8A - Monday, October 11, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4
Say yes to Dress Well
By JOE DIMUZIO
Daily Arts Writer
The cover art for Love Remains
features rocks, some patches of
grass and dirt
aside a pavement
lit only by car-
light. There are Howto
a few shadowsD
some weeds. Dess Well
Beyond that, Love Remains
nothing. Pitch Lefse
black. As a pic-
ture, it's unre-
markable. As a preview for the
music inside, it does just fine.
Love Remains, the debut full-
length for How To Dress Well,
is a sparse, dimly lit collection of
layered samples, indecipherable
vocals and the occasional hook
caught in the headlight. It's a
collection of previously released
tracks from over a years' worth
of free EPs all from the bedroom
of Tom Krell, a relative recluse
and avid fan of '90s R&B. Krell's
music isn't so much song-craft as
it is sound-craft, with plenty of
hip signifiers: low fidelity, drum
loops, ounces of reverb. But How
To Dress Well hurdles trend by
achieving a distinct sound, that,
if taken on its own terms, is hyp-
notic.
How To Dress Well has been
tagged "lo-fi R&B," an adequate
if not Ii
doesn't
of '90sa
like th
into th
tracks i
preferr
a textu
Verse,<
nascent
mid-to-
Krell's
times b
echoes
Krell
ing res
non, a.
Emma,J
Remain
vocal q
larity,vw
ing fals
out
But it's
Vernon
voice is
songs f
beats a
up Low
tentativ
and mo
miting label. Krell's music closely as acoustic guitar did to
so much evoke the sound Vernon's.
R&B as much as it sounds Song titles are about as much
heir demo tapes fading as you've got to go off for lyrical
e ether. Love Remains's 14 content here. Shadowy pronouns
forgo standard pop tropes, and mumbled vocalizations fill
ing to inhabit and explore tracks like "Suicide Dream 2," one
ure before fading away. of many songs that sounds like it
chorus and hook are as died a long time ago. From "Can't
t as the lyrics. Rhythms are See My Own Face" to "Escape
slow tempo. Throughout, Before the Rain," the sound of
sometimes buried, some- fading, looped samples and cloudy
laring multi-tracked voice singing embody few, if any, R&B
and conducts. trademarks. There's no sex.
's voice bears a strik- If anything, Love Remains's
emblance to Justin Ver- songs bear the mark of something
k.a. Bon Iver, whose For so devoid of anything resembling
Forever Ago could be Love love. In interviews, Krell says his
s's outdoorsy cousin. Their intent is to express feeling with-
ualities have a clear simi- out vocal clarity, without lyrics.
vith husky low-ends, piers- By his own admittance, in some
etto and warm harmonies. cases, the words are "mostly not
there."
But something remains. From
the cosmic elegy of "Escape
Bon Iver s Before the Rain" to the somber
. hall-of-mirrors on "My Body,"
Love Remains finds its singu-
lar place between coldness and
warmth. With or without words,
s bigger than that. Like How To Dress Well crafts his
's vocals on Emma, Krell's own, very personal, night music.
the glue that keeps these Whether Krell wants to turn on
rom falling to pieces. The the brights and take it out of "lo-
nd sound clips that make fi" is up to him. But there's a big-
e Remains feel loose and ger risk in letting those headlights
'e, and they cling to the life surprise you once in awhile, isn't
ivement of Krell's voice as there?
.
A predictable but
endearing 'Story'
Documentary-style
directors try some
light-hearted fare
By PHILIP CONKLIN
For the Daily
With "It's Kind of a Funny
Story," writing-directing duo Anna
Boden and Ryan
Fleck ("Half Nel-
son", "Sugar")
have departed 's Kind of
from the gritty s a
realism that Funny Story
characterized A
their first movies Atthe State'
in favor of a more Quality16
light-hearted and Rave
tone. This may Focus
seem strange for
a movie that largely takes place in a
mental hospital, but despite its mel-
ancholic setting, the film is gener-
ally pleasant and humorous.
But that's not to sayit's never sad.
Keir Gilchrist (TV's "United States
of Tara") stars as Craig - a suicidal
16-year-old who checks himself
into a mental hospital. Because the
teen ward is undergoing renova-
tions, he finds himself among adult
schizophrenics and drug addicts.
Not surprisingly, he soon realizes
his teenage woes aren't quite as
serious as his fellow patients' prob-
lems. But though Craig realizes this
KOLDING
From Page 7A
graffiti," Proctor said. "They're
acting in that environment in a
way that's not how they're sup-
posed to be."
Proctor said Kolding's use of
language within his collages is
more vague than his earlier work,
but Kolding maintains clear state-
ments about urban spaces with his
imagery and rhetoric. Some of his
collages feature cityscape back-
grounds with natural elements
growing through them like grass
growing through cracks in con-
crete - an intriguing commentary
on the blur between urban decline
and urban renewal.
In the framed collage from
2008, "Don't let the bastards grind
you down," one corner features the
Death Star from the "Star Wars"
early on and the audience prob-
ably anticipated it before the open-
ing credits, the idea is continually
harped on throughout the movie.
And, paradoxically, while "Funny
Story" emphasizes the not-so-seri-
ousness of Craig's problems, it also
over-dramatizes them.
And the film is exceedingly pre-
dictable. In the first ten minutes,
a series of obvious questions is set
up. Will Craig hook up with his fel-
low patient, the cute blonde Noelle,
played by Emma Roberts ("Nancy
Drew")? Will Craig's roommate,
a man who hasn't left his room
in years, finally be coaxed out by
Craig's charms? Will an unlikely
friendship form between Craig
and quirky patient Bobby (Zach
Galifianakis, "The Hangover")? But
while you may know where the film
is going, the characters are suffi-
ciently endearing and the dialogue
is witty enough to make the path
enjoyable along the way.
"Funny Story" benefits from
some well executed performances,
most notably by Gilchrist, whose
bashfulness and everyman (or
every-teenager) demeanor makes
him relatable and genuine, even
through the sometimes-forced dia-
logue. Galifianakis also gives an
impressive performance. Although
he's not given free comedic reign,
which could have made a kind-
of-funny film a very-funny film,
his capacity for dramatic acting
series surrounded by the words
"Power, corruption and lies." And
in the collage titled "When was
the future?," an image of a derelict
East German city is juxtaposed
against a background photo of Los
Angeles peeking through in the
lettering.
"Both cities have a whole dif-
ferent utopian idea about what a
city is and can be and should be -
both of which are outmoded at this
point," Proctor said of the collage.
For Kolding's Ann Arbor exhib-
it, Detroit became the ideal inspi-
ration to create original pieces.
Kolding explored Detroit with a
camera to collect material for the
mixed media sculpture, two origi-
nal collages and two posters he
made for the UMMA exhibit.
"He's so interested in cities
like Detroit both because of the
changes and contradictions that
exist within the urban fabric, but
also because of the cultural pro-
is stronger than one might expect
from a comedic actor.
The film is in staunch contrast
with the realistic, documentary-
style filmmaking of the directors'
first two features. For "Funny
Story," they opt instead for a more
nuanced style, characterized by
more carefully composed images
and brighter, whimsical produc-
tion design to match the lighter
tone of this film. But the movie is
also full of visual gimmicks that
often distract from the narrative.
The audience is shown Craig's fan-
tasies (some of them animated),
which sometimes turn into lengthy
digressions that aren't particularly
amusing or informative. It feels like
the filmmakers are trying too hard
to let the audience know they're
making something different this
time around. These asides are
amusing and visually rapturous,
but ultimately don't add much.
And, though it does its best not
to, "Funny Story" sometimes falls
back on the tired tropes of the teen
movie: Craig's best friend is dating
a girl with whom he's "obsessed,"
Craig realizes his best friend is an
asshole, Craig finds out his prob-
lems aren't really that bad, that his
parents really do love him, etc. But
its scope is larger than the aver-
age teen fare, and though it's a bit
heavy-handed in conveying its
themes, "Funny Story" is poignant
and highly enjoyable.
duction," Proctor said of Kolding.
"Musically, Detroit has been such
an important city for so long."
One of the original collages
he made for the exhibit is titled
"Sound Patterns," and the back-
ground features a photo of a park-
inggarage in downtown Detroit. In
one of two posters, which are plas-
tered on two walls and available in
stacks for free, Kolding shaped a
black-and-white image of Detroit
by overlaying a British DJ and the
bright-white words "Urban plan-
ning and local initiatives."
While Kolding's solo exhibit is
housed at UMMA, he is featured
as an artist in the Museum of Con-
temporary Art Detroit's fall show
about imaginary cities, which
Proctor helped arrange.
"The MOCAD show is like a
little satellite of our show," Proctor
said. "We wanted to have a way to
bridge the divide between Detroit
and Ann Arbor."
"Answer This!" was the first film to be both set and shot at the University of Michigan.
'Answer This!' premieressto A2
By ANDREW LAPIN
Senior Arts Editor
Lines formed around the block
for Friday's special "Ann Arbor pre-
miere" of the feature film "Answer
This!," written and directed by
'U' alum
Chris Farah. First seen on
And with,
all the local -t f
businesses
present, from Arbor Brewing Com-
pany's open bar to Underground
Printing's T-shirts featuring the
likeness of former English profes-
sor Ralph Williams, it felt like a
homecoming for the filmmakers.
Williams, who has a key sup-
porting role in the film, introduced
the movie to a packed house and
brought up Chris and producer
Mike Farah to rapturous applause.
FIFA 11
From Page 7A
immensely fun, but as the posi-
tions get more defense-oriented,
the excitement and action start
to disappear. Playing goajkeeper
affords very little involvement in
the actual game and the thrill of
Demand was so great for the film
that a second screening 'as added
at 10 p.m. Though the movie was
made with an Ann Arbor audience
in mind, the theater was packed
with people from all over the coun-
try and the non-local talent still
felt right at home.
"The speed of this town is exact-
ly our speed. We fit in here really
easily from day one," said Chris
Gorham (TV's "Covert Affairs"),
who stars in the film as Paul Tar-
son, a perpetual University grad
student trying to finish up his
dissertation while winning a bar
trivia competition. Williams plays
his father, Dr. Elliot Tarson. Also
featured were Arielle Kebbel ("The
Grudge 2") as a freshman who
becomes Paul's love interest and
Nelson Franklin ("Scott Pilgrim vs.
the World") as Paul's best friend.
playing quickly diminishes into
boredom.
The other new features are
essentially throwaways. The At
has supposedly been improved, but
computer-controlled characters
still don't seemto come close to the
real thing. Passing players would
often overshoot their receivers and
defenders would continue to guard
their zone rather than approach-
I . I
Congratulations
To our 31E Scholars on the
28th Anniversary
of our Class of 1931
Engineering Scholarships
The class of '31 and its Scholarship Selection Committee
congratulates and welcomes their E vi new scholarship winners
for the 2010-2011 academic vear:
CASEY BOYLE STEVEN PECHT
BENJAMIN BRELJE XIAORAN ZHANG
SARAH CLARK
T1hey- wil be joiningthe'31Er. I IONORsoc.iTY andsour N .iscurrent scholars:
ZI
Z,,
of the Class off '31, which will be
ober 15',* 2010 at 5:30 'm.
piring engineering
e gone on to
The audience responded well
to every recognizable location,
including the Diag and Ashley's
Pub, where a large amount of the
trivia scenes took place. The Farah
brothers are planning the film's
festival premiere for next spring,
and a national rollout will follow
along with a second special Ann
Arbor screening. Each audience
member was handed a question-
naire to fill out, and the results will
play a part in further shaping the
film before its nationwide expo-
sure.
Following the film, many of the
cast, crew and audience mem-
bers trekked to the second floor
of the Michigan League, where an
afterparty catered by University
Catering gave movie personnel the
chance to celebrate their first suc-
cessful screening.
ing the loose ball. "Personality+,"
another new feature, allegedly
gives each athlete a unique play
style, but characteristics were
indistinguishable from computer
to computer.
The Al and Personality+ need
some improvement, but at least
they take nothing away from the
gameplay. The graphics are still
top notch, human-controlled player
responsiveness is extremely sat-
isfactory and the physics seem
real. Players push each other for
possession of the ball and the
360-degree dribbling adds a lot
of strategic variability. These
changes make dodging players
and sliding between defenders full
of nuance. All this makes it a great
stand-alone game, but its presence
as the latest game in the "FIFA"
genealogy demands much more.
The problem with "FIFA 11"
is EA attempting to justify a $60
title with upgrades totallyunwor-
thy of an additional release.
If you enjoy soccer games and
don't own "FIFA 09" or "10,"
this game wouldn't be a horrible
purchase, but older versions are
half the price. Hopefully one day
someone will inform EA (and
all sports-game makers, for that
matter) about the existence of
patches so they can reward their
fan base with bug removal and
updated roster information with-
out charging them the price of an
original game.
0l
Honoring ourpast, inspiring our future.
ALEC COHEN
REBECCA FRANK
SHAYAAN KHANNA
SHANE LARKIN
MARISSA MANTEY
PATRICIA MCCORMICK
DARIN MCLESKEY
KUNAL MEHTA
KAITLYN PEALE
ASHLEY POLLOCK
NEAL RAKESH
BENJAMIN RIZZO
IAN STUART-HOFF
ANTHONY TRICOZ
VERONICA WARD
All of these scholars will be honored this month at the 79" Annual Reunion Dinner
held at the F IiiiPoints Sheraton Inn, Ant Arbor, Michigan on Friday evening, Oct,
Since the establishment of the '31i Scholarship Program in 1982, mo're than 140 asI
students have been helped to experience a University of Michigan education and ha,
rearding careers.
GeorgevI.Anderson
Director of Media Relations
Class of 1931 Engineering
Be part of the next Peace Corps Volunteer Generation.
Special information Event:
Meet Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams
Thursday, October 14 at 6:30 p.m.
Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
peacecorps.umichedu
Apply this Fall for programs leaving
in 2011 - Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary Year! A
Life is calling. How far will you go?
n00,424.8:0 I poacecorps.gov/application
0
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