The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, November 2, 2009 - 5A Fuck Buttons get sporty B This mal Cc they r With monicl Englisl electro duo unafra rush h into versy alread mainst Still is surp fensive intrigu and tu depart tons' Horrrs and all Tho connec their s sions f Ratata the ri Anima Fuck A: inc lii ally la out un ful chi someh cadenc repeat -for pians," that s five di of alm gets c Wh patriot Attack the-ea heavy Button presen weren track y SHARON JACOBS would be no way of knowing DailyArts Writer that Andrew Hung and Benja- min John Power are behind the just in: Ratatat and Ani- curtain. Effortless song transi- ollective had a baby, and tions make for an uninterrupted named it Fuck Buttons. rush of sound that powers Tarot such a Sport through its tracks, from ker, the the fluttery early-morning open- h indie- *7NN er "Surf Solar" to the pulsating pop finale of "Flight of the Feathered seems Fuck Buttons Serpent." id to Tarot Sport Despite its apparent lack of ieadlong ATP a human touch, Tarot Sport is contro- anything but artificial. Expres- and has sive without being "moody," it y doomed itself in terms of explores positive emotion from tream media acceptance. all angles. "Surf Solar" radiates , the Fuck Buttons' sound sunny-day exuberance with its 'risingly likeable and inof- shimmering glitches. Coolly e. Ripe with harmonic calm, "The Lisbon Maru" exudes e and emotional twists militaristic pride, supported by rns, Tarot Sport marks a a strong drumbeat that slowly ure from the Fuck But- becomes more complex. sore grating debut, Street Even the downright bizarre ing. It's a warm, inviting "Phantom Limb" has a posi- -around fun listen. tive vibe - it sounds like a sci-fi ugh there's no formal robot takeover at first, but about ction, Fuck Buttons take three minutes, in the bundles neaky structural progres- of noise suddenly peel off and a rom fellow electronic duo simple "huh huh huh" (the clos- t and are well-versed in est to "lyrics" that Tarot Sport chly textured sound of provides) proves there is still i Collective. The typical humanity in this postmodern Buttons song lets gradu- world. Beloved by hipster-spawning music blogs, Fuck Buttons have surprisingly been hailedby many as the "Next Big Thing" ever since their first )ffensive and single release in 2007. The group has toured with Mogwai and kable sound. performed at a few festivals, but the rousing praise it has gotten is a bit much for such an impres- sionable young band. Tarot yered samples fade in and Sport exceeds expectations - derneath slow but beauti- although for a group called Fuck ord changes. Fuck Buttons Buttons, expectations are not ow make the simplest hard to exceed - but the album ce sound fresh, even after is by no means revolutionary. It ing it over and over again is a product of its noise-poppy proof, just listen to "Olym- times, too easily compared to " a triumphant exultation its contemporaries to be totally witches between maybe original. stinct chords in the span If Tarot Sport's only fault is ost 11 minutes but never not beingmindblowinglyunique, oring. thats hardly grounds for febuke. ile Bristol, England com- Fuck Buttons have crafted an is Portishead and Massive album that leaves listeners feel- anchor their easy-on- ing energized and wanting more. rs electronica with a This group certainly might be emphasis on vocals, Fuck ready for the big time - perhaps is leave no trace of human at this point, though, a name ice on Tarot Sport. If it change is in order. Soon, all Santa's reindeer will be dead. A 'Serious' spectacle The Coens get biblical in their new dark comedy By ANDREW LAPIN DailyFilm Editor Along with the usual disclaim- ers in the end credits of "A Serious Man" comes this mes- A Serious sage: "No Jews were harmed in Man the making of At the this film." The Michigan writing-directing Focs superteam of JoelF and Ethan Coen has finally embraced its most Jew- ish of last names, and in so doing has crafted one of the most original, unexpected and thought-provoking films of the year. But take that dis- claimer seriously: From a faith- based perspective, there is some serious harm being wrought upon some serious Jews. The Coen brothers uprooted an ages-old Biblical parable and trans- planted it to rural Minnesota circa 1967, making a film that is both surreal and reflective of their own childhoods. The movie revels in the misfortune of its protagonist, Larry Gopnik (theater veteran Michael Stuhlbarg), and invites the audience into his downward spiral. And yet it maintains a delicate tone through- out, never veering into overly sadis- tic or condescending territory. Larry is by all accounts a good Jew. He sends his kids to Hebrew school and always looks out for his fellow man, eventaking in his down- trodden brother Arthur (Richard Kind,'TV's "Spin City"). But Larry's life starts to unravel, first gradually, then uncontrollably. His wife wants a divorce so she can marry her new lover, a beloved community figure; his request for tenure at the commu- nity college he teaches at is threat- ened . by an anonymous dissenter; he's kicked out of his own house and becomes strapped for cash; and one of his students attempts to bribe him for a passing grade, then threatens to sue for defamation. Through it all, Larry maintains with wide-eyed dis- belief that he hasn't done anything. Fatalism has always been a com- mon theme for the Coen brothers; many of their protagonists, from The Dude in "The Big Lebowski" to Sheriff Bell in "No Country for Old Men," are bounced powerlessly through events outside of their own control. But Larry may be their first character who looks beyond the immediate consequences of the events themselves and tries to ask what they all mean. He's looking for answers in his life where there don't seem to be any. Larry visits three different rab- bis in his quest to find meaning in his misery,andtheygive himadvice of about the same level of useful- ness as Jefferson Airplane lyrics. One of the biggest cosmic jokes in the movie is an image that will be very familiar to some Jews: the exalted senior rabbi, sitting alone in his ridiculously ornate palace of an office adorned with assorted Juda- ica, doing nothing and speaking to nobody. "The rabbi is busy ... he's thinking," says his assistant. There's never a dull frame in a Coen brothers picture. With the help of director of photography Roger Deakins, their long-time col- laborator, they can make even the most rudimentary images pop with a kind of ethereal resonance. The simple sequence of Larry climbing up on his roof to fiddle with his TV antennae carries resounding power: The camera admires him frombelow and above, and for a brief moment he appears to be content as the ruler of his household kingdom. As Lar- ry's misfortunes pile up, we become more and more vested in his plight; the Coen's brilliant characterization of him through shot frames and the smartly focused script help give him the kingly grandeur he constantly The Princeton MCAT 10 Point - Avg Score Increase 12 Point -Top Quarter Increase 105 hours live instruction 5 expert instructors 800-2ReviewlPrincetonReview.com Corner of S. University & S. Forest seeks. Under any lesser filmmaker, Larry would have simply become a sad sack, and the film would have been unbearable to sit through. But what does it all mean? On its. surface "A Serious Man" is simply a retelling ofthe story of Job, in which God and Satan make a bargain over how much they can push a good, pious man before he renounces his faith. Yet there seems to be more going on here than mere biblical alle- gory. As per usual, the Coens aren't interested in spelling anything out: without giving anything away, the ending doesn't make deciphering the rest of the film any easier. But unlike the misjudged anticlimax that con- cluded "No Country," this ending feels more complete, somehow. In a movie where one man is being punished without rhyme or reason, no one singular image is going to wrap things up nice and pretty. Instead, what is here further cements the Coen's status as legends of the screen, and guarantees that "A Serious Man" will be seriously talked about for years to come. 't for a few grunts on the "Phantom Limb," there I z U La. 0i c- 0 0 -J tNTERESTED IN ALE $ R P A KT G WAN TO> WERK DUR:NG WER ~ jN. SP INUMMER VEME.STER? Attention. The Michigan Daily will give you the opportunity Please pick up an application at to gain the following business experiences: , m an, j