A
Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, March 10, 1992
who what where when
Just added: Seattle's finest those awful "why are foreign films inspiring story of a Jewish doctor's
(Not!) Soundgarden returns, with- so foreign?" beer commercials devotion to his orphanage during
out Skid Row or Guns N' Roses, make fun of. The film plays tonight World War II. Like many of
but headlining (!) at the State Thea- at 7 and Wednesday at 4:30 at the Wajda's other films, Agnieszka
ter on May 3. Tickets go on sale Michigan. Call 668-8397. Holland, writer/director of Europa,
soon. Reason enough to stick Europa, wrote the screenplay.
around after graduation. In case you missed it at the Check it out at 8 p.m. both nights at
Holocaust Conference last Satur- the Green Auditorium of Hillel.
Or check out the art of film in day, Hill Street Cinema will be Admission is $3.
its purest form: Federico Fellini's 8 presenting Andrzej Wajda's 1991
112. Starring Marcello Mastroianni film Korczak again on Thursday
as a Felliniesque director, it's a and Sunday. The great Polish If you've got an early bed-time
brilliant journey into the mind of an director (really), Wajda has created tonight, you could cram your enter-
artist. Woody Allen ripped it off in masterpieces like Man of Marble, tainment into the lunch hour. Star-
his own interesting way with Star- Danton and Ashes and Diamonds ting at 12:10 (just past noon) catch,
dust Memories. A warning to you throughout his career despite Com- the tour of Comedy and the Artist's.'
Jean-Claude van Seagal fans: this is munist censorship. Now, in the Eye at the Museum of Art's front
exactly the kind of foreign film that '90s, he's fashioned a touching, desk. Admission is free.
;: .
'A
Chevy Chase (or is it Brian Dennehy) calls it a wrap as the privileged viewer gets an inside look at his widely envied
comic genius. Incidentally, that is the same towel used for the water buffalo in our favorite, Fletch.
Fletch's feeble memoirs
T]'
Memoirs of an
Invisible Man
dir. John Carpenter
------------- ----- I
by Michelle Phillip
Had Memoirs of an Invisible Man
been made 50 years ago, it would
have been a film noir thriller. It
would've had low-key lighting and a
complicated plot that would involve
afemme fatale, perhaps Alice Mar-
lowe (Darryl Hannah), trying to se-
duce Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase)
into committing some evil plan on
her behalf.
In 1992, however, the age of
commercialism, Memoirs gets re-
duced to a light romantic comedy re-
plete with obligatory Chase sight
gags. The film has a lot of style, but,
unfortunately, little substance.
Halloway is a stock analyst who
becomes invisible because of a freak
accident at a high-tech industrial
plant (someone spills coffee onto a
computer hooked into a cyclotron -
some accident!). Halloway's mole-
cules are rearranged, so technically,
he's transparent (rather than invisi-
ble), which allows for some nice
special effects.
But being invisible is not what
Halloway dreamed. Instead of being
able to see movies or ballgames for
free, or spy on unassuming women,
he is the target of a manhunt orga-
nized by a team of government
agents headed by David Jenkins
(Sam Neill), who seeks to exploit
the potential an invisible spy could
have.
During his run from the secret
operatives, Halloway discovers
some interesting facts about himself;
for example, he realizes that he
didn't have many friends. One of
them, George (Michael McKean -
who is doomed to be remembered
forever as Lenny from Laverne and
Shirley), unwittingly turns him in by
tipping off Jenkins. The only person
Halloway can confide in is his girl-
friend, Alice, who hides him during
his run from Jenkins.
Memoirs may garner an Oscar
nomination next year for its impres-
sive visual effects, which include a
building that is half visible and half
invisible. We get to see what hap-
pens to Halloway's lungs when he
smokes. When it rains, Halloway's
body becomes visible, and it looks
like the water tentacle from The
Abyss. The visual effects enhance
the sight gags and actually make
them funny. But men should be
forewarned: Memoirs plays with
your castration and performance an-
xieties, so you may not think some
of the jokes are funny.
The major problem with Me-
moirs is its predictability. While the
film is funny and entertaining, you
and your friends can have contests
guessing what comes next. Any fool
can see all the plot devices and gags
coming from a mile away. And
that's too bad, because the film has
plenty of potential that was left
unexplored by director John Car-
penter. At any rate, Memoirs is a lot
a fun and will make a better choice
than Kuffs when you pick it up at the
video store.
MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN
is playing at Briarwood and Show-
case.
r.
Co-writer/director Nora Ephron (the one who wrote the story of her own life in
play herself) gives Julie Kavner a pep talk between takes.
RECORDS
Continued from page 5
"In this system, everybody's a slave
/ Racist is how they want us to be-
have." He explains that white sup-
remacy attempts to justify the bru-
tality of the system. KRS asserts that
even the capitalist pimps are
trapped, screaming at them, "Pick up
that money, ho!"
For someone who doesn't believe
in dance music, KRS comes correct-
most with his beats and grooves with
help from producers Prince Paul, Pal
Joey, Willie D and Kenny Parker.
The best beats include "Sex and
Violence," "Like a Throttle," the
old-school flavored jam "13 and
Good" and "Say Gal," which shows
KRS' mastery of dub production and
reggae riddims on the boards.
KRS' liner notes answer the
question of the sucker MCs from
PM Dawn, "Yes, KRS-One is the
teacher because KRS-One is the stu-
dent. Being first a student gives you
the right to be called teacher." Fair
enough. KRS, a formidable propo-
nent of human rights and Africentric
education with projects like HEAL
(Human Education Against Lies)
and the book Civilization vs.
Technology, has proven himself as
receptive to knowledge benefiting
all humanity. And he should be lis-
tened to.
- Forrest Green III
LIFE
Continued from page 5
the LA comedy scene, she leaves
Erica and Opal in the care of a suc-
cession of aspiring comedians.
Anybody who's spent time with too
many people who consider them-
selves funny will recognize the
Thanksgiving scene comprised of
six people who want to be on a
stage. The babysitter comics vary
from oblivious to sensitive, but they
allow Opal and Erica to go through
their identity crises with comic re-
lief.
"All girls," says Mia the lesbian
comedian babysitter who stir-fries
everything, "are either Betty or
Veronica. Veronica always gets the
guy or whatever she wants, and
Betty always wants what Veronica
has." Opal, who's well on her way
to being a Veronica at about eight
years of age, asks whether people
are born one way or the other. "No,"
replies Mia. "Sometimes Betties
grow up to be Veronicas and some-
times Veronicas turn out to be
Betties. You decide what you want
to be."
This Is My Life teaches Erica and
Dottie to find their Veronicas, show-
ing the Veronica-ness of women
who eschew catty beauty for in-
tegrity and humor.
Because of its episodic structure,
one comes away from This Is My
Life with memories of specific
scenes, perhaps the most touchingly
funny of which is Erica's first sexual
experience. I always wondered how
people in movies got their clothes
off with no difficulty, even the
socks. Erica and her boyfriend act
out the awkward embarrassment of
first sex with difficulty and clumsi-
ness, down to an ill-fated attempt to
don a rubber. This scene is the hall-
mark of a movie that finds the hu-
mor in the relational, never upstag-
CYBER
Continue from page 5
The Lawnmower Man is not just
your average bad movie - it can
induce severe depression. For a
movie which relies completely on
visual fireworks, the sometimes
cheap-looking special effects aren't
very interesting or original, espe-
cially after Terminator II. Elements
such as the puppet they use for a
chimp and the perpetual five o'clock
ing matters of import.
Carrie Fisher and Dan Aykroyd,
put in the least satisfying perfor-
mances of the cast as overdrawn
agents who lead Dottie on her road
to success. Aykroyd's role is memo-
rable only for his original nervous
tic: he eats paper. Carly Simon pro-'
vides songs to accompany theA
soundtrack, songs that I loved but
that some might find redundant in;
their tendency to encapsulate the ac-
tion in musical parables.
Many will call This Is My Life a
"woman's film" because it focuses
on females and concerns itself with
family issues of dependency and in-
terrelation. I find typical masculine
films (no term for that, because it
means everything that isn't specifi-
cally female) short-sighted in deal-
ing realistically with human issues,
few of us are detectives, supem,
heroes or Arnold Schwarzeneggers-
If This Is My Life is a woman'r
film, it's because it enacts the evr
eryday love of family with hum6Kr
and resilience. It's too bad that hu4
man realism can only be identified
with the female.
THIS IS MY LIFE is playing a -
Showcase.
shadow on Brosnan's face enforce
an awareness of the film's bare-min-
imum goal -just trick a few people
into coming without really doin':
anything.
"I was born dumb," says the re-
tarded Jobe with a vacant stare, after
Angelo says he plans to make hii
smarter. I just really liked that park.
I'll say it again. "I was born dumb."
THE LAWNMOWER MAN is pla-'
ying at Briarwood and Showcase.
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