arts // no. 8

 

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Kong returns to glory in Vietnam Era

     
 

> ‘Kong: Skull Island’ film review

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Greg Waldock
Staff Writer

 

ince the beginning of the endless

Hollywood monster movie
remakes, directors have been trying
to “go back to the roots” with their
interpretations of creatures ranging
from Frankenstein to Godzilla.

The goal has always been to capture
the initial success of whatever film had
made a monster famous. The most
obvious example is Peter Jackson’s King
Kong (2005), a froth of amazing and
terrible scenes poured into a bland
three-hour Hollywood mold. Jackson
and his crew went to painstaking lengths
to capture the feel of the original Kong,

—_s;
- —_

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the era he was created in, and the entire
setting of the movie. I, Frankenstein (2014)
is another example of a superficial attempt
to recreate a design without looking at
the themes the design brought around.
Kong: Skull Island does not do
that. It takes inspiration primarily
from two very different sources: the
war-weariness and dark humour
of Apocalypse Now (1978), and the
fantastic creature designs of Hayao
Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli. Keep
an eye out for the myriad of references
to both, as it’s a treat for fans of film.
Skull Island has the traditional
large—and expendable—human cast,
but when the characters are alive, they're
hugely entertaining, and their deaths are
surprisingly creative. The film’s director,

Jordan Vogt-Roberts, seems to really
enjoy dismantling old tropes, keeping
you guessing as to the fate of obvious
shoo-in deaths and heroic sacrifices.
Samuel L. Jackson is, in my eyes,
one of the best things about this movie.
He comes across as a kind of god of
war, absolutely relishing in the fact
that Kong is giving him the fight that
Vietnam didn’t. Tom Hiddleston has
some sort of James Bond vibe going
on, and would bea mostly flat (though
suave as hell) character if it weren’t for
his backstory and development scattered
throughout the film like Easter eggs.
King Kong is the real star, though,
and Skull Island does not shy away from
that. He takes up a huge amount of
screen time in broad daylight, which

   

is refreshing after Gareth Edwards’

notoriously dimly-lit Godzilla (2014). All
the action is out in the open and glorious

to behold. Not only is Kong fast and
furious with his strength and creativity,
but he’s also surprisingly vulnerable.
He gets cut by swatting helicopters out
of the sky, he bleeds when he’s shot,
and it gives his fight scenes with other
monsters a lot more depth and tension.
Coupled with outstanding
cinematography and editing,
unique monster designs, and the
pessimistic atmosphere of the 1970s,
Kong: Skull Island is an absolute
treat and well worth the watch.

Oh, and there’s a post-credits scene.

Fans of Toho will find it very interesting.

A play within a play within a dream

> ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ play review

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor

 

D ouglas College’s latest Winter

2017 production, which opened
on Friday, entices audiences into the
shadowy world of Shakespeare over the
course of one enchanting evening.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
directed by Thrasso Petras and produced
by the Departments of Theatre and
Stagecraft & Event Technology, runs
in the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts
Theatre until Friday, March 24.

The first thing to note about the
play is the atmosphere, which draws you
into the soporific setting from the very
start. Before the show begins, the quiet,
lulling forest sounds of owls and crickets
play softly in the background. But no
need to worry about dozing off—once life
bursts onto the gorgeously-constructed,
lantern-lit set, the action is unmissable.

Speaking as someone who never
thought they could like Shakespeare, and
who admittedly hasn't had much exposure
to the playwright outside of high school
English class, I was pleasantly surprised
to find how immersed I was in the play. I
thought I'd find the language stilted and
the vocabulary obsolete, but the actors
make it immediately accessible, and the
verses (and donkey puns) flow naturally.

The costumes do seem considerably
less traditional than one might expect
from a Shakespeare play. All of the

Athenians wear camouflage-patterned
clothes and black combat boots, but
somehow it’s entirely appropriate

for the mood. The outfits of the

fairies also work excellently: Cobweb
(Chloé MacDonald-Comely), Moth
(Arjun Panesar), Mustardseed (Allie
Melchert), and Peaseblossom (Michael
Bernard) are clad in bright red tutus.

Between the clothes and the fluid
movements of the actors, the fairy
characters possess a certain bounciness
and otherworldliness that’s both
whimsical and faintly, preternaturally
unnerving. This is especially true of the
fairy Puck (Christian Krushel), who takes
mischief to the extreme and delights in
carrying out the orders of the fairy king
and queen Oberon (Noah Oryema) and
Titania (Lexie Butler) with as much havoc
wreaked as possible. When watching
the schemes of the fairies, you get a very
real sense of their not-human attitudes
toward mortal emotion and suffering.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is
undeniably humorous. Particularly
comedic are the exuberant wannabe-
actor Bottom (Sargil Tongol) and his
fellow players Flute (Panesar), Quince
(MacDonald-Comely), Snout (Bernard),
and Snug (Melchert). The melodramatic
comportments of these characters
truly bring to life their performances-
within-a-performance. It takes skill to
play an inanimate object, but it takes
even more skill to be an actor playing

an amateur actor playing an inanimate

object, which is pulled off hilariously.
The production advertizes itself

as dark as well as comedic. According

to the program, the play is performed

to show the “shadow side of love.” This

aspect shows throughout, particularly

with the young Athenian lovers, starting

from Hermia (Frances Warwick) being

threatened with death by her own

father for being in love with Lysander

(Colin Amor), to Helena’s (Ashley

Chodat) affections for Demetrius

(Blake Hobson-Dimas) to the point

of begging for abuse, to the intense

behavioural changes that take place

once the characters are ensorcelled by

the fairies. Passions are amplified by the

 

magic, yet the desire and lust portrayed
by the actors are still recognizable
forms of base human emotions.

The best-handled part of the play
was how deftly it switched between
humour and seriousness, with shifts
in mood augmented by subtle lighting
changes. You're taken from laughter at
the ludicrous to unease at the potential
for sexual violence within moments;
like in a dream, you're never quite
sure where the exact point was when
the mood slides from one to the next.
And with the tasteful smoke effects
and the fairies’ provocative playfulness
throughout the play, by the end of
the night you're left with that faintly
disbelieving sense of dreamlike wonder.

Skull Island Photo by Chuck Zlotnick - © 2015 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

 

Photos by Analyn Cuarto