The Daily Californian: You grew up in the Bay Area. How did that influence your choice to go into theater?

Madeline Trumble: I’ll always feel grateful for growing up in the Bay Area. Me and my brother and my sister all performed growing up. There was so much community and regional theater around us. I mean, we also had a great mom who was always willing to drive us. There’s a lot of theater in the Walnut Creek area. We would highlight the auditions we wanted to go to. I never really took classes growing up; I was always in a show. That’s the best education. And then when I went to college and I had to take acting classes and voice classes — it was weird. Growing up in theater, I know now how to be in a show. And it also made me grow up because all of my friends were at least four years older than me. So I definitely grew up and matured in the theater world.

DC: You’re in Minneapolis right now (at the time of the interview). It’s a pretty hectic touring schedule. How do you keep the show fresh every night?

MT: It’s stressful. I was in the ensemble before. But as the lead now there’s just a lot more pressure. When I was in the ensemble, if I wasn’t feeling well or tired, you could just dial it down. I can’t do that now. It means that I have to be careful after the show. I don’t go out; I have to be really careful and save my voice. It’s fun because you get to travel and see the country, but (it is) also very exhausting. It’s live theater, so things are rarely perfect or the same every night. The audience has no idea, but I know. I do the same thing every day, and then I see people who come to the show and friends of mine, and they’re so in awe. It is really cool and exciting what I do. It’s easy to forget when you go to work every day.

DC: What was the audition process like?

MT: It’s the same show with different management. I went to New York, got in “Newsies,” did that for a few months and I knew that the girl playing Mary was leaving. I just crossed my fingers that the company would call me. They’re really great about moving up understudies. I got a call to come in and audition. And they make you go on something like five auditions with only two days notice. So I went in (and) saw the show, surrounded by this group of kids. I had never seen it; I knew nothing about it. But the play is quite different from the movie. It takes the music from the movie but stories from the book — new characters and new songs. Now, when I watch the movie, I think the movie is so different and crazy.

DC: How do you feel the show appeals to both children and adults?

MT: “It is Disney, so the spectacle of that is a huge part of it. It has amazing sets, costumes, lights. You get all of that with tap dancing, with lots of singing and magic. The magic, though, is for the kids and the adults. It brings the adults back to when they were kids. But our show also has this great message about family, about rediscovering what is most important in life.”

Contact Jessica Pena at jpena@dailycal.org.

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Unlike past efforts, the overall tempo of this album has noticeably decreased. The number of “slow songs” or slow-building songs on the album is much more apparent than it has been before. Opening track “Obvious Bicycle” is one such song, with keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij playing a melancholy piano riff over lead singer Ezra Koenig’s crooning voice as he bounces to and from falsettos. Of all the mellow songs on the album, “Step” stands out, with Koenig’s soothing vocals over a medley of piano and synthesizer progressions. Drummer Chris Tomson keeps the beat so strong and steady throughout the track that head-nodding or foot-tapping is impossible to avoid.

Tomson shifts about five gears up for the following song, “Diane Young” — a track that, along with the speedy rhythm of “Finger Back,” would be easily at home in either of the other VW records. Single “Diane Young” feels like a modern-day adaption of the swingin’ big band songs, with Koenig pitch-shifting the lyric “baby, baby, baby, baby right on time” over groovy guitar riffs and rapid-fire drums. There’s even a “Wipeout”-esque drum and guitar roll thrown in — just in case your head and hips weren’t shaking enough.

Modern Vampires of the City is the album that VW has been building up to. While it’s not always a constant ball of energy, the balance of warm melodies and funky riffs make for an appropriate and satisfying conclusion to the band’s trilogy.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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This month welcomes the arrival of the third installment of “Jukebox Stories,” cleverly titled “The Secrets of Forking,” which premiered on the Impact stage this past weekend. Unlike the previous two, this version incorporates the audience through fortune-telling rather than audience-interactive games. This time around, Gomolvilas and Patton are not merely performers but tarot-card-slash-mind-reading extraordinaires.

Tucked beneath the modern-day pizzeria is a theatrical space decorated with Chinese calligraphy wall art, Maneki-neko cat figurines and Asian lanterns — they evoke a feng shui ambiance as if one has just set foot into a dingy fortune-teller’s cave in Chinatown.

Throughout the course of the performance, Gomolvilas and Patton allow audience members to draw tarot cards from a deck. Each of these corresponds to a particular song or story, as well as an audience member, all of whom are given tarot cards when they first enter the theatre. Not only do these cards dictate the content of the show, they also allow for audience members to be entered in prize drawings. All in all, “Jukebox Stories” is entirely audience-based, creating a theatrical experience like no other.

Gomolvilas performs soliloquies of sorts that tell stories based on the events and interactions he’s experienced throughout his life. These stories range from the time he spent mistaken as an expert in Eastern European cinema to his first and last semi-professional ghost-hunting experience. While some stories resonate in humor and cleverness more so than others, Gomolvilas executes each with character and charm.

One of Gomolvilas’s most memorable rants chosen for the opening night performance was one in which he narrates and provides commentary on (in a hilarious Rifftrax fashion) a music video titled “Get Down” by ’90s Canadian boy band B44. ’90s. Canadian. Boy. Band. Enough said.

In between the spoken stories, Patton plays the guitar and sings songs he wrote himself, also based on his past experiences. Think Flight of the Conchords with a more personal touch. The musical repertoire ranges as extensively in topical variety as Prince’s monologues. One song tells of Patton’s tumultuous upbringing with cheating parents and even touches briefly on his grandmother’s vagina (“Mixed Up Modern Family”). Another, titled “The List: 5 Celebs You’d Sleep With,” is an online forum thread set to music. The list goes on.

Rarely is there a dull moment in the show, as there’s simply too much variety. If you grow tired of Gomolvilas’ voice, no worries, because a musical serenade from Patton is sure to follow. The two differ completely in character and bring separate forms of performance art to the table but manage to balance each other out perfectly. It is this harmonized dichotomy that gives “Jukebox Stories” its individuality and makes the show one of such high caliber. So hats off to both of you, Prince Gomolvilas and Brandon Patton, for crafting a fantastically sublime theatrical experience.

“Jukebox Stories: The Secrets of Forking” will be playing at Berkeley’s very own Impact Theater from Thursdays to Sundays every week up until June 9. Songs will be sung, stories will be told and fortunes will be read.

Contact Michelle Lin at mlin@dailycal.org.

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Actors John Cho and Simon Pegg — pilot Sulu and engineer Scotty in the story, respectively — revealed that all three screenwriters, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, were huge fans of the original films. Their enthusiasm becomes evident through their use of the idiosyncratic humor that was so enjoyable about the television series. “Star Trek” aims to both be its own unique film and also stay relatively faithful to its source material. J.J. Abrams allows this to happen, as he’s not quite the Trekkie that the writers are. “J.J. was more of a ‘Star Wars’ fan,” Pegg said. “He came into ‘Star Trek’ as an outsider.” Pegg adds that this helped Abrams avoid feeling “slavish to the source material,” thus opening the doors for more creativity. It informs his filmmaking in a way; he relaxes a little bit, especially in this second installment.

In fact, Cho and Pegg noted that they saw Abrams’s love of “Star Wars” transfer in significant ways to the “Star Trek” franchise. The “Star Trek” television series had a sleeker look, whereas “Star Wars” was somewhat more “analog and dirty.” Abrams marries the two: “Aesthetically speaking, (the marriage) formed a brilliant bridge (from) all the clean lines and the fantastically futuristic bridge to the industrial metal of the engine room, which J.J. intended to look like the guts of the ‘Titanic.’” What’s so refreshing about Abrams’ style is that he allows this sleek and majestic spaceship to become a character in the movie. So much of what tires audiences about today’s filmmakers is that many of them seem to be enamored with close-ups, a technique that places the actors more front and center but doesn’t allow other elements to breathe. Fortunately for us (specifically our eyes), Abrams relaxes the camera and allows the audience to see the actors actually occupy physical space on screen. He gives us a Starship Enterprise that breathes with its own persona.

What really elevates this movie to heights of glory is actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Cho pays his co-star a huge compliment: “If I hadn’t worked with him, I wouldn’t know his physical dimensions just based on his work. In ‘Sherlock’, he seems mortal and 5’8”. But in this, he seems like he’s 6’4” and 220 pounds. He just seems enormous and imposing. That’s a testament to how good he is.” Cumberbatch is indeed a transfixing presence, as he supplies exasperated revelations and flashes of entropic terror throughout. “He’s terrific,” Cho said, “and beautiful.” Pegg quickly agreed, “Yeah, he’s beautiful . . . He’s a great guy. Lovely man. And he turns on that villain so well, and he’s got such a beautiful voice.” So beautiful, in fact, that his voice made him pregnant, Pegg joked. Indeed, talking with the actors, it seemed as though the two were paralyzed by the genius in their midst.

Even beyond Cumberbatch’s performance, what’s so pleasing about “Star Trek” is that every element seems to click, from the lively rapport to the terrific action sequences — probably Abrams’ forte. The filmmakers’ hard work brings together a smart and enjoyable sequel. “(Abrams) is a born storyteller,” Cho said. “He approaches (his movies) with boundless enthusiasm. This movie plays like that. It’s joyful.”

Braulio Ramirez covers film. Contact him at bramirez@dailycal.org.

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“Something in the Air” is not necessarily a film about revolutions. This seems somewhat misleading because the movie begins with a rather raw and violent clash between French high schoolers and police. Gilles (Clement Metayer), a budding artist, and his peers are heavily involved in the underground student movement. They read Marx, print provocative posters, vandalize the school’s walls, throw Molotov cocktails and spout idealisms in the pursuit of some type of liberation. But the ideals that propelled this bunch in the beginning begin to dissipate amid the snares of young love and creative expression.

After an instance of vandalism lands the group in hot water, the scenes shift. The industrial grays and suburban beiges of France are supplanted by the poetic greens and languorous blue skies of rural Italy. Gilles soon becomes enamored with the beautiful firebrand Christine (Lola Creton) as the discussions of rebellion dissolve into silent sequences of painting au naturale, nude sailing and drunken, bohemian carousing. The group’s intent is no longer clear and as such, neither is the film’s.

Unlike “Grin Without a Cat” — Chris Marker’s famous 1977 film of the French New Left — or Bernardo Bertolucci’s seductive vision of the ’68 protests in “The Dreamers,” “Something in the Air” is, as the title indicates, neither here nor there. Like the majority of its second half, there is bountiful lingering with minimal momentum. For all the shots of heated, political rhetoric, there is no payoff. There only seems to be the superficial allure of beautiful, young Europeans and the grandeur of aesthetic merriment.

Perhaps this is to Assayas’ benefit. His previous works, particularly his film “Summer Hours” and his mini-series “Carlos,” have all displayed a keen sense of control, precision and nuanced intellect. “Something in the Air” is no different. The historical detail is spot-on, the sense of malaise both appropriate and contemplative. And yet this lack of radical urgency not only derails the political investment of the characters but also the emotional investment of the audience.

Even as the students hash out their socialist philosophies at the film’s outset, it is never clear what the stakes are. Yes, there is present violence. Yes, there is a vaguely oppressive system in place. But, for the most part, Assayas forces the audience to question their empathy for these youths: Are they naive? Self-indulgent? Justified? Again, there is no clear solution. The characters seem aloof and so does Assayas.

After the screening scene, the camera cuts to a party. Gilles still doesn’t understand why “revolutionary syntax is the style of the bourgeoisie.” One of the producers responds bluntly, “Forget style.” But, as the audience, we can’t. Because for all the talk spouted in “Something in the Air” about individuals, there is no connection to Gilles. He is cold, emotionless and, like his fading ideals, without a striking center. He is, like the film, all style.

Contact Jessica Pena at jpena@dailycal.org.

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The film stars Brit Marling, who also has credits as a co-writer and producer, as Jane Owen, an undercover agent who has just made it from the FBI into the elite private sector firm Hiller Brood. Jane is handpicked by her new devilishly glamorous boss, Sharon, to infiltrate the apocryphal vigilante group known as the East, feared and mythicized for its punishment-fits-the-crime tactics. Sharon keeps Jane’s focus on her mission, but her gaze is diverted by the fiercely passionate collective and its magnetic leader Benji, played by Alexander Skarsgard.

Director Zal Batmanglij insists, “This is a movie you should see with someone you’re sleeping with. This is the kind of movie you should wake up and start talking about the next day.” And it definitely will start conversations. “The East” presents the old eye-for-an-eye adage in the context of recent ecological disasters and points out the flaws of both the criminals and the criminal-punishers. Batmanglij talks about “how many successful, powerful, rich people are insulated from real life or from the destruction they’re causing” and how this parallels America itself. “The East” presents viewers with the hellfire of immensely stirring rhetoric and then captures what is there when the smoke clears.

Batmanglij acknowledges the fact that the film does not proffer his own stances on the issue, saying, “I think it’d be masturbatory if our opinions were the be-all end-all of the story.” As Jane vacillates between her career and a life impassioned by a higher cause, her struggles evoke the paralysis felt by the modern world in the face of the larger-than-life issues we have inherited and created. “I am very frustrated when I go to the computer,” Batmanglij relates. “And I feel like I read these stories, and I just don’t know how to make sense of the world news … it’s a very strange time to be alive.” The film makes it through nearly to end without being preachy but does give in to didacticism before finishing, which is somewhat disappointing if not expected.

Listen to an interview with director Zal Batmanglij here:

A major draw of “The East” is the captivating nature of the group itself. Squatting in a burned-down manor in the woods, the collective is rich with backstory and ritualism. A few scenes have a specificity which draws on Batmanglij’s and Marling’s own experiences living as freegans, not buying anything and getting three square meals from dumpster-diving for an entire summer. While the fringe nature of the group in question makes it susceptible to getting culture-mined for its shock value, Batmanglij’s and Marling’s firsthand experiences kept the film grounded in the genuine.

Though the film portrayed the freegan lifestyle convincingly, many of the characters’ actions were not nearly as well thought out. There are sequences in which viewers might feel as though they are missing something. Batmanglij says he chose to keep Benji’s and Jane’s characters mysterious because “that mystery compels us to stay more invested in the story.” Unfortunately, the film could not pull off every subtlety, as logical connections failed to materialize.

The film is bound to captivate, however, as it is timely to an uncanny degree. The scene of the East drenching an oil baron’s home in petroleum after he left the scene of an oil spill unscathed was written only a couple of weeks before the 2010 BP oil spill. Batmanglij said that following the occurrence, he and Marling “felt this fire under (their) asses, and then a couple weeks before (they) started shooting, Occupy happened.”

The film is further bolstered by compelling performances from Toby Kebbell and Ellen Page. Kebbell’s portrayal of Doc, a Stanford medical school graduate brain-damaged by the fine print of prescription pharmaceuticals, succeeds at telling a tragic storyline, and Ellen Page plays the fierce Izzy well. Batmanglij says, “I think she took all her rage that she feels about all the bad things that are happening in Canada and the States and the way we are destroying ourselves and the environment – she took that rage, and she channeled it in an unbridled way.”

However, what the film had in provocation and solid supporting performances, it lacked in plot development, which is at times sloppy and threadbare. Overlooking these drawbacks, when the film premieres in the Bay Area in June, it will definitely propel Batmanglij and Marling beyond a niche indie film festival exposure and leave audiences with a lot to think about.

Contact Lu Han at lhan@dailycal.org.

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Rap in the Bay Area is notorious for keeping out of the national spotlight. Although the region has been active for almost 30 years, the only names synonymous with the area today, E-40 and Too Short, are the two that essentially started it all. There is so little support from radio or other mainstream outlets that music from the area tends to get trapped within it. Those who previously teetered on the edge of widespread success – Mistah F.A.B. or Lil B, for example – have all fallen back into obscurity. IAmSu! has successfully defied this notion.

He earned his first big break appearing on fellow Bay Area rapper LoveRance’s “UP!.” The song peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, a feat practically unheard of for a Bay Area rap single. Then came IAmSu!’s appearance on another national hit, E-40’s “Function.” This year, he has features on singer Jonn Hart’s Top-40 song “Who Booty” and Wiz Khalifa’s latest single, “Bout Me.” As his resume continues to grow, it is clear: People are paying attention.

IAmSu! is a tremendously gifted rapper. Words just flow effortlessly off his tongue. Stylistically, he stretches rap’s boundaries, incorporating many melodic elements and even singing on songs, but much of his music, which he produces with his production team, The Invasion, follows a similar structure — minimalist and uptempo. It combines the trunk-rattling aspects of the Bay’s mob music and the energetic qualities of the region’s hyphy movement. “We’re just a partying-ass group of people,” IAmSu! said, noting that making music to get played at parties was the way to gain recognition. “I couldn’t make a song about going back to Africa (and) get played at a party.”

It is with this type of music that IAmSu! has been able to gain notice. His Southern California counterparts have all found success building upon this same post-hyphy aesthetic. Los Angeles producer DJ Mustard, responsible for Tyga’s “Rack City” and Young Jeezy’s “R.I.P.,” has brought the sound to rap’s forefront. Compton rappers YG and Problem have both built nationwide fanbases with similar musical styles. Even Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” includes comparable sonic elements to much of IAmSu!’s catalog. The acceptance of this type of sound by rap on a larger scale has allowed success for a talented rapper like IAmSu!, who has so few resources from his own home region, to break through now. “If you go to L.A., you’ll hear hella local acts (on the radio),” he mentioned.

He is quick to silence critics that box him into a single style, though. “I don’t want to be defined by any certain thing,” IAmSu! said. “I bring so many different sounds to the table, and I think (those) people don’t really listen to my music in depth.” He plans to showcase that variety more on his upcoming Kilt 2 mixtape. “It’s a lot more personal songs, showing my upbringing and how I’m feeling about everything that’s going on right now,” he said.

There is a charisma to IAmSu! that separates him from his peers. He has an energy to him that is captivating. The San Francisco stop of his and Problem’s Million Dollar Afro Tour showcased a packed house of fans — aged 14 to 45 — all present to support their hometown hero. He was confident and commandeering of his audience, and fans sang along word for word. He really has no single song that identifies him at this point, so it is especially interesting how people are drawn to him and not a gimmick of a radio single. “I think that (it’s about) being original and being different,” IAmSu! said of his success. “People gravitate towards something genuine.”

Life has changed for IAmSu!, but he doesn’t feel like he has made it yet. “I don’t think I’m going to ever have that feeling,” he said. He plans to continue to take advantage of the opportunity given, pushing his crew, the Heartbreak Gang and fellow Bay Area rappers into the national spotlight. He understands that he carries the Bay on his back and that this doesn’t happen to everybody. “That’s what I always wanted — to be the face of this music scene,” IAmSu! said. “I’m proud that people even say that — to put me in a category with legends like E-40 and Too Short.”

Even now, his ambitions are nothing short of extraordinary. IAmSu! hopes to become a rap icon alongside the likes of Jay-Z and Nas. “(This entails) pushing myself to the limit to see how far I can go lyrically and conceptually and how deep I can get into my music,” he said. The talent is there. The drive is there. IAmSu! is on his way to making his mark on the world, and this is the start of something special.

Click here to see an interview with IAmSu!

Contact Rahul Pandya at rpandya@dailycal.org.

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On sitcoms today: I grew up on “The Cosby Show” … whatever came on Thursday nights on NBC, the four-camera sitcom — the traditional sitcom. It’s familiar to me. I think everyone should feel like they can watch, in some ways, a play on television with subject matter that relates to the demographic … I think there’s always room for a sitcom. I think people should always be able to watch a show like “The Exes” or a show like “Everybody Loves Raymond” or “Hot in Cleveland.”

On the Folgers commercial: I think I was 12 years old when I did that. Was it my big break? It wasn’t as big as I thought it was … I told my mom I wanted to be an actor, and she went out, as a good mom does, and helped me get an agent. My agent got me that audition, and I went out and got the part. It was a big deal for me because I felt like I was really acting. For me at the time, it was huge … I don’t think it was the one that (started my career). Maybe somebody back then subconsciously or accidently saw me … and it triggered something. I doubt it, but it’s possible. I mean, anything’s possible.

On his favorite “Scrubs” jokes: A lot of the sense of humor is myself and Zach’s and Bill’s (the creator, a producer, writer and director for “Scrubs.”) … The three of us laughed at the same stuff and thought that the jokes we were telling were funny. There’s something to be said for that, whether anyone else laughed at them or not. We had the same sense of humor, so because of that, we weren’t afraid to tell our jokes … I got to be myself on camera a lot while doing “Scrubs” because I got to work with Bill, and he would encourage me to do that, and Zach would encourage me to do that. We encouraged each other to be who we were off camera. Because we thought we were so funny off camera … I’m a “blerd.” That’s a joke that came out of “Scrubs” and me actually loving “Star Wars” and me being black … I think “brinner” came from us going out one night and me ordering pancakes when everyone else got dinner. I honestly believe that Zach and I created the word “bromance,” or at least the idea of a “bromance.” But I’m sure Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and Starsky and Hutch will disagree.

On pranks on set: They tried to prank me on “The Exes,” but it kind of didn’t work … They tried, and I’m going to be honest with you — I’m bragging right now, and I shouldn’t, because this is how it comes back to bite you in the butt — I’m always looking out for it now. Especially after I punked Zach Braff when we were doing “Scrubs.” He had just bought a Porsche 911. I got a bunch of kids to spray paint his car. He went apeshit, and we got it all on camera.

Contact Anna Carey at acarey@dailycal.org.

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It’s an accurate description of the record, which Gavigan released online in April. Saving Private Rhymes is the equivalent of spending time with Gavigan himself. Gavigan, who transferred to UC Berkeley from Stockton, Calif., his hometown, raps and speaks with a friendliness that belies his openness. The first track, “Me Llamo,” is boisterous and bombastic with an undeniably infectious hook. This intro sets the tone for the album, which maintains a consistent emphasis on positivity — a disposition that Gavigan stresses is essential.

The rapper, who was raised with three siblings by a single mother on welfare, claims that humor is a coping mechanism for him. “If we didn’t have humor, we would just be miserable,” Gavigan said. “It’s what brought us through. It continues to bring me through on a daily basis.”

Gavigan’s humorous outlook is most evident on tracks like “On My Grind,” a song about one of the most prevalent coping mechanisms — caffeination — and “R2-D2,” whose title is a reference to the “Star Wars” droid. In fact, Gavigan, who is something of a movie buff, drops pop cultural references with incredible ease. In “On My Grind,” for example, he mentions Keyser Soze, a character in the 1995 film “The Usual Suspects.” In another verse, Gavigan compares his caffeinated self to “the Great Cornholio” of “Beavis and Butt-Head” fame.

For all the comedic emphasis, Saving Private Rhymes doesn’t parody hip-hop. Gavigan, who has been recording since he was 7 years old, penning lyrics since middle school and performing in a Wu Tang-style rap group called Legion of Doom, is an avid member of Students for Hip-Hop at Cal and CalSLAM. With a roster of influences that includes Coolio, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, pre-2008 Kanye West and even Enya, ’70s country, Simon and Garfunkel and Tears for Fears, Gavigan is a music and media fiend. He pays homage to his interests and passions in this album, from coffee to movies to Stockton. The hip-hop artist’s preponderance for liveliness, however, doesn’t preclude him from addressing darker themes.

Some of the most personal songs on the album, like “Pure Imagination,” “Find My Way” and “Salutations,” find Gavigan mining his life experiences, or the life experiences of people close to him, for inspirational fodder. Prison bars entrap us in “Pure Imagination,” but, as the title suggests, the imaginative faculties are indeed necessary to understand Gavigan’s metaphor: The song actually addresses abortion. “Find My Way” also addresses sexual assault, domestic abuse and drug dependence.

“Salutations” is a warm shout-out to friends and family, including Gavigan’s war-veteran grandfather, who passed away in the midst of the recording of Saving Private Rhymes, and his artistic, polyglot uncle, who committed suicide when Gavigan was a young child.

Despite some heavy themes, Gavigan remains an optimist. “Even the crap I’ve been through has shaped me in some profound way,” the musician said. “You just have to come to grips with it, and art is a great way of doing that. You have to flip it into something positive.”

It’s no coincidence that “Salutations” is the last song on the album. With a title that is itself a film reference, Saving Private Rhymes is a pop culture-referential record that never really wants to bid the listener adieu. It ends on a “hello,” and we know it won’t be long until Second Nature rhymes again, whether in a dorm room or onstage.

Contact Natalia Reyes at nreyes@dailycal.org.

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The films submitted were, in a word, diverse, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the award applicant pool. Some were a tribute to the arts — The Daily Californian’s Jeff Capps, for instance, walked us through an underground graffiti art event. Others did without a plot and were more impressionistic. A black-and-white exploration of London comes to mind. So does a near-schizophrenic look at the Chase building near the Downtown Berkeley BART station, shot completely with a negative effect. Whether they convey nostalgia, admiration or even paranoia, the films are variegated in their subject matter so as to appeal to a wide audience.

While one couldn’t help but appreciate most of the films’ messages, the execution in conveying those messages sometimes wanted improvement. The documentaries in particular were somewhat lacking in focus. For example, one film focuses on the campus’s history, featuring a voice-over about our inherited spirit of activism. But the accompanying images are often shaky shots of old photos which do nothing to keep viewers’ interest or — even more confusing — brief video clips that are seemingly irrelevant to the narration. The result is an ironically inactive documentary about activism and UC Berkeley. Another entry seeks to portray an American family but falls short by focusing on too many topics at once: the Vietnam War, biracialism, divorce, mental health disorders. One wonders why these submissions to an award for “creativity” neglected to nuance their films more, both in production style and plot content.

Still other films make little sense whatsoever: One entry follows a wheelchair-bound boy with copious amounts of red lipstick, Cantonese metal music and lots of spray paint. Enough said.

What sets the winning videos apart, then, is that they successfully walk the line between the avant-garde and the intelligible. In particular, “Aye Dee” by Oliver Li and Bastian Michael follows a man, clad in a white, full-body spandex suit, who struggles with physical and social visibility. The theme is straightforward enough, but this is no angsty teen drama. His exploration of clothing and alcohol as paths to social interaction examines what it means to be an individual in a new light. The film poses a tacit question: “Can we ever look beyond the surface?” And — not to spoil too much — the filmmakers’ answer seems to be yes. Erin Colleen Johnson’s “Come In,” meanwhile, gives us separate images on split screens. As a group chants a prayer aloud, a man operates a looming network of machinery and computers. The worshippers’ voices and the computers’ churning are synchronized, suggesting that the two proceedings may even be synonymous.

If anything, this year’s submissions for the Eisner Prize are a sample of the wide interests here at UC Berkeley, showing off the creative (if sometimes convoluted) faculties of the student body. If you’re looking for something thoughtful, off beat or just plain weird, the Pacific Film Archive’s screening of these films, “Artists in Person,” will fit your tastes.

Contact Josephine Yang at jyang@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly described a film called “All Better” as being about a party set to music from the 70s. In fact, “All Better” is a film about the history of the AIDS movement.

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