Category: Arts

Honey Boy stunned me. Quite honestly, after walking out of the theater, I was dazed and reflective and really grateful to have experienced this film. I had a lot of mixed thoughts on this movie, and so I suppose I’ll give sorting them a try.

Firstly, it has to be recognized that this movie is just upsetting. It’s a sad movie and the wisps of hope and joy found throughout the film seem to only amplify the grand sadness underscoring everything. When looking into just how autobiographical this screenplay is for LaBeouf, one finds this film to be (sorry that all the critics are saying this but it’s just true) a large act of therapy and coping. The meta references to this film being made within the work itself combined with the jarring real-life photos of Shia and his family at the end credits point towards an attempt by LaBeouf to lay everything out, place it together, and try to make sense of how he got to where he is. The fact that LaBeouf plays the character reflecting his father adds to the coping going on as you can see him working to access his father’s head space. This performance, along with truly all others in the film, was arresting and touching. (To be honest, I’ve always been really skeptical of Lucas Hedges’ work but I feel like he really inhabits a different life in this movie.)  LaBeouf’s time on screen specifically transcended the plot as one watches reality and art intertwine and speak to each other.

This leads me to the conflicting thoughts that grew out of this experience: when can we get gritty and touching movies of trauma that extend beyond white men? Of course, this is when I lose a big group of people as apparently pointing this out is now a cliché or punchline or something, but I can’t help but wonder how many more stories we have of women and people of color’s struggles and how they deserve an outlet and audience like Honey Boy. Obviously beautiful movies like that are being made, but I guess I just feel this movie got a much more understanding audience compared to films that are “Oscar bait” because they’re representing the struggles that a white American audience doesn’t want to engage with. It doesn’t help in this case as FKA Twigs’ character, one of the only central female characters, is an unnamed prostitute that simply serves as a newfound mother figure (verging on an uncomfortable sexual role) to protagonist Otis. Or that in general the only women in this film are either mother figures, therapists, or strippers. This choice may help in understanding the molding of Otis’ worldview but also… “Shy Girl” at least deserved a name. This take deserves a lot more nuance but I wanted to bring up something that crossed my mind while sitting in the theater.

Honey Boy deserves a (critical) watch as it is well made, touching, and speaks to the celebrity culture of the past few decades in terms of its plot as well as its conception and execution.

Waves is a film of a suburban African-American family coping with the various things life throws at them. Coming from director Trey Edward Shults, known for It Comes at Night. It will surely be interesting to see how a horror director takes on a drama like this one, especially one set in a sticky Floridian climate. Simply looking at the trailer, it’s evident that the cinematography was handled with care–we’ll see how that coincides with the plot and performances!

Student tickets are $8.50, stop by the State and catch up on all the great movies coming out this month.

Ahh, the season of Christmas movies. Elf is a truly classic (and hilarious) movie about one elf who doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the North Pole. Trying to find his real father, he travels to New York, in full elf uniform and with no idea how the real world works. The movie follows him as he finds his father (who is nothing like him) and causes chaos wherever he goes, all surrounded by the theme of Christmas.

This movie is playing for free at the Michigan Theater auditorium tomorrow, Sunday 12/15 at 1:30 pm. I love this iconic Christmas movie, and it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Bring your family and friends to this holiday quintessential!

Link to the Michigan Theater website: https://www.michtheater.org/show/elf/

A Christmas Story centers around the story of a young boy looking to convince anyone and everyone that the best Christmas gift for him would be the Red Ryder BB gun, including his parents, Santa, and his teacher at school. As Christmas looms closer, he experiences all sorts of mishaps that would befall a kid in the 1980s, and we are swept along in the comedy and merriment of it all.

As a first time watcher of this classic movie, I feel like I have a more unique perspective, especially on some things that a young child watching this movie may not have picked up on. First, the subtle (and maybe not so subtle) sexism of the time period, shown in the “dictator father” and “housekeeping mother” stereotypes. Also, it was a terrible influence on children to regard a gun so highly! This influence probably gave many kids the idea that having a gun for themselves is a good idea and made them want one. However, despite its flaws, the movie was funny, heartwarming, silly, and a fun watch.

I really enjoyed that the movie was from Ralphie’s perspective, and that we got to hear his inner thoughts and daydreams. I think that there are not many movies today that are in this style, and it made for a very interesting and entertaining watch. When Ralphie imagined something as much more exaggerated than it was, like him being blind and his parents crying that they were sorry, it was a very realistic dream that a kid might have. And the fact that he thought his writing and ideas were amazing was also a funny addition that is certainly a trait all kids have. To hear everything from his perspective appealed to both a child, who could relate to his problems, as well as to an adult, who could laugh at the embellishment of it all.

The story was also humorous, in some ways that it was supposed to be, and some just because the time period was so different. It was intriguing to watch a movie from almost 40 years ago, as so much of what they considered normal would be so strange now. One example is that the children’s lifestyles were so different from what it is like today. The kids went places by themselves, even the little brother, and the teachers and parents let them roam around and play at such a young age. But it was also humorous because of the silly things that kids do, like dare each other to lick a cold lamppost, and believe very much in the power of Santa.

Also, just as a side note, I did not realize until watching this movie where that iconic leg lamp was from! I have seen it before, and I never knew its origins. I loved how much the dad loved the lamp, even though it was so ugly, and that Ralphie kept caressing it when they first received it.

Despite its flaws, I think this was a wonderful movie and a delightful story, that can be shared with a loved one or the whole family. Enjoy your holiday season!

Honey Boy is a film about a coming of age amidst fame. As much as the phrase “coming of age” may cause one to recoil from the assumed avalanche of clichés to come, this movie’s screenplay is by Shia LaBeouf and is slightly autobiographical. I think that alone is enough to engage people critical of the tired structure it confronts due to LaBeouf’s uneven and highly publicized trajectory post-Disney. The high acclaim I’ve been seeing from critics both in the newspaper and in social media doesn’t hurt your reasons to go, either.

Honey Boy is showing at the State Theater, so grab an $8.50 student ticket and try to forget about the insanity of finals season!!