2B — Thursday, January 5, 2017
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Best Student Productions of 2016
1. Peter and the 

Starcatcher

Michigan’s 
theatre 

department took on a new 
challenge this season with their 
performance of “Peter and the 
Starcatcher.” As the prequel to 
the famous story of “Peter Pan,” 
the Tony-award-winning play 
performed at the Power Center 
this past December. What made 
this show stand out among 
other 
SMTD 
performances 

was the unique adversity the 
theatre department faced, as a 
musical it is a departure from 
their 
typical 
lineup 
(other 

recent productions include “The 
Arabian Nights” and “Henry IV, 
Part I”). Yet, even with a small 
pit band, continuous musical 
scores 
and 
dance 
numbers, 

the theatre department did a 
fantastic job adapting to the 
musical 
performance 
style. 

This production involved cross 

departmental 
collaboration, 

like merging lighting, props and 
costuming for certain scenes. 
The immense effort put into 
rehearsals was definitely shown 
in the performance as the cast 
and crew worked seamlessly in 
set changes and effects. “Peter 
and the Starcatcher” answered 
questions that I’ve had lingering 
since I was a child. However, 
it taught me more than just 
how Tinker Bell came to be. 
This 
show 
exemplified 
the 

concept of taking chances and 
constantly seeking something 
out of our comfort zone. It’s for 
that audacious kid that is still 
deep within all of us, itching to 
experience one more journey 
while we are still young.

— ERIKA SHEVCHEK 

3. Roméo et Juliette

SMTD’s 
production 
of 

Roméo et Juliette was cre-
ative, entertaining and pow-
erful. Staged in the 1950s, 
world-famous director Paul 
Curran aligned the story of 
“Roméo et Juliette” with the 
radicalism of the modern era. 
Through this decision, Cur-
ran brought out the intensity 
of how Romeo and Juliette’s 
environment 
effected 
their 

decisions. 
The 
University’s 

Opera Theatre students were 

truly impressive; the striking 
professionalism 
blew 
audi-

ences away. The enthralling 
fight scenes and chemistry 
between the performers made 
for a convincing, incredible 
performance. With the relat-
able modern aspect of work-
ing 
through 
differences, 

combined with the modern 
setting, this production was 
unique and unforgettable.

— ALLIE TAYLOR

Best Films of 2016

Filming 
a 
perfect 
hor-

ror movie is really hard, but 
filming one with none of the 
traditional elements of the 
genre, and without profes-
sional actors, and without a 
budget, is nothing short of 
Herculean. But Trey Edward 
Shults, by casting his entire 
family and using their home 
as a set, did just that with 
“Krisha.” With his aunt, Kri-
sha Fairchild, starring as the 
titular recovering alcoholic 
returning to her family for 
Thanksgiving, Shults created 

a masterful take on the terrors 
of family gatherings. Shults’s 
camera 
methodically 
soars 

in a contained space, stealth-
ily dropping in on characters 
to reveal their conversations. 
“Krisha” is at once lyrical and 
horrifying, that rare mixture 
of utter terror and beauty. And 
to accomplish that with next 
to no resources indicates a 
supremely bright career ahead

—DANIEL HENSEL

Daniel 
Radcliffe’s 

performance in “Swiss Army 
Man” might have been one of 
the best of 2016, but there are 
two other Daniels who deserve 
even more of the credit for this 
bizarre 
masterpiece: 
Daniel 

Scheinert 
and 
Dan 
Kwan, 

the collective “Daniels” who 
directed and wrote the film. 
After establishing themselves 
with a number of short films 
and music videos (like that 
famously 
weird 
video 
for 

“Turn Down for What”), the 
Daniels really made a name for 
themselves this year with their 

feature film debut, a gloriously 
indescribable fantasy-comedy-
drama … or something. “Swiss 
Army Man” feels so much 
like it comes from such a 
singular mind that it’s initially 
surprising to learn it was 
borne from collaboration. With 
any luck, the Daniels will be 
around for a long time, filling 
the coming years with movies 
at once hilarious and deeply 
moving.

— BEN ROSENSTOCK

1. “La La Land”

We are lucky to have movies 

in our lives, and “La La Land” 
is living proof. It’s a classic 
in the making, thanks to the 
star power of the magnetic 
Emma Stone (“Birdman”), the 
almost superhumanly charis-
matic Ryan Gosling (“The Nice 
Guys”), and the deft directorial 
hand of Damien Chazelle. The 
characters sing and dance their 
way into our hearts as we are 
immersed in a beautiful cin-
ematic world of primary colors, 
music, art, dreams, fears and 
love — so much love. In a year 
filled with cynicism, anger and 
so many mediocre and instant-

ly forgettable movies, “La La 
Land” is a breath of fresh air. It 
does exactly what a good story 
is supposed to do by carrying 
audiences on a complete emo-
tional journey, one devoid of 
any trickery, manipulation or 
shortcuts. “La La Land” is sin-
cere in a way that wasn’t sup-
posed to be possible anymore. 
But it is possible. Thank you, 
“La La Land.” You shine so very 
brightly.

— ASIF BECHER

As I get further away from it, 

I’m coming to respect “The Edge 
of Seventeen” more and more. 
It’s a thrilling return to form for 
that American staple — the com-
ing-of-age teen comedy — and 
the woman behind the camera 
is a major talent to be heralded. 
“Seventeen” is better written 
than it is directed, but Kelly 
Fremon Craig knows the qual-
ity of the script she’s written. 
It’s spiky, full of edgy jokes and 
elegantly constructed scenes of 
dialogue; take, for example, any 
of the scenes between Nadine 
and Mr. Bruner (a testament to 
Craig’s direction that she was 
able to coax this hilarious of 
a performance out of Woody 
Harrelson (“True Detective”)). 
Her choices are also nuanced; 
she conveys a remarkable facil-

ity with the subtleties of her 
characters, and it’s a monumen-
tal achievement — on both her 
part and that of Hailee Stein-
feld’s (“True Grit”) beautifully 
modulated performance — that 
Nadine is impressively irritat-
ing and heartbreakingly sympa-
thetic in equal measure. Really, 
it’s Craig’s ability to legitimately 
achieve emotional poignancy 
that imbues her work with an 
uncommon sense of urgency. 
If Craig is the spiritual succes-
sor to John Hughes, then I’ll be 
unspeakably happy. And if she 
chooses any other direction, 
I’ll be just as excited; rarely are 
feature debuts more emotion-
ally perceptive than this one, 
and rarely do they herald such a 
promising future.

— NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT

2. “Moonlight”

Though it challenges prevail-

ing conceptions of masculin-
ity, sexuality, poverty and race, to 
describe “Moonlight” in terms of 
symbolism or theme would be to 
misunderstand its beauty. At its 
heart, “Moonlight” is simple: It’s 
a story about Chiron, a black boy 
coming of age in Miami. Told in 
three parts, each titled after one 
of Chiron’s nicknames, the camera 
moves fluidly with its characters 
to paint a searing portrait of their 
inner lives. We see Chiron meek 
and small, tormented by bullies 
and bashfully approaching his first 
homosexual encounter. We see 
him ashamed and worried about 
his drug-addicted mother (Nao-
mie Harris, “Spectre”), finding a 

father figure in Juan (Mahershala 
Ali, “House of Cards”), a crack 
dealer who cares for him in his 
own home. We see Chiron older, 
bigger, growing different, staying 
the same.

It’s a refreshing and unflinch-

ing realism. There are no arcs of 
conclusion other than those initi-
ated by the characters themselves. 
The social commentary comes not 
by way of agenda, but from the 
reality of life. Rather than create 
characters to be vehicles for uni-
versal themes, “Moonlight” eludes 
generalization, choosing instead to 
step into Chiron’s life and make all 
of its facets visible.

— VANESSA WONG

2. The Drowsy Chaperone

Performed 
in 
the 
Lydia 

Mendelssohn theatre, SMTD’s 
musical theatre department 
did a wonderful job with their 
production of “The Drowsy 
Chaperone,” a hilarious and 
upbeat show set in the Roaring 
20s. The story follows an old, 
lonely man as he shares a vinyl 
record of his favorite musi-
cal — also titled “The Drowsy 
Chaperone” — with the audi-
ence and watches it come to 
life in his apartment. The cast 

and crew did an impeccable job 
with all aspects of the show, 
including elaborate sets and 
costumes, comedic timing and 
vocal harmonies. The show 
kicked off the musical theatre 
season wonderfully. A perfect 
mix of funny, lighthearted, 
sentimental and deep, it was 
the perfect show to lighten the 
mood. It will be worth watch-
ing what the musical theatre 
department presents this term.

— ELI RALLO

Best New 
Directors 

of 

2016

3. “Manchester By The Sea”

In the grand tradition of “The 

Shawshank Redemption,” “Man-
chester by the Sea” is arguably 
the hardest film of the year to get 
through, yet it is also one of the 
most rewarding. Anchored by 
titanic lead performances from 
Casey Affleck (“Ain’t Them Bod-
ies Saint”) and Lucas Hedges 
(“Moonrise Kingdom”), the film 
is a mournful, achingly human 
study of grief and coping that is 
simultaneously funny, heartbreak-
ing and poignant. Director Ken-
neth Lonergan (“You Can Count 

on Me”) uses his newest movie to 
examine sorrow and life in a way 
that few do; there’s no classic cli-
max here, no concrete resolution 
— there’s only two people desper-
ately trying to navigate their rap-
idly changing circumstances, and 
the way Lonergan brings those 
characters and that struggle to 
life through flashbacks and humor 
reveals the director’s maturity and 
elevates “Manchester by the Sea” 
to masterpiece levels of filmmak-
ing.

— JEREMIAH VANDERHELM

4. “Arrival”

“Arrival” is surely the best 

science fiction movie of 2016. 
In a sort of linguistic mys-
tery, Amy Adams (“Nocturnal 
Animals”) and Jeremy Renner 
(“American 
Hustle”) 
must 

decipher the language of the 
“heptapod” aliens whom have 
landed their 12 ships across the 
Earth and discover their pur-
pose on our planet. Both actors 
deliver engaging performances 
that are highlights of the film. 
“Arrival” is not only visually 
entertaining in the way that 

any good science fiction movie 
should be, but thought-provok-
ing as well. After watching the 
movie, one can’t help but dis-
cuss the logic of the film with 
others, and its commentary on 
the role of language, politics 
and human society.

— JOSEPH WAGNER

1. Kelly Fremon Craig
2. Trey Edward Shults

3. Daniels (Scheinert, Kwan)
4. Robert Eggers

“The Witch” could be the most 

carefully made movie of the year. 
In preparation for filming, direc-
tor Robert Eggers painstakingly 
researched and recreated a Puri-
tan New England homestead using 
period-appropriate tools and mate-
rials. He could tell you the exact 
dimensions of the windows and 
how many candles you would need 
to light a room. All that research 
and precision (all five years of it) 
paid off for Eggers. “The Witch” 
is completely immersive. Eggers 
pulls his audience so deep into the 
world of the film that the horror 
unfolds in tiny moments all around 

us. It’s claustrophobic — a difficult 
feeling to create at the edge of the 
colonized world. The family has all 
the space they need and yet Eggers 
makes it feel as if they are on top of 
each other, and we on top of them. 
Eggers is working in a very old, but 
cinematically overlooked corner of 
horror. He’s walking in the world 
of Edgar Allen Poe and Mary Shel-
ley — heavy-velvet Gothic horror — 
and it’s wonderful. Eggers could be 
the director the genre needs to pull 
it back to its roots and propel it back 
to artistic relevance.

— MADELEINE GAUDIN

5. “The Lobster”

6. “Sing Street”

How does one describe the 

most idiosyncratic film of the 
year? “The Lobster” is what 
would happen if a bunch of aliens 
who had never been to Earth 
before made a documentary 
about modern human mating 
rituals. Dating, marriage and 
the single life are absolutely 
skewered 
by 
surrealist 

director 
Yorgos 
Lanthimos 

(“Dogtooth”), whose completely 
absurd sci-fi premise (if these 
singles can’t find a partner in 

45 days, they’re to be surgically 
transformed into an animal of 
their choosing) only obscures 
the much darker true subject of 
the film — the bizarre hurdles 
our species jumps through to 
engage with love and sex. Colin 
Farrell (“In Bruges”) roots this 
brilliant satire in a fascinatingly 
dry performance that he isn’t 
receiving nearly enough awards 
attention for.

— JACOB RICH

A high school boy becomes 

enamored with a girl and will do 
anything to win over her attrac-
tion. This plotline is just about as 
cliché as they get. Add a catchy 
New 
Wave-inspired 
original 

soundtrack, 
multidimensional 

characters and a heartwarming 
story, and the result is one of the 
most endearing coming-of-age 
movies in years. Irish filmmaker 
John Carney’s (“Once”) musical-
comedy tells the story of Cosmo 
Lawlor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and 
his goal to create a New Wave 
band in order to win over the heart 
of Raphina (Lucy Boynton, “Miss 
Potter”), an aspiring model. Cos-
mo’s band, surprisingly, performs 

many tracks that would blend in 
seamlessly on an ’80s radio sta-
tion. In the spirit of Duran Duran 
and other New Wave sensations, 
the soundtrack reintroduces what 
made New Wave so much fun — 
even if some of it hasn’t aged too 
well. Amidst family conflicts and 
bullies, Cosmo’s older brother, 
Brendan (Jack Reynor, “Trans-
formers: Age of Extinction”), is 
his driving force. “Sing Street” 
is as much about the music and 
romance as it is self-discovery and 
making sacrifices for loved ones, 
showing the complexities of ado-
lescence, family and love.

— WILL STEWART

5. Travis Knight

Stop-motion animation is 

one of the most complex and 
intricate cinematic art forms, 
and one of the most breath-
taking if done successfully. 
With his directorial debut 
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” 
stop-motion maestro Travis 
Knight demonstrates his mas-
tery of both technique and 
storytelling. The film follows 
the journey of young Kubo, as 
he fights to protect his fam-
ily’s honor while fulfilling 
his yearning for adventure. 
Knight’s brilliance is evident 
in the way in which he crafts 
the film’s animation to create 
a world built from origami — 
the film is constructed from 
folded paper-like segments 
that move together to create 

a cohesive and dynamic aes-
thetic. Knight also weaves 
Japanese mythology, tradi-
tion and ideals with West-
ern narrative techniques in a 
seamless fashion. A seasoned 
professional 
in 
the 
world 

of stop-motion, Knight has 
worked with the esteemed 
Laika Entertainment to head 
critically acclaimed projects 
like “Coraline” and “ParaNor-
man.” His directorial work 
on “Kubo,” however, sets him 
apart from other names in 
the industry as a director to 
watch; his work carries a force 
of creative innovation unseen 
in the previous hallmarks of 
stop-motion.

— SYDNEY COHEN

Add one cup of laughter, a 

pinch of funny people, three 
tablespoons of hilarity and 
what do you get? A recipe for 
fun and Midnight Book Club’s 
first show of the year. Midnight 
Book Club is one of the several 
improv troupes here on campus. 
They specialize in a specific 
type of improv called long form 
where the show is entirely 

made up on the spot and 
that scenes branch off of one 
another to continue jokes. The 
auditorium was buzzing with 
an air of contained excitement, 
and after watching this group, 
I can say I was certainly not 
disappointed. I was laughing 
out loud at all of the jokes made, 
and each member of the group 
was electric with energy and 

humor. Midnight Book Club is a 
group you do not want to miss 
this semester.

— ELLIS HYMAN
4. 

Midnight 
Book Club

