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Arts
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 — 5
On day four of Sundance, I
noticed a pattern in my note-
taking. If I enjoyed a movie, I
would only write a few details
in my journal. If I didn’t enjoy
a movie, I would scribble down
criticisms like a madman and
sometimes doodle during the
more
cringe-worthy
scenes.
This dichotomy became no more
apparent than when I saw Lulu
Wang’s excellent dramedy “The
Farewell,” Joe Berlinger’s awful
Ted Bundy biopic “Extremely
Wicked, Shockingly Vile and
Evil” and Joe Talbot’s immensely
cool “The Last Black Man in San
Francisco.”
For “The Farewell” and “The
Last Black Man,” my notes were
minimal. I simply relished in
watching both movies with the
rest of the crowd, who were
as receptive as I was to each
film’s moments of humor and
melancholy. As for “Extremely
Wicked,” my notes took up two
pages. I tried looking around to
see if there were other audience
members who were just as baffled
as I was, but to my surprise,
everyone seemed engaged with
what was essentially a watered-
down romanticization of one of
America’s most notable serial
killers.
The movie theater etiquette was
much better today than the two
days before, with the exception of
the guy sitting next to me during
“The Farewell,” who took out his
phone at least five times to text
someone, look up who was in the
movie (wait until the credits, bro!)
and open and close Hinge. After
boiling with fury in my seat and
waiting for the right moment, I
politely whispered to him to turn
off his phone. His response? “It’s a
press screening. You can take out
your phone.” Sigh. The audacity!
As the day went on, Sundance-
goers seemed more and more
exhausted. The general vibe of
weariness while waiting in line
for each screening was apparent:
people glued to their phones,
fatigue plastered on their faces,
clearly worn out by the constant
standing,
sitting
and
visual
stimuli. It was only after each
screening that the energy shifted
into something more excited.
Crowds of critics would stand
outside in the hallways of the
theater, chatting and exchanging
interpretations with intense vigor
on what they just saw. Even when
the hours and hours of watching
movies felt like a chore, the post-
screening conversations would
beg to differ.
‘The Farewell’:
Happiness is too simple a
word to describe how I felt
watching Lulu Wang’s delightful
sophomore effort “The Farewell.”
Adapted by Wang from a real-life
story she narrated on NPR’s “This
American Life,” this film is truly
a phenomenal feat, the best kind
of dramedy where joy and grief
are intertwined to complement
one another rather than exist
adjacently. By avoiding the cliché
trappings
of
intergenerational
stories — rigid immigrant parents
vs. assimilated children — “The
Farewell” seeks to understand
how secrets and lies are sometimes
the only way we can protect those
we love most.
As dramatic as that illustration
seems, “The Farewell” produces
plenty of laughs, most of which
stem from the main character
Billi (an outstanding Awkwafina,
“Ocean’s
8”),
a
wisecracking
Brooklyn-based
writer
who
discovers that her grandma Nai
Nai (newcomer Shuzhen Zhou)
has fallen ill with terminal cancer.
The twist: Nai Nai has no clue, and
Billi’s parents (Tzi Ma, “Arrival”
and Diana Lin, “Australia Day”)
intend to keep it that way. Feeling
guilty and helpless, Billi follows
her parents to China to spend
time with Nai Nai and the rest of
her extended family, all of whom
are aware of Nai Nai’s condition,
but decide to use Billi’s hapless
cousin’s wedding as the reason for
why they are all gathered together
for the first time in years.
Rather than take a more farcical
path, “The Farewell” focuses on
exploring the tension between the
illusory safeguard of happiness
with the reality of sadness.
Billi’s multifaceted ensemble of a
family is prone to this emotional
strain, diverging from a sad
subject whenever it appears in
conversation over dinner. The
suppression
of
deep-seated
sorrow, especially in a family
setting, is something that almost
everyone can relate to on a certain
level, but through the lens of the
Chinese-American experience, it
takes on a much greater weight.
Growing up in America, Billi
knows exactly why it’s so wrong to
lie to her grandmother about her
illness. But as she learns during
her time in China, she recognizes
that it’s customary to keep this
kind of information away from
loved ones until the final moments
of their life so the ill don’t have to
carry that burden. It’s a revelation
that’s as devastating for Billi as it
is for the audience.
Despite the bleakness in this
tradition,
“The
Farewell”
is
skillful enough to find the humor
in the quiet suffering Billi and
her family are forced to endure.
We see it during Billi’s cupping
therapy session at a Chinese spa,
where her aunt tells her that “a
little pain is normal, otherwise
it doesn’t work.” We witness it
during a visit to her grandfather’s
grave, where Billi and her family
present offerings that include a
variety of snacks, flower petals
and a cigarette, even though her
grandfather had allegedly quit
smoking while alive. We observe
it at her cousin’s extravagant
wedding banquet, where her
uncle delivers a heartbreaking
monologue
about
Nai
Nai,
bookending his tearful speech
with an equally comical and
poignant irony: “Sorry, I’m just so
happy.”
It cannot be emphasized enough
how
incredible
Awkwafina’s
performance is in “The Farewell.”
The
up-and-coming
actress/
rapper from Queens made huge
strides in two of the biggest
summer movies from last year,
“Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich
Asians.”
Here,
Awkwafina
continues to flex her comedic
sensibilities, while showing off
her dramatic range with superb
naturalism. Zhou also provides a
beautiful, measured performance
as Nai Nai. For a first-time actress,
she excels in her role, balancing
a
sensitive
earnestness
with
infectiously
adorable
charm.
Her on-screen relationship with
Awkwafina is also quite sweet and
authentic, their intimate banter
making it seem as if they were
actually related.
Though it may check off all the
boxes of a Sundance dramedy,
“The Farewell” does everything
in its glorious power to transcend
that expectation. It’s a film for
everyone, but also manages to
infuse a compelling amount of
specificity into its universal story.
Not to overhype the film, but I’ll
be damned if “The Farewell” isn’t
nominated for Best Picture at the
2020 Oscars.
‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly
Evil and Vile’:
True
crime
documentarian
Joe Berlinger’s narrative debut
derives its laborious title from a
quote used against nefarious serial
killer Ted Bundy for committing a
series of brutal killings between
1974 and 1978. But after seeing
the film in full, perhaps it should
be retitled to “Extremely Dumb,
Shockingly Inept and Vile” not
only for romanticizing Ted Bundy
— who, mind you, kidnapped,
murdered and raped a multitude
of women — to an absurd degree,
but also failing to capture what
makes
the
much-talked-about
subject so complex and fascinating
in the first place.
Aside
from
the
gross
glamorization of Bundy’s image,
“Extremely
Wicked”
is
just
another oversimplified, by-the-
numbers biopic, fulfilling every
single
possible
facet
of
the
formula you can think of. There’s
a predictable claim to fame and
inevitable downfall, a way too
on-the-nose soundtrack, an excess
of exposition explained through
archival footage and dramatized
interviews and, worst of all,
strangely generic dialogue for
events that actually took place.
In
its
rushed
first
act,
“Extremely Wicked” introduces us
to Bundy (Zac Efron, “Neighbors”)
on the day preceding his execution
in 1989 before transitioning to a
Seattle bar 20 years earlier where
he meets and falls in love with
single mother Liz (Lily Collins,
“To the Bone”). While Collins
and Efron have decent chemistry,
their relationship is established
a little too quickly, condensing
the time between when they
first meet to when they start
living together to less than a few
minutes. Bundy’s transformation
from regular nice-guy law student
to murder suspect also occurs
within a minimal timespan, and
while the efficiency of this shift
in his character certainly helps
with the pacing, the lack of actual
dimension given to Bundy and his
romance with Liz makes it more
difficult to stay interested.
The film ostensibly is supposed
to take place from the perspective
of Liz, who, like Bundy, was in
complete denial that he carried
out any of the heinous acts he was
accused of. Strangely, however,
“Extremely Wicked” dedicates
more of its screen time to Bundy
himself, leaving only a string of
scenes with Liz, whose sullen
reaction
to
Bundy’s
growing
reputation as a ruthless felon is
limited to crying in the shower,
drinking and smoking all day,
staring somberly at the TV news
and getting mad at her disposable
character of a best friend Joanna
(Angela Sarafyan, “The Promise”)
for forcing Liz to face the truth.
Though it may be accurate that
Bundy lured his victims using
his charisma and supposedly
good looks, attaching Efron and
his handsomeness to the real-
life serial killer feels somewhat
distracting, like something out
of a melodrama (Penn Badgley in
“You,” anyone?). Transforming
Bundy into an ultra-appealing
hunk is an intriguing attempt at
making the audience sympathize
with his character, suggesting that
any hottie with a naughty body
could have malicious intentions.
Still, despite Efron’s best efforts
in
embodying
Bundy,
from
his cunning personality to his
luscious head of hair, the dreadful
emptiness of “Extremely Wicked”
outweighs
his
serviceable
performance by a long shot.
Buried within the murky mess
of the film’s skeletal plot are a few
fleeting — emphasis on “fleeting” —
moments of genuinely captivating
entertainment. A goateed, very
good
John
Malkovich
(“Bird
Box”) plays Edward Cowart, the
snarky judge who presided over
Bundy’s final trial in Florida, and
delivers some of the very rare
great lines of dialogue during the
climactic third act. Bundy’s brief
escapes from his jail sentences
are fun to watch too, so much so
that they almost make you forget
just how abhorrent the film is as
a whole. The final confrontation
between Liz and Bundy on the day
of his death sentence is really the
only true moment in the entire 108
minutes of “Extremely Wicked”
where a great deal of tension
is palpable, in that we actually
get to see, through flashback,
Bundy carry out one of his many
documented killings.
Then again, why does the
movie try to make us sympathize
with Bundy? In addition to
narrativizing Bundy’s experience
in the public through the guise
of a glitzy thriller, “Extremely
Wicked”
provides
no
solid
justification for why we should
spend
our
time
following
Bundy, no plausible end goal
in questioning what motivated
him to be so cruel and relentless.
Some might find better answers
in the recently released Netflix
docuseries “Conversations with
a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,”
which was also produced by
Berlinger, or even FX’s “American
Crime Story: The People vs. O.J.
Simpson,” a much more well-
developed and layered drama that
focused on a different famous
alleged murderer who consistently
denied the terrible things he
was accused of. If “Extremely
Wicked” proves to be a box office
success once it’s released in
theaters, it won’t be because of the
promise of understanding Bundy
on a more psychological level, but
rather, it will be solely due to the
undeniable appeal of Efron’s star
power, a reality as unsettling as
Bundy’s impact on the cultural
consciousness.
Sundance coverage day
four: Efron, Awkwafina
SAM ROSENBERG
Daily Arts Writer
FESTIVAL COVERAGE
NETFLIX
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
The vibes of Still Woozy’s
live concert can be perfectly
synopsized by the first 10 seconds
of his music video for the song
“Goodie Bag.” There’s this brief,
pure moment when Sven Gamsky
(Still Woozy) holds up a photo
of himself and asks, “Who’s
that fucking pig nose?” after
which his friend questions if the
video is doomed to fail from the
outset. It quickly cuts, and in
comes the dreamy, woozy sound
of “Goodie Bag.” I swear these
first 10 seconds of endearing self-
depreciation play a monumental
role in the video’s 1.7 million
views. Take the wholesomeness
of those opening 10 seconds and
extend it for an hour and a half
set at El Club, and you get Still
Woozy live.
It’s
awkward,
but
it’s
a
confident
awkward.
Sven
Gamsky is the poster child for
“I see myself as a gawky lad”
persona, yet coolness exudes
from every bone in his body, with
that groovy, woozy sound leaving
me gawking. His stage presence
consists of intense head bops
with wide eyes and shimmies
that could pass as an attempt
at The Chicken Dance. I never
knew
chicken-arm
shimmies
could be so damn cool. Gamsky
grasps the essence of “Hi, I’m
awkward!” paired with a boyish
charm. Yet, his groovy sound has
artsy college kids bending over
backwards to brand themselves
in a similar way. This vibe he
radiates makes a 19-year old girl
with an English major and fresh-
cut bangs step slightly closer to
self-actualization (I speak from
experience).
Walking into the concert, I
couldn’t help but question how he
would fill an entire concert with
only six songs. These six songs
(which fall somewhere between
lo-fi, electric, acoustic and indie)
were written and produced in
his garage. You can add Still
Woozy to the list of recently
successful D.I.Y. artists, for his
garage approach has landed him
a spot on Coachella’s lineup this
upcoming April.
When choosing how to fill
his time, he made some stellar
choices and some mediocre ones.
The stellar choices included
repeating “Lucy” for his encore
and playing two songs off of his
new EP (which, according to
Instagram, should be released
this month). These fresh songs
push
into
Gamsky’s
upper
register and even feature some
“rapping” (the sort of rap that
Rex Orange County creates).
Moreover,
Gamsky
attacked
two phenomenal covers: Mac
Demarco’s “Still Beating” and
Hank
Williams’s
“Angel
of
Death.”
The mediocre choices, on the
other hand, included a “dance-
off”
between
his
drummer
and synth-player for this tour:
Skinny Pete and Tiny. About
half-way through, Skinny and
Tiny competed on the dance
floor while Gamsky narrated
from the side. Remember how we
talked about awkwardness, but
the sort of awkwardness that’s
so cool and endearing it makes a
girl with bangs (me) freak out in
admiration?
Still Woozy, confident and
awkward at El Club show
SHOW REVIEW
SVEN GAMSKY
SAMANTHA CANTIE
Daily Arts Wrtier
The most influential character in
Mary Adkins’ debut novel “When
You Read This” is not even alive at
the time the novel takes place. Iris
Massey is a 33 year old who died
months after being diagnosed with
small-cell carcinoma, a deadly lung
cancer commonly developed by
smokers.
Iris’s death has a profound
impact on those around her.
There’s her sister, Jade, a chef at
a Michelin starred restaurant in
New York City, who hasn’t gone
back to work since her sister’s
death. There’s Iris’s boss, Smith
Simonyi, the president of brand
management firm who’s struggling
to keep his business afloat. And
there’s the hundreds of people who
follow her blog.
When Iris discovered she was
dying, she turned to a website
named “Dying to Blog,” a place
where people who are dying
can come together and form a
community.
Smith
discovers
her blog and her wish to have it
published after her death, which
leads him into contact with Jade
and a journey of self discovery and
realization.
Adkins
weaves
the
story
together out of excerpts from Iris’s
blog, email and texts between
various characters, as well as
other forms of media like Jade’s
submissions to a therapy website.
The majority of the story focuses on
the relationship between Jade and
Smith as they try to come to terms
with Iris’s passing. While they first
email about cleaning Iris’s things
out of the office, their emailing
quickly evolves into confidences
shared by the closest friends.
After Iris’s death, the one true
spot of light in their lives is a new
intern Smith hires named Carl.
Carl is an extremely outgoing and
intelligent college student who
has a habit of sending emails to
people he shouldn’t, something
that conveniently propels the plot
forward on numerous occasions.
While Carl’s optimistic outlook and
wit brings humor and a refreshing
lightness to a story that deals with
such heavy subject matter, he is
undeniably a terrible intern. It’s
hard to believe at times that he
would not have been fired within
his first few days of working at the
office. The fact that Smith keeps
him on makes the story somewhat
less believable, but the loss is
worth it for the enjoyment Carl’s
character provides.
Iris’s contemplation of death
and how a person makes peace
with death are the most thought-
provoking and interesting parts of
the novel. She records her feelings
on her blog with topics ranging
from her reaction to seeing images
of the cancer that’s killing her to
her relationship with Jade. Readers
also see the comments left on
her blog and come to know the
commenters as well as Iris herself.
The formatting of Iris’s blog, in
addition to the email formatting
used
throughout
the
novel,
makes for a story that keeps the
attention of readers in a way that
is easy to read and follow. Iris
uses drawings and pictures to
communicate how she feels about
having cancer. It’s an intimate
presentation that helps both Iris
and readers contemplate dying.
For a book whose back claims
it’s “for fans of Rainbow Rowell,”
it does not exactly deliver. The
characters don’t have as much
depth and aren’t as realistic
or relatable as those in some
of Rowell’s works like “Fangirl”
or “Eleanor and Park.” They
aren’t as well defined and have
more static personalities as well.
With the exception of Carl, they
don’t stand out as individuals as
much as they could. Distinct and
vibrant characters are hallmarks
of Rowell’s novels, and are simply
not as present in “When You Read
This.”“When You Read This”
does lead readers to contemplate
intriguing
and
important
philosophical questions, such as
what makes life worth living and
how, if at all, the dead should be
honored, but it lacks in plot and
character development.
‘When You Read This’ is
not like Rainbow Rowell
SOPHIE WAZLOWSKI
Daily Arts Writer
BOOK REVIEW
‘When You
Read This’
Mary Adkins
Harper
Feb. 5, 2019
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