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