6A — Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
George Clooney and the Coen Brothers team up once again
Clooney does Coens and
disappoints with a drag
Lengthy and uneventful, ‘Suburbicon’ fails to be anything special
Directed by George Clooney
(“The Monuments Men”) and
written by the Coen brothers
(“Hail, Caesar!”), “Suburbicon”
teases as a dark crime thriller that
involves irrevocable actions and
inevitable consequences, set in a
1950s suburban neighborhood. But
despite its promising collection of
Hollywood elites, “Suburbicon”
is a messy, flat and directionless
disappointment. The film opens
with an introduction to the world
of
Suburbicon,
a
wholesome
and white-washed Pleasantville
saturated in a cheesy 1950s
aesthetic. Tensions ensue when
a Black family moves in, and the
community is outraged by the
breach of their WASP oasis. Flash
to a crowd of white men foaming
at the mouth at a town meeting,
demanding
the
neighborhood
upholds their right to maintain
segregation. Right off the bat, the
movie dives into racial tensions
of the ’50s, white flight and
the socioeconomic politics of
integration.
Just as quickly as they appear,
racial dynamics take a back seat
as the film spotlights the Lodge
family, led by Matt Damon (“The
Great Wall”) as the white-collar
patriarch Gardner in perhaps
his worst role to date. The family
also includes Julianne Moore
(“Kingsman: The Golden Circle”)
in a dual role, playing both
Gardner’s paraplegic wife Rose
and her twin sister Margaret.
Here we see another example of
the hot trend of actors playing off
themselves, done compellingly by
Ewan McGregor in “Fargo” and
James Franco in “The Deuce.”
Moore is an incredible actor who
would have certainly been dynamic
if able to really explore this dual
role, but unfortunately, the movie
immediately takes a drastic turn
that negates this opportunity.
The crime narrative evolves
in the film’s crucial scene, which
happens abruptly and jarringly,
and is messy in its immediacy.
The rest of the film is just as
chaotic and confusing. As a crime
movie, the progression of the plot
would have been interesting had
it been eerie and psychological.
Instead, Moore’s turn as Margaret
comes
off
as
superficially
schizophrenic,
or
psychotic
without the character depth the
role demands. Damon is worse,
playing the calculated patriarch
as stiff and devoid of complexity.
There is zero chemistry between
him and Moore that makes their
motivations wholly unbelievable.
Maddeningly, Nicky understands
the gravity of the film’s central
conflict, but doesn’t do much about
it; the film is riddled with plot
holes that all involve Nicky being
critically aware of his situation but
somehow unable to voice his truth
to anyone except the people that
threaten him.
“Suburbicon” does have a splash
of the Coen brothers charm that
flickers to create a shadow of
satire. A few scenes and lines of
dialogue are kind of funny, smart
and subversive, though fleeting.
Near its end, the film gets so
violent and bloody that is seems
like a satirical crime thriller in the
vein of Tarantino, though it never
quite gets there. Oscar Isaac (“The
Promise”) is fabulous as a cunning
and slick insurance claim agent
hot on the scent. Aesthetically,
the film is strong, with some
creative shots that make the movie
visually interesting. The score by
Alexandre Desplat (“Valerian and
the City of a Thousand Planets”) is
also exciting and effective.
The film’s weaknesses, though,
by far outweigh its strengths.
Tonally, the movie is all over the
place, trying to be tumultuous and
eerie but ending up flat. The acting
is just as one-dimensional. Because
it has no real protagonist, the film
just floats in an empty dead space
that makes connecting with the
characters impossible. Random
moments in the movie are devoted
to showing the neighborhood’s
crazed harassment of the Black
family, but this racial subplot
is completely superfluous and
irrelevant to the larger narrative.
Because they get no lines, the
family members become tokens
rather than characters. The movie
isn’t really about racial dynamics,
so the inclusion of this subplot
is extremely problematic and
superficial.
After two endless hours, it’s hard
to figure out what “Suburbicon”
is actually about. Is it a social
commentary on white flight and
WASP racism? Is it a subversive
satire of mob thrillers? Is it a
cinematic success for Clooney and
the Coen brothers? None of the
above.
FILM REVIEW
SYDNEY COHEN
Daily Arts Writer
DAILY FILM COLUMN
Everybody knew,
everybody knows
Why does human decency only extend so far in Hollywood?
Earlier
this
week,
Kevin
Spacey joined the growing list
of
“everybody
knew”
sexual
abusers after Anthony Rapp came
forward, detailing how the actor
came on to him when he was only
14-years-old. In a particularly
disgusting turn of events, Spacey
spun the news into a coming out
announcement.
Like Weinstein earlier this
month, Spacey’s digressions seem
to have been expertly covered up
by a complicit support system.
People have dug up Family Guy
jokes that hint as Spacey’s sexual
misconduct, and Rosie O’Donnell
tweeted at him: “we all knew
about u.”
I was surprised, and a little
emboldened, by the swift and
thorough takedown of Kevin
Spacey. Hours after allegations
surfaced, his Netflix show “House
of Cards” was canceled. The
LGBTQ community attacked his
conflation of homosexuality and
pedophilia. The TV Academy
withdrew
his
International
Emmy Founders Award.
For an industry built of the
bodies of women and children,
Hollywood has proved itself to
be a somewhat sentient beast
in the last month. Spacey and
Weinstein’s luciferian falls from
grace might signal a sea change
in the way the industry deals
with one of it’s most rampant and
complicated problems.
This kind of instantaneous
and all-reaching condemnation
is similar to that of Ben Hopkins
of queer punk band PWR BTTM.
After allegations surfaced, the
band was dropped from their
record label, their music removed
from streaming services and
their upcoming tour canceled. It
was exactly the kind of reaction
perpetrators of sexual violence
deserve. It was, in the context of
basic human decency, just and
fair.
The reaction didn’t, however, fit
into the mold of how the music (or
for that matter, film) community
deals with sexual assault. There
was little debate, overwhelming
support for the victims and, for
once, some kind of justice.
But, of course, not all reactions
are created equal. Woody Allen
still has a new film coming out
this month and another slated for
next year. Johnny Depp has three
movies coming out this year and
at least two for next year. After
winning the Academy Award for
Best Actor, Casey Affleck was
in one of the years most highly
regarded indies, “A Ghost Story”
and has two more films slated for
2018.
These men are also “everybody
knew” cases, only with them
the “everybody” includes us. We
know. The people who cast and
work with them know. Their
agents, producers, directors and
co-stars know.
It doesn’t make sense that the
same industry can react to these
men in such different ways. What
makes Weinstein or Spacey’s case
different from Depp or Allen’s?
Kevin Spacey, of course tried to
use his sexuality to undercut and
distract from the allegations. His
sexual misconduct, he seems to
think, is only condemned because
he’s gay. Not because he’s a gay
man preying on underage boys.
Maybe it’s the magnitude of
Weinstein’s crimes that forced an
unwilling public to come to terms
with what it long had known:
Hollywood (and really, America)
has a problem with sexual assault.
It’s much easier to ignore one
woman than it is to ignore on
hundred. Maybe it’s the status of
his victims, who include Angelina
Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, that
forces us to acknowledge what
he’s done.
As a person with a body, and
more specifically a woman who
wants to work in a creative
industry (don’t ask me which one,
I don’t know yet), this all feels
very immediate and confusing.
Men have touched my body
who I haven’t wanted to, they’ve
yelled and me followed me, made
me feel afraid of them. But I’ve
never felt trapped by them or
indebted to them. I’ve never been
made to feel that my silence and
my success were one in the same.
So it’s a little (a tiny bit)
heartening to see an industry
that I (maybe) want to enter so
swiftly and thoroughly the men
that abuse their power and status
to make less powerful people feel
afraid and unsafe. But, I’m not
completely convinced.
Because there will be more
cases that emerge where we sigh
and say “everyone knew.” And
there are still people that we
know about, who we let succeed
nonetheless. Hollywood is still a
hypocritical, self-serving piece of
garbage. But maybe, just maybe
it’s getting better.
MADELEINE
GAUDIN
‘Suburbicon’
Paramount
Pictures
Rave and
Quality 16
STYLE
Erdem knocks it out of the
park with an H&M collab
Luxury replaces cheapness in latest line with Swedish retailer
For
a
notoriously
cheap
brand, H&M spares no expense
to promote its high fashion
collaborations. This year for their
partnership with British-based
designer
Erdem
Moralıoğlu,
which releases Nov. 2, they
hired famed filmmaker Baz
Luhrmann (“The Get Down”)
to direct the promotional video.
The short film is undeniably
odd; it depicts a love triangle
set in a mysterious country
estate in shambles and includes
dialogue so cringeworthy it
makes you shudder with second
hand-embarrassment. However,
despite its adherence to weird
tropes, the film is rhetorically
effective: it makes you want
to buy the clothes. The short
is optically spectacular, every
shot saturated with multi-hued
flowers and attractive people
dressed to the nines.
The
collection
itself
is
impeccably done; the clothes
have
a
luxurious
intensity
to them, coupled with a fine
attention to detail. There is a
dichotomy among the pieces:
half are defined by their crisp
tailored lines, while the other
half posses a more relaxed,
flowey silhouette. All of the
looks, however, are united by
their sense of romanticism.
While weird, the Luhrmann
film does the collection justice,
because — thanks to its modern
take on Victorian style (lace,
high collars, long sleeves) — if
you were to find yourself in an
old manor filled with flowers,
looked after by an eccentric,
Miss
Havisham-esque
lady,
this collection is precisely the
thing to wear. Of the collection,
a few looks are outstanding,
particularly the double-breasted
gray wool womenswear suit and
its floral brocade twin, as well as
a silk pajama set, intended to be
worn by both genders.
But the question still remains:
will this collaboration be as
lucrative
for
the
Swedish
retail giant as the ones of
the
past?
Unlike
Balmain,
Alexander Wang or Versace,
who
all
previously
debuted
collections with H&M, Erdem
does not carry worldwide name
recognition. Additionally, most
of the pieces are priced at a
point — about $200-299 — that
a typical H&M shopper might
balk at, a conscious decision on
part of the designer.
“I wanted to create something
that was the opposite of fast
fashion; I love the idea of
creating pieces people would
have forever,” he said in an
interview with Fashionista.com.
“Classic pieces that feel relevant
in 10 years, 20 years.”
Which is precisely what he
did. This collaboration excels
because it is more than just junky,
cheap clothes smeared with the
brand name. Yet despite the lack
of ostentatious logos, anyone
familiar with the designer will
instantly know you’re wearing
one of his pieces. This collection
is indistinguishable from his
main line, yet is about one-tenth
of the cost.
TESS TOBIN
Daily Arts Writer
COCO, A CHAMPION HAVANA
BROWN CAT, NEEDS A WIN-
TER HOME IN MICHIGAN
His owner will be down south and
on ex
tended trips from December
to the begin
ning of June. He is an
affectionate, fully declawed, and
inside only neutered male cat, 5 years
old. His owner will supply food,
kitty litter, etc. plus $300/month to
the foster person or family. In the
unlikely event that Coco needs medi‑
cal attention his owner will cover that
expense. Full‑time adoption may be
HELP WANTED
ARBOR PROPERTIES
Award‑Winning Rentals in
Kerrytown
Central Campus, Old West
Side, Burns Park. Now Renting for
2018.
734‑649‑8637 | www.arborprops.com
FALL 2018 HOUSES
# Beds Location Rent
11 1014 Vaughn $7700
9 1015 Packard $6525
6 511 Linden $4800
6 1016 S. Forest $5400
6 1119 S. Forest $4350
6 1207 Prospect $4900
6 1355 Wilmot Ct. $5075
5 515 S. Fourth $3700
5 935 S. Division $4000
5 1024 Packard $3700
4 412 E. William $3200
4 507 Sauer Ct $3600
4 509 Sauer Ct $3600
Tenants pay all utilities.
Leasing starts Nov. 10th
Reservations Accepted till 11/8.
CAPPO/DEINCO
734‑996‑1991
MAY 2018 – 6 BDRMS HOUSES
811 Sybil ‑ $4400
Tenants pay all utilities.
Showings Scheduled M‑F 10‑3
24 hour noticed required
DEINCO PROPERTIES
734‑996‑1991
FOR RENT
ACROSS
1 Olympic
swimmer Buster
who played Buck
Rogers
7 Naughty
10 Queequeg’s
captain
14 “Yowzah!”
15 365 días
16 Place for a long
winter’s nap
17 Restaurant
review pricing
symbol
19 __ bar
20 Physicians’ gp.
21 Cheese couleur
22 Like some bread
23 Out of __: not
together
25 Grad’s memento
28 Wagering
parlors: Abbr.
31 Printer problem
32 Key with no
sharps or flats
35 Slatted window
40 British
Columbia’s
capital is on it
42 Where a tennis
server’s doubles
partner is usually
positioned
43 Most cordial
44 Like this ans.
45 Diamond bag
46 Equal chance
51 Slide __
55 Slangy negative
56 School whose a
cappella group is
the Whiffenpoofs
59 Albany is its cap.
60 Nabisco cracker
61 “Baby Got Back”
rapper, and a hint
to this puzzle’s
circles
64 Extra
65 Boxing legend
66 Catty?
67 Cookie monster?
68 Center of
Austria?
69 Fly to flee
DOWN
1 Musical endings
2 Unlike most
airline seating
3 Poe’s middle
name
4 Statement amt.
5 Spoil the surprise
6 English
nobleman
7 Olympic skater
Oksana
8 Country in SW
Afr.
9 Put on
10 Place to say “I
do”
11 Port-au-Prince’s
country
12 Singer whose
fans are called
Claymates
13 __ to light:
reveal
18 “Just a few __”
22 Gradual
absorption
24 Marine snail
26 Open a bit
27 City in central
Kansas
29 Not the least bit
challenging
30 Mimosa time
32 Glamorous
Gardner
33 Yoga class need
34 Statement amt.
35 Hot tub water
agitator
36 Stomach
problem
37 RSVP
convenience
38 Officeholders
39 July hrs. in
Georgia
41 “Bates Motel”
actress Farmiga
45 Shine
46 Terra __
47 Self-evident
principle
48 Opening words
49 Reduces to rubble
50 Four-time NBA
All-Star __ Irving
52 Not illuminated
53 Rhone cathedral
city
54 Lauder of
cosmetics
57 Emotional boost
58 Former union
members?
61 Posed (for)
62 __-de-France
63 Oktoberfest quaff
By Matt Skoczen
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
11/01/17
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
11/01/17
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