5 — Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

An attempt was made. If 
nothing else — and there is 
ultimately little else — director 
Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) tried 
to use “A Wrinkle in Time” to 
craft an ambitious vehicle for 
a diverse cast and a message 
about loving yourself with all 
your flaws and rough edges. It’s 
just deeply unfortunate that 
the message and the cast are 
saddled with one of the worst 
scripts Disney has worked 
with in recent memory. The 

film is crammed to bursting 
with gaping plot holes and so 
many 
bewildering 
creative 
decisions that it almost feels 
directionless. It’s undoubtedly 
well-meaning, but that can’t 
save it. “A Wrinkle in Time” is 
an unmitigated disaster.
From the first scenes, the 
portrayal of child characters 
is clearly the work of adults 
who rarely speak to kids. 
Not only do the dialogue and 
performances make the whole 
ordeal feel akin to children’s 
theater, but the adolescents 
at the center of the story 
spend most of the movie being 
shuffled 
around 
without 
making any decisions of their 
own. If you want to give young 
people positive role models on 
film, those characters must be 
active enough to be interesting 
and worth looking up to. Even 
if the script wasn’t so flat in its 
approach, it would still have to 
contend with the soundtrack, 
which blankets any and every 
emotional scene with a cloying, 

generic pop song that uses 
buzzwords like “warrior” to 
make half-hearted connections 
to the movie. Once would 
be annoying, but it happens 
multiple 
times, 
and 
every 
time a potentially beautiful or 
inventive scene is robbed of its 
impact.
Even 
when 
they 
aren’t 
being moved about like game 
pieces, the characters verge 
on annoying and never get 
any real development. Charles 
Wallace 
(Deric 
McCabe, 
“Stephanie”) is meant to be a 
child prodigy, but instead of 
precocious and intelligent, he 
comes off as more inhuman, 
like if young Sheldon Cooper 
went 
on 
an 
adventure 
to 
Narnia. In one memorable 
scene, it’s mentioned in a 
line of dialogue that he was 
teleported ahead, and my only 
guess is that McCabe wasn’t 
available on the days they 
were shooting those scenes. 
There’s 
also 
a 
character 
named Calvin (Levi Miller, 
“Pan”), who literally shows 
up without an introduction in 
one scene and does nothing 
for the rest of the movie 
besides add what I’m assuming 
would have been a romantic 
subplot if writer Jennifer Lee 
(“Frozen”) had remembered 
to give him and Meg Murray 
(“Sleight”) any chemistry. He 
and Charles Wallace are two 
of the main leads, and neither 
adds anything positive to the 
proceedings.
No one else, other than 
maybe 
Zach 
Galifianakis 
(“Baskets”), 
acquits 
themselves particularly well, 
but it’s impossible to blame 
the actors when the writing 
fails so completely at character 
development. Mindy Kaling 
(“The Mindy Project”) get the 
worst of this. The ordinarily 
gifted 
performer 
is 
given 
nothing to do but react to 
whatever 
new 
whimsy 
is 
trying to pass for a plot. Even 
the visuals, while occasionally 
inspired 
in 
concept, 
are 
completely flat in practice; in 
one scene Meg travels through 

what seems to be a Windows 
screensaver 
of 
some 
sort, 
and almost all of the exciting 
locales teased in the trailers 
are covered in a single awful 
montage set to — you guessed 
it — a trite pop song. What 
could have been a ravishing 
universe of new worlds to 
explore amounts to little more 
than visual noise.

By 
the 
time 
Reese 
Witherspoon has turned into 
what appears to be a flying 
piece of lettuce and flown 
close enough to a gigantic 
projection of Oprah for a young 
child to lovingly stroke her 
face, it had hit me: “A Wrinkle 
in Time” isn’t a movie. It’s an 
advertisement 
for 
Disney’s 
next theme park. It’s directed, 
written and edited like a 
promo for a rollercoaster, but 
instead of 30 seconds, it goes 
on for almost two hours. Even 
the effects, for a $100 million 
film, look like they belong in a 
TV commercial break. There’s 
no sense of purpose to the 
pacing or development or tone 
or any of it. It’s hard to say, but 
it’s true: “A Wrinkle in Time” 
never lives up to its good 
intentions.

‘Wrinkle in Time’ is well-
meaning, poorly written

JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer

FILM REVIEW

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

“A Wrinkle in 

Time”

Walt Disney 
Studios

Ann Arbor 20 + 
IMAX, Quality 16, 
State Theater

My dad recently sent me a 
video from my 15th birthday 
party. In the video, I blew out 
the candles in one shot and 
the kitchen lights turned on to 
show my bright eyes — which 
were too big for my petite face 
— and my long, blonde hair, 
which is much different than 
the shorter brown hair I have 
now. My two high school best 
friends look like infants as they 
sing “Happy Birthday” beside 
me. In a thick Philly accent, 
my older sister criticizes me 
for sticking my finger in the 

cake and licking the icing. 
Under the video, my dad sent 
a follow up text: “Time flies!! 
Enjoy life!!”
My dad’s not wrong. It’s 
cliché, but life does seem to 
fly by us without warning. It’s 
also a challenge to remember 
every pinnacle moment of joy 
that 
we’ve 
experienced 
or 
every person that’s helped us 
get to where we are now. If he 
hadn’t sent that video to me, 
that memory would probably 
be erased from my mind.
It’s strange to see ourselves 
at various milestones, like 
when you look at baby photos 
and question how you could 
be that small, or you look at 
yourself 
in 
middle 
school 

and try to understand your 
awkwardness. I think back to 
that person in my video — a 
youthful and pretty 15-year-
old with an athletic build, one 
who just barely understands 
her rise into womanhood. I was 
a woman who wasn’t conscious 
of who she was or how to take 
care of herself.
Among age, we see the idea 
of health in various mediums 
both physically and mentally. 
As younger people, we feel 
invincible 
with 
our 
fresh, 
agile bodies, but as we become 
older, it seems that we pay 
more attention to our physical 
health because of our bodies 
aging and being more prone 
to injury or illness. Mentally, 
we seem to be more cognizant 
of our mental health as young 
students, but the urgency to 
take care of our mentality 
seems to dissipate as we age. 
I can’t help but to wonder why 
health transforms into this 
funky, indirect proportion as 
we grow older.
It’s only been six years 
(psh, only six years) since that 
video was taken, and while 
I looked and acted healthy, I 
seemingly didn’t care about 
any of it. Most 15-year-olds 
don’t. When you’re young, you 
only worry about falling in 
love and meeting friends and 
experiencing every bit that 
life has to offer (and surviving 
high school, of course). Time 
goes on, however, and stress 
becomes more relevant. We 
take more time to ponder the 
world and our place in it; with 
that, our conscious effort to 
take care of our health becomes 
another priority lowered down 
on the list. And to be frank, I 
just don’t get why.
We’re always told to enjoy 
our youth while we have it and 

take care of ourselves before 
it’s “too late.” Time does fly, 
but why do we have to despise 
the latter half of life? I’m 
worlds away from that girl 
in the video, and as much as 
I loved being that age, I love 
where I’m at now so much 
more. I know my body and how 
it works. I know how far my 
stress can build until I break 
down. I know more of what 

I want from myself and out 
of life. Sure, I’m still a semi-
directionless 
21-year-old, 
but I’m more conscious of my 
health, and I care more about 
myself.
I 
want 
to 
break 
this 
systematic idea that getting 
older sucks. We should live life 
for its presence, where we can 
be conscious of this difficult 
journey of soul-searching and 
taking care of ourselves. If we 
indefinitely love who we are, if 
we remember to not be so hard 
on ourselves and if we never 
take our health for granted, it 
doesn’t ever have to be too late.

The essence of age

DAILY HEALTH & WELLNESS COLUMN

ERIKA 
SHEVCHEK

It’s just deeply 
unfortunate that 
the message 
and the cast are 
saddled with 
one of the worst 
scripts Disney has 
worked with in 
recent memory

FX

“Robbin’ 
Season,” 
as 
“Atlanta”’s 
resident 
stoner/
philosopher 
Darius 
(Lakeith 
Stanfield, “Get Out”) explains, 
is the period of time before the 
Christmas holidays. It is one 
of 
rampant 
commercialism 
and, apparently, one of equally 
rampant thievery.

This 
type 
of 
explicit 
exposition is a rarity in Donald 
Glover’s “Atlanta.” The show 
prefers to make its commentary 
in 
a 
more 
impressionistic 
manner, presenting a series 
of vignettes that reflect the 
mundane absurdities of daily life 
in the titular city where Glover 
was raised. The show’s episodes, 
ranging from just 25-30 minutes 
each, have an uncanny ability 
to draw viewers into the world 
they create before ending just as 
quickly.
The 
harrowing 
opening 
scene of the season shows two 
teenagers executing the robbery 
of a fast food restaurant, as well as 
how an unexpected development 
sends the operation awry. It sets 
the tone of what Glover describes 
as the “nightmare” of season two 
as opposed to the “dream” of 
season one. There is a palpable 
tension present in the Atlanta air.
The show’s main characters 
haven’t 
progressed 
much 
from the conclusion of season 
one. 
Earn 
(Donald 
Glover, 
“Spider Man: Homecoming”) 
is kicked out of his “home” in 

a storage facility. His cousin, 
Paper Boi (Bryan Henry, “Vice 
Principals”), 
remains 
under 
house arrest, which does grant 
him some notoriety, helping 
his popularity. There is an 
unresolved 
conflict 
between 
Paper Boi and Darius, which is 
never explained. Episode one 
features a memorable cameo 
from Katt Williams as well as 
a prime reptilian example of 
the show’s ability to turn from 
hyperrealism to surrealism in 
the space of a single cut.
Despite 
the 
continuing 
bleakness, the show derives 
humor in the small absurdities 
that litter the characters’ lives 
and reinforces the central idea 
of being robbed. At the start of 
episode two (“Sporting Waves”), 
Paper Boi is held at gunpoint 
during 
a 
rendezvous 
with 
his long-time dealer (Marcus 
Samuel, “Murder Choose Me”). 
As he walks away sporting his 
signature scowl after giving up 
his money and car keys, his dealer 
repeatedly offers his sincere 
apologies while continuing to 
point a gun at him. The framing 
of the rather courteous robbery 
suggests that it is not borne out 
of an inherent penchant for 
crime, but rather an unexplained 
necessity. “I’ll pay you back,” the 
dealer promises at the end. 
A visit to a music technology 
startup 
offers 
a 
different 
perspective 
to 
the 
idea 
of 
being 
robbed. 
Set 
in 
an 
overwhelmingly 
racially 
homogenous environment, Earn 
and Paper Boi’s interactions 
with the company’s staff are 
increasingly 
uncomfortable 
to watch. Paper Boi grows 
increasingly exasperated as he is 
forced to repeat inane variations 
of a radio show introduction, 
finally 
storming 
off 
after 
“performing” in front of a crowd 
who clearly have no interest in 
him or his music.
In the same episode, Earn 
and Paper Boi meet another 

young rapper, Clark County 
(R.J. Walker, “Hand of God”), 
who embraces his role for 
the 
company, 
performing 
enthusiastically 
for 
a 
room 
of employees (referencing a 
profoundly uncomfortable video 
featuring rapper Bobby Shmurda 

dancing at Epic Records). His 
appearance later in the episode in 
a cheesy commercial recalls one 
of Paper Boi’s principal conflicts, 
one between commercial success 
and authenticity.
The 
genius 
of 
“Atlanta” 
lies in its astute observation 
of the sheer weirdness of the 
characters’ seemingly ordinary 
daily lives. On the surface, the 
characters don’t do much and live 
thoroughly unglamorous lives. 
Dialogue is minimal, a lot of time 
is spent lounging on couches 
and prospects for the main 
characters are overwhelmingly 
bleak. Yet the depiction of how 
the characters move and interact 
through their environment as 
well as the detrimental effects 
of poverty provides plenty of 
material to reflect upon after you 
finish laughing.

‘Atlanta: Robbin’ Season’ is 
weird & poignant as ever 

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW

I want to break 
this systematic 
idea that getting 
older sucks. We 
should live life for 
its presence

“Atlanta”

FX

Episodes 1 and 2

Thurs. @ 10 p.m.

The genius of 
“Atlanta” lies 
in its astute 
observation of the 
sheer weirdness 
of the characters’ 
seemingly 
ordinary daily 
lives

