Arts
6 — Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
TV REVIEW
‘Slenderman’ chills bones JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer
PBS
‘Six Wives’ premiere misses mark Period piece fails to cohesively blend the factual with the progressive SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Book Review Editor
“Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” “Secrets of the Six Wives,” a new HBO historical documentary series, begins with this schoolyard rhyme that helps remember the fates of the six wives of Henry VIII. The premiere episode, “Divorced,” gives an account of the first action Henry VIII takes once crowned: marrying his late brother’s Spanish widow, Catherine of Aragon, born to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. The show alternates between documentary narration by historian Dr. Lucy Worsley and dramatic reenactments of scenes from the Tudor Court, often based on eyewitness accounts. While Worsley herself is a captivating storyteller, the style and format of the show often pull focus from the actual content. “This is the ultimate true story of love, loss and betrayal,” Worsley begins, her tale chronicling the anything but meetcute of Catherine and Henry VIII. She details their relationship’s arc from start to finish, talking about the seven years it took to nail down a marriage contract and incorporating
the successive relationships interpretations of interactions between the king, the “viva- and events, especially surcious” Mary Boleyn and then, rounding Catherine of Aragon’s more famously, her sister Anne. false, or phantom, pregnancy, She frames Catherine’s appeal the truth of which is still up for to the Pope during Henry’s bat- debate. She also offers insight tle for the annulment as an act into aspects of 16th century of brave defiance. England that tie into the curThe historical reenactment is rent day, talking in front of slowly paced, with lots of smol- palaces and often using paintdering glances from the king ings of the six wives as props and concerned facial expres- in her storytelling. However, sions from all the the switching ladies-in-waiting between dramatsurrounding the “Secrets of the ic reenactments various queens. — which are Six Wives” Worsley herself is mostly uncomdressed as a maid fortable anyway Season Premiere — and documenor lady-in-waiting, in the background tary narration January 22nd of several of the is jarring and dramatic reenactannoying. I’d PBS ments before turnrather watch an ing to address the actual documenaudience directly tary or a fictionafter a scene. alized T.V. show Much of the dialogue is cringe- based on historical events. worthy, especially the parts While the subject matter is surrounding pregnancy. interesting — and the title of the “Secrets of the Six Wives” series is perfect — the format breaks the norm of how this reminds me of the documenstory is usually told: Instead of tary clips that history teachers focusing on the whims and tan- used in middle school. The six trums of Henry VIII, the show wives deserve to have their stoattempts to tell the story from ries told with a fresh voice and a the perspectives of the women sharp eye, to escape the largely unlucky enough to be pulled skewed perceptions of them into his orbit. Worsley’s nar- that have been handed down ration is succinct and insight- and embellished through the ful; she offers well-thought-out centuries. But this isn’t it.
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RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Greek sandwich 5 Happy gatherings 10 Baby cow 14 Control for an equestrian 15 In full view 16 Buckeye State 17 Horse feed 18 TV’s “The Practice,” e.g. 20 “Bummer!” 22 Ford fiasco 23 Provides staff for 24 “That makes sense” 26 Champagne stopper or popper 27 Genius Bar pro 29 JFK’s successor 32 High-card-wins game 33 Enjoy 35 Submitted tax returns with a click 38 Door holder’s witticism 41 Part of Congress 42 Somali-born supermodel 43 Wide shoe size 44 Frat. counterpart 45 Aid in a felony 47 Traps in an attic? 49 Deborah of “The King and I” 51 Fictional Hawaiian police nickname 52 Rage 55 Procter & Gamble laundry detergent 60 Australia’s “Sunshine State” ... or where you might find the ends of 18-, 20-, 38- and 55-Across? 62 “Go back” computer command 63 Sch. near the U.S.-Mexico border 64 Tweak, say 65 Raise a big stink? 66 Pops a question 67 Outlaw chasers 68 Hours next to flight nos.
DOWN 1 Branch out 2 “Okey-dokey” 3 Second actress to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony 4 GM system with an AtYourService app 5 Helps with the laundry 6 Happily __ after 7 Maker of the Genesis game system 8 Like many Shakespeare plays 9 MLB Cardinal’s cap letters 10 Lear’s youngest daughter 11 “I get it” cries 12 Green citrus fruit 13 Baby horse 19 Lousy grade 21 Sock that covers the joint it’s named for 25 Biblical queendom 26 Pet store enclosures 27 Ref’s ring decision 28 Spine-tingling
30 Margarine that shares its name with Texas’ state flower 31 Ballet leaps 32 “Now, where __ I?” 34 “Sadly ... ” 36 Red Sox ballpark 37 Hair coloring 39 Cocktail makers 40 Ambulance fig. 46 S.O.S shelfmate 48 Make certain of 50 Fish-eating eagle
51 Rapper with a title 52 Poolside shade 53 Pecans and cashews 54 Nerdy type 56 37-Down containers 57 Singles 58 Binged (on), as snacks 59 Pans for potstickers 61 Maple extract
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HAPPY
By C.C. Burnikel ©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/31/17
TUESDAY!
In the summer of 2014, sixthgraders Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their friend, Payton Leutner, into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. When they were arrested, they claimed they committed the act in an attempt to become proxies, or servants, of the Slenderman, a fictional demonic entity with its roots in Internet forums and fan fiction. The story dominated the news for weeks, and for many the incident raised questions of the impact that the Internet can have on children. It is from this story that the new documentary from Irene Taylor Brodsky (“The Final Inch”), “Beware the Slenderman,” emerges, using its terrifying base story to explore both the events of the “Slender Man Stabbing” and the effect of loneliness on young people. From its opening scenes, the strengths of “Beware the Slenderman” become apparent. Its story is as consistently engrossing as any true-crime tale, and in many ways, it recalls “Making a Murderer” and fellow HBO documentary “The Jinx.” Its story is inherently interesting and horrifying, and Brodsky does well in threading the initial police interviews with the girls through
the film to produce a constantly states that the Internet “can serve eerie atmosphere. The girls’ as a peer or peer group” to those description of the events leading with few friends of their own, up to the stabbing, as well as the and that the Slenderman itself stabbing itself, provide some of gains his followers through their the most chilling material of the own loneliness. It is the picture feature. of this isolation that “Beware the It also becomes immediately Slenderman” paints that begins clear what the pitfalls of the to tie the thing together, as it project are. draws parallels Both of the from the allure of “Slenderman” aforementioned the Internet, and documentaries Slender Man in True-Crime were series. They particular, to the Documentary had an episodic solitude of Weier format that assisted and Geyser’s HBO in expositing every personal lives. aspect of their It never seeks to stories. “Beware the Slenderman” make excuses for their actions, has to get the same amount of but it does seek to explain them, information across, but it only and in this, it succeeds. has a two-hour runtime to do so. In the same way, Brodsky seeks It is trying to tell so many stories the origins of the Slenderman and at once that something always explores the role of the Internet inevitably gets lost, causing a in creating web-based horror disjoint, especially in the first stories, or “creepypasta,” like act. Here, much of the crime is the story of the creature. She explained, but the lack of info on draws a line from “Slender” to the the titular monster which would Internet culture of memes to the take the brunt of the blame in the classic folk lore of the Pied Piper, media, leaves this part feeling and makes it clear that while the unfinished. Without motivation, it Internet provided a breeding is hard to completely understand ground for these ideas to multiply the story Brodsky is trying to tell. at a faster rate, the concept has After the loads of exposition been around for centuries. In the that bog down the first act, the end, in the film’s most chilling second portion dives into both the segment, it is revealed that Weier lore of the Slenderman and the and Geyser have themselves themes of the documentary. One of become a part of the Slenderman the variety of experts interviewed legend.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
The voices of a generation: ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone’ SHIMA SADAGHIYANI Daily Arts Writer
Iranian-American director Ana’ Lily Amirpour once said she conceived the idea for her debut film, the vampire thriller “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” while skateboarding down West Coast streets one night. As her black chador whipped behind her like the wings of a bat, Amirpour had a vision of heroine: A young Iranian girl who skateboarded around the streets of the fictional Bad Town, her chador rippling behind her like a cape. Through combining traditional and modern elements of Iranian culture, as well as including both Western and Eastern influences, Amirpour creates a masterpiece that transcends all previously drawn boundaries. “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” is a melting pot of influences, seen in the pairing of chador and fangs, seen in the Iranian tattoos on a crass pimp and, most importantly, seen in the soundtrack itself. Contrasting the stark, noir aspect of the entirely black and white movie, the soundtrack of “A Girl” is an eclectic mash-up of Iranian songs, both old and new. Novel Iranian bands like Radio Tehran and Kiosk stand next to classic singers like Dariush; it’s a playlist that not only beautifully melds past and present, but also shapes the fictional world of “Bad Town.” Much like its lack of color, “A Girl” lacks excessive dialogue, choosing instead to let its characters speak through the music that fills the negative space. The main character, The Girl (played by Sheila Vand), is a pointed collection of contradictions: She is mostly silent, entrapped in shadows, yet the music that accompanies her pays homage to vibrant ‘80s synthpop. At the beginning of the film, The Girl dances alone in her room while Farah’s “Dancing Girls” plays; the song contains both Farsi and English lyrics, yet the techno wave of its background melody, along with the lone disco ball The Girl sways back and forth under, is reminiscent of American bands like a-ha and Blondie. Farah’s lyrics — “she’s just a normal girl / dancing to her favorite song” — create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability at odds with the fan-
tastical vampire nightmare. Even though the scene contains no dialogue, it speaks volumes about The Girl. Its contrasting components divulge a multidimensional character who moves past the flat trope of the stereotypical horror movie monster. Instead, we get a vampire who puts on makeup surrounded by muted fairy lights and saves abused prostitutes, then brutally murders an insolent pimp. The soundtrack is not just a voice for the characters, but a shape for the movie as a whole. The largely instrumental band Ferderale makes several appearances throughout the film. The American-based ensemble is heavily influenced by soundtracks from the ’60s & ’70s era of Italian “Spaghetti Western” genres and, through this, allows “A Girl” to transcend cultural boundaries. Songs like “Sarcophagus” and “Black Sunday” feature dramatic orchestral declarations, bringing to mind the theatrical standoffs of iconic Old Westerns, while the underpinnings of folk melodies speak to conventional Iranian films. A spectral woman’s voice is often intermittently added as a glossy layer over the entire compilation; its echoing European opera sound traces the barren desert setting in fine lines of elegance. Ferderale’s “Sisyphus” narrates a relatively simple, but quintessential, scene within the film: An unnamed character in drag dances with a balloon to music in a courtyard. The fringe on her buttondown shirt and ostentatious silver buckle of her belt is at odds with the hijab on her head. It’s a strange juxtaposition replicated in the song as it weaves together musical elements from a variety of different eras. The band allows the fictional Bad Town to exist within multiple spheres, blurring the lines between distinct movie genres and distinct cultures. It’s a quiet gesture, this remix of convention to include input from other cultures, but a powerful one. With “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” Amirpour constructs a story without limitations; instead, it masterfully traverses the rift between Eastern and Western ideals and finds a way to mend the disconnect. What it means to me as an Iranian woman, more than just as a good horror movie, more than even a movie empowering Iranian
women, is that it celebrates the power of opportunity. It’s doubtful Amirpour would have been able to create a movie of this magnitude if her family had remained in Iran, instead of taking the chance to immigrate to Europe and, later, to California. Even though Iran’s culture is based predominantly around the arts — seen in the timeless impact of poets like Hafiz and Saadi — its current political climate has an iron grip around the advancement of artistic expression; it places tight restrictions over any creative production, not allowing for deviation from the established norm. Many of the artists featured on this soundtrack, though Iranianbased, produce and perform their music outside of Iran; the radical socio-political commentary found in the lyrics of songs from bands like Kiosk or Radio Tehran is explicitly forbidden in Iran. Instead of remaining silent, they chose to immigrate to Europe, Canada and (mainly) the U.S, becoming the voice of a majority of Iran’s younger generation and permitting Iranian culture to continue to progress. In light of President Donald Trump’s recent ban on travel on seven Muslim-majority countries (Iran being one of them), pieces of art like “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” and its soundtrack need attention: The future of Iran lies within the ideas of its youth. When young Iranian citizens emigrate to search for new prospects, they are not fleeing from the historic culture of their homeland. Rather, their innovative ideas push the culture to evolve in order to accommodate new perspectives, redefining what it means to be Iranian. With its multifaceted soundtrack, “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” represents the endlessly creative potential of the Iranian youth. It’s an ingenuity that I saw whenever I strolled the streets in Iran: Young artists with revolutionary ideas on the brink of looking to make a life for themselves, many of them exploring the option of moving to America. And even though the ethnocentrism in the continuing view of America as “the land of opportunity” is a problem in itself, it does not draw away from the fact that, for many bright students, closed borders means closed opportunities as well.