Tag: State Theater

REVIEW: Tenet

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet opens with a thrilling hostage sequence that introduces the film’s central concept of inverted time. Shortly after the conclusion of the sequence, we see the lead protagonist seek out a scientist who advises him, “Don’t try to understand.” As the movie progresses, you realize that this line was written in for the audience.

Tenet follows a CIA agent who must prevent World War III by manipulating and traveling backwards through time. It isn’t time travel, but it is. It’s about inverting entropy. It’s confusing. However, the character motivations that drive the main plot are straightforward enough that even though you have no idea what’s going on, you’ll still have a good time.

The film’s action sequences can be largely credited for preventing the audience from leaving the theater or turning the movie off in frustration. I personally can lose interest in a movie during long fight or chase scenes, but Tenet’s action sequences are unique and engaging because of the inverted time. Objects that are inverted move differently – cars drive backwards, bullets are caught in guns, and waves flow in reverse. And because time can be manipulated, characters can move backwards in time to revisit certain situations. And though these characters are moving normally in their own eyes, non-inverted individuals will see these characters moving in reverse. Regardless of whether you think this concept is ridiculous or intriguing, you will surely appreciate the dedication of the cast and crew to the filmmaking process. Some scenes featuring time manipulation were filmed forwards and backgrounds. The composer, Ludwig Göransson created music that would sound the same forwards and backwards. Although the film is easy to criticize because of its debatably unnecessary complexity, there are just so many layers to the film that make the act of watching it such an immersive experience.

Furthermore, this is Nolan’s first film starring a nonwhite lead. John David Washington shines – he’s suave, funny, and has a strong moral compass. Some of Nolan’s past films have come under rightful criticism for only featuring underdeveloped female characters, and Tenet has come under scrutiny for presenting its female lead as a damsel in distress. However, I understood this character, Kat, played by Elizabeth Debicki, to be someone who merely starts out as a damsel in distress. Over the course of the movie, she develops more of a sense of self and comes to understand her own capabilities. Although Kat’s main motivations are centered around being a mother, she is not portrayed as weak or overbearing. Her character arc revolving around being reunited with a child is similar to that of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Inception. Although Kat is treated as a punching bag by her husband and she is a pawn in the Protagonist’s larger plan, I believe that she has a satisfying conclusion to her arc, and that Debicki’s stellar performance was that of a woman who proves she is no longer a damsel in distress.

If you like Inception and Interstellar or just Nolan’s films in general, you will at least be able to appreciate Tenet. I think it’s a pretty perfect film to watch right now: the action, cast, and score are all just engaging enough to fully immerse you into the movie-watching experience. I would recommend Tenet for anyone who is looking for a two-and-a-half hour break from reality.

Tenet is playing at the State Theater through Tuesday, November 10th, and it will be available digitally and on Blu-ray starting December 15th.

REVIEW: Get Out (2017)

Donald Joseph Molosky Leave a comment

For me, the name Jordan Peele will always be synonymous with clever sketch comedy. In the early stages of my adolescence, Key & Peele (2012-2015), a Comedy Central series created by Jordan and his frequent collaborator, Keegan-Michael Key, was held, amongst the likes
of South Park and Family Guy, in the highest echelon of my pantheon of teenage television. However, in 2017, Peele left behind his comfortable niche in the realm of buddy-comedy shorts and made his directorial debut with Get Out, a psychological thriller neatly wrapped in astute social commentary. The film has been met with a significant amount of positive attention from a diverse pool of critics (98% on Rotten Tomatoes), and for the past two years, I have waited eagerly to see Get Out for myself. Unfortunately, I left the State Theater a bit
disappointed.

 

From a purely cinematic perspective, Get Out falls flat on a number of fronts, but most glaringly, I found that the film was far too stylistically ambivalent. Over the course of 104 minutes, Get Out oscillates between moments of dramatic tension, over the top slasher violence, sci-fi absurdism, and yes, nostalgic, Peele-esque humor. Independent from one another, the scenes of Get Out are strong, but the way in which the greater project incorporates the footage is detrimental to the emotional gravity of the film. Additionally, the thematic elements of the film are focused mostly on the serious and relevant issue of camouflaged racial tensions between Black and White Americans, and with such a dynamic narrative structure, some of the film’s more nuanced messages are greatly obscured by the spectacle of it all. Again, Get Out was Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, and at times, the film feels like a somewhat disjointed string of shorts – eerily reflective of Key & Peele.

 

My concerns about the stylistic coherence of Get Out aside, I found that the dramatic climax of the film was set far too early in the story. The first hour of the film is fantastic, but after the second act, the previously riveting tension of the film felt, well, cheapened and manufactured, and as such, the third act of Get Out features far more moments of the stylistic inconsistency that I took issue with in the previous paragraph. From the perspective of the viewer, it almost seems as if Peele directed two entirely separate films: acts one and two of Get Out were bold, chilling, and intellectual, whereas act three felt slightly unbelievable, goofy, and rushed.

 

All things considered, Get Out is slightly above average, but the film’s narrative structure was somewhat flawed. On a positive note, I thought that the cinematographers and set designers of Get Out made exceptional use of both dark and light landscapes, props, and clothing to highlight and reinforce some of Peele’s more abstract messages. Similarly, I also thought that the audio mixing of Get Out was remarkable, as the occasional interjection of shrill, dissonant violin strokes sent my fellow moviegoers out of their seats in fear.

 

6.2/10                                     

 

 

 

 

REVIEW: Parasite

Corrina Lee Leave a comment

It would be too easy to say that Parasite gets under your skin. That turn of phrase feels light and obvious. Parasite doesn’t just lie underneath the surface, it digs deeper. Like a crawling feeling that turns into a stabbing pain, this film begins as a superficial sensation and ends leaving an indelible impression. It shifts and transforms, becoming something else before your very eyes. Or rather, the pleasure and terror is that you don’t see the transformations occurring before they are irreversible. There is something light and obvious about Parasite. Yet, the lightness and laughter don’t detract from the film’s obvious interest in heavier topics. It is a remarkable balance that the film maintains over a spectacular two hours.

Image result for parasite movie

The members of the Kim family are used to precarious balances. Jobs in the city, when they can be found, barely pay the rent for their semi-subterranean apartment as it is. Prospects are scarce, especially for those who don’t have college degrees. The children of the family, Ki-woo and Ki-jeong, are reaching the prime of their lives, young-adulthood. Yet, it seems as if their lives have stalled exactly when they should be speeding up. Youth means nothing with the pressure of financial troubles relentlessly bearing down on them. Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho), the patriarch of the family, is similarly helpless in the face of these circumstances. Emblematic of this powerlessness, he can only watch from the window as drunkards pee on their very doorstep. These daily humiliations are to be endured by the poor, not overcome. For, it doesn’t seem to matter what the Kim family does. Their efforts are insignificant, weak battering at a system with an entrenched hierarchy of wealth. The Kim family are part of the ignored thousands. Part of those who live below others, forever ignored, forever treated as lesser. They become indistinguishable bodies to be crushed slowly under gleaming skyscrapers of the rich. Yet, in a most humiliating and ironic turn, the rich are absolutely dependent on those they would ignore completely. They need the masses to be their smiling housekeepers, their stoic chauffeurs. Every aspect of their lives is handled by dozens of faceless servants. It is this reliance that finally gives the Kim family an opportunity to climb out of poverty. Ki-Woo’s friend, Min-hyuk, asks him to become a tutor in the wealthy Park family household. When Ki-Woo protests that he doesn’t have the credentials for such a job, Min-hyuk with a lighthearted air, tells him to fake it. And it seems like a small enough lie for such a great reward. For, once Ki-Woo gets the first foot in the door, the rest of the family is eager and ready to follow into the cavernous Park compound.

Image result for parasite movie park family

At first, it seems as if the Parks with their obliviousness and piles of money, are the perfect marks for the Kims. While the Kims work in perfect unison to enact their plan, the Parks are dysfunctional and distant with each other. Yeon-gyo is a naïve housewife who invests all her extra time and care in her children. Da-hye is the envious older sister, jealous of all the attention her younger brother, Da-song receives from her parents. Even Dong-ik, the otherwise competent head of an IT company, pays only the required, cursory attention to his family. The Parks are a family because they are expected to be. The Kims are a family because none of them would survive on their own. Out of necessity, there is love. The interactions between the two families are the most intricate of the film. Each character is full of a brilliant inner life. Their history is expressed in action, not needless exposition. Their behaviors are consistent, as all well-rounded humans are, but that consistency doesn’t lead to boredom. Instead, the predictability is part of the delight of watching the film, seeing how familiar characters react to unfamiliar situations. Sometimes, these confrontations are hilarious. Sometimes, they become deadly serious. Director Bong Joon-ho varies these beats according to his own rhythm resulting in a film where the jolts form a sort of thrilling harmony.

Besides the inventive plot and characters, Parasite also benefits from a cohesive design. The Park mansion is beautifully filmed. Its design is all smooth concrete and glass expanses. It is in this space where the battle of the wills take place between the Kims and the Parks. For, in this space, it is impossible to ignore the differences in status and situation. Everything the Kims have ever strived for is here, in easy reach. In this space, it is easy to dream of the possible life where wealth falls into their lap as inevitably as it has fallen for the Parks. Ultimately though, this house, this life, belongs to other people. The house, then, becomes a symbol for all that is unattainable. All that should be theirs but isn’t. It is a cruel taunt in a film that never shies away from how arbitrary and unkind the world can be. Some people get deliriously lucky. And some get crushed.

REVIEW: Climax.

niezi Leave a comment

With films like Black Swan, Suspiria, and now Climax, dance is a staple in horror, both sublime and dangerous. Some kind of magnetism exists to the art, an incredible fascination with the primal power behind the lofty, elegant institutions of dance. Climax is already a bit stripped down in this sense – there is no renowned ballet school, no classical compositions to be centered around. Instead, the film is focused on a diverse dance troupe, and the pace is set from the first major dance sequence to be erotic, sensual, and chaotic.

Climax feels like an amalgamation of limbs and sound, as if it were a strange animal pulsating with bass and red lights, with a feral energy that doesn’t stop until the party’s over. There isn’t really a script, and it was noted by the director Gaspard Noé that most of the scenes were improvised, shot linearly, over the course of only a few days. It feels organic and crude, surreal in some ways and too real in others.

The cinematography is unusual, with brutally long takes, and the camera primarily focused on the mesmerizing choreography and disorientating scenes that almost seem to amount to nothing. If there is supposed to be a story line, a significance behind everything that unfolds over the course of the movie – then it’s lost to a special echelon of hell that spills across the screen.

At first, the film starts off like any other onscreen party: a bit hedonistic, a bit messy, full of drama and gossip and dancing. The audience is exposed to the private problems and personal relationships between the members of the troupes through cuts towards the different characters at different points during the party.

Things are amplified when the group realizes that their sangria had been spiked with LSD, and all pleasures and desires reach unthinkable magnitudes before turning dangerous. Dance is melded with violence and paranoia, and the scenes turn into an unending, bizarre, sensory surge. While this feeling is nearly normalized by the end of the movie, a few scenes we see through the eyes of some of the only coherent characters are the realizations of the nightmarish reality.

Climax is a polarizing film, strange in composition and delivery, but undoubtedly powerful. It’s a movie that is difficult to make sense of with the traditional parameters of good film-making, and is probably most aptly described as a bad trip – perfectly filmed as such, and unforgiving in how far it takes the viewer down a path of indistinguishable pleasures and pains. The ending reveal almost feels insignificant in comparison to the trauma of the rest of the movie.

While beautifully shot and unmistakably special, Climax is difficult to watch and reads more like an abstract exploration of the moraless, raw side of the human condition than an actual plot. It’s interesting, it’s an experience, and it’s probably a masterpiece in its own genre, but it is definitely not for everyone – maybe not even for most people.

PREVIEW: Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land Film Screening

Abby Z Leave a comment

The CHOP Film series presented by the U-M China Ongoing Perspectives programs is presenting a viewing of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land  (暗戀桃花源) with special guest, direct and writer Stan Lai. The warmly received movie was an adaption from Lai’s self-penned play of the same name, and was the Taiwanese Oscar submission in 1992. The comedy features a unique mix of tones and themes as it features on a single theater that is housing two different plays, both a modern romantic tragedy (Secret Love) and a historical comedy (The Peach Blossom Land.)  

Following the film will be a Q&A session with Stan Lai, who is one of the most prominent and acclaimed playwrights in Asia.  He was the first to receive the highest degree of Art Award in Taiwan, the National Arts Award, two times in 1988 and 2001 respectively.

The event will be hosted at the State Theater, Tuesday, March 16th at 7:00 PM.  It’s completely free and open to the public, so if you’re interested you have nothing to lose!

As a note- the event is titled “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land,”  However the movie is also sometimes translated as “Secret Love for the Peach Blossom Spring.”

REVIEW: Greta.

niezi Leave a comment

Greta begins like an upscaled lifetime movie, with bouncy music played to the streets of New York, montages of beautiful temperate days in the park, homey cooking scenes, a cute dog – the sweet introduction to the film is a bit undermined, however, by its reputation.

Frances, an ingenuous Bostonian, finds a handbag on the subway and resolves to return it to its owner – her roommate, Erica, notably reminding her in Manhattan they usually call the bomb squad for an unattended bag. Nevertheless, the well-intentioned Frances follows the address found on an ID card to a quaint, scenic house and meets Greta, who is seemingly sophisticated and French, mother-like, charming, and isolated. They bond over their individual loneliness as a friendship is built upon the understanding of loss.

However, about twenty minutes into the film, the movie drops all its horror elements with an inelegant slap of screechy violin music and Chloë Grace Moretz gasping as if she were in a B-movie. Surprise is lost to the speed in which the film rushes into the thick of the story, barreling through its hour and a half runtime with poor pacing.

Underneath its artful glaze of cinematic appeal, Greta is brimming with the clichés of frantic music and jumpy cuts. It’s applied heavy-handed at times, less like a varnish of ingenuity and more like space to fill the shallowness of the characters, the plot.

Isabelle Huppert carries most of the film, almost all of Greta’s horror imbued into one sinister person, and it’s impressive that outside of soundtracks and camera angles, she is the sole source of terror. Greta is largely devoid of any fantasy elements, any secondary antagonists, any other fear that is not Greta herself – near comically deranged and frighteningly pervasive in Frances’ life. The suspense is from her honed act of psychopathy, the delivery of her lines. The tension is from the deliberateness of her obsession.

There are moments not quite explained, disposable characters tossed aside, overly theatrical scenes executed wildly, and the film suffers from the lack of subtlety or wit and a directorial grasp outside of just its visuals. While not bad enough to be entirely campy and not good enough to be spectacular in its genre, Greta is still strangely palatable.

Despite all of its flaws, the style in which Greta combines delicate cinematography with a hammer of horror elements banged into anywhere that fits is, surprisingly, enjoyable and interesting. Without reading too much into the plot or picking at the seams where the film unravels, Greta can still be satisfying in an uncomplicated, indulgent, slightly satirical way. Like a McDonalds milkshake – not necessarily good but whatever.