The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, March 16, 2017 — 5
‘Bitter Harvest’ overlooks
genocide in new romance
Techno
music,
celebrity
culture and a sheep: David
Adjmi’s
wildly
extravagant
and
superbly
funny
play,
“Marie Antoinette,” combines
these
elements
and
others
to create an eccentric telling
of the French Queen’s reign.
This Friday and Saturday, the
Residential College Players are
performing the anomalous tale
in East Quad’s Keene Theater.
Modernizing
interactions
and conversations of the 1700s,
the play brings new insights to
Antoinette’s lavish life.
“It is historical, but all of the
dialogue is in contemporary
vernacular. The author kind
of picked some really unusual
moments in her life to hone
in on,” said RC Senior and
director of the production, Sara
Head. “I think it’s a much more
psychological look at what
happened to her and her life
and her story.”
Original
and
grandiose,
the
tragicomedy
leads
up
to
Antoinette’s
execution,
following her throughout her
reign as Queen of France.
“I think it’s super timely.
One would expect it to not be
super relevant considering it
all happened 300 years ago, but
it offers some really poignant
commentary
on
celebrity
culture
and
what
happens
when you put somebody up on
a pedestal and give them all
of this authority over culture
without really holding them to
any set standards,” Head said.
Pertinent to the current
political climate, the show
plays with the concept of power
and the extent to which it can
be interpreted and stretched.
It deals with the lavishness
that so often consumes society,
crafting the character of Marie
Antoinette out of the grand
values of her setting. The play
delves into this and takes the
audience through the rise and
fall of her royal
tragedy.
“Marie
Antoinette”
combines
its
themes
with
diverse
lighting
and
soundscapes
to
create
an
otherworldly
experience.
Drawing
inspiration
from
both
traditional
and contemporary
music,
Head
crafted
a
soundtrack that ranges from
classical all the way to techno.
The effect: a show that’s
grand enough to entice the
audience,
strange
enough
to keep them interested and
impactful
enough
to
leave
them mulling over what just
happened.
The nature of the production
is
“surrealist,”
Head
said.
“There’s a sheep character that
comes in and talks to Marie,
and all of these kinds of weird
things that you can’t really tell
what’s real and what’s not.”
With a context that calls for
an over-the-top set and time
period costumes, the opulence
of Marie Antoinette’s life is
something that has necessitated
extreme time and efforts to
emulate. The play has been a
true labor of love for Head and
the rest of the RC Players.
“The RC players can only
provide a small budget, and I’ve
been fundraising like crazy and
applying for grants, and I think
we’ve managed to get enough to
put together a really cool set,”
Head added. “We also have the
whole of the RC Players kind
of backing us up
and
providing
support
wherever
we
need it. It has
been
a
huge
group
effort.
Our
faculty
advisor
has
been coming in
and helping us
get access to set
pieces and props
that
we
need,
so I’ve gotten
everybody on board with this
project.”
Tirelessly
working
to
embody the artifice of Marie
Antoinette’s world, the RC
Players have put together a
show that journeys through
the concepts of power and
extravagance,
giving
the
audience
a
spectacularly
original experience.
“Just come in looking to
experience a new take on a
classic story,” Head said. “We’re
mostly hoping that people are
a little bit different when they
walk out than when they first
walked in, whether that just
means they were entertained
or they took something a little
deeper from it. We just want to
make some kind of impact on
the audience.”
Roadside Attactions
People will always cycle
in and out of your life. The
“revolving” door metaphor that
we so heavily rely on in order
to understand our changing
relationships
has
remained
relevant
because
of
our
widespread
acknowledgment
of
its
truth.
Relationships
change and people come and
go, and as one who enjoys
analyzing the habits of the
communities
I
live
in,
it
seems only fitting I share the
observations I have gathered.
Our
world
has
become
immune
to
relationships
changing all the time. We go
through “seasons” of being
close with some people before
eventually falling out of that
community. This has led to
the failure to commit; that
is to really, truly commit
to
maintaining
a
level
of
knowledge about a person and
his or her life. We should reject
this passive, “that’s how things
go”
mindset,
and
instead,
express an adamant and sincere
effort to keep relationships
strong. It’s impossible to do
with everyone, and of course,
that is to be expected.
But when we run into that
old friend and say, “Wow, it
has been so long! We should
grab lunch soon!” Do we ever
actually do that? If it has
become
a
consistent
habit
to never follow through, is
it because we are relying on
the belief that we have lost
touch with enough people in
our past? And will it matter
whether or not we make the
effort now? When we say that
we wish to see that person, are
we also reminding ourselves
that it likely won’t happen?
A few weeks may go by and
you think to yourself: “I would
have liked to see that person.”
Maybe you could have cleared
that window of time, but it
didn’t happen. Those months
become years, and soon you
wonder what ever happened to
the person you had seen so long
ago on the sidewalk.
Maybe
it’s
just
that
a
majority of our relationships
lack substance, so it seems the
shallow level of our friendships
or relationships is just one
more unavoidable fate and we
lose touch simply because of
that. I’m admittedly a victim
of this mindset, and it has
resulted in a consistent form of
neglect.
Just a few days ago, my
professor reminded me of the
importance
of
maintaining
these ties. He said: “We declare
our priorities most in our use of
our time.”
How we choose to use our
time is among one of the few
things we can actually control,
and it reveals the quality of
our
relationships
and
our
willingness
to
continually
invest in them.
He went on to explain that
if you walk around saying to
people, “I care so much about
you or I love you, but I am too
busy,” than you’ve made your
priorities abundantly clear.
Writing this as someone
who was once told by a former
boyfriend he was just too
“busy” to date me, it seems
appropriate to also address
what
implications
these
habits carry. Let’s get out of
this ridiculous mindset that
relationships should exist when
it is convenient. The excuse
you use today will change to
something
else
tomorrow.
By using the easy escape of
claiming you’re “too busy,”
you’re inexplicitly stating what
matters most to you.
My point is that generally,
people are always in and out of
our lives — and many of those
people we lose unwillingly.
Sickness
strikes
and
takes
away a loved one. Friends move
away.
Family
ties
weaken.
Relationships, platonic or not,
fall apart.
In light of knowing people
are going to leave, why not
make more of an effort now
to sustain the bonds with
others when it is possible to
do so? It takes tremendous
effort and sacrifice, which I’m
not convinced we are always
willing to contribute to others.
Whether it is college, or
wherever you go beyond this
place, make sure you are aware
of how you are investing in
your
relationships.
If
you
prioritize such efforts, whether
convenient or not, you’ll reap
the benefits of relationships
that
are
long
lasting
and
persist even through the ever-
changing
circumstances
of
your life.
SINGLE REVIEW
In 2013, at age sixteen,
Lorde, a then-unknown girl
from New Zealand, became
an international pop star.
Like many before her, she
gained stardom and quickly
lost privacy. Tabloids body-
shamed her, plastering pho-
tos of her and her boyfriend
across the internet. “Royals”
— her break-out single —
debuted in June of 2013, and
by October it was number
one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In five short months, Lorde’s
life was entirely public.
“Liability,” Lorde’s second
single from her sophomore
album Melodrama, details
how fame tore apart her rela-
tionship. The fame-ruined-
my-life narrative is nothing
new. In fact, it’s almost
expected: Britney Spears
had “Lucky,” depicting the
never-ending labors of a
pop star, while Taylor Swift
penned “The Lucky One,”
lamenting on the loneliness
of fame. But Lorde’s single
stands out from her peers in
its specificity. Everything
about the song is pointed,
leaving room for listeners
to process the heartbreak.
The piano notes are repeti-
tive and simple, a drastic
change from Lorde’s typi-
cally diverse and electronic
production. Even Lorde’s
cadences are acute, ending
her phrases with succinct
pronunciations, signaling
listeners to really hear her
story.
Aside from the stripped
down production, the
single’s true merit comes
from Lorde’s lyrics, as she
recalls a conversation with
a past lover. In retelling
an exact moment in time,
Lorde invites listeners into
this conversation. They can
picture Lorde “crying in
the taxi” while the ex tells
her that “he made the big
mistake of dancing in (her)
storm.” After the breakup,
Lorde goes home and returns
to “the arms of the girl (she)
loves,” an allusion to finding
solace in one’s self after los-
ing a lover. Throughout the
song, Lorde’s voice is so clear
and exposed, it’s almost
as if she’s singing directly
into your ear. Her voice is
intimate and burdened with
emotion, dragging the word
“poison” like it was too
heavy to let go.
For two minutes and 52 sec-
onds, listeners act like an
omniscient entity, witness-
ing Lorde’s breakup and sub-
sequent recovery. “Liability”
showcases an entirely new,
raw and profoundly intro-
spective side of Lorde, sug-
gesting that Melodrama may
not be Pure Heroine … and
that’s okay.
— Danny Madion
“Liability”
Lorde
Republic Records
REPUBLIC RECORDS
COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
Life as the revolving door:
Who is coming and going?
BAILEY
KADIAN
As far as films about tragic
historical events go, most of
the lot manage to elicit any
number of reactions from the
audience. From “Saving Private
Ryan” to “Schindler’s List” to
“Inglourious Basterds,” tough
subject matter can make us
scream, cry or laugh. However,
the only reaction viewers of
“Bitter Harvest” will have is one
of regret, regret for buying the
ticket in the first place. “Bitter
Harvest” is supposed to tell the
story of romance within the
frame of the genocidal impact of
the Holodomor famine in 1933
Soviet Ukraine. However, the
romance is over-the-top and the
tragic famine is disregarded for
obviously staged fight scenes
and desperately dramatic scores.
The outcome of “Bitter Harvest”
is a cliché war movie bathed
in melodrama and ending in
disappointment.
“Bitter Harvest” follows Yuri
(Max Irons, “Red Riding Hood”),
a young artist who leaves his
small Ukrainian village and his
lover, Natalka (Samantha Barks,
“Les Miserables”), to pursue
art in the capital, Kiev. While
Yuri is painting and attending
boisterous Ukrainian nationalist
rallies, Natalka and his family
are being starved by Stalin and
his army in one of the deadliest
famines, later to become known
as the Holodomor Famine. While
Yuri gets into some trouble
in an overly-bloodied, overly-
expected bar fight, Natalka finds
herself starving and reluctantly
pursuing a career as a “lovely
lady” a la Barks’s previous role
in “Les Miserables.” The lovers
exchange
terribly
romantic
letters in the sappiest language
since
“The
Notebook.”
The
letters are of course
narrated, because
why not, with letter
writing voiceovers
reminiscent of a
bad Jane Austen
adaptation.
The
small
Ukrainian village that Yuri
and Natalka call home is a
fetishized version of a life-
size doll house for one of those
Russian stacking dolls, filled
with random festive dances and
enough colorful embroidery to
cover your grandmother’s doily
collection. Like everything else
in “Bitter Harvest,” the acting
is
melodramatic
and
over-
dramatic. Irons and Barks turn
every interaction into the end of
a Shakespearean tragedy with
an overdose of crying and face-
touching. A lot of people die in
this movie, but they all blend
into one — bedridden, gasping
for breath and reaching for the
heavens almost-corpse adorned
with makeup so gray and sad
that it looks as if Tim Burton
animated it.
Every
choice
in
“Bitter
Harvest”
is
either
obvious,
melodramatic or both. However,
it is worth commending the
film on its one success; the
cinematography
(Douglas
Milsome, “Full Metal Jacket)
is stunning. Filmed in the
Ukrainian
countryside,
the
beautiful opening shots give
false hope to a
rather mediocre
film. While the
bleak,
gloomy
footage
from
Kiev
and
the
wintry
tundra
of
Siberia
add
contrast
to
the
painterly
landscapes of Ukraine, it is
again, an expectedly obvious
choice.
“Bitter
Harvest”
is
a
substandard attempt at trying
to depict an overlooked tragedy.
The romance between Yuri
and Natalka overshadows the
tragedy of Holodomor. “Bitter
Harvest” is so preoccupied with
trying to capture the love story,
that both the romance and the
famine suffer. Sadly, the viewer
will not learn anything of the
Holodomor famine until the very
end of the film, where before the
credits roll the event is finally
clarified with a few frames of
text. The Holodomor famine
is most certainly a story worth
telling, but “Bitter Harvest”
does not do near enough justice
to the heartbreaking genocide.
REBECCA PORTMAN
Daily Arts Writer
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
‘Marie’ graces Keene with
extravagance and comedy
RC Players bring a new perspective to ‘Let them eat cake’
ARYA NAIDU
For the Daily
“Marie
Antoinette”
Keene Theater
March 17th &
18th @ 8 P.M.
Free
FILM REVIEW
“Bitter
Harvest”
Roadside
Attractions
Goodrich Quality 16
Melodramatic period piece abandons famine for fantasy
Columnist Bailey Kadian explores the modern instinct to
avoid commitment in favor of short, cyclical relationships