Tag: Michigan theater

REVIEW: Page of Madness

Abby Z Leave a comment

For the second time since spring break, renowned Japanese benshi, Ichiro Kataoka, joined us in Ann Arbor for a special performance of a Japanese silent film, this time the avant-garde film Page of Madness.  Page of Madness revolves around man who works as a janitor at an asylum to be near his wife who is a patient there. With only 10 of these benshi, traditional narrators of Japanese silent films, left in the world this is a true treat.  I had been absolutely stunned by Kataoka’s skill the first time I saw him perform alongside the silent gangster film Dragnet Girl, and was only left more impressed by talent and professionalism this time around.  Just like last time, whenever I could tear myself away from what was happening on screen, it was fascinating just to watch him perform, his face and body language changing and emoting along with his voice.

Little Bang Theory getting up from their station

The music was done wonderfully by the trio Little Bang Theory.  I was constantly in awe by their performance, they didn’t’ seem to be working off any sheet music but didn’t miss a single note. The soundtrack matched perfectly with the visuals, both haunting and frenzied, complementing the overall tone of the film.  I was also intrigued by the vast array of instruments ranging from quite traditional to ones I had never seen before.   What I found the most amusing were the small wind up toys, similar to the kind you might find in an antique shop, that were used throughout the movie.  Each member of the band was in charge of a variety of different instruments and noisemakers and would switch back and forth as needed, seamlessly keeping the live soundtrack going as they did so.  Just watching them was worth the price of admission itself.

What surprised my friends and I was how brilliantly the story held our attention, despite having absolutely no english subtitles or translation for the entire 60 minute run.  None of us understood more than a handful of words in Japanese.  We credit this to the talent of all the performers, for providing inspiring and haunting performances that perfectly complimented the film itself, along with the film’s rich visuals and intriguing story.

Performers on stage taking a final bow.

When the show was finally over, the performers took a bow to a loud roar of applause and a standing ovation by many.  As my friends and I walked back to our dorm we were left in a state of shock and admiration, talking about the experience and our different interpretations of the movie the entire walk back.

While the film festival is over, I encourage you to see what different events are coming up in the Michigan theater, as well as start making plans for next year’s film festival! Events like these, that combine film with live performance are not one to miss!

 

REVIEW: The 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival — Films in Competition 5

Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

Films in Competition 5 was my very first taste of the Ann Arbor Film Fest, and it was exactly what I expected. 

Even if you haven’t been to any of the films, you may know the AAFF as something along the lines of “the one with all the weird films.”

Indeed, the very first short film–Everything Turns…–was a roller-coaster of a film that quite literally stayed true to its name. Shot on what looked like either 8 or 16mm film, Everything Turns… jolted the audience from one sequence to another without breaking stride. Nothing was static. Film manipulation caused colossal stone blocks to open and close, a wooden barn to rotate, and other structures to recede into the distance. Although the work was clearly from a talented individual, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a little too long.

Commodity City, presented the audience with a look inside the bowels of China’s New South China Mall, the largest shopping mall in the entire world. The director of the piece was clearly a photographer, as every shot of the film was static and composed like a photograph. While they were certainly all beautiful, I wish she had done more with the piece. Without crafting the hours of footage together into a coherent story, Commodity City is a collection of unrelated clips that is aesthetically pleasing, but lacking narrative thrust.

Railment was one of my favorites of the night. The filmmaker, hailing from Japan, animated a film taken from his commuting experience on Japanese railways. All tones were in blue and grey, and the protagonist stood lonely in the car, isolated despite being surrounded by thousands of other commuters. Beautifully crafted and haunting.

Snatched dealt with two French (?) girls running from a number of institutions–an orphanage, an abusive lover, and an oppressive workplace. Fighting against all of these forces draws them closer together by the end of the film. Snatched reminded me a bit of Moonlight, but with girls.

Etude 1a: Release(1)  was the perfect example of an eccentric and eclectic AAFF film. Slow motion, zoomed in shots of cowboys rounding up cattle. Screeching soundtrack. Black and white footage. No idea what the film was about.

Gardening at Night was the “biggest” film of the block in terms of production value and crew size. The film concerned a woman waiting for a phone call from the hospital regarding her friend’s battle with cancer. Autobiographical in nature, Gardening at Night also mixed in elements of horror. It reminded me a little of an M. Night Shyamalan film–one of his good films. My only wish is that the film had kept the lighting consistent throughout. I felt jarred a few times when the film went from a darkened living room at night to a bright swimming pool outside at noon.

Crossing was too long. Regardless of it’s merits, 17 minutes is too long for a film that uses a repetitive soundtrack as the only source of sound to complement blurry sequences of people crossing the street. I enjoyed the concept, but the film was too long. There’s nothing more to say about that.

Any given block of films at the Ann Arbor Film Fest will leave you with a different experience, but I would wager that the experience will be worth it. The nice thing about this fest is that the filmmakers get invited on the stage afterwards to answer questions from the audience. You don’t often get that opportunity.

PREVIEW: The 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF)

Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

The Ann Arbor Film Festival is the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America (from the Web Site).

The festival is full of indie and oddball films, characteristic of Ann Arbor culture. Over the course of the six day festival, viewers can choose from over 180 films from over 20 countries. Genres include documentary, fiction, animation, and experimental.

March 21 – March 26 (Full Film Schedule View)

Michigan Theater, North Quad, & The Ravens Club

Cost: $12 for adults, and $8 for Students/AAFF Members

There are also FREE Events

Facebook event page

The AAFF is popular enough to warrant an SNL sketch parodying the kind of festival it is.

REVIEW: Dragnet Girl

Abby Z Leave a comment
Ichiro Kataoka performing

This Monday Ann Arbor was treated to something special, a screening of the Japanese silent film Dragnet Girl narrated live by of a modern-day benshi, Ichiro Kataoka. Benshi are traditional “narrators” of silent movies in Japan, that bothwrite and perform scripts for silent movies of all types.  Benshi were extremely popular in Japan during the silent movie era. Now there are about 10 benshi still performing for audiences both within Japan, and across the globe. Ichiro Kataoka is one of the very best amongst this selective number, and he travels the most out of the 10, this night gracing our town of Ann Arbor.

Dragnet Girl is a 1933 Japanese silent film about a gangster, Joji,  who meets the innocent and kindhearted Kazuko.  Kazuko enlists his help in looking after her brother who is slowly getting swept up in the dangers of the udnerworld. Joji’s girlfriend, Tokiko, gets lost in  a haze of jealousy, but eventually falls for the Kazuko’s wholesome charm.  Influenced by the innocent Kazuko, Tokiko dreams of finding redemption herself.

Most surprisingly, I was was able to be completely immersed in the film despite not understanding a word of Japanese myself.  I credit most of this phenomenon to the sheer talent of the benshi, Ichiro Kataoka.  While the intertitles were subtitled in English, the rest of the dialogue was pure, untranslated Japanese.  Despite this setback I was able to understand immediately the gist of what was being said by a mix of context, visual cues, and the pure emotion in the benshi’s voice.

During one particularly emotional scene, instead of focusing on the screen I tried to focus on Ichiro Kataoka’s performance.  I was shocked to see his face contorted into the very picture of despair, his expression matching perfectly with the crying girl on the screen. As he continued his narration and performance, he wasn’t just emoting with his voice but with his entire body. You could see the shift in his face and body as he switched from one character to the next, being able to go from a young crying girl to a gruff aging man in an instant.

This screening of Dragnet Girl was a part of the film series, KURO: The Dark Edge of Japanese Filmmaking.  There are two films left in the series, Ichi the Killer and The World of Kanako.   For more information about the film series and other series held at the Michigan Theater please check out this page. 

Specifically interested in seeing a live benshi in action? Ichiro Kataoka will be coming back for a special screening of an experimental Japanese film during the upcoming Ann Arbor Film Festival, so keep your ears pricked for upcoming news.

REVIEW: Stamps Speaker Series- Hank Willis Thomas

Abby Z Leave a comment

Prior to tonight’s lecture I knew little about Hank Willis Thomas aside from the fact I had seen and been particularly struck by one of his pieces in the Detroit Institute of Art.  I had no idea what a treat that night would be.

When Thomas walked out onto stage in a still brightly lit theater, phone clutched in hand, I’m sure many of us were unsure what to think. He said he then wanted us to start off the night with a collaborative project, to take a picture of a stranger or friend sitting nearby and post it on social media with the hashtag “#thetruthisIloveyou.”  You can find a smattering of these photos on his twitter account here.   This immediately set the tone for the overall optimistic and hopeful presentation, despite the dark subject matter.

Hank Willis Thomas and his Mother

After this brief activity, the lights were dimmed and Thomas started his presentation by introducing the audience to his mother, a talented photographer herself.  He told us about how his mother was once told by a college professor that she, as a woman, was taking up the space of a “good man.”  She carried those words with her for the rest of her life, but in spite of that professor, she has gone on to publish books well into the double digits and is currently a professor at NYU.

He then transitioned smoothly into talking about his own development as an artist.  Thomas said that he had not originally planned to become an artist, but rather fell into the role after his close cousin was murdered in 2000.  Finding himself lacking motivation and drive, Thomas eventually found his way into the artistic field.

An image from a sweater ad

He then took us chronologically through the various pieces and series that he has done. He began to talk about his fascination with framing, and how the theme of frames showed up in many of his college works.  He also produced the B(r)anded Series in which he explored the African-American male body in relation to popular brands and advertisements.   He was particularly fascinated with taking advertisement and stripping away all of the words and identifying information to let the images speak for themselves.  He showed us the various depictions of women throughout the last century, first showing the image and then making his audience guess what the ad was actually for.  It was an eye-opening and sometimes chilling experience.

 

He then talked about this idea of reformatting images and advertisements so that they can be viewed in a new way.   He would find photos that particularly resonated with him, often of apartheid South Africa, and then find a different way to frame those events, often through cast sculptures where only parts of the original photograph will be shown, leaving the viewer to fill in the rest of the information.

 

Lastly, he finished up the speech by showing some of the video recording from people across the globe for the  “The Truth Is” traveling project.  This project involved a recording booth shaped like a giant speech bubble that simply says “truth” that was then placed in high traffic areas. Civilians were invited into the booth to record a short video telling what they believed “the truth is.”  One of the most touching and heart wrenching videos, especially because of the recent developments in the news, was of a little boy not even 8 years old who wanted to share the truth that Muslims, like him and his family, were good, peaceful people.

One of the most inspiring things about his presentation, was how captivating of a speaker Thomas managed to be.  He managed to be calm and yet passionate at the same time, providing a wonderful and entertaining balance that still remained informative.

When Thomas finally walked off the stage, there were whoops and cheers scattered among the fervent applause, making this the warmest and most enthusiastic sendoff of any speaker I’ve seen here yet. True to this reception, the Q&A session was the most well attended that I had seen so far, while still remaining fairly small and intimate in the Michigan Theater’s annex. Thomas got to answer questions ranging from his work, to his history as an artist, to his political views.

You can find out more information about Hank Willis Thomas at his website. The STAMPS speaker series is free to the public and is offered every Thursday at 5:10 at the Michigan Theater.  You can find a full list of the upcoming speakers here. 

Photo Sources- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

 

REVIEW: Stamps Speaker Series- Joe Sacco

Abby Z Leave a comment

I had heard rumblings that the night’s guest would draw a larger crowd than usual but I wasn’t prepared for how large the crowd might be.  As we filed into the theater from the packed lobby area, it was difficult to find an ideal seating spot. This presentation was co-presented with the University of Michigan International Institute’s Conflict and Peace initiative, and the official Stamps website contains a full list of the sponsors for the night.

Tonight’s event was not a formal speech, but more of an open discussion between the guest Joe Sacco and a host from the International Institute’s Conflict and Peace Initiative.  As the discussion proceeded different images of Sacco’s work were projected onto the screen behind them, and while switching from photo to photo could be highly distracting it was a nice visual supplement to the presentation, and often was used as a conversation point.

Joe Sacco, as we gradually came to know throughout the course of the talk, had originally received a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon, before finding that creating comics was both a way to indulge in his passion for art and to reach a wider audience that are put off by long history books and dense articles.  He approaches his subject matter in the same way a war correspondent might.  He traveled the world, and his very first comic, Palestine, was directly based off of his personal travels through Israel and the West Bank.  Some of his award-winning works include Footnotes in Gaza, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt and Safe Area Gorazde.  He is highly regarded by comic lovers and news junkies alike for his careful research and thoughtful approach to delicate and politically charged subjects.

When asked what inspired his work and the topics he chooses to work on, Joe Sacco responded quite succinctly that anger above all else was the driving force behind his comics.  He looked for topics that created a sense of frustration or injustice in him, and just as importantly ones that he would maintain a passion for the many years that it takes to finish a single piece.  He also discussed his dislike of the word “graphic novels,” because of how his works are not novels despite fitting under that subcategory.  He admits, however, that the word is here to stay and will use it himself when describing his occupation to others.

One of the very first panels from “The Great Wall”

One piece that was discussed quite thoroughly was Sacco’s 24-foot-long graphic tableau “The Great War.”  Sacco spoke briefly about how fascinated he was with World War I while growing up in Australia, where that war takes up a large part of their cultural identity.  His inspiration for this specific piece was The Bayeux Tapestry, and he wanted to create a similar narrative scroll that told a story when read from left to right.

middle segment of “The Great War”

As an artist, I also found the discussion of the artistic styles to be quite interesting.  Sacco talked briefly about his upcoming project and how he will be turning traditional comic styles on their head in order to better convey the meaning and message that he wants to.  He’s working on a project about the indigenous peoples of Canada, and as such is experimenting with creating comics with no borders and an aesthetic style that focuses heavily on nature and natural forms.  He believes this will better fit the ideology and tone of the work itself, as the groups he will be focusing on have a specific way of thinking about nature.

Panel from his book “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt”

As the crowds streamed out of the theater and into the brisk night air, we were once again greeted with live music.  A long line of people waiting for autographs trailed up the staircase to the second balcony, further proving the popularity of tonight’s speaker.

If you would like to check out more of Joe Sacco’s work you can purchase many of his books from amazon here.  The STAMPS speaker series is free to the public and is free to the public and is offered every Thursday at 5:10 at the Michigan Theater.  You can find a full list of the upcoming speakers here.

 

pictures from- 1, 2, 3