Campus Circle Vol. 25 Issue 9 by Campus Circle

December 2015 | Vol. 25 Issue 9 | Always Free

HOLIDAY FILM GUIDE

MUSTANG

WHEN THE POWER OF SISTERHOOD PREVAILS

FEATURING

CAROL

STARRING LUKE BRACEY

HOW LOVE STANDS THE TEST OF TIME

LAWRENCE KASDAN

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM SAVING ART THROUGH

RETURNS TO A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY

TRUMBO THE TRUE TALE OF THE MAN AND THE HOLLYWOOD TEN

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TABLE OF CONTENTS December 2015 Vol. 25 Issue 9

WHAT’SINSIDE

Cooper Copeland editor.chief@campuscircle.net

Sean Michael Beyer Film Editor film.editor@campuscircle.net Music Editor

Frederick Mintchell calendar.editor@campuscircle.net Editorial Interns

2015’s HOLIDAY

MUST-SEE FLICKS

Mustang: Exploring

Sisterhood & Hope

Trumbo and the

Hollywood Ten

Ryan Bouziane

Contributing Writers Angela Matano Jessie Froggatt

10 Carol: Kate Blanchette

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COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

(L-R) CLEMENS SCHICK as Roach and MATIAS VARELA as Grommet in Alcon Entertainment’s action thriller “POINT BREAK,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

THE ONLY

2015 HOLIDAY MOVIE GUIDE The force is strong with the holiday releases headed to theaters before the new year.

YOU’LL EVER NEED

NATHAN POPPE – THE OKLAHOMAN (TNS) I DON’T NEED TO WAVE A LIGHTSABER in your eyes to illustrate the hype surrounding the year’s biggest release. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has garnered attention throughout the galaxy with only a handful of trailers. My imagination is running wild trying to guess where Luke Skywalker is. Most of my theories involve Jar Jar being responsible, but I’ll gladly wait until Dec. 18 for the results. Until then, Oscar hopeful dramas “Brooklyn” and “The Big Short” should help with the wait. December ends strong, with two heavyweight releases. Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “The Revenant” will put the R in Christmas. Each of these tense period pieces boasts an enormous amount of talent that should make up for any holiday shortcomings. Show up early and show up often to these end-of-the-yearofferings. Movie information is compiled by Gene Triplett, Dennis King and Nathan Poppe. NOW PLAYING Pixar indulges in some whimsical archaeological speculation with its latest animated epic, “The Good Dinosaur,” which imagines what would have happened if that fabled humongous asteroid had missed Earth and dinosaurs had never become extinct. The tale focuses on an Apatosaurus named Arlo, who makes an unlikely human friend while traveling through a harsh prehistoric landscape. Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn and Anna Paquin lend voices to the characters. Just when you thought the punch-drunk “Rocky” franchise was down for the count, along comes “Creed,” which attempts to revive the boxing saga by making Sylvester Stallone’s former World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Rocky Balboa (on screen

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for the seventh time) into a hard-nosed trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. Young hotshot Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”) directs. The classic monster story gets a monstrous new twist in “Victor Frankenstein,” which imagines the tale from the troubled lab assistant Igor’s perspective. James McAvoy (“X-Men: Days of Future Past”) stars as radical scientist Frankenstein, and Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe plays his brilliant protege Igor Strausman, who attempts to bring his boss back from the brink of madness and save him from his monstrous creation. Paul McGuigan (“Lucky Number Slevin”) directs. Leave or stay? That’s the question “Brooklyn” poses as an Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) lands in 1950s Brooklyn and falls in love before learning her mother desperately needs her back home. You might remember Ronan as the strong, lovely character Agatha who worked at Mendl’s chocolate shop in the 2014 Oscar-winner “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” A disillusioned boy named Max (Emjay Anthony) responds to his fractured family’s dysfunction during the holidays by turning his back on Christmas. But his lack of festive spirit unleashes the wrath of “Krampus,” an ancient demonic force that punishes nonbelievers and turns beloved holiday icons into hellish nightmares. Toni Collette leads the way as the family is forced to unite and recapture the spirit of Christmas. “X-Men: Apocalypse” writer Michael Dougherty directs this darkly comic horror romp. Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel lend their estimable experience and weighty personas to “Youth,” a dramatic story of two old friends -- a retired orchestra conductor and a renowned film director -- on vacation at an elegant hotel in the Alps. Both men are in the autumn of their lives, but when

the conductor gets an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II for a command performance at Prince Philip’s birthday party, the men’s friendship takes on new colorations. Italian writerdirector Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”) helms this moody drama. In the newest film incarnation of “Macbeth,” Michael Fassbender essays the role of the ambition-wracked Thane of Scotland, who receives a prophesy from a trio of witches that one day he will become king. Australian director Justin Kurzel (“Snowtown”) earned praise at the Cannes Film Festival for this stylish reading of Shakespeare’s iconic play, which features Marion Cotillard as the tortured Lady Macbeth. DEC. 11 The real-life maritime disaster that inspired Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby-Dick” gets a polished Ron Howard treatment with “In the Heart of the Sea,” an epic 1820 adventure in which the New England whaling ship Essex is assaulted by a mammoth whale that harries and scuttles the vessel, leaving its crew stranded at sea for 90 days and struggling for survival. The Oklahoma-born Oscar-winner Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) captains an acting crew that includes Chris Hemsworth, Ben Whitshaw, Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson. The notorious Kray brothers brutally ruled over an organized crime empire that dominated East London in the 1960s. “Legend” charts the carnage-strewn rise to power of Reggie and Ronnie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy) and focuses on Reggie’s close relationship with moll Frances Shea (Emily Browning), who knew the dominant, murderous brother best. Brian Helgeland (“L.A. Confidential”) directs. “The Big Short” cashes in on an all-star cast (Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Steve Carrell,

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Melissa Leo) to track the tale of four outsiders in the world of high finance who predicted the collapse of the housing bubble and credit markets of the early 2000s and attempted to take on the big banks for their runaway greed. Will Ferrell’s go-to director Adam McKay (“Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights”) attempts his first drama with this adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book. DEC. 18 “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” finds Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) soaring back into action in this much ballyhooed seventh installment in the series, set 30 years after the events of “Return of the Jedi” (1983) and featuring new leads Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) alongside characters from previous “Star Wars” chapters. J.J. Abrams directs from a script he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt. Not to be confused with the 1973 Brian De Palma horror thriller of the same name, “Sisters” stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as fun-loving siblings who decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home in this R-rated comedy from veteran “Saturday Night Live” writer Paula Pell and director Jason Moore (“Pitch Perfect”). DEC. 25 Following in the hoofprints of “Django Unchained,” fiercely unconventional writer-director Quentin Tarantino goes West once again with “The Hateful Eight,” starring Kurt Russell as bounty hunter John “The Hangman” Ruth, known for hanging the fugitives he captures, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as the prisoner he’s escorting across post-Civil War Wyoming to

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stand trial for murder. The cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson as another infamous bounty hunter and ex-Union soldier; and five other questionable characters played by Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern, who are forced to take shelter in a stagecoach station during a blizzard. Undoubtedly, it’s Quentin-style cabin fever set to explode. A straight-arrow radio executive (Will Ferrell) goes all out to be a model stepdad for his wife’s two kids, but things get sticky with the return of their real father (Mark Wahlberg), a motorcycle-mounted, free-spirited hell-raiser. A tense competition for the affections of the kids ensues in “Daddy’s Home,” a comedy from directors Sean Anders and John Morris. “Point Break” is a remake of director Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 hit crime thriller about bank-robbing surfers, this time helmed by Ericson Core with Kurt Wimmer rewriting the original screenplay by W. Peter Iliff. In this version, a young FBI agent infiltrates a team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding corporate heists. Luke Bracey takes the role of the undercover cop originally played by Keanu Reeves, while Edgar Ramirez performs the ringleader part originally filled by the late Patrick Swayze. “Joy” is a biographical comedy-drama from writer-director David O. Russell that tells the true story of Joy Mangano, a struggling single mother of three who invented the “Miracle Mop,” founded what became a powerful family business dynasty and is the president of Ingenious Designs LLC. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Mangano, with Robert De Niro as her father and Bradley Cooper as the Home Shopping Network executive who gave Mangano’s invention the promotional boost it needed. In 1823, fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear, and his hunting companions rob him and

leave him for dead, murdering his young half-Native American son while they’re at it, in “The Revenant,” directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu (“Birdman: or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” from a script by Mark L. Smith and Inarritu, based on Michael Punke’s 2002 novel, which in turn is based on historical events. Glass survives and sets out on a 200-mile trek to exact revenge on the men who betrayed him and to find the man (Tom Hardy) who killed his son. The cast also includes Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson. Will Smith stars in “Concussion,” a dramatic thriller based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player. The film is from writer-director Peter Landesman, based in part on Marie Laskas’ GQ article, “Game Brain.” Popular ground-burrowing (and singing) cousins to the tree-climbing squirrel family, Simon, Theodore and troublemaking ALVIN!!! return in their fourth big-screen animated adventure, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.” The furry trio comes to believe their human boss Dave Seville (Jason Lee) is planning to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami, Fla., and get rid of the talkative rodents afterward. In an attempt to stop this, they embark on a road trip, with a time limit of three days. The voices of Justin Long (Alvin), Matthew Gray Gubler (Simon) and Jesse McCartney (Theodore) help bring this family-oriented romp to life, under the direction of Walt Becker (“Wild Hogs,” “Old Dogs”). ©2015 The Oklahoman Visit The Oklahoman at www.newsok.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. CAMPUS CIRCLE December 2015

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PERDEDEBIRIVAR.TUMBLR.COM

DIRECTOR DENIZ GAMZE ERGUVEN AND HER FIVE ACTRESSES ON SISTERHOOD AND HOPE IN MUSTANG BY COOPER COPELAND THE BREATH OF SISTERHOOD is impenetrable. It is something otherworldly, yet completely of the soil, as we pop up alongside our fellow sister, nurtured from the same water, sun, and root. It is magic. When you watch Mustang, the official French entry for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars this year, you see how those roots are upended; you see how five girls melt into each other, ricochet apart, and then remold themselves as the elements of culture seek to contain them to a plot of land rather than the landscape at large. And so, when one sister sees another become a prisoner, she takes note. When another sees her take note, this one takes action. Eventually, these sisters become liberators of the others’ spirit. And so they go. In her debut feature, director Deniz Gamze Ergüven sets off on the exploration of a character who is basically a five-headed creature—the most beautiful five-headed creature to walk the planet, surely, but one that moves with one heart and various wills. These are the five Turkish sisters, living with their grandmother and uncle in a remote and gorgeous Turkish village that sits along endless winding cliffs overlooking the sea. This is there playground, at least until a neighbor spies the girls playing with boys in the ocean, sitting on their shoulders and proving an indecency that would not stand in the conservative constraints of Turkish tradition. The girls are taken out of school. They are stripped of anything that would provoke sexuality. They are made prisoners in their own home, and have only each other, the cellmates, as sources of comfort and escape, as their elders become focused on prepping them to grow into perfect wives for the arranged marriages of their near future. Born in Turkey, and going to school in France and the United States, Ergüven had various perspectives to draw from when approaching the concept of expected female roles across the globe. Both objective and subjective frames of mind allowed her to tap into the girls’ story, and the central character and youngest of the sisters, Lale (Günes Sensoy), is how she entered that complex world. She then uses the unit of five, who become a constantly evolving army of emotion and growth, to unfold the destiny of the individual. Ergüven explains, “The perspective of Lale was exactly the one I had. I had grown up in a family with a lot of women and girls in two generations, and I was the youngest. So I had her point of view, and there were a few things that I literally hadn’t outgrown. Then, the structure around five girls imposed itself very quickly. The fate of every girl depends on what happened to the previous ones. You have that domino effect. It was just impossible in terms of structure to say no, it’s gonna be three or four or six. It was just always five.” When you walk into a room where these five girls, none of them sisters in real life, are drinking smoothies together, laughing heartily, you feel a pang of jealousy that you’re not in on their secret wonders of camaraderie. All hailing from Turkey, none over the

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age of 21, and all, but one, speaking elegant English, these young ladies are incomparably strong, graceful, and poised to make an impact on the world with the message of Mustang—a message only made possible by the trust cultivated by Deniz from the very beginning in their auditions. “We came together many times to evolve our relationship, our sense of family, talking about boyfriends and love. Then we did some exercises together and the point of it was—we were sharing our secrets with each other, and we were hugging each other, trying to open our hearts to each other,” says Elit Iscan, who plays middle sister Ece, and who is also the only girl with acting experience. Ergüven adds, “We had these auditions where we could see how they would listen, use the scope of their imagination, and their temper—so many things—like how they would dive into their scene for long, long minutes. Some of the sisters are the underdog of another sister. You have so many different combinations and diagonal relationships that had to work. So it was really about trying every character, changing the composition and trying different compositions. Plus, they had to look like sisters. That was really the most important point of focus in the preparation of the film, was that distribution. One day it magically clicked. When we got them together, specifically the two elder ones, they were looking at each other as if they were looking at each other in the mirror. The first time they met, we made them do these exercises where they looked into each other’s eyes, where they hugged—it was very inspiring.” Throughout Mustang, you see how the ceaseless shifting of relationships becomes the pulse of the narrative. If one sister is to leave the frame, the others flow into the negative space accordingly. And because the majority of the girls’ world is confined to the walls of their picturesque, albeit suffocating house, personalities become further aggravated and tested. This was an idea that quickly went on to inform the aesthetics of Ergüven’s film, especially in its soundscape, and so Ergüven contacted composer, Warren Ellis (Assassination of Jesse James, 2007). Using vocals by Nick Cave, the images of Ergüven’s world become embedded with the plains of the west, where the scope of escape is wide and endless, and sometimes out of reach. “Each time we put something super traditional or Turkish instruments on the film, it was as if we had put a fake mustache or something—it just didn’t work,” Ergüven explains. “There was this scene where the girls parade in the middle of the village in their shapeless, shit-colored dresses, and it looked like a western, like you have these very heavy lights and people looking behind the curtains, and there’s this slowness and heaviness and you almost feel like there’s gonna be balls of straw on the street. Then I thought, oh yeah, Warren [Ellis] has done this music for Jesse James, a western, and so we put his music there and it fits immediately. There’s something very organic, because I think the instruments Warren uses, like the viola and the violin and flute,

go with the elements of the film, like the wooden house, which is kind of like a huge violin to me. It was very organic in the aesthetical choice.” More than the aesthetics, than the wood and the wind that flows through the manes of these young dreaming girls, is the story that they so hope to spread to others like you and me. The story of girls taking the world in their fists and boasting it as theirs. Through tragedy and triumph, they prove that the world is not something to be locked away with a rusty key. It is not something to only be caressed by those who deem themselves worthy. What the world is is an invitation to be wild. And these girls want everyone to see that opportunity taken. The girls, all together, say it best themselves: Günes: We always hear about it on the news and in social media. It’s a part of our life so we were close to that. It was really good to be in this movie because you can actually spread hope. Elit: We aren’t living these types of situations, but, for example, my aunt got married in this way—an arranged marriage—and she didn’t go to the high school. But even if you’re not experiencing these things as that person, we are experiencing it by living in Turkey. For example, there’s this scene where a guy from the government is talking about the women that should act in a way, and they shouldn’t laugh and stuff. I see that on the TV personally, and I’m shocked. But it’s also happening all around the world. Ilayda Akdogan, as the second eldest sister, Sonay: We aren’t living the same things as the girls, but we always feel pressure on ourselves because we’re living in the same country. Maybe we don’t have the same family, but we feel the pressure. Elit: We’ve had very good reactions, from most everyone, and they’re actually thanking Deniz for making a film about women’s perspectives, but there are also bad reactions from some people. They’re attacking the way we’re showing Turkey, that it’s in a bad way. It’s not that real and stuff. They’re attacking the scene that I have when I was in front of the bank and I was with a boy in the car, and they’re saying that’s not real, that would never happen. But, it’s like, how do you know? Günes: Some people act like we represent Turkey in a bad way, and this doesn’t happen, and they act like it’s not real—that we’re only showing Turkey in a bad way. But it’s the truth. It’s real life. I think it’s not true to not tell that story. Tugba: I think they know it’s happening, but they don’t want people to think that it’s happening. That’s why we need more movies like that, to help people know about it. Ilayda: People act like they are blind to this kind of story. But we saw it. We heard it. It’s real. Günes: This is something everyone has to know, I think, because it’s a really important part of life. MUSTANG is now playing in select theaters.

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TRUMBO AND THE HOLLYWOOD TEN AS WE’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE

BY COOPER COPELAND THE LEGACY OF HOLLYWOOD is something rather unquantifiable. We often forget how great the film industry’s impact has on the world at large, and vice versa, as we seek to forge new realities on the page and on screen. That’s why director Jay Roach’s Trumbo, which spotlights one of Hollywood’s darkest moments in history, is much more than a simple period piece. It reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place. He may be known for some of the goofiest, blithe film franchises of our day, like Austin Powers and Meet the Parents, but in recent years, we have come to see Roach reappropriate his focus as director. While he’s still churning out the occasional over-the-top comedy, it seems as if the precarious sociopolitical tidings of our day have won his devoted attention. With the quality HBO specials “Recount” and “Game Change,” his interest in keeping the mistakes of history at the forefront of audiences’ minds appears to be at it’s highest. So, it becomes little surprise that he would want to delve into the world of Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”), a man who fought, not for the sake of his own political beliefs, but the simple right to even have his own political beliefs. The highest paid screenwriter in the world during The Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1940s, Trumbo also happened to be a communist in a country that wielded extreme fear and oppression of anyone who threatened to usurp the fundamental beliefs of the nation based on the ideal of freedom. That’s when the government and Hollywood itself, misled by the growing paranoia of communism on the home front, attacked its own citizens in the form of blacklists. But there were ten screenwriters and directors who refused to believe that their

CAMPUS CIRCLE December 2015

own political beliefs needed to be defended. These men were The Hollywood Ten, and they would go to jail, they would be ostracized by society, and they would not find work for years… that is until Trumbo decided that, if its theirs name they don’t want on Hollywood’s scripts, then hell, they’ll just use different names. The story of The Hollywood Ten is a prolific tale that would go on to shape an ideal about what it means to fight against a system for the sake of individual freedoms. To tap into that kind of scope, Roach, with an incredibly rich, detailed script from John McNamara (“Aquarius”), poises Trumbo’s struggle through a lens of the seemingly insurmountable odds that one man faces. Whereas we most often have heard what it was like collectively for a group of artists to be refused work because of what their private belief systems were made of, we now get an in depth account of how that suffocation of freedom and creative spirit affected the psychoses of family, friends, and the man himself. What becomes readily apparent is that Trumbo is an ambitious project that could have quickly become inundated with the excessive characters, historical details, and broader political scale that comes with telling a story of such magnitude. Yet somehow, McNamara was able to dive precisely and with proper depth into the most riveting and provocative aspects of Trumbo’s world. And to do that, he had to choose, out of all personalities that surrounded the case of The Hollywood Ten, a succinct yet intoxicating group that would support the more individualistic perspective of Trumbo. While the end result may have been overlong and a bit long-winded, you can’t help but be tickled by the personas we have so longed to meet.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

From the most iconic actors of the era, like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, to those who fancied themselves hierarchy of the film caste system, like Louis B. Mayer of MGM Studios, Trumbo, at the very least, is a titillating affair of legends of old. What is even more impressive, however, is the cast with which Roach got to express this nostalgic world. Shall I do a roll call? It is probably best: Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane, Elle Fanning, Louis C.K., Alan Tudyk, Michael Stuhlbarg, John Goodman, John Getz, and even more familiar faces carry Trumbo’s journey to great dramatic and dazzling heights, with special emphasis on C.K. and Stuhlbarg. While some of the representations of these icons seem somewhat imitative or overwrought, the majority oozes charm, style, and emotional heft that drive Trumbo home. And of course, we have to give Cranston his due. Playing a man with endless wit, ambition, and passion for this career that seemed to exist solely for his sake, Cranston delivers, with typical fervor, a relentless portrayal of man nearly torn apart by the polarizing effects of having to fight to not only write some of the most incredible screenplays of the age like Roman Holiday and Spartacus, but to be a proud father, a supportive husband, and the open patriot that he sincerely was. He wasn’t a perfect man, nor is Trumbo a perfect movie, but there’s a particularity in his sacrifice and Roach’s rendering of it that reminds us why the movies are indeed such a magical place. GRADE: B+ You can see TRUMBO in theaters now!

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CAROL

HE WEINSTEIN CO.

BY COOPER COPELAND IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A MOVIE SEASON without Cate Blanchett sweeping in and enchanting us with her unholy level of class, beauty, and strength. Even when you think the movie itself isn’t worth doling out twelve bucks at theater, Blanchett seems to change your mind with an incomparable sense of magnetism. So, you may be pleased, yet unsurprised to hear that director Todd Haynes’ latest period drama Carol is yet another accomplished starring vehicle for Blanchett, as well as a film well worth your movie-going time. Haynes, who is now an unofficial aficionado when it comes to telling tales of marginalized women of history (e.g. “Mildred Pierce”, Far From Heaven), saw yet another invaluable story within Patricia Highsmith’s formative 1952 novel The Price of Salt. Known for her stories rich with tension and psychological play, like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train, this particular story finds more subtlety and grace within its love story structure, but what makes it such a formidable part of her arsenal is that the concept of love becomes riddled with doubt and rank with mistrust. So, by pairing such a literary power with the cinematic sensibilities of its director, Carol takes on a whole new breadth of command and scope. In Haynes’ adaptation, the character of Carol Aird (Blanchett, Blue Jasmine), a 40-something mother of refined taste who lives in the blistering hustle of 1950s New York, also happens to be a recluse. Not by her own intentions, you see, but because she happens to be a lesbian during a time when such a lifestyle was not simply frowned upon, but unlawful, sinful, and wholly wrong. It seems that hiding her true nature has gotten her

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far enough, that is until she meets Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), a young, hapless department store worker with a dopey boyfriend who has little focus in life besides tinkering with a camera. From the moment they face each other, separated by a counter that might as well have been hot glue, coyness is no longer an option when the attraction becomes something of necessity. It’s when Carol’s separated husband Harge (Kyle Chandler, “Friday Night Lights”) becomes wild with jealousy and embarrassment that he threatens to take away her daughter, and she must weigh the consequences of her sexuality with her inextricable need to be a mother. Just like Haynes’ previous narratives, all of which are deeply intertwined with the aesthetics of time and place, Carol pulses with the buzzing energy of NYC life in the 50s, while also chiming into its suffocating social customs. The costumes and the production design all allude to the superficial wonder that so many people strived to meet—that good old-fashioned American Dream—and Carol herself is no different. She too wants that perfect family. She too wants to live happily ever after behind a white picket fence. The only difference is that she wants to have the lady of her choosing by her side, and thus she unwillingly becomes the victim of her own dream. Certainly we must speak of the electricity between Blanchett and Mara, two powerhouses that know how to command attention. Mara as the timid and perfectly awkward Therese is such a welcoming counterpart to Blanchett’s oozing confidence and radiant sexuality. The control of Blanchett’s gaze, the knowingness of her touch is enough to make us all blush

and feel all gooey inside, and Mara projects that reaction rather convincingly. Haynes, who has directed Blanchett before in her groundbreaking role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There (2007), clearly remembered what kind of effect the actress has when given the chance. And what’s more is the addition of Sarah Paulson (“American Horror Story”) as Blanchett’s old lover and best friend, who adds a poignantly rich and conflicting complement to both women’s affection for the other. What are less convincing and appear more as afterthoughts are the male relationships in the narrative. Jake Lacy (Obvious Child) as Mara’s over eager boyfriend and Chandler as Carol’s overbearing ex both fail to complete the larger picture. Despite not being the romantic center of the story, their role in the façade that these women have to put on is crucial, and it seems Haynes and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy hastily cast them aside, resulting in a structural void that would have raised Carol to greater heights. Even so, Haynes has found a meaningful voice in these stories of yesteryear that still hold great meaning today. By tapping into those characters whose troubles are by no means outdated, he reminds us to not forget the history that informs the future. We’ve grown, but we haven’t conquered just yet, and Carol is just another reminder of the strength that it takes to do so. GRADE: B+ CAROL is playing in theaters near you now!

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DIR. LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND ON COURAGE IN PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT

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BY COOPER COPELAND TO SAY THAT SHE SAVED MODERN ART would not be hyperbolic. When Peggy Guggenheim, daughter to tycoon Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic, left the confines of tradition behind to pursue collecting art and seducing some of the most prolific artists of the day, like Max Ernst, Paul Bowles, and Marcel Duchamp, she was unknowingly starting an empire, a safe haven for the underdogs of the creative world. Director Lisa Immodrino Vreeland, after exploring a heroine of fashion in Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011), now turns to the rich, controversial, and often melancholic life of a woman who gave chance to those who shaped life, who breathed color into a world drowned by the darkness of war and sorrow. In Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, Vreeland shines a light on the person behind the collection, going beyond the eccentricities and into the spirit at the core. CAMPUS CIRCLE: The Guggenheim name is one of the most recognizable in the art world, and Peggy’s legacy is one at least marginally known by many. Going into Art Addict, what was the one thing you wanted to explore more and clue people into about Peggy Guggenheim? LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND: I think the one thing that was really lacking in her legacy was the fact that her role in the art history world was underplayed, simply because she had done such a good job talking about her exploits—her personal exploits—that they really overshadow her accomplishments in the art history world, which were huge. I think that’s what we really wanted to focus on. We really tried to direct that in the film. There was so much to address, frankly, from her childhood troubles to the continuous death that surrounded her, and how she had this ability to really overcome it. When she found the arts she found solace. I really do feel that the conversation is about her repercussion in the art world and what she left us with. CC: Peggy’s legacy is so deeply embedded in grand historical events, such as WWII where she, in a sense, was a soldier in her own way, smuggling art and artists out of the warzones of Europe. Was it difficult to keep focus on her story within that greater context? LIV: Yes, definitely. When you have such a vast amount of material, you all of the sudden have this encyclopedic rendition of who she is. If you’re trying to make a film, you don’t want to put people to asleep. What gives us insight into her personality? First of all, the construction of the film is done in a very traditional way. It’s straightforward and biographical. We were thinking of starting at the end of her life and going back, but his ended up working much better. It was an issue of trying to delineate certain aspects of her childhood that really formed her and what would be useful for the viewer to understand what she was like. Then the historical aspects—her version of what happened in WWII is so fascinating, because her concern was to help the artists and save the art. Of course, we had to keep very typical WWII footage, so there wasn’t anything really revealing about that, but what was revealing was the footage of the artists. That was my favorite part about it. A lot of people don’t know about degenerate art. Frankly, it only came to the forefront in the past years, probably because The Monuments Men (2014)—correct me if I’m wrong. It was literally a discussion about what do we think is important. CC And then your discovery of the tapes added a new deluge of information on top of the various resources you were already working from. LIV: You know, I wasn’t even certain the tapes were going to work, and the producers really pushed for it. I’m really happy they did. When you start the process of working with the tapes, and you decide you’re committed to the tapes, you start to unravel the story. Substitutions for content start to be made. It was a reediting process in those different moments when you have to switch things around. We had the basis of the story laid out, so it was more about figuring out how the tapes can enhance what we had. She had a tendency to repeat herself a lot. What she said in the tapes—a lot of the answers are almost verbatim to what she said in her autobiography. The difference is we had her biographer, Jackie Wells, asking her all these often-difficult questions. That’s what’s nice, because in the moments when Peggy gave us not great answers—like ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ and ‘isn’t that wonderful?’—none of those answers are very revealing. Thankfully, Jackie had pried such provocative answers in the tapes that it worked much better. CC: Peggy’s overt sexuality and promiscuity, which at the time was incredibly taboo, is now what most people first remember about her. How did you want to incorporate that aspect of the story while enlightening people to what they might not know? LIV: I knew we didn’t have to be vulgar about it when she already was very forward about that part of her life. We had a whole other scene that we took out, which wasn’t offensive, but it was just a bit too much. It really came down to her relationships and love affairs with certain people. When you have her talking about [writer/ composer] Paul Bowles, and we have all this great archival footage to show it, it was just a gift, frankly. There are so many people who know he was a writer, but don’t know what he looks like. Her sexual exploits are so much of who she is. I would think, if a therapist really examined this whole thing, she was always in a way trying to replace her father, which I think is normal when you use a parent at a young age. He had already paved the way for her to sleep with multiple partners, because he was doing that. So, unfortunately, the example he set for her was sex. But, really, these exploits were about her being alive. This was very courageous of her to not only have these affairs, but to try to find herself, but to also write about it. For me, it’s not shocking to talk about her love affairs. I thought it took great courage to be a woman who came from this traditional family, and wrote down—even though she

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used a pseudonym—about all these different affairs. At the same time she didn’t hide away from it. There’s a funny story about the Guggenheims when the book was published in 1946 in New York, that the Guggenheims were running around to all the bookshops in New York trying to buy all the copies. I think it’s so funny that they were so concerned. She had this great openness to her. That’s not how women lived back then and there—it was a very modern approach. I find that part of her appeal. She’s not a typical feminist, nor would she ever call herself a feminist, but it’s about these figures setting examples for us today. Standing up, doing things on her own terms, going after what she wanted to, not thinking like she was a woman doing these things. Instead she was driven by an inner dream, desire, and passion. Listen, there’s nothing more beautiful than that in the end. Of course, she did have financial means. The money—it’s not secondary because it gave her comfort—but it’s not a story about money, it’s a story about courage. It’s a story about a woman who steps out in front of her life, grabs it and lives it. CC: It’s not too farfetched to say that Peggy single-handedly saved some of the greatest works of art of the 20th century. And she was able to do so based off her personal relationships, both sexual and otherwise. Would you consider her a hero? LIV: I do, I do. But her problem was often her personality. She didn’t have this giving, worldly personality. That was the hardest people for a lot of people to digest. If you can look beyond that, and say that you don’t have to have a bubbly personality, and frankly with all the death that surrounded her and the unhappiness as a child— how do you force someone to be happy go lucky? The fact that she did what she did despite all of those issues is remarkable. That really, ultimately, is the story. She had this modern outlook on the world before there was a concept of what that outlook was. Although there were other women that were collecting, there was not a woman like that in that scheme of the Cone sisters, or the Whitney, or Isabella Stewart Gardner, or Gertrude Stein—they didn’t have as broad of an impact as Peggy. She had this impact in different countries around the globe. From England to Paris to New York to Venice—it’s huge. But then there’s also the fact she did it on her own, on her own terms. She was surrounded by these advisers, they guided her, but it was her gut instinct that drove her to certain artists and to invest her money in certain places. She’s believing in these underdogs before anyone else was. CC: It’s always a tricky game speculating what someone would be like without certain experiences, but do you think Peggy would have been driven to such success without the numerous tragedies of her life? LIV: I think somebody has to have something pretty extraordinary inside in order for any success to happen. I love the idea of reinvention, and that’s why I’m attracted to characters like Diana Vreeland and Peggy Guggenheim. But I think there’s something deep inside, some deep-seated passion or drive that just hasn’t surfaced yet. I think you have to have a certain type of personality to live this kind of life and to have this inner drive. I think that the tragedies helped her come to this, but, in a way, I wish she didn’t have them, because maybe she would have been a happier person. Maybe she would still would have been the same. She never was really shown true love by her parents. If you’re not shown the love how do you give the love? She was not a good mother. She identified with these artists who were the rebels, the underdogs, the unknowns. They ended up becoming the biggest names in the world in modern art. The art became a sanctuary for her. It also became a mission. CC: Part of Peggy’s legacy is creating some of the most unique gallery spaces the modern art world has ever seen, and they were a hit. Why do you think we don’t see more of that influence today instead of the norm of the sterile white box? Do you think it was simply a matter of time and place? LIV: I think Guggenheim Jeune in London was very traditional. The shows were very innovative but the space itself was traditional. It was really Art of the Century that was totally different and an example today of what an innovative space is, because today it really is just all about showing art in that white cube. What I liked is that she broke down the sense of formality of looking at art. At that time, the MOMA was open, and there was a defined line of there is the painting, and there is the viewer, and its about keeping distance between the two. She broke that down completely at her gallery. Architect Frederic Kiesler was playing an integral role in the avant garde scene of New York, and his design for [Art of the Century] was totally whacky, but it made the experience of viewing art exactly that—an experience. They had those sawed off bats with the paintings on them, took the paintings out of their frames. Just that sense of taking a painting out of its frame is bringing an informal approach to the viewer. What was nice about the Venice gallery is that it was really her home… It was all very reflective of her. She was presenting the space as ‘this is how I live with my paintings.’ It’s nice to take the preciousness out of art. Today it’s become this manufactured landscape, an aspect that never existed before. Before it was about the art. It was only about the art. It’s taken a vicious turn. CC: Finally, what was the one thing that most surprised you about Peggy in the making of Art Addict? LIV: I didn’t realize going in how profoundly sad she was. After looking at all this archival footage of her, you realize how uncomfortable she was in her own skin, and how difficult it was for her—she functioned 100%, but it was a real issue for her. I just wish she was more giving of herself. When you read her autobiography you do not quite get all of this, that she’s not that generous of a person. She was obviously generous in different ways, but I wish she could’ve been more present for her family and loved ones. But she put it all in her art and that was what truly mattered to her. PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT in select theaters now.

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Q&A: LAWRENCE KASDAN ON RETURNING TO A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY BY JOSH ROTTENBERG LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

LAWRENCE KASDAN STRADDLES FOUR DECADES of “Star Wars” history, having worked on the screenplays for “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” and now “The Force Awakens” and the planned Han Solo spinoff film, which he’s co-writing with his son, Jon. We sat down with the acclaimed writer-director — whose other credits include “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Big Chill” and “The Accidental Tourist” — in his Beverly Hills home to talk about “Star Wars” past and future and how he became the Obi-Wan of the franchise. Q: When you look back at the run-up to the releases of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” how does the anticipation and hoopla surrounding “The Force Awakens” feel by comparison? A: There’s no comparison. The way the world is connected now, the fact that everything is instantly available to everybody, that you release a trailer and five minutes later it’s all around the world — there was nothing like that back then. Back in the ‘80s, it was like, “Have you seen the trailer?” “No, I have to go to a movie that’s playing it.” I mean, “Empire” and Jedi” were big movies. But it was just a different world. Q: At this point, it’s hard to imagine how much higher the expectations could get. There are already predictions this could

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be the biggest hit of all time. A: They’re very high expectations. The business expectations are sort of irrelevant to me. That’s going to do what it’s going to do. People are going to come — does it matter where it lands in the all-time list? I think no, not at all. What does matter is, do we feel good about it and do we think we fulfilled those things we set out to do? I’ve seen it six or seven times, and I feel very good about that. When this movie starts, you just can’t believe how dynamic and fun it is. I don’t know anybody who can resist who’s slightly open to it. (Director) J.J. (Abrams) just knocked it out of the park. Q: When you were brought on board “The Force Awakens,” you represented a connection back to the roots of “Star Wars.” Did you ever imagine you’d return to the franchise? A: When “Jedi” was over, I was like, “That’s the end of ‘Star Wars’ for me.” I had gone away and done a lot of other things. It’s always with you when something is that big, but I had put it out of my mind. In October of 2012, I got a call from (Lucasfilm President) Kathy (Kennedy) and she said, “We’re going to do some more movies. Can you come up and talk to George (Lucas) and I?” I went up and George had sort of roughed-out many movies — not just the new trilogy but other movies, the spinoffs and

things. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything, but I said, “I could do the Han Solo movie” — because he’s my favorite character. Then they hired me to consult on “Episode VII.” And within weeks suddenly Disney owned the thing and everyone was shocked. When we got J.J., I got really excited, because I just thought he was the perfect guy to direct this movie. I didn’t really know him but when I met him he was so funny and smart and irreverent about things and he understood the virtues of what we were trying to get back to. When he agreed to do it, I just flipped out. Q: What was the process of collaborating with him on the script like? A: We did it under so much time pressure but in actuality it was the most fun writing process I’ve ever had. We hashed out the story by walking miles and miles together — Santa Monica, New York City, Paris, London — with him recording on his iPhone. We produced the first draft in six weeks. We worked right through Christmas. It was so energized. Q: Was the plan always to bring back Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia and mix in a new generation of characters? A: Yeah, the basic thing was: We’re treating it as 30 years

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“Back in the ‘80s, it was like, “Have you seen the trailer?” “No, I have to go to a movie that’s playing it.” I mean, “Empire” and Jedi” were big movies. But it was just a different world.” since we last saw them. And that’s fun because we’ve all lived 30 years in that time and we’ve all changed. We’re not pretending it’s any different than it is — 30 years have passed, whatever that means in that galaxy, and we have Han and Leia and Luke and Chewie and C-3PO, so that’s one element that’s so solid and has so much nostalgia and resonance for people. Then you have this whole brand-new cast — wonderful young people, some very young — who have never been in the movie. There has never been anyone like Adam Driver in a “Star Wars” movie. Daisy (Ridley), John (Boyega), Oscar (Isaac), Domhnall (Gleeson) — it’s unbelievable fresh blood. You know all these elements are going to come together in this story and you know the virtues that you’re trying to reawaken. That tells you a lot and it starts to shape up to a movie. Then obviously there’s something about Darth Vader that is so powerful and the movie embraces that and that’s another element you’re bringing in. The movies have always been about generations and families and passing on knowledge and what can be transferred and what is inherent in the universe. The Force has always been around from George’s first idea of it, and this philosophical thing mixed in with the excitement of the action — that’s a very powerful soup. Q: Did you go back at any point and watch the original trilogy to get it fresh in your mind? A: It’s pretty much in my head — I guess it’s part of my DNA at this point. But I don’t think it’s that relevant because we’re doing a new thing. And it’s so different. I don’t know if people recognize it or not, but the saga is this big tapestry that’s cut into sections that are defined by the directors. George made one very George-y movie, and if you saw “American Graffiti,” you’re not surprised to see the ebullience that’s in “A New Hope.” Then for “Empire,” he said, “I want this next chapter to have Irvin Kershner’s quality to it.” And it’s dark and serious and scary and treats the characters differently. Richard Marquand was a lovely man, and “Jedi” has a kind of easygoing “this is going to be the happy ending” quality that he brought. Just jump over the prequels for a second, where George was doing what George was doing and fulfilling his own desires. Now with J.J., you get a whole new generation with a kind of

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dynamic mastery of camera and effects put together by someone that has a strong personality himself. He’s a really decent guy, and he makes movies the way I try to make movies, which is that it’s a privilege to make a movie and no one should be miserable. You’re spitting in the face of luck if you’re not having a great time. And that’s infused in the movie. So what you’re going to get is very much the J.J. Abrams movie. These movies will all be so different. (“Episode VIII” director) Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in “Star Wars.” You couldn’t have three more different people than J.J., Rian and (“Episode IX” director) Colin (Trevorrow). Those movies will have the “Star Wars” saga as their basis, but everything else will be different. Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to make the Han Solo film and I can’t guess what that will be like — and I’m writing it! Q: So has Han Solo always been your favorite “Star Wars” character to write dialogue for? A: Always. It started with the first movie, and it’s really one moment when they break into the cellblock and he has this conversation with the Stormtroopers over the comlink. They question him and he runs out of answers and he shoots the comlink and says, “It was a boring conversation anyway.” That’s my favorite moment probably in all of “Star Wars.” And that’s Han. Q: Was it easy to slip back into his head after all these years? A: I think so. You know, he’s younger in this (spinoff) movie and that’s fun because you have to imagine him 10 years earlier in his early 20s. What was he like before he hardened up? Before he had some setbacks? Before he put on this cynical coat? What got him there? Q: The prequels occupy a complicated place in the “Star Wars” canon. Obviously, they were Lucas’ vision and there’s a whole generation for whom they were the entry point to the “Star Wars” universe, but a lot of older fans felt like they were a huge letdown. How do you think about them in terms of their place in the overall story? A: The story (in the prequels) does not interfere. We only have to deal with the first trilogy so we didn’t have to deal with it much. They obviously have a certain feel, and that was not the

feel we wanted this one to have. This is much more related to “A New Hope” and “Empire.” (Pauses) The thing I always loved about “Star Wars” — and George had this when he made “A New Hope” and J.J. can hook into this very strongly — is that it’s goofy, you know? There are big issues and there’s some philosophy, but it’s basically goofy. And I think “The Force Awakens” is goofy — in the best way. Wherever there’s a question: Could that happen? Well, why not? And with the canon — everyone refers to the canon, but it has zero meaning to me. I don’t know what the canon is. I cannot get that straight. Q: You don’t sit down with stacks of “Star Wars” novels and study how it all fits together? A: (Laughs) No, I don’t. I’ve written four “Star Wars” movies now, and I don’t know what the canon is. Q: You say that, but there are obviously hardcore fans for whom everything connected with “Star Wars” is important. For them to even hear you refer to “Star Wars” as “goofy” — some people might be like, “This is serious stuff!” A: That’s a high compliment from me, that it’s goofy. Because that’s what I loved about “A New Hope.” It was so goofy! I showed it recently to my 5-year-old grandson because we were trying to figure out if he’s ready for “The Force Awakens.” Is it too scary, too big, too noisy? He sat in my arms and watched “A New Hope” right through and he was tickled by it. There were things he didn’t understand, but what everybody understands when they watch “A New Hope” is the fun and the energy and the romance of it. When they swing across the chasm, when the ships go that fast — a 5-year-old doesn’t need any explanation of that. “A New Hope” is brilliant in every way. You’re always in awe of how economical it is, how tightly wound it is. There’s not a wasted shot. The movie just moves so fast and is so funny — and goofy. Whenever there’s a moment that can be just pure fun because George felt like it, it’s in there. And that’s what I hope “The Force Awakens” has. ©2015 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. CAMPUS CIRCLE December 2015

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BEST JAZZ BOXED SETS OF 2015: SINATRA TO MEHLDAU BY HOWARD REICH – CHICAGO TRIBUNE (TNS) WE’RE OBVIOUSLY DEEP INTO THE DIGITAL AGE, but that hasn’t stopped labels from producing expansive and important jazz box sets. Among the best: Frank Sinatra, “A Voice on Air (1935-1955)” (Columbia/ Legacy Recordings; $69.98): This year’s Sinatra centennial has yielded several commemorations, and this four-CD set ranks among the best. Though so much of Sinatra’s enormous discography already has been released in uncounted packages, “A Voice on Air” traces the first two decades of the man’s career via lesserknown radio broadcasts. The treasures include songs Sinatra never documented in the recording studio, as well as duets with Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Doris Day and Johnny Mercer. Essential listening for Sinatra devotees. “Miles Davis at Newport: 1955-1975, The Bootleg Series Vol. 4” (Columbia/Legacy Recordings; $49.98): This four-CD set opens with trumpeter Davis’ debut at the Newport Jazz Festival and traces the next two decades of his live performances there. That includes four hours of music that has not been released before and features Davis in the company of Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Dave Liebman and more. Brad Mehldau, “10 Years Solo Live” (Nonesuch Records; $33.98): Few contemporary jazz pianists command as devoted a following as Mehldau, whose incantatory solo performances

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vary freely among classical, jazz and pop influences. Four CDs of his solo sets have been gathered here, Mehldau reimagining everything from a Brahms Intermezzo to Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One” to Kurt Cobain’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” “The Complete Bee Hive Sessions” (Mosaic Records; mosaicrecords.com; $169): Jazz lovers owe a huge debt to Chicagoans Jim and Susan Neumann, who in 1977 started Bee Hive Jazz Records and proceeded to capture the work of Nick Brignola, Pepper Adams, Curtis Fuller, Dizzy Reece, Clifford Jordan, Roland Hanna and, most famously, singer Johnny Hartman. Now that music has been collected in 12 CDs, filling holes in many collections. “The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions” (Mosaic Records; mosaicrecords.com; $149): The 1940s represented an explosive period in jazz, marking the rise of bebop and the emergence of a new generation of technically brilliant, artistically fearless stars. Dial Records preserved work of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Melba Liston, Erroll Garner and more, the music re-mastered here on nine CDs. William Parker, “For Those Who Are, Still” (AUM Fidelity; $30): Two years ago, bassist-composer Parker earned wide critical acclaim for the eight-CD box set “Wood Flute Songs: Anthology/Live 2006-2012,” which illuminated free-ranging, abstract music created in the heat of the moment. “For Those Who Are,

Still,” a three-CD set, takes a different tack, focusing on Parker’s long-form works, from a sweeping, symphonic opus to a vocalinstrument suite of songs. Johnny Mathis, “The Singles” (Columbia/Legacy Recordings; $59.98): Having turned 80 this year, singer Mathis surely deserves this four-CD tribute, spanning 1956 to 1981. Of course, that includes such classics as “When Sunny Gets Blue,” “It’s Not For Me to Say,” “Chances Are,” “Wonderful! Wonderful!” and “The Twelfth of Never.” But the set reaches beyond the familiar, with singles such as “All the Sad Young Men,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Wild is the Wind.” Weather Report, “The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981” (Legacy Recordings; $59.98): For those who value jazz-rock fusion, this four-CD set will provide a taste of how Weather Report sounded in concert at a high point in its evolution. The group at the time featured Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Peter Erskine and Robert Thomas Jr. Erroll Garner, “The Complete Concert by the Sea” (Legacy Recordings; $15.98): Pianist Garner achieved an unexpected hit with his “Concert by the Sea” LP, recorded live in 1955 and quickly selling nearly a quarter million copies. But that didn’t include everything Garner and his trio performed in concert in Carmel, Calif. The new set adds 11 tracks previously unavailable, a post-concert interview and the recording as originally released.

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BEST ALBUMS OF 2015: KENDRICK LAMAR, COURTNEY BARNETT AND MORE LET’S FACE IT, because nobody can listen to the thousands of albums released each year, a yearend “best of ” list is really a list of “favorites,” the recordings that made the most impact on one particular listener. Out of the hundreds of albums I listened to in 2015, here are the ones that had the most staying power: Kendrick Lamar, “To Pimp a Butterfly” (Top Dawg/Aftermath/ Interscope): In 2012, Lamar examined where he came from on “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” With “To Pimp a Butterfly,” he assesses where he’s going, and the world outside Compton, Calif. In a year of rising social consciousness in music and culture, Lamar set the bar with an album that chronicles the black music diaspora from Africa. It looks beyond the geographic and psychic shackles of his hometown to underline that, for a person of color, the struggle for civil rights is in many ways stuck in a ditch on a steep road, and rolling backward. Courtney Barnett, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit” (Mom & Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!): The Australian singer-songwriter plays a mean guitar and turns her wordy songs into vivid little movies about everyday interactions that are humorous, poignant, revelatory. She makes guitar-bass-drums rock sound spontaneous and casual, yet absolutely vital. Protomartyr, “The Agent Intellect” (Hardly Art): In the hard, gray terrain blasted out by this no-nonsense Detroit band, singer Joe Casey finds unexpected reservoirs of empathy, tenderness, courage. The album peaks with two of the year’s most moving songs, “Why Does it Shake?” and “Ellen,” which pull hope from despair. Shamir, “Ratchet” (XL): As Los Angeles was to Frank Ocean on “Channel Orange” or Chicago to Green Velvet, Las Vegas is a seductive yet harsh muse for Shamir Bailey on his debut album. Putting a punky, minimalist spin on house music, Shamir sings about complicated relationships — with his city, his lovers, with his fluid sense of gender. The first half of the album raves as if to blot out the anxiety, and the second half deals with it head-on in devastating ballads. Vince Staples, “Summertime ‘06” (Artium Recordings/Def Jam): The 22-year-old MC devotes his debut album to the summer he turned 13 in the unforgiving streets of Long Beach, Calif., a world in which boyhood dreams of busting out from the ghetto clash with the daily business of survival. Staples’ rhymes avoid easy answers and the music — overseen by No I.D. — mirrors that unresolved tension. Titus Andronicus, “The Most Lamentable Tragedy” (Merge): A five-act, triple-CD rock

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opera centered on singer Patrick Stickles’ struggles with manic depression may not sound particularly inviting. But Stickles and his band turn it into a cathartic ride as they shift from low-fi ballads to blast-furnace anthems, with touches of Celtic folk and gospel. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment, “Surf ” (self-released): Like Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” the first album by Chance the Rapper’s trusted sidekick, trumpeter Nico Segal, is about community. The tracks contain a multitude of collaborators augmenting the Social Experiment, the core group shaped by Chance for his projects. Grimes, “Art Angels” (4AD): Claire Boucher flirts with mainstream pop, but on her own uncompromising terms. She writes, produces, sings and plays virtually all the instruments on a collection that bears a punky, homemade stamp even as it hits one melodic sweet spot after another. Torres, “Sprinter” (Partisan): Georgia-born singer Mackenzie Scott takes on big topics — her adoption, her Bible Belt upbringing, death and mortality — in songs that erupt as much as unfold. The narratives don’t flinch from the truth, and neither does the intensely focused guitarbased music. The Chills, “Silver Bullets” (Fire): Martin Phillipps was one of the prime architects of New Zealand’s flourishing indie-rock scene in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and this album marks his return to action after nearly two decades of health and drug problems. He sounds like a man renewed on what is essentially a protest album that addresses contemporary social and ecological issues with the chiming, guitar-pop zeal of old.

THE NEXT 10: Van Hunt, “The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.” (Godless Hotspot); Eleventh Dream Day, “Works for Tomorrow” (Thrill Jockey); Low Cut Connie, “Hi Honey” (Contender); Blackalicious, “Imani, Vol. 1” (OGM Recordings/Mahogany Sun/Quannum); Tame Impala, “Currents” (Interscope); Miguel, “Wildheart” (ByStorm/RCA); Sleater-Kinney, “No Cities to Love” (Sub Pop); Joanna Newsom, “Divers” (Drag City); Seinabo Sey, “Pretend” (Virgin); Wire, “Wire” (Chairs Missing).

FIVE FINGERTIPS: NEW INDIE POP SONGWRITER BRINGS KNOWLEDGE AND PASSION TO HIS BY COOPER COPELAND DEBUT ALBUM LURKING in one of the most bustling independent music scenes, way over there in Athens, GA, is a guy who loves music—no, not just love. He adores, breathes, and pulses with it. His knowledge of the music’s language and history has gone on to fully inform his art as a songwriter. He goes by the name Five Fingertips, and although you may never have heard of him just yet, there could very well be a change in the tide as his first eponymous album has recently come to light. Think precisely crafted lyrics mixed with deeply thought and felt melodies, all overlaid on a homegrown vibe, and you have only but a slice of Five Fingertips. The rest is for you to find out. Here’s what he had to say about his process, his history, and his future. Campus Circle: Upon churning out your debut album, what are the elements you are driving towards achieving before releasing it? When is it perfect? Is it ever perfect? Five Fingertips: My main goal during the final stages was to give the record a feeling of completion and cohesion for all of the tracks. I didn’t want it to sound as if one song was earmarked and given all of the attention, while the others were neglected and thrown together at the last minute. In my listening habits, I’ve always gravitated towards artists who record a full album’s worth of material. I’ve never been someone who likes a band or musician for one song and one song only. I listen to albums, not singles. I have only a handful of “greatest hits” compilations in my music library, and only in cases where the albums of a given artist are out of print. If you listened only to greatest hits collections, you would never know about brilliant songs like “Visions of Johanna” or “Pagan Baby.” You would know the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but not the Band of Gypsys, which was much more interesting, to me anyway. Having said all that, somehow a greatest hits compilation from decades ago ended up in my playroom as a child. It had songs from Black Sabbath, Gladys Knight, Barry Manilow, Barry White, Alice Cooper, and Dr. John. There was also a 45 rpm single of a disco version of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in my playroom. I didn’t buy those things. I was way too young to possess expendable income. But that eclectic mix of music scarred me for life. As for perfection, we all know that it doesn’t exist, save as some hypothetical in our imagination. Sometimes you can make things worse by trying to make things better, when recording music. More often, all you do is make things different, not better or worse. CC: Not only does your sound ring of the classic Americana state of mind, your lyrics also somewhat beg of a simpler time—where social media isn’t driving our day to day lives, where people can’t seem to connect to their fellow humans in a meaningful way anymore. Did you go into Five Fingertips with the mentality that this would be the ongoing theme? How does that idea inform you as an artist? FF: I must confess that the term “Americana” is completely foreign to me. I don’t know what it means. So, if there are elements of that in my sound, it is not a result of conscious effort. As for the theme of technology and “a simpler time” before “social media,” it is important to recall that those simpler times were less than a decade ago. I’m not hearkening back to the preindustrial era, or the Italian Renaissance, or something ancient. The current state of affairs, where everybody basically has a broadcasting station (a smart phone) in the palm of their hand during all waking hours, this is an entirely new phenomenon. It has only come to pass in the last five years, maybe ten years maximum. I didn’t go into this project with the idea that the theme of technology would be recurrent. When writing music and lyrics, I try not to control the process. I let the process go where it will. I monitor it. I steer it in other directions, if I don’t like a particular path it’s taking. I try and removed things that I think aren’t good, or redraft things that I think could be better. Please be aware I too am part of this broader social media

CAMPUS CIRCLE December 2015

trend. I am not exempt. I don’t have a personal Facebook profile, and likely never will. But I use my computers and devices incessantly. I do make a conscious effort, though, to never use my phone or device in the presence of another person, unless I absolutely have to. It’s just a personal choice. It results from my own personality. It results from the fact that a family member of mine is no longer alive, because someone else was incapable of putting their phone away while driving. CC: What’s it like being a musician in Athens, GA, a town rich in contemporary music phenomenon? Does your southern upbringing directly inform how you view your own projects? FF: I am from South Carolina. I grew up in Columbia, and came of age in Charleston. I have lived in Athens, Georgia for seven years. I have also lived abroad. My southern upbringing does not inform or define my projects even to the slightest degree. Contemporary notions of Southern identity are a fantasy, a mirage. They are essentially a product of three industries. First, there is the tourist industry. You should visit Charleston. It’s a beautiful city. (It really is.) Second, there is the Hollywood cultural industry. Do you need a character who is exotic, nottoo-bright, a little backwards, and drawls, but one who is also wise somehow, and full of quaint proverbs, wholesome truisms about life? Well, we can dust off a hackneyed stereotype of a Southerner for you. Third, there is the advertising complex of Madison Avenue. The advertising world simply presents the same Southern stereotype in a more digestible 30-second commercial spot, whereas Hollywood specializes in 2-hour feature films about it. There may have been such a thing as a Southern identity some 50 years ago. It no longer exists. With the growth of television, national retail chains, the internet, and general globalization, there has been a profound homogenization of American culture. Drive down the road in one direction in the South and you will find all the standardized food, hotel, and retail chains that you find in the West, Midwest, or North. Drive a few more miles and it all starts over again. It’s a phenomenon I call: “Anywhere, U.S.A.” There are differences of accent and local idioms of speech. True. That is about it. Flannery O’Connor would not recognize this newer iteration of the South. CC: Where do you start in the music writing process? With lyrics, with a melody? How does that starting point unfold into a full-bodied record? What’s the most challenging aspect of the process? FF: I start with a chord progression or riff written on an acoustic or electric guitar. To me, the music itself needs to stand on its own, to have something intrinsically interesting about it, without vocals. From there, I graft onto the progression a vocal melody and lyrics. The most challenging aspect of the process is the lyrics. If I were a more traditional lyric writer, or cared less about the lyrical content, it would be easier. I’m not, and I don’t. So it’s difficult. CC: Do you find it difficult to find a unique voice in an industry that is constantly sampling, borrowing, and often stealing from various sources? When looking at other singer/ songwriters in your genre, how do you see yourself situated in the mix? FF: I’m too close to what I do to situate myself objectively among other singer-songwriters. I don’t strive to be unique with my music. Chasing originality for the sake of originality is a fool’s game. I simply try to create something that it is true to myself, that has some element of what I choose to call integrity. To answer more specifically your question about originality, I will quote an interview with Bruce Lee from the 1970s. Bruce Lee said: “…To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, to express myself honestly, now, that, my friend, is very hard to do.” That quotation and its broader context has always meant a lot to me. If you prefer the longer quotation, here it is, and we can substitute “music” for the term “martial art.” Bruce Lee said: “To

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me, martial art ultimately means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. I mean, it is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling, and then feel, like, pretty cool, and all that. Or I can make all kinds of phony things, you see what I mean, blinded by it. Or I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, to express myself honestly, now, that, my friend, is very hard to do. And you have to train, you have to keep your reflexes. So that when you want it, it’s there.” I do realize that I just “sampled” Bruce Lee, to answer a question about originality. But he stated things so aptly. I could do no better. I would just add that we can never actually know whether we have actually “expressed ourselves honestly.” We can only try. CC: Your vocals bring to mind sounds of Cobain and Springsteen influence, especially in “Nod” and “Blue Cliff Record”—how do you find inspiration in creating your own sound? FF: I have great respect for Bruce Springsteen. But, very frankly, I have never listened to his music to any degree. It just doesn’t speak to me personally, although I recognize him for the icon that he is. I have listened to Nirvana. Any male who has strummed a guitar in the last 20 years is aware of their body of work, either directly, or through their imitators. I’ve never sought to emulate them. If anything, I’ve tried not sound like them. My singing voice is a much more limited instrument compared to his. But I don’t hear any more or less influence from Nirvana in my music than I do from, say, the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly and the Family Stone. As I type out this interview, I am listening to the complete organ works of J.S. Bach by Werner Jacob. It’s nearly 19 hours long! (Like my interview responses.) Quite an “album.” I mostly listen to “conservatory” music on a daily basis. I say “conservatory” because if you say “classical,” you are really talking about a specific historical period, before “Romanticism” and after “Baroque,” to which Bach’s music belonged. CC: Now with Five Fingertips out, how do you look forward in your songwriting process? How do you hope to grow? What do you most seek to achieve in your music? What do you want your listeners to take away from your music? FF: As with the writing of this album, for the next album, I will try not to control the direction in which the next project wishes to go. It could be acoustic. It could be more thoroughly electric. It could be oriented more towards keyboards and synthesizers. I already have the songs. It’s just a matter of recording them. I don’t really seek to achieve anything in particular in my music. Like any form of art or career path, there are people involved who are there for a variety of motivations. In the music industry, there are people who are motivated more by the fame aspect, than the music itself. There are others who simply like music, or like making music. It is as natural to them as breathing, eating, and sleeping. I certainly qualify as one of those types. I can offer a quotation from the sculptor Jean Arp to explain: “What can I do? It grows out of me like fingernails. I have to cut it off and then it grows again.” I play music almost because I have to. It is a natural outlet for a creative energy that would sometimes be easier not to possess. Just like someone who does not like music would probably be at a loss as to say why they don’t, apart from: “It just doesn’t appeal to me.” I say: “It appeals to me, and I don’t know why.” As far as what listeners take away from my music, that is completely out of my hands. They may not like my sound. But, hopefully, they will at minimum recognize the sincerity from which the source derives. Five Fingertips is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and other retail outlets near you!

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