September 26, 2013 Recess

RVOLUME 15, ISSUE 5 SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

RrecessArts + Activism Festival Opens

pg. 4

HAIM and CHERmusic album reviews, pgs. 6 & 7

Lucy Rose singer-songwriter makes wave in the states, pg. 3

eliZa BraY

Dance party, concerts, poetry in Triangle

2 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 recess The Chronicle

Homecoming 2013September 27-28

www.Homecoming.DukeAlumni.com

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

4:00 – 6:00 p.m.Grand Opening of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity [ Bryan Center ]Come see the new space, meet students and staff, and greet other alums! Refreshments will be served following a brief program.

8:00 – 9:30 p.m.Graduate School Reception [ Scharf Hall, Michael W. Krzyzewski Center for Academic and Athletic Excellence ]

9:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.President Brodhead’s Homecoming Dance[ Wilson Gym Basketball Courts & huge tenton K-ville Quad ] 9:30 p.m. Momentum Dance Chinese Dance Troupe Dhamaka 11:00 p.m. Sabrosura Duke Swing Defining Movement (DefMo)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

3:00 p.m.Duke Football vs. Troy: Homecoming Game 2013[ Wallace Wade Stadium ]presented by Lowe’s – Never Stop ImprovingBe sure to arrive on time and cheer the Blue Devils to victory!

11:00 p.m.

9:30 p.m. Momentum Dance

Rrecess editors

Cool...

ess recessrecess rec

ss recess reditor’s

note

At six years old, Wednesday was my favorite day of the week. i could give some mushy reason about how my par-ents and i would sit in the family room and talk about my day, and though that’s half-true, i would be obscuring the more important part of my evening: watching “Survivor.” There was nothing i enjoyed more than having a show to follow regularly and get excited about—especially an ‘adult’ program that didn’t cause my parents to roll their eyes. every Wednesday, my grandmother would call at 8:15 p.m. in order to interrupt us. She didn’t approve of my watching such an inappropriate show. Given that the fi rst season featured a nude, pixelated rich-ard hatch strutting down the beach in every episode, she probably did have some cause for concern. Still, we let the phone ring, captivated by the allure of “the tribe has spoken.”

When i started middle school, i imple-mented a strict VhS recording schedule to capture my favorite nightly program-ming, fascinated by the prospect of re-cording “Desperate housewives” while i was at my Girl Scout meeting. i became a truly devoted “lost” fan when i was in-troduced to the DVr during my fresh-man year of high school, re-watching episodes with my dad to search for clues. College mandated a regimen of stream-

ing, which most likely was—and is—det-rimental to my GPA. each of these seem-ingly game-changing innovations has coincided with crucial transitions in my life, following me from school to school as i took on increasing levels of responsi-bility and independence. Perhaps that’s why i feel so personally connected to television. it grew as i grew, changing and evolving to compensate for an ever-increasing lack of free time.

Today’s college-aged students have probably seen more change in television viewing habits during their lifetimes than any other demographic. Theoreti-cally, we’ve gained much more control over our time because of these changes. our evenings aren’t monopolized by our favorite TV shows anymore. Para-doxically, time-shifting devices have us wasting more time than ever. netfl ix, hulu, onDemand and their ilk steal our time in an entirely different way. no lon-ger are we confi ned to primetime; any second of any day can be claimed by in-ternet TV. i thought that when i came to college i would have to relinquish most of my television-obsessed habits, but instead i have morphed into a chronic binge-watcher, spending my weekends marathoning the shows i can’t squeeze into my weekday schedule.

Anticipation should be part of the ex-perience of television, and of life. This week, i asked a mother of two boys, in all seriousness, how her children will learn patience if they don’t watch commer-cials. ‘Kids these days’ watch TV entirely differently than we did. Can children even get excited about the release of the newest Disney Channel original Movie when they know it will be onDemand whenever they want? What would it even be like to not have to beg your parents to sacrifi ce a night of their own favorite shows? While it may seem odd to ro-

recess

manticize things as trivial as commercial breaks or appointment viewing, this loss has stolen some of the charm away from the viewing experience. Back in the good ol’ days (fewer than 10 years ago), you had to bargain and persuade for what you wanted since you could only watch one show at one specifi c time. We’ve lost the excitement of following a show, anticipating its weekly airing and bemoaning its hiatus.

Yes, you could still anticipate last night’s “nashville” season premiere. But if you forgot (though how could you, really?), there are an infi nite number of ways to catch up on it. TV just isn’t special anymore. it’s right there in your laptop whenever you want it. Apart from live sports, it’s rare to fi nd people gath-ered in a common room watching a show they all follow. We watch TV on our own time, tethered to our own devices, losing the direct sense of togetherness created by sharing a space with friends, family and television. And don’t try to tell me live-tweeting is the same thing.

Fourteen years since i fi rst fell in love with television, Wednesdays have taken on an entirely different meaning in my life. i did, after all, renounce “Survivor” after its 20th season. now Wednesdays are the nights that i spend at the Chron-icle offi ce until 2 a.m., preparing for the week’s issue of recess, spinning in my chair and pretending that i’m impor-tant. i feel busy. We all do—or, at least, we pretend we do. We’re Duke students.

But as busy as we all are, this isn’t an argument to stop watching television. As much as e! tries to convince us other-wise, television is an art form. it deserves our devotion and our attention. Don’t just watch TV because it’s accessible. Watch it because you love it.

— Megan Rise

Lauren Feilich..............................................................................................runnings

Jamie Kessler .................................................................................when you’re a jet

MC Bousquette ..................................................................................................haim

Megan Rise........................................................................................................abed

Kathy Zhou.........................................................................................................vibes

Eliza Bray ....................................................................................................cucumber

Minshu Deng..............................................................................not Katy Perry’s exes

The Chronicle recess THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 | 3

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by MC Bousquette The ChroniCle

The United Kingdom’s best-kept secret has come to the United States. Singer-songwriter lucy rose is presently on a six-week whirlwind tour, sweeping through the United States and Canada with singer-songwriter City and Colour.

now 24 years old, lucy rose began her journey at 18 when she left her hometown of Warwickshire for london. She initially intended to attend University College london. instead, she courageously leapt into her music career, spending nearly every day in london playing any open mic she could fi nd, hop-ing to be heard. She received her big break when Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club noticed her. As her friendship with Steadman developed, lucy rose contributed backing vocals to several tracks on Bombay Bicycle Club’s album, “A Different Kind of Fix,” and toured the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico with the group in early 2012. She scored a record deal with Sony records UK and released her album in october of that year.

lucy rose confessed that she believes she is old for the music industry, as there are 16 and 17-year-olds signed to her label. Despite her apprehen-

sions, her writing and confi dence have improved drastically since she began.

“When i think about the new stuff i’m writing, i have my confi dence now. i’m going with bolder ideas, and experimenting with a new songs,” rose said. She is self-aware and deliberately emotionally vulnerable in her lyrics. Many of her tracks address love, whether requited, unrequited or concluded.

Citing infl uences ranging from Joni Mitchell to the Arctic Monkeys, lucy rose’s sound on her de-but “like i Used To” is just as versatile. Unlike many other artists armed with an acoustic guitar, lucy rose does not fall into the trap of formulaic mu-sic. instead, her tracks combine her sweet, soothing voice with instrumentals reminiscent of laura Mar-ling. lucy rose does incorporate the requisite quiet acoustic-folk strumming, but is by no means reluc-tant to use additional percussion, xylophones and electric guitar. She has no hesitation to call herself a singer-songwriter, a genre that has attained a bad reputation.

“Suddenly it has this bad rep like it’s lame or un-cool. if everyone is over that, are people just sing-ing songs that have no meaning for them?” asked rose.

her intent carries through on each of her tracks. The tender lyrics and acoustic strumming of ‘Don’t You Worry’ reassure a lover that she will “Stay here with you.” The more upbeat track, ‘Bikes,’ laden

with a rolling electric guitar and punctuated by xylophone, describes an out-of-control journey: “We’re driving from the backseat / holding on too tightly / the colors, they merge / they scream and shout.” each song, infused with emotion, does not bore in the way that the singer-songwriter label has come to imply.

in an age where YouTube views signify success, lucy rose is set to conquer. The music video for her fi rst single ‘Middle of the Bed’ currently has nearly 1.9 million views. Several of her other songs have reached at least half a million views. her suc-cess has also carried over to the stage in the UK; she has played a variety of UK music festivals, including one at which Bob Dylan also performed. She has also been featured in a variety of major publications including nylon and Vogue.

Despite this success, lucy rose is still somewhat in a state of disbelief over her rapid rise to prominence. She described her initial songwriting process as “the songs written in [her] bedroom, thinking no one was ever going to hear them,” though always living with the “hope that one day [she] would be able to record them.”

lucy rose is now miles away from that bedroom and has not only recorded her tracks but released them on Sony Music entertainment UK. She plans to record another album after her current tour is over and shows no signs of slowing down.

Lucy Rose brings UK singer-songwriter tunes to US

SPecial to the chronicle

Lucy Rose described her initial songwriting process as “the songs written in [her] bedroom, thinking no one was ever going to hear them,” though always living with the “hope that one day [she] would be able to record them.”


Lucy Rose recently toured with Bombay Bicycle Club.

Up-and-coming musician redefi nes acoustic genre


Festival brings together community through bonds of art, activism

by Katie Fernelius The ChroniCle

Art and activism are as en-trenched in the atmosphere and community of Durham as Cameron Crazies are in Duke Blue. Durham is no-table for its fierce commit-ment to public and private art initiatives as well as its fascinating historic and con-temporary involvement in politics. however, we hear less about the intersection of these two central aspects of the Durham community.

This weekend, Durham residents will be able to cel-ebrate both aspects of Dur-ham by attending the Art + Activism Festival, organized by Pierce Freelon and Ste-phen levitin of ArTVSM and Cicely Mitchell of The Art of Cool Project. The fes-tival will feature a jam ses-sion at Cocoa Cinnamon, a night of intergalactic music and spoken word at the UnC Morehead Planetarium, as well as a global dance party for Durham Pride at the Mo-torco Music hall.

“Music is a great tool for

building community; it con-nects people,” said Freelon of ArTVSM. “it is not your typical festival where you pick a bunch of bands that are popping. instead, we looked for a particular type of artist—a type of musician who not only puts in the work in the studio, but also in the community.”

The line-up of communi-ty-oriented artists and activ-ists includes 1Beat, Sacrifi-cial Poets, lila, Shirlette Ammons, Big Beat Dance, KidZnotes, the Durham Arts Council and the Carrboro Arts Center. each of these groups consists not only of artists, but also of commu-nity leaders who run educa-tional programs, volunteer at arts programming events and collaborate on grass-roots initiatives.

one particular program that is special to both Free-lon and levitin is 1Beat, an organization that brings together young musicians from across the world to engage in a collaborative creative process and work within communities to host youth workshops. however, 1Beat is not only a meaning-ful music organization, but also a home to a former stu-dent, a young woman named Toussa whom they met in Senegal for PBS’s Beat Mak-ing lab.

“We had a very intense creative session with her over the course of two weeks, and we were astounded by her talent,” said Freelon. “We saw an opportunity to get her to come to the states through 1Beat, so we helped her with her application and we tried to put her in the best position possible to be accepted, and she was!”

The global dance party on Saturday will showcase international collaboration as Toussa will share the stage with her Beat Making lab mentors and her 1Beat fel-lows.

“Part of our intention is to provide support and op-portunities to musicians, so to have one of our students, one of our small success sto-ries, be a part of this festival is just phenomenal for us,” remarked levitin. “We are grateful that 1Beat’s tour and our reunion with Toussa all converges with this festi-val.”

Their outreach and spe-cial relationship with Toussa is just one of the many ways in which this festival is ori-ented around the commu-nity developed, sustained and enriched through mu-sic. For their part, ArT-VSM and The Art of Cool are also organizing daytime programming that includes art outreach in schools and


This weekend, Durham residents will be able to celebrate both aspects of Durham by attending the Art + Activism Festival organized by ARTVSM and The Art of Cool Project.

PETER HURLEY

The men featured above lead 1Beat, which engages musicians in the collaborative creative process and works within communites to host youth workshops.


Festival brings together community through bonds of art, activismcommunity centers. in addi-tion, all the proceeds from the festival will go directly to the performers and lo-cal non-profit community groups. The festival will co-incide with the release of a Beat Making lab album titled Good For The World. The album features students from UnC Chapel hill and the local public school sys-tem, alongside sampled sounds from local non-prof-its, Moral Monday protests and negro spirituals.

“i believe that music and art have always been great mediums to reach and teach people about social issues,” said Mitchell of The Art of Cool Project in an email. “There have been a number of Moral Monday protests that have used the common bond of music to shed light on political issues in the Tri-angle as well as in the coun-try.”

it seems fitting that this PETER HURLEY

1Beat is an organization that brings together young young musicians from across the world.


The North Carolina Art + Activism Festival features a jam session at Cocoa Cinnamon on Thursday and the Pride Global Dance Party at Motorco Music Hall on Saturday.

festival should happen af-ter a summer of protests in response to recent changes in legislation, ranging from the restriction of voting rights to the repeal of the racial Justice Act. The Arts + Activism Festival embraces these timely issues and will hopefully spark conversa-tions about other sociopolit-ical issues around Durham. in fact, the festival culmi-nates with the Pride Global Dance Party, celebrating and recognizing the Pride Parade also happening this weekend.

“Musicians have a lot to say about what is happen-ing politically and socially, and that has always been the case,” related Freelon. “A lot of our musicians—teach-ers and students alike—are engaged in this political mo-ment, so all we had to do was look beyond the studio to tap into the energy of what was already happening

around us.”The environment of

the festival epitomizes the theme of developing com-munity around the arts and activism. Cocoa Cinnamon was funded through a Kick-starter campaign and boasts local and sustainable re-sources. Similarly, the UnC Morehead Planetarium and Motorco Music halls are fa-miliar to the community as centers for education and music, respectively.

The space of the festival is consciously built to mo-tivate Durham residents to step outside their comfort zones into a new creative space in order to see how that space can inform their own perception of arts and activism. The environment should be creative, collab-orative and communal in order to inspire active par-ticipation.

“i think having a special impact later in whatever you do is really important,” said levitin. “i hope collabora-tion in art and activism is constant and everyday, not just a special festival. i hope every weekend you can find some artivism happening, because it is a way to bring art into the conversation, to make sure that every voice can speak and be heard.”

The North Carolina Art + Activism Festival features three main events: the jam session at Cocoa Cinnamon Thurs. at 7 p.m.; the spoken word poetry and intergalactic music at the UNC Morehead Planetarium on Fri. at 8 p.m.; and the Pride Global Dance Party at Motorco Music Hall on Sat. at 7 p.m. More information at http://theartofcoolproject.com/event/north-carolina-art-activism-fes-tival/.


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WE’RE THE MILLERSNew Line CinemaDirected By Rawson M. Thurber

by MC BousquetteThe ChroniCle

haim is, as many know, a personal fa-vorite of mine. Thankfully, their fi rst full-length album, “Days Are Gone,” lives up to all of my expectations.

For those who didn’t read the haim love affair in my editor’s note a few weeks ago, the los Angeles-based band is com-posed of three sisters who sing and play guitar, keyboard and bass. A genetically unrelated male drummer accompanies the band.

The album’s opening track, ‘Falling,’ contains all elements of haim’s signa-ture ‘80s rock and synth-pop sound. The reverberating bass drum, punctuated by punchy snare claps, accompanies the sis-ters’ harmonies and a strong lead guitar. The second track, ‘Forever,’ was haim’s fi rst single, and introduces the group’s penchant for using the synthesizer in a compelling and non-tacky manner. This sound carries through the rest of the album. This isn’t to say that every song sounds the same; instead, haim har-nesses the core of its sound to develop a rich album fi lled with danceable (and cry-able) tracks.

MUSIC

FILM

all reVieW iMaGeS SPecial to the chronicle

HAIMDays are GonePolydor Records

The lyrics throughout “Days Are Gone” show the sisters’ mature writing, which complements their incredibly playful live energy. ‘if i Could Change Your Mind’ describes the pain of failed love affairs: “and i never saw it coming / forgive my lying eyes / but i gave you all or nothing / if i could change your mind / i could make you mine.” ‘The Wire’ successfully manages to be both a break-up song and a feel-good anthem. The chorus, “But i just couldn’t take it / i tried hard not to fake it / but i fum-bled it when it came down to the wire” seems, without the music, to be a sad tale of a relationship’s end. instead, the addition of the chorus’s strong guitar riff and vocals induce listeners to sing along en masse.

Concluding song ‘running if You Call My name’ is an apt fi nale. From the beginning of the song, the vocals rever-berate, and the slow-building tempo is reminiscent of a dramatic fi lm’s conclud-ing ‘fade into the sunset’ song. The sis-ters sing, “i’ll keep running if you call my name / i’ll come running if you come my way,” while muted drums and keyboard create a round that mirrors the effect of the vocals as the album closes.

i conclude with not my own thoughts, but with those of nMe music critic Tom howard: “The best thing about haim is that the songs they write are 100 per cent bull***t-free. los Angeles sisters Dani-elle, este and Alana haim sing proper vocals and play proper guitars and give their drums a right proper thwacking and don’t try to do or be anything, they just let it happen. As easy and natural and obvious as the gradual transforma-tion of ewe’s milk into a nice big block of roquefort.”

Haim’s new album “Days Are Gone” will be released on September 30th.

by Adam SchultzmanThe ChroniCle

i went to see “We’re the Millers” on Thursday September 19, which was free movie night at the northgate the-ater. it was still the middle of the week, so i didn’t want anything too heavy. i was just looking for a few laughs to help me forget the stresses of everyday life. i can honestly say “We’re the Millers” succeeded in taking that edge off.

it is becoming harder and harder to make people laugh at the movies. While TV embraces a golden age for comedies, movies are struggling to fi nd a base that is not cliché or predictable. Though “We’re the Millers” follows that trend of predictability and is not by def-inition ‘original,’ it remains sharp and edgy enough to give audiences a much-needed piece of amusement.

“We’re The Millers” centers on Ja-son Sudekis as David Clark, a petty pot dealer who is forced to go to Mexico to pick up a large shipment of drugs from a villainous drug lord played by a dis-appointingly ridiculous ed helms. The core of the fi lm comes from Sudekis’s reunion with “horrible Bosses” co-star Jennifer Aniston, who plays a stripper

with a heart of gold.in order to move the drugs without

causing suspicion, David brings along Aniston, emma roberts, and Will Poul-ter to play his fake family. The family dynamic leads to the fi lm’s best humor, including hysterical scenes with a lust-ful roadside cop and an awkward fam-ily kissing lesson. Sudekis and Aniston have a surprisingly believable chemis-try that draws from both of their well-versed comedic experiences.

Though the ending becomes gooey and predictable as most comedies of this nature do, the fi lm remains en-joyable through quirky performances from its cast. in his fi rst big-budget fi lm, Poulter adds new life as the innocent Kenny who’s short on experiences and uses David as an opportunity to give the world a try. As another oddball pair, nick offerman and Kathyrn hahn add a hilarious combo as a couple who are trying to spice things up in their rela-tionship.

Director rawson Marshall Thurber is far from “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” his most notable success, but he crafts a story that fl ows from scene to scene smoothly. The jokes are fast-paced, crude, and well-designed for the cast to quip back and forth. “We’re the Millers” does not shy away from racy, vulgar or distasteful gags in order to elicit cheap laughs from its audience.

overall, the fi lm runs too long and follows a cheap sense of sentimental-ity towards its end. nonetheless, it re-mains humorous enough to gain the attention and general affection of its viewers. This movie is not comedy at its cinematic pinnacle but is snarky, fam-ily fun. And some days, that’s just the type of movie you need. on Thursday night, at least, it was for me.


MUSIC

CHERCloser to the TruthWarner Bros.

by Elizabeth DjinisThe ChroniCle

Before Miley Cyrus twerked and grinded her way through the VMAs, before lady Gaga wore her infa-mous meat dress and even before even Madonna and Britney shared their onscreen kiss, there was Cher.

Cher fi rst rose to fame in the early sixties as one half of the male-female duo Sonny & Cher. The couple’s rela-tionship may have ended in divorce, but it sparked a mu-sical career for Cher that has continued for decades. her latest singles span from 1998’s ‘Believe’ to songs off the soundtrack of her hit movie “Burlesque.” Throughout it all, Cher has managed to stay in the public eye, and has just released a new album, “Closer to the Truth.”

Cher devotees will not be disappointed; her famed deep contralto voice and signature dance-pop style are present in full force, but anyone looking for origi-nality should certainly look much further. Cher may please, but she does not surprise.

The album’s fi rst two tracks, ‘Women’s World’ and ‘Take it like a Man,’ are catchy, heavily auto-tuned pieces perfectly suited for a dance fl oor or a girls’ night out. The lyrical meanings are relatively arbitrary; to some extent, they are simply words set to a beat. in the chorus of ‘Women’s World,’ Cher sings repeatedly that “this is a women’s world.” What that means for her and any female listeners is unclear; given the elec-tronic, fast-paced nature of the song, it seems to mean that we should dance the night away because, after all, this is a women’s world and we might as well.

Still, although the album leads with its most single-worthy material, the following ten tracks are signifi cant-ly slower and mellower. Whether you’ll actually feel any-thing from listening to these songs is debatable. The ballads are silly at best. Cher’s voice can’t seem to carry the sadness she attempts to convey. instead it comes off with an almost screaming rocker vibe who takes period-ic rests from her loud yelling to get signifi cantly quieter, as if to say, “This is a really sad part now.”

But while Miley and Gaga may still have to prove themselves, Cher is well past that point. “Closer to the Truth” is her 26th studio album and, by now, listeners know what they’re getting when they purchase a Cher album. You’ll get what you paid for.

Yet there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just when you think you’ve fi nished the CD and feel a little bit of despair at buying yet another Cher album, you’ll fi nd three bonus tracks at the end of the album. here is the new material we’ve been looking for! it isn’t unexpected or imaginative, but it is the sassy and brassy Cher we’ve come to know and love. in ‘i Don’t have to Sleep to Dream,’ she describes a perfect love with a background full of electronic beats and lacking her usually incred-ibly strong auto tune. When Cher sings “So i got my eyes closed / hands up, dancing by myself / oh i never felt nothing better,” you might just feel the same.

FILM

by Jamie Kessler The ChroniCle

From the co-writer of “The Kids are All right” comes Stuart Blumberg’s lat-est, the new off-beat rom-com “Thanks for Sharing.” Starring Mark ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow, “Thanks for Sharing” centers on a group of recovering sex addicts as they travel the bumpy chafe-ridden road to sex sobriety.

“Thanks for Sharing” has a clear strength: its characters. each man we meet is at a different stage in recovery: Mike (Tim robbins) is more than 15 years sober and married to his high school sweetheart. his problems stem more from the return of his drug-ad-dict son Danny (Patrick Fugit) than from his own disease. Mike’s sponsee, Adam (ruffalo), is fi ve years sober,

handsome, and fi nally trying for a rela-tionship with Phoebe (Paltrow). next we have Adam’s sponsee, neil (Josh Gad), who’s fresh to the AA scene. neil’s an er doctor and was court or-dered into recovery after some inap-propriate touching. he’s both the comic relief and what feels like a very authentic portrayal of a sex addict coming to terms with his problems.

We also get to know one more member of the AA group, DeDe, played by Pink. Yes, Pink. like, “U + Ur hand” Pink. her screen debut is jarring, like, “Whoa, that’s Pink. She acts?” But as the movie goes on, she becomes more DeDe and less “Why is Pink in this movie?” She actually delivers a solid performance and is a fun addition to the cast.

All of these characters are multi-dimen-

sional and well-acted, and they experience a full transformation throughout the 112 minutes. Sounds great, right? So what’s keeping this from being an Academy Award-nominee like Blumberg’s previous project? Timing. Smack dab after “The Way Way Back” and “The Spectacular now,” “Thanks for Sharing” is the third wide release of an indie movie from the makers of previously successful indie mov-ies (“little Miss Sunshine” and “500 Days of Summer,” respectively) in the past few months. it didn’t push the limits of what the general populace imagines sex addic-tion to be, and the relationships, while re-alistic and meaningful, were tropes seen many times before.

But never fear, hollywood likes to re-lease similar movies in pairs. This week-end “Don Jon” comes out. it’s a movie

about sex addiction written, directed and starring Joseph Gordon-levitt. So if “Thanks for Sharing” doesn’t hit the spot, maybe “Don Jon” will do it for you, pun intended.

THANKS FOR SHARINGLionsgateDirected By Stuart Blumberg


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work and his knowledge to Duke, believ-ing that everyone should try out photog-raphy.

Along with his Friday talk and book signing, Stein will also lead a workshop this weekend. Stein will lead students through the streets of Durham to take pictures of the people, and a gay pride parade will be its center focus. Maximov remarks on the whole event as an “ex-cellent opportunity” to learn Mr. Stein’s style and become more connected with the people of Durham. The talk and book signing will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday in the Center for Docu-mentary Studies auditorium.

Throughout “harlem Street Por-traits,” Stein’s goal is to capture the spirit of harlem, and he accomplishes this by connecting with his subjects to make each photograph a kind of collaboration. he translates to the viewer the tough-ness, vitality and pride of the people of harlem. in this style, Stein captures the spirit of the people, shares it with others and preserves it for the future.

by Derek SaffeThe ChroniCle

“The Act of Killing” is one of the most devastating documentaries to come out in recent memory. Directed by Joshua op-penheimer and made over a span of 10 years with the help of various anonymous indonesian informants, the documentary focuses on the Western-backed mass kill-ings of Communists and ethnic Chinese under the Suharto regime in the mid-1960s. “The Act of Killing” takes a differ-ent infl ection from most documentaries on genocide, focusing on the perpetra-tors rather than the victims to relate the full gravity of what transpired.

in indonesia (especially north Su-matra), death squad leaders are lauded as heroes of the nation for their actions following the failed Communist military coup in 1965. Government-backed para-militaries like the heavily featured Pan-casila Youth, an organization that cur-rently has over 3 million members, are the contemporary manifestations of the death squads that facilitated the geno-cide of between 1-3 million. Their deep involvement with government minis-ters and their blanket infl uence over the populace reveal a complex system in which almost every sector of society is complicit with the atrocities that oc-curred. Throughout the documentary, oppenheimer deftly weaves in and out of the killers’ memories, fl eshing out their war crimes and putting their base humanity on full display.

The documentary focuses on three players from this obscured time in indo-nesian history: the lanky executioner An-

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FILM SPecial to the chronicle

IN A WORLDRoadside AttractionsDirected by Lake Bell

by Anna KoelschThe ChroniCle

A film about film may seem nau-seatingly meta, but lake Bell’s “in a World…” folds a critique of the film industry’s sexism into a playful rom-com surprisingly well. “in a World…” follows the rules of the rom-com playbook but feels less formulaic as i found myself actually thinking, (which is abnormal for a rom-com!).

The film’s casting is impressive, particularly in the case of Geena Davis as Katherine huling. huling, a very minor character, is the ex-ecutive producer of The Amazon Games, the ‘quadrilogy’ with a femi-

FILM SPecial to the chronicle

THE ACT OF KILLINGFinal Cut For RealDirected by Joshua Oppenheimer

war Congo, his potbellied subordinate herman Koto and Congo’s ex-partner-in-crime Adil Zulkadry. They are asked by the director to recreate the killings from their ‘glory days’ for the camera. The group then goes on to gleefully re-enact their past evils, recruiting locals to act as communists and staging maca-bre and over-the-top set pieces that defy comprehension and veer into the sur-real.

Tautly edited and mixing expertly composed static shots with handheld cin-ema verité moments, the cinematogra-phy thrusts you into the killer’s reality and subsumes you into the visual spectacle on display throughout the fi lm. From the con-fusingly in-drag herman Koto to the vis-ages of idyllic indonesian landscapes and the pained despair of Chinese shopkeepers harassed by paramilitaries, there is an eerie

beauty that pervades the fi lm and creates a disconcerting but entrancing aura.

Anwar Congo is the main personal-ity on screen, grounding the narrative and acting as its moral barometer. op-penheimer layers the various facets of Anwar’s thoughts on his crimes against humanity, painting a full-bodied portrait of an ego exposed to self-refl ection. his boorishness and nonchalance about the murders he committed can only partially conceal the doubt that has been brewing inside his psyche for decades, a psyche pierced by nightmares of his victim’s life-less eyes.

“The Act of Killing” is disturbing but necessary viewing, an epic and sobering treatment of the ambivalence of history and the extraordinary capacity for hu-manity to gloss over and construct their own realities.

nist twang that sparks a voiceover battle between Carol (played by lake Bell), her father (Fred Melamed as Sam Soto) and up-and-comer Gus-tav Warner (Ken Marino). huling chooses Carol’s voice for The Ama-zon Games’s trailer but is quick to tell Carol that she got the role be-cause of her gender, not her talent. it is so perfectly tongue-in-cheek to cast Davis, well-known for supporting women in conventionally male roles (i’m still reeling from the cancella-tion of ‘Commander-in-Chief” seven years ago).

Bell not only stars in the film, but also wrote the screenplay, directed and produced it. The choice to make a film like this shows a careful per-ceptiveness of the industry and the world around her. her skilled acting shines as she distorts her voice into foreign accents like it is child’s play, and she laudably weaves an affair subplot into the story without it coming off as trite.

of course, the film is not with-out its flaws. its short length is re-flected in compressed storylines. The one that bothered me most was louis (Demetri Martin) final-ly finding enough courage to an-nounce to Carol that he likes her—a story that develops throughout

the film—and Carol responding with a quick “i like you too!”

how convenient, i thought, given that there was little to suggest that Carol felt that way until that mo-ment. it’s also highly possible that i was given these signs throughout the film and chose to ignore them due to my abnormal Demetri Martin fixa-tion. Who knows!?

“in a World...” pulls off the rom-com while poking at hollywood’s deeply entrenched sexism. it’s pure fun to watch, and a strong film for lake Bell’s directorial debut.

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September 26, 2013 Recess