The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Monday, September 9, 2019 — 5A In the spirit of Welcome Week, Festifall and all things post-Labor-Day, The Daily Film section has written a collection of blurbs celebrating our favorite “Openings” to movies. Here’s to another year of learning, changing, trying, failing, crying, smiling, passing, movie-watching and (most importantly) a-best-picture-awarded- to-a-film-that-surpasses-the-low- bar-of-not-being-problematic-at-best- and-severly-discouraging-as-to-the- current-state-of-the-conversation-on- racial-equality-in-America-at-worst. “If Beale Street Could Talk” Barry Jenkins’s (“Moonlight”) opening scene in “If Beale Street Could Talk” technically lasts just three minutes. The leading pair, Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James, “Race”) and Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne, “Native Son”) step into the frame hand-in-hand, invigorating Baldwin’s quoted words — they stroll down a quiet sidewalk and kiss before the movie cuts to a more current scene of Tish visiting Fonny in jail. For the purposes of this blurb, I am only concerned with 40 seconds of this sequence, which are entirely spent tracking their walk. Point A to Point B. That’s all. Is it, though? Not if you play along with Jenkins, look where he wants you to look, play along with his tricks just long enough to fall under his spell. The camera arcs around the lovers, starting behind and slightly above Fonny and Tish, so at first, what stands out is the perfect synchrony of their steps like we are watching a ballet. As we watch from a steepening angle, however, we see this choreography is imperfect: Fonny’s intoed gait is not an absolute counterpart to Tish’s. As the camera begins its descent, we see their clumsy upper bodies hazarding into each other, in spite of the synchronization of their feet. Poise and clumsiness. Plans and inevitability. Jenkins’s lightly but not over-choreographed simplicity to mimic romance’s. Like waiting in your car for 10 minutes so you ring the doorbell reasonably late. Like “running into them” as they exit one classroom as you enter your next. Like matching a stride, slowing or quickening to keep up with the person you love. — Julianna Morano, Daily Arts Writer “No Strings Attached” The first week of classes is over, “sylly week” if you will, and the only real way to mourn the end of Welcome Week parties is to watch the beginning of “No Strings Attached” several times over. The opening of the film moves quickly from the characters’ first meeting as young teens at camp to an awkward encounter at a frat party. While a wide shot of a frat house is no cinematographic feat, the beauty of the scene lies in the set design. Block M flags hang out the windows of the house and there’s a slow realization that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, at one point in their lives, were just like us. Or, at least, pretended to be. The shot continues and soon, you’re reliving freshman year — except it’s not Greta Gerwig shouting about how drunk she is but one of your new dorm friends you have to grab from an elevated surface. And there’s something special about watching Ashton Kutcher pretending to be a “brother” while surrounded with various university paraphernalia. He embodies the fraternity aesthetic and his confused recognition as he spots Portman from across the room is a look all too familiar from Welcome Week shenanigans. So, as the school year starts and schedules fill up, anytime you’re feeling down, just remember that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, or at least their characters, also once awkwardly tried to remember why someone seemed so familiar during the school year. — Emma Chang, Senior Arts Editor To end: Openings, part three DEF JAM RECORDINGS / GETTY IMAGES Whether you call it trip-hop, “downtempo” or “lounge,” the type of music that falls under this large umbrella of related genres is incredibly difficult to pull off without sounding unbearably corny, boring or both. Successes do exist, from Portishead to Massive Attack as well as some work by groups such as Zero 7, but as a whole, and for good reason, there’s not much out there that excites and intrigues more than it cures insomnia. I heard Moon Safari described using some of these terms, and while not wrong per se, I discovered how meaningless they really were. The 1998 debut album of the French duo consisting of two students from Versailles, Nicolas Godin and Jean- Benoît Dunkel, is perhaps one of the most playful and, dare I say, cheeky albums you will ever hear. Borne out of endless tinkering and experimenting with synths, preceded by remixes and a middling EP, Moon Safari is itself an odd experiment, a mish-mash of genres and time periods. At times sophisticated and at others melancholic yet strangely childish, the album still sounds futuristic in the same way a Lamborghini Countach still looks futuristic. Both didn’t necessarily predict the predominant aesthetics of the future, but perhaps we just haven’t really caught up. And like the Countach, Moon Safari is both breathtaking and prone to fall apart at any moment. The fact that Moon Safari never reaches the heights it’s capable of makes it that much more fascinating. These heights, however, are teased at in the memorable opener, the instrumental “La Femme d’argent.” Anchored by a lovely, fun bassline, it nonetheless makes me feel like it should be the soundtrack to an awful B-movie, or at best (worst?) Roger Moore dumping around in space as James Bond in “Moonraker.” “Sexy Boy,” the following track, is the prime example of how the duo, like Giorgio Moroder in Italy decades prior, transformed overwhelming corniness into something that is somehow cool. The vocoder-based vocals, whispering in French during the verses and letting out protracted versions of the title during the chorus aren’t quite D’Angelo’s croons, but the charging drumtrack and wobbling synth patterns make the track surprisingly addicting and captivating. “All I Need,” featuring Tampa- based singer Beth Hirsch is the most “lounge”-y track on the album, but the bassline and intermittent synth flourishes elevate it above most made- for-Lifetime-commercial tracks that permeate the genre. “Ce matin-là,” another instrumental, is similar in that it is just too damn pretty for its own good, but self-aware all the same. Air achieved some popular success after the release of Moon Safari, scoring Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” and contributing to her later film “Lost in Translation” as well. Like those films, Air’s music ended up capturing the late ’90s and early 2000s too well in a sense. In Air’s case, they were never able to recreate the purity ever-present in Moon Safari, and considering the events in the world in the following years continuing up to now, I suppose that makes sense. The sense of self-awareness permeates the entire album and is the reason why it eclipses many of the works that followed it up in the early 2000s. “Sexy Boy” isn’t in anyway supposed to be sexy, for example, yet there’s an undeniable confidence and swagger underneath all that cheese. This is not an album for the irony- poisoned and cynical (as I personally found myself drifting towards when I first listened to it). To me, it was more of a reminder that I needed to get over myself and, well, have some fun. ‘Moon Safari’ by Air WORLD MUSIC COLUMN SAYAN GHOSH Daily World Music Columnist FILM NOTEBOOK JULIANNA MORANO Daily Arts Writer Last week, Kanye West officially announced the tracklist and release date for Jesus Is King, his upcoming ninth studio album. It’s common knowledge now that album rollout announcements from Kanye should be taken with a grain of salt. We’ve seen this happen for years, most memorably the haphazard yet wholesome rollout of The Life Of Pablo, in which the tracklist was finalized weeks after the initial release. The most recent unorthodox album rollout came in fall 2018 as Kanye teased Yandhi, a spiritual successor of sorts to his 2013 album Yeezus. It was originally slated for Sept. 29, then delayed to Nov. 23, but 2019 came around and Yandhi never did. Some time in mid-August, several leaked versions of Yandhi began circulating — in particular, a 28-minute leak on YouTube that compiled nine demos and recordings, presumably from sessions for Yandhi. Since then, the title has become fairly synonymous with this collection of leaks. There’s a lot of debate about the ethics of leaks. Some argue they are harmful and can cost artists or labels financially, or cause artists to throw away tracks that had potential. But after a song (or album) has been leaked, there’s no going back. Yandhi is an especially interesting leak: It’s very much a rough draft. Most of the songs are unfinished, embodying a certain idea Kanye was reaching for but not quite realized. I took this opportunity to dig into the brief tracklisting for Yandhi for insight into Kanye’s creation process and ask a question: What could have been? The opening track, “New Body,” is a pop-rap song with appearances from frequent collaborators Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj. The lyrics celebrate plastic surgery, something relevant to Nicki Minaj herself and Kanye West’s current (and past) partner. A catchy flute melody plays throughout, a vaguely African pop sound maybe inspired by Kanye’s 2018 trip to record in Uganda. The instrumental is pretty middling, though. Next is “The Storm,” featuring the late XXXTentacion in a mildly awkward and angry verse. The aggression in the verse comes off especially strange because the vocals are unmixed, so he just sounds like he’s pissed off, screaming over a Skype call or something. The song is repetitive and uninteresting. So far, it seemed fair for Yandhi to hit the bin. “Alien” is the first song to show potential. As the title suggests, it features a surreal and colorful beat with an eerie melody. At one point the instrumental really kicks in and starts to envelop your ears like a grandiose movie soundtrack. The song ends abruptly though and Kanye’s delivery is pathetic — they are clearly first-time laid-out lyrics. If the track were finished with a better performance from Kanye, “Alien” could be a highlight track on a future Kanye West project. “Law of Attraction” (also called “Chakras”) is probably the most obvious demo on the album, as similar to the previous track, Kanye mumbles nonsensical lyrics to get his flow down throughout. It seems to be a pattern for Kanye in his songwriting process that the flows and emotions and concepts come before any finished lyrics. The layered vocal harmonies are wonderful, and there’s an intensity to Kanye’s delivery that could make for a respectable album deep cut, but the next track, “Bye Bye Baby,” fulfills the same role on an album. It’s similar in intensity with a more interesting instrumental and features a very emotional (and completed) Kanye-core verse, touching on his feelings of insecurity that have shined on his last few records. Only one track, “Hurricane,” is a really unlistenable demo. The beat is pretty cool and glamorous — it sounds like something you might find on a Travis Scott project — but the weird falsetto vocals are horrifyingly annoying. The song won’t be missed. It’s followed by “We Got Love (Remix),” another high potential track. That’s rumored to have originally been for Teyana Taylor’s album, which would explain why her verse is so well put together beside Kanye West’s awkward and vaguely off- beat contributions. “Garden” is a beautiful and soulful track that presumably came from a session with the choir for Kanye West’s “Sunday Service” performances — weekly, invite- only stagings in which Kanye West performs gospel-esque versions of music from his catalog. It sounds like an even better version of something you might find on Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book. The audio is notably low- quality, like it was recorded on a cell phone during a live session. This is a track to be excited about: It’s one of the only leaked songs to appear on the tracklist posted for Jesus Is King, so we can (cautiously) expect a finished release in the near future. The leaked album closes with “Slave Name,” a gorgeous instrumental outro led by a guitar, but clearly incomplete. The verdict? Yandhi has potential. We’ll probably never see finished versions of “Alien” or “Bye Bye Baby,” something that’s actually deeply unfortunate. The ideas and concepts on Yandhi are actually extremely fresh and exciting. The insight into Kanye West’s creative process is interesting, but unfinished demos aren’t really revisitable. The best fans can do is wait and hope that Jesus Is King embraces the best of Yandhi — if it even comes out. Leaked: ‘Yandhi,’ track by track MUSIC NOTEBOOK DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer Part of going to an elite university is sometimes there’s an overwhelming pressure to always be busy. During time off from rigorous academic schedules, many feel that they should be doing something exciting and career-enhancing. I stressed myself out all second semester looking for internships and jobs to keep myself occupied this summer. To my dismay, every single plan I made fell through. Even the class I was going to take at the community college back home was canceled. I left Ann Arbor feeling defeated, boredom already seeping in. But I didn’t stay bored for long. A couple internships worked out, I secured a job, I took online classes. Suddenly, my summer was full of fulfilling experiences. My most adventurous endeavor was going to Los Angeles for a month-long film internship. I lived on my own for a month in a city I’d never been to without knowing a soul — a seven-hour plane ride from my home. I worked a nine-to- five internship at a film company and loved (almost) every second of it. I explored career options I didn’t even know existed. I fulfilled dreams, I expanded my resume, but mostly I learned how strong I was. When I came back, I nannied a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler, getting a different taste of adult responsibilities. As I was making sure she didn’t run into the road or fall down the stairs, I found the old saying that babysitting is the best birth control to be true in as many ways as it is false. I even explored my local theatre, doing an internship that allowed me to learn the stories of people in my community. I reconnected with the home I found last summer before making Ann Arbor my home. I found a passion for hearing and sharing other people’s stories. All these experiences proved to be hard work, but incredibly fulfilling. I grew in so many ways that I barely recognized myself. Away from the tight schedules and academic pressures of the school year, summer is the time when we finally have a chance to explore who we are and who we want to be. A lot of that comes from the new opportunities we are allowed to explore, such as jobs, internships and volunteer work. But a lot also comes from having some time to ourselves to indulge in our passions and give ourselves time to expand our minds on our own terms. In the weeks between jobs, I found myself growing more and more comfortable having time to myself, with a lot of my summer spent curled on on my bed typing aggressively on my laptop or quietly strumming my g uitar. I finally had the freedom to do all the projects I always wanted to do but was too busy to actually do. At first, it was a lot of pressure. But eventually, I settled into starting projects for myself and not worrying about having to finish them for a deadline. That led to a lot of unfinished projects, but also a lot of new and exciting ideas. I wrote a synopsis for about seven different plays I wanted to write and didn’t finish any of them. I watched documentaries. I learned how to do a mediocre Scottish accent for no reason other than I thought it would be a fun skill to have. I discovered new music (thanks Ben Platt for the title). I gave my Instagram an aesthetic, I painted, I wrote, I cooked. I slept in until noon and watched all of “Arrested Development” in one week. I lived in my own skin and began to enjoy having time to myself for the first time in a long time. Growth isn’t only about keeping busy and having the coolest summer story. As high achieving students, sometimes we feel that if we’re not doing the best internship out there, we aren’t doing enough. But having a balance of these things is how we grow into who we are meant to be. We need days where we work nine to five at a dream internship and days when we sleep until noon and write crappy plays, or even just binge Netf lix. Growth is a process, and all forms of creativity add to it. My summer may be over, but the growth from it will continue on throughout the school year and beyond. On growing as I go, & loving the in-between COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK DANA PIERANGELI Daily Arts Writer EMMA CHANG Senior Arts Editor