Theater & Film – The Oberlin Review

Review: “Game of Thrones” Premieres Eighth Season

Kabir Karamchandani, Staff Writer

April 19, 2019

Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 1. The much-awaited eighth and final season of Game of Thrones started strong this week with a character-driven episode that set up the epic battles soon to come. While the episode was light on action, it had plenty of feel-good moments, finally bringing all the characters we love back together as Jon Snow returned to his hometown of Winterfell, with his new lover-aunt Daenerys in tow. The episode also stepped up the horror quotient, taking the visceral imagery of the White Walkers to new, gruesome levels. In the early seasons, Game of Thrones was largely character-driven, focusing on developing a vast array of protagonists and following thei...

“Ana La Habibi” Explores Arab Identity in America

April 19, 2019

Two men stand around a record player, listening to the dreamy voice of Lebanese icon Fairuz. One man leans back on the couch, struck by nostalgia. He reminisces about when his mom played the song every day before school. He used to hate it, but now he smiles when it comes on. “Ana la Habibi,” Fairuz sings, “I belong to my love.” This scene from Ana la Habibi, which premiered last Tuesday, reveals the inspiration behind its title. College senior Jad Kaiss, who wrote and directed this pla...

Jason Dorwart, Director of “Body of Bourne”

April 12, 2019

Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Jason Dorwart specializes in theater history, dramaturgy, disability studies, film theory, and improv. He served on the Board of Directors and as an acting company member of the award-winning Phamaly Theatre Company in Denver, which exclusively features actors with disabilities. Dorwart earned his Ph.D. at UC San Diego, where he helped develop and perform in the Workplace Interactive Theatre, a touring diversity initiative which promotes discussions about hi...

DC Turns out Delightful Superhero Comedy with “Shazam!”

Kabir Karamchandani, Staff Writer

April 12, 2019

Filed under ARTS, Arts, Theater & Film

The latest Warner Bros.’ DC Comics film, Shazam!, is a pleasant deviation from their usual darker fare such as Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The cheerful, funny Shazam! is the first DC Extended Universe film to go beyond its role as a superhero action movie — it also serves as a coming-of-age story with strong family themes. While the action and visual effects are a little lacking at times, an excellent script with relatable characters, genuine emotional stakes, and spot-on humor more than makes up for it, making Shazam! my personal favorite of the DC films so far. Stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi do an excellent job playing the protagonist, Billy Batson, and his superhero alter-ego, Shaza...

OSTA Debuts Dark Comedy “Mr. Marmalade”

April 12, 2019

Short Film Documents Government Shutdown in Oberlin

April 5, 2019

In just 12 minutes, the documentary film 35 Days explores the challenges presented by the government shutdown this past January and the Oberlin community’s response. The film shows the perspectives of local air traffic controllers who worked without pay and Oberlin Community Services staff who contended with food insecurity, which was exacerbated in the shutdown’s wake. It also recounts how businesses like Slow Train Cafe and IGA supported their fellow community members through this challeng...

Bringing Gothic Thrillers Back, “Us” Breaks Box Office

Ananya Gupta, Managing Editor

April 5, 2019

Filed under ARTS, Arts, Theater & Film

Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers of the movie Us. Jordan Peele’s Us is a gripping horror film that dabbles in a variety of uncanny, terror-inducing devices — doppelgängers, scientific experiments gone wrong, and darkly creative scenes of pursuit, stabbing, and bloodshed. The plot follows Adelaide Wilson, played phenomenally by Lupita Nyong’o, as she navigates the childhood trauma of finding a little girl who looks exactly like her in an abandoned mirror maze. Returning to the location where this took place — this time as an adult with a family of her own — she experiences a sense of foreboding that her doppelgänger is coming to get her. Adelaide’s fears come true, when not just ...

“Songs From My Mother’s Seashore” Celebrates Black Trans Woman Love

April 5, 2019

A woman in white and gold walks on stage, caressing a framed portrait of a Black woman shrouded in white cloth who stares defiantly at the viewer with one breast exposed. Over the sound of gentle waves in the distance, she wonders aloud, “If God were to stand before us, would we recognize her magnificence?” Songs from My Mother’s Seashore is an original work written and directed by College senior Nani Borges, who also plays the lead in the show: a character with Borges’ name who repres...

Student Production “Same Same” Premieres at Cat in the Cream

March 15, 2019

This weekend College senior Hanna Shykind will debut an intimate and honest presentation of her experiences growing up in the Middle East. Her original cabaret performance Same Same tells a story of adaptation and how Shykind coped with loneliness in a foreign place. Although Shykind’s circumstances were atypical, she creates a universal story. “The show is a cabaret about my experiences living in Qatar from age 12 to 16,” she said. “It’s about dealing with change and combating loneli...

Captain Marvel: A Solid Superhero Movie, But Nothing More

March 15, 2019

As a die-hard Marvel fan and a general superhero buff, I was more than merely excited to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first female superhero-led movie. Yet, perhaps spoiled by last year’s Black Panther, I was somewhat disappointed by the movie. Captain Marvel is a fine film, and a much-needed step in the right direction in terms of female representation within the MCU, but it never truly excels, instead feeling like a by-the-numbers superhero movie with nothing special going for it. Pa...

Ti Ames, Director of Kander Lab Series Show “The Brothers Size”

March 8, 2019

Ti Ames is a fourth-year Africana Studies and Theater major from Charlottesville, Virginia. They are directing The Brothers Size for their senior capstone project. The play is a part of The Brother/Sister Plays, a trilogy by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who co-wrote the 2017 Oscar Best Picture Moonlight. The play explores Yoruban spirituality and the Orishas, who are the personification of forces in nature and human endeavors. Their spiritual roles have been translated through different cultures and are promin...

Final “How to Train Your Dragon” Installment Warms Hearts

Kabir Karamchandani, Staff Writer

March 1, 2019

Filed under ARTS, Arts, Theater & Film

Editor’s note: This review contains major spoilers for How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. The How To Train Your Dragon franchise has always held a special place in my heart, largely because it’s very loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s book series, which I loved as a child. With stunning visuals, one of my all-time favorite scores, and unusually mature themes for children’s movies, How To Train Your Dragon is undoubtedly one of the best animated series of the last decade. Although the latest installment, The Hidden World, pales slightly in comparison to its predecessors, it is still a thoroughly enjoyable movie and provides an emotional end to a fantastic trilogy. A large part of the franchise’s a...