The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
6A - Monday, December 5, 2011
FILM REVIEW
A Hawaiian ennui
ALBUM REVIEW
'Jet Life' takes to the sky
'The Descendants'
delves into realistic
relationships
By AKSHAY SETH
Daily Arts Writer
Life can be a long, point-
less walk through normality.
In the bleakest of terms, we go
to school,
get a job, go * ***
to work and
eventually, like The
cattle being Diats
herded from
one platform to At Quality 16
another, die. It and Rave
really doesn't
matter who Fox Searchlight
we are or how
much money we have in our wal-
lets, because at some unfortu-
nate point, we all get smacked
across the face with the sudden
realization that there's absolute-
ly nothing to be done about it.
Most movies try to bank on
this notion of insignificance
by offering an escape from it,
depicting the lives of extraordi-
nary individuals who rise above
the confines of regularity. But
"The Descendants," the latest
directorial effort by Alexan-
der Payne ("Sideways"), isn't
like most movies. It's a tender
tale of mourning and melan-
choly, touched with moments
of hilarity that bring to life the
ironic imperfections of human
existence. The most surpris-
ing detail? Every single char-
acter onscreen is absolutely
and unapologetically normal -
they're the kind of people who
could be our next-door neigh-
bors.
George Clooney ("Up in the
Air") plays Matt King, a worka-
holic lawyer who happens to be
one of the last surviving descen-
dants of Kamehameha I, the first
king of a united Hawaii. Part of
the trust fund he and his cousins
have inherited is a large tract of
"Bring your daughter to work day" with Clooney is less exciting than you'd think.
undeveloped "virgin" Hawaiian even if he lives in America's par-
land, the last of its kind. With adise land - facing all the crap
said trust fund about to dissolve, that life offers. The keen sense of
Matt and his cousins decide to honesty in the script and direc-
cash in their chips and sell off tion enliven Payne's ability to
the land, a venture that would highlight the little character
make all of them extremely rich details he puts onscreen.
and irrevocably change Hawaii's Seemingly unnecessary
real estate climate. minutiae, like the way Matt
As the details of the sale are deals with a bitter father-in-law
ironed out, Matt's wife Eliza- (Robert Forster, "Middle Men")
beth (newcomer Patricia Hastie) and his daughter's idiotic friend
is involved in a boating accident (newcomer Nick Krause), give
that puts her in a coma and fore- the character room to breathe,
es him, for the first time in seven allowing the audience to see him
years, to care for his rebellious when he's not exposed by his
daughters. The oldest, 17-year- grief.
old Alexandra (Shailene Wood- Clooney excels in using the
ley, TV's "The Secret Life of freedom he's given with a char-
the American Teenager") soon acter as multifaceted as Matt.
reveals that she caught Eliza- There are moments inthe movie,
beth with another man before just seconds after Matt stops
the accident. himself from breaking down,
Matt - struggling to maintain that serve as a constant remind-
a measure of authority - finds er of how completely Clooney
himself at a crossroads, unsure understands the personality he's
of where to turn. Is he going been asked to embody and how
to keep supporting the wife he that personality fits into this
thought he knew for close to 20 movie's voice.
years, or will she always be that Shit hits the fan. There's noth-
unfaithful woman who intend- ing much Matt can do to clean it
ed on demanding a divorce and up, but he faces it in the same
jumping ship? way any one of us would, and he
The movie, like the other films becomes a better man for it. It
Payne has written and directed, would be too simple to just break
stands out because there's no down and turn your back. Matt's
discernible plotline. The main unwillingness to do so reminds
character is just a regular guy - us why.
By GEOFF MARINO
Daily Arts Writer
Say the word "Jet" to your-
self. Say it again. What meaning
comes to mind? Are you envision-
ing New York
Jets quarter-
back Mark San-
chez lobbing a Je
football down-
field? Are you Jet World
contemplating Order
the loud, some-
what terrify- Jets International
ing drone of a
military jet flying over Michigan
Stadium, observing the power of
the military-industrial complex?
To New Orleans rapper
Curren$y and his crew Jet Life,
the word "jet" has nothing to do
with football, but it definitely
means something important to
him, because Jet World Order
is one of four aircraft-themed
albums. To him, the "jet" is a
symbol of liberation, nullifying
the most extreme topographical
hindrances. It breaks down bar-
riers. Effectively, the "jet life"
the group members talk about in
interviews transcends the con-
ventional wisdom that says art-
ists need to sell out to get rich.
Luckily for Jet Life -
Curren$y, Trademark Da Sky-
diver, Young Roddy, Smoke
DZA, Mikey Rocks and oth-
ers - the album lives up to the
group's audacity. It creates a
balance by embracing pop sen-
sibilities without groveling to
the hip-hop industry's formula
for a chart-topping pop smash.
On "Excellent," the album's first
and most impressive track, Jet
Life provides a down-to-earth
rap experience. Young Roddy
subtly excites, letting vowel
sounds dance on the fine line
separating snarly and soft, and
the upbeat music seems to mir-
ror that nature, with a buzzing
synth line that characterizes a
kazoo and a piano.
The song gets your head bop-
ping, but it thankfully doesn't
6
"Shark World Order" was ousted as the title after several New York rumbles.
indulg
rap an
lesslyc
in. The
chorus
There
or vitr
adrena
doesn'
Cu
st
while
ing us
and ra
totally
for sti
The
end v
ing Le
wobbli
ferent
from T
though
and Yc
to its L
ing tru
pler E
"jet li
Every
e in any of the mainstream genius doesn't end.
d hip-hop scene's shame- The lyrics are as playfully
overused tactics to draw us enigmatic as the music is innova-
re is no soaring, emotional tive, and in this department the
to wrench out our tears. album serves the essential func-
is no bone-shaking bass tion of demystifying Curren$y's
'iolic verse to demand an fascination with jets. The top-
line rush. The tracksimply of-the-world mentality is juxta-
t need any of it. It excites posed alongside the anti-society,
anti-machine, marijuana culture
Jet Life is a part of. In "Lop-Sid-
rren$y won't ed," Young Roddy spits outa line
that epitomizes the group's phi-
hortcha . losophy: "Fuck yo' system, I'll get
paid without it."
In short, Jet Life is incredibly
ambitious. The group doesn't
coaxing curiosity, leav- want to play within the sys-
able to appreciate hip hop tem in society or art - but still
p as high art without being thinks it can win. And at least
overtaken by an appetite in terms of this album, Jet Life
mulation. does. When the unfamiliar tim-
musical innovations don't bres of the various Jets mix with
with "Excellent." "Noth- these imaginative productions,
ss" incorporates a mellow, the product is delightfully fresh.
ing synth line not much dif- Plus, it's hard not to wish these
from what one would hear guys well. Who wouldn't want to
Madvillian or MF Doom, live the "jet life," making money
h Trademark Da Skydiver with boundless creativity? The
Dung Roddy don't concede profundity of the mission is
aziness. In "Pilots," a fall- apparent and should resonate
impet line evokes the Dop- with anyone who has felt their
ffect, making the "jet" in creative powers quashed by the
ife" especially palpable. pressures of modern capitalism
song is inventive - the
- essentially everyone.
0
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