101 Wednesday, July 16, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, July 16, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailv.com 7 Texas Tragedy'Hellion' Strong cast saves 64lii FX's 'Married' Art Fair A2 strengthen ties 6. " 4a T ..r Jacob and vWes Young director's small town drama playing at Michigan Theater through Thursday By CATHERINE SULPIZIO Daily Arts Writer All happy families are alike, yet despite what Tolstoy says, broken families must be alike too, because the subject of deep- A- rooted family angst - however Hellion removed from the viewer's own IFC Films life - almost Michigan Theater always touches an easy nerve. "Hellion," Kat Candler's indie Sundance debut'- opens in a typical rural Texas town during a high school foot- ball game as Jacob Wilson (Josh Wiggins) and his group of friends destroy a car outside the stadium. Amid a barrage of heavy metal, the frantic cuts between the mania of the game and fans and the boys as they smash the car hint at the, underlying anarchic impulses that small towns rein in through com- munity institutions like football and its adjoining fandom. But what happens when a per- son doesn't grow up with these institutions, existing in the impov- erished periphery? Jacob Wilson shows it isn't pretty. Through an unsteady, handheld gaze, the cam- era follows Jacob as he ends up in a court-ordered juvenile facility during the day, followed by unsu- pervised dirt-biking and assorted acts of delinquency in the evening, the latter tinged with an almost nostalgic "Sandlot"glow. However, "Hellion" is quick to establish that Jacob deviates far from the senti- mental boys-will-be-boys notion entrenched'in the myth of Texan childhood. For the first third of the movie we can only guess at the source of this angst, as the narra- tive structure isn't in a hurry to explain a lot of the crucial details. What's absent in plot backbone is fleshed out by Josh Wiggins, whose smoldering James Dean-like per- formance wonderfully conveys the messy knot of fear and sadness that directs his actions. Even if it takes a distracting amount of time to discover why he is so angry, the emotional truth and intensity of Wiggins' performance draws focus from the shaky background details. Audiences will easily love the impossibly cute Deke Garner as Jacob's little brother, Wes, but the real force comes from the conflict- ing influence Jacob has on him. He both shields Wes and inexplicably draws him into his world, making their eventual separation all the more heart wrenching. Parental neglect and tragedy have ingrained Wes with an extreme passivity that's uncomfortable to watch, the foil to Jacob's stormy turbulence. Being introduced to the two sib- lings first also makes their alco- holic father Hollis (Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad") much harder to redeem, which makes the film stronger. "Hellion" doesn't aim for neat resolutions: the characters are all flawed (except for maybe Wes). Since the weight of the film comes from the intimate, messy psycho- logical character studies carried by a talented cast, the various sub- plots feel flimsy, especially with Hollis. His original sin, which fundamentally ruptures the fam- ily, is never explored, and details such as a house in Galveston and his prior career as a baseball player are trotted out but never expanded upon. Same with his strained rela- tionship with sister Pam (Juliette Lewis), who steps in as a surrogate mother for Wes after an ill-timed CPA visit: her role adds tension, as an audience we rationally know she's the better caretaker for acqui- escent Wes, but emotionally we feel Hollis's fury and paternal loss. Despite all of this, the final third of the film, which escalates the plot, works. It's contrived and dramatic, and too neatly foreshadowed, but it whittles the action into a razor-sharp point that's unyielding and just awesome. The last minutes are ambiguous and unsatisfying in the best way possible. Negating some of the drama from the cli- max, they manage to strike the right chord between the tonal grittiness of the movie and the audience desire - or by this point, need - for some shard of hope. By ALEX INTNER It helps that they're surrounded Daily Arts Writer by supporting players who are great at what they do, especially with If I were to tell you that FX has some of the meatier material in a new comedy from the co-writ- the show as the season progresses. er of "The Last Exorcism", and While Gelman brings a similar yet that it's funny, calmer version of what he brought I would forgive B+ on "Go On," adding a sense of loss to you for giving the character that is, at times, quite me a weird look. Married compelling. Slate, of course, is an Andrew Gurland, . extremely talented actress, and she who wrote a lot Series handles some of the heavier materi- of independent Premiere - al in the series. She is married to an features before four epsiodes older man, and the age difference that horror film, screened creates some tension between the created this sur- forreview couple. She handles the portrayal prisingly humor- FX of this tension very well, providing ous show forFX. What he created Thursdays is a sitcom that at10 p.m. attracted a fan- Sometimes, tastic cast. It hasa some heft, but it doesn't break the all you need is barrier between comedy and drama funny people like other FX "comedies." What u n e Pe results is a program that suffers being funny. from some minor growing pains, but ultimately is a good show. The premise of the show is sim- ple. Academy Award Winner Nat Faxon ("Ben and Kate") and Judy some of the best scenes in the show. Greer ("Arrested Development") One more note about the show play Russ and Lina, a lower-middle - it's raunchy. Many scenes are sex class marriedcouple. Theylive their joke after sex joke. There are some lives, raise their kids, and crack shows that do this and fail misera- sex jokes, like real couples do. The bly because they don't put anything ensemble is rounded out by Jenny around those jokes. They just try to Slate ("Obvious Child") and Brett be joke delivery machines. It takes Gelman ("Go On") play friends with a couple of episodes for this show whom the couple gets into wacky to work its way out of that hole,but misadventures. as it goes it starts to add depth to The cast is about as close to the characters, partially due to the a murderer's row as you can get writing, and partially because of the on TV nowadays, and they're the quality of performance these actors best part of the show. Many of the are bringing to the table. best comedies are, simply, funny Sometimes all a comedy needs is people being funny, and this is a really good cast and some funny the case here. Some of the show's stuff for them to do. In this case, best moments are when the writ- the cast is extremely talented, to ers allow the cast , which has great the point where they're making me chemistry, to just sit back and talk laugh at even the crassest and repet- to one another. Faxon and Greer are itive of jokes. As the show develops believable as a married couple, and its characters, lead and supporting, they do an excellent job showing the this could turn out to be something minor ups and downs that occur in special. It's not at that level yet, but any marriage. the potential is there. DO YOU KNOW WHO WON THE 1978 HEISMAN TROPHY? Neither do we. #dailyarts IAN DILLINGHAM/Daily Francie Krawcke shows a Barred Owl to children at the Townie Party on Ingalls Mall Monday as part of a exhibit from the Leslie Science and Nature Center. Original Street Art Fair hosts event to say 'thank you' to city residents By SHOHAM GEVA ManagingNews Editor Monday, two days before the Art Fair hit downtown Ann Arbor, the organizers of the Original Ann Arbor Street Art Fair held a party. The Original Street Art Fair is one of four fairs that make up the full event. Mostly devoid of the attributes familiar to Art Fair attendees - the only art that's sold is from kids in the area during the Kids' Art Fair, bands play and booths are filled primarily by local businesses and community organizations - the Townie Street Party is also a noticeably smaller event than the hundreds of thousands of visitors that flood the streets of Ann Arbor for the actual fair. In fact, in contrast to the actual fair, it doesn't really attract people from out of town at all. Instead, it's primarily attended by Ann Arbor residents. Ann Arbor resident Derek Davis, who attended this year's Townie Street Party, said connect- ing with other residents is one of the highlights of the event. "Just to see other residents, it's cool to kind of see people that you know from around town," he said. "And the outside environment's kind of neat, good music. It's very Ann Arbor." Ann Arbor residents Adrian Cleypool and Gus Gustafon echoed Davis's sentiment. "The music, and seeingmore old Ann Arborites - it works for that especially well," Cleypool said. Maureen Riley, Ann Arbor Street Fair executive director, said the event was started withthe goal of strengthening bonds between the community and the fair. "It's an event that we put on to involve residents in the prepara- tions and fun of the Art Fair, and to say 'thank you'," she said. "We certainly know that Art Fair can be an inconvenience to many that work in the downtown area, and we appreciate their willingness to accommodate us and understand the value of the Art Fair to the.city and the economic impact we have on our community." Though the Townie Street Party is only 10 years old to the fair's 54 years, that theme of strengthen- ing community relations has long been a defining factor of the city and fair's relationship, as the two figure out how to balance an event that now draws roughly 500,000 people into the area, multiplying Ann Arbor's population almost by six as well as shutting down sig- nificant portions of the downtown area. City Councilmember Christo- pher Taylor (D-Ward 3) said the fair is without a doubt an impor- tant Ann Arbor event. "The Art Fair brings millions of dollars, and hundreds of thou- sands of people," Taylor said. "It is a self-evident good for the econo- my and the cultural vitality of the city." Taylor, along with City Coun- cilmember Jane Lumm (I-Ward 2) sponsored a measure this year to allocate $10,000 to the Original Street Art Fair in the fiscal year 2015 city budget. He added that while a large pro- portion of attendees are from out of town, he thinks residents also enjoy the fair. "I think numbers demonstrate that a lot of people come in from out of town, and I think that's great," he said. "I also think people in Ann Arbor tend to like the Art Fair. It's exciting, its vibrant - I'm not sure that everybody loves all the Art Fair all the time. I think the residents of Ann Arbor value the events and they like to take part in the city and like to show visitors what we have to offer." Riley said when it comes to ben- efits for the city, along with the about $80 million in economic impact it brings, the fair also plays a big part in quality of life in the area. "Almost every ranking that comes out that puts Ann Arbor as a great place to live almost inevi- tably mentions the Art Fair as one of the reasons," she said. "The arts and culture in this community are one of the major factors in the quality of life here." 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