6A — Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
By Peter A. Collins
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/18/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/18/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2019
ACROSS
1 Starbucks orders,
casually
6 Carnival staples
11 Chance
15 Perform better
than
16 Scandal-plagued
energy company
17 Witness’ promise
18 #1 hit for Jerry
Lee Lewis
21 Squealed on the
bad guys
22 Oscar winner
Kazan
23 Lemonlike fruit
24 Grocery chain
with a red-and-
white logo
26 Like the Ninja
Turtles
28 #1 hit for the
Beach Boys
33 Vornado product
34 Landscaping tree
35 Peter was the
first one
37 Application
38 Federal
retirement org.
39 Couple of million?
42 Farm food
43 Justice __ Bader
Ginsburg
45 Get going
48 Have bills
49 #1 hit for Johnny
Rivers
53 “Let’s get
together”
54 Best-liked, briefly
55 Kite carrier
58 Italy’s Villa d’__
60 One of 12 on
a die
64 #1 hit for Jim
Croce
67 Brit’s kitchen floor
68 Abates
69 Threw in
70 Dispatch, as a
dragon
71 Oboist’s supply
72 Hired thugs
DOWN
1 Easy runs
2 General feeling
3 Dodge Viper
engine
4 Slowly, in music
5 Drunkard
6 Genuine
7 Undecided
8 Advice giver on
SiriusXM Radio
9 Canon camera
named for a
dawn goddess
10 Winter vehicle on
treads
11 Convertible type
12 Tiny margin of
victory
13 Another, in
España
14 “__ what?”
19 One of a pair of
cartoon slackers
20 It’s over in
France
25 National econ.
stats
27 Grow fond of
28 Go from E to F?
29 __ a customer
30 “Soon”
31 Emphatic word of
refusal
32 What salmon do
upstream
33 Stole from a coat
store?
36 __ contact
40 River through
Dublin
41 Span. miss
44 Neighborhood
pal, in slang
46 Attorney general
under Ronald
Reagan
47 Blows one’s
stack
50 Mohammad __
Pahlavi: last shah
of Iran
51 Farm contraption
52 Engage in to
excess
55 OPEC units
56 Mass transit
option
57 Barry Humphries
alter ego
Dame __
59 Mix, as salad
61 Extinct bird
62 __ Stacy:
Spider-Man
love interest
63 They might be
loose or tight
65 Ka __:
southernmost Big
Island point
66 Purse
This past Sunday afternoon, Hill Auditorium hosted
a sold-out showing of “Amadeus” with live musical
accompaniment from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
and the University Musical Society’s Choral Union.
“Amadeus,” the 1984 film directed by Miloš Forman
starring Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and
F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri, recounts the
interesting life of Mozart and his complex relationship
with Antonio Salieri.
There was a nostalgic excitement present as I waited
in line, hearing mumurs of “I haven’t seen it since it was
in theaters” and “You’re going to really enjoy it.” Only,
this nostalgia was unfamiliar to me; I had not seen the
film prior to this unique showing, but it would fail to
interfere with the experience.
After a brief word from UMS president Matthew
VanBesien on the relevance and inf luence of the film
in musical society, the film began with the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union playing
along to the film.
I was unsure if the soundtrack was accurate to the
original film or if the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
or its Music Director Laureate, Leonard Slatkin, had
put an individualistic spin on the score. Provoked by
curiosity, I spoke with an audience member by the name
of Alexandria who had seen the film in the past. She told
me that the score was exactly the same as the original
soundtrack from 1984.
I learned that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has
performed shows like this in the past at the University,
with one of their most recent being the live performance
of the soundtrack to “2001: Space Odyssey” in Sept.
2018. I noticed that despite my sitting very close to
the orchestra, I was more focused on the film than the
musical performance, which is perhaps the goal of such
an event. As such, the work from DSO and the UMS
Choral Union was secondary to the film itself, though I
am curious if my fellow audience members who had seen
the film in the past felt similarly or not.
Even so, the live musical accompaniment made the
film come to life. The orchestra and choirs fell into
perfect synchronization with the film, in a seamless
transition from on-screen to real-world that I had never
experienced.
As the film progressed, it was interesting to hear the
audience of Hill Auditorium erupt with laughter amid
a contemporary, classical score. There were admittedly
some niche classical music jokes that went over my head.
I enjoyed the film, although it felt as if I had infiltrated
a cultish meeting of “Amadeus” fans.
The most poignant aspect of the night came during the
end credits. As the screen faded to black, the orchestra
began the piece of music that accompanies the rolling
credits, but no one in the audience got up to leave. We
all sat still, with our attention completely focused on
the orchestra for the first time of the night, taking in
their grand finale of sorts as they closed out the life and
legacy of Mozart.
‘Amadeus’ brings classical to Hill
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA
Daily Arts Writer
The orchestra and choirs fell
into perfect synchronization
with the film, in a seamless
transition from on-screen to
real-world that I had never
experienced
I’m always somewhat wary whenever I learn
that a novel I’ve read is to be adapted to the
screen, especially when the novel in question
is one I hold very close to my heart. I always
believed that “The Goldfinch,” Donna Tartt’s
brilliant and incredibly popular 2013 Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel, was too introspective
a tale to visualize, too contained within its
protagonist’s head to tell through any medium
other than prose. How does one possibly do
justice to a 700+-page book that spans decades
and continents, within the duration of a single
feature film?
“The Goldfinch” movie is proof that you
can’t. Or, at least, director John Crowley
(“Brooklyn”) couldn’t. Though the film stays
faithful to the events of the novel, in the
process it strips the book of precisely what
made all 771 pages of it worth reading in the
first place — complex character relationships,
a captivating, sympathetic narrative voice and,
perhaps most importantly, a story so immense,
so unforgettable it might just be one of the 21st
century’s great coming-of-age odysseys.
“The Goldfinch” is the story of Theo
Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker whose life
is torn apart after he loses his mom in an
art museum explosion. Theo emerges from
the wreckage with the original copy of Carel
Fabritius’s “The Goldfinch.” From then on,
the plot carries Theo from New York to Las
Vegas to Amsterdam, where he meets new
people who alter the course of his life. Yet,
despite all of his movement, everything
always comes back to this painting, this little
bird, both Theo’s greatest burden and greatest
treasure, a reminder of both his crime and
the last time he saw his mother. Theo’s love
for his mother and struggle to recover from
her loss is unquestionably the heart of the
novel, the thing that keeps it beating on, the
thing that motivates every single thing Theo
does. And the painting is the manifestation of
that feeling. Even when the painting is not at
the forefront of the story, it is always, always
there.
The movie appears to have forgotten this. In
fact, it hardly feels like the painting and all it
represents is present at all. The movie touches
on everything that happens after the explosion,
but fails to adequately emphasize the lasting
power of Theo’s grief, which in many ways
is a central point of the story. Young Theo,
played by Oakes Fegley (“Pete’s Dragon”), does
the best he can, but the script simply doesn’t
give him enough room to properly emote. The
parts of the film led by Ansel Elgort (“Baby
Driver”) as an older Theo are significantly
weaker in expressing the character’s anguish,
largely because of the script’s heavy reliance
on cringeworthy exposition, where the movie
literally tells us how Theo feels, instead of
showing it as a visual medium should.
If
anything
could
have
saved
“The
Goldfinch,” it would have been its cast.
Led by Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman (“Boy
Erased”), Sarah Paulson (“American Crime
Story”) and Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”), the
performances at the very least should have
been excellent. Yet, no one shines — whether
due to the weakness of the script or the
actors I still can’t tell. Certain performances,
particularly Finn Wolfhard (“It”) as Boris
and Luke Wilson as Theo’s dad (“The Royal
Tenenbaums”) are laughable.
“The Goldfinch” is a disappointment in
every respect, both as an adaptation and a
standalone film. Its director has turned a
richly moving epic into a glorified Lifetime
made-for-TV movie. My advice? Skip the film
and read the book instead.
‘The Goldfinch’ disappoints
FILM REVIEW
ELISE GODFRYD
Daily Arts Writer
WARNER BROS. PICTURES
As soon as you enter the UMMA’s “Copies
and Invention In East Asia” exhibit, you
are greeted by a quote from Japanese
literary critic, Hideo Kobayashi: “Copying
is the mother of creation. It is the only and
true mother.” Oftentimes, the importance
of originality hovers over the conscience
of any creator. As creators, we can’t bear to
imagine the embarrassment we would face
if we were exposed for stealing another’s
idea. We feel proud when an idea that
we deem original floats into our minds.
However, after attending a conversation
led by Kevin Carr, Associate Professor of
Japanese Art History at the University and
specialist of Buddhist art, I walked away
with a different perspective on originality.
This exhibit is focused on copying.
Where I had originally thought of it as
a cheap means of creating art, I now
recognize it to be a tool for passing down
traditions.
In Buddhism specifically, the act of
producing copies holds a special meaning.
According to the UMMA’s website, “From
simply reciting and rewriting Buddha’s
teachings to creating multiple images
of sacred Buddhist figures, objects and
texts, or the commissioning of one million
pagodas, copying served to increase karmic
merit, guaranteeing a better afterlife and
eventually leading to enlightenment.”
Our tour guide, Kevin Carr, was nothing
short of fantastic. His knowledge was
expansive; he was able to answer all of
the audiences questions with ease and
poise. His lighthearted sense of humor
and enthusiastic speaking voice made his
presentation all the more enjoyable. It was
truly a pleasure to be able to learn from
him.
However, the event didn’t seem to
be marketable to the students. The two
friends I went with and I were the youngest
in attendance by about 20 years.
Among the artifacts discussed were the
Pagodas. A pagoda is a tiered tower with
multiple eaves. The pagodas on display
at the UMMA were less than a foot tall.
Pagodas were traditionally built as stupa
in ancient India and further developed
in East Asia. They were built to have
a
religious
function,
most
commonly
Buddhist, and were used during worship.
The mass production of the pagoda
made it a popular tool that has carried on
through generations. The pagodas serve to
amplify Buddha’s presence in homes across
the world. Carr mentioned that it was
popularized during the eighth century, and
the museum showed examples from the
20th century as well as the 21st century.
The examples of pagodas from the 21st
century were being made with a 3D printer
right in front of our eyes. This highlighted
the overall theme of the exhibit: the
importance of copying and multiplication.
It was also very interesting to witness
the mass production of the pagodas being
down in person. It made the history we
were discussing seem all the more real.
It is because of the copying of pagodas
that the towers are still used as tools of
worship today. Similar to the Buddhist
missionaries spreading the ideas of the
Buddha, the copying of art becomes an
act of imaginative interpretation that
serves as the foundation for many cultural
traditions.
Featuring more than one hundred objects
spanning from ancient to contemporary
times, the work curated at the UMMA
allowed me to reflect on the creativity
that lies within copying. Not only would
I recommend this exhibit to anyone
interested in learning more about East
Asian culture but I’d recommend it to any
creator looking for the value in creations
that aren’t original.
Reinventing admiration
at our very own UMMA
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
ALIX CURNOW
Daily Arts Writer
Similar to the Buddhist
missionaries spreading
the ideas of the
Buddha, the copying
of art becomes an
act of imaginative
interpretation that
serves as the foundation
for many cultural
traditions
Where I had
originally thought of
it as a cheap means
of creating art, I now
recognize it to be a
tool for passing down
traditions
The Goldfinch
The State Theatre
Warner Bros. Pictures