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Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS

FILM REVIEW

Hawthorne has 
prodigal return

By MERIN MCDIVITT

Daily Arts Writer

The audience — a mix of 

students here for the summer, 
townies and adults in their 50s 
and 60s — looked like they would 
have been at home at a Beethoven 
showcase. The Power Center is 
also a venue better suited for 
polite, 
muted 
applause 
than 

raucous crowds and wild dancing. 
Yet 
Mayer 
Hawthorne, 
Ann 

Arbor’s homegrown neo-soul star, 
whipped his polite, well-behaved 
audience into shape. By the end 
of the singer’s well-timed concert 
and 
enthusiastic 
encore, 
the 

crowd was swaying and dancing to 
Hawthorne’s pulsating, buoyant 
hits.

This 
concert 
marked 

a 
watershed 
moment 
in 

Hawthorne’s music career — it’s 
the first time he’s performed a 
mainstage, ticketed event in Ann 
Arbor. Earlier events, such as his 
hugely successful Sonic Lunch 
concert in the Michigan Theater 
several years ago, saw a full house, 
but no tickets were needed for the 
free concert. He has performed 
countless times in town and 
has a strong support base, but 
some wondered how much fans 
would shill out to see an act they 
previously enjoyed for free.

Luckily for Hawthorne, plenty 

made the leap to the ticketed 
event to show their support. After 
a brief DJ opener, Hawthorne and 
his band struck their signature 
poses and leapt right into the first 
syncopated number.

“It’s good to be back home,” 

Hawthorne said.

He kept the small talk to a 

minimum, packing in as many 

songs as possible. Though, he did 
take time to reflect on how far he’s 
come, remarking that he couldn’t 
believe he was on the Power 
Center stage after seeing concert 
after concert there growing up.

Hawthorne performed a steady 

mix of new and old hits, which 
half the audience could and did 
sing along to, as well as a few 
unexpected covers. His signature 
style suited his updated music 
well: a slim suit and tilted fedora 

were exchanged for a gold lamé 
blazer and matching kicks halfway 
through the show.

He’s a diva — is there a male 

equivalent of diva? — in the best 
sense of the word. He’s surrounded 
himself with an extremely talented 
band, with beats, backup and 
on-point dance moves. With them, 
he’s gracious with the spotlight, 
directing plenty of attention to 
their individual talents as well.

Years 
ago, 
Hawthorne 
got 

himself a stage name, assumed his 
suave, worldly stage persona and 
started making music here in Ann 
Arbor. Timed to coincide with 
the release of his fourth studio 
album, this tour featured the best 
of his smooth, upbeat crooning. 
The woman in Hawthorne’s hit 
song “The Walk” may walk her 
“high heels right out of my life,” 
but here’s hoping that the singer 
doesn’t walk out of our lives 
anytime soon.

‘The BFG’ wonderous 
despite thematic issues

Legendary director’s 
latest packs strong 

visual punch

By DANNY HENSEL

Daily Arts Writer

“The witching hour, somebody 

had once whispered to her, was a 
special moment in the middle of 
the night when 
every 
child 

and 
every 

grown-up 
was in a deep, 
deep 
sleep, 

and 
all 
the 

dark 
things 

came out from 
hiding and had 
the world to themselves.”

Anyone who has read Roald 

Dahl’s 1982 classic children’s 
novel “The BFG” knows the 
quiet moments of the witching 
hour are magical enough to awe 
both the youthful and the aged. 
Dreams, fed through a trumpet 
from the titular big friendly 
giant to the people of London, 
can amaze, stun, terrify and 
stupefy.

Legendary 
director 
Steven 

Spielberg’s latest, an adaptation 
of Roald Dahl’s novel, written by 
the late Melissa Mathison (“E.T. 
the 
Extra-Terrestrial”), 
is 
a 

return to the fantastical films of 
his past. From “E.T.” and “Close 
Encounters of the Third Kind” 
to the later, more maligned 
“Hook” and “A.I.,” Spielberg 
has continued to construct a 
universe of realized childhood 
dreams, 
with 
marvelous 

characters and stunning visual 
imagery to match.

“The BFG” follows that big 

friendly giant (Mark Rylance, 
“Bridge of Spies”) and a small 
girl named Sophie (newcomer 
Ruby 
Barnhill), 
whom 
he 

snatched up from her orphanage, 
as they try to stop the other 
man-eating giants from eating 
innocent people. It’s the latest 
in the canon of Spielberg special 
effects films, and it knocks the 
others out of the park — visually, 
at least. From the first shots 
of the BFG weaving through 

the cobblestone streetscape of 
London in the early morning 
hours, turning on a dime to 
hide from pedestrians and cars, 
the careful choreography of 
the film is clear: whoever is 
responsible for the film’s visual 
effects should be lauded heavily. 
Perhaps the most stellar example 
is a captivating dream-catching 
sequence in the shadows of a 
mythical tree laden with floating 
specks of dream stuff. The magic 
doesn’t 
stop 
at 
grandiosity: 

in between the scenes of the 
massive world around Sophie, 
some of the film’s most heartfelt 
moments come in the intimate 
shots, close ups on her and the 
giant.

The 
performances, 
for 

the 
most 
part, 
are 
equally 

extraordinary. 
Rylance, 

transformed into a giant through 
motion capture technology, acts 
with genuine warmth. He acts 
through the technology, not 
despite it; every eye movement 
or nervous smile feels so true. 
The other giants, led by The 
Fleshlumpeater (the wickedly 
funny Jemaine Clement, “Flight 
of the Conchords”) are a bit more 
cartoonish, but it’s forgivable, 
like their wildly rambunctious 
fits. Meanwhile, on the formal 
end of the film, the Queen 
(Penelope 
Wilton, 
“Downton 

Abbey”) and her maid (the 
always underrated Rebecca Hall, 
“Frost/Nixon”) and butler (Rafe 
Spall, “The Big Short”) are prim 
and proper, exuding a regality 
that 
borders 
on 
excessive, 

heavily contrasting the savage 
life of the giants with the orderly 
customs of Buckingham Palace.

In the middle is Sophie, our 

protagonist. Barnhill embodies 
the archetypal young Spielberg 
character 
— 
precocious 
yet 

perpetually in awe of what she 
purports to already know. While 
Spielberg has an incredible track 
record of coaching wonderful 
performances out of young kids, 
somehow Barnhill just doesn’t 
live up to expectations. Her voice 
is showy (think Veruca Salt in 
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate 
Factory”) and her words are 
obvious 
exposition. 
Dialogue 

flows unnaturally as if she was 
specifically cued to say each line.

Thankfully, where the writing 

may falter, Spielberg’s regular 
below-the-line trio of composer 
John Williams, editor Michael 
Kahn 
and 
cinematographer 

Janusz 
Kamiński 
realize 

Spielberg’s 
cinematic 
vision. 

Williams’s music swells at just 
the 
right 
moments, 
sucking 

the audience into his regular 
partner’s world. Kahn keeps 
the film moving quickly, but is 
able to linger on the moments 
that 
really 
count. 
Kamiński 

expertly navigates around the 
complications 
motion-capture 

may pose as he follows Sophie to 
assure us it’s her story.

Spielberg has been consistently 

crafting 
masterpieces 
since 

1975’s “Jaws” literally invented 
the blockbuster. Of his now 
thirty movies, at least a full third 
could 
be 
considered 
perfect 

films. Though “The BFG” doesn’t 
match the genius of some of his 
prior efforts, there’s enough here 
to satisfy fans. While Spielberg’s 
grasp on the film-going audience 
may be flickering, the moments 
of brilliance are still there, as 
strong as ever.

B+

The BFG

Walt Disney 
Pictures

Rave & Quality 16

DISNEY

“A couple of peepin’ Toms.”

ANDREW RABAH/Daily

Mayer Hawthorne returns to old stomping ground for Ann Arbor Summer Fest.

CONCERT REVIEW

“It’s good to be 

back home.”

