ARTS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, October 25, 1988 Page 7 Kingsley saves stranded Island BY MARK SHAIMAN As Donne said, "No man is an island." But Basil Pascali comes close - not because he can stand entirely on his own, but because he is adrift between two larger forces, being pulled both ways. The gravity of his situation burdens him with an internal struggle mirrored in the external events of Pascali"s Island. Once again, as in his Oscar- winning portrayal of Gandhi, Ben Kingsley darkens his complexion, shaves his head, and adopts a foreign accent. And expectedly, though definitely commendably, he succeeds in capturing the essence of Pascali, visually expressing his mental battle by employing physical nuances; his facial expressions clearly reveal his thinking. And he has much to think about. The film is set on a small island in the Aegean Sea, and the year is 1908. The Ottoman Empire is in power, but the Greeks are rebelling against the Turks, so conflict is the most dominant power on the island. And Pascali's family background is vague, seeming to link him to both sides. Interspersed throughout the film are scenes of Pascali writing letters to the Turkish emperor, ac- counting the events on the island; he claims to be an agent, but admits to himself that he has received no response in his 20 some years of correspondence. This leaves the au- dience as unsure of Pascali's position as Pascali himself is. But despite his internal struggles, Pascali was not directly involved in the problems on the island until the arrival of Anthony Bowles (Charles Dance,White Mischief), an English _R . , 1 CNEMABRECTORT. BARGAINATIGNEE306UTIL PMDAIL ALCEXA BEZ/Daily What's missing from this photo? Well, nothing yet, but soon after it was taken, at Game Theory's Blind Pig show in January, Scott Miller's (far left) shirt was - soon to occupy a place in the closet of some unscrupulous local concertgoer. Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Basil Pascali is, not unexpectedly, the highlight of Pascali's Island. Music, work - wordplay - n Theory archaeologist come to do research there. Pascali offers to act as his interpreter, and thus becomes in- extricably linked to this newcomer. Pascali arranges a meeting between Bowles and the Pasha - the main authority on the island - to discuss the lease of a piece of land that the Englishman would like to study. After an agreement is reached, Pascali is told that he will be held responsible for Bowles' behavior. Weighed down by his fear of the Pasha, he begins to watch Bowles closely. What he finds is not to his liking, which drags him farther into the conflict, but also forces him to take a stand. Director and screenwriter James Dearden manages to take the struggle of one man and entangle it with the problems of a society, allowing the viewer to better understand the main character. But this also proves to be the main problem with the film. The conflicts that are occurring on the island are never defined enough for the viewer to take one side or another. This does help to relate, Pascali's situation to the audience, but it also engenders a sense of apathy about all that occurs. It is difficult to care about anything that is not understandable and, un- fortunately, a fair amount of Pascali's Island falls into this category. However, these conflicting sides never become confusing ,- the Turks are the Turks and the Greeks are the Greeks and never the twain shall meet. But it would be a more See Island, Page 8 BY JIM PONIEWOZIK FRIDAY, January 23, 1988, was not one of the finest nights of Scott Miller's life. His band, Game Theory, didn't get a soundcheck before their show at the Blind Pig. The stage was almost too small to fit the band, much less their light show. The mikes didn't work. The equipment overheated. The drummer missed cues. The bass player stormed off stage in frustration. And, to top it all off, somebody swiped his shirt. S eo naturally, we're coming back to the same place," Miller laughs. After all, for somebody who once had to reform his band from scratch (the original members left just before landing a recording contract), getting a new shirt and trying again isn't such a big deal. And for a band in Game Theory's situation, persistence is important. Oh, not that they haven't gotten attention - over the course of six years, two EPs and four albums, they've become one of the most critically acclaimed bands in the country. But you can't eat critical acclaim. Problem? Game Theory is too clever for its own good. Musically, the chord mazes and intricate pop structures guitarist/singer/songwriter MIiller weaves on each song risk leaving his audience as dazed and . frazzled as the Bugs Bunny cha- meleon plopped down in front of a plaid screen. Lyrically, listening to a Game Theory album is like sitting inside the bag of a lawn mower as it runs over a dictionary. But Miller makes no apologies. "I'm all too aware of all the many aspects of my personality that are keeping us from being the number one band in the universe," he said. "That's one of them - (the songs) are too complex, you have to listen to them three times before you get it or whatever. Well, sorry, I can't just sit down and write a song I think is simple enough." Aha!, you say. But just what do these songs sound like? Well, that's jist what I've been trying to avoid Game Theory songs are harmonious, upbeat pop songs, of the Hollies/Big Star mold. And they're not. They're mutated, pur- eed versions of everything you used to think sounded good in a song, a la the White Album. And they're not. telling you. Game Theory songs are harmonious, upbeat pop songs, of the Hollies/Big Star mold. And they're not. They're mutated, purled versions of everything you used to think sounded good in a song, a la the White Album. And they're not. In essence, this means Miller writes a melody anyone else would be perfectly happy with and then asks himself, "What can I do...?" Sometimes this means singing the acrid "Dripping With Looks" ac- companied by a single distorted guitar and a bass played with xy- lophone mallets. Sometimes this means tacking chords from "Stair- way to Heaven" onto the end of "24." Sometimes it just means taking a gorgeous song and playing it even more gorgeously, like the heartbreaking "If and When It Falls APart." This is the approach he's taken on the band's latest, Two Steps From the Middle Ages. Compared to the 1987 double studio LP, Lolita Nation, (featuring excerpts from earlier GT songs, a song with a paragraph-long title, lyrics culled from contracts and tabloid headlines, and a vacuum cleaner), Two Steps is radical in its normality. Hair Styling with a Flair - 7 Barber Stylists for MEN & WOMEN SNO WAITING!!! DASCOLA STYLISTS Opposite Jacobson's 668-9329 "I had no desire to make 'Son of Lolita Nation,"' Miller said. "I thought I was losing this property of my songs that they all had these little climaxes in them. That's 90 percent of I was aiming at for this record: to have those right couple of seconds of emotional impact." Does the simpler format mean the band could be ready for the big time? Probably not. Although Lolita Na- tion was the band's biggest seller, Miller said, "that still falls below the 'unbelievably pathetic' stage." 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