Studies Suggest: Vol. 4
Studies Suggest showcases nice things that should be worth your time. It is a list of media I enjoyed recently or that I found interesting. There are no set rules for this. Maybe it’s a movie, an album, an interesting article, or basically whatever I like.
Undone
After barely surviving a car accident, Alma finds herself developing abilities to manipulate time and space. These new powers might help her to discover the truth about her father’s death. Upon this dimension-spanning murder mystery backdrop, Undone asks a quite an ambitious question. Are people with schizophrenia truly mentally ill? Or do they maybe possess a connection to a different realm of reality? While this frame admittedly might not be too innovative or could seem esoteric in a bad sense, the artwork it contains is captivating and deeply touching. It negotiates family and relationship dynamics, celebrates life’s beauty as well as its fragility, and explores an extensive range of emotion. So you see - a generously filled color palette - to stay in the painting metaphor for another second. The unusual half live-action half animated cel-shading style of Undone might take some time to get used to, it provides the producers with the possibility to construct amazingly creative and surreal scenes. In this context, it might be difficult to believe, but Alma is one of the most naturally - for lack of a better term - written and empathy-sparking characters I have seen in a long time. So do yourself a favor and watch this hidden gem that unfortunately got lost in the flood of countless original releases for a surplus of streaming services for most.
David Hammons: Bliz-aard Ball Sale
David Hammons: Bliz-aard Ball Sale Cover
Source: amazon
I would argue that it is beneficial for everybody to delve into David Hammons’ katana-sharp and highly influential body of work as it represents an unapologetic and poignant depiction of the Black experience. Of course, it is quite easy to google the individual artworks like the African American Flag, his Body Prints, or the Higher Goals installations. But unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to get an insight into his work from the master storyteller himself. This book by Elena Filipovic might be the most informative and comprehensive resource on Hammons out there. She goes deep and discovers about everything that there is to unearth about the intentionally reclusive artist. The book strikes a nice balance of trying to uncovering the myth that is David Hammons while still paying respect to his wish for elusiveness and relative anonymity. The same goes for the artist’s legendary (in the truest sense of the word) and ephemeral Bliz-aard Ball Sale performance which exemplary stands for Hammons’ practice. Art for the sake of art and art for the sake of a message.
Hail, Caesar!
There seems to be no big meaning to Hail, Caesar! It is just the Cohen Brothers having fun in arranging an obscure grotesque. The movie follows a movie producer and “fixer” in his fights against the speedy hydra that was 1950s Hollywood. Every time he takes care of a problem, two new bad situations come to surface. A group of communists screenwriters formed around socialist writer Herbert Marcuse blackmailing the studio for ransom while discussing dialectic theory and reading Soviet Life magazine is just one of his issues. Hail, Caesar! is simultaneously an homage to a Hollywood era the directors admire as well as a satire of the problematic mechanics influencing that era (and probably today’s movie industry as well). After all, to precisely satire something, ideally, you have a place in your heart for it. As with most Cohen Brothers movies, they were able to recruit an all-star cast. Seeing George Clooney ruin a take in the last second because he can’t remember his lines, Tilda Swinton playing two twin authors writing for rivaling tabloid papers, or Alden Ehrenreich as screen eye-candy who can’t put two coherent sentences together is simply put just a lot of fun. Again, there is not really a point to this movie, but in the case of Hail, Caesar! that doesn’t mean it can’t be clever or entertaining.
The Last Dance
There already has been a lot written about the outstanding Michal Jordan documentary series by Jason Hehir but please just let me add my two cents. The Last Dance delivers everything you want from a comprehensive look at the career of one of the most iconic athletes of all time. It depicts a classical “hero’s journey” that is almost too impressive to be true and which could not have been written better by any Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. The documentary continuously overachieves (except the Dennis Rodman episode maybe) and shows all the great moments and storylines of Michael Jordan’s run with the Chicago Bulls but also shows a “more private side of the superstar”. Normally this would be a redundant documentary catchphrase but The Last Dance really keeps that promise - at any rate for Michael Jordan proportions. Highlight moments in that regard are him acknowledging the emotional price he had to pay to maintain his unbreakable will to win and to achieve definite greatness or his grief-struck howl when he won a championship on Father’s Day after having lost his own father to a tragic crime the previous summer. I also like, how Hehir incorporates the stories of Jordan’s main associates (again, except Rodman, whose detours I just find plain boring). May it be the coach and zen advocate Phil Jackson, clutch sharpshooter and coach of today’s Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, or Scottie Pippen - Michael’s Big Boi to his Andre 3000.
The Square
Ruben Östlund’s follow-up to his breakout hit Force Majeure might not be as popular, but it is in no way of lesser quality. The director once more excels within the awkward genre that he might have invented himself - modern socio-psychological drama maybe (for lack of a better term) - and proves his sharp eye for subtleties of human behavior as well as his resentment against snobby late-capitalist elites and their grotesque and ignorant lifestyles. The Square follows the chief curator of a museum for contemporary art in Stockholm as he tries to maneuver through a personal crisis while simultaneously attempting to set up and promote a controversial new exhibition. On the surface, the movie is viciously satirizing the contemporary art industry and its privileged audience. On a deeper level though, it confronts viewers with their own internalized xenophobia and modern conflicts like public versus private persona. Östlund builds collision scenarios with nerve-wracking social and interpersonal tension but never takes sides. He leaves the decision to yourself and provokes you to truthfully investigate your morals and what you would have done in these situations. The Square is an uncomfortable, unique, and at times exhilarating viewing experience that will probably stay in your memory for quite some time.
Hudson Mohawke - Archive EPs
Like the haunting cover artworks by Cali Thornhill DeWitt suggest, Hudson Mohawke is doing some proper flexing on this three EP compilation. Having had enough time on his hands because of lockdowns, the producer dug into his archives and decided to properly release many tracks and skits that were previously unavailable officially. Hudmo serves grandiose arrangements with horns and strings, nervous drum patterns, hard-hitting bases, excellent breaks and fills. Similar to Ritalin I guess, (if I understand the medicine correctly), many of the 160bpm hectic paced beats can be enerving and exhausting to some while others might find them quite soothing. In my case, they have a very calming and focusing effect. They are captivating as well as nod-provoking and illustrate why Hudson Mohawke is one of the stand-out talents from the last decade’s producer scene.
Thumbnail picture:
Bliz-aard Ball Sale, Cooper Square, New York, 1983. Photographed by Dawoud Bey.
Source: Public Delivery
