S ......... ...... ..... . .. . .. X C .:..;..:....:......*......~ Man, woman,, mush Man, Woman, and Child Starring Martin Sheen, Nathalie Nell Blythe Danner, and Craig T. Nelson. Written by Erich Segal and David Z. Goodman Directed by Dick Richards Playing at State Theater By Julie Hinds A ND YOU THOUGHT Martin Sheen had it rough in Apocalypse Now? This year he's stuck in the middle of Man, Woman, and Child, a film based on an Erich Segal novel that packs as many tear-jerking moments per minute as did Love Story. Man, Woman, and Child is another in the line of movies about anguished dads that recently have become so popular in Hollywood. Forget about the days when fathers sat in the background of films and let the kids throw beach parties. Now Dad feels obligated to spill his emotional guts every time he gets on the screen. But unlike Shoot the Moon and Smash Palace, Man, Woman, and Child offers nothing new or particularly significant about fathers in torment. Predictable, manipulative, and mushy (even for an inherently sappy genre), it bogs down in its good intentions. Sheen plays Bob Beckwith, a humanities professor at a California college. He lives in a Better Homes and Gardens ranch house with his lovely wife, Sheila (Blythe Danner), who juggles editing foreign policy documen- ts with raising two syrupy daughters right out of a Hostess cupcake com- mercial. Bob's a swell guy inside and outside the home. When his university wants to cut back the humanities department, he knows how to handle smaller, but better - he plans a faculty walk-out. He guarantees a nervous physics major an 'A', because he "will personally feel a lot safer knowing there's a nuclear physicist out there who's read some Shakespeare." Bob's good-looking, too. Bob's got it so good, in fact, that you just know something really, really awful will happen. And it does, about five minutes into the film, when Bob finds out that a woman he once had a brief affair with (Nathalie Nell) has died and left a young son on his hands. Bob didn't know he had a son, and the discovery may put a cramp into his mellow lifestyle. A flashback clues us in to how he met the woman in France (you know it's France because accordions always play in the background). Not only does she look like she stepped off a Vogue cover, she's the best doctor in Norman- dy and quite the free spirit. She patches up Bob after he has a slight car ac- cident, then tells him she doesn't want to marry but she'd like to have a family "... if I find somebody I like enough to make a child with." She likes Bob a lot. When the Beckwiths invite the newfound son for a visit, they could solve their problem immediately by adopting him on the spot. Jean-Claude, played with charming naturalness by Sebastian Dungan, has a devastating accent and the cutest pageboy haircut this side of the Atlantic. Turning him away would be nearly impossible. But Sheen and Danner: Kissy-face Bob's wife resents the boy because he serves as a constant reminder of her husband's infidelity. And Bob's daughters think Jean-Claude is an or- phan, ensuring another family ex- plosion when they learn the truth. The rest of the film answers the boggling questions Segal's script piles up. Will Jean-Claude stay in America and go to UCLA someday? Will Sheila get even with Bob by having an affair with a distinguished author? Even the fun of predicting the outcome, though, is limited; the script stacks the deck so unfairly, the audience doesn't get to decide who to like or dislike. Father and son share so many wonderful qualities, they make Bob's wife and children seem like spoiled brats for being upset. Sheen and Danner give solid perfor- mances, but their skill alone can't rescue the contrived plot. David Hem- mings looks bored and pudgy as Dan- ner's potential romantic interest, and Craig T. Nelson, so entertainingly quirky in Poltergeist, suffers through his horrible role as Sheen's All- American blockhead buddy. Other distinguished cast members include a dozen men in cardigans and bow ties who play faculty members. The fast pace keeps Man, Woman, and Child from becoming truly offen- sive. Some of the moments between Sheen and Dungan even work up a sin- cere lump in the throat. But the film's urge to practically canonize Sheen wrecks its credibility from the start. Still, Bob Beckwith would be a great professor. I wouldn't want to see a movie like this again, but I sure would like to find out where I can CRISP for Martin Sheen's class. PeopleI prints Barbara Young: Works on Paper Clare Spitler gallery 2007 Pauline Court April 1 6-May 28 By Kathryn Glasgow IT'S BEEN SAID that every artist is his or her art. And of course it's also been said that a picture paints a thousand words. In the world of the ar- tist, style, color, line and texture com- bine until suddenly, the work has a voice all its own. On April 16, we will have a chance to step into the diversity of one's artist's world when Barbara Young, a Cincin- nati printmaker, opens a one-woman show at Clare Spitler Works of Art in Ann Arbor. Barbara Young, 49, received her art training at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Academy, and Edgecliff College. Her impressive collection of etchings, woodcuts and collographs reflects a rich, vibrant essence. The artist has experimented exten- sively with the collograph, an in- novative form that originated recently in the East but is practically unknown in the Midwest. Young's collograph work marks a natural progression following her 10-year exploration with etchings and woodcuts. "It's fun," Young says. "You really don't know what you'll come up with. I often look at the finished piece and say, 'I didn't know that was in my head!' " A collograph is a print of a collage made up of a wide variety of materials - crumpled tissue or foil, pieces of car-. dboard, coffee grounds etc. The print is run through a press and the heavy pressure creates interesting textures. Young's work blends strong earth tones and simple shapes to create abstract figurative prints. Young also incorporates hieroglyphics in her work, lending a primitive feel. She laughingly admits, "I have no idea where this came from. It's kind of an instinctive thing. I'm in- terested in the concept, the entire civilization. It's an idea that keeps sur- facing. Like things that are a part of you, that you want to express." Actually, the hieroglyphics carry no one message. When asked what they mean, Young says, "It's purely visual. It says a lot of different things to dif- ferent people." In the past, Young has worked in an even more* conceptual style. She classifies these woodcuts as "people prints." These works carry a message and make a social statement through visual imagery. They are less readily accepted by a public who finds their implications disturbing. One such piece, "Family Portrait," depicts a family of four wearing masks. "I learn so much about people. It's fascinating," says Young. "The majority of people who bought 'Family Portrait' were psychiatrists!" Another piece and a part of the Ann Arbor show, "In the Long Run: His/ Hers" shows a married couple running in opposite directions. The buyers? Couples with dual-career marriages. Some galleries refused these prints; reminding the artist that "people don't like to think." For many people, art is meant to entertain, or to simply create a sense of beauty; a social message is disturbing - it makes them have to work too hard. Yet some of the "people prints" are Young's favorites. "They created a lot of flak. But that means I'm doing something." After receiving her B.A. in Design in 1957, Young worked from 1964-1975 on portrait commissions in pastel and oil. Her exploration with etchings and woodcuts and her newly developed in- terest in collographs was a marked change from the traditional realistic painting style. "An artist is constantly looking at new things. You have to find new ideas to use. You have to try something new and different." Young is currently experimenting with what she calls "landscapes." These pieces are againstrongly visual; the artist describes them as "color coming through space, the jux- taposition of forms." "I needed to concentrate again on color, texture, form. Someday, though, I'll go back and, do the message piece again," she explains. Reaching the public through her art is important to Barbara Young. "Art is a lonely vocation. You can't work with people around. I love it when people contact me and ask what I meant, what I was trying to say in a particular piece. Getting exposure, having people buy your works - that's the biggest motivation." Young works seven days a week, of- ten eight hours a day. "It's a shaky profession. Being good is not enough," she says. Yet she has achieved what all young hopefuls dream of: Her talent is abundant, her works are prolific, and she is happy with what she does. Her strong designs, her flair for color and texture, truly speak for her - more vividly, really than these words can.. CLiii}%?::: : i::vvj:%%::{'.tiv;: }SA iw{+ .. ....... ........n ...... ... .... .... .. x....'. f........i}iii.: ;":L"'i3%".f'+'?ti-0r :. ...., v..... .4 .u ..vxx.. 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