The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, March 26, 2007 - 5A
AAFF
takes a
stand
45TH FEST MIXES
ART WITH POLITICS,
* EVERYTHING ELSE
By BLAKE GOBLE
Daily Arts Writer
The weather is unseasonably warm. Coats are
getting thinner, maybe even disappearing. Order
is restored to the world.
So where am I?
I'm alone in the dark at the 45th Annual
Michigan and State Theaters Ann Arbor
watching obscure films. And
I'm enjoying every moment Film Festival
of it.
It was the Ann Arbor Film Last Tuesday
Festival again. A blend of the through
eccentric, the enlightening Sunday
and the unexpectedly engag- At the Michigan
ing marked yet another year Theater
of miscellaneous film. And
this year, it's extra free of cen-
sorship (as I'm sure you've heard), but what was
there to really see in the festivities? As luck would
have it, not all art-house cinema is as oblique as
you'd think. Not everything was experimental
imagery cut to pulsating and diluted music.
Many competition films shined. Mark Taylor's
"Sensing the World By Echo" is the most nonsen-
sical look at growing up with sci-fi ever seen in
j collage. "Pump" from Sinisa Kukic somehow
overcomes the norms of pretentious art-school
camera tricks to create something bewilder-
ing and emotional, and a gorgeously aged and
weathered experimental documentary makes up
Gyula Nemes's "The Dike of Transience." In it, a
mash-up of old men, animals and an urgent need
to deconstruct a dam comes through to startling
effect.
All in all, there were way too many films to
cover, and that was a good thing. The options
included slow-motion raving ("Black and White
Trypps Number Three"), vibrantly colorful
In these 'Hills,' more
than meets the eye
images ("Where You Are Is Not Where You Are
Going") and small children raising a blow-up doll
in womanhood ("Sharony"). There were few lim-
its.
But it was Saturday's "Banned in Michigan"
showcase, a satisfyingly defiant look at our free-
doms of speech, that highlighted the festival's
true colors. The set was a triumph.With titles like
"Five Fucking Fables," "Soggy Penis Sydrome"
and "America's Biggest Dick," it was off to a good
start. But uncompromised and unaltered works
championed this set. "Pleasureland" was a dark-
ly comicallook at one man's sexual relations with
a VCR that turns into women after he rents por-
nography. Old-schoolhand-made filmsgot a con-
temporary facelift as "The Arousing Adventures
of Sailor Boy" made one sailor's attempts to score
incredibly hilarious. Imagine Charlie Chaplin as
a horn-dog and you're somewhere close.
And what alternative festival would be com-
plete without some incredibly bizarre indepen-
dent midnight movies? This year's pair came
from indie icon Alejandro Jodorowsky. His "El
Topo" is a grisly surrealist western of unrelent-
ing vigor, although the hit this weekend was his
"The Holy Mountain," which left audiences gal-
vanized. Or, rather, fondly scratching heads.
Men banging drums in front of fighting dogs.
Breasts in the shape of tiger heads shooting milk
ZACHARY
MEISNER/Daily
Crowds
and candy
chandeliers
fill the lobby
of The
Michigan
Theater.
out of nude old men. Gun shots that elicit blue
and yellow blood. A room with 1,000 testicles.
Limbless midgets experimenting with drugs and
beating corpses. Yeah, it was all in this movie, a
visual marvel inspired by the LSD-laved 1970s.
The AAFF also let loose in a different direc-
tion - short comedic works such as "Masters of
the Sea," "The Boy In The Air" and "Boobie Girl"
showed a film festival at its most frivolously fun.
"Masters" was a mockumentary of wholly unique
subject matter. Who knew sex with sharks could
be so funny? And "Boy" gives non-sequitor good
karma as one woman perplexes over the all-too-
confusing nature of a magazine ad's frighten-
ingly literal connotations. Since when could little
children jump so high? And "Boobie Girl" is the
sweetest attempt anyone could ever make to
understand why women worry over their breasts
so much. It's like "Sex and the City"meets "Rocky
and Bullwinkle," if there ever was such a thing.
The AAFF offered so much, and I couldn't be
more satisfied in having taking part in it. It's the
feeling of true artistic and creative expression
almost never seen in the multiplex - a feeling a
few more students at the University could stand
to experience.
- For a list of festival winners,
go to http://aafilmfest.org/.
By JEFFREY BLOOMER
Managing Editor
One of the many aimless plea-
sures of watching horror movies is
how effortlessly
the bloodshed
they chronicle
can be reduced The Hills
to a message.
The situations Have Eyes II
that constitute
an effective hor- A ultl
ror premise are and Showcase
so elemental that Fox Atomic
they lend them-
selves perfectly
to singling out
tropes of social and political rel-
evance, even where they were not
necessarily intended. Watching
"Black Christmas," for example, the
holiday setting may not strike you as
a pro-Christian allegory, but what
else do you make of the fact that the
whole thing gets going because a
family doesn't show proper submis-
sion to the season's customs?
That's a bit of a reach, but you get
the idea. In "The Hills Have Eyes II,"
which is, for clarity's sake, a sequel
to a remake whose original also has
an unrelated sequel, you really can't
make too little of the fact that the
chosen targets this time around are a
National Guard unit in training to go
to Iraq. The site of the original film's
events has become a clandestine mili-
tary base, and though contact with
the base goes dark, our fresh-faced
troupe enters the remote desert loca-
tion superficially armed and cheer-
fully clueless. Nasty fates befallthem.
From this fastidiously conven-
tional setup, notice among the train-
ees the residentpacifist, who is made
up like a tree-hugger stereotype in
early scenes only to become a head-
bashing leader later on. Notice too
that the soldiers who belittle his
views the most are precisely the
ones who get killed off in the most
brutal fashion. His brand of ques-
tioning authority - he even calls out
a nameless president at one point
- seems the key to his survival.
This may sound silly, but the
choice of the National Guard unit
isn't accidental, and to dismiss this
outright is, if nothing else, less fan
than using itto help understand how
this movie operates. We are, after
all, paying to watch systematic rape
and torture for an hour and a half,
and though the "Saw" franchise is
leading the new charge toward vio-
lence for violence's sake, even the
most stripped-down horror films
(a designation for which "The Hills
Have Eyes II" certainly qualifies) are
much more interesting teased out
as allegory. Connecting the fuzzy
political dots can be a blast.
If this doesn't sound appealing,
I'm afraid I can't help you. "The
Hills Have Eyes II" is pure conven-
tion, capably but unimaginatively
directed by industry first-timer Mar-
tin Weisz. The screenplay, by legend
Wes Craven and his son, Jonathan,
is uncommonly bad even by genre
standards, but that much is forgiv-
able given that it's mostly designed
Searching for
politics because
it's fun.
to sic mutants on military folk. At
least it directs its aggression where
it belongs: Outside of an outrageous-
ly brutal rape sequence, most of the
hard violence is perpetrated against
the killers, one of whom literally
watches his brains fall fromhis head
as he goes in for a kill. Thus the film's
position on capital punishment, in
contrast to its military politics, is
unambiguous.
There I go again. Let's call atruce.
These movies make money, and so
we're going to be watching stream-
lined productlike this for some time.
I'llkeep talking abouthow the "Final
Destination" trilogy is a response to
our generation's anxiety with orga-
nized religion and determinism, you
keep talking about how sweet that
bus crash is (for the record, I thought
so, too). I would challenge, though,
that I'm having more fun with these
movies thanyou.
A different'Barcelona' worth the trip
By BRIAN CHEN size draws immediate compari-
DailyArts Writer sons to the similarly gargantuan
Polyphonic Spree, but in reality the
Some would argue the phrase band is more akin to the indie pop
"kid at heart" is little more than scene that's enjoying some main-
an absurd cliche, stream attention, partly because
but don't tell that * of the blogosphere adoration for
to Emmanuel bands like Clap Your Hands Say
Lundgren, sing- Yeah, The Boy Least Likely To and
er-songwriter I'm From the "life-changing" Shins. Like
of the 29-piece Barcelona those bands, I'm From Barcelona
indie collective are characterized by their vocal
I'm From Bar- Let Me harmonies and melodic arrange-
celona. For him, Introduce ments.
the unbridled M Frd with 29 members, it's hardly
joy and simplic- necessary to mention the band
ity of childhood Mute uses a wide range of instruments.
is now more rel- What's most impressive is that
evant than ever the music never sounds cluttered
in our modern, cynical world. Not or disordered - Lundgren's focus
to imply that Let Me Introduce My and passion streamline the entire
Friends is a political album - rath- affair.
er the opposite, as Lundgren con- Initial impressions on the
structs an idyllic world in which album's lyrical content are divisive.
petty politics are absent and unin- Either you appreciate the child-
hibited emotions take center stage. like, winsome qualities of songs
I'm From Barcelona's massive about chicken pox and collecting
stamps or you don't. Some will
undoubtedly scoff, but the band
aims at themes deeper than puer-
ile nostalgia. Lundgren presents
intimacy simplistically, singing, "I
have built a treehouse / Nobody
can see us / Cause it's a you and me
house."
Then there's the escapist
romance tale told through the met-
aphor of a pet goldfish ("Jenny").
While countless other bands
would appear foolish, I'm From
Barcelona pull it off with an inno-
cence and honesty that remove any
doubt: "I will take you far away /
I will put you in a little bowl upon
a tray." Every now and then, some
lyrics defy straightforward inter-
pretation ("I was just a little kid... /
I turned around and wet my bed"),
but for the most part there's some
earnest meaning to glean.
Just as the relentless themes of
glee and joy begin to get tedious,
the album wiselyends. But its brev-
ity is only one aspect - also credit
Lundgren's tight songwriting and
the other members' commitment
for maintaining the enjoyment of
the music.
Marx and Engels famously
wrote, "A man cannot become a
child again, or he becomes child-
ish," and to an extent, their senti-
ment rings true. In some ways, I'm
From Barcelona's debut album is a
juvenile effort, devoid of truly pro-
found and poignant moments. At
the same time, the album is often
brilliant in its simplicity, and its
modest goal to reclaim childhood
is both entertaining and admi-
rable. As the ringleader of this
mad circus, Lundgren is calm and
composed, and he never allows the
band's focus to slip, an incredible
feat considering its mammoth size.
Here is a band that aims not for
the stars, but for the inner child
within all of us. I'm From Barcelo-
na aren't here to change the world
- they're here to entertain, and
they accomplish that in spades.
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