Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesdoy, Mare 13, 1968
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, March 1 3, 1968
cinema.
Film Festival: Old Messages, New
By BARBARA HOCKMAN
Last of Two Parts.
The audiences of the Sixth
Ann Arbor Film Festival went
through something of an ordeal
when they watched the partici-
pating films, for most films,
one after another, were very
intense. They teased, tested,
and sometimes taxed the per-
ceiving senses.
Perhaps it was because the
film-makers did very short
projects that they poured in
such effective power. (But we
would hope for their lengthier
efforts to maintain strength.)
This power (and the original-
ity of the festival as a whole)
lay more in the use and man-
ipulation of the film medium
than in the ideas or "storie's"
being told. The ideas were im-
portant as modern problems,
but they weren't really new, nor
were solutions offered (with the
exception of several films ad-
vocating a happy family life).
On the other hand, the film-
makers are discovering more
and more things you can do
with the light-produced image
on the movie film, effects
which require serious planning
and the use of the film labor-
atory.
The first prize winner, Will
Hindle's "Chinese Firedrill,"
was a kind of spokesman and
summary of the entire festival.
It and others proved that film
is not just a picture of a story
one can read, but rather an ex-
perience which cannot be verb-
alized. With its peculiar sound-
track of a narrative of associ-
ated words, explosive sounds,
and light music, "Firedrill" was
a visual lyric poem of humor
and terror. It was a captivating
complex work, with political
undercurrents, s h o w i n g a
trapped man who, apparently,
MUSIC
Hill Caught in 'Death' Throes
By JIM PETERS
The last time I heard the Uni-
versity ;Symphony Orchestra, the
sun had been shining all day -long
and the weather was warm. Last
night at Hill Aud., when the or-
chestra joined the University
Chamber Choir in concert, it was
the middle of winter. And the
program of conductor Thomas
Hilbish even emphasized the re-
turn of the numbing cold with
three works centered on death.
It all began with a complex
threnody of Johannes Brahms
entitled Naenie. The ode laments
the death of a Greek hero; the
passing of beauty and perfection
is its theme. I call it complex be-
cause of the heavy polyphony in-
volved in Brahms' choral music.
This .piece comes from his late
period and clearly shows the
highly developed interplay be-
tween voices first presented in
Brahms' earlier German Requiem.
But there is lyricism, and it
was in the attempt to accommo-
date both harmonic complexity
and melodic line that dulled the
Choir's performance. Hilbish was
content to give us the overall
sound, the thick knot of tones.
His group needs no drilling in in-
ternal balance, however; I feel
it was more a matter of Hilbish's
interpretation of Brahms than
any weakness in the choir that
bothered me.
The heaviness of the choral
sound was repeatedly contrasted
with the orchestral texture of the
work. Solo woodwinds and pizzi-
cato strings provide a delicate ac-
companiment, often with accents
from the harp, which should have
been equalled in the vocal lines.
Death was also in the notes of
the Stabat Mater of Giuseppi
Verdi; this is part of the Pezzi
Sacri composed late in the com-
poser's life. The problem with the
piece is that it is basically operat-
ic in structure; groups of. verses
from the hymn form dramatic
scenes which Verdi colors with
contrasts of orchestral color and
choral volume. The sustained ten-
sion, running through each epi-
sode is the basic link between
them.
But the Choir failed, here in an
opposite way than in the Brahms,
to achieve the intensity necessary
to unify the piece, and it tended
to be too divided, each section
standing too much on its own.
The singing was loud and robust
where needed, but still the sing-
ers were sensitive to the romantie
texture of the melos.
But this was in each individual-
ized section such that the entire
piece failed to take any compre-
hensible shape. All of Verdi's in-
signia were present, bass drum
and pounding timpani, bringing
to mind immediately the Manzoni
Requiem. But melody rather than
sound effects must congeal the
"Stabat Mater" - perhaps too
tenuous a bond no matter who
the performers.
The third appearance of death
made a rather unremarkable con-
cert somewhat successful. Lukas
Foss' A Parable of Death, com-
missioned by the Louisville Sym-
phony, is taken from a story and
poems by the Austrian Rainer
Maria Rilke, in an English ver-
sion by Anthony Hecht. The text
itself is utterly fascinating; its
simplicity belies its profundity,
providing a real opportunity for
musical interpretation.
And I was amazed at the mu-
sic. I have heard Foss' Time
Cycle, which deals with tonal and
rhythmic elements, and thus I
never expected to hear such lyri-
cism from a 20th century com-
poser. The media of "Parable" is
similar to Stravinsky's recent
Flood, employing narrator, chorus
and a solo voice.
Marjorie Eubank read the text
in a role demanding sometimes
sympathy, sometimes indiffer-
ence. Her voice is full and suits
the needed strength of the narra-
tor. But I tend to dislike her ex-
pression, often emphasizing the
simplicity of the text, when its
hidden power should be evident.
The range and sensitivity and
expressiveness of tenor John Mc-
Collum in the role of soloist fitted
perfectly the powerful melodies
of Foss. Foss' Brittenesque vocal
lines need conscious expression
rather than simple singing, and
McCollum played his part very
well.
Foss runs the choir through
canons, fuguettos, declarative re-
citatives and sweeping lyric pas-
sages. The Chamber Choir dealt
with all very well, their near-
perfect balance and rich tone al-
ways striking. And they, too, knew
what conscious expression means.
Foss' orchestral writing con-
tinues the extreme lyricism. The
orchestra played well in every
mood, and I liked especially the
violin and flute accompaniment
to the solo, "Tears, tears rising to
drown me," the three lines deli-
cately intertwining. The sound is
almost too pleasant, however; and
at times I felt the rhythms and
melodies to be a bit saccharine, a
little trite - especially the wood-
wind trills and scale-runs during
the spring scene.
Death was presented in three
different views last night, and in
the dreary weather all around
outside, there was quite probably
a fourth.
was reflecting on his past (try-
ing to organize IBM cards).
One of the most popular of
the winners, "OffOn," by Scott
Bartlett, had quick sequences
of distinct shapes blipping "off
and on" ' in a color or spatial
reversal. Sometimes the shapes
in relation to their surrounding
area changed in black and
Canterbury
Screens 8s
Simultaneous with the "big"
festival, an 8mm, film festival,
"The 12th Annual World 8mm
Film Festival," was held at the
Canterbury House last week.
This festival is for aspiring
film-iakers who possess the
artistry, but lack the finances
for the 16mm project. Two
nights of showings to a full-
house audience just barely in-
cluded all the films which had
been entered. Winners who were
awarded $25 each were: Steve
Cole ("Toastmasterr General"
and "Night of Feb. 28"), Jim
Haven ("Mirror"), Bob Shef-
field and Barbara Hockman
(their total . works, 4 different
films). Winning films were
screened at the Architecture
Aud. last Sunday night and will
be shown again soon at the
Canterbury House.
Jean -Luc Godard
March 18, Monday
See LA CHINOISE - Ann
Arbor Premiere of Godard's
latest film $1.50, 6:30 p.m.
- or -
Hear Godard himself speak-
ing-and see LA CHINOISE
$2.25 - 8:30 p.m.
Tickets available at Cinema
Guild beginning Wednesday
night: 6:30-9:15
(Reserved tickets must be picked
up by Friday at Cinema Guild.)
SHOWN AT THE
Vfh FORUM
THEATRE
presented by
CINEMA GUILD
white, and
eye-catchi:
The humar
also given
distortions.
Another
winning f
KennethF
three "ima
varying p
was an org
a color te
its moving
times, the7
and fram
texture; a
texture wa
white TV1
The tele
definite P
festival fil
tronic texi
commenta
ture itself
via Dee's'
Strippers"
Another
innovation
taining if
"animated'
compositicl
morous sa
audience.1
Robert Es
gU -mm
Techniques
3 sometimes in vivid, a Long Word," counterpointed
ng, contrasty colors. all kinds of still pictures of
n face and form were sexy women with severe Viet-
similar changes and nam photographs. In "Bird,"
by Bruce Green, the popular
visually abstract song "Surfing Bird" was join'ed
Ilm, "Section 8" by with rhythmically placed cut-
Higdon, had two or outs of our nation's dear presi-
ges" superimposed in dent - in quite strange sur-
atterns. One image roundings.
anic texture, another Three films which really put
Klevision screen with their teeth into uniting tech-
horizontal lines. At nique and idea, most different-
TV picture was small, ly from one another, were "Lib-
ed within the large eration of the Mannique Mech-
it times, the larger anique" (S. Arnold and M.
as itself a black and Wiese), "Soul Freeze," (B.
picture. Cowan), and "Tribal Home
vision picture had a Movie," (L. Sears).
function in several "M e c h a n i q u e," in pastel
ins, both for its elec- black and white, was filled with
ture and for a social mysterious, shiny objects and
tive use of the pic- painted faces, reminiscent of
(for example, in Sil- Smith, Kuchar ad Anger.
"Superman and the "Soul Freeze" envisioned the
). fantasies of a weird clergyman
type of entry, not an with repeated, slightly chang-
but always enter- ing scenes. "Tribal" document-
done well, was the ed a hippy family with still
" collage-montage pictures in which, after sever-
n. Usually, it is a hu- al motionless seconds, there
.tire, a relief to the would begin a small slow mo-
A beautiful example, tion. This "still motion" effect
trin's "Advertising is was also used by others.
march 13-17
all seats $1.50
quirk auditorium
reservations: 482-3453
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+.UN II F -CLM -
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TECHNICOLORS FROM WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS
See Feature at # 1:00-3:00-5:00-7:05-9:10
WHAT'S
GOING ON HERE?
Send
76i40558
764-0558
Wednesday Afternoon
is LADIES' DAY
from 1 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Dial NO 2-6264
Coming Next: "COP-OUT"
LET MY PEOPLE GO
(Part of the Conference on Conscience and Genocide)
Beginning 12 noon, Sunday, March 17
Hillel Foundation 1429 Hill
FOR RESERVATIONS CALL: Hillel Foundation 663-4129
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Dial NO 2-6264
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ENDING
WEDNESDAY
"THE FIRST
REALLY FINE
MOVE OF
THE YEARI"
--N.Y. Times
4.hl M2J1To
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DIAL
8-6416
"ONE YOU
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FORGETI"
-NY. Post
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IF YOU MISS
WINNER
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AWARD
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ATID and S.Z.O.
of Hil lel present
HARP R'S
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aomifaln in
A Negro Who Has Been a Jew All Her Life
"A LOOK AT TH E
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The Black Jew has his origins in Ethiopia, the south-
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Most Black Jews tend toward the Orthodox. They
have their own synagogues but their services are not
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camp for Black and White Jewish Youth, Kvutza
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. . . You will miss an
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* BEST PICTURE
0 BEST ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN
" BEST ACTRESS ANNE BANCROFT
SEPHE.LEVINE BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
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Starting Thursday We Will
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"Perhaps the most beautiful movie in history.".
Brendan Gill, The New Yorker. "Exquisite is only the
first word that surges in my mind as an appropriate
description of this exceptional film. Its color is abso-
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word."-Bosley Crowther, New York Times. 'May well
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I
9
Saturday, March 16
8:30 p.m.
Hill Auditorium
ANCNEBANCROFLDUSTIN HOFFMAN-KATHARINE ROSS
SCBENuLuY BY SONGS BY
rAlIn W IAII IIM4~AFMAP1 R I FNRY PAl ii gimNACh
111
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