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Thursday, June 2, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS
MUSIC REVIEW
‘Love’ is graceful
By SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Arts Writer
“Love and Friendship” is adapted
from Jane Austen’s novella “Lady
Susan.” Though not as well known
or beloved as
“Pride
and
Prejudice,”
“Sense
and
Sensibility”
or
even
“Emma,”
this
story
is
just as bright
and funny, as it
slyly pokes fun
at several of its
characters. It’s
a marriage plot, but it’s less about
grand gestures and declarations of
love and more about a charismatic
and charming woman’s ability
to manipulate men — which is
uncannily successful.
Directed
by
Whit
Stillman,
(“Damsels
in
Distress”)
“Love
and
Friendship”
follows
Lady
Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale,
“Absolutely Anything”) and her
daughter
Frederica
(Morfydd
Clark, “The Falling”) as they visit
and stay with relatives; they’re in a
precarious position financially after
the death of Lady Susan’s husband.
Lady Susan wishes her daughter
to marry Sir James Martin (Tom
Bennett, “Shadow Dancer”), a well-
meaning but blithering idiot, for his
wealth. Frederica is understandably
reluctant
and
appeals
to
her
mother’s sister-in-law Catherine
(Emma Greenwell, “Dare to be
Wild”), with whom they are staying,
and Catherine’s brother Reginald
(Xavier Samuel, “The Twilight
Saga: Eclipse”). Lady Susan is
disappointed in her daughter not
only for disobeying her wishes
but also for interrupting her own
manipulations of Reginald, who is
also wealthy and captivated by Lady
Susan (to his family’s great distress).
Lady Susan often spends time
with her American friend Alicia
Johnson (Chloe Sevigny, “American
Horror Story”), who helps her in her
machinations. Their conversations
feel as if one could overhear them
today, full of wry humor and poking
fun at oblivious men, but that in
no way means they don’t require
your full attention. At one point,
put out that others aren’t adhering
to the plans she had set for them
and some of her more dishonest
behavior had been found out, Lady
Susan complains to Alicia, “Facts
are horrid things.”
Though
there
are
some
exceptions, “Love and Friendship”
isn’t exactly a star-studded cast.
Perhaps that is what gives it quiet,
unassuming authenticity. The film
is
simultaneously
genuine
and
curiously self-aware, thanks to
sharp, witty writing and a waltzing
score that seems to laugh along
with you at the establishing shots
of real estate. The aesthetic delights
of the film (costumes, hair, etc.)
don’t pull focus from anything else
but rather help the actors feel and
look completely at home in this
18th-century story.
The cast works effortlessly well
together. Beckinsale and Bennett
don’t have many scenes in which
they interact alone, but they play
each
other
up
outstandingly,
perspicacious genius and vacuous
suitor both pursuing what they
want.
By the end, four people have
ended up coupled, but even the more
virtuous pair can’t convince you
that this story is romantic. While
there are some shifty characters and
a few bumbling husbands that make
you laugh out loud — especially
once you catch sight of their wives’
expression — Lady Susan is hero
and villain and comic relief all at
once. This story is hers. Stillman has
crafted a tribute not only to Austen’s
memory, but to some of her cleverest
writing and funniest storytelling.
Flume’s latest blooms
with a boom and a bang
Artist explores
uncharted territory in
new album.
By MATT GALLATIN
Daily Arts Writer
If Electronic Dance Music
(EDM) is disco, and hip hop
is punk rock (an increasingly
relevant
historical
parallel),
it
seems
as
if
we’re
just
about
to
approach
the
end
of
the
decade. As the
1970s reached conclusion, both
disco and punk began bloating
to extremes, relying so heavily
on over-the-top antics that they
seemed to emulate the virtuosity
that they ostensibly hated. At
the end of the ’70s, punk rocker
Wendy
O.
Williams
of
The
Plasmatics cut her guitar in half
with a chainsaw whilst donning a
whipped cream bra on TV. In 2015,
rapper Kanye West, accompanied
by a swath of black-clothed men,
tormented the 2015 BRIT Awards
with a flamethrower. Near the
end of the peak of disco, Studio
54’s reputation as a hedonistic
palace of debauchery reached its
height, with stories of hundreds
of pounds of glitter thrown
onto dancers and outfits that
were hardly a step away from
the birthday suit. Today, EDM
festivals
like
Electric
Daisy
Carnival cater to that kind of
sweaty, sexy, drug-fueled fun on a
much larger and commercialized
scale, complete with enormous
pyrotechnics and stage set-ups.
The Las Vegas festival saw record
attendance last year — 400,000
people over three days.
In line with that swelling,
bigger-is-better
mantra,
Skin,
the
sophomore
album
of
Australian
producer
Flume,
is much larger — it’s a grand-
staged vision of his self-titled
debut, far more feature packed,
louder and longer. Where his
first venture aimed to move, this
one aims to shake and entrance,
which is certainly the goal in a
genre that tries to compete for
the most earth-shattering live
performances. You’re not at an
EDM performance to slowly sway
and nod, that’s for sure.
Even as his culture inevitably
pushes his musical tendencies
towards pop hooks and rather
homogenous
female
guest
vocalists, Flume deserves credit
for
maintaining
his
voice,
generally refraining from falling
into usual EDM tropes. The most
typical EDM features — an eight-
to-twelve
bar
crescendo-and-
beat-drop, an obligatory Justin
Bieber feature, liberal use of the
Pryda snare — are avoided. “Say
It,” perhaps the most structurally
traditional EDM track on the
album and a clear attempt to meet
the radio halfway, is still a few
lanes left of the kind of formulaic
work you’ll hear from headliners
of the field, such as Steve Aoki,
Tiesto and Zedd.
Flume is at his best when he
builds a hit on his own territory.
“Never Be Like You,” sung by Kai,
a frequent EDM collaborator,
exemplifies that. It’s an infectious
blend of glitter, twirls and starts-
and-stops. If Skin is the grand
version of debut-album Flume,
“Never Be Like You” is the larger-
than-life rework of the producer’s
popular single “Sleepless.” It’s
not
groundbreaking,
but
it’s
enjoyable.
Still, on Skin, Flume makes
notable strides in the experimental
realm. “Wall Fuck” and “Pika”
are two of the most free-form
pieces Flume has ever created,
lacking the tight, rhythmic song
structure that Flume has polished
throughout his career. They can
feel unrealized at points, but
this is forgivable for a first-time
foray into generally unexplored
territory for the producer.
Peddling back to the punk-
disco parallel, Skin also makes a
clear attempt at creating bridges
between the worlds of EDM and
hip hop. Four rappers are featured
on the album — Vic Mensa, Vince
Staples,
Allan
Kingdom
and
Raekwon. “You Know,” featuring
both
Kingdom
and
former
Wu-Tang
member
Raekwon,
is one of the better Wu-Tang-
meets-electronic collaborations,
recalling stylistically the James
Blake track “Take a Fall For
Me” featuring fellow Wu-Tang
member RZA (though its more
successful
here).
The
Vince
Staples
feature,
“Smoke
&
Retribution,” is a strong point,
though Vince’s cadence can’t
tackle the industrial, relentless
beat as satisfyingly as, say, Danny
Brown on “Handstand.”
If it seems like Skin is pulling
from broad, and occasionally
opposing,
musical
styles,
it’s
because it is. Just as Raekwon is
featured, so is alternative singer-
songwriter Beck. At times the
release can feel like it’s stretching
beyond its “skin.” The growing
pains put a spotlight on weakness
once easier to ignore in Flume’s
work. The sequencing — a small
issue on his self-titled debut
— can be almost jarring here,
particularly during the first half
of the album, where the juggling
of influences can be too much
to sustain. But it’s where Flume
can whirl together all of these
influences when Skin truly excels,
and nowhere is this clearer than
opener “Helix.” Flutes signal
synths, fluttering wings give
way to techno, techno introduces
industrial and industrial opens
up to a mind-bogglingly hypnotic
conclusion that seems as at home
at an enormous outdoor festival
as it would a clandestine 1990s
rave. Past meets present, and
present meets past.
For its ambition, Skin loses
some of the nuance afforded by
Flume’s debut, but in its place
is a shinier, expansive body of
work that refuses to cede to
redundancy.
It
signals
both
promising and welcoming new
directions for the young producer,
and, one might hope, a change in
EDM’s old guard.
B+
Skin
Flume
Mom+Pop
ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS
Imagine what these ladies would say at the price of Starbucks.
A-
Love &
Friendship
Roadside
Attractions
State Theatre
FILM REVIEW
Skin loses some
of the nuance
from his debut.