8A - Monday, February 22, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 8A - Monday, February 22, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom A night of improvisation at Kerrytown Concert House By BRAD SANDERS Daily Arts Writer Musicians Fred Lonberg-Holm and Peter Brotzmann see too much restriction in playing pre- viously com- Fred Lonberg- posed pieces. Holm and Peter They desire the freedom Brotzmann to play beats Tonight at 8 p.m. and rhythms Kerrytown Concert spontaneous- House ly, in the style Tickets from $5 of improvisa- tion. The duo will be performing at the Kerry- town Concert House tonight at 8 p.m. Lonberg-Holm and Brftzmann became acquainted with one another through the Chicago10tet, an ensemble led by Brotzmann himself. It was in this group that their improvisational techniques were born. "The Chicago 1Otet evolved over the past five or six years, where originally different members would write pieces for us to per- form," Lonberg-Holm said. "At a certain time we wanted to throw out the scores and just play, and we've been working that way eves' since. Peter lives in Germany, and the ensemble is equally made up of people from Chicago and from Europe." The two decided to collaborate and go on a tour together after many successful performances. Lonberg-Holm plays the cello, while Britzmann is on the saxo- phone. "Peter was coming into town for a visual arts show he was running, and he said, 'It would be cool to do a series ofgigs together,"' Lonberg- Holm said. "I've played in small situations with I think just about everybody in the 10tet. The band is made up of smaller bands, so to speak." Lonberg-Holm believes that jazz is the music of improvisers, but as a whole he tries to stray away from this label. "You get so many different things of what the man on the street would say is jazz," Lonberg- Holm said. "The word jazz is an amorphous thing, I'm more com- fortable not using it at all. It has been used as a racist, street-jacket term applied to African Americans, so musicians in general have been trying to get away from that. We play music that's not such a typical thing you hear. Everything is kind of new and experimental." With Lonberg-Holm and Brftzmann's experience, improvi- sation has become second nature to them. "We just start playing and see where we end up, and where we can go," Lonberg-Holm explained. "He and I do things where there's specific melodic material and a rhythmic basis that the music is goingtogrow out of" Lonberg-Holm has performed in Ann Arbor multiple times, and a large factor in his return is the respect he has for the Kerrytown venue. "Kerrytown has a long, excel- lent history presenting improvised music," Lonberg-Holm said. "The first time I played there was some day in the mid-'90s. For the last 10 years I've been there on average every 15 months. It's a place that is open to presenting different music and it's a very nice sounding room." Lonberg-Holm suggests that the audience have an open mind during f the performance, as this makes the overall musical experience more enjoyable. Improv music forms a story without words. "It can be kind of a trip or a story without words, a non-linear narrative," Lonberg-Holm said. "The idea in a way is that as soon as you try to force your thoughts on other people, it loses them alto- gether. It's more interesting for the listener to leave their mind open so they can put their own angle on the music." "Stand back! I'm going Super Saiyan! 'Shutter' with fa Sc d J arr 1 l 1 l l j Fred Lonberg-Holm has performed in Ann Arbor sporadically over the last 10 years. BAD CREDIT? NO CREDIT? JOIN DAILY ARTS. E-mail join.arts@umich.edu for information on applying. SS^U Reca Remem with a tion o suit, w were in the of clue prints, piecing er th wherea the bo more captur analog ese has This neither a myst fog. Th 66 cr als, e drow how Mars ardo ary R Chuc "Whe are d inves Sco is a m and belie inten exper detec is a w the t unkn is a event clues orsese crafts a whether the viewer's eye is dis- cerning enough to spot them. ark, vivid and The revelation to which those clues lead borders on preposter- ing mystery with ous, and the conclusion's absur- dity makes those hints and signs mediocre twist all the more priceless to the film's entertainment value. To spoil By NICK COSTON their appearances, excruciatingly DailyArts Writer tempting as it is, would be far more unfair than revealing the finale. all your last treasure hunt. Only trust that they exist, and they nber whether you were filled are awesome. n exhilara- The audience's entertainment f the pur- is wrought from the hunt because hether you the film's ultimate delivery - the immersed Shutter big, conclusive chunk of informa- exposure tion that renders all preceding s and foot- ISland events possible - is disappoint- whether At Quality16 ing enough to ruin the experience togeth- if the audience allows it to do so. e precise What's worse, the film runs for a bouts of Paramount superfluous final act even after the aunty was disclosure of the big twist. All the important than actually tension and unease is unleashed in ing it. If such memories are one truculent moment and some- ous to yours, Martin Scors- how the film rolls to the finish line a film for you. with no air in its tires. film is "Shutter Island," And oh, that big twist. By now thriller nor adventure but many people know that "Shut- ery mired in a thick, eerie ter Island" has a twist. Jerks and ie titular island is home to buttheads the world over have riminally insane individu- been revealing the big plot twist ne of whom, a woman who on the ever-precarious Internet. ned her children, has some- The victims of this cruelty need escaped from her cell. U.S. not despair; in fact, he or she will hal Teddy Daniels (Leon- probably enjoy "Shutter Island" DiCaprio, "Revolution- a great deal more than someone Zoad") and his new partner entering the theater with no such k Aule (Mark Ruffalo, knowledge. ere the Wild Things Are") A viewer who already knows eployed to Shutter Island to what's coming can appreciate the tigate the disappearance. aural and visual intricacies with orsese once said, "Cinema which Scorsese dots the frame. natter of what's in the frame one who is ignorant to the conclu- what's out." If he really sion, merely waiting for the pay- ves that, then he clearly off, will only frown and complain ded "Shutter Island" to be that they sat through all those rienced by an audience of absurdities and dream sequences tives. What's in the frame and dream-within-dream-with- rafting cloud of pipe smoke, in-dream sequences for such an all back of a chair with an impossible resolution. own occupant. What's out In one such absurdity, Daniels firm connection between and Aule seek shelter from a fero- s past and present. Yet the cious hurricane inside a cramped, are there; the question is stony mausoleum. As long as we're in here, Daniels offers, here's a list of reasons why we're on this island. Here's an informant nobody has mentioned yet. How interest- ing, Aule responds. Allow me to leap headfirst to conclusions with the wind and orchestra acceler- ating around the growing para- noia beneath our fedoras, and we shall proceed under such enor- mous assumptions. Toward the end of the film, a character liter- ally wheels out a chalkboard and explains the connection of this thing to that thing. one of the most elementary ingredients in filmmaking aesthet- ic is called matching on action. Ifa character is shown raising an apple to his mouth, the next shot will show him taking a bite, and the shot after that will be the apple in his hand lowering to his waist. The conclusive action to which the shot cuts must match the shot that pre- ceded it - directionally, spatially, temporally. Matching on action preserves a film's sequential conti- nuity. To ignore this rule - to skip the bite - would prove immensely disconcerting to the audience. Naturally, Scorsese doesn't just disregard this law, he aggres- sively violates it. Throughout the film, Daniels will hear a noise and his head will already be turned when the shot cuts, or his wife will approach him with arms out- stretched and suddenly they're already locked in an embrace. It's unnerving, it's clearly purpose- ful, and it makes the audience look around and wonder if anyone else saw it. In a movie about a missing crazy person on an island full of crazy people, Scorsese makes the viewer feel like the crazy one. "Shutter Island" is wholly arresting. Its artistry succeeds on a level that contemporary hor- ror films can only achieve in their dreams. And though its surprise is undeniably disappointing, the manic path that leads to its conclu- sion is only further thrilling evi- dence of Scorsese's mastery. 0 0 only the best puzzle games can with a $10 price tag, it would be a WINTERBOTTOM provide. steal at twice the price. The other From Page 5A The downsides? For one thing, caveat is that the game is only it's short. Real braniacs might available (for now) on the Xbox blow through every one of P.B.'s Live Arcade, leaving PS3 owners like so much pie crust. The misadventures in three or four and PC gamers in the lurch. 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