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Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘Captain Fantastic’ an
endearing look at life
FILM REVIEW
Sundance film takes a
look at what it means
to be a parent
By DANNY HENSEL
Daily Arts Writer
Say what you will about the
hyper-commercialization of film,
Marxist cinema is still alive —
at least in a
limited
way,
living
as
it
would in an
American
capitalist
society:
on
the
fringes.
In
“Captain
Fantastic,”
a
family
that
ascribes
to
these same values also finds itself
removed, by choice, from the
grasps of mainstream society,
settled in rural Washington.
At the head of the Cash family is
Ben (Viggo Mortensen, “A History
of Violence”), a man who, with
his wife, has propped up a remote
settlement to teach their children
about life in a way a standardized
education could not. They exercise
daily, hunt for their own food and
read constantly. The Cash family
has established an intellectual
utopia
to
create
“philosopher
kings” of their children — in which
the word “interesting” is banned —
anyone who expresses an opinion
is invited to explain it to open ears
and celebrations of Christmas
are left by the wayside in favor of
Noam Chomsky Day, to honor the
beloved linguist.
When Ben’s wife dies, the
dynamics of the family change
considerably, forced to enter and
confront
American
society
to
attend her funeral. This proves
quite the challenge for the Cashes,
who pride themselves on their
intellectual and physical strength.
As Bodevan (George MacKay,
“Pride”), the oldest child, cries in
frustration to his father, “Unless
it comes out of a book, I don’t
know
anything!”
Bodevan,
or
Bodie for short, may be able to
parse between “Trotskyite” and
“Trotskyist”
while
declaring
himself as a Maoist, but he is far
from competent at talking to girls.
The five other children, whose
names—Kielyr,
Vespyr,
Rellian,
Zaja and Nai—are meant to signify
their
unending
uniqueness
in
the world, also struggle to adapt
to
their
surroundings.
Only
Rellian
(Nicholas
Hamilton,
“Strangerland”),
a
rebellious
tween, expresses anger at his
father for bringing the family out
to the western wilderness.
“Captain Fantastic” is, above all,
a master class in emotions, a study
of how actors can remain human
even when their characters are far
from relatable. Individuals who
live in the forest and are taught to
hate organized religion, schools,
medicine — really anything at all —
are few and far between, yet the six
children are so believable at their
core, so dedicated to their father’s
teachings that it’s impossible not
to sympathize with them when
their grandfather threatens to
take custody. Ben is a complex
and rather compelling character
by default, but Mortensen brings a
dedication and heightened intellect
to the role that flashes when
he speaks his rather non-flashy
dialogue. Frank Langella (“Frost/
Nixon”) plays Ben’s father-in-law
with gravitas, bringing a quiet yet
looming and brooding presence to
the film’s chief antagonist. Kathryn
Hahn (“The Visit”) and Steve Zahn
(“Dallas Buyers Club”) blend in
perfectly as supposedly “good”
and “responsible” parents who
have subscribed to the American
consumerist parenting guide en
masse that the Cash family so
despises.
Though, the film can stumble
when it succumbs to, instead of
subverting, easy choices. Bodie’s
cultural blank spots are taken to
their logical extreme — literally
being unable to speak to a girl when
he sees her or, later, proposing to
wed a girl after meeting her that
day. He may have only read books,
but surely they had protagonists
wait before proposing marriage.
The symbolism is also a bit too
pronounced.
The
family
only
listens to classical music and the
film dispels with a typical film
score for something more rustic,
so, of course, “My Heart Will Go
On” from “Titanic” blares through
the speakers in a grocery store. The
family drives around in a converted
school bus, painted green and
retrofitted like an RV, a clear
allusion to the family’s unorthodox
translations of what happens in a
typical American household and
life.
Yet, ultimately, the film is a
success because it’s unafraid to
explore and often defend the
family’s
experimental
living.
Writer and Director Matt Ross
(“28 Hotel Rooms”) clearly did his
research, diving into the worlds of
Noam Chomsky and the Slovenian
philosopher Slavoj Zizek, whose
theory of over-identification as a
strategy to upend societal norms
clearly
informed
the
family’s
method of scaring cops away from
arresting Ben. The line is repeated
continuously throughout, but it’s
ultimately true: “We’re defined
by our actions, not our words.”
We may criticize our society to
no end, but Ross has actually
shown us what we could be.
BLEECKER STREET
When you pull up to the function all fitted
‘Night Of’ dread
and misfortune
By ALEX INTNER
Summer Managing Arts Editor
If you look at HBO’s drama
offerings beyond the massive
hit that is “Game of Thrones,”
you’ll find a
pretty
bar-
ren
cabinet.
While
“The
Leftovers”
has
criti-
cal
acclaim,
it’s
ratings
are not near-
ly
strong
enough
to
anchor
any-
thing on its own. The upcom-
ing “Westworld” has been in a
tumultuous
development
and
production cycle for years now —
either a sign of creative turmoil
or a struggle to find what they
want the show to be. And, most
embarrassingly, HBO rolled back
its season two renewal of “Vinyl”
after realizing the massive cre-
ative revamp the drama would
need wasn’t worth their resourc-
es. So, this year, they were forced
to give their summer drama slot
to a smaller miniseries that has
also been in development for a
while (originally intended to be a
vehicle for the late, great James
Gandolfini, “The Sopranos”, who
retains a posthumous executive
producer credit), a show that
wouldn’t usually be thought of
as a network anchor. The move
seems to have paid off from a
business perspective, as the
drama premiered to significantly
higher ratings than last year’s
“Show Me a Hero.” Creatively
speaking, “The Night Of” is
HBO’s best series premiere since
“Hero,” as its slow build of a story
hooks you in a slow and painful
manner.
“The Night Of” ’s premiere
follows a night gone horribly
wrong. While Nasir (Riz Ahmed,
“Nightcrawler”) is on the way to
a party in his father’s cab, Andrea
(Sofia Black D’Elia, MTV’s adap-
tation of “Skins”) gets in. She
leads him on an adventure across
town before bringing him home
for an evening of drugs and sex.
However, when he wakes up in
the kitchen, he walks over to
the bedroom to find her brutally
stabbed to death and blood every-
where. He runs, but is caught by
the police for an unrelated crime.
Brought to the station, the police
find the murder weapon on his
body and proceeds to question
him about the crime (which he
has no memory of), at least until
lawyer Jack Stone (John Turtur-
ro, “The Big Lebowski”, in a role
originally planned for Gandol-
fini) shows up and starts to help
Nasir.
The episode unfolds this story
methodically across its hour-
plus runtime. It takes nearly a
half-hour for Nasir’s full encoun-
ter with Andrea to play out. As
it continues, the sense of dread
builds. The show is completely
aware you know something bad
is going to happen to them, and it
uses that to build a palpable sense
of tension. As Nasir gets arrested
for a completely different act, you
know they’re going to figure out
he was at the scene of the mur-
der (in fact, the cops who arrest
him are called to the scene while
he’s in the car and bring him to
sit in the car outside of the build-
ing he just left). It plays with your
knowledge of what happened
and made me physically uncom-
fortable in the best way possible.
By the end of the first episode,
we have no idea where this story
is going. Heck, we don’t even
know if this is a case of mistaken
identity or if Nasir committed the
murder when his memory falters.
In this case, we’re as in the dark
as the main character, and it’s
going to be exciting to see how
the series deliberately unravels
its story. While a single minise-
ries is not enough to come close
to securing HBO’s drama future,
“The Night Of” gives hope that
the pipeline might not be as bar-
ren as reported.
A
The Night Of
Miniseries
Premiere
Sundays at 10 p.m.
HBO
A-
Captain
Fantastic
Bleecker Street
State Theatre
on July 22
Its slow build
of a story hooks
you
TV REVIEW