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