Ida (2013) REVIEW

At this moment in time, the three films with the highest box office sales from last weekend are Beauty and the Beast, Power Rangers, and Kong: Skull Island respectively. While all of them cover a wide variety of different themes and plots, they are all bound together by one commonality: a lack of subtlety. This is not meant as a critique (there's really nothing subtle about a giant gorilla destroying everything in its path), but it goes to show that films filled with tacit motivations and expressions are not what an audience looks for in a blockbuster. The phrase "less is more" truly defines what separates a good movie from an amazing one. I believe that mainstream American film-making could
benefit from a little more nuance, taking inspiration from little indie gems such as Ida.

Winner of the 2013 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Ida is a story based around Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a novice nun. In the beginning, Anna, a resident of the convent nearly her entire life,  receives a request to see her last living relative before she takes her final vows. She agrees to this visit, despite her obvious discomfort with leaving the convent.

Anna immediately develops a distaste for her aunt, Wanda (Agata Kulesza). A heavy drinking and sexually promiscuous Communist party judge, Wanda serves as Anna's polar opposite on nearly every level. Watching the conflict of personalities between the two  It soon becomes obvious that Wanda's intention of the meeting is to prevent Anna from becoming a nun. Her main strategy to accomplish this is by revealing some startling information to Anna: her real name is Ida Lebenstein, she's Jewish, and her parents were killed in the Holocaust. This is typically life-changing and even upsetting news, but for Ida, even if that is the case, she sure doesn't show it. All kinds of news, good or bad, are met with the same apathetic expression, all while reservedly staring at her feet. This character trait becomes the perfect illustration of who Anna is as a person.

Seeing Anna traverse her way through the secular world is truly fascinating. Most nuns we see in movies spent at least a portion of their lives outside the walls of the convent. Anna, on the other hand, is embarking on a new journey every hour she is away. Every conversation she has and every place she goes is a brand new experience from her. Many of the things we take for granted in society are challenging for her to grasp, especially when out of the context of religion. Like "The Allegory of the Cave", Anna's reality has been shattered and now she must work to find out who she really is.

Back to the topic of subtlety, what makes Ida such a mesmerizing experience is that the characters go through some extremely powerful emotions, and yet these feelings are only hinted at through the context in which they happen. For example, while in the city, Anna meets a charismatic saxophonist named Lis (Dawid Ogrodnik). Even when interacting with him, Anna manages to keep her blank expression on at all times. Yet, it becomes undeniable that she likes him, using only their simple conversations as clues. Anna could have very easily just told Wanda that she found Lis attractive. However, there is less emotional power in doing so. Humans do not share every thought and feeling they possess, so why should movie characters?

As far as Ida's cinematography is concerned, it is nothing short of haunting. Make no bones about it, this is a depressing and oftentimes disturbing film. Not like a horror movie per sey, but it sure does have its fair share of shocking moments. I'm usually quite hesitant when I see that a film is made in black and white. Done correctly, it can add a new layer of emotion to the story that greatly enhances the viewing experience. Done poorly, black and white can seemingly drag the plot along, while exuding a pretentious vibe in the process. Ida is definitely in the former, with the lack of color adding to a sense of bleakness that the characters often experience. The film also makes use of long cuts, lessening the amount of shots used in a scene. In fact, some of the most exciting and suspenseful scenes of the film consist of only one shot. This leads to some unexpected results, since most action-packed scenes in film employ the use of many short cuts. The most amazing aspect of this film, is that heart-wrenching moments barely rise above a whisper. There is no loud crescendo of classical scores mixed with pained cries of defiance. In the universe of Ida, horrible things occur and the world continues as though nothing happened at all. In my opinion, that's more disturbing than anything Saw can throw at me.

The work that went into this film is quite interesting. After interviewing over 400 actresses, director Pawel Pawlikowski chose young Agata Trzebuchowska for the part after a friend saw her reading in a cafe. She apparently possessed no acting experience, and never even aspired to be in movies. Her lack of experience does not show at all on Ida, as she manages to perfectly perform a very complex character. Playing Anna is all about sending hints through visual cues, as her lines are not too revealing. This is a challenge for any actor, and yet Trzebuchowska does it with such grace. It's difficult to imagine any actor could have played Anna better than she did. This film manages to emanate such beauty with only a two million dollar budget; the best part is that it does not even feel like a movie on a small budget. Sometimes, special effects cannot compensate for expert directing.

Ida reads like an Ginsberg poem, chock-full of subliminal themes planted in a sea of artistry. Films like Power Rangers read more like a picture book, with everything laid about before you in pretty colors. Don't get me wrong, there are some stellar picture books, and I am not saying the movies you enjoy have anything to do with your intelligence. However, if you find yourself looking for a film with that subtle beauty that can be found in poetry, look no further than Ida. It is- in a word- seismic.

Watch the trailer for Ida here:

Perfume Genius- Put Your Back N 2 It (2012)

Talk to any LGBT person, and it is very likely they had a certain song or musical artist that they listened to as they were coming to terms with their sexuality/gender identity. For me, there were two artists that I listened  to endlessly upon realizing that I was gay. The first was, embarrassingly enough, Sam Smith (in fact my first ever slow dance with another boy was to "I'm Not The Only One"), and the second was Perfume Genius, the stage name of singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas.

I loved Perfume Genius' music ever since I first discovered him in 2012. Personally, I have changed a lot since first hearing Put Your Back N 2 It, but I have not outgrown his music. Back then, his music held a very different meaning for me; I focused much more on the tender nature of his music and skeletal instrumentals that seemed to speak to the quiet and awkward teenager I was. He came off as one of the more authentic voices in indie rock at the time. Of course, what does authentic actually mean? But in Hadreas' case, I felt there were no gimmicks in his music, no trends he was trying to follow, and nothing about his music that was not deeply personal.

When I was coming out in high school, suddenly his music, specifically from Put Your Back N 2 It, contained a whole new meaning for me. Lyrics about being gay and dealing with personal adversity resonated with me in a way that was completely different when I kept myself in the closet. This is not to say you have to be LGBT to enjoy Perfume Genius, however, I think being queer gives you a perspective on his music that you would not be able to detect otherwise.

Put Your Back N 2 It centers around two key themes: homosexuality and sexual abuse. The latter is more apparent on one the album's strongest singles, "Dark Parts". Hadreas' delivers an ocean of piano over lyrics that morosely examine the lingering trauma that victims of sexual violence carry with them. As heart-wrenching as the beginning of the song is, it ends with with an assurance  that the victim's pain is also Mike's, letting them know that they are not alone in their suffering. The track "Normal Song" expresses the same type of sentiment, with lines like "no violence, no matter how bad, can darken the heart." The instrumentals here are very stripped back, only utilizing a handful of different chords, yet they make themselves overwhelming in their simplicity. Hadreas' soft and tender voice is allowed to dictate the emotion of the song, and I challenge anyone to listen to this song and not come out of it with watery eyes.

"Hood" is probably the strongest single on the entire record. The track describes a fear that anybody who's loved another can relate to: that a person will love you less if they knew you 100%. If you watch interviews with Perfume Genius (I think I've seen about all of them), you will see that he often talks about his own feelings of nervousness and self-censorship, especially when it comes to performing and writing music. "Hood" is undeniably tense, perfectly reflecting the anxiety one feels in the infancy of a relationship; you are constantly worried about messing up and destroying a potentially beautiful moment of your life. Upon watching the music video, this feeling becomes even more palpable.

Even though our society has become more progressive ever, fear still rules the psyche of many LGBT individuals. Speaking from experience, holding hands with a partner can be an absolutely nerve wracking ordeal. Most times nothing happens, but the bewildered stares and cries of "Faggot!" remain a constant threat, and sometimes it is even worse than that. Hadreas tackles this issue on "All Waters", expressing a longing to hold a lover's hand "with no hesitating". Again, the song itself is stripped back to simplistic chords, but the feelings they generate perfectly couple Hadreas' voice. I choke up every time I hear, because I possess the same longing for normalcy that he does, for the ability to be myself with no fear whatsoever.

Perfume Genius stands as one of the more unique and interesting singer-songwriters of the decade. His musical career is a coming-of-age story resembling the journey that many queer people face; progressing from a state of concealing your true self, to one of supreme pride in what you are. Listen to "Normal Song" and then listen to his latest track "Slip Away" (which has the best music video of the year so far), it's like listening to two different people. And yet, it is still the same Perfume Genius, just a more self-assured one, as emotional as ever.

Watch the video for "Hood" here: