f ,ry . v , " r . " ;.. z ; N yW ..Y :{...r. 1. 's 'Oleanna' V 'Princess' rides into sunset. By MELISSA ROSE BERNA RDO David Mamet is undoubtedly one of our greatest living playwrights. He molds his characters out of the clay and sweat of everyday life, and turns their grit into poetry. His plays are a verbal assault; his language is written with a sensitive ear and a foul mouth. But a great SMainet lay does not n cessr ily a great film make. Oleanna 1992 s "Glen- Directed by David garry Glen Ross" Mamet; with William was proofof that. Now Mamet fo'- H. Macy and lows with Debra Eisenstadt. "Ole anna," an adapt ation which he wrote and directed. But transferring Mamet from stage to screen is like changing Dante's Divine Comedy into English; it loses something in the translation. "Oleanna" is a two-character play; it is also a two- character movie. Meet John, a man in his 40s, and Carol, "woman of 20. John is a college professor; Carol is one of his students. John's tenure has just been announ ced, and he is (understandably) preoccupied with buying a new house. Carol has just been notified that she is failing John's class, and she is (understandably) frustrated and in need of help. What we then witness are their three encounters, during the second of which we learn that Carol has sapped John with a sexual harassment complaint. Through the relationship of these two generic characters, Mamet is making a statement on all sorts of relationships: teachers *6d students, men and women, old and young, conserva- tive and liberal, possibly even heterosexual and homo- sexual. And on many levels, he succeeds. The film moves remarkably fast, as it should. Mamet's dialogue is a torrent of pauses, ellipses and interruptions, which both Macy and Eisenstadt pull off brilliantly. The college campus setting is as prototypical as it should be, with lots of ivy and old hallowed halls. Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife, who originated the role of Carol), has composed somne wonderfully evocative alma mater-style music, with Mamet's lyrics to match. And fortunately the film is more visually enticing than the stage version; John's large office (too large for a pro- fessor without tenure) provides for ample playing space, and the characters are allowed costume changes. Once in a while an outside shot is wedged in for aesthetics' sake. But the film's biggest flaw is its dead-end theme, a problem which has always plagued Mamet's play. When it played off-Broadway, the programs showed silhouettes of Carol and of John, one of which wore a bull's eye; half the audience had Carol with the bull's eye, the other half had John. Mamet's point is that you can't take sides; whichever side you take is wrong. But his Catch-22 backfires, because he systematically drains every last sympathetic quality from these charac- ters. You want to hate them, but can you hate them for their ignorance? You want to pity them, but you know they should both know better. You want to like them, but their actions are so reprehensible. When John beats up Carol, you'll applaud him; she deserved it, and he deserves to lose his job anyway. Mamet makes an unforgivable gaffe, however, in choosing to end the film with a campus scene, rather than panning out from his battered characters. These two characters deserve each other. They do not, however, deserve their own film. On stage John and Carol come out as filthy, but on screen their faults are only magnified. Die-hard Mamet fans will deny this to the grave, but remember: the camera never lies. OLEANNA is p aying at the State. By JOSHUA RICH For God's sake, it's a children's movie! Why should college students want to see it? And why should we care? After a long succession of ani- mated Disney musicals which have Echobelly hungers for success in U.S. By HEATHER PHARES "It's the land of plenty," Sonya Aurora-Madan, the vocalist/lyricist of London's hot band Echobelly said bout America from her hotel in Man- hattan. She laughed, and then ex- plained, "I've only seen New York. I really love it, but it's bloody noisy!" The success of Echobelly's ter- rific debut album "Everybody's Got One" in their home country now brings the quintet (which, along with Au- rora-Madan, consists of guitarist Glenn Johansson, bassist Alex *Keyser, guitarist Debbie Smith and drummer Andy Henderson) to the US to demonstrate what the buzz is about. As for the hype, Aurora-Madan said dismissively, "It's entirely cre- ated by the media." She admitted, however, that "no matter what any- body says, people read the British press when they're on the lookout for new talent. But it's very political and ased on who's sleeping with who. If ou get too wrapped up in the media, you lose track of what you're doing. Good reviews are always nice. But I value more what the actual punters (fans) have to say, the people who buy our records and go to our shows." The endless Smiths comparisons also bother Aurora-Madan. She sighed, with some irritation, "the Smiths were one of the most impor- &ant British bands of the '80s, and to be compared to them is definitely a compliment. But I don't think we have that much in common. But it's necessary in the beginning to make such comparisons." It's true that the Smiths compari- sons don't hold water. While both bands tend toward swooning melo- dies and dry, incisive lyrics, Echobelly is definitely a '90s phenomenon. The band compares favorably to the UN in terms of diversity. Though Henderson and Keyser are white En- glishmen,Johansson is from Sweden, Smith is jokingly referred to within the band as the "token Black lesbian" and Aurora-Madan is a first-genera- tion English citizen of Indian descent. Aurora-Madan explained how this diverse group of people formed a band: "I bumped into Glen at a club in London;he was in a band that thought they were going to be the next Beatles. When they broke up, I told him I'd like to have a go at writing lyrics. Andy played with PJ Harvey in Bristol, we met Alex through mutual friends, and we were a four-piece for a while," she said. "Earlier this year, Glen broke his arm and Debbie, who used to play with Curve, had been coming to see our shows for a while, and she knew all of the songs. So we asked her to fill in for Glen, which she did for two months. After that, we asked her to join." Surprisingly, the hard part of be- ginning the band was deciding upon a name. Aurora-Madan recalled: "I wanted something that would convey a feeling, as opposed to a definite meaning. I feel that creative people, no matter what field they are in, have a hunger, a feeling that spurs them on. So from hunger, 'Echo-belly."' And as to where she gets the ideas for songs like "Give Her A Gun" and "I Can't Imagine The World Without Me," she said, "it's very eclectic. I consider myself a bit of a voyeur. I don't only write about my own expe- riences." For example, in her own words, the song "Give Her A Gun" is about "the feminist movement and how people are concentrating on pe- ripheral issues like whether or not women should play guitar." Aurora-Madan especially takes pride in their live shows. "We're a lot more aggressive, really. I think people think our music makes more sense live. It surprises them," she said. And with this tour, Echobelly takes the first steps into the international rock arena. As for the band's plans into next year, Aurora-Madan said, "we're touring America and Japan, and then writing songs for the new album. Next spring we're touring the US for two months. Whatever we do, it's going to be busy." But, as ex- pected, Echobelly looks forward to a full plate. ECHOBELLY is appearing at Industry in Detroit on Sunday, November 27. The show is 18+, doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are a measly $5. Call (810) 334-1999. The Swan Princess Directed by Richard Rich; voices of Jack Palance and John Cleese. become the craze of a generation, here comes a cartoon fairy tale. Yet, it is produced by a private company entirely separate from that multi-bil- lion-dollar family entertainment jug- gernaut. Interestingly enough, "The Swan Princess" opened on the same day as the re-release of Disney's insta- Classic, "The Lion King" (can you feel the love tonight ... well, can you?). But to paraphrase Lloyd Bent- sen: "I knew 'The Lion King,' and let me tell you, you are no 'Lion King'!" Nevertheless, "The Swan Prin- cess" provides its viewers with sub- lime, hand-drawn figures and scen- ery, a decent soundtrack and an un- original, yet engaging love story. Loosely-based on "Swan Lake," this film allows children - and really ONLY young children - to experi- ence a story sans hatred, violence or any adult themes (although the title character is guilty of some open- mouthed kissing). And these quali- ties are something that even the most tame Disney features can't offer. Princess Odette and Prince Derek (names clearly not taken off the same page as Simba or Mufasa) are from neighboring kingdoms in fairy tale land. They are lifelong friends who decide to get married, but break up when the oh-so-suave Derek can't summon the words to tell his be- trothed that he loves her. So while he contemplates the rea- sons for his decision to marry Odette, the evil Rothbart kidnaps the princess and turns her into a swan (hey, she could have become something worse, like an MSU student or something). And, of course, the only way to break the spell is for Derek to profess his undying and eternal love for the pre- cious maiden. In the midst of all this fantasy romance stuff, the characters break into song. In many cases, this transi- tion-less jump seems inappropriate and stilted, yet the film's entirely for- gettable songs do provide a nice break in its predictable action. Written by Broadway lyricist David Zippel, and composed by Lex de Azevedo, the movie's six musical numbers are a nice supplement to its animated pre- sentation. But they in no way amend the basic cartoon love story song con- stitution; music in a film like this should be sappy romantic ballads thrown together with an occasional bubble gum doo-wop selection. Therefore, considering the banal story and ordinary score, the voices of the characters are the true highlights of this film. JackPalance ("City Slick- ers") leads the way with his voice of the sinister, conniving Rothbart, lend- ing a bit of humor to the otherwise despicable character (check out the one-armed push-ups Palance's Rothbart performs). Also amusing are the voices pro- vided for Odette's animal friends whom she meets after becoming a bird. John Cleese ("A Fish Called Wanda") is the frog, Jean-Bob, who believes that he will become a prince if kissed by a woman. And the lethar- gic turtle, Speed, is hilariously per- formed by comedian Steven "K- BILLY's Super Sounds of the '70s" Wright. These two team up to help Odette reunite with her prince, as well as provide the audience with the most entertaining and original dialogue in the movie. So why should we want to watch "The Swan Princess," and why should we care? Little kids may love it, but this movie is simply not geared to a college-age audience, like the even more loosely-based Quentin Tarantino adaptation of "Swan Lake" - "Reservoir Dogs." Then again, if Tarantino films are all you ever see (attention Daily staffers), why not ask yourself when you last saw a "G"- rated movie? After all, kids' movies are cool. THE SWAN PRINCESS is now playing at Showcase. : I Into the Woods, it's time to go, it might be all in vain I know ... ' Apply at: The Michigan Daily 420 Maynard Student Publications Bldg. or call Nancy 764-0431 kI Do you like puzzles? Combine business with pleasure! Become the Advertisement Placement Coordinator for The Michigan Daily. Steel Pulse regains their roots By BEN EWY Grammy award winning reggae band Steel Pulse, one of the most well known and respected reggae bands, has recently come under criticism for "forgetting their roots" in their recent albums. Their new album, "Vex," re- turns to the politically motivated and Rastafarian influenced music that their audiences expect of them. The golden-voiced Rastafarian poet David Hinds explained why Steel Pulse have returned to their roots. "The return came after doing our 'Vic- tims' album," he said, "which was probably our most commercial album to date. We decided the record com- panies couldn't tell us what to do and we decided to do what we do best: jamming and talking about Babylon." "Steel Pulse has never really had any trouble having their records signed," he explained. "The problem is that once we get signed, the compa- nies want us to take a certain ap- proach to appeal to certain audiences - like adding a more R&B feel." "After the success of the live 'Cen- tennial' album we were allowed to work by ourselves," said Hinds, "be- cause the company decided that the people wanted to hear us the way we were. 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