Midrange Weekly Sept 13
Your Weekly Round Up On What’s Got The Midrange Staff’s Attention
Midrange Staff @midrangeyvr
Hello friends and welcome back to Midrange Weekly. We are mere days from the Canadian federal election and if that’s a thing you feel like you’ve read far too many times in your adult life, well oh ya is that ever true. Less frequent thankfully (but insane that it happened at all), was the recent anti vax protest at the art gallery- this one in which the organizers overtly advertised for people to come in make up, bring bandages and tourniquets and… crutches? Seriously, slap that link above to get sense of how far gone some of these people are. It’s starting to seem like these assholes are losing the plot here, and yet we all have to keep watching this awful awful movie. Speaking of the cinema…
Let’s Talk About Shang-Chi
Spoiler Warning For The Whole Film Coming At Ya
It seems that every time Marvel and their attendant MCU does a ‘first’, an extra layer of analytical scrutiny is subjected to the project. We saw that with the release of Black Panther and Captain Marvel; in both cases the films were assessed not only through the lens of narrative and cinematic efficacy but as an analogue for representation in film. Black Panther was celebrated for its cultural enrichment and authentic connectivity with the black experience whereas Captain Marvel was unfairly derided and maligned through commentary that was often articulated along misogynistic pathways. It was unavoidable that the impact Shang-Chi would have on the MCU gestalt would be considered along similar contexts. Being the first film in the Marvel pantheon with an Asian main character, and indeed a largely Asian cast, it must navigate a complex overlay of sentiments about why this took so long, why this is important, and even why it’s problematic that this is viewed as important. Make no mistake it is a big deal that the largest cinematic industrial complex ever is platforming the Asian community to a far greater extent than it ever has before, but also highlights and accentuates the inherent- if not racism, then cultural hegemony- still at play in Hollywood. As welcome a development as Shang-Chi’s inclusion into the MCU is, the racial politics behind it obscures to an extent the merits or lack thereof of it as a piece of storytelling.
Conversely, rather trying to bifurcate these seemingly incompatible avenues in which to interpret the film, one can observe the embrace of Asian culture in Shang-Chi, in terms of its choreography, aesthetic, and spiritual inclinations as not only an audacious statement of political intent but an opportunity to refresh the now mundane Marvel origin story. The extent to which you want to entertain these considerations depends largely on your appetite for assiduously dissecting the kind of film with flying dragons and other weird shit. My appetite for such thing is considerable, so let’s do this.
Shang-Chi is something like the billionth Marvel film but also feels engagingly pioneering, no doubt to due the sporadic stops and starts of the Marvel release schedule during the age of COVID, but also how intentionally isolated (at least comparatively speaking) it is from the broader social dynamics of the MCU and its menagerie of characters. Shang-Chi’s titular hero (Simu Liu) is a young man, raised to be a killer by his father, Wenwu, the enigmatic and shadowy leader of a spectre like organized crime ring that goes be, err, the Ten Rings. The snazzy name comes from a series of ring like gauntlets Wenwu wields that gives him an array of gnarly powers not the least of which is borderline immortality. Wenwu gave up much of the violent larceny and political intrigue of his empire for his wife and children, and for a time things were good. However upon the death of his wife, Shang Chi’s mother Li (Fala Chen), Wenwu doubled down on his pursuit and consolidation of the material world and all of its conquests. His character is something of a personification of the existential axiom ‘if I can’t have love, I want power’.
Shang-Chi himself is considerably more conflicted about such morally onerous pursuits and flees to the West to live out an inconsequential life of obscurity, far from the Machiavellian machinations of his father. However when he, along with his estranged sister are tracked down and captured by their father after 10 years of sabbatical, they learn Wenwu’s ambitions have grown far more ethically perverse than they could have ever imagined. His deranged schemes, should they come to fruition would have debilitating ramifications upon Shang-Chi’s connection to his departed mother and his heritage. It also might kill the world maybe? More on that in a minute.
Much was made in the lead up to Shang-Chi’s release that this would be the first Marvel film to focus on martial arts based action. The west’s numerous flirtations with such forms of cinema are as abundant as they are often disastrous. Through a disharmonious confluence of uninspired choreography and ill envisioned camera work, fight scenes in movies like this are often choppy, blandly sequenced, and hard to follow. Movies filmed and produced in Asian countries, however- where these forms of combat originate from and therefore the culture has a much more intrinsic understanding- have a wider array of finessed combat and patiently positioned medium shot still cameras, thusly ensuring the movements of characters on screen are traceable and coherent. Marvel as a cinematic franchise had expanded its stylistic adventurism into a litany of different sub genres, often with pretty compelling results. Could the MCU produce a satisfying and genuine interpretation of a martial arts flick and scale it up to the spectacle it’s known for?
It turns out- ya kinda! Shang-Chi for the most part really nails its fight scenes, both in terms of conceptualization to execution, but as well as in framing. The choreography for its myriad encounters in this regard are fluid, rhythmically complex, tactically inventive and dazzlingly synchronized. While any neophyte film buff can argue that the key to a good fight scene is tempered and subdued camera work, Shang-Chi often disregards this dogma, but somehow gets away with it. Many of the fights, be it the bus scene, the building scaffolding scrap or the climatic encounters towards the end, employ much more acrobatic and nimble camera work, angling and reorienting almost as much as the characters on screen, yet the actual action is never distracted or obscured. That the camera work can get so gymnastic while still clearly and coherently translating the elaborate movements of the combatants on screen is subtly very impressive.
What’s more is that luxuriated Marvel flare that we have come to expect is surprisingly well integrated into combat scenarios that don’t often accommodate such things. Part of the stridently severe appeal to martial arts type fighting is its almost puritan adherence to the human body clashing in as direct and acute a manner as possible. Shang-Chi however manages to imbue several sequences with elaborate aplomb or vivid special effects. The several brawls in which Shang-Chi faces off against his father Wenwu, when those snazzy ten rings come into play are particularly excellent. The combination of traditional combat and inventive applications of the ten rings arsenal makes for vibrantly dynamic scenes. Even the final act that segues into large CGI monsters slapping each other around has more intricately choreographed movements and steps than such onscreen abstractions are usually known for.
Of course everyone went into Shang-Chi with some semblance of hope, concern, or intrigue as to how the combat would be handled. What was far less excepted was the film’s robust and thematic ruminations on millennial anxiety. While it seems an obvious topic to be exhumed by the narrative in retrospect I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s multiplex angles on the unique and asymmetrical challenges facing the Y2K generation. Shang-Chi and his friend Katy (Awkwafina) are in their mid 20s with a go nowhere job (figuratively speaking) that does little more than pay the bills. And yet they are genuinely happy in their diminutive role in the larger world. They have relative stability and a roof over their heads- what more could they ask for? Such is the recalibration that an entire generation has had to come to terms with. For so many of us ideas of one singularly fulfilling career, owning a house, or starting a family are simply ridiculous considerations. In tandem however, we must contend with the outmoded and unrealistic desires and expectations our parents have for us that are simply incompatible with reality. With increasingly hostile economic disequilibrium isolating us from social mobility, the idea of trying to maneuverer beyond one’s limited opportunities seem ever more futile- so why bother? This is the existential crises our leads find themselves in; giving up before they could even start because the system is so thoroughly rigged against them. The disorienting confluence, of guilt, regret, relief, aimlessness, and fear that animates these realties is highly salient through the film, as Shang-Chi struggles to understand his dynamic role within his family and the world. It’s a better movie for it.
What the film could have used less of however, was its near suffocating attempts at comic relief. Sadly most of this obnoxious heavy lifting comes from the character Katy who just can’t help but swing for the lowest hanging fruit of one liners at every opportunity, no matter how manufactured or awkwardly crammed in. The film seems near inundated at times with her witty, deprecating banter and exaggerated dry wit. Honestly the comedic straight man reacting of Simu Liu or the subdued, codeine laced mania of Ben Kingsley returning as Trevor Slattery is more entertaining than Katy’s prescriptive brand of loud humour. Awkwafina is a talented actor and brings a lot to the table, but the film forces her to be ‘on’ in a way that seems fundamentally less sincere than many of the other characters.
Tonally over zealous as it may be at times, Shang-Chi at least continues the Marvel trend of being extremely well cast. Lui’s mixture of resolute stoicism but also simmering and subtle hints of intriguing confidence makes him an excellent lead. Meng’er Zhang as Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing is under utilized in the film, but her brand of cynicism and near authoritarian efficiency is wonderfully tempered by her natural, if malnourished, capacity for empathy (plus she just looks really cool). While she only gets to do her thing in flashbacks, Fala Chan as the mother Li damn near steals the movie. Her ornate and humble sense of grace and immutable command of every interaction from fighting to the death to nurturing a child makes her mesmerizing to watch. Much has been made already of Tony Leung’s turn as the antagonist father Wenwu, and rightly so. He manages to take competing currents of his pathos- his despotic desire to rule, his voracious and consuming grief, and that torturous fear that comes with having to be a parent still once your partner is gone- and forces them to fractiously collide into a single stream of dangerous motivations. Leung deeply and earnestly explores the fertile narrative ground of what exactly do you focus on when the only person you could ever love is gone. What does it look like when that thing is work?
The film’s central conceit swirls around the fragile and precipitous relationship between Wenwu and Shang-Chi, and it’s the strongest material on the screen. Both of them convey stressfully unstable variations of love, fear, and regret in their interactions. The conflicting nature of both of them- Wenwu’s acclimation into being a loving father, and his haunted history and Shang-Chi’s desire to connect with his heritage but run from his family makes for two people who desperately wish to articulate the emotions they have metastasizing just under the surface but can’t quite articulate. Leung’s depiction of how grief can be a toxic, disorienting, and tragically destabilizing motivator makes for highly compelling emotional arc. The idea of how grief and that unrelenting pain that comes from absence can compel a person to break the world just for a slight, frankly unrealistic hope, that such pain can be mitigated was an excellent idea to orient the central threat around.
The problem is that Marvel takes the idea of world breaking way too far. The late stage inclusion of monstrous flying bat creatures from another dimension, the largest of which could destroy the universe is ludicrous fantasy pantomime. If they had kept the threat focused and personal, revolving solely around the implications of Wenwu burning down Shang-Chi’s ancestral home and that’s it, we would have had a much more effective story, but Marvel as per usual couldn’t help themselves. They just had to escalate the stakes to preposterous proportions and make of all existence threatened, again. By repeatedly inflating the enormity of a threat in these movies, this time under the pretence of angry soul sucking bats, which is a stretch, it diminishes the impact of all the other times everything is at risk. Thanos deleting half of the universe stops seeming like a tectonic shifting big kind of deal if something similar happens every other movie. Shang-Chi had benefited so much up until that point by being a more insular story, focusing on the fragile interiority of an unstable and atypical family. Then it got greedy.
Still, origin movies are meant to imply a fresh start and clean slate, and it feels like it’s been a while since a Marvel film effectively communicated those sentiments. It’s refreshing that Shang-Chi, while comfortably encumbered with the trappings of an MCU film, feels confident enough to sort of just do its own thing. Perhaps one can over extrapolate and look to this a metaphor for the Asian experience in America and Canada; certainly part of the community, but isolated in ways that are not easily quantifiable or discernable. Shang-Chi makes the most of that space and freedom, and is hopefully building the foundation of a character that the MCU may just need more than he needs it. -Tristan
Radiohead: Kid A Vs Amnesiac
Guitarist Ed O’Brien had hoped Radiohead’s fourth album would comprise short, melodic guitar songs, but Yorke stated: “There was no chance of the album sounding like that. I’d completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm. All melodies to me were pure embarrassment.”
In a week where I was tempted to talk about either the federal election, the BC vaccine card rollout or even the surprises at the US Open, the news of Radiohead reissuing their seminal albums Kid A and Amnesiac together with previously unreleased songs had me at hello. Both of these records played pivotal roles in my early 20s musical exploration and as such have caused me to have many long drawn out debates with my two Midrange cohorts Tristan and Mickey about which is the better of the two and where they land reflexively in Radiohead’s impressive discography.
So before I dig in, here is a snippet of this past Tuesday’s press release.
From Pitchfork:
Radiohead’s iconic albums Kid A and Amnesiac are getting reissued together this fall. They’ll arrive with Kid Amnesiae, another LP of offcuts from the companion albums, which were recorded together during sessions spanning 1999 and 2000. The collection is out November 5 via XL. Listen to “If You Say the Word” and see the full Kid Amnesiae tracklist below. Plus, find the cover artwork for the triple-LP, titled Kid A Mnesia.
All right, let’s break this down, Dr. Jack-style:
(Dr. Jack Ramsay was a prominent NBA coach. He was known for breaking down plays and players with precision detail. My favourite sports writer Bill Simmons used to copy this format for many of his best columns. I always loved it.)
Defining Song:
Kid A : Idioteque
This was a tight one for me as I was really leaning towards choosing the album opener, Everything In Its Right Place as it might be one of the most unique opening songs on any album ever made. The melody of the synthesizer at the beginning is just splendid. Even a tad bit creepy, but in a good way. Plus the history behind the song is intriguing as the lyrics refer back to a time when lead singer Thom Yorke was struggling during the bands 1997 OK Computer tour. It also possesses one of Thom’s most enduring and iconic lyrics: Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon. Which in and of itself is rather strange no?
But even in light of all the greatness Everything In Its Right Place has, Idioteque is the gem of the record, and frankly, it really isn’t close. Pitchfork ranked it #8 on their top 500 songs of the 2000s, which says a lot, even if it was beat by the trash hit Get Ur Freak On by Missy Elliot. I mean seriously, that was the 7th best song of the 2000s? Someone was smoking something when they wrote that list. There’s no staying power. Ugh…whatever, I digress. (Ed note- Jamie’s opinion on Missy does not reflect that of Midrange, cause she rules)
What separates this track from all the rest on the album is the “needed chaos” lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood was looking for when they began crafting this album. Radiohead wanted Kid A to be distinctly different from OK Computer. The narrative had to change. The tempo and style had to grow. It was a risk for sure, especially with how massive OK Computer was, but it had to happen. Idioteque is precisely the kind of song you’d have wanted even if you had no idea what to expect. Most of the song is a mix of Jonny working through a lengthy sample and Thom cutting up lyrics and drawing them out of a hat. It’s a tour de force of where the band was and where they would go from now on. Gone were the days of writing songs like Creep. Idioteque came and stayed longer than Y2K ever did and it is by the far the most enduring song on this record.
Amnesiac: Pyramid Song
This was a much easier selection as Pyramid Song stands heads and shoulders above every other track on this record. The piano and Thom’s haunting lyrics give this track so much depth it’s hard to not want to listen to this late, loud and with the lights down low. When this album came out I was obsessed with this track. Weeks on end I’d bike to work blasting this which is kinda strange and ominous as this is by no means a happy song. Early 20s Jamie had a hankering for melancholy I suppose? The video is sick too as it was the first single the band released since OK Computer’s No Surprises. Thom Yorke had this to say about it.
Yorke said “Pyramid Song” was inspired by the song “Freedom” by jazz musician Charles Mingus, first released on the 1962 album The Complete Town Hall Concert. One version included similar handclaps, but, according to Yorke, “our claps sounded really naff, so I quickly erased them”.The lyrics were inspired by an exhibition of ancient Egyptian underworld art Yorke attended while Radiohead were recording in Copenhagen, and ideas of cyclical time found in Buddhism and discussed by Stephen Hawking.
Both tracks are incredible and I probably like Pyramid Song more personally, but Idioteque is career defining in it’s scope, style and range. EDGE: Kid A
Most Admirable Misfire:
Kid A: Treefingers
So I’m not sure what they were trying to capture here. Its squished in between two stalwart tracks in How To Disappear Completely and Optimistic leaving one to wonder if it’s meant to be a lucid pause of sorts. A palate cleanser before you dig back into things. One might never know. Regardless, it’s songs such as this one where the band received plenty of negative press as it is a full representation of how far the group was willing to go in order to strip down and transform their sound from their early career highs of The Bends and OK Computer. If they were aiming to irritate, this song does it. There’s not much here and it’s definitely a black mark on the album as a whole. As Elaine says to the soup nazi on the show Seinfeld in revealing his secrets and recipes— next!
Amnesiac: Hunting Bears
Again, another weird entry for the band. This track is just repeating guitar riffs layered over some wind like sounds. It’s intriguing but not worth remembering, like that night you made out with that random at some party only to not know her name or remember the event when she brings it up to you several weeks later. In the moment it probably seemed great, but in reality, the band horribly misfires here.
Both songs suck, but I like guitar riffs soooo…EDGE: Amnesiac.
Most Improbable Song That Somehow Works:
Kid A: The National Anthem
It starts off wicked. Big bass line. Space ship synth notes. Excellent drum beat. Then things get more weird. Brass and horns. Thom with strange lyrics. This song belongs in an Ed Wood movie it’s so all over the place. Chaos is everywhere and when you think about it, how it works so well is kinda a mystery, but it does and I dig it. The louder the better. Blast this first thing in the morning with your cup of Joe and boy your partner will hate you silly.
Amnesiac: Morning Bell/Amnesiac
Another creepy tune with loud lyrics and haunting sounds. Spooky in a way. Reminds me of when Edward is running away from the police in Edward Scissorhands. I mean Thom repeats the lyric cut the kids in half several times. Tim Burton would love this. It’s strange all around but the melody is what holds everything together and that in and of itself is what makes it unique and really fun to listen to. In small doses mind you.
Both songs are strange in their scope, but I prefer Morning Bell/Amnesiac for its pleasant undertone above all else. EDGE: Amnesiac.
Head-to-Heat Matchup:
This is where Kid A shines most. The album goes everywhere. Everything In Its Right Place is as melodic an opener as one could hope for. Idioteque and Optimistic cover the bases of rock/progressive tech overtones. How To Disappear Completely is just dreamy on so many levels. Still my favourite song on the record to this day.
Amnesiac has its stalwart standouts for sure, with the aforementioned Pyramid Song as the ring leader of the group. Then there’s fan favourites You And Whose Army with it’s slick Thom Yorke focused vocal opening. When the song kicks at the 1:47 mark it really is just so sublime. Like warm butter on freshly baked bread. The best! The only critique is that you can’t help but wish it were a tad longer. I’ve always been one who enjoyed going back for seconds. But, just as you lament the sadness of that song ending, I Might Be Wrong jumps on and you fall for everything that guitar is doing. Makes you wanna dance and be bad.
Both albums are insanely creative, artistic as they reveal the true scope of what this group can achieve. As two separate entities they are legendary, and had they been packaged together as one it might have been one of the greatest artistic albums ever. But as strong as Amnesiac is, Kid A is the better record. The highs are higher and thus make for a grandeur album.
FINAL VERDICT: Kid A - Jamie
Things From The Internet We Liked
Low Is Back To Melt Your Brains And Your Speakers
In an interconnected and omnivorous musical ecosystem were everything is refracted to the nth degree, it’s hard to look at anything as truly new or pioneering. Unless we are talking about Low, the project of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, who operate on the literal precipice of where our understanding of what music is and can be ends. The slow core polymaths use the furthest fringes of distorted minimalism and sonic abstraction to convey macro-scale sentiments far more saliently that words ever could. Their new album Hey What is a daunting observance of where the decaying ideals of folk Americana, dystopian solipsism, and disorienting angles of how empathy manifests within us, merge into something unknowable but also stangely cathartic. Check out the track Hey from the new album.
18 Year Old Emma Raducanu Wins The US Open
Yes, you read that correctly. She’s just 18. Remember what you were doing at 18? Probably not much. Definitely not winning your first grand slam title in front of over 30,000 fans. She was a qualifier going into the tournament. Had to play and win three matches just to get into the main draw. Then she drives through all of her opponents, never dropping a set mind you as she became the first woman to ever win a slam as a qualifier. Just amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Sleigh Bells Are Back
Fuck ya Sleigh Bells Are back. Fuck yes.