The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 — 5

Anyone 
who’s 
ever 
improvised a piece of music, 
character bit or comedy skit 
knows it’s mind-over-matter 
magic when it works. This 
seems to be what gets acclaimed 
director Jim Jarmusch onstage 
with producer pal Carter Logan 
in the formation of SQURL, an 
enthusiastic-if-intermittent 
two-man act. The two visited 
the 
Michigan 
Theater 
last 
Tuesday to perform a score 
featuring drums, electric guitar 
and a range of synth and reverb 
devices over ’20s short films by 
the surrealist Man Ray.
Jarmusch 
was 
the 
main 
draw for most folks. His movies 
have captivated U.S. audiences 
with their seemingly foreign 
glimpses into American life. 
His 
suave 
appearance 
and 
triangular prism-shaped hair 
indicate a young, metropolitan 
sensibility, hiding any trace of 
his rural Ohio upbringing.
Considering his films and 
music, though, it makes sense 
that 
such 
an 
upbringing 
would 
be 
used 
as 
fodder. 
“Stranger Than Paradise” is 
a 
minimalistically-compact 
demonstration of our inability 
to ever connect to one another. 
A 20-something New Yorker, 
his friend and an initially 
unwelcome 
younger 
cousin 
spend days idly running errands, 
watching 
TV 
and 
sharing 
thoughts. The cousins warm 
to each other in subtle ways as 
they commit to breaking from 
their daily malaise, but end up 
even further apart by film’s end. 

This lack of understanding 
could also be what draws 
Jarmusch 
to 
Man 
Ray’s 
surrealist films, which feel 
like automatic manifestations 
of 
his 
subconscious 
mind. 
Newspapers rustling in the 
wind, 
an 
indistinguishable 
man tucking a woman into 
bed, a closeup of some fibrous 
material splitting down the 
middle. All these interrupted by 
intermittent slides of stream of 
consciousness thought: “if the 
flowers were in glass,” “a throw 
of the dice will never abolish 
chance.” Sitting through them 
puts you in a trance, unable to 
grab onto any one detail over 
another until the screen reads 
“You are not dreaming” and you 
snap out of it.
At the end of the live show, 
Jarmusch explained that these 
shorts were never scored and 
typically supplemented by jazz 
tunes of their time. Though both 
art forms were experimenting 
with improv and chance, he and 
Logan saw much more potential 
for the films in the powerful 
combination 
of 
analog 
and 
digital music tech. 
Really, though, they saw an 
opportunity to have the same 
fun Man Ray did in making 
his films. With nothing too 
literal on the screen, it seems 
hard to make mistakes. Logan 
explained their process after 
the show: one initial watch-
through 
to 
internalize 
a 
reaction, and several more with 
instruments to establish maps 
of where to change keys and so 
on. 
For the three minutes of 
eclectic moving shots of clocks, 
nails, and paint splatter that is 
“Le Retour a la Raison” (The 

Return 
to 
Reason), 
Logan 
pounded his bass drum while 
adjusting some static-inducing 
knob. Jarmusch sent long notes 
off his electric guitar into the 
ether.
The 
slower-burning 
“Les 
Mystères du Château de Dé” 
professed to be about two 
Parisians’ visit to a castle in 
the countryside. This “castle” 
was really just a Le Corbusier-
esque Modern home Man Ray 
dubiously labels “prestigious.” 
The plot is just a group of 
characters playing in the pool 
and with various toys they find 
throughout. They often roll dice 
to decide whether or not to do 
something. The effect really 
strips the meaning of much 
of what bourgeois living was 
about. 
As this film, the last of the 
show and the longest at 27 
minutes, 
played, 
Jarmusch 
often turned to face the screen 
on 
his 
guitar. 
Completely 
absorbed in visuals and sound, 
he lunged back from the screen, 
openly reacting. “Music is a real 
release for me,” he said at the 
end of the show.
The 
meaning-stripping 
done Tuesday night is a theme 
in Jarmusch’s body of work. 
For the next three Tuesdays, 
the Michigan Theater will be 
featuring some of his most 
acclaimed films: “Down By 
Law” on the 11, “Gimme Danger” 
on the 18, and “Only Lovers 
Left Alive” on the 25. Though 
often deadpan and desolate, 
these films acknowledge the 
difficulty of representing the 
multitudes contained within 
their characters, and leave an 
impression on audiences well 
after their reels have run.

Jarmusch collaborates on 
live score for short films

COURTESY OF SARA DRIVER

BEN VASSAR
Daily Arts Writer

This review contains spoilers.
You may find that shows 
as long-running as “Brooklyn 
Nine-Nine” tend to be formulaic, 
often forcing their protagonists 
to go through radical changes or 
obstacles that ultimately force 
personal growth onto them. 
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is no 

different, but the season seven 
premiere offers a refreshing 
twist 
compared 
to 
the 
development of the protagonists 
during the previous seasons.
In the season six finale 
of 
“Brooklyn 
Nine-Nine,” 
Captain Raymond Holt (Andre 
Braugher, “Bojack Horseman”) 
finds himself demoted from 
the rank of officer to beat cop. 
Initially, you might find this 
shift in power to be less drastic 
compared to the incarcerations 

of Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg, 
“Palm Springs”) and Rosa Diaz 
(Stephanie 
Beatriz, 
“Bob’s 
Burgers”) during the season 
four finale. Yet the removal of 
a father-like figure from his 
position of power presents a 
window of opportunity: Have 
the 
other 
protagonists 
of 
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” changed 
and matured enough to handle 
the vacuum of power that has 
remained constant over the 
previous six seasons?

You’ll find that in the 
first episode of season seven, 
“Manhunter,” 
Jake 
Peralta 
becomes 
a 
full-fledged, 
competent 
detective 
capable 
of leading a manhunt — a vast 
improvement compared to his 
lazy season one counterpart 
who is constantly berated by his 
superiors. In stark contrast, Holt 
finds himself in a depressive rut 
due to his demoted rank. 
During the manhunt of an 
assassin, 
Holt 
attempts 
to 
commandeer his former protégé 
Jake’s 
investigation, 
finding 
himself unable to swallow his 
own pride and follow the orders 
of his former subordinate. Holt’s 
subordination leaves him to 
follow his intuition, which runs 
contrary to Jake’s conclusion 
that leads to the arrest of the 
accomplice 
of 
the 
murder. 
Holt’s 
intuition 
ultimately 
leads to the arrest of the true 
assassin alongside the assassin’s 
accomplice. Through the arrest, 
Holt and Jake both learn that 
trusting their respective talents, 
skills and intuitions is far more 
important than the arbitrary 
label given to their relationship 
within the hierarchical police 
force. 
You 
hope 
that 
the 
upheaval of Holt’s relationship 
to his subordinates might lead to 
a positive reflection and change 
in his own character.
Yet those hopes are dashed 
in the second episode of season 
seven, “Captain Kim.” Captain 
Kim (Nicole Bilderback, “Staged 
Killer”), has been brought in 
to replace the former Captain 
Holt for the duration of his 
year-long 
demotion. 
The 

childish antics of Jake and 
Holt, who are convinced that 
the benevolent Captain Kim 
has ulterior motives, make you 
question whether Holt or Jake 
have learned anything from the 
previous episode. Ultimately, 
Captain 
Kim 
requests 
an 
immediate 
transfer 
away 
from the 99th Precinct. The 
captain’s 
responsibility 
then 
falls on the next highest ranking 
commander — Lieutenant Terry 
Jeffords (Terry Crews, “John 
Henry”). 

Terry Jeffords’ arc during 
the 
events 
of 
“Manhunter” 
and “Captain Kim” provide 
a perfect complement to the 
front seat antics of Jake and 
Holt. In “Manhunter,” Terry’s 
insecurities 
about 
receiving 
increased responsibility in the 

light of Holt’s demotion is played 
to comedic effect — he assumes 
that everyone is talking about 
his inadequacies behind his 
back. Terry ultimately accepts 
at the end of “Manhunter” that 
his best efforts matter as much 
as his leadership, regardless 
of whether his efforts are 
imperfect.
Yet in “Captain Kim,” Terry’s 
run-in with a former convict 
who he convicted reveals that he 
still has much to learn even as a 
leader — namely that of trust and 
empathy. Terry’s weaknesses 
as a leader are laid bare in the 
form of social embarrassment as 
Terry fails to hide his suspicion 
that the former convict might 
poison Terry. Though Terry’s 
embarrassment is portrayed in 
a humorous light, you wonder 
about the writers’ intentions 
for the relationship between the 
ex-convict and Terry. Are the 
writers attempting to underscore 
society’s unwavering disdain 
toward formerly incarcerated 
individuals 
attempting 
to 
integrate 
within 
society 
through humor? You remain 
unsure because Terry’s negative 
reactions and embarrassment 
toward the convict are second-
fiddle to the outlandish antics of 
Jake and Holt. 
With 
the 
departure 
of 
“The Good Place”, “Brooklyn 
Nine-Nine” sadly remains the 
only Michael Schur written 
comedy currently on the air. 
However, 
the 
season 
seven 
premiere provides the promise 
of continued positive character 
development for your beloved 
characters at the 99th precinct.

‘Nine-Nine’ wraps up with 
genuine character growth

Everyone knows a horse girl. 
They stash their homework in 
colorful horse folders, gallop 
their way through recess and 
talk about equestrian practice 
at every opportunity. It’s such a 
stereotype that Urban Dictionary 
has twenty six definitions of the 
term. However harmless this 
teasing may seem, though, “Horse 
Girl,” the new film from Jeff 
Baena (“The Little Hours”) and 
Allison Brie (“Glow”), shows that 
one never knows what might lurk 
behind those tacky horse T-shirts. 
“Horse 
Girl” 
begins 
by 
exploring the quirky life of 
Sarah, the titular Horse Girl, 
played by Brie. She works at a 
craft store, where the fantastic 
Molly 
Shannon 
(“Superstar”) 
plays her boss. Then Sarah goes 
to Zumba class, hangs around a 
stable (where she neither works 
nor takes lessons) a little too 
often and spends her nights alone 
watching Purgatory, a cheesy 
television 
show 
somewhere 
between 
“Criminal 
Minds” 
and 
“Supernatural.” 
On 
her 
birthday, Sarah is pressured by 
her roommate, played by Debby 
Ryan (“Insatiable”), to go on a 
date. The expected Horse Girl 
hijinks ensue as Sarah gets drunk, 
gallops on the dance floor and 
gets a nosebleed, yet somehow 
still woos the boy.
However banal all of this may 
seem, the fact that Sarah’s favorite 
show is called “Purgatory” is an 
early hint for what is to come. 
Sarah, like many people in 
America today, lives on a razor 

thin line between innocuous 
tedium and deranged chaos. Soon, 
this balance begins to fall apart. 
Sarah hears voices at night 
when nobody is home. She wakes 
up in strange places with no 
recollection of how she got there. 
She becomes certain that people 
from her dreams are trying to 
tell her something in real life. 

Reasons for this are hinted at, 
but to say any more would be a 
spoiler. As Sarah loses control, 
the narrative follows suit, with 
comedic tropes falling away to 
insane, 
terrifying 
surreality. 
“Horse Girl” has a remarkable 
shift from light comedy to head-
spinning 
psychological 
thrills 
that most films wouldn’t be able 
to pull off. 
It’s a risky move, but it succeeds 
because of Brie’s performance. 
She is entirely convincing in 
every scene and, no matter how 
unhinged Sarah becomes, Brie’s 
acting keeps the viewer invested. 
What at the beginning seemed 

quirky and awkward about Sarah 
becomes tragic and alarming, and 
one increasingly feels guilty for 
laughing.
By the end, viewers will likely 
have no idea what in “Horse Girl” 
was real and what was in Sarah’s 
incredibly fractured head. Yet the 
film’s chaos has an ever-present 
subtext of meaning, pointing 
towards how mentally-struggling 
people 
in 
modern 
America 
are isolated, joked about and 
misunderstood, left on their own 
to sort through the debilitating 
consequences of their conditions. 
“Horse Girl” is more than just 
another movie making fun of a 
current meme. It’s a hilarious, 
bizarre, 
heart-wrenching 
film 
that shows how everyday life 
can 
quickly 
fall 
apart 
and 
leave nothing but unanswered 
questions. 
The movie leaves so much 
up for interpretation that most 
people will probably find it a waste 
of time. Yet for those looking for 
something insanely innovative 
that also has something to say 
about America, there’s nothing 
better than “Horse Girl.”

‘Horse Girl’ gallops nimbly 
from hilarity to horror

ANDREW WARRICK
Daily Arts Writer

Horse Girl

Netflix

Now Streaming

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

FILM REVIEW

TV REVIEW
TV REVIEW

NBC

NETFLIX

Sarah, like 
many people in 
America today, 
lives on a razor 
thin line between 
innocuous tedium 
and deranged 
chaos

Brooklyn Nine-
Nine

Season 7 Premiere

NBC

Thursday 8:30 p.m. EST

BRENDON CHO
For The Daily

