theater, that the film’s existence itself is almost miraculous– over 100 expert painters worked to create more than 6,000 frames of paintings done in the style of Van Gogh, making it the first and only painted animated film in the world. However, I was unprepared for how overwhelmingly the art, plot, and characters melted together masterfully to produce such a moving take on Van Gogh’s biography.

The striking thing about this biographical take is that it begins a year after Van Gogh takes his own life. While a surprising, but not unprecedented, artistic choice, focusing on the subject’s death and tracing the steps that led up to it often sets a bleak mood from the beginning, though Loving Vincent separates that overall mood and gives it particular names: guilt, regret, sorrow, grief, all of which reverberate from Van Gogh’s suicide. The film opens up with a shot of the familiar Van Gogh piece “Starry Night”; zooming into the village below, while still retaining the characteristic, colorful swirls of Van Gogh’s artistic style, the viewer is immediately transported into the plot, which moves almost as fluidly as the brushstrokes that compose each masterfully produced frame.

Armand, the son of Vincent Van Gogh’s postman, who is tasked by his father to deliver Van Gogh’s last letter addressed to his brother, Theo. Unwillingly, Armand is whisked into a scavenger hunt for clues that will piece together the real reason Van Gogh ended his own life. His mission takes him to every corner of the town Van Gogh died in, meeting characters who knew the artist before his death; his doctor, the daughter of his landlord, a young woman with whom he shared an intimate relationship with, the boatsman who often sat with the artist as he painted on the riverside, and other locals. Without revealing too much revealing content about the outcome of the film, I will emphasize that I appreciated the way that Van Gogh’s character was still left with a certain degree of ambiguity in the end, a type of mystique that the film did not attempt to force into definite causes and effects.

I was most impressed by the scenes that contained shots of smoke, water, and fire; it was mystifying to watch and know that these seemingly fluid, effortless movements were painstakingly labored over to produce the desired degree of motion. I cannot stress enough how beautiful this film is; it is by far one of the most gorgeous ones I have ever seen.

However, although the artistic achievement of this movie is beyond praise, I found myself becoming a little bit confused as the plot thickened. The network of characters and their associations quickly becomes vast and intricate, although each piece of the puzzle fits in nicely, in the end.

I highly recommend this film for both Van Gogh fans and casual observers alike. The Michigan Theater will be showing it until November 9th. Tickets can be purchased here: https://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=335674~c76be4f4-22b5-4bed-a89c-7def863b8c53&

PREVIEW: Loving Vincent

November 3, 2017November 3, 2017 changje Leave a comment

Starry Night. Sunflowers. Irises. Though the subjects of some of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous works are classically beautiful and depicted with swirls of vibrant colors that render them near-mystical, the artist himself led a tortured life. His eventual suicide at age 37 was predated preceded by a life of poverty and mental illness.

Vincent Van Gogh has his struggles documented through his own works in Loving Vincent, a biographical film that is the first and only fully painted animation film in existence. Van Gogh’s paintings are brought to life by a team of 115 classically trained painters who created 65,000 individual frames for the film, though only around 1,000 survived the process and actually made it into the production. The film won the “Most Popular International Feature” award at the Vancouver International Film Festival (2017), was nominated for “Best Original Score” in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2017, and received the Golden Goblet for best Animation Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Loving Vincent is bound to be a spectacular visionary journey through the life of one of the most influential painters in Western art. Tickets can be purchased on the Michigan Theater website. ($8 for students with ID).