The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, April 4, 2018 — 5A

The Weeknd is vulnerable
on ‘My Dear Melancholy,’

ALBUM REVIEW

‘Flower’ is an underbaked
try at a teen angst comedy

“Flower” is like a Betty

Crocker cake taken out of
the oven 15 minutes too early
— guiltily enticing, golden-
brown on the outside, but
evidently inedible after the
first cut. With a cast headlined
by Zoey Duetch (“Everybody
Wants
Some!!”)

and Adam Scott
(“Parks
and

Recreation”),
the film quickly
loses its sheen as
it
devolves
into

one of the worst
teen edge-fests in
recent memory. It
tries to shock the
viewer into some
Stockholm-syndrome-esque
appreciation of an absolutely
unlikable main character as
she dances through her twisted
antics
to
some
forgettable

radio-pop mix. It’s hollow
entertainment.

The teen flick follows a

crude and unusual 17-year-
old sexual extortionist Erica
(Zoey Deutch) as she deals
with her new, fresh-out-of-
rehab step-brother Luke (Joey
Morgan, “Scout’s Guide to
the Zombie Apocalypse”) in
her own special way. They
work together to take down a
pedophile whose actions sent

Luke into a downward spiral
after
middle
school,
their

actions causing more harm
than good and leading to a
blooming but wholly unearned
romance.

The film’s most egregious

issue is its audacity to expect
empathy for a punishingly
boring protagonist. Erica is
written to be a wild, renegade
teen who takes her town by

the
reins,
not

taking
slack

from
anyone.

This
was
not

accomplished.
On
screen,

Deutch tries way
too hard to be
edgy
and
just

seems immature,
which
can

sometimes be a

fine trait in a main character
if it is used as a touchstone to
measure future growth (see
“Rushmore”’s Max Fisher) but
it doesn’t work here. Instead,
Erica’s actions and responses
to
situations
become
too

familiar too fast. She’s petulant
and predictable, and she sours
quickly.

“Flower”
has
primed

some
comparison
to
2018

heavyweight “Three Billboards
Outside
Ebbing,
Missouri,”

as both follow a female lead
who takes it upon herself to
bring to justice child predators
in their towns. In a way, it

suffers from a similar problem.
While these characters may
be fighting for a perfectly
moral and just cause, the way
they accomplish their end goal
matters.
Granted,
“Flower”

doesn’t deserve to be in the
same conversation, but there is
some trend present. If actions
of characters in a film were
supposed to be just a means to
an end, filmmakers would have
resorted by now to showing
found
footage
of
liberated

prisoners of war walking out
of American airports and of
children hugging chronically
abused puppies as they leave
humane society shelters. If
the characters given are too
unlikable, it doesn’t matter
what they’re doing, it will still
be a difficult movie to watch.
In “Flower,” Erica doesn’t do
enough to distance herself
from the actions on screen. The
movie attempts to humanize
her
through
a
few
softer

scenes toward the end, but
as your father told you when
you were losing that fourth
grade travel basketball game
by 18 points late in the second
half: “you can’t get it all back
on one trip down the floor.”
“Flower” chucks it up from
half-court a few times toward
the end instead of creating
well-rounded
characters

throughout, and just like in
that basketball game, it doesn’t
work.

STEPHEN SATARINO

Daily Arts Writer

DIABLO ENTERTAINENT

“Flower”

Diablo

Entertainment

State Theater

FILM REVIEW

When The Weeknd released

Starboy in 2016, he wanted
to become a pop star. He
shed his old R&B persona,
cutting
his
signature
hair

and strangling his old self to
death in the “Starboy” music
video. He armed his album
with A-list pop producers and

buzzworthy features like Max
Martin and Kendrick Lamar.
His efforts paid off — Starboy
placed several songs on the
Billboard Top 40 and scored
him
another
number
one

with the album’s title track.
With frequent comparisons
to Michael Jackson, it seemed
like we had a new, darker
Prince of Pop. But the release
of My Dear Melancholy, almost
two years later, indicates the

old Weeknd survived. The EP
is exactly what I’d expect after
his reinvention: a mix of pop
influences ingrained into the
classic drug-induced R&B that
jump-started his career.

Although
his
three

mixtapes,
which
combined

to
make
Trilogy,
were

groundbreaking
in
their

hazy and electronic R&B, the
lyrical themes grew repetitive
over the course of three tapes.
The Weeknd sings about sex
and
drugs
without
really

specifying which drugs he’s
using and which people he’s
having sex with — at times,
it can seem braggadocious
and
immature.
However,

with My Dear Melancholy,
The
Weeknd
feels
more

intimate and authentic, like a
personally addressed letter.
Since stardom, The Weeknd
has had two long-term and
high-profile relationships: one
with model Bella Hadid and
another, more recent, stint
with singer Selena Gomez. He’s
had adult relationships and
experienced real heartbreak.
On
“Wasted
Times,”
The

Weeknd
references
two

relationships,
reflecting
on

the lost time spent with a past
lover. The production borrows
from Starboy, with its heavy
snare and vocal distortion,

while burying The Weeknd’s
voice under synth layering
and smoky vocals that made
Trilogy so emotive.

On Melancholy, there’s also

moments of new, vulnerable
Weeknd. “Call Out My Name”
— the opening and likely best
track — finds The Weeknd
exposed.
With
minimal

production and a slow-burning
intro, the track depicts The
Weeknd begging a lover not
to leave. The syllables of the
chorus as he sings “Call out
my name” are drawn out and
imploring, shedding light on
his wounded heart.

But,
like
other
Weeknd

projects, the EP is top heavy,
trailing off towards the end.
“Hurt You” sounds like the
“Starboy” beat repurposed for
the typical “I’m unemotional
and sex-driven” Weeknd tune.
“Privilege,” the closing track,
builds well but climaxes on
a forgettable chorus about a
heartbreak-driven drug binge.

Despite a few lackluster

tracks, My Dear Melancholy,
is The Weeknd at his most
vulnerable
and
genuine.

Like the title, the project
feels addressed to someone
specific, allowing us third
party listeners in on a private
conversation with him and a
lover.

DANNY MADION

Daily Arts Writer

“My Dear

Melancholy”

The Weeknd

XO/Universal

Music

XO/ UNIVERSAL MUSIC

In its fifth season ‘Silicon
Valley’ is back in its groove

As someone who grew up

in Silicon Valley, the HBO
show
of
the
same
name

always felt uncannily more
like a documentary than a
comedy. From the get go,
“Silicon
Valley”
has
been

astute satire of the Valley, a

place where obscene amounts
of money and a somewhat
overzealous
sense
of
self-

importance produce a uniquely
idiosyncratic
environment.

Ironically, the show has been
enthusiastically
embraced

by the very demographic it
relentlessly pokes fun at. Walk
into any startup office or CS
building at any university and
you’ll find that our (speaking
as
an
engineer)
affinity

towards the show’s humor is
not entirely dissimilar to a
12-year-old’s
towards
toilet

humor. Guaranteed guffaws
at popular sound bites such
as “this guy fucks” or “middle
out” illustrate how “Silicon
Valley” has transcended into
being a possibly niche, but still
hilarious cultural icon.

Nonetheless, I was quite

worried
going
into
season

five. Season four was easily

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer

the
series’s
weakest,
with

Pied Piper going frustratingly
nowhere during the course
of
the
entire
season
and

Richard Hendricks (Thomas
Middleditch,
“Kong:
Skull

Island”) going from lovable
awkward nerd into a character
that was at too many points
simply painful to watch. The
satire still had its edge, but it
seemed like the show’s magic
was just about running out.
Was the show just overstaying
its welcome?

Thankfully, the beginning of

season five has me cautiously
optimistic. We find the team
without Erlich Bachmann (T.J.
Miller, “Deadpool”) for the
first time after a disappearance
in Tibet, and although Erlich
is one of the show’s most
notable characters, I wasn’t
quite miffed by his departure.
By the end of season four, he
was just a cheap source of
crude humor, a deadbeat who
had little relevance to the plot
or progress of Pied Piper. It
turned out that T.J. Miller in
real life was becoming a bit
too much like the character he
played, forcing the writers to
strand him in the mountains.
Oh well. Anyway, season five
sees the group move into a

new office, and throughout
the course of the first few
episodes,
welcome
a
large

group of engineers.

And to that I say: finally!

Pied Piper is finally actually
making some progress. One
of the aspects of season four
that was so frustrating was
the feeling that the show
didn’t have to be quite so
cyclical. The possibilities for
conflict
and
comedy
with

a larger team as Pied Piper
expands are limitless. While
Richard
is
still
hopelessly

unfit as a motivator and CEO
(an early scene has him give
a ridiculously cringeworthy
speech to his new employees),
he shows glimpses of a Silicon
Valley staple many viewers of
the show are expecting to pan
out: the transformation from
being a brilliant, dopey coder
to a ruthless businessman, aka
Hooli CEO Gavin Belson (Matt
Ross, “Captain Fantastic”).

Belson is brilliant as ever,

with a renewed zeal to destroy
the upstart Pied Piper. The
show continues to excel at
his characterization as well
as incorporating new gags,
including a recurring bit that
involves three new coders the
team dubs “stallions, each one
more magnificent than the
last.” Each time the stallions
are
mentioned,
sentimental

music plays while the camera
pans
to
three
disheveled

engineers
rubbing
their

eyes while squinting at their
laptops. While Dinesh (Kumail
Nanjiani,
“The
Big
Sick”)

and Guilfoyle (Martin Starr,
“Spider Man: Homecoming”)
have not developed as much as
I would like, their interactions
are as snide and petty as ever,

and characters such as Laurie
Breem (Suzanne Cryer, “The
Cloverfield Paradox”) remain
as perfect imitations of some
of
Silicon
Valley’s
more

unusual personalities. Jared
(Zach Woods, “The Post”), one
of the show’s most intriguing
characters, continues to drop
some truly disturbing lines
which lead me to think he grew
up in a weird cultist/Neo-Nazi
family.

Meanwhile
in
Erlich’s

absence, Jian Yang (Jimmy O.
Yang, “Crazy Rich Asians”)
takes over and hatches a plot
to “inherit” his wealth. While
Jian Yang is hilarious in short
bursts, it is worrying that
the show has set him up to
potentially be a main villain of
sorts. At the moment, he still
feels stuck as a caricature.

“Silicon Valley” is back,

sort of. Early on, season five
is
encouraging,
actually

stimulating the idea that Pied
Piper will grow and encounter
a
new
set
of
problems.

However, as I stated before, I
remain cautiously optimistic.

HBO

“Silicon
Valley”

Season 5 Episodes

1-3

HBO

Sun. @ 10:30 p.m.

I was quite

worried going
into season five.
Season four was
easily the series’s

weakest

TV REVIEW