Tag: movie

REVIEW: LICORICE PIZZA

Joann Leave a comment

There are some things that don’t fold out as expected but still can be enjoyable. It may not be the oasis in the middle of the desert, but still good so that you are not disappointed.

‘Licorice Pizza’ was like that to me: I decided to check out this movie because I read a one-sentence review from a very prominent Korean movie critic, Lee Dong-jin, describing the movie as “효용이 사라진 후에야 깨닫게 된 사랑의 가치로 온통 찬란한 달음박질”, which could be, in my poor translation, be translated into something like “a run that is splendid all the way with the realization of the value of love that is realized only after it expired”. I was expecting a romance movie. Well, is this a romance movie? I’d say yes… but I’d also add that that’s maybe not the best part of it.

I think the value of this movie was more in how it displayed the feeling of confusion and being lost when your being young with the decoration of a nostalgic vibe. This is because the focus of the relationship of the characters was not focused on their emotional bonding or depth, but rather on each one’s emotional experiences and growths that they go through while their romance was taking place. The most symbolic scene representing this situation was running scenes of two main characters repeated in different contexts and circumstances. They would run to save, find, and reunite with one another, but while they meet in such an intersection, they are running. Running away, running to, running from, different troubles and situations that directionless youth places them in.

I had a lingering question about the movie, though. There were some scenes where Asian woman and Asian accent were used as a code of humor and the sexuality of women were expressed with revealing clothes and as the subject of curiosity and desire of the male character. Yes, the movie is based in the 70s when those things were not receiving the doubts that ought to be given, but I kept on questioning what will be the value of bringing it once again on a movie screen, especially without any additional context to denounce it. In my opinion, they were not integral to the storyline as well, so eliminating them would not have made the movie less probable. Yes, they were there at the time, but what’s the benefit of saying that they were there when the only purpose that its revival will serve is to state that they were there? That’s the question that I can not answer.

REVIEW: Purple Rain

Joann Leave a comment

Great as a preserved performance, so-so as a movie.

My overall review is that even though the movie was interesting enough as a record to experience Prince’s performance, it wasn’t watcher-friendly.

The movie follows Prince and his problems when he was a young, aspiring star, presumably telling the story around the time when he first played his hit ‘Purple Rain’ in front of the public.

As mentioned, as a recording of the music performance, it was great. I felt as though I was actually in a concert and the camera used angles that were very efficient in portraying the performance style of Prince. Even though I had never seen videos of Prince performing before, I could get the sense of his style and ‘coolness’. The camera also did not fall into the mistake made at some band performances – focusing on the vocal yet using too many angles and effects. This may captivate the watcher’s attention but would draw the attention away from the personal aura of the performers. However, Purple rain focused on the lights, fog, and motion of Prince; the real elements on stage that draw the watcher’s attention to the actual movement of Prince.

As for the storyline, it wasn’t articulated enough for the watchers to be immersed in the story. I couldn’t help comparing the with Bohemian Rhapsody, a film that took a similar format of songs from an iconic artist and told a story about the artist. The impression I got was that Bohemian Rhapsody laid out the story more carefully. Bohemian Rhapsody made the characters likable. It gave enough information on the context of the character’s emotion so that the watcher could understand and build an emotional attachment with the character. Enough description was given on characters so that felt lively as well. However, In Purple rain, the story seemed to be an assembly of pieces. Strong emotional events were given – relationship with Apollonia, the conflict between Prince’s parents, and discontent from the band members. However, instead of building the foundation of each story and how it developed, the storyline only threw strong events at the audience without providing room for the audience to emotionally understand or resonate with the character. Also, the characters were flat. Think of Apollonia-why did she join Morris and how does her feelings toward Prince develop? What’s Morris’ opinion of Prince and what’s the story behind the conflict between Prince and the Band? What is needed for it to be resolved? All these questions, which are well developed, could have been an interesting human drama, were glazed over and not discussed.

In all, I recommend this movie to people who miss the heat of the concert scene and miss the music from the era before digital beats took over. It was also fun to imagine how Prince’s performance would have affected artists of later generations because a lot of his movements reminded me of scenes I’ve seen on contemporary artists’ performances. However, if you’re looking for an emotionally well-told movie with a sound track-you might want to look for something else.

PREVIEW: Purple Rain

Joann Leave a comment

This Friday, at 10 pm, the movie ‘Purple Rain’ is played in the Michigan Theater.

Anyone not alien to the pop culture would have encountered at some point in their life the famous cover of the iconic album with Prince dressed in purple riding the motorcycle. Inducted in the Grammy hall of fame and being sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, the album ‘Purple rain’ of Prince is mentioned as one of the most iconic albums in the pop scene of all time. My first encounter with the album was at a modern vinyl shop in Seoul. Purple rain was displayed as the test record to get the taste of music played from vinyl, and I, as a self-defined rock and funk fan went for it. I was a bit surprised-I had thought that Prince was a rock/funk style artist. What I heard was an R&B style, soul vibe. I still remember that experience as an unexpected, surprising one.

The film that will be played this Friday features the album as the soundtrack. It’s a rock musical with Prince acting as himself. It’s about Prince and his band, a taste of their music and life.

U of M Students could get in free if they submit the passport to the arts or use a passcode to get tickets online. More information on where to find and how to use the passport to the arts can be found here: 

http://artsatmichigan.umich.edu/programs/passport/

It’ll be a great way to celebrate the start of spring break.

REVIEW: Schwarze Adler (Black Eagles)

Himaja Leave a comment

Last Friday the German Department hosted a free curated screening of the 2021 independent documentary film “Schwarze Adler” (translated from German: “Black Eagles”). The space they held it in at North Quad was great – it was huge, with floor-to-ceiling windows spanning the length of one wall, whiteboards and cushy chairs spanning the other, and a big blank wall up front to project the film onto. The physically-distanced chairs they’d set up in the room were fairly packed with people coming for the event.

Watching this documentary was a pretty emotional experience for me (which is why it took me so long to write this review!).

Steffi Jones, former defender for the national team

Seeing footage in 2021 of fans at a soccer game doing the Hitler salute will do something to your psyche. I’m privileged — some people don’t have the choice of whether to turn away from the screen, because they live through this every day. Imagine being a player on a professional sports team where the only difference between you and your teammates is that your skin is a shade darker. You’re trying to focus on the game you’ve trained for for most of your life when you suddenly hear 1000s of fans in the stands surrounding you, most of which are from your own country where you were born and raised, yelling at you to go back where you came from. That’s an experience that was recounted by every single German soccer player interviewed in this documentary.

The way fans treat athletes is something worth having a whole discussion on. Cheering for your favorite players and booing when the other team scores is all good fun. But when that morphs into jeering, chanting hateful racial slurs, and hurling insults at players, that’s when it becomes absolutely cruel. Michigan football games are not immune to this behavior. We put athletes on pedestals, but they are not made of titanium, they’re made of flesh and blood! They’re humans just like us and when fans dehumanize them, they deprive them of so much: joy from being on the field, joy from being with their teammates, and the focus they need to stay in the game.

Gerald Asamoah, former forward

Many of the players in the documentary talked about how hearing those shouts of “go back to your country” and “kick out the negro” would affect their playing, and they thought about it for the whole rest of the game. At one point one of the players, Gerald Asamoah said he had “never seen such hate anywhere else before.” One of his fellow teammates of color left Germany to play for Ghana because of the experience. Another player, after being subjected to it for half a game, picked up a small red crate on the sidelines and threw it down in a fit of anger. His teammates said nothing to him — the referee just handed him a yellow card. Another recounted how sad it made him when he saw that not only were the parents chanting slurs, but their small children were too.

Almost all of the players also made connections between the way they were treated to Germany’s dark history. “How can you show this behavior when we have seen exactly where it leads?” I think the same could be said of racism in our country. The U.S. has an equally dark history, it’s just that it’s usually glossed over in our history textbooks.

When the credits began to roll, I was feeling kind of hopeless and defeated. I know that’s not the right response to world issues, but I couldn’t help it. But then one of the professors from the German department got up to say a few words.
Here’s what she said, paraphrased:
“Don’t be disheartened. These thoughts of racism have accrued over centuries and it will take time to undo them. Martin Luther King Jr. was only assassinated 52 years ago so really we’re just at the beginning of the work to undo it. And don’t feel bad if you are not the one who goes out and marches and shows up in a big way. The small acts matter to. Every act of kindness, and every act that does something to acknowledge the humanity in others matters.”

So go out and show up in a small or in a big way this week, and know that we have a long way to go but every act matters.

PREVIEW: Licorice Pizza

Himaja Leave a comment

 

The trailer for Licorice Pizza is one of the best movie trailers I’ve ever seen.

I make this sweeping claim because even after watching it five or more times during the previews of Spiderman: No Way Home in theaters, I couldn’t tell you much about the movie other than it’s a coming-of-age film with a messy love story and Bradley Cooper involved. I think that’s what a good trailer does: it gives you just enough details to get you curious, while providing visuals that set the tone and era of the film. Give it a watch and let me know what you think!

I’m excited for a good story packed with messy, drama-filled teen angst. The last movie I watched that fit that bill was probably Lady Bird and I loved it. Watching these coming-of-age films can sometimes be painful – they have their cringey moments that remind me of similar cringey moments in my past – but that’s the reason why I love the experience. Nothing compares to that feeling when you read a book or listen to a song or watch a movie and something happens that makes you think “I’ve been there.”

You can catch Licorice Pizza at the Michigan Theater at various showings over the next few weeks! Get tickets here: https://secure.michtheater.org/websales/pages/info.aspx?epguid=83683564-3500-4e9a-8221-b074c769a042&evtinfo=717535~c76be4f4-22b5-4bed-a89c-7def863b8c53

Stay tuned for my attempts to figure out the meaning of the movie’s title after I watch it. Until then, please let me know if you’ve personally tried pizza with licorice on it and if you would recommend.

REVIEW: Dear Evan Hansen

Madison Krumins Leave a comment

Dear Evan Hansen, 

When I saw you were becoming a movie, I admit, I was skeptical. You’re the freshest in a growing list of musicals turned movies, a recent trend that I’m not sure how I feel about yet. A theatre kid at heart, I knew the music and storyline from Dear Evan Hansen before I walked into the screening. Wondering how the transition from stage to screen would play out, I came in skeptical but interested. 

My main hesitation with movie musicals is that the mashing of these forms can often feel confusing, if done improperly. When attending a musical, the audience is expecting the music as part of the storytelling. In a movie, the ability to shoot in an authentic setting can create enhanced realism, which can’t always be done on stage. When someone starts singing out of the blue in a movie, it feels especially out of place when the rest of the film feels so real. I felt particularly jarred by it in Dear Evan Hansen, which utilized silence in its non-musical parts so well, I started to wonder what this movie would look like without the musical element everyone was expecting, and if it could stand alone that way.

Another one of these skepticisms came from the age of Ben Platt, the originator of the role of the titular Evan Hansen. We are no stranger to seeing actors well out of the age range play high schoolers (ex. Grease, Stranger Things, etc.), and Platt has spoken up against critics who said he’s too old for the role. While I agree that it’s irritating to continue to see high schoolers played by much-older actors, I have to admit Platt’s performance is exceptionally extraordinary. Platt’s ability, especially repeated times a week on stage, to portray a severely anxious high schooler and snot-cry while singing, is incredible. It comes from a place of deeply understanding and embodying the character of Evan Hansen, and it times it’s hard to watch because of its rawness. 

Speaking of snot-crying… While the storyline is emotional and heavy, I couldn’t help but feel the movie was perhaps a bit too self-indulgent at times. There may have been a smidge too much screen time for tears and pensive expressions–and the removal of some of the more upbeat songs from the original musical only added to the darker tone of the film version. 

While some original songs were missing, a few new ones were added. I appreciated what they did here–it seemed, in this way, that they were moving towards making the movie its own meaningful thing, rather than a copy of the musical version. The movie slightly departs by featuring certain characters more, increasing the diversity factor of the film and touching on different ways mental health shows up in different people’s lives. (Hint: Alana gets a more fleshed-out character development, and we hear more from Connor!)

Overall: Did I cry? Yes. I’m not afraid to say that the topic of mental health and suicide hits quite close to home for me, and I’m thankful for the way DEH doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff. Did I laugh? Yes, in the brief snippets of comedic relief. In the end, I would recommend it as separate from its musical original. For those of us who need to hear it, DEH reminds us: You are not alone. You will be found. If you’re feeling up for a powerful, emotional story, go check it out when it releases on September 24th!