The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Tuesday, April 5, 2016 — 5 Weezer continues its comeback on ‘White’ By SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer By now, you’d think that a ’90s band like Weezer would have given up already. The Los Ange- les based rock group attained paramount suc- cess from their magnetic Blue Album debut and their ini- tially hated, now critically praised sopho- more record Pinkerton in 1994 and 1996, respectively. But even when their stardom grew with radio hits like “Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills,” the angsty coolness that they so effectively embodied was gradually disappearing. In the 2000s, Weezer released a string of lukewarm power-pop records like 2005’s head-scratching Make Believe and 2009’s severely mis- guided Raditude (yes, the one with a song that featured Lil Wayne). However, starting with 2014’s refreshing Everything Will Be Alright in the End, their best record in years, Weezer is steadily making up for lost time and right- fully so. Their sound, complete with sawtoothed guitar plucks, crisp drums, culturally relevant lyrics and lead vocalist Rivers Cuomo’s croon, is now even more finely tuned than before on their tenth record and fourth self-titled record Weezer (White Album). While White Album still lacks some punch, it’s leaner, looser, happier and more mature than Weezer’s last few records. Like each of the previous Weezer self- titled albums, White Album’s “color” backdrop represents the overall tone of the record. It’s about rebirth, purity and, to put it more concretely, it’s about their hometown of L.A. (mine as well) and the album uses the beach as its motif setting. Other than the sound of seagulls and waves crashing onto the shore in the album opener “California Kids,” you can really visualize the kind of peculiarities and strange beauties entrenched in the city of Los Ange- les from Cuomo’s perspective. By deriving its xylophone open- ing notes from Pinkerton’s “Pink Triangle,” “California Kids” pos- sesses both a nostalgic feel and yearning for the present. That theme continues in “Wind in Our Sail” and “(Girl) We Got a Thing,” two energetic romantic ballads that name-check Charles Darwin, Sisyphus, Gregor Mendel, Stock- holm syndrome and the Hare Krishna. With the hilarious, pow- er-rock anthem “Thank God for Girls,” Weezer succeeds not only because of the song’s bizarre nar- rative, but also for its progressive, feminist overtones (“She’s so big / She’s so strong / She’s so energetic in her sweaty overalls”). The simi- larly sharp “L.A. Girlz” plays with gender stereotypes, with Cuomo making himself into a desperate guy begging his crush to “sweeten up” and acknowledge his feelings for her. Despite all the hard rock jingles and odes to women and cannolis, Weezer also infuses some of their trepidation and Pinkerton malaise into “Do You Wanna Get High?” which deals with Cuomo’s pre- scription drug addiction and the relationship with his girlfriend around the time of 2001’s Green Album. Described by Cuomo as a “really yucky and intention- ally uncomfortable portrayal” of an addict’s life, “Do You Wanna Get High?” is as drugged-out and depressing as you’d imagine, but Cuomo transforms it into a mind- numbing throwback. The mostly acoustic closer “Endless Bummer” is when White Album really shines, with Cuomo anxiously awaiting the end of the summer during the song’s climactic breakdown end- ing. Everything Will Be Alright in the End was a return to form for Weezer, and White Album is a strong continuation of that return. Because Weezer has already ingrained such an impactful cul- tural legacy in pop and rock music, they don’t need to make a criti- cally acclaimed record (though, that would be pretty nice). The only potential issue here is if they continue to tread on familiar mate- rial without breaking new ground. Luckily, White Album has indi- cated that Weezer is on the right track to maintaining their awe- someness. FILM REVIEW Romanian ‘Aferim!’ a deft western satire By DANIEL HENSEL Daily Arts Writer The Western is a curious type of film. The genre features plotlines that often feel limited to a short list of possible con- flicts drawn up by the genre’s masters of yes- teryear. Even from a purely geographic and temporal stand- point, most of its films occur in one specific sliver of space and time. Whenever a film enters the Western canon that attempts to fundamentally rethink the genre, it’s important to take note. Fred Zinnemann’s “High Noon” made the Western intimate and small. Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Fargo” made the Western wintry, Minne- sotan and modern. Now, Radu Jude (“Everybody in Our Family”) has made the West- ern Romanian. His film “Aferim!” borrows from the greats of the 1940s and 1950s, and yet it feels especially new. “Aferim!”, which roughly means “bravo!” or “well done!” in Romanian, follows a policeman and his son in 1833 Wallachia, Romania. The pair are hired by the local feudal lord to find a Roma slave named Carfin (Toma Cuzin, “The Treasure”), who ran away from the lord after sleeping with his wife. Along the way, the policeman, Costandin (Teodor Corban, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”), gives ques- tionable guidance to his teenage son, Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu, a newcomer) and begins to befriend Carfin as he divulges his sexual history with the lord’s wife. Shot in a beautiful black and white, the film’s Romanian landscapes are stunning. Jude constructs his shots carefully, establishing the mountainous background as if it, too, were one of our main characters. Jude also has a knack for framing, whether in the lord’s chambers or at an out- door carnival. In both intimate and large-scale scenes, he can immedi- ately establish a textured setting with a deftness that usually takes years of experience to master. The film is a Western, but to limit it to that genre would be inaccurate. “Aferim!” doubles as a biting and hilarious political sat- ire, showcasing the absurdity of historical discriminatory policies in Romania. That country’s his- tory of Roma slavery is a subject rarely addressed in its nation’s film industry, and for its first major movie on the topic, comedy was a brave decision. But Jude had the right idea. Often, it’s comedy that can force us to confront the most pressing and taboo subjects of our histories. It’s the film’s writ- ing that takes center stage — the Coens or Quentin Tarantino must have served as a particular inspi- ration, with pointless vitriolic ban- ter being its main comedic feature – but it’s easy to feel like some of the jokes were lost in translation. Of course, no subtitle could ever match the vocal intonation and timing required to land a perfect joke. But here, they come pretty close. However, at its violent sections and when generally addressing the prevalence of Roma slavery in Romania at the time, “Aferim!” becomes somber. That dour tone is integral to addressing the story with the gravitas needed to con- front such a tragedy. The legacy of slavery in Romania is very dif- ferent from the American per- spective. Jude, by necessity, must approach it carefully. Yet, the film focuses on Costan- din who, as a very vulgar and con- tradictory individual, is a tough sell as a protagonist. In the same sentence, he can pay deference to his lord and denigrate the neigh- boring lands (Turkey is a common target), yet decry the lousy state of Romania. He’s the least lik- able character in the film (except for, perhaps, the feudal lord and an incredibly racist priest), as he tastelessly disparages everyone he meets. And yet, with humor as our aid, we see him transform. The comedy may end on a bitter note, but Costandin is bitter with us. ATLANTIC But the only good Weezer songs are the top 1 percent. ALBUM REVIEW B+ Weezer (White Album) Weezer Atlantic B+ Aferim! Parada Film Michigan Theater. I think about Will Gardner a lot. Since the character’s death on “The Good Wife” two years ago, Will (played by Josh Charles) probably crosses my mind unbidden at least once a day. It’s always something stupid or small that reminds me of him, like the way somebody pronounces “Chicago” or the way the newsroom felt when I’d stay late at work, the fluorescent lights glowing dim yellow and the office quiet except for the breaths of a few hardworking insomniacs. I can recite lines of Will’s dialogue like they’re lyr- ics to my favorite song; I can’t step into an elevator without remembering the way his hand clasps with Alicia’s when the doors close and they’re alone and unseen. These memories feel like my own — and when Will was shot to death in court in season five, the grief that his friends and co-workers experi- enced felt like mine, too. I could barely finish “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” because it was so weird to see Josh Charles wearing a sky-blue polo shirt instead of a blood-stained gray suit, to see him smiling and laughing instead of lying motionless on the courtroom floor. I miss him viscerally. Even two seasons after the fact, my throat closes up when someone mentions his name on a new episode. I watch old clips from season one just to hear his voice. I read episode recaps from five years ago so I can remember what he argued in the case that week and what he said to Alicia after. And more often than I’d like to admit, I rewatch mopey fan videos on YouTube and weep openly about that big, bursting heart that isn’t beating anymore. “The Good Wife” just doesn’t feel the same without him. Though I’d count it as one of my favorite shows (any- one who has ever spent five minutes with me can attest that I will never fucking shut up about “The Good Wife”), watching new episodes is a chore. Objectively, the show has gone downhill with its reliably lazy writing and unin- spired plotting. It’s a shame, really. There are only four episodes left this season, and I can barely get any joy from seeing Alicia Florrick chas- ing her dreams of a female-led law firm and giving a hand job to Jeffrey Dean Morgan in a crowded restaurant. It’s not just me. The “Good Wife” Twitter-verse laments the days when this show was one of the best on TV, rivaling “Breaking Bad” for the most thrilling episodes of the year, and the simple act of pushing papers off a desk could make professional pop culture jour- nalists lose their shit. “The Good Wife” ’s weekly recapper on The A.V. Club (and former Michigan Daily TV columnist) Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya noted in a recent review that “ ‘The Good Wife’ is going out at its most mediocre, its most bland,” and I’d have to agree. When is the last time some- body did something really sur- prising, something that landed as emotionally grounded? Drama, or at least “The Good Wife” ’s version of it, comes from characters, history and bursts of feeling bubbling out from behind poised, lawyer- like exteriors. “The Good Wife” has been completely devoid of this since Jeffrey Grant grabbed a guard’s gun in season five. “The Good Wife” ’s great- ness died on the courtroom floor with Will Gardner. It was hard to recognize when he was still alive, but Will really was unlike anyone else on that show. Where Alicia, Diane and Cary are pragmatic and gov- erned by their logical, politi- cally cognizant brains, Will had an atom bomb of a heart that he couldn’t always control. His feelings buried themselves deep — he’d crushed on Alicia since their law school days, feelings he carried with him for 20 years and moves across the country until she was back in on the job market with a wounded marriage and looking for some help. He wasn’t very good at hiding it — which made seasons one and two’s stolen kisses and impulsive declara- tions of love so electric. He had passion to spare, enough to kick-start nearly every serial storyline in the first few sea- sons. The musical chairs of the name partner switch ups, Ali- cia’s climbing of the corporate ladder, the gaining and losing of big clients and major cases, the spark that ignite Alicia’s romance and push her further from her husband Peter — it all traces back to Will and his big mouth and his giant, fragile heart. The best “Good Wife” drama married the firm’s politics with the characters’ tangled relationships, and no stretch of episodes nailed it more than season five. After almost 100 episodes of carefully laid char- acter moments, we knew that Will valued justice and loyalty above all. Season five’s “Hit- ting the Fan” is a series high- light, bringing unparalleled, delicious dramatic tension. When Alicia betrays Will to start her own firm with Cary (and take some of the clients they’d earned for Will and Diane’s firm), Will’s passion finally boils over. He clears everything off the traitorous Alicia’s desk with one furi- ous swoop of an arm. His eyes look wide and crazed, burn- ing with hurt and wildness and self-hatred for everything he’s about to say and can’t hold back. “I took you in. No one wanted you. I hired you. I pushed for you. God. God, you’re awful, and you don’t even know how awful you are.” With Alicia’s stony glare returning Will’s burst of fire, it’s clear nothing will ever be the same. And it wasn’t. After that episode, Will lost his better judgment which he went face to face with Alicia in court. He couldn’t choke his feelings down, and Alicia wounded him further; she knew he was a sentimental type and would remember the shell-pink suit she wore the time they made out in the elevator. She wore it to court, and with each subsequent episode, his heart stretched wider and thinner — until there was nothing else for him to do but take a bullet or a dozen to that delicate chest and go out in a blaze of dramat- ics. The episode where he died, “Dramatics, Your Honor,” was the highest peak “The Good Wife” would ever reach, and the show should have ended there. Of course, it didn’t. It’s been two years and one month since Will left in a body bag, but the show is still ticking. Alicia is haunted by the happiness she could have seized with Will, those lost years of passion when she stayed buttoned up, kept her heart in its cage and pushed Will to think practi- cally. Four episodes from series end, she’s now letting loose a little more, starting an affair with her employee and finally asking for a divorce from flop husband Peter. But it feels inor- ganic, because we know this just doesn’t fit with the Alicia we know. Will Gardner was the wild one, the tactless and passionate who made mistakes and thought and spoke with his heart first. He got mad, he got hurt and he was the catalyst for drama — both in his per- sonal life and for “The Good Wife” ’s greater plot. Alicia’s new lover (and probable end game dude) Jason Crouse is handsome and nice enough, but he’s bland as a saltine cracker and is missing that uninhibited soul that made Will Gardner so compelling. Since this is my penultimate column, I’ll inevitably graduate and burn out before “The Good Wife” ends in May. Somebody else will review the finale, and they’ll probably do a great job and avoid talking about sup- porting characters that died two seasons ago. But if I could make one last passionate plea to Robert and Michelle King, the creators of my favorite show, I’d say: Please, please, please don’t forget about Will Gardner. It might be too late to bring him back from the dead, but it’s not too late to start some fights, some fires and reignite that classic “The Good Wife” drama. Gilke is probably thinking about Will Gardner right this second. To make her your good wife, e-mail her at chloeliz@umich.edu. Don’t you forget about Will Gardner CBS When you hear the new Weezer album. CHLOE GILKE Will crosses my mind unbidden at least once a day. TV COLUMN