6A — Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

HBO

“Don’t ask me what’s on fleek.”
‘Insecure’ is a hilarious 
take on identity, romance

Issa Rae is a ray of sunshine in HBO’s new true-to-life series

Looking through the stock of 

new TV shows entering the fall 
season, a growing pattern of 
shows about race, 
specifically about 
the 
contempo-

rary Black expe-
rience, seems to 
be present. FX’s 
“Atlanta,” OWN’s 
“Queen 
Sugar” 

and 
Netflix’s 

“Luke Cage” are 
three such exam-
ples that not only 
showcase 
more 

representation for 
Black actors, but 
also address issues 
the Black commu-
nity often faces, including police 
brutality, marginalization and 
socioeconomic status. But while 
those topics are illustrated in 
rather serious settings (“Atlan-
ta” is a slight exception), HBO’s 
newest 
comedy, 
“Insecure,” 

proves that issues concerning 
the Black community, specifical-
ly Black women, can still be just 
as thought provoking when told 
through a comedic lens.

At the helm of “Insecure” is 

writer-actress Issa Rae, who 
co-created the show with Larry 
Wilmore of Comedy Central’s 
sadly defunct “The Nightly Show 
with Larry Wilmore.” Though 
Rae is a relatively new voice on 
American television, she has 
been slowly making her way to 
stardom since 2011. Her cult 
YouTube series, “Awkward Black 
Girl,” displayed Rae’s unique life 
experiences, from her awkward 
dates, to job hunting, to sim-
ply living as a Black woman in 
America. Ultimately, “Awkward 
Black Girl” would become the 
basis for “Insecure,” and thanks 
to better production values pro-
vided by HBO, “Insecure” picks 
up where “Awkward Black Girl” 
left off — and then some.

Featuring an incredible come-

dic cast, razor-sharp writing, 
crisp cinematography and a phe-
nomenal soundtrack, Rae and 
Wilmore’s “Insecure” gets the 
“Master of None” treatment: it’s 
a comedy that’s both relatable 

and distinctive, weaving a tight-
knit thread between universality 
and specificity. While it subtly 
tackles office discrimination and 
microaggressions, 
“Insecure” 

also 
explores 
the 
complex-

ity 
of 
Black 

female friendship, 
romance, 
self-

identity and the 
existential 
dread 

of being in your 
late 20s. In addi-
tion to conveying 
more representa-
tion of people of 
color, 
“Insecure” 

expertly excels at 
subverting expec-
tations and stereo-
types about Black 
people 
through 

Rae’s 
three-

dimensional depictions of her 
characters.

In the show, Rae plays Issa 

Dee, a driven yet self-conscious 
Los Angeles woman who deals 
with her everyday anxiety by 
rapping in front of the bathroom 
mirror. As the only Black woman 
working at a nonprofit organi-
zation helping underprivileged 
children, Issa can’t help but 
recognize her voicelessness and 
token presence among her pre-
dominantly white co-workers.

At one point, Issa directly 

points out some of this discom-
fort, when her co-worker Kitty 
(Veronica Mannion, “American 
Horror Story”) negligibly asks 
her, “What’s on fleek?” “I don’t 
know what that means,” Issa 
responds 
passive-aggressively, 

but through voiceover, she really 
tells us what’s on her mind: “I 
know what that shit means.”

Simultaneously, 
Issa 
has 

trouble confronting her dead-
beat, long-term boyfriend Law-
rence (Jay Ellis, “Movie 43”) 
about where they’re headed as a 
couple. After her recently single 
high school crush Daniel (Y’lan 
Noel, “The Hustle”) comes back 
into the picture, Issa must decide 
whether or not her love for Law-
rence is enough to keep their 
relationship moving forward. 

Meanwhile, Issa’s best friend 

Molly 
(newcomer 
Yvonne 

Orji) is living quite the oppo-
site experience to Issa. She’s a 

hot-shot success and adored by 
her multiracial co-workers at 
her corporate law agency, but 
she struggles to find a signifi-
cant other in the dating scene, 
especially when her office mate 
becomes engaged.

Molly and Issa’s relationship, 

while volatile at times, feels 
realistic as any best friendship 
would; the two exchange funny 
anecdotes and entangle them-
selves in screaming matches, 
but at the end of the day, Issa 
and Molly find a way to make 
up. And what feels so refreshing 
about this particular friendship 
in “Insecure” is that it doesn’t 
reflect the frequently negative 
depictions of Black women often 
seen in reality shows or melodra-
mas. It simply illustrates the two 
as modern day working women 
with a fun-loving, dysfunctional 
relationship.

The mirror rap sequences 

in “Insecure” provide much of 
the show’s laughs as a storytell-
ing device, replacing “Awkward 
Black Girl” ’s flashbacks and 
first-person voiceover. But these 
sequences 
also 
demonstrate 

Issa’s conviction to individual-
ity, both as a writer and as an 
actress. As she gets ready for a 
night out with Molly in the pilot, 
she tries on a variety of lipsticks 
during a gut-busting montage, 
with each lipstick represent-
ing a different identity of Black 
women. However, in the end, 
Issa opts for plain lip balm, sig-
nifying that the most attractive, 
interesting person she can be is 
herself.

Through all its unabashed 

raunchiness and socially con-
scious themes, “Insecure” is a 
blessing for Issa Rae fans, as well 
as a pleasant surprise for novices 
to her work. Rae and Wilmore 
have effortlessly blended the 
modern-day Black experience 
with an enlightening, vulgar and 
captivating story about a woman 
entering a transitional period 
in her adult life. The show cer-
tainly spins themes similar to 
other 
character-driven 
com-

edies about living in your 20s, 
but “Insecure” proves that these 
kinds of stories can be just as 
compelling with more diverse 
voices. 

SAM ROSENBERG

Daily Arts Writer

A

“Insecure”

Series Premiere 

(First two episodes 

watched)

HBO

Sundays at 10:30 

p.m.

TV REVIEW

Watching “American Honey” 

feels like getting a personal invi-
tation to the feral, cross-country 
van party that 
exists at the cen-
ter of the film. 
The 
audience 

acts as a fly on 
the wall, privy 
to the runaway 
subculture’s 
breathtaking 
highs and dev-
astating lows. Without knowing 
much about the characters, we 
develop an easy intimacy with 
them that magnetizes their every 
movement.

The film introduces protago-

nist Star (newcomer Sasha Lane) 
dumpster diving with her two 
young siblings. She takes care of 
them for her deadbeat parents and 
has way too much responsibility 
for the 18 years that she claims she 
is. So when opportunity, dressed 
as Shia LaBouef (“Fury”) with a 
rattail braid, comes knocking, she 
follows.

Star meets the charismatic Jake 

(LaBouef) at a Wal-Mart, gyrat-
ing during the Rihanna song “We 
Found Love.” He invites her to 
join his group, selling magazines 
across the country in a white 
van. From the moment she says 
yes, the film becomes a sprawl-
ing episodic adventure with a 
disjointed and random plot. This 
is not a movie that obeys the laws 
of screenwriting — what happens 

is not the point. Director Andrea 
Arnold (“Wuthering Heights”) 
doesn’t care about chronological 
sense or the passage of time. The 
editing is similarly carefree and 
nonchalant, vacillating between 

languid 
dreaminess 

and accelerated, anx-
ious pacing. Fascinat-
ed by the minuscule, 
the camera lingers 
unnervingly on shots 
of nature and insects, 
rather than the char-
acters 
themselves. 

Arnold isn’t worried 

about plot, but is preoccupied by 
the way she can make your heart 
plummet and soar with a single 
image of a bee flitting across the 
screen.

The other members of the team, 

most of whom are not professional 
actors, serve mostly as vessels 
onto which we can project our 
own neuroses. None are as terrify-
ing or compelling as the ringleader 
of the ‘mag crew,’ Krystal, played 
curtly by Riley Keough (Elvis Pre-
sley’s granddaughter; “Mad Max: 
Fury Road”). Although she never 
fully opens her eyes, Krystal has 
complete control over everyone 
around her. 

The film’s minor characters 

exist alongside Star, in the van and 
on the streets of suburbia peddling 
magazines, but do not receive the 
same backstory she does. And yet, 
they are not incomplete — we get 
small fragments of identity from 
them in their dance moves or pro-
pensity for flashing. They are not 
fully fleshed out, permitting the 

audience to play a hand in con-
structing identity and emotionally 
expanding the plot.

Because so much of the film 

takes place in the van, the dynam-
ic and wavering nature of the 
soundtrack anchors the audience 
in time and space. The limited 
setting of the van, packed with 
pierced, tattooed flesh squeezed 
into Daisy Dukes, feels inescap-
able, with music serving as the 
only outlet. The melodies rever-
berate in our memories, a sense of 
déjà vu washing over us every time 
the radio is sporadically turned 
on. When the titular “Ameri-
can Honey” by Lady Antebellum 
comes on and the whole van sings 
along, it feels genuine and heart-
wrenching in a way that could 
have been kitschy in the hands of 
a less competent director.

It’s fair to say that on a whole, 

the multiplicity of the film could 
not have been done by anyone 
but Arnold. The camera exam-
ines Star’s exploration into her 
sexuality in both upsetting and 
loving situations. It could have 
easily turned into a cautionary tale 
of young girls going into cars with 
strange men, but remained a story 
of adventure and growing up.

“American 
Honey” 
viscer-

ally understands the terrain of 
its lens. It doesn’t shy away from 
stereotypes or ugliness, because 
it knows what is there. But it also 
captures raw, gut-wrenching pro-
files of people mostly ignored by 
society, making the film and its 
characters impossible to get out of 
your head.

REBECCA LERNER

Daily Film Editor

‘American Honey’ invites you on a 
fascinating, unconventional journey

Number-loving, nerdy, inge-

nious and socially awkward are 
not typical characteristics of 
a trained assas-
sin. On top of this 
unconventionality, 
picture a bulked 
up, 
hunky 
Ben 

Affleck (“Batman v 
Superman”) emu-
lating these traits 
while 
accurately 

firing a sniper and 
snapping 
necks 

with 
ease. 
The 

idea that a literal 
accountant, a job typically not 
glorified in action movies, is 
capable of Jason Bourne-esque 
fighting capabilities is hilari-
ous. Everyone knows a real life 
accountant, and they are likely 
not the first person to come to 
mind when thinking of a possible 
action movie star. Essentially, 
this is what makes “The Accoun-
tant” entertaining, but mostly 
hard to grasp.

Gavin O’Connor’s (“Warrior”) 

“The Accountant” focuses on a 
rogue accountant — or rather, 
hitman — hired by criminal 
enterprises. The plot thickens 
once he is pursued in a cat and 
mouse chase by the U.S. Trea-
sury Department. Although it 
sounds original and potentially 
invigorating, “The Accountant” 
’s narrative relies too much on 
showing a bunch of complicat-
ed events and then later trying 
to explain and find reasoning 
behind them. Because of this 
failed technique, the story feels 
unclear and unnecessarily con-
fusing at times, and suspenseful 

moments never feel resolved or 
satisfying.

Ben Affleck stars as Chris-

tian Wolff, the gun-wielding 
with autism. Beyond Affleck, 
the movie boasts a stacked 

lineup, 
featur-

ing J.K. Simmons 
(“Whiplash”) 
as an executive 
of the Treasury 
Department, Anna 
Kendrick (“Pitch 
Perfect”) as a fel-
low 
accountant 

and Jeffrey Tam-
bor (“The Hang-
over”) as Wolff’s 
old 
crime 
guru 

and prison inmate. The perfor-
mances are adequate enough 
but lack any true development. 
“The Accountant” is far from a 
character study, but viewers still 
won’t feel deeply for any charac-
ter. Flashbacks involving Wolff’s 
complicated childhood struggles 
with autism act as a cop out for 
any real character development 
in the movie’s timeline and rein-
force the aforementioned “show 
then tell” narrative technique. 
Affleck’s performance, although 
decent, fails to convince the 
viewer that an actual accountant 
could be enough of a badass to 
successfully pull off long-range 
sniping or lethal hand-to-hand 
combat.

The larger-than-life abilities 

of the titular accountant suggest 
great potential to carry the movie 
into groundbreaking territory 
within the action genre. How-
ever, by the end, Wolff isn’t even 
an accountant anymore, wasting 
the most original aspect of the 
movie. In the many action scenes 
of “The Accountant,” you forget 

that you aren’t watching another 
typical action movie starring a 
macho, hyper-masculine pro-
tagonist. What feels fresh in the 
beginning becomes tedious by 
the end, and the idea that Wolff 
ever was a ‘lower-case a’ accoun-
tant is abandoned.

Autism plays a central role in 

the movie, but it doesn’t charac-
terize Affleck’s role in a genuine 
way. Wolff is portrayed as a socio-
pathic killing machine incapable 
of developing personal relation-
ships with others. Although a few 
scenes introduce the idea that he 
could be capable of forming typi-
cal feelings for others, his autism 
is ultimately used as a scapegoat 
to divert any attention away from 
this humanization. Stereotypes 
of autism — lack of empathy, 
obsessive nature, etc. — charac-
terize Wolff as an antihero rather 
than a well-rounded protagonist.

It hasn’t been the best year for 

Affleck. With the critical failure 
of “Batman v Superman” and the 
agonizing “sad Affleck” meme, 
“The Accountant” will not resur-
rect him from the dark depths of 
meme culture. It also won’t lead 
to more scrutiny. The movie is 
just mediocre enough for him 
to avoid publicly drawing the 
shame that he did with “Batman 
v Superman.”

All accountants feeling uncool 

will rejoice after watching “The 
Accountant.” Finally, a movie 
that doesn’t feed into another 
joke about how lame and boring 
their jobs are. They will, how-
ever, be some of the only people 
rejoicing after watching the 
movie. “The Accountant” is far 
from a failed action movie, but 
it is empty entertainment, none-
theless.

WILL STEWART

Daily Arts Writer

‘The Accountant’ is not convincing 
enough to be a badass action movie

Affleck’s new film won’t stop his streak of sadness and disappointment.

TV REVIEW

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Kendrick and Affleck reenact the second presidential debate.

C+

“The Accountant”

Warner Bros. 

Pictures

Rave & Quality 16

FILM REVIEW

FILM REVIEW

A

“American Honey”

A24

Michigan Theater

