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Volume 124 Issue 84
kansan.com
Friday, January 27, 2012
the student voice since 1904
Tapas on Mass seeks to offer unique flavor on busy street
PAGE 3
ENTERTAINMENT
Review
"We Need To Talk About Kevin" //Landon McDonald
//Landon McDonald
Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
What's it like to be the mother of a killer? The nature vs. nurture debate sprouts horns and a tail in Lynne Ramsay's "We Need To Talk About Kevin," a singularly disquieting highbrow horror film that explores the taboo subject of maternal apathy with nightmare logic, gut-wrenching performances and dialogue sharp enough to draw blood.
Tilda Swinton stars as Eva, a globetrotting travel writer who finds her free spirit tethered by an unplanned pregnancy. Reluctant to settle down with her amicable husband Franklin (John C. Reilly), Eva is implicitly resentful of Kevin from the moment of his birth. Yet the child, who gradually comes to resemble Swinton more and more, displays no neediness, only a cold, studied indifference and a love of cruel games and tacit manipulation. He is clearly a monster in the making, but of whose making? The film, which unfolds in a fog of memory months after Kevin has committed his final atrocity, wisely leaves that mystery in the hands of the viewer.
Swinton gives the performance of 2011 as the haggard, haunted Eva. With her hair dyed black and her alabaster alien features muted by imagined years of self-loathing, the Scottish actress becomes the aching embodiment of a profoundly broken woman. Additional credit must be given to Ezra Miller, who plays the adolescent Kevin as a smirking, seething cauldron of contempt, and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, whose score infuses every scene with creeping implacable dread.
Simply put, seek out "Kevin" as soon as possible and discover how every parent's worst nightmare can become a movie lover's dream come true. From the surreal opening reverie to the nihilistic fury of its climax, this is a film designed to leave scars. It is also one of the past year's few genuine masterpieces. Just leave the expectant mothers at home.
FINAL RATING: 4 OUT OF 4 STARS
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
face.
"I wasn't meeting people," she said. "I was kind of going through people withdrawals"
Determined to overcome her situation she turned to the Internet. Jankord began to scour through blogs and websites in search of a solution to her problem. Her search first brought her to the 365 Project, an initiative in which participants take one photograph each day for an entire year.
Relentlessly, she continued to search until finally she came across something that was new to her and grabbed her attention.
"A lot of people I knew were doing the 365 Project so I decided to do something more original," she said.
Unlike the 365 Project, 100 Strangers is a project that requires socialization. The first objective of
class," Jankord said. "An elderly couple that I met by Potter Lake told me their life story."
The second half of the project is taking the photo (with permission) of the strangers who shared their story. While meeting new people and collecting the stories of strangers was appealing to Jankord, it was the second half of the project that intrigued her most of all.
She had hoped to be admitted to the School of the Arts to study photography, but was declined. 100 Strangers became an opportunity for her to pursue her love of art as well as to build confidence and overcome the difficulties of meeting new people.
"This project stood out to me because I wanted to do something that involved photography," Jankord said.
Setting out and onto campus
"I think what she's doing is pretty courageous, daring," Teron Gaumer said after sharing a story with Jankord and becoming one of her strangers.
Often times it is this fear of rejection that stunts our bravery and keeps us from meeting new people. Overcoming her nerves, Jankord has continued to collect strangers and has now documented the photographs and stories of nearly twenty strangers.
"It was when I got my first rejection that I first got nervous," she said.
She remembers not being very nervous in the beginning.
"It really helped me get out there and meet people," she said.
Jankord is not the only student on campus participating in the project.
Collin Baffa, a senior from
"In day to day life you walk past so many people and you just have a brief encounter, you don't even notice them," he said. "Now I'm stopping people and getting to know them and it's interesting because they're often a lot more friendly than you would think."
According to the 100 Strangers page on Flickr, there are currently more than 7,000 participants.
For more information about 100 Strangers, including portfolios of the project's participants, you can visit www.100strangers.com and www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers.
Baffa, much like Jankord, began the project as a way to grow as a photographer and to break out of social timidity.
TYLER BIERWIRTH/KANSAN
Kody Collins, a sophomore from Overland Park, enjoys a non-alcoholic White Russian while dressed in character as "The Dude" during The Big Lebowski night at Jaybowl on Thursday. Students enjoyed free popcorn and bowling while watching the movie.
from them."
CLASSIFIEDS 7 CRYPTOQUIPS 4 SPORTS 8
CROSSWORD 4 OPINION 5 SUDOKU 4
- Edited by Anna Allen
all contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
They've got shoes, but if you've got your own, bring 'em. Cosmic bowling at 10 p.m. at the Jaybowl in the Union.
Forecasts done by University students. For a more detailed forecast,
Break out those wellies!