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Arts
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 — 5

TV REVIEW
‘High Castle’ proves
Amazon’s acumen

New dystopic series
adds substance to
Amazon’s lineup

By DREW MARON

Daily Arts Writer

There’s a scene in the pilot of

Amazon’s newest original drama,
“The Man in the High Castle,”
that will stick
in your mind
regardless
of
whether

you
choose

to
continue

watching.
It involves a
routine traf-
fic stop where
resistance
truck
driver

Joe
Blake

(Luke Kleintank, “Gossip Girl”) is
stopped by a highway patrolman.
The encounter feels normal and
neighborly despite the patrolman’s
swatstika. Then, out of nowhere,
ash starts snowing down on the
characters. The highway patrol
man explains, in a casual tone, that
the ash comes from the hospital
where various “undesirables” are
being incinerated. The characters
then go along with their day.

“The Man in the High Castle,”

based on the acclaimed novel by
the late Philip K. Dick, represents
Amazon’s latest foray into original
content, and it does not disappoint.
The series comes to us from execu-
tive producer Ridley Scott (“The
Martian”), whose classic film
“Blade Runner” revolutionized
science-fiction for the screen and
brought Dick’s work to the atten-
tion of Hollywood. Since then, the
once-ignored author has received a
plethora of big-screen adaptations
including “Total Recall,” “Minor-
ity Report” and the criminally
underrated “A Scanner Darkly.”

“The Man in the High Castle,”

however, represents a huge leap
forward in adapting Dick’s work.
Free from the restrictions of main-
stream feature films, “The Man
in the High Castle” is an epic,
sprawling dystopia that is one part
political thriller and one part hor-
rifying parable of what happens
to a nation engulfed by fascism.
Though the series does feature
many characters connected to

the struggle of the resistance — a
major but welcome change to the
source material — the most unset-
tling aspect of the series aren’t big
set pieces (though there are plenty)
but the quiet moments of resigna-
tion, where we witness Americans
who have moved on with their
lives following the most heinous
war crimes in human history.

Like all great speculative fiction,

“The Man in the High Castle” is as
much about today’s world as it is
about post-World War II America.
In both “The Man in the High Cas-
tle” and, unfortunately, our own
world as well, challenging author-
ity and people’s personal percep-
tions is a near-impossible task. The
only hope for a better future exists
as a series of film reels called “The
Grasshopper Lies Heavy,” which
shows an alternate reality, one
where the Allies have won the war.
Ironically, it seems the only hope
for us to have any meaningful,
intelligent discourse is through
platforms like “The Man in the
High Castle.”

As in the novel, we follow a

number of different perspectives,
including Juliana (Alexa Davalos,
“Clash of the Titans”), a young
woman seeking the film reels’ cre-
ator, the mysterious Man in the
High Castle. On the way, she runs
into fellow resistance fighter Joe
Blake (Luke Kleintank, “Max”)
who may have some secrets of his
own.

The series also sees Cary-

Hiroyuki Tagawa (“Mortal Kom-
bat”) as Nobusuke Tagomi, the
Trade Minister of the fictional
Pacific States of America, whose
allegiances lie against the tyr-
anny of the Reich. Tagomi, along
with Juliana, are truly the main

heroes of the show, and Tagomi’s
storyline on the show will hope-
fully mirror the tremendous arc
he goes through in the novel.

Finally, Rupert Evans (“Hell-

boy”) plays Frank Frink, a half-
Jewish
factory
worker
and

boyfriend of Juliana whose luck
finally runs out after his signifi-
cant other becomes the target of
the SS. Rufus Sewell (“Dark City”)
rounds out the cast as Obergrup-
penfuhrer John Smith, whose
solid, albeit par for the course per-
formance might be unfairly com-
pared to the Jew Hunter played by
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious
Basterds.”

It’s the world of the “Man in

the High Castle” itself, however,
which truly stars as the series’
main character. Despite the show’s
bleak tone, the cast and crew cre-
ate a highly engrossing alternate
universe that is always believable.
In particular, the much freer Japa-
nese territories showcase a fusion
of Eastern and Western cultures
that reminds American viewers
how ignorant the view of the Allies
as all-good and the Japanese as
equal to the Nazis truly is.

The series has already ignited

a great deal of discussion, and for
good reason. Despite its genre
and its more fantastical elements,
“The Man in the High Castle”
might be the most political show
currently produced. Though some
of the characters, notably Tagomi,
aren’t given their deserved spot-
light in the pilot, the first episode
of the “Man in the High Castle”
proves that Amazon can stand
on its own as a creator of qual-
ity content and that the time for
challenging,
thought-provoking

entertainment is far from over.

AMAZON

“What the hell is an Obergruppenfuhrer?”

ALBUM REVIEW
Freddie Gibbs sells
out in new album

By SHAYAN SHAFII

Daily Arts Writer

Freddie Gibbs is nothing if not

consistent. The man is admittedly
one-dimensional and deadpan in
his delivery,
but my god,
is there any-
one else who
has gone this
long without
a single weak
project? Just
when
his

mixtapes
became
noticeably formulaic and safe (box
Chevys and backwoods appear
in everything he touches), he sur-
prised us all with the surprisingly
versatile Piñata, the best rap album
of 2014, which is not up for debate.
Gibbs set the bar realistically high
with mixtapes that brought a high-
er level of artistry to street rap; he
was the only dude who could give
you chills through a song titled
“Let Ya Nuts Hang.”

Up until now, Gibbs has had a

flawless track record. He under-
promised and overdelivered with
all of his album-quality mixtapes,
and matched the higher expec-
tations when it counted most:
album time. Albums understand-
ably come with higher standards,
and Shadow of a Doubt falls pain-
fully short of what was supposed
to be his breakout project.

Straight from the jump, Shadow

feels uncharacteristically generic.
It’s as if he fleshed out all the ele-
ments that made his music unique
and special, leaving only tidbits
of an album he couldn’t seem to
make. There are still flash-in-the-
pan moments when he seems to
get it right, but they’re few and
far between. There’s no jarring
street-journalism,
no
smooth

MadLib-curated soul sample, no
left turns — nothing. He does just
enough for the album to be toler-
able.

For example, he has a song

titled “Narcos,” where the most
gruesome line is “Chillin’ in my
grandma basement / Probably

dreamin’ ‘bout some cocaine.” On
“Mexico” he recruits Tory Lanez
(aka the “Great Value” Ty Dolla
$ign) to yell “My whip color look
like Rihanna / And all my bitches
like designer.” Gibbs doesn’t get
on much better, with three verses
about nothing, not even selling
drugs. “Mexico” confirms that
Gibbs has become too concerned
with being a “rapper” and less
concerned with being Freddie
Gibbs.

If that isn’t bad enough, what

follows is the worst song of this
dude’s career. “Packages” is so
embarrassing I thought it was
meant to be ironic at first. Gibbs, a
man from Gary, Ind. (home of the
Jackson 5), has absolutely nothing
to do with the triplet flow that’s
been booming in Atlanta the past
few years. So when I heard him
ad-libbing “I keep a pistol on me”
with what sounded like his best
Quavo impression, I was con-
vinced this was a joke. But then
the signature 808 Mafia sirens
went off, and that was that. Gibbs
sold the fuck out.

That’s not to say Shadow Of A

Doubt is all bad. Gibbs reached
out to fellow Jeezy-hater and leg-
end Gucci Mane for “10 Times,”
another great Midwest trunk-
knocker he’s so well known for
pioneering.
The
song
segues

straight into “Lately,” which

surprisingly features R&B style
crooning weaved into thumping
percussion. There’s even some of
the smooth melodies he experi-
mented with on Piñata.

“Forever and a Day” is the

obvious standout track, where he
scrolls back to the autobiographi-
cal bars that immersed and won
over his fans to begin with. For
the first time on the album we get
some real feelings. “I done did a lot
of bad thangs’ just to get change /
I done took it some levels that a lot
of n****s won’t go” is hesitantly
spit with just the right amount of
regret. “Slung crack rock / Never
had a wicked jump shot” summa-
rizes his opportunities in Gary:
basketball or eight ball.

But what ultimately makes

Shadow a disappointment is that
this is the first time Freddie Gibbs
has come up against a hurdle that
wasn’t comfortably below him,
and he failed. He sold out to find
workarounds,
forced
artificial

personas that hadn’t existed in
his six-year run and marginalized
himself to be as safe and boring as
possible. Gibbs was never known
for trying to be “cool” or “smart,”
but he had a polished identity,
and that’s all we can ask for. The
instant he compromised himself
and put on an olive green bomber
jacket, Shadow of a Doubt was
always going to be a shit album.

By REBECCA LERNER

Daily Arts Writer

In “Brooklyn,” the film adap-

tation of Colm Tóibín’s novel,
we see the careful rendering of
a story that
has
been

told
one

thousand
times:
the

immigrant
narrative.
But “Brook-
lyn” distin-
guishes itself
through its creators’ ability to
draw the loveliness out of a situ-
ation fraught with hardships.

“Brooklyn” begins at a fork

in the road for Irish country
girl Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan,
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”).
She can stay with no definite
prospects
in
Enniscorthy,

Ireland with her cherished
mother (Jane Brennan, “The
Tudors”), sister (Fiona Glascott,
“Indian
Summers”)
and

friends, or she can immigrate
to the unknown in America. As
illustrated by the title of the film,
she chooses the latter and sets
out for Brooklyn. Eilis receives
accommodations at a boarding
house run by the amusingly
tart Ms. Kehoe (Julie Walters,
“Paddington”) and finds a job
at a department store. Some of
the most humorous moments
of the film come from her
interactions with the women
who have lived in America for
a while, as Eilis’s awkwardness
and
social
anxiety
in
the

city is juxtaposed with their

urban American experience.
These relationships between
similarly aged young women
could
have
easily
devolved

into
rancorous
competition

for cheap amusement, but they
always make an effort to help
and guide Eilis.

But even with friends in

her boardinghouse and guid-
ance from an Irish priest (Jim
Broadbent, “Big Game”), Eilis
is overcome with homesickness.
Ronan a dual citizen of Ireland
and America, sensitively por-
trays the frustration of being
torn between two places.

As she adjusts to her new life,

Eilis starts to take and excel at
her accounting classes at Brook-
lyn College, unapologetically
pursuing her dream of being an
accountant despite being the
only woman in the class.

Her
homesickness
evapo-

rates quickly when she meets
Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen,
“Smash”). Tony is a sweet, pup-
pyish Italian boy with whom
she locks eyes from across the
room at an Irish dance. Their
courtship is a nostalgic whirl-
wind that will make even the
most cold-hearted of critics
sigh and long for 1950s-style
bathing suits. But the sentimen-
tality of their love never borders
on sickly sweet or annoying
because their romance is always
firmly rooted in the reality of
their lives.

Just as everything starts to

seem a little too perfect, tragedy
strikes back home, pulling Eilis
out of Brooklyn and sending her
back home to her mother. At

home, she finds comfort in the
familiar. She also finds another
suitor, Jim Farrell, (Domhnall
Gleeson, “Ex Machina”), and
the whole town seems to be
pushing them together. As she
decides between Brooklyn and
Ireland, and between Tony and
Jim, Eilis seeks to answer the
question of the movie: how to,
as a person of multiple identi-
ties, define the word “home.”

The emotional effects of the

film would be lost without the
command of the camera by
director John Crowley (“Closed
Circuit”). Crowley creates a
subtle but undeniable binary
between America and Ireland
in his use of cinematography,
shown most clearly in the scenes
on the beach in both countries.
In New York, Tony takes Eilis
to Coney Island, and they must
dash between the hoards of peo-
ple to get to the water to swim,
kiss and laugh. But in the sweep-
ing shots of the Irish beach she
goes to when she returns, there
is no one around for miles. With
Eilis in the same bathing suit
in both scenes, we can see her
being entirely comfortable in
either setting. Crowley presents
this opposition, and we watch as
she chooses her future.

“Brooklyn” is not just an

immigrant narrative. It is the
touching story of a young woman
caught in a state of uncertainty

— uncertainty in her family,
career and relationships. The
film may be set in the 1950s, but
its messages of the confusion of
youth and divided identity will
endure for years.

FILM REVIEW
‘Badlands’ need work

By MATT BARNAUSKAS

Daily Arts Writer

AMC runs on “The Walking

Dead,” and for good reason. The
zombie apocalypse series is still
television’s
biggest
hit,

even though
its
ratings

are
lower

than in prior
seasons.
This strong
viewership
becomes
even
more

important as
AMC relies
on
“The

Walking Dead” to endure through
an extended transitional period
following the loss of “Breaking
Bad” and the recently concluded
“Mad Men.” Already, the network
has released a spinoff, “Fear the
Walking Dead,” and now plans to
use “The Walking Dead” ’s sub-
stantial audience to build a lead-
in for its new martial arts series,
“Into the Badlands.”

Set in a post-apocalyptic world

where guns have been banned and
seven barons fight for power, “Into
the Badlands” presents a world
where
hand-to-hand
combat

reigns supreme with visual flair.
This strong display masks some
lackluster storytelling, but it can’t
hide every shortcoming.

“Into the Badlands” follows

Sunny (Daniel Wu, “The Man with
the Iron Fists”), the best warrior
(or “Clipper”) under Baron Quinn
(Marton Csokas, “The Lord of the
Rings”). Right away, the series
establishes its protagonist as a
force to be reckoned with. Draw-
ing from Chinese kung-fu influ-
ences, action director Stephen
Fung (“Tai Chi Hero”) and mar-
tial arts coordinator Huan-Chiu
Ku (“Fist of Legend”) develop an
over-the-top style, where combat-

ants move with almost inhuman
speed and agility as they fight to
the death. One standout scene is
a rain-drenched battle between
Sunny and four bowler-hat-wear-
ing assassins sent by Quinn’s rival
baron, the Widow (Emily Bee-
cham, “28 Weeks Later”). The
fight is shot with cinematic flair;
long takes and slow motion create
an engrossing sequence that never
overuses any one effect.

As Sunny, Wu and his stunt dou-

ble Tengfei Tang (“The Forbidden
Kingdom”) bear the most weight in
selling these sequences, they’re up
to the task — not just pulling off the
choreography, but bringing a cool
confidence to the warrior. Sunny
is a conflicted fighter who swears
loyalty to Quinn, a man who saved
him years ago, but wishes to define
his own path in life. This desire
manifests itself in Sunny’s forbid-
den relationship with a doctor,
Veil (Madeleine Mantock, “Edge
of Tomorrow”). Always stoic, Wu
hides Sunny’s torment under a col-
lected demeanor. It’s a straightfor-
ward character and could benefit
from more nuance as Sunny tries
to define his existence.

Sunny’s difficult situation is

heightened after he rescues the
mysterious young man, M.K. (Ara-
mis Knight, “Ender’s Game”), in
the episode’s opening. Claiming
to come from somewhere beyond
the Badlands, M.K. is supposed
to bring a new hope to Sunny, but
the character is incredibly grat-
ing. Whether it’s poor writing
or bad delivery on Knight’s part,
M.K. usually comes off as a smart-
ass brat. After hearing Sunny’s
name, he snidely remarks, “Why?
Because you brighten everybody’s
day?” If that reads poorly on paper,
it sounds even worse when spoken.
Hopefully, M.K. improves, as the
show has invested a lot in explor-
ing the character’s enigmatic
origins and abilities. However, if
Knight can’t endear M.K. to the

audience, his journey of discovery
will instead become an unwel-
come labor for viewers who would
rather spend time with someone
else — potentially on another net-
work.

The other storylines also

struggle to distinguish them-
selves. Quinn deals with a dis-
contented son, Ryder (Oliver
Stark, “My Hero”), who the
warlord believes isn’t ready
to take his place. Meanwhile,
Quinn’s new wife, Jade (Sarah
Bolger, “Once Upon a Time”)
competes with Quinn’s first wife
and current matriarch, Lydia
(Orla Bradley, “American Odys-
sey”). While not necessarily ter-
rible, these threads lack any real
intrigue in their current forms.
“Into the Badlands” needs to
improve its storytelling or risk
becoming an unwelcome delay
between excellent fight scenes.

However, there are other

elements that stand out for the
new series. A strong production
design creates an interesting
atmosphere and sparks inter-
est in the show’s larger world.
Quinn’s plantation-like fortress
calls into question how other
pockets of civilization and cul-
ture have developed and how the
other barons manage their hold-
fasts. However, there are some
elements that don’t mix well:
the Eastern-influenced, warrior
class Clippers occasionally clash
with the Southern antebellum
and old West aesthetic that most
of the other characters have.

As a companion to “The

Walking Dead,” “Into the Bad-
lands” works well as a visually
engrossing action series. It’s
lighter fare than its emotion-
ally exhausting lead-in, but
“Into the Badlands” needs to
strengthen its narrative to live
up to its own visual standards
and to keep its promising audi-
ence.

Nuanced ‘Brooklyn’

A-

The Man
in the High
Castle

Series Premiere

Amazon

A

Brooklyn

Wildgaze Films

State Theater

ESGN

Probably singing about some cocaine.

C-

Shadow of
a Doubt

Freddie Gibbs

ESGN

TV REVIEW

B-

Into the
Badlands

Series Premiere

Sundays at
10 p.m.

AMC