ARTS
The Michigan Daily Thursday, November 13, 1980 Page 5
BAD TIMING/A SENSUAL OBSESSION:'
Roeg's sensory suggestions
By ADAM KNEE strain. relationship between research Yet, depressing as all of this sounds,
With Bad Timing: A Sensual Ob- THESE IMAGES keep flowing as a psychoanalyst Alex Lerner and his the overall view of Bad Timing, is not
session, Nicolas Roeg again, proves result of quick cutting and a continuous mysterious, wayward lover Milena that pessimistic or frightening. No
himself one of the few film directors change of scene. Yet each short- Vognic. As his short, simple, descrip- real people are as unbending as these
ho know how to exploit their medium duration shot holds its own, largely tive name implies, Lerner needs his characters. They serve as represen-
o its fullest talent. The plot concerns through Roeg's skillful technical work. world uncomplicated. All must be laid tations of two extremes of human
the tumultuous, obsessive relationship He and Director of Photography An- bare and clearly defined, even the force nature; a little of both of them is in all
between a professor (Art Garfunkel) thony Richmond freely switch from a of love, and he is unable to deal with the of us. The film demonstrates the
and his young, promiscuous lover steady camera to a hand-held one at insecurity of an unbinding relationship. problems underlying all relationships,
(Theresa Russell), but the film's sen- momentrs of intiinacy or insecurity. His life's work is an attempt to scien- the need for lovers to be willing to un-
sory world, in a time frame all its own,. During one argument, the depth of tifically study the mysteries of human derstand and compromise. As Milena's
is given as much import as this plot. In focus is skillfully varied in relation to emotion. He is associated with cities estranged husband says, "You must
fact, the story does not unfold in a the emotional intensity of each shot. and with dull greens and uncom- love a woman tremendously if she's dif-
straightforward fashion; rather, Sound is also carefully used. Roeg promising blacks. ficult."
everything is either a flashback or a prefers stretches of silence to a soun- Milena Vognic is the antithesis of all Roeg gets his concepts across in a
flashforward or a fantasy, and dtrack drenched with inappropriate of this. She apparently has no job, nor way that is refreshing in its originality.
crosscutting allows characters in one music. In the scenes where he does use any other serious connection with\ Complex ideas are not conveyed
ime to appear to interact with those in it, music is well-chosen, ranging from society. She shuttles back and forth through a hypnotic flow of images,
another. Time is cyclical here, and, Palchebel's "Canon" for a dreamily from Alex in one country to a husband which remain with the viewer long af-
correspondingly, the conflicts between romantic moment to songs- of Billie in another. She absolutely refuses to be ter the film has ended. The film's
the lovers are inevitable and can never Holliday and even The Who. tied down in a single relationship and is biggest flaw, and a minor one at that, is
be resolved. Bad Timing deals with one of Roeg's associated with images of water, fire, simply that Alex and Milena, created
Roeg unceasingly repeats certain own obsessions-that of the relation- and chaotic nature, and with lively, more as dramatic devices than actual
visual and aural cues, providing a rich, ships between coexisting worlds, which sensual reds and blues. Nothing in her people, are occasionally hard to relate
continuous network of symbols through has been studied to some degree in all world is simple; it is even too com- to, and this leaves the viewer a bit
which the film's sorry world is of his films. Here, more than ever plicated for her to grasp. "Where am I removed and cold. Alex's violence and
revealed. Seemingly unimportant before, he manages to examine such going now?" we see scrawled across a lack of self control are not properly
details are isolated and given an almost relationships on many levels. We see partition-in her apartment, which is it- matched with his at-times staid
ystical significance. Knives and keys, attempts at structure and resolve on an self a messy, cluttered attack on a professor character, and Milepa
ringing phones and bodies of water are earth that naturally tend.; towards en- streuctured building. She must ask of manages to be both a sophisticated,
given their own lives and meanings. trophy. We see a need for independence the analyst, ".. . understand me less alluring lover and a raving, painted-
Cigarettes and alcohol, ominously ap- undermining a struggle for the security and love me more." faced psychopath.
pearing in almost every scene, serve to of close relationships, and violence in- ALEX AND MILENA . have Despite this, the characters serve
underscore the sexual obsessions fused with the act of love. Most impor- irrepressible, sexually-based urges to their purposes well, and Garfunkel and
characters are plagued with. Colors of tantly, people are presented as isolated possess one another, yet neither is 'Russell do as deft a job overcoming the
settings and clothing are carefully spheres, all characters being caught up willing to change, to compromise, to set-backs as one could hope for. All in
selected and emphasized to stress in themselves, unable to reach to make relating normally possible. A all, Bad Timing/A Sensual Obsession is
moods or personalities. Extreme red others, helplessly spying on 'their en- breakdown is inevitable. Their one of the most +innovative and
and green lighting effects are used in vironment. relationship is culminated in a chilling carefully-constructed commercial
some instances to reflect emotional THIS IS MOST apparent in the act of violence and alienation. films produced in some time.
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..
Harmonica blues & jazz
Join
Arts Staff
By FRED SCHILL
Charlie Musselwhite and the,
Dynatones played three sets of
rollicking, jazz-infused blues to an en-
thusiastic crowd at Rick's American
afe Tuesday night. -
At 36, Musselwhite has ten solo,
albums to his credit and has played as
sideman on sixteen others. He
manipulates a whole slew of har-
monicas, which he kept ready for com-
bat. in an attache case within easy
reach. His collecton includes in-
struments in the keys of-A; B-flat, C, D,
F, and a host of others he has created
by. filing down the reeds in standard
models.
It's not the harmonicas alone that
istinguish him from the others,
owever; it's what he can do with them.
Musselwhite, I am. convinced, could do
Bach on a harmonica. He takes an in-
strument that most bands seem to view
as a curiosity and dominates a show
with it, punching out solos of
exhilirating complexity and dazzling
dexterity.
MUSSELWHITE more charac-
teristically harmonizes with the rest of,
is outstanding band in prolonged
Jams, at frenetic paces, that owe their
origins more to jazz on fast-forward
than to the blues. For once, prolonged
jams were not boring, primarily
because of the masterful talents of the
Dynatones
Saxophonist Reynaldo Arvizu coaxes
an astounding variety of sound out of
his instrument with the smooth
felicity of a California con man, while
pianist Rob Kohn plays a pounding
eyboard style that is a little bit Scott
oplin and a little bit Jerry Lee Lewis.
This was not your standard blues
band. The nomenclature simply does
not fit. While Musselwhite's grainy
vocals and Welter's full-bodied, smooth
guitar work indicated that this was, in-
deed, a blues outfit, the, rest of the
Dynatones were playing jazz,
rockabilly, and a little bit of '50's rock
'n' roll.
ARVIZU, KOHN, bassist Fly Brooks,
and drummer Walter Shuttlesworth
fleshed out the standard blues song
structures with flickering, precise in-
tensity. Musselwhite's harmonica
collaborations added to the jazz flavor
of the show. He's a reasonably talented
blues Singer capable of sliding from
slippery smoothness to grainy coar-
seness without batting an eyelash, but
his singing and song structure are stan-
dard blues, not particularly innovative
in themselves. It's the band's collective
sound that is outstanding.
With that in mind, it is a shame that
the band struggled with the sound
system the whole of the evening. The
first set was almost a total loss, as the
Dynatones struggled to compete with
the feedback for the audience's atten-
tion and Musselwhite's harmonica
wailed away in oblique obscurity.
After two breaks to try to correct the
chaos ("You just wouldn't believe how
much they spent an this system,"
Musselwhite commented), the band
was able to rouse the impatient crowd
and keep the fires burning despite con-
tinued bursts of feedback and a
multiplicity of problems with monitor
sound. That alone is tribute to their
skills.
PICHER,
11 IGi
Mon u','Th r(UPPER LEVEL)
Nu FrHi 7-10- 9-3 Mon, Tue, Thur Fri 7:25-9:35
SatSun;Wed :1 -:16-:16-:30t, Sun, Wed 1:25-4:25-7:25-9:35
N G Tat FRANK SINA TRA
THE FIRST, OHGoD }
th0O Un DEADLY SIN OD!
1140 South University R -W©rG
6 6 8 - 8 4 1 1 ..r s..y..... [P G
'Gathering of Days"
author speaks at E.Q.
By CAROL WIERZBICKI
A lively interest in facts and details
characterizes Joan Blos' writing for
children. Her novel, A Gathering of
Days, is really a fictional diary pieced
together with the help of such historical
literature as old newspapers, grammar
books and ladies' journals. Reading
from her Newberry Award-winning
book at East Quad's Benzinger Library
Tuesday night, Blos' love of research
showed itself in her careful ex-
planations of information sources
stumbled across and sought after.
A Gathering of Days is set in 4 small
rural New Hampshire town during the
years 1830-1832, and through the eyes of
the 13-year-old narrator Catherine, we
witness harvesting and spring cleaning,
weddings and deaths. Somewhat
reminiscent of the Laura Ingalls Wilder
"Little House" books, this novel goes
further into the psychology of the main
character by weaving details of daily
farm life around the thread of
Catherine's emotional growth.
See AUTHOR, Page 7
1 *',
tit is unalloyed and unadulterated pleasure;
it breaks on the world like a burst of sunshine ...
a dance masterpiece. P
Clive Barnes, New York Times
INSTANT
CASH*
WE'RE PAYING
$1-$2 PER DISC
FOR YOUR ALBUMS
tN GOOD SHAPE.
A Footstep of Air
The Feld Ballet
Monday, Nov.17
Anatomic Balm (1980) - Ragtime Music
Scenes for the Theater (1980) - Music by Aaron Copland
Intermezzo (1969) - Music by Johannes Brahms
Tuesday, Nov.18
Meadowlark (1968) - Franz Josef Haydn (revised 1980)
Scenes for the Teater (1980) - Aaron Copland
Halftime (1978) - Morton Gould
Wednesday, Nov.19
Anatomic Balm (1980) - Ragtime Music
Circa (1980) - Paul Hindemith
Footstep ofAir (1977) - Beethoven
Nov171819 at 8:00
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