RTS 'Jones' too farfetched to be taken senously By ALEXANDRA TWIN To rediscover that the often somnolent Richard Gere, who of late has played a series of rather lethargic characters, is capable of playing a character as complex, interesting and altogether wacky as the title character in "Mr. Jones," is a testament to Gere's often buried talent. However, it is by no means a good enough reason to go and see this utterly farfetched film. Nevertheless, the picture does boast an interesting premise. Mr. Mr. Jones Jones, a larger than life, grandiose, Directed by Mike Figgis; written by fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of Eric Roth and Michael Cristofer; with guy, is actually a manic-depressive. Richard Gere and Lena Olin. But the fact that this film quickly chucks its originality in favor of the standard, cheesy, Hollywood love story - this time in the area of psychiatrist- patient love affairs - is pretty annoying. It was kind of interesting the first time, but after "The Prince of Tides," "Whispers in the Dark" and "Final Analysis," (which also starred Gere), this genre's waning charm is damn near exhausted. The out-of-control Mr. Jones keeps pulling these crazy, spur-of-the- moment type stunts and getting hauled into the hospital to be treated by the beautiful andapparently frequently dateless Dr. Elizabeth Bowen (Lena Olin). It is soon obvious to everyone that he would do better as an inpatient. Once admitted, we're introduced to a bevy of eccentric mental patients. There's the giddy young girl with the penchant for razor blades, the catatonic old woman who mumbles incoherently and the fast-talking man who claims to be a government agent. As kooky as they all are, none are quiet so intriguing to Dr. Bowen as the irrepressible Mr. Jones, or so we are told. The rest of the film largely consists of Bowen trying to delve into Jones' psyche, while he, in turn, struggles between wanting to cooperate and feeling 0 that it's all pretty hopeless. "It's just the way I am," he says frustratedly. This part of the film is arguably the best; it is both absorbing and sincere. Deep and wrenching at times, though not without the occasional cliche, it manages to be genuinely effective without crossing the line between heartfelt and sappy. Gere really does himself a service; his Mr. Jones is both funny and over- the-top, while still being realistic and gratingly human. This is his best work in years. It should also serve to remedy any notions that Gere is anything other than an unrestrained, highly expressive actor. Yet, Olin, so good in "Enemies, a Love Story," does not fare quite as well. She can only do her best in an ornamental role that requires her to look alternately concerned and lustful at the supposedly sexy Gere. Unfortunately, it is their romantic involvement that nearly spoils the film. As if the idea that Lena Olin needs to be flipping through her filofax of mental patients to find a date for Saturday night isn't questionable enough, the implication that this relationship may be the answer to Jones' medical problems is just ridiculous. He hasn't been celibate; why are we to believe that this is the one to help cure him? Ah, yes. True Love. Sorry. That just doesn't work. If he has a chemical imbalance, he has a chemical imbalance. No chemistry is gonna take care of that, even if she is a psychiatrist. 'MR. JONES is playing at Showcase. Tanya Donelly and the rest of elly are on the verge of becoming hugely successful, with one "mega-hit," "Feed the Tree," already under their belts. Beisep ad to make the 'bgtie Hummings Recital Critically acclaimed pianist, Armenta Adams Hummings, will be giving a free recital at the School of Music Recital Hall. According to the New York Times, "Seldom does one find so much physical vitality in a pianist with so much poetic sensibility; nor such clarity of texture in an artist who is not only interested in color but able to achieve it so variedly." The recital will be tonight at 8:00 p.m. For more information, call 764-0586. Let's Talk about Sex Dr. Sylvia Hacker, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, is a specialist in sex education. She used this expertise in writing "What Every Teenager REALLY Wants to Know about Sex," which she will be discussing and signing at Borders Book Shop today at 7:30 p.m. The book discusses the most often asked questions by teenagers concerning that most taboo of subjects, with frank and honest answers provided by Hacker. Anyone interested in the topic (now, be honest, who isnt?!) is invited to attend and bring their questions with them. Halloween Flicks The 174th meeting of the Ann Arbor Silent Film Society will be presenting a very special Halloween performance of 1921's "The Haunted House," 1926's "Midnight Faces" and 1968's "Night of the Living Dead." These chilling, thrillers haven't lost much of their original flair and remain near the top of many horror movie fan's lists of all-time great flicks. The movies are being presented at the Sheraton Inn at 3200 Boardwalk on Sunday, October 31 at 3:00 p.m. Admission is a paltry $3 so there really is no excuse not to attend. Call 761-8286 for more information about this event. By ANDY DOLAN After spending most of her musi- cal career with the Throwing Muses and the Breeders, Belly's Tanya Donelly has finally been given the chance to showcase her unique songwriting abilities with her own band. And as talented songwriters that the Muses' Kristen Hersh and the Breeders' Kim Deal are, you really have to wonder how much of a power trip they must have been on to not allow more of Donelly's influence to shine through on their respective projects. After hearing Belly's mag- nificent debut album, "Star," it'seven more baffling to conceive of how Donelly was able to hold those won- derful songs back for so long. Fortunately, all of that is in the past. Those songs have finally been brought into the world, and one year and a mega-hit single later, Belly, now consisting of Donelly, guitarist Tom Gorman, drummer Chris Gorman and new bassist Gail Green- wood, have just begun their second American tour, co-headlining with those "creeps," Radiohead. It's been nearly a year since Belly's first single, the internationally suc- cessful "Feed The Tree," began its strange and wonderful ascent to pop success. According to Chris Gorman, the band could tell that the single was a big hit not because of its sales or heavy play on MTV, but, as he ex- plained, "When your friends start to tell you how sick they are of your song, that's when you really know that quite a few people have heard it!" Chris' attitude towards the success of the single is not exactly typical, ei- ther. Ashe jokingly explained, "Luck- ily, we were in [Europe] around the time when 'Feed The Tree' really started to take off. It probably would have been really embarrassing to be around then. I mean, who wants to look at their own face all the time?" It was during this tour that Belly first met up with Radiohead and pro- posed the idea of touring with them. "We played a show with [Radiohead] in London," Chris recalled, "and we kind of made friends with them and talked about the possibility of them doing a US tour with us ... Doing a co-headline has been really cool; the bands are different, yet similar enough that the place doesn't empty out while one of the bands is playing." While the tour has gone well so far, the band has had their share of strange mis- haps. "At this time we were supposed to play in Athens, Georgia ... [the promoter] ended up setting us up in the middle of a tobacco field with this makeshift stage," he recalled, "after that just fell apart, we ended up play- ing at this tiny club for whoever could squeeze in there ... it was a disaster!" It's been nearly a year since Belly's first single, ... "Feed The Tree," began its strange and wonderful ascent to pop success. Despite the presence on "Star" of such scathingly brutal songs as "Dusted," with lyrics like "Baby's playing dead in cellar / Gave her wa- ter she got paler / Grass stains back burns she's a screamer / She's just dusted, leave her," there are still those cynics who feel that some of the al- bum could use a little more energy. Surprisingly, Chris somewhat admits to being one of them. "To me, I think the record is sometimes kind of tenta- tive and shy ... our approach [when we play live] is a lot more powerful and punchy. In general, that makes for a better show, anyway. I can only take so many sensitive songs in a row before I get in line for the bar, you know? But everyone in Belly likes to play with all the volume knobs on ten and trying to break stuff on stage. There's definitely a different feel to the songs. It demonstrates our poten- tial to be rock and roll, or whatever!" While "Star" does have more than it's share of beautiful, dreamlike bal- lads that might not translate too well into a live situation, Donelly's lyrics never fail to add that welcome spark ofeerie irony that she's become known for. Even the lyrics on "Feed The Tree" have slightly surreal twists ("Silver baby come to me / I'll only hurt you in my dreams") that make them a far cry from standard pop music fodder. In addition, the haunt- ing, edgy guitar work on songs such as "Low Red Moon" and "Sad Dress" proves that Donelly's talent for evok- ing vividly disturbing feelings stretches well beyond her lyric-writ- ing skills. After this tour, the band plans to begin work on the follow-up to "Star." But while the debut album was writ- ten almost entirely before the Gorman brothers had even joined the band, the next album, Chris assures, will be recorded as a group. "The songs that Tanya put together for 'Star,' she'd had years to work on ... For the next album, she's going to rely on Tom and Gail a lot more. She's counting on the whole band to be involved in a lot of different aspects. It's going to be much more of a team effort," he predicted. As far as new directions go, Chris explained that the band won't be making any conscious ef- forts to make the next album sound radically different. "It's going to be harder for us to keep the next record similar to the first one than it will to make it different. We don't want people to feel like they have to redis- cover a whole new band!" If you didn't catch Belly when they were in town this past April, you've got another chance to see them. It promises to be a gritty, intense performance and,bestofall, you won't have to see them in a tobacco field. BELLY co-headlines with RADIOHEAD this Wednesday at the State Theater in Detroit. Doors open at 6:30, and tickets are $12.50 plus service charge. Call 313-961- 5450 for more information. preorder pearl jam $10. C9ICD $7,99!1 Ma S'ave C aS $2,44. RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY ONLY AT 714"Vuse RECORDS GUARANTEED BEST PRICE IN TOWNI COMING OCT.9th I BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL CAREERS CLOSE -YOUR BOOKS FOR 1 OR 2 HOURS. IT COULD REALLY PAY OFF, GTE invites you to take some time out when we visit campus. We'll be recruiting aggressive, energetic students with varied backgrounds and degrees. Naturally, we look for a good academic record, too - but most of all, we're looking for people with a serious interest in learning about GTE. While we're here, come and join us. Ask questions to find out about the challenging opportunities GTE has to offer in telecommunications. ALL STUDENTS WELCOME! On-Campus Information Session/Reception . Technical Careers DATE: October 19th TIME: 4:30PM - 6:30PM PLACE: Room 1226 EECS Building Business Careers Accounting, Finance, Marketing and Human Resources DATE: October 19th TIME: 6PM - 7PM _ r r I