Category: Arts

REVIEW: Lady Bird

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

PREVIEW: Writer to Writer

tintinj Leave a comment

What: A conversation between one Sweetland faculty member and Dr. Howard Markel, UM professor of History of Medicine on the writing process outside of the classroom.

Time and Venue: 21 Nov 7-8pm, Literati Bookstore (wooh!)

Who is this for: Aspiring writers, fans of Dr. Markel, writers-trudging-through-first-year-writing-courses (aka yours truly)– anyone really.

Why watch: Writing is mysterious because it’s so personal. We’re getting a glimpse into this process.

 

PREVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Angela Lin Leave a comment

An unsolved murder case. A grieving, demanding, unapologetic, bold mother. Controversial billboards. “Dim-bulb” police officers. Violence in the name of love, hatred, hope, rage, and forgiveness. Comedy. Crime. Drama. What more do you want in a movie? Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri features all these elements and more. Starring Academy Award winners Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes and Woody Harrelson as William Willoughby, with Sam Rockwell as Officer Dixon, this dark comedic drama captures “something truthfully human.” The film opens at the Michigan Theater on Tuesday, November 21. Student tickets are $8, and it is also free with a Passport to the Arts voucher from November 22-29!

REVIEW: Dont Look Back

Laura Dzubay Leave a comment

Bob Dylan is celebrated far and wide for his sense of enigma. It draws many fans to him like a magnet — the fact that he rarely, if ever, reveals details of his personal life, the impenetrable nature of his ever-changing persona. In fact, I actually went to see him in concert this October, and I was surprised by the fact that he didn’t say a single word outside of the songs that he played. This mystery is a trait that he carries even to this day, and it can be traced all the way back to the very beginnings of his fame in the 1960s.

Dont Look Back, a 1967 documentary focusing on his 1965 tour of London, England, brings its audience closer to Dylan — the “real” Dylan, if there is such a thing — than any of them are otherwise likely to get. This Dylan is striking, more than anything, because he wavers so much between different facades. At times he is visionary, playing guitar and singing straight from his heart, or talking honestly with people who see life differently from him; at other times he is downright arrogant, interrupting people often and discounting their opinions in favor of his own. Sometimes he is quiet and attentive, carefully listening while fellow musicians like Donovan and Joan Baez play music for him in hotel rooms; sometimes he is loud and angry almost to the point of not making sense, like when he demands to know who in his hotel is guilty of throwing glass into the street. He’s humble and down-to-earth, but also remarkably full of himself (“I know I’m big noise,” he taunts to a man he has accused of being guilty of the glass-throwing). Sometimes he’s very serious, and sometimes he grins and makes jokes — and what’s more, he’ll often switch between many of these attitudes within the span of a single minute.

Of course, many of these less endorsable sides of Dylan — that he is argumentative, acerbic, full of himself, etc. — are traits that a great deal of his fans will easily dismiss. They’ll say, “That’s just the way he is,” or, “That’s what makes him so great — he’s not afraid to tell people how it is!” Luckily, the film itself takes no sides; with no retrospective voiceover or imbalance regarding what footage it decides to show us, it is indiscriminate. It leaves its audience to make their own decisions.

The crowning achievement of Dont Look Back, then, is that it’s honest. It gives fans an inner look at everything they love about Dylan — the ways in which he can be at once relatable and completely, untouchably elevated — while refusing to shy away from the paradoxes of his character that at times can undercut this. I’ll admit feeling a personal pang of anger during a moment in the movie when Dylan tells a reporter something on the lines of, “I know more about you and your profession, just now from meeting you, than you will ever know about me.” But I also laughed anytime Dylan told a joke, and watched breathlessly during recordings of his live performances of songs like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Talkin’ World War III Blues”.

Dont Look Back was filmed at the height of Dylan’s fame and at the cusp of some of his most major creative breakthroughs (a.k.a., his 1967 triple-album win with Bringing it All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde, and Highway 61 Revisited). It situates us directly in Dylan’s touring life, to the point that we feel like we’re actually sitting where the camera operator is sitting, three or four feet away from him. It is arguably the closest any film has ever or can ever really come to penetrating the eternal mystery and captivating persona of Bob Dylan, for better or for worse.

REVIEW: Dessa @ The Blind Pig

kjwuzhere Leave a comment

Tuesday night, which happened to be before my Math 481 midterm (a fact I did not realize until I had already agreed to review this concert), Dessa and crew came to town. Though I had been looking forward to this concert for sometime, I had also been counting on Tuesday to study. I ended up choosing the concert, but I might live to regret this decision (in approximately a week, when I get the exam back).

When I got there, the first act was already well underway though the crowd was still sparse. The song I could hear James Gardin playing as I entered the venue struck me as generic and ugly, but the next few songs he played were much better. His songs are shockingly well-produced for a local rapper, featuring soothing beats and rhythmic choruses. The lyrics, much like his stage presence, feature uplifting verses and a message for unity in times of trouble. Although the audience was clearly not there for him, he succeeded in getting people interested and vibing to his music. Furthermore, his crowd interactions demonstrated excitement and compassion for his audience, which helped to start the concert off on a positive note. At one point, he asked for two volunteers to say a bit about themselves and then freestyled based on what they told him–and as someone not often impressed by freestyle, he did quite well.

The next opening act (and also Dessa’s backing band) was MONAKR. Their music served as an interlude between Gardin and Dessa’s rapping. Their lyrics were either softly sung or gently wailed, depending on the tempo of the song. At times, there were rapid and impressive drum beats dragging the songs along, but others were almost entirely electronic, built from varied sounds slowly coming to crescendo. Either way, the tone of their set was distinctly different, and chilled the audience to a certain extent. Their stage presence featured a few too many jokes about their name (for reference, it’s pronounced the same as moniker) and didn’t have a clear speaker (both the singer and the guitarist would attempt to speak at the same time) designated to talk to the audience. Still, I would definitely recommend checking out their sound.

Finally, there was Dessa. Her performance was upbeat and her songs simultaneously rocked and soothed, featuring rapping and singing and tightly produced melodies. In between songs, she was clearly a performer who loved her fans, and the words she said seemed to come from an open and honest place, as if she were writing in a journal and not speaking to a room filled with a couple hundred. Though she played old favorites, much of her set was spent testing out new material for an upcoming album (still unannounced), and as a fan, there isn’t much greater pleasure than these concert sneak peaks. Overall, Dessa navigated her performance and dialogue well, and demonstrated a love and passion for her work, one that she has for over a decade in an often unforgiving industry.

REVIEW: Shift Talent Showcase

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.