(04/02/12 4:00am)
Newton police arrested one Brandeis student and dispersed approximately 15 protesters in total at last Monday's panel of members of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, during a town hall-style meeting at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass. Knesset members Ofir Akunis, Lia Shemtov, Ilan Gilon, Raleb Majadele and Fania Kirshenbaum, all Ruderman Fellows, spoke at the meeting as part of the Ruderman Fellows Program, which partnered with the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies to bring Knesset members to the Boston area to learn about the American Jewish community. During the forum, members of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine, all wearing blue T-shirts emblazoned with the word "apartheid" in Hebrew, stood up and yelled "mic check," when Akunis began to speak. A few students from other Boston-area universities and local activists were also in attendance, according to SJP member Seth Grande '12, along with members of the peace activist group CODEPINK, according to Newton police reports. Protesters continued to chant slogans such as "Israel is an apartheid state and the Knesset is an apartheid parliament," "Mr. Akunis and Ms. Kirshenbaum, how do you feel to be silenced?" and "free, free Palestine," for approximately one minute until they were led out of the room by police. Director of the Schusterman Center S. Ilan Troen '63, who moderated Monday's panel, wrote in an email to the Justice that the protest was "silly ... actually infantile" and "a non-event" compared to the two-hour-long panel. Troen also pointed out that the panel included Majadele, an Arab Member of Knesset who has held several powerful political positions. Protesters were particularly opposed to Akunis and Kirshenbaum because they "sponsor this legislation that shut down international funding to human rights [non-governmental organizations] operating in Israel and Palestine," said Grande. "We go in, stand up, do the mic check, and [Newton Police] start pulling us out," said Grande in an interview with the Justice. "Some of us were in the middle of the pews, so it was a bit harder." One of the students who resisted police efforts to remove the protesters, Leila Einhorn '12, was arrested for disorderly conduct, according to Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker, director of the Department of Community Services for Newton Police. Einhorn declined to comment on the events. Einhorn "was sitting on the edge of the benches, one of the cops grabbed her pretty violently," said Grande. She pulled away as the officer grabbed her and was consequently arrested, according to Grande. Apotheker declined to comment on allegations by SJP members that protesters had been assaulted and that one was thrown to the ground by police. SJP also disrupted a similar event held on campus last year. "The walkout last year got such a big press response and got so many people noticing," said Grande. "[Knesset member] Avi Dichter ... is an international war criminal. The glossing over of all these problematic aspects of Israeli government policy, I don't find that right," he added, referring a member of the delegation of MKs that came to Brandeis last year. A group of plaintiffs did, in fact, attempt to try Dichter for war crimes in 2005, but the case was dismissed in 2007, as Dichter was found to have immunity. "We don't really feel comfortable with the relationship between Brandeis University and the Israeli government," Grande said, explaining SJP's position. "We are opposed to actions of the Israeli government as a whole. We will not welcome any Israeli officials to Brandeis university events," he added. -Sam Mintz contributed reporting
(03/19/12 4:00am)
Last week, Prof. Michael Rosbash (BIOL) was named the Peter Gruber Endowed Chair for his groundbreaking research in neuroscience. With the endowment, Rosbash will now receive funding to continue and support his research. We're glad this prize program and similar endowments recognize our University's commitment to the science disciplines. Further, we urge the administration to continue investing in the work being conducted at the University to solidify our position as a research university within the science community. As part of an evolving private research university, the administration has shown an interest in the sciences over the past few years. In 2006, the Board of Trustees approved $80 million, and accepted $75 million in donations, to demolish the old Kalman and Friedland Science buildings to build the current Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, according to former Vice President of Capital Projects Dan Feldman. Without the construction of this new complex, students would not have the benefit of using state-of-the-art equipment and newly furnished laboratories. Moreover, in 2009, the Office of Capital Projects website reported plans to revamp the Science Center with another building that was expected to house "teaching labs, a large lecture hall, and three levels of additional Chemistry research laboratories." Though this plan was indefinitely put on hold due to budgetary limitations, the intention to improve the Center demonstrated the administration's prolonged commitment to maintaining our status as a research university. While these projects were implemented or discussed under former President Emeritus Jehuda Reinharz, we encourage University President Frederick Lawrence to continue the University's investment in the science disciplines. Currently, the University's website lists faculty research in a variety of fields, from biochemistry to psychology. By continuing to secure endowments and supporting faculty members in their research ventures, the University will be reinforcing its dedication to producing pioneering work for the sciences. Our University's continued involvement and advancement in the higher education science community is vital. As a field that is completely reliant on innovation and research, it's important to give our faculty the tools and opportunity to be able to compete with universities employing cutting-edge technology and knowledge. While we still look forward to comparable advancements in the liberal arts, we still appreciate being informed and honoring the innovations being made by our science faulty. We commend the administrations, past and present, for their work in making it possible to be a research university, and moving forward should continue to support our faculty and staff's research.
(03/12/12 4:00am)
The characters in We Need to Talk About Kevin should have followed just that advice. Maybe then Kevin Khatchadourian (Ezra Miller) wouldn't have gone and done … well, whatever terrible thing he did. The film doesn't exactly let the audience know until the very end. The question of whether Kevin could have been stopped illustrates the larger nature vs. nurture argument that is at the core of the film. Director and screenwriter Lynne Ramsay, along with screenwriter Rory Kinnear, adapted We Need to Talk About Kevin from Lionel Shriver's 2003 novel of the same name. Ramsay is an experimental filmmaker. She has only directed two feature films previously—2002's Morvern Callar and 1999's Ratcatcher, both of which received some critical acclaim but didn't make much of a stir, probably due to their odd subject material and unorthodox style. We Need to Talk About Kevin follows a similar pattern but boasts one major difference: Tilda Swinton. Swinton is a beloved Scottish character actor who, despite her lack of name recognition and androgynous, alien-like features, continues to pop up in some of the most captivating films of the past two decades. Swinton plays Eva Khatchadourian, Kevin's beleaguered mother. From infancy, she and her child never really bonded. As a baby, Kevin would cry constantly, and despite Eva's efforts, only his father, Franklin (John C. Reilly), could soothe him. Kevin is filmed out of sequence, showing three different times in the Khatchadourians' lives. First is Eva and Franklin's courtship up through Kevin's childhood. The second takes place when Kevin is in high school. The third time frame is P.D., or Post-Disaster, of which Kevin was apparently the cause. When I think back over the film, I mostly remember red. Kevin opens with a shot of Swinton and others bathing, dancing and convulsing in a thick red liquid. Is it blood? Not literally. The liquid is tomato juice, and Swinton is at some sort of European tomato-flinging festival. Other red-tinted shots crop up continuously: rain beating against red stained glass; Eva standing in front of a display of red soup cans; both Eva and Kevin in red clothing (though neither Franklin nor the Khatchadourian's younger child Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich) wear red); and in a pivotal scene in the high school's gym, red floor and wall mats border the room like foreboding sentries. All of this symbolism can get a bit heavy-handed. But it certainly gives the film a tone, which is necessary, as it doesn't have a whole lot of plot. Mostly we see scenes of depicting Eva and Kevin's subtle struggle for dominance. In the beginning, Eva tried desperately to form a relationship with baby Kevin, who is uninterested. By the time Kevin turns six, Eva has begun to resent him, and when her son is a high school student, mother and son silently detest each other. Franklin is infuriatingly blind to the civil war going on in his family, though what little he does understand he blames on Eva. After all, Kevin is just a child. How could a child harbor malice toward his own mother, especially when Franklin and Kevin get on as well as any normal father and son? The audience, however, sees Kevin acting out. Not in normal innocent ways, but in deeds meant to hurt his mother. He destroys her artwork and intentionally refuses to use the toilet long after it's become inappropriate to wear diapers, forcing Eva and Franklin to change his diapers through elementary school. His character is irritating and a little scary. I just wanted to grab hold of Kevin and shake him. I wanted him to tell me why he was behaving this way. Of course, that's exactly how I was supposed to feel. Because that's how Eva feels all the time. As Kevin edges toward adulthood, his actions get more sinister. Franklin and Eva's relationship also begins to fall apart as a rift named Kevin grows between them. At one point, they discuss divorce, and Kevin overhears. Trying to reassure his son, Franklin explains, "It's easy to misunderstand something when you hear it out of context." Kevin icily responds, "Why would I not understand the context? I am the context." Miller does a good job as Kevin, though ultimately this character is meant to remain enigmatic, and Miller's dead eyes and sneering expression is as much as we're ever going to know about what's going on inside Kevin's head. It is Swinton, on the other hand, who lets the viewers in on what it's like to be Eva. The aggressive stares and overt whispers of her neighbors, her own mind's betrayal, the grief at how her life has turned out: all of it plays across Swinton's thin, pale face like a slap ricocheting across her fine features. We've all heard about the early signs of psychosis: bed wetting, harming animals, anti-social behavior. Kevin has some, but not all of the symptoms. Could Eva and Franklin have known how far Kevin's anger would take him? More importantly, did they create it? Kevin never gives a definitive answer, instead forcing the audience to question who really is the cause of Kevin's behavior. Was he born that way? Or is Eva the real monster hiding in the closet?
(03/12/12 4:00am)
On Saturday, MusicUnitesUS brought together "three distinguished artists whose repertoire, instruments and individual musical journeys reflect the global reach of raga music in the 21st century," according to the evening's program. Eminent ethnomusicologist and Dartmouth University professor Theodore Levin, who gave the pre-concert talk, said it was a particularly special concert because raga, one of the melodic modes in Indian classical music, usually features a single soloist. However, Saturday's program was based on a duo—internationally renowned Humayun Sakhi on the rubab (a lute-like musical instrument) and Switzerland-based Ken Zuckerman on the sarod (a stringed musical instrument)—in a tradition that is called jugalbandi (intertwined twins). Both soloists were accompanied by the equally apt Salar Nader on the tabla (a pair of drums). Sakhi's performance style, according to the concert program, "has been shaped not only by traditional Afghan and Indian music, but by his lively interest in contemporary music from around the world."
(03/05/12 5:00am)
The Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships presented a chance for the Brandeis Indoor Track and Field team to prove its worth against top-tier college opponents from all over the Northeast. Although it may not have shown in the final team rankings, as the men finished 62nd and the women finished 47th out of a field of 100 teams, both teams failed to disappoint.
(03/05/12 5:00am)
"Now is the Time."
(02/13/12 5:00am)
The tagline "No one is safe" is a dead giveaway. Walking into Safe House one expects a fast-paced action thriller, and the film embodies its promise. Director Daniel Espinosa, best known for his award-winning short The Fighter (2003) not to be confused with the 2010 Oscar-nominated flick of the same name, and feature films Snabba Cash (2010) and Outside Love (2007), explores another story line with Safe House. Starring Denzel Washington as Tobin Frost, an ex-CIA agent and one of the most dangerous men on earth, and Ryan Reynolds as Matt Weston, a new, young CIA agent in charge of the safe house in which Frost is kept. The film opens with shots of a crowded city, cars and people going about their daily lives. Rays of light shine down on the street from the bright South African sun. One of the wonders of the film is its beautiful portrayal and use of Cape Town, South Africa, as a backdrop to the action. Frost, a dangerous criminal, is shown being brought into the safe house where Weston works. Suddenly, alarms sound, lights flash on and off, the security camera seems to have been turned off, men grab their guns. The safe house where Frost was brought for questioning and holding has been broken into. Everyone is shot. Weston, the only man left, takes the advice of Frost himself: grabs his gun, the criminal and escapes. This last scene sets the stage for the rest of the film. Weston must now keep his hold on Frost until more forces come: the film portrays his struggle as he is left alone to watch the a wanted criminal, who surpasses him both in age and experience. In this way the film shows more than just a riveting fast-paced action thriller with fights, crashes and high-speed chases; it also highlights the interesting and complex relationship that emerges between Weston and Frost. Their relationship is as dynamic as the locations involved in the film—they go from strangers to enemies, two "agents" to a criminal and his captor. Washington plays his part perfectly, embodying the prowess of his character, evading America's most intense forces, and unlike his usual position as a laudable hero, he maintains a dark twist essential to playing such a man. Reynolds, on the other hand, seems the opposite of Washington. His look, although loved by the media and girls everywhere, was a little more "boy-next-door" than crime-fighting agent. Although this reflects Weston as the unlikely hero, a fresh young agent, inexperienced in the field, he was just a little too pure and innocent to be believable. The film, although it does capture and comment on the interesting relationship between criminal and captor, lacks tension. It is well-done and exciting, but the story line focuses a little too much on the chase and less on development of peripheral characters. Throughout the film, Weston and Frost are really the only characters which the audience can understand and relate to. That said, Safe House, although not spectacular in any way, is definitely an enjoyable watch that keeps the audience at the edge of their seats.
(02/13/12 5:00am)
The men's and women's fencing teams headed to Duke University last Saturday from two entirely different paths. The men, on one hand, were looking to replicate their success at the Eric Sollee Invitational, while the women sought to erase memory of a disappointing performance. Both squads, though, had one goal: excel at the Duke Invitational, the nation's most challenging Division I fencing meet.
(02/06/12 5:00am)
Fencing may not be the most highlighted sport, but as sabreist Zoe Messinger '13 noted, there is only one sport where athletes get to "play with swords."
(01/30/12 5:00am)
It has been a long month for the women's basketball team, which had failed to earn a win since New Year's Eve, but the team ended it in the best way possible.
(01/30/12 5:00am)
The Brandeis men's basketball team continues to surge up the University Athletic Association standings, making its 2-5 start a distant memory. With their two wins this weekend at home, the Judges move to third place in the conference. While the Judges had to fight off the Carnegie Mellon Tartans last Sunday, barely avoiding a monumental collapse, they held on for a 80-67 win. Last Friday, Brandeis notched its second consecutive overtime win, besting Case Western Reserve 78-74. The Judges move to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the UAA. Brandeis played a very strong first half in Sunday's game, jumping out to a 21-9 lead just eight minutes into the game. After the Tartans cut the lead to 28-19, Brandeis went on an 18-2 run, entering the second half with a 25 point lead. After just six turnovers in the first half, the next half proved to be a different story for Brandeis. Carnegie began to press Brandeis full-court, and the Judges were unable to break the press. This led to 12 Brandeis turnovers and easy layups for Carnegie, allowing the visiting Tartans to jump right back into the game, cutting the lead down to nine. However, Brandeis would escape with its third straight conference victory. Point guard Tyrone Hughes '12 indicated the team needed to be more disciplined on defense and avoid those costly miscues. "We just can't catch the ball in the corner and allow ourselves to be trapped," said Hughes. "We have to discipline ourselves to catch the ball, [with the] free throw line extended, to avoid the trap and we'll be just fine." Brandeis had five players score in double figures for the second game in a row. Forward Vytas Kriskus '12 led the team with 17 points, while Hughes scored 13 and dished out six assists. Guard Derek Retos '14 had 12 points on 4-5 from three-point range, while center Youri Dascy '14 had 11 points and six rebounds. Guard Jay Freeman '13 contributed 11 points, four assists and four steals off the bench. Hughes, however, was displeased with the team's lack of focus in the second half on both sides of the court, which caused a near-collapse against Carnegie. "We were up so big that as a team, we just took our foot off the gas pedal and just tried to coast our way through the game," Hughes said. "We didn't bring the same energy and intensity that we had in the first half, and in this league, anything is possible. We better do a better job of putting teams away." Last Friday, Brandeis pulled off its second straight overtime win, this time against Case. The Spartans used an 11-rebound edge to keep in the game against Brandeis, but ultimately lost to the Judges' superior depth and balanced scoring attack. The first 33 minutes of the game were close, with no lead above five points for either team. With seven minutes left, there had already been four ties and 14 lead changes in the game. Brandeis trailed 51-50, but guard Ben Bartoldus '14 drained a three-pointer, which started a 12-2 run and ended with a 63-52 lead for Brandeis with three minutes, 43 seconds left. The offensive production suddenly disappeared, as Case held the Judges to just one field goal in that span and surged on their own 12-2 run. Case senior guard Tom Summers scored eight of the 12 points in that span, also nabbing three key rebounds in just 90 seconds. After two free throws and a layup, Case was down 64-62 with just 45 seconds remaining in the game. Hughes was whistled for a reach-in foul with 11.6 seconds remaining and Case junior guard Robert Scott capitalized, knocking down both free throws to tie the game at 64 apiece. Brandeis had a chance to clinch the game in regulation, but Hughes missed a jump shot with a few seconds left. Bartoldus tried to follow, but his miss forced the game into overtime. With 3:23 remaining in the overtime period, Case led 66-65. Retos hit a jumper, and from that point, Brandeis led the rest of the way. The Judges would eventually proceed to take the game by a 78-74 margin. Brandeis' balanced attack led the way, as five players shared the offensive success. Bartoldus led the team with 14 points and three steals, scoring all his points in the second half. Retos scored 13 but shot just 1-7 from downtown. Dascy scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Forward Alex Stoyle '14 tied a career-high by scoring 12 points off the bench. Hughes scored six points and dished out seven assists, while Kriskus also scored 11, again all in the second half. Brandeis will continue their UAA schedule on the road against the Case Western Reserve University Spartans this Friday. The Judges will then travel to Pittsburgh to square off against Carnegie Mellon this upcoming Sunday.
(01/16/12 5:00am)
The Cognitive Neuroscience Society has named Prof. Eve Marder (BIOL) the recipient of the 18th Annual George A. Miller Prize.
(12/22/11 5:00am)
Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign John Unsworth will be the next vice provost for Library and Technology Services and the chief information officer, according to Provost Steve Goldstein '78 in a Dec. 21 email to the Brandeis community. "I am delighted that John has accepted the position," wrote Goldstein in an email to the Justice. "Technology and the library are at the center of the university and John's leadership will be central to chart the best course for Brandeis." Unsworth will be replacing Perry Hanson, who announced his retirement last April. Unsworth was selected by a search committee chaired by Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research Dan Feldman and Prof. Ann Koloski-Ostrow (CLAS). In an interview with the Justice, Unsworth, who will begin work at his new position mid-February, said that addressing "infrastructure issues" will be one of his priorities as vice provost and CIO. According to him, "challenges" like deferred maintenance to the library are not handled, then there are collections that are potentially "at risk." Unsworth also said that the University's feature of combining library and information technology services under the LTS umbrella, as opposed to keeping them as separate entities, is "somewhat unusual" and presents itself as "both an opportunity and a challenge." "What particularly attracted me to this job at Brandeis is that that combination, I think, can work really well together," he said, "and when it does, [it] can provide really interesting work opportunities for staff [and] really interesting support opportunities for faculty and students." Decisions regarding service and information outsourcing will also be addressed, according to Unsworth, particularly handing both control and cost-effectiveness of information outsourcing, publishing articles by researchers. In addition, Unsworth discussed the digitization of research data that encourages researchers to use computational methods for their analyses. "That, I think, will be one of the challenges for a combined library/IT organization in the future," said Unsworth. According to Goldstein, Unsworth will be "responsible for the university libraries, technology infrastructure, administrative systems, academic and instructional technology, and user support in a period of transformational change in all these arenas." Hanson noted in an interview with the Justice that Unworth's role at the University of Illinois will be a major advantage to Unsworth as he begins at Brandeis, saying, "There's a huge plus in having most recently been dean of the number-one library school in the country because he knows where library science is going, what it's going to be, and I think that's huge, because one of the hardest things going on today in higher ed is the role of the library." "John brings a rare combination of experience and insight into both the library and technology fields," wrote Goldstein. "Given we have a merged library and technology organization—considered the cutting-edge approach—John's skills are an ideal fit." Unsworth is a 1981 graduate from Amherst College, earned an M.A. in English from Boston University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia in 1988. When asked what advice he had for Unsworth, Hanson, who served as vice provost for LTS and CIO for 12 years, said, "Appreciate the strength of the LTS staff, how good they are, how funny they are, because they're really remarkable." —Andrew Wingens and Emily Kraus contributed reporting.
(12/12/11 5:00am)
Art is born from past art but manages to create something new and unfamiliar. The graduate student composers at Brandeis continued this process on Saturday in the Slosberg Recital Hall with their concert "New Works for Strings," where their string compositions were performed by the Lydian String Quartet. The concert is part of the "New Music Brandeis" concert series in which Brandeis' graduate student composers showcase their original work.
(12/12/11 5:00am)
Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton and Florida Panthers right wing Krystofer Barch battled it out early in the first period in a fight that would serve as a good indicator for how the rest of the game would unfold: scrappy opponents facing off in a battle of endurance.
(12/12/11 5:00am)
The women's basketball team is heading into winter break on a high note after notching two notable wins last week.
(12/05/11 5:00am)
Last weekend, the Free Play Theatre Cooperative took on the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof in the Schwartz Auditorium. Written by David Auburn and first produced in 2000, Proof later went on to Broadway, where it earned rave reviews. It was also adapted into a 2005 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anthony Hopkins. Director Jessie Field '13 put on a poignant reenactment of the play with an intimate cast of just four actors. The play opens in Chicago, where a young woman, Catherine (Jamie Perutz '14), is celebrating her 25th birthday with her father Robert (Dave Benger '14). The audience soon discovers that Robert is not actually alive when Catherine states somberly, "You're dead, aren't you?" It is thus illuminated that this scene is actually a hallucination, a memory or some form of flashback, as the play oscillates between reality and fantasy. This feeling of uncertainty pervades the entire production, and the audience is continually asked to question the veracity of the actions they are viewing. Once the initial confusion is untangled through Catherine's dialogue with her father, the audience learns that Robert, a once-esteemed mathematician, has succumbed to a heart attack and his funeral is rapidly approaching. In addition to losing her father, Catherine must also deal with her overly exuberant sister Claire's (Caitlin Partridge '13) attempts to convince her to move with her to New York. In addition to that, Catherine develops a relationship with her father's former student Hal (Jonathan Plesser '13). The crux of the plot becomes her struggle to convince both him and Claire that it was she, not Robert, who wrote a mathematical proof in her father's notebook that was previously thought to be unsolvable. Amidst tragedy and loss, and beset by doubt and confusion, Catherine half-heartedly attempts to prove herself to the other characters by questioning their mistrust of the situation, but she quickly becomes exasperated. Proof has the smallest cast of any play I have ever seen. Although such a small ensemble cast allowed for strong character growth for each individual, it was Catherine who truly changed. Initially fragile and dejected, Catherine evolves tremendously as she deals with her father's death and explores her passions with Hal. Perutz effortlessly embodies the depressed-yet-determined Catherine who is the unsung rock of her broken family, being the sole caretaker of her father throughout his illness. Perutz and Benger's father-daughter scenes were truly enchanting and managed to prove believable, even though the traditional roles of parent and child were reversed. The difference in personalities between Catherine and Claire was also a strong aspect of Proof. In the play's second scene, the audience sees the first exchange between the sisters. The scene begins with Catherine and Claire eating breakfast as Catherine listens inattentively to her sister. Partridge's portrayal of Claire's bubbly demeanor starkly contrasted with Perutz's depiction of Catherine's dreary mood, and the sisters' dissimilar dispositions were thus clearly shown. Partridge depicted Claire wonderfully through her quick wit and self-centered demeanor. Watching this conversation revealed the nature of Claire's character, showing everything from her own selfish, small perspective. Perutz played well off of Partridge's character, responding with short aloof statements to demonstrate her disregard for her sister. The themes of doubt and "proof" were prominent throughout the production and the characters served as astounding mediums to express them. Catherine expresses her fears to Hal about inheriting not just her father's mathematical abilities, but his insanity as well. Also, Catherine has to face Claire and Hal's skepticism of her mathematical abilities and has to simultaneously tackle her inner pain and anxiety. Proof took place in the auditorium of Schwartz Hall without a backdrop and with very few props, mainly math notebooks and beverages. The costumes remained similar, and there was not a whole lot of movement from the characters; most of their dialogue was stationary. The simplicity let the focus fall on the actors and the plot rather than fancy backgrounds and elaborate apparel. The play ran for two hours, and the pacing worked well, giving enough time for plot development that relied on flashbacks to prior years of Catherine's life. Proof contained an abstract compilation of advanced math, mental instability, love and family pressures. The continual question of doubt manifests itself in every aspect of the play with an air of suspense present throughout that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end.
(11/21/11 5:00am)
Hillel Theater Group's production of The Last Night of Ballyhoo is a sweet and sincere tale that combines an interesting amalgamation of Jewish family values with the search for personal identity and even a little bit of Christmas cheer. If that idea seems like a tough one to swallow, it is, and not just for the audience, but for the Freitag and Levy families, the play's central focus.
(11/21/11 5:00am)
Last Thursday, Sebastian Smee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for The Boston Globe, spoke on "The Not-so-Fine Art of Art Criticism" to a packed house in the Lee Gallery of the Rose Art Museum. His presentation was part of the Brandeis Arts Council Lecture Series and was supplemented with a round-table discussion facilitated by Prof. Nancy Scott (FA) and Dabney Hailey, the director of Academic Programs at the Rose.
(11/14/11 5:00am)
Melancholia, written and directed by controversial director Lars Von Trier, is about coming to terms with death—not of individuals, but of the world as we know it. A seemingly morbid concept, centered around another planet hurtling towards Earth, Von Trier communicates the film in a vast, majestic and awe-inspiring way. Focusing more on character development than plot and traditional narratives, the movie runs less like a conventional movie and more like a piece of poetry. The film focuses on two sisters, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who are polar opposites of each other. While Justine is mysterious, introspective and accepting, Claire is sharp, nervous and intolerant. Emotions of both confidence and despair overtake them as they must confront Melancholia, the approaching planet that will soon hit Earth. The audience discovers how the opposing forces—Justine and Claire, planet Earth and the planet Melancholia—comes to resolution. This film is grand and ambitious, filled with sweeping music and quiet suspense, as the visually-impressive Melancholia determine the characters' fate. The film opens with the extravagant wedding of Justine and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård). However, the wedding is not a celebration of love, but rather a gathering of the social elite. The guests are wrapped in their own ambitions and have taken the opportunity of the wedding to exploit their desires. Justine trudges through her wedding, disturbed by nebulous longings. She seeks aid from her family, but they are no use. Their advice only reflects their own needs and troubles. Not even Justine's husband-to-be can understand her enigmatic suffering. He tries to comfort her with his own dream: their future life on an apple farm. In a movie that expresses itself more through action than dialogue, much is meant in few words. "Maybe we can hang a swing on one of the trees," he says, suggesting children. "Let's talk about it when we get there," she replies. The dialogue captures Michael's ignorance of Justine's needs, while raising the question of why Justine wants this wedding in the first place—perhaps a need for escape? Claire adds to Justine's emotional trouble. "Sometimes, I hate you so much," Claire says, frustrated that Justine doesn't carry out the wedding as a happy bride. So Justine is alone, struggling with her demons. She can only find peace in brief excursions during the wedding, taking comfort watching a mysterious red planet in the sky. Trier works his film on juxtaposition and opposite doubles. Just as the juxtaposition of the grand wedding with depressed Justine communicates disorder, so does the second part of the film contrasts the first. Now, Justine is no longer with Michael. Silence occupies the mansion, inhabited only by Justine, Claire, her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) and their son Leo (Cameron Spurr). Justine walks around in a dazed, yet conscious state. John and Claire seem to treat her as an inferior sister at the edge of madness. Then a fated presence steps in. Melancholia, the mysterious planet that Justine first saw, has grown significantly in size and threatens to collide with Earth. As they await the approach of Melancholia, they must confront their beliefs and fears. The new planet creates a twist. The earlier wedding becomes meaningless against these greater matters. Melancholia inspires fear and fascination within the mansion. The roles are reversed. Now Claire suffers greatly, worrying what will be left for Leo if Melancholia hits Earth. She tries to fight this fate. Justine, however, is neither in a state of hope nor defeat. She rises above her circumstances, regains strength and accepts the end. She seems almost in love with Melancholia. I was fascinated by the performances of the lead actresses. Dunst portrays Justine with great depth. The audience feels Justine's pain and need for something greater. Equally amazing, Gainsbourg plays Claire, a woman holding dearly onto her only son, living for him. These actresses can speak volumes without a word. They show something that is rare and beyond pain during a time of no tomorrow. Throughout most of the film, they are not in dialogue, but in action, executing daily tasks such as bathing, watching Melancholia in fear or awe—their performances are spellbinding. The film honestly confronts this possibility: What if the world ceased to exist? What, then, is the meaning of life? The answer is told through the poetic structure of majestic images: a slow motion of a horse collapsing and Melancholia completely obliterating Earth. These images open the film. They map out the events of the film like fate. Sounds also poetically structure the film. The prelude of Tristan und Isolde, an opera about the doomed fate of lovers, plays whenever the planet Melancholia emotionally affects Justine. The motif of the orchestral music works magically. Many other motifs haunt the scenes, such as the cave that Leo constantly asks Justine to play in. The cave is an allusion to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," a story of escaping a dark cave to see light and thus attain truth and enlightenment. But the cave they talk about here portends a darker truth, seeing what is greater than you and accepting it. These echoes return to us, their gravity resounding greater and greater each time, and they stay with us past the final scene of the movie.
