0 8 - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0 The Middle' is a house of hopelessness Sex with the lights on: the horrible aftermath. Making p 'Bright Star' embraces love to become a uniquely successful period piece By Jennifer Xu ( For the Daily As steeped in the seasons as nature itself, Jane Campion's "Bright Star" swirls lyrical poetry about its body like a fine cloak. **** Sixteen years have passed Bright Star since Campion's At Showcase globally praised a film "The Piano" and the State achieved Oscar Apparition glory, and she has grown up in the intervening years. While "Bright Star" shares the free spirit and raw passion of its predecessor, "Star" is softer, livelier and infinitely more daz- zling. Combining period film with a pinch of biopic, "Bright Star" tells the tale of poet John Keats's (Ben Whishaw, "Brideshead Revisited") three-year romance with fashion seamstress Fanny Brawne E(Abbie Cornish, "Stop-Loss") until his untimely death at 25. With prim, sexless demeanors, period films have a tendency to distance audiences. But the great thing about "Bright Star" is that it's relatable. The relationship between Keats and Brawne could have been pulled out of the pages of any college romance. It's full of awkwardness, mixed signals and anxiety. Sex is portrayed straight- forwardly, not as taboo. Normally, a huge scandal erupts ifa charac- ter even deigns to kiss the other, but a scene where Fanny offers herself to Keats proves shock- ingly sensational for the film's PG rating. Campion has made a living exploring feminist motivations in her films, and "Bright Star" con- tinues this trend. But beneath its wild core, the film evokes a certain tenderness. Fanny is undoubtedly a strong individual who speaks her mind and does whatever she wants, but she's also a human being with the capacity to feel, love and give. "Bright Star" is a film as atten- tive to appearance as it is to narra- tive. Campion seamlessly strings together a lush orchestral score, shimmering cinematography and stunning costume design to bring 19th-century England to life. But- terflies illuminate the bedroom, flowers wreath the reclined bod- ies and kisses melt on top of each other. The frocks have flounce and ruffles and bright overlays. Delicate choir strains ornament the expressive poetry of Keats. It looks, feels and breathes romanti- cism. As far as acting goes, Cornish proves that she is more than the homewrecker who broke apart the marriage of Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon. She plays Fanny Brawne to understated precision, her vain and flirtacious nature evolving into something deeper as the film goes on. In a scene near the film's end, her per- fectly coiffed restraint is punc- tured by the suddenness of Keats's death. She begins to ascend the stairs, then halts. Her hands start trembling - she can't control them as she breaks out into broken sobs. She sinks to the floor, hands still in disarray, and lets out a raw cry: "Mama, I can't breathet" It's a pic- ture of sublime emotion. While the film is really all about Fanny, Whishaw provides an able supporting role as the sickly, moody John Keats, struggling not only to find inspiration for his poens, but also to dig up the finan- cial means to support Fanny. It's difficult to play a dying character without coming off as contrived, but Whishaw displays just the right amount of patheticism and pitifulness to pull it off. The chem- istry between these two is undeni- able, and, despite the confines of society at the time, a surprisingly sizzling romance develops. "Bright Star" is a heartbreak- ing love story of magnetic pro- portions, just barely letting go of the reigns of starched decency to create one of the freshest explora- tions of female sexuality in a long time. It is a film about living, lov- ing and breathing in beauty - a splendor that is experienced with all five senses, embracing the spirit of Keats's sensuous poetry. By CHRISTINA ANGER For the Daily The dysfunctional family is the backbone of many a TV series, and rightfully so, as it's all too easy to relate to. ABC's "The Middle" * looks at a some- what average The Middle family, attempt- ing to highlight Wednesdays the poignant at 8:30 p.m. intricacies of ABC daily life - awk- ward and lazy kids, dead-end jobs and that lovingly parental feeling of "where did my life go?" In an effort to create a show somewhere between dysfunctional and highly situational, "The Middle" lands dryly and appropriately in the mid- dle. And, for the record, the show is not even as clever as that last obser- vation. Sad. Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") is Frankie, a mother of three who is slowly real- izing her outlook on life is lack- luster and jaded. As a used car saleswoman who hasn't yet sold a car, the unoriginal pathetic vibe resonates from Heaton through the entire pilot episode. There isn't one strong character who stands out from the rest - they are all quite run-of-the-mill. Frankie's husband Mike Heck (Neil Flynn, "Scrubs") is the ditzy dad who hasn't a clue, and even Chris Kattan ("Saturday Night Live") plays a shallowly aloof role as one of Frankie's friends. With these actors, there is plenty of opportunity to display life's real pitiable moments, but it's going to take something more substantial than Frankie and Mike forgetting to pick up the kids or the fact that their only daughter Sue (Eden Sher, "Sons and Daughters") is awkward and awful at anything she tries. It's really more depressing than funny. The show makes use of"Malcolm in The Middle"-style directingwith quick cuts and clumsy angles, and scenes are full of blaring vibrant colors. From Frankie's repulsion at her new driver's license picture to her perplexity at her youngest son's best friend also being his backpack, each familiar scene bleeds blurrily into the next. Unlike "Malcolm," there isn't a sense of hopelessness easily mended by in-your-face per- sonalities. Instead, Frankie comes to a cutesy moral at the end of the first episode: Her family is uncan- ny, but she loves them all the same. TV shows quickto push morals that tie pretty bows around issues like the monotony of life never have as much depth as they should, and "The Middle" is no different. Heaton's role as narrator and overwhelmed hapless mom pales when compared to her strong, kick- Regular day-to- day life is actually boring. Who knew? ass personality beside the Ray- mond everybody loved. She used to spit sarcastic fire and managed to juggle three kids, life and a raging mother-in-law. In "The Middle," she has some shining moments that accurately depict an overworked mom, but the overworked moms of the world don't necessarily want to watch a self-portrayal. "The Mid- dle" offers no escape for its demo- graphic nor for its main character. The show needs to decide what it's trying to do - hail to its moral and magnify the beauty in day-to- day family life (please, no) or kick its cast into gear and try to scratch decent. Hopefully the writers can use the show's title as an irony of sorts and dig deeper into the faults of the average family, ris- ing above that dangerous median line. Making something average enthralling isn't an easy job, but that doesn't excuse "The Middle" for not doing it. Brand New and totally not improved By KEVIN MEYER For the Daily It's only natural for a healthy band to trans- form over the course of its long and often twisted career path, explor- ing new sounds or diverging * into parallel genres. Long Island-based alt-rockers Brand New Brand New are no exception. Led by lyrical prodigy and Daisy guitarist Jesse Lacey, Brand Insterscope New has risen to popularity since it signed with Triple Crown Records in 2001. Since this transition to a major label, the group has shed its initial association with cliche, eyeliner-ridden rock- ers like Taking Back Sunday and Senses Fail, plumbing psychological depths untouched by modern "scream-o." The group culminated this raw makeover with 2006's profoundly surprising release of Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. The album marked a drastic shift in theme and mood, channeling Lacey's personal depres- sion into a dark, guttural release. On Daisy, Brand New attempts to continue this trend, but ultimately fails, overreaching with 45 minutes of desperation atop obnoxiously dis- torted guitar tracks. Most of Daisy shows a clear departure from the band's previous formula, which consisted of Lacey's better-than-average voice pelting the listener with clever lyrics over aching, bass- driven tracks. Daisy opts instead for a fury of, well, loudness. To call the album dissonant is an understatement. The opening track "Vices" is the most obvious example, sounding more like an extended yell than any sort of song. One need only look at the track list to notice the distinct difference in intention. Brand New used to come up with engaging titles like "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" or "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," but now hands out loathing, one-word monikers like "Sink" and "Gasoline." The titles are evidence of the transition from wit and finesse to brute, musical force. With Brand New's overblown attempt at amped-up instrumentation, the band loses the opportunity to capitalize on its greatest talent: lyricism. Most of the album is wasted on seeth- ing guitars and mutant yelling, foregoing any development of compelling lyrics. The only two exceptions are the title track in which the group circles around the issue of male insecu- rity and the memorable track "At the Bottom" Daisy fails to capitalize on Lacey's obvi- ously profuse emotional burden like Devil and God did. Where Brand New's previous releas- es used witty lyrics and guitar-centric melo- dies to convey an often-jilted view of love, the band instead covers up its insecurities Loud, bland and too aggressive. with loudness. Daisy provides an image of an abrasive, nervous band, a stark contrast from the self-assuring, dynamic band shown in the past. Where the Ilbum strives to feel multidi- mensional, the blandness of its single-stroke over-aggressive structure actually results in something very one-dimensional. The bands attempt at greatness ends up in nothing but mediocrity, and is capable of inciting in fans a brand new aggravation for Brand New's risk taking. I 4 4 Seeing your career hit a dead end can be hard to swallow, 4 Trying too hard to be legendary on 'Shawarma' By SHARON JACOBS For theDaily Legend of the Black Shawarma, the newest release by Israeli trance duo Infected Mushroom, is sure to solidify the group's status - as a love-it-or- be-annoyed-by- InfeCted it cult icon. This M ho time around, IM's love of Legend of the metal takes cen- Black Shawarma ter stage, mak- Perfecto ing for an even more eclectic mix than usual. It's a big step away from the duo's signature psyche- delic trance, clouding the usual del- icate bells and beeps with distorted guitar riffs. Legend is probably too intense for crossover appeal, but fans should be intrigued by the group's sonic evolution. Infected Mushroom hails from Haifa, Israel. Members Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani are both classically trained musicians who found electronic music at a young age. IM has found success in many parts of the world but is practically unheard of outside electronic music circles, despite its genre-bending tendencies. Legend of the Black Shawarma is the outfit's seventh full-length album; named after a traditional Middle Eastern dish, it was origi- nally meant to include a track for each of Eisen and Duvdevani's favorite restaurants. Some of the songs on Legend really do sound legendary. The excellent "Poquito Mas" opens the album with a delicate Middle East- ern guitar melody before settling into gritty metal-flavored elec- tronica. The exotic Middle East- ern motif comes in and out, adding a sense of chaos from all the genre mashing. But Duvdevani's heavy Israeli accent, present here as on many of the tracks, helps to keep the music grounded. The album's first single "Smashing the Opponent" fea- tures Korn's Jonathan Davis, who crafts it into another standout. Davis's smooth yet strained voice easily rises above the pared-down eral of the songs are full of build- instrumentals,consummatingthe ups that don't go anywhere. The album's attempt at metal-trance polyrhythmic section of "Project fusion. It's also one of the dark- 100" is striking at first for its sim- er-sounding songs on the album, plicity, but it fades away without already IM's heaviest. developing into more. And "Kill- The title track sounds like a ing Time," featuring Perry Farrell return to the second side of Con- of Jane's Addiction, truly lives up verting Vegetarians, IM's epic to its name. attempt to make trance music Infected Mushroom is often that could stand apart from hailed as a primer band for trance trance culture. It takes three music, a genre that gets slack minutes to get to the meat, but for being repetitive and boring. the buildup holds the listener's While some of Legend falls into that trap, the more concise songs retain the ever-shifting melo- Really boring dies and uncommon sounds that held listeners' interest in earlier 'shrooms. singles like "Converting Vegetar- ians" and "Becoming Insane." The album clocks in at 77 min- interest by constantly adding new utes - not at all unheard of for layers of sound - a sort of musical Infected Mushroom - but it still shawarma. The middle section is feels too long. Fans will likely be a nice opportunity for Eisen and pleased with the new direction, Duvdevani to showcase their but those new to trance or to classical skills with some pretty the specific stylings of Infected piano arpeggios. Mushroom would be better off Unfortunately, much of Legend simply downloading a few of the is self-glorifying rambling. Sev- shorter songs. A FINE ARTS WRITER BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL AS SWEET. BUT HONESTLY WHY ARE YOU SNIFFING PEOPLE? WRITE FOR FINE ARTS 4 4 E-mail battlebots@umich.edu for an application.