Page 8--The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 28, 1990 ART Continued from page 7 hibits. Working in a non-objective manner, Claus presents abstract vi- sual images of emotions and con- cepts. Claus' works, such as 8 May 1945: Experimental Actualization of the Content of Memory and Its Field; Reciprocal Actions, (1984), sound and look more like scientific projects than artistic expressions. Claus' lithographs emerge as visual records of mental journeys. The viewer seems to peer into a photo- graph from a nightmare in Za-um: Alexai Kruchenykh 1968 (1986) and into a drug-induced psychological state in Emotional Movements in the Process of Formulation (1987). Claus does not limit himself to de- picting external subject matter. He gives form, rather, to. the mysterious psychic processes that lack definitive visual equivalents. TWELVE ARTISTS FROM THE GDR is on display at the University Museum of Art through March 26. CLOUD continued from page 8 jump between the acts, emphasize the changes in the attitudes of the characters. Unlike other socially conscious pieces, Cloud 9 doesn't contain any overly-obvious messages. "Heavy- handed statements, especially in Ann Arbor where there are a lot of them, would create redundant morality," says director Jon Casson. The themes aresubtly implied, but obvi- ous enough so the audience can dis- tinguish them. Casson also uses of- fensiveness as a means to get morals across. For example, semi-hard core porn is used throughout the play. In defense of the use of this medium, Casson says, "Art should either teach or challenge. Any theater piece that doesn't challenge the audience is worthless." CLOUD 9 will be performed at the Arena Theater in the Frieze Builing tomorow and Friday at 5 p.m. Ad- mission is free. RECORDS Continued from page 7 Eat Sell Me a God Homestead Records One approaches the cover of Sell Me a God with extreme caution. For one thing, a plastic skull on top of a Lloydtron TV is a pretty scary sight. And with a name like "Eat," one could easily believe that these guys are part of some cannibalistic cult of something evil like that. God, there's even a postcard of the cast of Bonanza in the corner! What kind of demented minds would put that on their cover? What have I got- ten myself into here? So with the hair on the back of my neck standing up, I put needle to groove and braced myself for the opening strains of the ominously-ti- tled "Tombstone." Well, okay, maybe these guys aren't Satan wor- shipers. They seem to have more of an affinity for blues rock thrashing than pentagrams. But with song ti- ties like "Body Bag," "Insect Head," and "Mr. and Mrs. Smack," it ap- pears that someone here had an inter- esting childhood. Not that the lyrics are the only interesting thing about Sell Me a God. Each of the eleven tracks has a distinct personality and is nearly im- possible to describe. Weird, funny, funky, punky, thrash-y, bluesey, creepy and many nonexistent adjec- tives would only begin to describe this. Like the proverbial often-talked about but seldom heard band, Eat re- ally does have to be heard to be "understood." Suffice it here to say that they start with the usual guitar, bass and drums, add a little harmon- ica, a Pandora's box of effects, prob- ably a bunch of acid, some blues, Pink Floyd and punk influences and Cast seconds those emotions Men don't leave dir. Paul Brickman by Wendy Shanker I often think of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo while I sit in a darkened theater, waiting for the film to start. Cairo is the story of a Depression-era woman who, like many others in the 1930s, used the movies to escape from an un- promising reality. In 60 years, not all that much has changed (except the price of the movie ticket). Now we pay $5 to live the fantasies of other people for two hours, before we go home to the dilemmas that face us each day. But when a movie reaches out to us, makes us laugh and cry, is it because we can separate ourselves from the characters onscreen? Can we detach ourselves from the pain of others be- cause we know that when the credits roll, these lives no longer exist? Or is the real reason I laughed and cried throughout Men Don't Leave be- cause it was so real that it played on my own life and emotions? Writer Barbara Benedek (The Big Chill , Immediate Family) and direc- tor Paul Brickman (Risky Business) stir up another family drama with Men Don't Leave. Jessica Lange plays Beth McCauley, the mother who must hold her family together when her husband dies in a construc- tion accident. The dialogue is often so natural that it sounds like a tape recording of any family discussion in America, and other times so far- fetched that it could only be real. The quirky characters (especially that of the outstanding Joan Cusack) ap- pear implausible, yet that implausi- bility lends them credit. The McCauleys move to Balti- more, where each family member finds a friend - Beth meets Charles (Arliss Howard), a New Age- musi- cian with a penchant for polka. Jody (Cusack) comforts 17-year-old Chris (Chris O'Donell), whose father's death has turned him cold and cyni- cal. And fourth-grader Matty (Charlie Korsmo) meets a schoolmate who promises to find a solution to the McCauley's money problems. A vibrating, shimmering musical score by Thomas Newman reverber- ates through th8 film, emphasizing the emptiness and lonliness of each. character. O'Donell and Korsmo per- form excellently as the unhappy sons. Each has his standout scenei when the hardened Chris apologizes for the shell he has built around his emotions to Charles, his pain and resentment is believable. And when Matty cries to his mother, "Does he still love me? Does he know I'm in the fourth grade?" you want to reach out and comfort this boy, relieve his * suffering. Lange (Music Box, Toot- sie) is the least satisfying cast member, looking gaunt and some- what fake with a straight, reddish coiffure. She contributes nothing special to the role of Beth, but maybe her inconspicuousness adds to the reality of the film. "Heartbreak is life educating us,"* Beth tells her sons, who feel for- saken by their father and torn in loy- alty to the life that once was and the life that could be. Men Don't Leave is a film that sweetly and sadly ed- ucates us about the deep emotions in our own lives. MEN DON'T LEAVE is playing at Briarwood and Showcase. SSell ,it in?<