It’s no secret that our generation 

is one that is obsessed with itself. 
Narcissism runs deep in the roots 
of millennial culture, with social 
media being the main vehicle of 
maintaining a satisfactory virtual 
self-image. “Ingrid Goes West,” 
a new indie comedy starring the 
inimitable Aubrey Plaza (“The Little 
Hours”), searches to deconstruct 
this issue in the most twisted way 
possible.

After a stint in a mental 

institution, the film’s title character, 
played by Plaza, decides to head 
to Los Angeles in search of a new 
life and a new BFF in Instagram 
influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth 
Olsen, “Wind River”). Using a hefty 
inheritance from her deceased 
mother, 
Ingrid’s 
excursions 
to 

become exactly like Taylor — dying 
her hair the same shade of blonde, 
buying the same Joan Didion novel, 
eating the same vegan enchilada 
— lead to both disturbing and 
hysterical results. Once Ingrid gets 
acquainted with Taylor and her 
pretentious husband Ezra (a great 
Wyatt Russell, “Everybody Wants 
Some!!”), her obsession slowly turns 
into a very, very dark journey of 
misguided desire.

Despite how uncomfortable it is 

to see Ingrid put herself through this 
experience, it’s not far from reality. 
In a way, Ingrid represents all 
those who feel lost and seek to find 
meaning and solace in the “unique” 
personalities that live on social 
media. “Ingrid Goes West” prevails 
overall as a satire on identity in the 
modern age. At times, the themes 
of social media and self-image skim 
the surface of being heavy-handed 
and exploitative, kind of like Jason 
Reitman’s similarly themed “Men, 
Women & Children.” But what 
that movie lacked in nuance and 
depth, “Ingrid Goes West” makes 
up for with heart and intelligent 
storytelling.

Perhaps “Ingrid Goes West” 

wouldn’t be nearly as absorbing 

without 
its 
incredible 
acting. 

Plaza, 
in 
particular, 
gives 
a 

layered 
lead 
performance 
as 

Ingrid, complementing her usual 
deadpan 
expressions 
with 
a 

profound, 
relatable 
loneliness. 

Olsen nails the Instagram queen 
personality, neither downplaying 
nor exaggerating the artifice of her 
character. Both O’Shea Jackson Jr. 
(“Straight Outta Compton”) and 
character actor Billy Magnussen 
(“Friends from College”) nearly 
steal the show. Jackson Jr. imbues 
irresistible charm into Ingrid’s vape-
smoking landlord/romantic interest 
Dan, while Magnussen’s role as 
Taylor’s douchey brother Nicky has 
the actor sliding from deceptively 
beguiling to off-the-wall bonkers.

Along with the brilliant cast, 

“Ingrid Goes West” also benefits 
from nifty aesthetic sleekness. Bryce 
Fortner’s cinematography saturates 
his shots with pulpy neon colors 
and lurid day-glo undertones. The 
script, written by David Branson 
Smith and director Matt Spicer, 
tackles timely themes, though the 
millennial 
slang 
and 
excessive 

hashtags will induce some eye-
rolling. Even the traditional, string-
heavy score stands out as the film’s 
most underrated aspect, bringing 
a nice, contrapuntal touch to the 
story’s postmodern vibe.

As entertaining and well-

acted as it is, “Ingrid Goes West” 
is not a perfect film, nor is it 
groundbreaking. Much like its 
protagonist, “Ingrid Goes West” 
feels like it can go off the edge 
at any moment of its brisk 97 
minute runtime. The opening 
scene, in which a devastated 
Ingrid assaults her ex-best friend 
Charlotte with mace, makes for a 
rather unpleasant introduction. 
There’s an intense, semi-crime 
thriller bit in the third act that 
almost pushes the film’s tone off 
balance. And for some, Ingrid’s 
character may be grating and 
even unbearable, as we watch her 
lie and cheat her way to become 
Taylor’s best friend. The point 
of her actions and their ultimate 
consequences 
makes 
for 
a 

simplistic lesson on the façade of 
living a filtered lifestyle, a lesson 
that could be encapsulated in a 
simple tweet.

6

Thursday, August 10, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS

The story behind “Detroit” is still 

as relevant today as it was in the late 
’60s. To this day, African-Americans 
suffer from repulsive police brutality 
and crippling institutional racism. 
Kathryn Bigelow’s (“Zero Dark 
Thirty”) retelling of the Algiers 
Motel incident during the 1967 
Detroit Riot is a graphic, brutally 
honest recount of the menacing 
mistreatment of Blacks at the hands 
of white police officers during one 
of the bleakest moments of the 20th 
Century.

“Detroit” 
introduces 
the 

beginning of the Riot on July 23rd, 
1967 following a police raid on a club 
welcoming home Black veterans 
from Vietnam. Other historical 
moments are documented, like 
Rep. John Conyers’s plea to stop 
the violence, along with Gov. 
George Romney’s deployment of 
the National Guard. Instantly, we 
are thrown into the mayhem and 
introduced to the characters who 
would later be involved in the Algiers 
incident. The madness unfolds 
rapidly, and throughout the first 
two-thirds of the movie, there isn’t 
a moment to catch your breath while 
watching the painful police brutality 
and destruction of the city.

The story is told in three acts, 

the first serving as an introduction 
to the characters and how they 
ended up in the Algiers Motel. Act 
two focuses on the incident itself, 
while the third shows the resulting 
court cases. Although each act is 
connected, they all feel like their 
own independent movie, differing 
in both pace and tension. Mark Boal 
(“Zero Dark Thirty”), journalist 
and frequent collaborator with 
Bigelow, packs a lot of intensity 
into the first two acts. The third, 

however, drags: After witnessing 
the horrors at the Motel, the rest 
of the movie feels especially slow 
and unrewarding. The 143-minute 
running time could have been cut 
to a more manageable length, but 
doing so would require sacrificing 
vital historical information. Either 
way, a courtroom drama ending is 
lackluster in comparison to the prior 
events.

Every shot and moment in the 

Motel is painful to watch, mostly 
because messes like this do occur. 
The police’s incompetence and 
everyone’s visceral fear boils over 
into a situation where every possible 
thing that could go wrong does. 
Here, Bigelow boasts her knack at 
building tension and showing utter 
chaos candidly. The camera is always 

moving, and with each cut between 
the police and their suspects — 
hostages, 
rather 
— 
everything 

intensifies. These moments are 
some of Bigelow’s most outwardly 
suspenseful, even considering “The 
Hurt 
Locker”’s 
bomb 
disposal 

scenes. 

Will Poulter (“The Revenant”) 

stars as Philip Krauss, a Detroit police 
officer who we first see fatally shoot a 
running Black shoplifter in the back. 
After returning to duty, he continues 
to cause harm, initiating the raid on 
the Algiers and killing an unarmed 
tenant. Krauss is a bitter taste of evil. 
He tries to cover up his wrongdoings 
— murdering innocent Black men 
in the Motel — by placing knives 
near the dead bodies to create the 

appearance that they were armed. 
I would like to know if this form of 
racism, paranoia and sloppiness still 
exists in the police force, though, I 
probably shouldn’t ask questions I 
don’t want the answers to. Poulter 
gives a performance worthy of an 
Oscar nom and sets the standard for 
portraying a realistic antagonist.

In an ensemble cast, Poulter is 

accompanied by many other actors 
in their prime, like “Star Wars: The 
Force Awakens”’s John Boyega, 
playing a security guard who tries 
to ease the tension. Hannah Murray 
(“Game of Thrones”) plays Julie, 
one of two white women abused 
by the police during the incident. 
We even see John Krasinski (“The 
Office”) play an attorney defending 
the police officers in the movie’s 
third act. But ultimately, it’s Algee 
Smith’s (“The New Edition Story”) 
role as Larry Reed, singer for the 
R&B group The Dramatics, that 
stands out as the most believable. 
When he walks onstage to an empty 
Fox Theater, his presence feels real, 
making the audience feel like they’re 
struggling with him through his 
pursuit for success. Bigelow forces 
the best possible performances out 
of every actor, and without such vivid 
representations of actual people, the 
movie would flounder and be nothing 
more than a C-grade History Channel 
documentary.

For those who tote “Blue Lives 

Matter” insignia and proudly say “all 
lives matter,” “Detroit” should be first 
on the what-to-watch-next queue. 
It openly shows police acting with 
dangerous biases in ways that are not 
in the public’s best interest. At a time 
when our culture is more divided 
than united, “Detroit” is an invaluable 
movie to demonstrate that history 
does, in fact, repeat itself. Although 
flawed, it’s another gripping movie to 
add to Bigelow’s ever-increasing list 
of on-screen triumphs.

‘Detroit’ is a tragic retelling

WILL STEWART

Summer Managing Arts Editor

‘Ingrid’ is the darkest 
comedy of summer 

SAM ROSENBERG

Daily Arts Writer

“Detroit”

Rave Cinemas, 

Quality 16

Annapurna 

Pictures

MOVIE REVIEW

 ANNAPURNA PICTURES

John Boyega stars as Melvin Dismukes

MOVIE REVIEW

“Ingrid Goes 

West”

Neon

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

