ARTS

Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ is almost a parody of its genre

LAINE BROTHERTON Daily Arts Writer

Given the almost-masterpiece that was “Annihilation” and the stylish excellence of “Ex Machina,” nothing could have prepared me for the disappointment of Alex Garland’s newest psychological horror flick. Not even the insistent warnings from friends about how much it sucked, the underwhelming trailer or the fact that “Men” would be the third film written and directed by Garland that centers on female suffering. Against better judgment, I mustered the willpower to park myself in the empty theater — if not for myself, then for Jessie Buckley (“I’m Thinking of Ending Things”).

Buckley stars as Harper, a widow whose husband committed suicide after she asked for a divorce. She escapes to a charming house in the English countryside to process the tragedy and is greeted by the property’s caretaker Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear, “Our Flag Means Death”). Geoffrey, with his massive chompers and repository of corny jokes, seems relatively harmless as he helps Harper settle in for the duration of her solo trip. Geoffrey asks Harper about her husband, noticing that she hadn’t dropped the “Mrs.” from her name — Harper’s a bit spooked by this, but she later calls her best friend Riley (Gayle Rankin, “The Climb”), who reminds Harper that she is there to heal.

Harper makes her way through the surrounding nature and takes note of a seemingly feral naked man, also played by Kinnear, who she suspects is stalking her. She visits the town’s church, decorated with pagan imagery, and eventually makes her way to the pub. At every location, Harper comes across several men, each with Kinnear’s face.

In a once-in-a-career acting feat, Kinnear succeeds at distilling a particular kind of evil into each role. All of the men Harper encounters belittle her in their own way: there’s the vicar, who questions why she drove her husband to suicide; the pub-goers, who tease her for her anger over the local feral man’s release; and there’s even a young boy with Kinnear’s likeness pasted over his face, who accosts Harper at the church and demands that she plays hide-and-seek with him.

Read more at michigandaily.com

‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ shows how home and change move us all

MADDIE AGNE Daily Arts Writer

This review contains spoilers for “Downton Abbey: A New Era.”

I watched “Downton Abbey” for the first time during the summer of 2020. It was the summer after my freshman year of college and we had all just been sent home from the University of Michigan due to the COVID19 pandemic. My mom and I were sitting in the basement one night, as we did most nights during those six months of isolation, looking for something to watch when we stumbled across “Downton Abbey.” I had certainly heard of the show, and my mom had friends who had watched it, so we figured hey, why not, we’ll give it a try. One episode can’t hurt.

At the end of that first episode my mom and I turned to each other, shocked, awed and utterly giddy. “Downton Abbey” was going to take over our lives. From that night onward we watched two or three episodes every night until we finished all six seasons. We watched the first accompanying film just days after finishing the show. In the first five minutes of the movie there’s an aerial shot of the Abbey itself — Highclere Castle in real life — and my mom and I turned to each other again. Only this time, we were both on the brink of tears.

Something similar happened a few weeks ago in the dark of a movie theater. I went home

to Tennessee to get my wisdom teeth out but, more importantly, to see “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” the second film installment in the “Downton Abbey” universe, with my mom. The film fed us yet another wide shot of the Abbey, and my mom and I shared a now-familiar look. We had been expecting this — the tears in our eyes glinting in the light of the movie screen — and we both laughed.

This image is from the official trailer for “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” distributed by Focus Features.

Read more at michigandaily.com What is an electronic music concert without a mosh pit? Flume and Channel Tres helped me find out

JOSHUA MEDINTZ Daily Arts Writer

Detroit’s Masonic Temple was popping off on Thursday night. Hoards of young, drunk, bejeweled humans flew past me as I glided through the foyer and into the theater aisles. I tried and failed to sneak into the pit, so I squeezed into one of the few remaining empty seats.

Channel Tres was already on stage, alone, jumping around and talk-rapping over his thumping housemusic beats. I was pretty bummed about not being in the pit. I was instead relegated to a cozy theater chair, when all I really wanted to do was mosh and vibe to some bumps, on my feet, surrounded by dancing human beings. And who were my fellow theaterseaters? They were loud, but not singing along — they were just yapping away, chatting with friends as if this was just another club and this was just another guy, showing us some beats he cooked up in his basement.

But Tres is not just another guy. Tres is an artist, pushing the boundaries of both rap and electronic pop by seamlessly merging the two genres with hit songs like “fuego (feat. Tyler, The Creator)” and “Topdown.” He is also the master of the indie-rap feature, completely stealing the show on songs like “Tunnel” by Polo & Pan and “Palms (with Channel Tres)” by Gus Dapperton. He deserved more than the “Chatty Cathy” audience at Masonic Temple.

And then came Flume.

Flume has been bridging the gap between pop and the techno-sphere for a while now. He’s a seasoned performer, having headlined Coachella, The Governors Ball and most everything in between since his self-titled breakout 2012 album. And with that seasoning should come the DJ spice, right? Lifting arms on the beat, pushing buttons and, wait, what does a DJ do when they perform? Again, I started to feel some doubts about the whole situation: why was I seated at an electronic music concert when I could just listen to Flume’s songs on Spotify, maybe invite some friends, dance and drink some brews that don’t cost $12? but again, that was not possible from my cozy seat. It also would have felt a little wrong to push and shove under the Broadway-esque decor of the venue, with stenciled ceilings and velvet curtains. He might have done Detroit’s premier performance spaces, each equipped with an ample dance floor and an aptly dingy, club-like vibe.

Flume often spices up his shows with a host of surprise guests: Toro y Moi, Vince Staples or, in the case of the Masonic Temple concert, Tres and Tove Lo. Tove Lo came out to perform her single with Flume, “Say It (feat. Tove Lo),” but also took over the female vocals for “Never Be Like You (feat. Kai)” and “Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A.” These were by far the best performances of the set because, well, there was actually a performer on the stage, and not just a dude, bobbing up and down, pushing some damn buttons.

But those three songs were not enough to carry the performance, so I decided to improve the vibe with my own devices. In this case, that meant ripping my dab pen like a third grader destroying a juice box at snack time.