A Weekend Full of Fresh, Local Dance

The fourth annual Massachusetts Dance Festival, held over the past weekend at UMass, is one of the rare events in the region that make you forget the remoteness of Amherst from fine arts hubs such as Boston and New York. Indeed, the eleven dance companies that put on a fast-paced, eclectic two-night gala concert last Friday and Saturday reminded us that Massachusetts, despite having a reputation for producing but not keeping top-notch dancers, still has a vibrant dance scene that more people oug

In This World, Her Voice Speaks Volumes

I am not a fan of voice-over movie trailers. To me, a narrator’s voice trying to glamorize an upcoming film alienates me from the actual story and belittles my intelligence, for it bears the assumption that I can’t evaluate the film’s potential without someone explaining to me how great the movie is going to be. And the industry knows this too: voice-over trailers are by now a memory, too often the subject of homage or parody. Without question, however, the booming voices over two-and-half-minut

In Giddy World, Defiance Has a Jingle

Imagine the following scenario: your country has endured a dictator’s rule for 15 years. The economy has grown, but so has the number of casualties of its political unrest and the government’s stranglehold on freedom. Now your people have the chance to vote him out, but they are too afraid to become the new victims. What do you do? According to “No,” the answer is: you give them happiness. Or give them impressions of happiness, as in highly Westernized images on television of hip-hop and balle

Zak Piper: Giving “The Interrupters” a Voice

This Thursday, a film screening of “The Interrupters,” a documentary on workers who prevent gun violence in Chicago, will take place in Pruyne Lecture Hall at 8 p.m. Co-sponsored by Careers in Education Professions, Black Students Union, the EDU, the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Amherst College Entrepreneurs Society, the event will feature Co-Producer Zak Piper and Ricardo “Cole” Williams, one of the three violence “interrupters” (along with Eddie Bocanegra and Ameena Matthews) w

The Sound and the Fury, Now Live

Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat singer who held a concert at the Buckley Recital Hall last Friday, cracked a light joke shortly before her performance began. Amplified by the microphone that she tore from the stand, her hearty laugh rumbled and echoed in the air. She kicked aside her high heels within seconds of her entrance and seemed completely at ease. The audience did not quite share Tagaq’s composure. They politely listened to her anecdotes of the extreme cold in her hometown of Nunavik and h

Trickery of the Minds and a Bitter Pill

At first, “Side Effects” looks like another jab at the pharmaceutical industry. Coping with her husband’s release from jail, Emily (Rooney Mara) finds herself sliding deep into depression. Following a public meltdown and a suicide attempt, she begins to receive treatment from Dr. Banks (Jude Law), who prescribes some medications, but to no avail. Dr. Banks contacts Emily’s former psychiatrist Dr. Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who suggests that she try a new antidepressant: Ablixa. The drug see

A Raucous Ride with Plenty of Heart

In one of the decisive scenes in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Pat Solitano Sr. (Robert De Niro) strikes a parlay with his gambling friend while the rest of the crowd in the house — including his son Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Pat’s dance partner Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) — fire their opinions in high volumes. Comparing their volatility to a bundle of home-made bombs would not be inappropriate: Pat Sr. is banned from the Philadelphia Eagles stadium, Pat has recently been released from a mental heal

Love, Unsentimental and Unwritten

In what is probably not a good start to 2013, I am breaking two of my own rules for film reviews in writing about “Amour.” First, I read other film critics’ reviews halfway through drafting. Still baffled and frustrated, I then decided to frankly tell you that I don’t know what to think of it. I can tell you in a nutshell what other film critics think: they loved it. Universally acclaimed and hailed by some as an instant classic and having won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and a Best Picture nominat

Through a Tiger's Eyes, Hope and Illusion

Survival films allure us with a scenario that is thankfully distant yet palpably visceral. Civilization absent, society invisible, norms abandoned, life threatened and despair the fabric of everyday existence, the dire circumstances that a survivor faces grip the audience with suspense. Yet the true charm of survival films lies not in our imagination of these harsh circumstances, where we, too, hold our breath when the protagonist dives underwater to escape from a sinking ship or clasp our armre

James Bond is Back and Better than Ever

The 23rd and latest installment of the iconic spy film series by Ian Fleming, “Skyfall” is slick, sexy, exciting and above all, classic James Bond. Its loyalty to the franchise is rivaled only by that of Bond to MI6, the British intelligence agency that falls under attack both from an unexpected enemy and from the Parliament. Either side of the challenge presents a face-off: villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) brings a bitter reunion of kinship and betrayal, and the government brings up doubt ov

Experiencing the Magic of Meredith Monk

Watching Meredith Monk was a dream come true for me. Indeed, her concert had the rare magic of teleporting me from the Buckley Recital Hall to imaginary landscapes: when she performed parts of “Songs from the Hill” (1977), I was watching her at the top of a mountain in New Mexico under the scorching summer sun, where the music was born. And when her voice bounced with the piano keys in “Traveling,” I felt like a kid hopping along a grassy path in a vast open land, bounded only by the snowy range

Have No Doubts: League of Masters Scores Big

Fireworks never flash across the screen, but “The Master” celebrates the genius of acting, screen-writing, set design, directing and almost everything else about cinema with no less fuel and splendor. It is your typical Oscar suspect: an art-house independent film with more than a streak of ambition, an idolized director notable for his uncompromising style, a fierce cast, an intriguing story and as always, something contentious that nests at the tongue of the critics and the public alike. And y

Master of Her Domain, Queen of Her Heart

Majesty does not even begin to capture the poignancy and exhilarating splendor that “Beasts of the Southern Wild” radiates in its narrative. Exquisiteness often belies timidity and risk-averse strategies, but even with its gritty background the film nevertheless manages to both feed your curiosity for an intriguing story and appeals to your sentimental side. Awe-inspiringly constructed, it possesses a rare magic that dials up your attention — not because missing any detail will keep you from und

“Total Recall?” Total Action, Total Letdown

You’d think that after “Inception” the creative teams in Hollywood would come up with new tricks and twists on the omnipresent themes of dreams, double-identity and exploration of self. That is not the case. Continuing the genre’s legacy of optional innovation, most Hollywood action films remain just like your old computer: changing your desktop picture won’t give you a new machine. Excuse my cynicism, which seems a bit too harsh when you consider that “The Dark Knight Rises” is the latest exce

In Tepid Waters, the One that Lost its Way

You might not be familiar with the name Lasse Hallström, but if you were once a softie like me who used to fall for eye-candy cinematography, a twist of love and life philosophy and breezy plots, you might have dwelled happily on such films as “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993), “The Cider House Rules” (1999), “Casanova” (2005) or “Dear John” (2010), all crowd-pleasers directed by him. And just like ABBA, the Swedish pop group with whom he started his career as a filmmaker, Hallström knows a t

The Film On Fire: Are the Odds in its Favor?

Writing on a film that makes more money in its opening weekend than the combined domestic box office of all the films I have reviewed for The Student in over a year is quite a departure for me in many ways. For one, instead of having an entire theater to myself (or so I used to pretend), I had to swim in a sea of fresh, glowing teenagers whose popcorn crunching rivaled their pre-show chatter. For another, the hype and scrutiny of the film infiltrate our daily lives to an extent where the story b

Paradise With Clooney: Lost and Found

A seven-year gap is not long enough for Alexander Payne to erase his penchant for contemporary satire nor alter his signature style. With “The Descendants,” his first directorial feature since the now legendary independent hit “Sideways,” an Academy-Award winning black comedy released in 2004, the Payne formula seems to be working again. The question is: Have we had enough? The answer might come easiest from George Clooney fans, who cannot be too upset about a movie that keeps one of the most m

A Graceful Death in “Melancholia”

Stargazing has never been so devastating. “Melancholia,” [http://vimeo.com/couchmode/zentropa/videos/sort:newest/22072654] the latest work by controversial Danish director Lars von Trier (“Breaking the Waves,” “Dogville,” “Antichrist”) pieces together the final days before the end of the world through two sisters with opposite personalities, the impulsive but charming Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and the controlled, serious Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). A visual feast, the film takes its title fro

We'll Always Have "Midnight in Paris"

Warm, sentimental and funny, “Midnight In Paris” beautifully explores the clash of nostalgia and reality among fantastical encounters. Director Woody Allen takes us on an exquisite journey through time, spanning across the present, the 1890s and the 1920s — in the City of Light that reeks of wine, music, poignancy and genius, while effortlessly depicting conflicts inherent in the human nature. Only with such grace can the movie truly do Paris justice, and Allen doubtlessly did that, regardless o