60 Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 24, 1989 Vraisemblance . .. .. ... ,..max .t .,... \ ;, ;:\. :. gone bad There are alternatives to the cliched 'pseudo-realism' of modern films BY ALYSSA KATZ AN old and contagious disease is running rampant in movies today; it afflicts many of both the most popular and most shunned films we see. Call this disease pseudo-realism. It is, simply, the tendency of a movie to fall into a rut of clich6 and conventionality, and then, often, proclaim its content as unquestion- able truth. Shockingly, though, such on my all-too-brief "best of 1988" list - demonstrates that successful adults are not always concerned with the completeness of their set of Eu- ropean kitchen paraphernalia. Some- times, in fact, they have psychological problems - big ones, in this case. It is, to be honest, fun to watch the Mantle twins (played brilliantly by the Oscar-snubbed Jeremy Irons) fall to pieces in their expensively furnished apartment. Dead Ringers is wonderfully anti- success, showing that even (especially?) the most accomplished and wealthy of us can also be truly deranged. Mississippi Burning, although good in some respects, is also in- sulting to its audience. Director Alan Parker makes a great effort to con- vince the viewer that he is present- ing the events in the film as they actually occurred back in the early '60s. When a group of Klan leaders is arrested, Parker shows black and white freeze frames of the moment, accompanied by titles proclaiming the lengths of the prison terms these men face. Clich6d, yes, but tolerable. The problem with the movie only be- comes evident during the end credits, which explain that while the events in the film were inspired by actual ones, any other resemblance to his- tory is purely accidental. Then what about those prison terms? The pho- tojournalism-style freeze frames? If someone's going to play around with my understanding of history, I want to know about it. That's why I like The Thin Blue Line, an amaz- ingly creative documentary, which lets you in on its process of blurring reality and fiction instead of assum- ing that you don't know and don't care. The Accidental Tourist, another case of pseudo-realism, demonstrates the old, "the audience won't get this so let's make it really obvious" syndrome in a flashback scene, in which Macon Leary (William Hurt) recalls the death of his son. The en- tire flashback is tinted a sickly green, just in case we don't under- stand that this scene does not chronologically follow the one shown before it. For healthy, alternative viewing: Bagdad Cafe. This fun, much lower- budget film makes use of colored filters simply because they enhance it aesthetically - a magenta sunset happens to look really nice. Who ever said anything was wrong with that? films are often considered among the best around. Films suffering from pseudo- realism display a range of symp- toms. One victim is Broadcast News, which television journalists say is about as true to life as a bad comic book. I see it primarily as a repulsively insistent glorification of yuppiedom. Yet the film's makers, and publicists, seem to be doing their utmost to have us believe that we're seeing the real thing. A suggested alternative: Dead Ringers. This masterpiece - which I unfortunately saw too late to put Flanking Genevieve Bujold, Jeremy Irons as both Beverly and Elliot Mantle plays two seriously disturbed twins in Dead Ringers (above), an antidote to the virus of pseudo-realism that plagues both good and bad movies. But Academy-award nominated Mis- sissippi Burning (right), starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, blurs the line between reality and cinema in an ambigu- ous, and insulting, fashion - an example of the dreaded pseudo- realism. X000000 Steps Ahead N.Y.C. Intuition What do you do when you're not doing that same steady gig with a major rock 'n' roll band like Jour- ney? Well, if you're drummer Steve Smith one thing you do for fun is play in a fusion band like Steps Ahead. Steps' last album Magnetic sported some incredible work, with Michael Brecker (saxophone player extraordinaire) playing his Iwi, the synthesizer-driving wind instrument, and was produced by music great George Duke. Steps has stepped out on their own this time, with leader Mike Manieri stepping in to handle the production on this album. What N.Y.C. lacks without the slick Duke production, is more than made up for with the opportunity for Steps to show off their genius in their own way. Manieri's axe is something called the midi vibraharp, which he appar- ently uses to drive the now industry. standard Synclavier. This technique paves the way for a really crisp sounding album, and with the other renowned studio musicians on the album help bring the crisp sound into focus. Technically skilled, and not afraid to apply technology to their music, Steps creates some memorable mo- ments with the flashy "Get It", and the title track recreates the busy mood of New York. -Jean-Michel Creviere Pinetop Perkins After Hours Blind Pig Records Blues musician Pinetop Perkins is a man who very well could be a leg- end in his own time, save that he has spent most of his career playing ace backup piano for the likes of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Robert Nighthawk. After Hours, Perkins debut album, may change things. With help from Mike and the Mechanics, (not that Mike and not those Mechanics) a New York based, self-proclaimed "working class band," Pinetop has recreated that classic Chicago blues sound which includes a screaming mouthharp backed by driving piano riffs way up on the high end of the scale. His keyboard line stays true to the boogie-woogie style which his namesake, Pinetop Smith, helped popularize in the early part of this century. High-speed choppy notes and sudden breaks are augmented by Perkins' gravel-tone, all-the-way-down-in-the-basement, voice. This is an album blues con- noisseurs shouldn't be without. Pinetop hangs with tantalizing precision on notes that a lesser artist would have hurried past without thought. It's as if it were just after last call and the blues were those fi- nal drops of whiskey at the bottom of a warm glass. He rolls oh-so- slowly through "Easy Chair" and "Thinks Like a Million" - both original material - then drawls through a number of flavored covers like Willie Dixon's "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and Nighthawk's drawling "Anna Lee." As if his audience were right there in the nightclub with him - the smoke rising up past his bench and into the darkened ceiling fan overhead - Pinetop ends his jamboree with a tribute to Smith. "Stop," he yells in the middle of the song, (and we do). "Watch me now," he continues, "when I go, you go." And after hanging in silence for a tantalizing second we ride the crisp notes off into the night - into the after hours. Indeed, it is late. Do you know where your musical roots are? -Rollie Hudson -, COUPC lentire ad- F REdE k BR ING IN T H 12 oz. drinkBRNINT expires AGETM 3-30-89 (ONETICKETPE Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown IS AD FOR. [R COUPON) New York Stories on color processing & 4x6 prints Each picture is the best it can be or we reprint it free... now! ONNOIIT ON ROLLS olt I4x6 Color Prints in One Hour 8x10 Colorne rgements req. price Ic h No lut on number ofrolls discounted Free Custom Cropping! with this coupon. Print length varies Fe utm rpig with film size. C41 in lab process only I' 8x1O enlargements from 35mm and not combinable with other processing I 126 negatives. Not combinable with Cop nd~ print offers. 18 other enlargement offers. CoupongoodtoughJune3,199coupon good through June 3. 1989 I CHCphotofiC photo finish one hour services: photo finishing " enlargements " reprints " double prints; also available: wallet photos, instant color passport photos n video transfer" copies from prints "cameras and accessories " film Detroit Area Phone: 526-6990 *"Universal Mal "Frenchtown Square' Fairlane Town Center -Lakeside Mall Northland Mall " Southland Mall " FEastland Mall " Buhl Building." Renaissance Center " Lathrop in hee lyMall- F Hlnt, MI: nesee eMall Co a Center Gand Rpds M North Kent Mall - Woodland Mall - Holland. Ml: Westshore Mall I OLD RING SALE Michigan Alumni work here: The Wall Street Journal The New York Times The Washington Post The Detroit Free Press The Detroit News NBC Sports Associated Press United Press International Scientific American Time Newsweek Sports Illustrated Because they worked here: THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Women s Glee Club presents its Annual Spring Concert With *Madrigals *Harmonettes *a 60's medley J(O)STENS A 1I CA S CO LL.E G E R IN G! Stop by and see a Jostens representative, Thursay, March 23 and Friday, March 24, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., to seIect from acomnlete line of sold rins. , *M Songs Friday, March 31 Rackham s Aiudi triiur