Kyle Rogers: John Crowley’s Brooklyn
I saw John Crowley’s Brooklyn, one of the finest films of the year, alone in a Picturehouse cinema in Liverpool, United Kingdom. I bought the student membership for 15 pounds because movie ticket prices are nearly double that of Canada, and I find going to the cinema to be one of the most cathartic activities you can do—particularly when you’ve been away from your home for months and are really starting to miss what you know.
While Brooklyn is particularly praised for its heartfelt, old-fashioned romance, what hit home for me was the flawless portrayal of homesickness. Young Eilis has lived in the same small town in Ireland her whole life and knows that there is nothing there for her future, so she moves to America in search of new opportunities. She’s tired of the small town, but she still has her loving family and friends who she will likely not see for years. At first, the excitement of actually moving negates those feelings of regret, but by the time she arrives in Brooklyn—completely new to everything around her—she starts to question why she left in the first place, until eventually depression kicks in and she can barely function despite being truly in awe of the city she lives in.
Travelling is such an attractive concept to so many people but it is important to be aware of how you will be able to handle being so far away from everything and everyone you know and love. Even if you’ve grown tired of the same small town you’ve lived in your whole life (I’m looking at you Orleans), it’s still home. It was an incredibly powerful experience watching Eilis struggle through the depression that comes from missing everything you’ve grown to know and love—I cried as she cried, and while our stories are entirely different in many ways, we had that one thing in common, and it felt so good to finally let it all out.
Sam Bean: The Ottawa International Animation Festival
One moment when art really mattered to me this year was during the Ottawa International Animation Festival. While I only got to see three exhibitions during the week and had absolutely no prior knowledge about the world of animation, what I got to see there was some of the most interesting and different art that I have seen.
One of the highlights was getting a look back at Michèle Cournoyer’s short films, which deal with complex issues like sexual assault and racism in remarkably refreshing ways. Another was a screening of two movies by Bruce Bickford, an animator who worked with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, which are possibly some of the most abstract pieces of cinema I have ever witnessed. This festival illuminated the range and power of animation as a medium and at the same time celebrated veteran and emerging Canadian artists. I’d highly recommend buying next year’s tickets.
Meg Sutton: Dancing away your troubles
“Shut up and dance with me”—these lyrics best explain Frosh Week’s Much Music Video Dance Party. As a generation, we have transformed the nature of a jaunty boy-girl event to a night of booming beats, seductive swaying, and mindless make-outs.
The decades of dance have certainly changed. “What Do You Mean?” you may ask. Our taste in music and behaviour can say a lot. More nights were forgotten in 2015 than in all of the 90s. I love a party as much as the next stressed-out student. However, Carleton’s Fall Orientation event clearly demonstrated how much we have changed.
No longer do those awkward moments exist of finding the perfect date to go with. Simply show up, and you can find multiple dance partners. We have replaced the wallflower and separate sides of the dance with an all-inclusive clump. “Ex’s and Oh’s”—you never know who you might find.
It was a perfect stage to jump up and down to the songs everyone knows. That “Uptown Funk” that filled every playlist on iTunes and then shuffle and repeat. What our parents would call vulgar, we display proudly on a large screen for all to see.
This is what makes it successful though—never in our “Wildest Dreams” would we want something different. Students complain if it’s the wrong music, lights, or not enough people.
“Honey I’m Good” with one dance a semester though. The Much Music Video Dance Party set the tone for Fall Orientation. A week of meeting people you’ll never talk to again, but memories you will talk about forever.
This isn’t a reminisce of the past, but simply a reflection of the now. All students need a little fun in their lives, and our dances give us a chance to let loose and plus, after all, we “Earned It.”
Nadia Szijjarto: Hotline Bling
Toronto native and rapper Drake released the single “Hotline Bling” late in July of 2015. When the song was released digitally it got a lot of radio play and instantly blew up. It was the first time in two years that Drake was in the Top 10 and it was the highest charted single produced by him—tied with “Best I Ever Had.” Topping charts globally was sensational for the artist but the music video was epic—this was the first time Drake openly came out as a dancer, something many wish he would have kept in the closet.
The video features Dominican model Damaris Lopez, who appears at the beginning, followed by multiple clips of Drake dancing alone. The video has been parodied by everyone from editing Drake into a tennis match to presidential candidate Donald Trump grooving along with him. According to Leor Galil of the Chicago Reader, Drake “sounds hurt, neglected, and confused even while he’s admonishing his ex,” and that “it’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling off this kind of song with the same verve.”
Most people watched the music video to mimic Drake’s unusual dance moves, which I hope no one ever truly believes are fashionable, but somehow he pulled it off. Drake ended 2015 having convinced mass amounts of guys that pointing fingers in the air and doing what is known as the “tennis pass” is cool in the club. He also managed to get over 300 million views on the video, successfully pulling off one of the most memed videos of 2015 and landing himself #1 on the U.K. R&B and U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Billboards. It must have been the cha-cha move.
Keith Hickey: Season 2 of The Leftovers
The second season of HBO’s The Leftovers opens with a seemingly non-sequitur scene involving a pregnant cavewoman losing everything she possibly could, and it never directly relates to the main story. Often times this season, perspective would jump from character to character during different episodes, altering the perspective yet somewhat stagnating the plot. It includes trips to other worlds, ghosts, resurrections, and miracles. Yet, with all the wild buzz you’ve heard, most of all, this season of The Leftovers contains hope.
Damon Lindelof’s series about 140 million people (two per cent of the population) inexplicably vanishing has often been blasted for being too melodramatic and depressing.
It isn’t.
The Leftovers may be a show including some of the most brutal and gut-wrenching situations fictional television characters will be put through, but it’s still at its core a show about faith, spirituality, and hope, and in the second season it was fully realized.
Although for many it could be seen as heavy handed, it’s a show about coming to terms with who you are, what you’ve been dealt, and how you can move forward.
This season also happens to be the boldest season of television drama I’ve ever seen. Set in the fictional town of Jardin, Texas (the only place in the world not affected by the sudden departure), the show runners were able to go wild with possibilities and took every opportunity they had. From swapping perspectives, to unexplained mysteries, the show asked viewers to take as much of a blind jump of faith as many of the characters in its universe.
From a technical standpoint, no show this year featured better acting, better cinematography, or better music than The Leftovers. In every possible area it could, it exceeded expectations.
Most of all though, The Leftovers feels like the most human and emotional piece of art I’ve come into contact with all year. The show tells you everything it wants to say in its stunning new title sequence—“Everyone is wondering what and where they all came from / Let’s just, let the mystery be.”
Sima Shakeri: 5 Seconds of Summer
5 Seconds of Summer had a really killer year in 2015, and they stood out to me as one of the most memorable parts of the year. They released their incredible second album, they headlined a massive international tour, and I really think they just keep getting better and better.
They’re starting to shake the boy band label off and are really establishing themselves as a bona fide, skilled pop-punk band and they have the chops to prove it. I went to their Toronto show over the summer and I was blown away by how good they are live. Their songs sound better than they do on the album—edgier, more intense, and they have a really natural camaraderie with their fans that feels very genuine.
Their improvement as musicians has been exponential. It’s been fun to watch the progression of their career and see how far they have come and how palpable their excitement for their art still is. Their second album is miles and miles above their first. It tackles a lot of darker topics they and their fans might be dealing with, like mental illness and broken families, without ever sounding gimmicky or fake, and the writing is phenomenal. It’s probably one of the purest pop-punk albums I’ve heard in a very long time, in a period where most classic pop-punk bands are exploring other genres.
It’s definitely a must-listen for me from 2015 and I’m stoked to see what they do in 2016.
Duncan Chalmers: Nathan For You
The first episode of 2015’s season of Nathan For You is the funniest episode of television I’ve ever seen. It was insane and brilliant, and saw Nathan Fielder perfecting the formula that made the show so great—using absurd, deeply flawed schemes to revamp failing businesses. From that point forward Fielder could have just done the same formula over and over again until it got worn out, and I would have been satisfied. But he wouldn’t allow that. In a past interview, Fielder said the one thing he doesn’t like to do is repeat himself, and boy, he wasn’t kidding.
With the third season of Nathan For You, we witness a comedian, née artist, pushing themself beyond all boundaries. As the season progressed the mild-mannered Fielder started getting meaner, flying in the face of accepted practices of civility, and then eventually, maybe, morality?
I have felt conflicted about the art I consume in the past, but I don’t think it’s ever made me feel culpable in the way this season did. I felt like I was playing bystander to questionable, perhaps even cruel, actions against people. It was terrifying. But it was also exhilarating.
I would love to be able to conjure up some intelligent argument to justify the actions Fielder took this year, but all I can think to say is that it was hilarious. Maybe that makes me a terrible person. But if something is so good that I can stand being seen as terrible, then it must be really damn good.
Nathan Fielder: absolute mad man.
