6 — Friday, September 29, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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NETFLIX
Lady Gaga’s new documentary is on Netflix now
‘Five Foot Two’ is a raw
look into a pop giant’s life
New documentary shows Lady GaGa in all the ways she
hasn’t been seen before: unfiltered, imperfect and vulnerable
“Five Foot Two” is aptly
titled — because for all the glitz
and the hype and the drama,
Lady Gaga is a person first
and foremost, and a very small
and vulnerable one at that. The
Netflix documentary directed
by Chris Moukarbel (“Banksy
Does New York”) makes a strong
case for the humanity of one of
the most outlandish and alien
pop icons of our generation.
Gaga has made a career for
herself based on a distinct and
utterly inhuman persona — and
yet, here she is, inviting the
world to see her most intimate
inner self.
The
documentary
follows
the
making
and
release
of
her
album
Joanne,
her
preparation
for
the
Super
Bowl
halftime
show
and
her
personal
struggles
with
health
and
heartbreak
during that time.
Through it all, it’s
almost shocking
how far into her
personal
space
Gaga
allows
the camera. We
see her doctors’
appointments
and
crying
breakdowns, and
no emotion seems
too personal for
the
audience’s
prying eyes. This
is, of course, a
construction of
the medium (who knows how
much she’s leaving out?) but it
doesn’t matter very much. The
point is that it feels open and
inviting, and it inspires that
specific empathy that comes
when
an
audience
usually
kept far removed is brought
close. The most uncomfortably
intimate the viewer gets is
when she goes to visit her
grandmother to play her the
song “Joanne,” written about
Gaga’s aunt who died at the age
of 19. “Did I get it right?” Gaga
asks before her father leaves
the room, visibly upset, and
her grandmother
cries
ever
so
slightly. It’s such
a tender family
moment, it feels
almost wrong to
watch it. And yet,
she
invited
us
here.
The film is full
of moments like this — personal
to the point of intrusive. A
telling scene is
one in which she
gets her makeup
done while she’s
on the doctor’s
table,
getting
injections
to
stop the flare-
ups
of
her
fibromyalgia.
Moukarbel
zooms
in
on
her face in such
moments,
and
she
looks
like
she’s
about
to
crack open. She’s
still strong and
collected,
but
just barely.
Gaga’s
participation in
her own privacy
being disturbed
is key to the
documentary’s
success.
She’s
spent almost a
decade
hiding
herself
behind
layers
of
performance,
to the point that her carefully
constructed artifice was the
performance itself. “Five Foot
Two” is the latest in Gaga’s
efforts to tear down those
walls. The Gaga confessional
project began in 2016 with
the release of Joanne itself,
an
album
that
seemingly
stripped her back to her roots:
simple pop melodies, a bit of
country and rock twang, live
instrumentation.
Of course, this is a kind
of performance in and of
itself, but that doesn’t mean
that the sentiment behind it
isn’t
genuine.
You could be a
cynic and watch
“Five Foot Two”
thinking
she’s
faking her pain,
or
that
she’s
curating an image
of a “Real Gaga”
that isn’t actually
her. But in this film, Gaga has
very little time for cynicism.
She wants to be believed when
she says she’s hurting.
If a viewer doesn’t buy into
the film’s arguments for Gaga’s
fundamental vulnerability, they
can at least acknowledge the
massive amounts of hard work
she dedicates to her craft. Over
and over, we see her continue
dancing, singing and acting her
way through awful physical
and mental pain. She’s poked
and prodded every minute of
every day, and the work never
stops.
“Five Foot Two” is kind
of remarkable. It’s a genuine
showcase of a brilliant artist’s
life and personality, but it
absolutely isn’t a vanity project,
or an 100-minute screed about
how tired she is and how hard
she works. Gaga is not one to
complain, and it’s clear how
desperately and earnestly she
loves what she does.
“I’m gonna fight like fucking
hell for them to fucking love
this,” she says days before her
album is released. “Because it
is fucking lovable.” It’s hard
to argue with someone who
believes so intently in what
she’s making. That’s really the
main takeaway from “Five Foot
Two”: Lady Gaga means every
word she says, completely and
wholeheartedly.
And
that’s
something you just can’t fake.
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A LIFETIME
OF FULFILLMENT, LIFE INSURANCE
AND A LIFETIME WARRANTY ON
YOU NEW HONDA?
E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for
information on applying.
ASIF BECHER
Daily Arts Writer
“Gaga: Five
Foot Two”
Streaming on
Netflix
She’s spent
almost a decade
hiding herself
behind layers of
performance, to
the point that
her carefully
constructed
artifice was the
performance
itself
FILM REVIEW
DAILY CLASSICAL MUSIC COLUMN
Strange Beautiful Music:
Coffeehouse classical
It’s been 10 years since New
Music Detroit first began its
annual concert series, Strange
Beautiful Music, and as they
pass this trail marker the
musicians’ collective continues
to
provide
an
invaluable
service to the Michigan arts
scene — namely, featuring the
work of composers who still
draw breath.
Founded
in
2006,
New
Music Detroit is one of the
most
interesting
cultural
institutions in the Michigan
classical
music
scene,
and
their trademark event is a
yearly highlight for any lover
of new music. After a decade
of existence, Strange Beautiful
Music remains the largest
festival
of
contemporary
classical music in the Midwest,
though the format of the
festival
has
been
tweaked
slightly. Over the years, the
annual concert has sometimes
fallen across two days, three
days or — as was the case at last
year’s wonderful performance
— on a single, gargantuan day.
For their decennial, NMD
opted for the three day option,
spreading the performances
not only across a weekend
but also across the city, at
three
separate
locations.
Each performance was gifted
with skillful ensembles and
compelling programs, but one
of the downsides to the three
day format (at least for me) is
that my attendance was limited
to a single day. It’s a bit of a
trade off, a kind of low-stakes
Russian roulette with your
schedule. If the marathon is on
one day and you have a conflict
you miss the whole thing, but
if it’s spread out and you’re not
free for an entire weekend you
have to miss at least some. But
either way, attending any of
the event is a true treat.
I was able to go to the Friday
night
performances,
taking
place at the Trinosophes, a
coffeehouse / artistic space
just south of Eastern Market in
the heart of Detroit. The venue
describes itself as industrial-
chic, and I suppose that’s more
or less the best way to go about
it. Made up of a large, concrete
floored and high ceilinged
room with a dividing wall
down the middle, along the
right wall past the entrance
runs a wooden café bar, while
the entire leftmost area beyond
the dividing wall is dedicated
to space for benches and chairs
arranged in front of a medium-
sized stage. Along one side
of the central wall there are
several bookcases dedicated
to
housing
the
collections
of
several
leftist
figures
affiliated with the coffeehouse
and Detroit.
I travelled to Detroit with
two friends, arriving about
two hours into the evening. As
we entered Trinosophes via
the back door, we were greeted
by the sound of cluster chords
on the piano and what can
only be described as the most
avant-garde game of pattycake
I have ever witnessed. At the
piano sat Juxtatonal — a voice
/ cello duo founded this year
by Jocelyn Zelasko and Bryan
Hayslett — playing “DiGiT
#2,” a piece by Mayke Nas that
involves alternately slamming
the piano keys and slapping
each others’ hands in time.
The piece bears the seemingly-
paradoxical
distinction
of
being simultaneously a concept
which had never occurred to
me and being exactly what I
expected at Strange Beautiful
Music. After Juxtatonal’s set
was finished, I bought myself a
chai and settled in for the next
performers, a group called
YAK.
YAK was very different from
the previous set, but similarly
experimental
in
nature.
Another duo, the pair both
wore grey/brown baseball caps
with long, dangling strings
of fabric that obscured their
faces. It was rather yak-like, I
suppose. The two played a set
of ambient, improvisational
music for strings, percussion
and electronics, which tended
to put one into a sort of trance-
like state.
As the evening progressed,
the
musical
offerings
continued in their variance
and eclecticism. People would
filter in and out of the concert
freely, leaving for dinner and
returning for another set. At
some point I went out to get
pizza, and when I returned
I was treated to my personal
highlight of the night, NMD’s
own performance, featuring
music by David Lang, Nico
Muhly, Nik Bärtsch and Annie
Gosfield. Each of the pieces
played had something valuable
to offer, but special praise
must
be
directed
towards
Lang’s “little eye,” featuring
Úna Fionnuala O’Riordan on
cello, and two “modules” by
Nik Bärtsch, all of which felt as
if they enveloped the audience
in a world of sound that was in
some ways ritualistic.
The last set of the evening
was provided by DJ Rebecca
Goldberg, and members of the
audience were invited to dance
along with the music. A group
of young people cleared away
chairs to make a space for it,
and for a good 20 minutes or
so grooved along — perhaps
longer, though I was no longer
there to say (despite being a
musician, I have an inherent
ineptitude when it comes to
dance, and consequently left
fairly quickly).
But
these
inches
of
newspaper space aren’t really
meant for me to review a
concert I happened to like a lot:
Rather, I’m supposed to offer
an opinion about something in
the classical music world. So
here’s the thing that has been
lying underneath the surface of
the last 800 words — the future
of classical music must contain
ensembles
like
NMD
and
events like Strange Beautiful
Music. In our ever-evolving,
increasingly connected world,
the art form can no longer rely
on the traditional institutions
and
established
mainstays
of the classical music world.
It has to move beyond the
concert halls and opera houses
and into the bookstores and
coffeehouses: Plus, with any
luck, an added bonus of going
beyond the traditional High
Temples of Culture® is that
more people might wander in.
So here’s to Strange Beautiful
Music, and another 10 years.
DAYTON
HARE
ACROSS
1 Roman jet?
4 Start of a
rhyming Basque
game
7 Reason to use
an inhaler
13 Knock
14 Cry buckets
15 Unexpected twist
16 The record
longest
continuous ride
on one is 105.57
miles
18 Unlikely to ride a
16-Across well
19 Hunted Carroll
critter
20 Balm-maker’s
plants
22 A.L. East team
23 Roman’s advice
to prevent an
explosion?
27 ’80s jeans
31 SOP part: Abbr.
32 “48 __”
33 Assistant who
didn’t exist in
Mary Shelley’s
novel
34 Whiskey order
36 “... beneath __
blue sky”: Don
Henley lyric
38 Stubborn equine
39 Roman variety
store? (and a hint
to 10 other
puzzle answers)
41 Perry’s creator
42 Dull finish
44 F-__
45 A hothead has a
short one
46 67.5 deg.
47 Item before a
door
49 Sack out
51 Roman
Shakespearean
drama?
54 Bargain bin abbr.
55 Bete __
56 Immature
dragonfly
59 Stereotypically
stylish
62 Leaves port
65 Facial feature
named after an
animal
66 Muscovite’s
denial
67 Whiskey option
68 They usually
leave the park
69 Key contraction
70 Roman graveyard
shift hour?
DOWN
1 R&B’s __ Hill
2 Soup aisle array
3 Roman bowler’s
target?
4 Roman musical
family?
5 Hole-making tool
6 Intestinal
7 Invite on a date
8 NutraSweet
competitor
9 Have faith in
10 Noodle topper?
11 “Les __”
12 At least one
14 “... truth is always
strange; / Stranger
than fiction” poet
17 “Willkommen”
musical
21 Words on a
reward poster
24 “... there’s __!”:
Hamlet
25 Intimidating words
26 Roman bike?
27 Roman “high”
request?
28 Exotic pet
29 Pre-Aztec
Mexican
30 Multi-armed
ocean critter
35 Bad picnic
omen
37 Gets bent out of
shape
40 Roman Scrabble
Q-tile, e.g.?
43 Authorize
48 Dior designs
50 Secret hot date
52 Fed. bill
53 Simple question
type
57 Roman’s long
golf hole?
58 Casual greeting
59 “That stinks!”
60 Nanki-__
61 Bagpiper’s hat
63 Anatomical orb
64 Apollo lander,
briefly
By John Lampkin
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/29/17
09/29/17
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Friday, September 29, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
xwordeditor@aol.com