The Michigan Daily- Thursday, October 17, 1991 - Page 7
Jodie, as director,
fosters an Einstein
Little Man Tate
dir. Jodie Foster
By Aaron Hamburaer
J odie Foster stars and makes her di-
recting debut with the new movie,
Little Man Tate. Foster keeps her
film humming along beautifully
until the very end when, with less
than a minute left, a downhill turn
threatens to sink everything. Thanks
to the strength of the rest of the
film, however, Little Man Tate does
succeed.
The movie tells the story of Fred
Tate (Adam Hann-Byrd), a seven-
year-old genius who draws like Da
Vinci, writes poetry like Shake-
speare and solves physics problems
like Einstein. Fred's unique abilities
isolate him from children his own
age, as seen poignantly when Fred
invites his entire class to his birth-
day party and no one shows up.
The only person in the whole
world who cares about Fred is his
working-class mother, Dede, played
by Foster. To help her son max-
imize his amazing potential, Dede
enlists the help of Jane (Dianne
Wiest), a child psychologist who
runs a school for prodigies like
Fred. Jane introduces Fred to a
world of knowledge he'd never
dreamed of.
It turns out that Jane was once a
child prodigy herself, and although
she's brilliant, she doesn't under-
stand the world of emotion. Ulti-
mately the conflict emerges be-
tween the head, represented by Jane,
and the heart, represented by Dede,
and the film opts for a compromise
between the two.
The script, by Scott Frank, who
wrote the feeble Dead Again, blows
hot and cold. The dialogue works
well, for the most part, and there
are some inspired sequences, such as
when Fred interacts with other
child prodigies. However, Frank
does his script a real disservice with
* his characterization, or rather, cari-
caturization of Jane, who seems
more like a Hollywood convention
than a real person. The atrocious
ending embodies everything that is
wrong with Hollywood screen-
writing today. Frank's script for
Dead Again had a similar problem.
Instead of resolving his scripts'
conflicts realistically, Frank tacks
on a phony ending borrowed from a
million other conventional movies.
The best thing about Tate is the
superb performances. Foster's work
here as Dede Tate is on a par with her
captivating performance in Silence
of the Lambs. Dede not only loves
her son, she fawns over him. All of
her hopes and dreams have failed.
The only thing Dede has going for
her is Fred, whose intelligence she
admires but can't fathom.
Though Wiest cannot com-
pletely overcome the weaknesses of
her clich6d character, at least she
makes Jane palatable. The casting of
the charismatic Harry Connick Jr. in
the small role of a friendly father
figure is quite effective. As another
See TATE, Page 8
Virginal, he's not
Bob Mould, the ultimate guitar-
meister since his Hsker days, fi--
nally plays Detroit solo, like he's
always wanted to. But, ha-ha, it's
at miniscule Alvin's, where you can
spit on the stage from the door or
take a flyin' leap and land on Bob's
lap. Mould -sans record deal
since Virgin dropped him this
spring (Janet Jackson is appar-
ently more artistically important),
and without a manager to boot -
will be playing solo and acoustic,
just like the killer set he did at the
Blind Pig last spring. You wanna
see raw emotion flow through gui-
tar strings? Go to this show. In
fact, you can catch Mould twice
tonight: doors open for the first
show at 9 p.m., and for the second
at midnight. Tickets for each
show are $12.50 in advance at
TicketMaster (p.e.s.c.).
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A sophisticated musical about
a misguided search for the perfect mate
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Musical Theatre Program
Mendelssohn Theatre
Oct. 17 -19 at 8 PM
Oct. 20 at 2 PM
Student tickets $6 with ID
at the League Ticket Office
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The U-M School of Music
*1
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PROCTER & GAMBLE
O" O
dp i
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_ YOUR CHOICE COUPON=
5)
mma& &W -77,
,y4a .
;/
OVA
MICHIGAN UNION
(LOWER LEVEL )
665-2034
DINE IN OR CARRY OUT
M VALUABLE COUPON =|VALUABLE COUPON
PURCHASES
UNDERGRADUATE
RECRUITING
LS&A (All Backgrounds Welcom
BBA 1st & 2nd year students
ie)
BABY Double Slie,
PAN! Crazy Crust
PAN!-& a 16 oz. soft drink
& a 16 oz. soft drink
$ 259 **-2...9
Plus Tax Ils a
Two adorable individual-sized pan pizzas vlth chleeseI
and pepperoni for one low price, Valid only with~ Valid only with coupon at participating Little f
coupon at participating ttle Caesars Pizza Stations. Caesars Pizza Stations. t
Expires 10/30/91 U-M1 Expires 10/30/91 U-M 2
TWO SMALL
CHEESE PIZZAS
$ 99
Plus Tax
YOUR CHOICE: "o"^" Tf"W*
" ONE OF EACH!
" PAN!PAN!'Vf
" PIZZA!PIZZA!@
Valid only with coupon at participating Little
Caesars Pizza Stations. 'Excludes extra cheese.
(-~ Expires 10/30/91 U'M13
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FRIDAY, October 18
Presentation I
Presentation II
2:00 pm-3:00
4:00 pm-5:00
pm
pm
MICHIGAN UNION
KUENZEL ROOM
Presentations will begin with short discussion
explaining P&G and Purchases followed by a
question and answer
session.
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